AANS Neurosurgeon Newsline

In a new study using brain scans of former NFL athletes, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they found high levels of a repair protein present long after a traumatic brain injury such as a concussion takes place. The repair protein, known as 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO), is known to be present in the brain at high levels in...

A man walking around a room wearing a helmet that records his brain function would have seemed like science fiction five years ago. Now researchers have designed a lightweight helmet with tiny LEGO-size sensors that scan the brain while a person moves.   The helmet is the first of its kind to accurately record magnetic fields generated by brain activity while...

Certain cancers are more difficult to treat because they contain cells that are highly skilled at evading drugs or our immune systems by disguising themselves as healthy cells. Glioblastoma, for example, an incurable brain cancer, is characterized by cells that can mimic human neurons, even growing axons and making active connections with healthy brain neurons. This cancer is usually deadly...

A mouse study designed to shed light on memory loss in people who experience repeated head impacts, such as athletes, suggests the condition could potentially be reversed. The research in mice finds that amnesia and poor memory following head injury is due to inadequate reactivation of neurons involved in forming memories. The study, conducted by researchers at Georgetown University Medical...

After children experienced severe traumatic brain injury, the infusion of bone marrow mononuclear cells derived from the patient’s own bones led to less time spent in intensive care, less intense therapy, and, significantly, the structural preservation of white matter, which constitutes about half the total volume of the brain, according to new research from UTHealth Houston. The study, published recently in...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital revealed the complex structure of two Parkinson’s disease-related proteins, both of which are implicated in late-onset cases. Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a protein kinase that modifies other proteins in a process called phosphorylation; Rab29, a member of the Rab GTPase family that regulates cellular trafficking, modulates the activity of LRRK2....

Brain and other central nervous system (CNS) cancers are the leading cause of childhood cancer deaths in the United States. This type of cancer is the second most common type of childhood cancer after leukemia. Physicians treating CNS tumors with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of these therapies have relied on a series of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to monitor...

Diffuse gliomas are malignant brain tumors that cannot be optimally examined by means of conventional MRI imaging. So-called amino acid PET scans are better able to image the activity and spread of gliomas. An international team of researchers (RANO Working Group), led by scientists from LMU and the Medical University of Vienna, has now drawn up the first ever...

Today, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Foundation launched its Pathway to Neurosurgery program in Washington, DC. The initiative is dedicated to alleviating health care disparities by encouraging high school students from underrepresented groups to pursue a career in neurosurgery or medicine. High school students from the E.L. Haynes, A District of Columbia Public Charter School, were selected to participate in...

Two graduate students from Western University have developed a ground-breaking method for predicting which intensive care unit (ICU) patients will survive a severe brain injury.   Matthew Kolisnyk and Karnig Kazazian combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with state-of-the art machine learning techniques to tackle one of the most complex issues in critical care. Whether it is the result of a...