Long Term Outcome From Early Childhood Brain Injury: 10 Year Follow Up
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$338,900.00
Summary
The primary aim of this project is to further improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). Over the past decade our research team has ascertained a sample of children sustaining TBI, and systematically followed their progress over a 5-year period. The project has an international reputation, and is unique in terms of length of follow-up, prospective design and representative, well-maintained sample. Our findings challenge the traditionally he ....The primary aim of this project is to further improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). Over the past decade our research team has ascertained a sample of children sustaining TBI, and systematically followed their progress over a 5-year period. The project has an international reputation, and is unique in terms of length of follow-up, prospective design and representative, well-maintained sample. Our findings challenge the traditionally held view that children are resilient and recover fully from early brain insult. Rather, we have shown that, up to 5 years post-TBI, many children experience impairments in physical, cognitive and behavioural function. These impairments result in educational, vocational, social and emotional problems, limiting the child's capacity to meet developmental expectations and achieve adequate quality of life. The implication is that these problems will lead to life-long disability, resulting in high levels of individual, family and community burden. However, with follow-up data limited to 5 years, there remains a possibility that ongoing developmental processes may support an extended recovery period in childhood TBI, in comparison to the 2-year period cited in adult models. The review of this sample, 10 years post-injury, provides an unprecedented opportunity to address this possibility and to document recovery-outcome as children move into adolescence and adulthood. Not all children experience problems post-injury. However, predicting individual outcome remains a significant challenge, with particular clinical relevance to treatment and follow-up. Thus, the second aim of the proposed study is to examine factors that contribute to recovery and outcome.Read moreRead less
Studying The Two Hit Hypothesis Of Psychiatric Illness: Role Of Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$314,034.00
Summary
Psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression are caused by at least two major disrupting events in development: one during early brain development and one during-after puberty. We will use animal models of schizophrenia, induced by administering stressors such as maternal separation, corticosterone or cannabinoid treatment at different stages of their lives. These animal models will be used to further investigate antipsychotic treatment therapies
Clinical And Biological Markers Of Disease Presentation And Progression In Early Frontotemporal Dementia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$507,636.00
Summary
Frontotemporal dementia accounts for 12-20% of all dementia cases and is as common as Alzheimer's disease in the < 65 year olds. Our understanding of this disease remains limited. This project aims to better characterise the range and progression of deficits in early frontotemporal dementia using tests of brain function and magnetic resonance imaging. This will assist in better diagnosis of these patients and, ultimately, may be used to monitor the outcomes of therapeutic interventions.
Neurocognitive Studies Of Brain Plasticity Associated With Surgical Treatment Of Arteriovenous Malformations
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$701,922.00
Summary
We will use state-of-the-art brain imaging methods to test whether specific brain areas which have been chronically starved of adequate blood supply can regenerate, informing debate about limits on brain plasticity. Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are longstanding defects which can cause thinking skills to 'migrate' to other brain regions in childhood without noticeable impact. Surgical correction allows a test of what happens to the previously inactive area: Does the area 'start to think'?
The Role Of Psychosocial Factors On Recovery Following Early Brain Insult.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$255,475.00
Summary
Early brain insult (EBI) is a major cause of developmental delay and long-term disability. However, outcome following EBI is variable and dependent on multiple injury-related and non-injury-related factors. To date, most research has focussed on injury-related variables such as age at insult, nature of brain pathology, and size and site of brain lesion. These injury-related factors predict short-term recovery following EBI, however they have been found to account for a surprisingly modest portio ....Early brain insult (EBI) is a major cause of developmental delay and long-term disability. However, outcome following EBI is variable and dependent on multiple injury-related and non-injury-related factors. To date, most research has focussed on injury-related variables such as age at insult, nature of brain pathology, and size and site of brain lesion. These injury-related factors predict short-term recovery following EBI, however they have been found to account for a surprisingly modest portion of variance in long-term outcome. Thus, non-injury-related factors must also contribute to outcome following EBI. Research now suggests that psychosocial characteristics (social status, environmental conditions, parenting characteristics, family dynamics) influence long-term outcome following EBI, however these studies have focussed on bivariate relationships, relied on specific patient groups limiting the generalisability of findings, and utilised small to moderate samples that are inadequate when investigating complex interactive relationships. As a consequence, the role of psychosocial factors on recovery following EBI is still unclear. The objective of this project is to undertake a large-scale investigation of the independent and interactive contribution of social status, environmental conditions, parenting characteristics and family dynamics on outcome following EBI. The aim is to identify the psychosocial characteristics that predict outcome, mediate recovery, and buffer the impact of injury-related factors in children with EBI. Understanding these complex inter-relationships is crucial for rehabilitation purposes, as many psychosocial characteristics are fluid and at least partially modifiable. Based on this project's findings we intend to devise and trial appropriately focussed intervention programs that aid recovery and minimise long-term disabilities.Read moreRead less
Clinical Genetic Phenotyping Of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$582,114.00
Summary
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty with communication, social interaction and intellectual disability. The cause is generally not known although most cases have a genetic basis involving multiple genes and possibly environmental factors. We will study families of children with ASD and carefully characterize features related to ASD in family members. This will help us to understand how ASD is inherited and serve as the basis for the discovery of autism genes.
Interaction Between Symptoms Of Brainstem Disturbance, Sensory Disturbances And Pain In Migraine
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$165,509.00
Summary
Migraine affects about 18% of women and 6% of men across their lifespan and usually peaks during the most productive years of life. Although serious neurological effects of migraine are rare, some sufferers are left with permanent physical disability after attacks of migraine-related stroke. More common are debilitating side effects of medication, and the psychological and social disruption of experiencing recurrent attacks of migraine. Apart from the pain and distress experienced during migrain ....Migraine affects about 18% of women and 6% of men across their lifespan and usually peaks during the most productive years of life. Although serious neurological effects of migraine are rare, some sufferers are left with permanent physical disability after attacks of migraine-related stroke. More common are debilitating side effects of medication, and the psychological and social disruption of experiencing recurrent attacks of migraine. Apart from the pain and distress experienced during migraine, recurrent headaches are responsible for considerable health care costs and lost productivity. Thus, there are important economic and social reasons for developing new treatments, particularly treatments that reduce susceptibility to recurrent attacks. This project aims to investigate interactions among symptoms of migraine (head pain, nausea, and changes in facial blood flow), so that the sequence of symptom development can be studied systematically. We will induce motion sickness (which provokes nausea and many other symptoms of migraine), and then study the effects of head pain and strong sensory stimulation. We expect that migraine sufferers will report stronger symptoms and show greater physiological changes to these stimuli, either alone or in combination, than people who rarely suffer from headache. One of the most commonly recognized triggers of migraine is psychological stress. The aim of the second part of this project is to determine whether a substance released during stress (noradrenaline) heightens inflammation in scalp blood vessels, thus increasing the likelihood of migraine. We hope that this approach will help to identify the basis of the abnormality which increases susceptibility to migraine, so that it can be targeted for treatment.Read moreRead less
Crossmodal Interactions In Selective Attention: A Combined Human Lesion/transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$188,182.00
Summary
Aspects of attention are of central importance in guiding human behaviour. The brain uses these mechanisms to enhance the processing of sensory information that is currently relevant for behaviour, and to suppress irrelevant sensory information. Although there is a considerable body of knowledge, from both animal and human research, on how attention operates within individual sensory modalities (vision, touch, hearing, etc.), very little is known about how attention integrates information across ....Aspects of attention are of central importance in guiding human behaviour. The brain uses these mechanisms to enhance the processing of sensory information that is currently relevant for behaviour, and to suppress irrelevant sensory information. Although there is a considerable body of knowledge, from both animal and human research, on how attention operates within individual sensory modalities (vision, touch, hearing, etc.), very little is known about how attention integrates information across these different modalities. An understanding of these 'crossmodal' attentional mechanisms is important for several reasons. First, much brain activity in primary sensory areas is modulated by the attentive state of the individual, so discovering how crossmodal attention works will facilitate our understanding of the neural mechanisms of sensory processing generally. Second, the most basic aspects of human perception are fundamentally dependent upon attention; without attention we would perceive inputs from the different senses as fragmentary, rather than as bound together into coherent multimodal representations. Finally, many acquired and developmental neurological disorders are characterised by debilitating impairments of attention. This project will examine crossmodal spatial attention in stroke patients with damage to an exclusively visual brain area (occipital cortex), or to a multisensory brain area (parietal cortex). It will also measure the extent of crossmodal interactions in healthy participants, using cortical transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce reversible, 'virtual' lesions that mimic those of the stroke patients. The specific goals of the research are to explain how inputs from the senses of vision and touch interact to give rise to coherent perception; and to provide an empirical foundation for the development of more effective rehabilitative techniques for stroke patients, by exploiting any preserved crossmodal attentional mechanisms.Read moreRead less
A Study Addressing Motor, Cognitive And Attentional Deficits In Presymptomatic Gene Carriers For Huntington's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,330.00
Summary
Since the discovery of the Huntington's disease (HD) gene mutation there has been much controversy in the literature relating to whether there are any preclinical deficits in individuals who are gene positive for HD but who have not yet been clinically diagnosed with the disease. Our aim is to examine, over a three year period, the cognitive, attentional and motor performance of presymptomatic gene-positive, and negative, individuals on a wide variety of computerized experimental procedures, whi ....Since the discovery of the Huntington's disease (HD) gene mutation there has been much controversy in the literature relating to whether there are any preclinical deficits in individuals who are gene positive for HD but who have not yet been clinically diagnosed with the disease. Our aim is to examine, over a three year period, the cognitive, attentional and motor performance of presymptomatic gene-positive, and negative, individuals on a wide variety of computerized experimental procedures, which we have previously shown to be sensitive to deficits in individuals who have already been diagnosed with HD. If progressive behavioural changes in gene-positive individuals can be reliably documented to occur before the clinical symptoms of HD are evident, this would be of profound significance as it would allow a set of criteria to be established to assist in early detection of clinical onset of symptoms, and possibly permit use of newly-emerging therapies.Read moreRead less