Background:The perception high school athletes have regarding concussions may influence their injury-reporting behavior, and if their perceptions are based on incorrect or incomplete information, they may be at risk for subsequent head injuries.Purpose:To determine whether the recent influx of concussion information has had a positive impact on high school athletes’ knowledge of concussions, to determine their perceptions regarding the severity of a concussion injury, and to determine whether receiving correct information will potentially alter their future reporting behavior.Study Design:Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 4.Methods:A total of 454 high school athletes (212 females, 242 males; mean age, 15.7 ± 1.15 years) from 6 different schools participated in an anonymous survey. The researchers met with teams individually at their high schools to collect data and provide an educational intervention regarding sports-related concussions. The survey questions assessed the athletes’ personal injury histories and perceptions and knowledge of the severity of concussion injuries.Results:There was a difference in the number of athletes who reported having their “bell rung” (n = 297) versus the number of athletes reporting at least 1 concussion (n = 172) (t (453) = −11.60, P = .000, d = −0.54). There was also a difference in the number of athletes who reported a history of at least 1 concussion at the beginning of the study session (n = 172) versus the number of athletes who reported at least 1 concussion at the end of the session (n = 292) (t (453) = −12.018, P = .000, d = 0.732). Fifty percent of athletes also stated that the importance of a game/event should dictate when they return to play.Conclusion:High school athletes continue to fail to realize when they have sustained a concussion. Additionally, athletes lack understanding regarding the severity and seriousness of a concussion. A better effort at formalized education must be made if the culture of sports is to change.Clinical Relevance:Allied health care professionals need to continue to put forth a great effort in educating all student athletes on what a concussion is and the dangers of a concussion injury. Preseason meetings should be used as an opportunity to provide formalized education to all student athletes.

Brain injury is the main cause of mortality and morbidity after cardiac arrest (CA). Changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) after reperfusion are associated with brain injury and recovery. To characterize the relative CBF (rCBF) after CA, 14 rats underwent 7 min asphyxia-CA and were randomly treated with 6 h post-resuscitation normothermic (36.5-37.5℃) or hypothermic- (32-34℃) targeted temperature management (TTM) (N = 7). rCBF was monitored by a laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) technique. Brain recovery was evaluated by neurologic deficit score (NDS) and quantitative EEG - information quantity (qEEG-IQ). There were regional differences in rCBF among veins of distinct cerebral areas and heterogeneous responses among the three components of the vascular system. Hypothermia immediately following return of spontaneous circulation led to a longer hyperemia duration (19.7 ± 1.8 vs. 12.7 ± 0.8 min, p < 0.01), a lower rCBF (0.73 ± 0.01 vs. 0.79 ± 0.01; p < 0.001) at the hypoperfusion phase, a better NDS (median [25th-75th], 74 [61-77] vs. 49 [40-77], p < 0.01), and a higher qEEG-IQ (0.94 ± 0.02 vs. 0.77 ± 0.02, p < 0.001) compared with normothermic TTM. High resolution LSCI technique demonstrated hypothermic TTM extends hyperemia duration, delays onset of hypoperfusion phase and lowered rCBF, which is associated with early restoration of electrophysiological recovery and improved functional outcome after CA.

Background Brain recovery after cardiac arrest (CA) is sensitive to temperature. Yet the effect of temperature management on different EEG frequency bands has not been elucidated. A novel quantitative EEG algorithm, sub-band information quantity (SIQ), was applied to evaluate EEG recovery and outcomes after CA. Methods 24 Wistar rats undergoing 7-min CA were randomly assigned to immediate hypothermia (32–34°C), normothermia (36.5–37.5°C), or hyperthermia (38.5–39.5°C) (N=8). EEG was recorded continuously for the first 8 hrs and then for serial 30-min epochs daily. The Neurologic Deficit score (NDS) at 72-hr was the primary functional outcome. Another 4 rats without brain injury were added as a control. Results Better recovery of gamma-band SIQ was found in the hypothermia group (0.60±0.03) compared with the normothermia group (0.40±0.03) (p<0.01) and in the normothermia group compared with the hyperthermia group (0.34±0.03) (p<0.05). The NDS was also improved in the lower temperature groups: hypothermia [median (25th, 75th), 74 (61, 74)] versus normothermia [49 (47, 61)] versus hyperthermia [43 (0, 50)] (p<0.01). Throughout the 72-hr experiment, the gamma-band SIQ showed the strongest correlation at every time point (ranging 0.520–0.788 from 30-min to 72-hr post-resuscitation, all p<0.05) whereas the delta-band SIQ had poor correlation with the 72-hr NDS. No significant difference of subband EEG was found with temperature manipulation alone. Conclusions Recovery of gamma-band SIQ-qEEG was strongly associated with functional outcomes after CA. Induced hypothermia was associated with faster recovery of gamma-band SIQ and improved functional outcomes. Targeted temperature management primarily affected gamma frequency oscillations but not delta rhythm.