Unpaid, unrecognized caregivers carrying the weight of our aging population.

Invisible Healthcare System Taking Toll on Canadian Caregivers

Over the past few months exciting research has been going on with regard to neurological conditions. As is the case in most of these studies, researchers are looking for people to interact with to gather important information. Some of you have already responded to the call from the fall; some of you have started the process and need to complete it; and others may have just overlooked it within our fast paced daily activities.
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Dear Colleagues,

It is with pleasure that we share with you the 2010 Federal Disability Report, released by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

The report can be accessed in HTML or PDF format.

Print and alternate formats (Large Print, Braille, Audio Cassette, Audio CD, e-Text Diskette, e-Text CD or DAISY) can be ordered by phone, TTY, fax, mail or online.

Phone: 1 800 O Canada (1 800 622 6232)
TTY: 1 800 926 9105.
Fax: 819-953-7260 (long distance charges will apply)
Mail: Publications Services, HRSDC, 140 Promenade du Portage, Phase IV, 12th Floor, Gatineau, QC, K1A 0J9
Online: http://www12.hrsdc.gc.ca

Kind regards,
The Office for Disability Issues

Monday, October 18, 2010
By Patrick J. Kennedy

Rhode Island is often touted as being perfectly sized to act as a laboratory to explore innovative ideas — an ideal incubator for drawing on individual institutions to push boundaries of science and technology that would otherwise be beyond their individual limits.

The Brown Institute for Brain Science drew experts from around America last Wednesday and Thursday to speak at a celebratory symposium, “The Future of the Brain.”

The symposium, celebrating a decade of exploring the human brain at Brown University, demonstrates yet again Rhode Island’s status as a leader in the emerging field of neuroscience.
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Food and Drugs Act Liaison Office – Report on Activities

Good day,

The Food and Drugs Act Liaison Office (FDALO) would like to inform you that it has recently posted its first Report on Activities on the Health Canada Web site. This report, covering our findings from March 2008-March 2010.

The Office was created to increase openness and transparency between the Department and stakeholders like you. We receive your complaints, concerns, or enquiries and work with you to resolve the issue in a confidential and impartial manner. We contribute to system-wide improvements to the regulatory processes by reporting on observations and trends. We welcome any feedback or questions you may have.

We appreciate your sharing this information with others who may be interested in our services and our findings.

Yours truly,
Serena Siqueira
Director

For more information about our program and services, please visit our Web page at http://www.healthcanada.gc.ca/fdalo or contact us:

E-mail: fdalo@hc-sc.gc.ca
Phone: 1-866-339-4998 (toll free), 613-957-4284 (National Capital Region)
Mail: A.L. 3807A, 275 Slater, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9

Attention All ABI Consumers – A Call for Volunteers

The Ontario Health Study is working on developing information on the aging brain after TBI.

Participation in Ontario Health Survey-Call for Volunteers

Thank You!

Sleep/Wake Disturbance Following Traumatic Brain Injury; Impact on Recovery of Cognitive-Communication Performance

Did you have a traumatic brain injury (TBI) 1 or more years ago? Since your injury do you have difficulty sleeping at night, or staying awake during the day?

Do you also have trouble concentrating or staying focused for periods of time, following conversations or remembering things you have done, heard or read? If so, you may be eligible for a research study.

A group of researchers from the University of Toronto are studying the impact of sleep problems on recovery from TBI, specifically in the areas of paying attention and concentrating, language processing (being able to listen to and follow conversation) and verbal memory (remembering information that you have heard, talked about or read).
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Dear BIAC:

We are currently looking for investigators interested in participating in a Phase II traumatic brain injury (TBI) study: I have included some information below:

1. The study was initiated a few months ago in the US and we are looking at adding 4-5 Canadian sites at Level I or II trauma centers.
2. The study sponsor is Neuren Pharmaceuticals, with the involvement of the US department of defense (DoD) and the Geneva foundation.

Physicians who may be interested in participating in this study PLEASE contact Ms. Fok? Your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Kind regards,
Leigh-Anne Fok
Clinical Research Associate
lfok@cato.com
Cato Recherche Canada / Cato Research Canada
9900, boulevard Cavendish, bureau 400
St-Laurent QC H4M 2V2
Téléphone / Telephone: (+1) 514-783-0840
Télécopie / Fax: (+1) 514-856-0100

Published: August 18th, 2010
AboutLawsuits.com

The findings of a new study suggest that Lou Gehrig may not have actually had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has become commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Instead the baseball legend may have been the victim of multiple traumatic head injuries, which could have led to a different condition that was mistaken for ALS.

The head trauma study (pdf), published in the September issue of the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, suggests that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports might cause a motor neuron disease. This disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), could be, and probably has been, mistaken for Lou Gehrig’s disease, scientists say.
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A report on collaboration from the Injury Alliance Collaborative Study Project
Final Report 15/06/2010
Prepared By: Philip Groff, Ph.D., Study Leader

Executive Summary
In January 2009, the Chief Staff Officers (CSO) from four national injury prevention organizations, Safe Communities Canada, Safe Kids Canada, SMARTRISK Foundation,
and ThinkFirst Canada, began meeting to discuss ways to work together collaboratively in order to advance their collective mission. On July 1, 2009, the Injury Alliance submitted a grant proposal to the Ontario Trillium Foundation and successfully secured $117,000 to conduct a six-month study to seek “a game changer” that would build their capacity as individual organizations to promote what works in preventing life-altering injuries and injury-related deaths.

To this end, the study was designed to examine how the four organizations might jointly identify, integrate, and approve shared initiatives in knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, fund development, and marketing―to speak with one voice. It was expected to produce recommendations that would assist each organization, in partnership with their natural allies, in increasing the awareness, understanding, and uptake among their respective target populations of what works to reduce the incidence and costs of preventable injury and death. Beginning in January 2010, some 40 volunteers and staff with a broad mix of expertise and experience comprised the four study groups, one dedicated to each of knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, fund development, and marketing.

The study groups each conducted a pair of teleconference meetings in January and February, as well as engaging in individual and joint consultation with their respective leaders throughout the winter of 2010. The four groups came together during the weekend of March 26-28, 2010, in Toronto, to finalize and present the recommendations each group developed.

Read the One Voice Safer Canada Report (pdf)