Myrna E. Watanabe, PhD

stress, trauma

stroke, tissue plasminogen activator, tPA, stent, transcranial Doppler, MRI

traumaticbraininjury,behavioralneurology,generalneurology,neuropsychiatry

Until recently, physicians assumed that any recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI) was limited to the first few months to a year after the injury occurred. In children, this window of opportunity for recovery could last about 2 years. Certainly, no one expected any significant recovery in any person with a chronic SCI or other condition that causes SCIs, such as a stroke, blood clots, or arteriovenous malformation affecting the spinal cord.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) was set to begin recruiting this month for its clinical trial (www.alzheimers.org/clintrials/fullrec.asp?PrimaryKey=208) that will study how brain imaging technology can help measure the progression of mild cognitve impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer disease (AD).

Christopher Reeve’s death this past October from cardiac complications after infection resulting from pressure ulcers is a reminder that patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) are more than their motility impairments. According to the Annual Statistical Report of the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), published last June, of 3312 patients for whom the cause of death was known, nearly 22% died of respiratory system diseases, 9% of infective and parasitic diseases, 8% of hypertensive and ischemic heart diseases, and 13% of other heart disease.