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Delighted to be hosting Prof Brad Kurowski @CincyChildrens who is presenting his research on #child #braininjury at the @exeterpsych Spring Seminar 
96.6% of #child #brainunjury are mild - Prof Brad Kurowski
Influences on recovery - individual factors (pre injury ability, genetics, sex, age)
Injury - severity/type/location
Environment - psychosocial (SES), family function, parenting styles
Medical interventions - actute, sub-acute, long-term
Therapies - exercise, PT, OT, SLT, behavioural, cognitive
Brad’s research programme: gene x environment interaction and systems biology (not one gene but a group of genes)
Dopamine pathways affected by TBI; variation in dopamine genes is associated with long-term recovery
But... gene x environment interaction over time - where certain genes were protective in adverse environments
With the support of an undergrad, Brad and his team looked at which genes are associated with clinical outcomes & biologic systems ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Instead of focusing on one gene can we find the genetic patterns and inform treatment and prognosis
In future - should we think about influence of genetics and environment on response to interventions?
Brad’s study - exercise after #mild #braininjury (started trial average 8-weeks after injury) showed improved recovery of prolonged symptoms - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2712029…
Next steps: determine optimal timing, intensity, & combination of treatments?
also biological correlates of symptom improvement following exercise - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2852066…
Brad’s study - Self-Monitoring Activity-regulation & Relaxation training (SMART) - web-based modules given on average 10-hours after #mild #braininjury - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
What do we need to move research forward? Strong clinical care & research infrastructure
Interdisciplinary teams
Complex interventions and consider influence of environmental factors
Understand individual variability - precision medicine
Brain injury recovery is a complex system - cellular, networks, experiential, social
Interventions might need to target all of these - frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
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