The Insurance Commission of Western Australia partners with the Neurotrauma Research Program (NRP) to find innovative solutions to rehabilitation and care challenges faced by people with catastrophic injuries from vehicle crashes and workplace accidents.
Projects funded by the Insurance Commission are as follows:
Difficulties regulating emotions are commonly reported as a consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI). These difficulties can have substantial, long-term negative impacts on relationships, return-to-work, and wellbeing, and can hamper rehabilitation. Currently, interventions targeting emotion regulation difficulties after ABI are limited by a lack of theoretical grounding and failure to address key elements of the process of emotion regulation that are important for adaptive emotional responses. This leaves a considerable gap in the provision of care. This project will pilot a group intervention adapted from an existing manualised program aimed at improving emotion regulation after ABI, incorporating sessions for support-persons.
Loss of neurons and networks after neurotrauma is considered irreversible, leading to significant functional impairment. Most therapies trialed for spinal cord injury (SCI) in humans have met with little or no success. The potential of generating new neurons to replace dead ones, and potentially initiate some form of circuit reconstruction, is a holy grail of restorative neurology, with obvious potential benefit to patients. In vivo reprogramming in the spinal cord is a new technology, but holds great promise. We are currently investigating this approach to treat spinal cord stroke. We will extend these studies to clinically relevant models of SCI.
Emeritus Professor Alan Harvey
and Associate Professor Stuart Hodgetts
Following spinal cord injury (SCI), urinary tract infection (UTI) is common and debilitating, often leading to long-term urological problems. Our recent WA inpatient cohort study showed that shorter time to first infection was the single predictor of higher UTI rates. There are currently no evidence-based interventions to prevent early UTI and antibiotic prophylaxis is not advisable. iAluRil® has shown some promise, but has only been studied in chronic SCI. We propose testing the safety and feasibility of iAluRil®, a glycosaminoglycan that normally forms a protective lining on the inside of the bladder but which breaks down rapidly after spinal cord injury. Time to first UTI and UTI incidence will be assessed to indicate whether iAluRil® improves outcomes.
Update 2022: “Intravesical hyaluronic acid with chondroitin sulphate to prevent urinary tract infection after spinal cord injury”, published in the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, as a result of this study.
Professor Sarah Dunlop &
The SCI & Bladder Research Group
Experimental studies aimed at recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury (SCI) often attempt to reduce injury effects and promote axonal plasticity by delivering agents at/into the injury site. Previously we have used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to induce cortical plasticity in the brain resulting in moderate improvements in functional recovery of the affected forelimbs after cervical SCI in rats. Here we will reinforce or strengthen such plasticity related effects by using rTMS at the same time as specific and relevant training protocols to further enhance altered excitability in motor/sensorimotor cortex, producing even greater functional forelimb improvements.
Associate Professor Jennifer Rodger &
The Rodger Research Team
Gait is the primary motor function that enables mobility and independent living amongst stroke patients and is a prioritized focus of many rehabilitation programs. Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) is a clinically proven therapy that exploits music’s influence on motor control. Over the last 12 months, through NRP funding, we have developed a tailored music and real-time feedback system based on mobile technology (GotRhythm). The system has been adapted to include gait through the development of wireless plantar pressure sensors. Here, we aim to test the efficacy of the gait system within GotRhythm to improve stroke patients’ neurological and functional outcomes.
Associate Professor Michael Rosenberg
Using neuronal cultures we have recently demonstrated arginine-rich peptides are highly neuroprotective against excitotoxicity, which following neurotrauma (hereafter refers to global cerebral ischaemia, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury) is arguably the most important and profound secondary central nervous system damaging processes. Moreover, we have also demonstrated that arginine-rich peptides can reduce ischaemic brain injury following stroke in rats. Together our findings are highly significant as brain ischaemia shares many of the neuro-damaging events associated with neurotrauma including excitotoxicity. In this project, we aim to further assess the therapeutic potential of arginine-rich peptides to reduce brain damage in neurotrauma.
Adjunct Associate Professor Bruno Meloni &
The Bruno Meloni Experimental Stroke Research Group