BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE Soldiers of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) sustain blast-related mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) with alarming regularity. This study discusses factors in addition to concussion, such as co-morbid psychological difficulty (e.g. post-traumatic stress) and symptom validity concerns that may complicate neuropsychological evaluation in the la...

INTRODUCTION Blast injury to brain, a hundred-year old problem with poorly characterized neuropathology, has resurfaced as health concern in recent deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. To characterize the neuropathology of blast injury, we examined the brains of veterans for the presence of amyloid precursor protein (APP)-positive axonal swellings typical of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) and comp...

Citation: Arora H, Nila A, Vitharana K, Sherwood JM, Nguyen T-TN, Karunaratne A, Mohammed IK, Bodey AJ, Hellyer PJ, Overby DR, Schroter RC and Hollis D (2017) Microstructural Consequences of Blast Lung Injury Characterized with Digital Volume Correlation. Front. Mater. 4:41. doi: 10.3389/fmats.2017.00041 Microstructural consequences of Blast lung injury characterized with Digital Volume correla...

Management of abdominal wall defects can occur after blast injury. Reconstruction requires a multidisciplinary approach management for speedy and satisfactory recovery. We present a case of blast injury which resulted in abdominal wall defect along with skin and soft tissue defect over penis. Abdominal wall was reconstructed by mesh application to strengthen the abdominal wall followed by a tra...

Damage to the eye from blast exposure can occur as a result of the overpressure air-wave (primary injury), flying debris (secondary injury), blunt force trauma (tertiary injury), and/or chemical/thermal burns (quaternary injury). In this study, we investigated damage in the contralateral eye after a blast directed at the ipsilateral eye in the C57Bl/6J and DBA/2J mouse. Assessments of ocular he...

Blast induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is a serious concern for military personnel exposed to primary blast. Computational models and imaging diagnostics are useful tools that are commonly used to study mechanical response of the brain during trauma, but rely on information about the mechanical property changes due to injury. In this study, thirty adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were expos...

Acosta, Glen Howel. M.S., Purdue University, August, 2014. Susceptibility of Parkinson’s Disease Following Mild Blast Traumatic Brain Injury. Major Professor: Riyi Shi, M.D., Ph.D. Blast injury-induced neurotrauma (BINT) is steadily increasing in prevalence due to escalated terror activity and constitutes the signature injury associated with current military conflicts. BINT produces significant...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether hemostatic dexamethasone-loaded nanoparticles (hDNP) functionalized with a peptide that binds with activated platelets could reduce cellular injury and improve functional outcomes in a model of blast trauma. Functionalized nanoparticles, or synthetic platelets, offer a wide variety of benefits and advantages compared to alternatives, such as ...

Purpose The role of ear canal in transmitting blast waves to the brain is not clear. The goal of this work is to characterize the influence of ear canal on blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury through a computational approach. Methods A three-dimensional human head model with single-side ear canal details was reconstructed from computed tomography images. The ear canal was positioned eithe...

OF DISSERTATION BLAST-INDUCED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY: INFLUENCE OF SHOCKWAVE COMPONENTS Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been described as the defining injury of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Previously, most blast injury research has focused on the effects of blast on internal, gas filled organs due to their increased susceptibility. However, due to a ...