Over two million visits to the emergency room, along with hospitalizations and deaths, occur every year as a result of brain injury throughout the United States, including in New Mexico. Serious injury to the brain remains one of the most critical medical issues today, but it also continues to be an enigmatic one. However, in another state, a sports arena will serve as the new home for a center that will focus on the study of the brain and the nervous system.
The new center will integrate athletics, research and innovation and will unite researchers in fields such as biomechanics, genomics and neuroscience to further explore brain injury. One question these experts will tackle involves the mechanisms that cause cell dysfunction or death following brain injury. The other question to be explored is why people recover from brain injury differently, and what could be done to promote response and recovery.
As part of their research, the experts at the arena will create more effective tools for diagnosing brain injury. They will also take advantage of the ability to utilize big data to map the network of membranes and metabolic pathways in the brain. Their goal is to learn more about how people can reactivate their brain’s flexibility after experiencing trauma, thus lessening the consequences of brain injuries and expediting their recovery.
Traumatic brain injury has the potential to lead to cognitive decline, brain atrophy and depression. Serious injury to the brain may also damage a person’s memory and his or her ability to communicate or reason. If a person in New Mexico has suffered a brain injury in an accident caused by another person’s negligence, such as driver carelessness, the victim has the right to file a personal injury claim, seeking damages. A monetary award in a successfully fought suit may help to cover the victim’s ongoing health care expenses and other losses resulting from the injury.
Source: baltimoresun.com, “UMD, UMB research collaboration aims to demystify brain trauma“, Jay Perman and Wallace D. Loh, Oct. 20, 2016
