The U.S. has some catching up to do. In England, "the Children's Trust wants to raise awareness of acquired brain injury (ABI) among parents and teachers because the effects can be misdiagnosed or just seen as bad behaviour." In launching their campaign, they stated that "some bad behaviour may be a result of an undiagnosed brain injury...the effects can be more noticeable at times of stress, like the move from primary to secondary school. It can affect a child's memory, alter their personality, affect physical skills and reduce their ability to concentrate in class or to develop relationships with peers and teachers."

I'm not aware of any program in the U.S. that seeks to identify ABI or TBI in schoolchildren, although, according to a 2006 CDC study, "The two age groups at highest risk for TBI are 0 to 4 year olds and 15 to 19 year olds." Surely someone has thought of this and there's a program out there that I just haven't heard about. But maybe not. We're only now getting serious about studying TBI in our military (due, of course, to the large number of TBI victims returning from the Iraq War) and in our prisons, two populations obviously at risk.

Where TBI is concerned, seems like we've been content with merely reacting, rather than taking a proactive approach.

Labels: cdc, TBI, TBI research, traumatic brain injury

Snopes.com is the destination of choice for anyone wanting to check the facts in that lastest email from Cousin Hortense -- you know, the one about the painted cats...or was it the one about buying (or not buying, depending on which version she forwarded) Citgo gas. Snopes, or the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a great resource for "just the facts, ma'am," as Jack Webb said on television long before the last two generations of emailers were born.

So it comes as no surprise that Snopes offers some good information (and additional links) on strokes, and the stroke emails to heed and the ones to trash. Here's a sample:

This might be a lifesaver if you can remember the following advice, sent by a nurse, whose husband is a medical doctor.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. A stroke victim may suffer permanent brain damage when people fail to recognize what's happening. Now, doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke, simply by asking three questions:

• ask the individual to smile.


• ask him or her to raise both arms.


• ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately, and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. Researchers are urging the general public to learn to ask these three questions quickly, to someone they suspect of having a stroke. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of a stroke, and prevent permanent brain damage.

You may want to pass this along.

The page offers some sound information about strokes in general and offers these links to follow up:

CDC's Division of Heart Disease and Strokes Prevention

CDC's Statistics on Strokes

Labels: cdc, heart disease, snopes, stroke