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dance teams to take the national spotlight doing a routine with music
sensation Ludacris. In 2007 Briana became the new spokesperson for
Overstock.com. Her television commercials and print ads have been
seen around the world.
In 2014 she graduated Cum Laude from California State University
San Marcos with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Justice
Studies. In that same year Briana married and embraces the life of an
unconventional homemaker.
Briana wrote her incredible first book,
Dance Anyway,
to help
others overcome life’s obstacles. She is currently working on her
second book about humorous anecdotes when faced with adversity.
Some of her humorous stories can be found on her blog
High Heels
and Wheelchair Wheels.
Recently, Briana became an advisory board
member for
The Hub
magazine and is a part time column writer for
the magazine as well.
Briana is currently speaking to people all over the country sharing
her contagious and inspiring courage with thousands - teaching ev-
eryone the principle - no matter what life throws at you – you can
choose to
dance anyway!
Keywords: Perseverance, Personal Attitude, Overcoming Adver-
sity, Courage, Goal Setting, Humorous Anecdotes
PL04-02
RECOVERY FROM SEVERE TBI: PATIENT PERSPECTIVE
Kia Shahlaie
, Cathy Liu
University of California, Davis, Neurological Surgery, Sacramento,
USA
We present the story of a young woman that sustained severe TBI
after being struck by a vehicle while jogging. We review her com-
plicated clinical course, which included multiple operations and in-
travascular therapies for vasospasm. After a brief clinical presentation
by her treating neurosurgeon, the patient will discuss her personal
journey of survival, rehabilitation, and recovery.
Keywords: TBI, vasospasm, neurocritical care, rehabilitation
PL05 Neuroimaging of Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
PL05-01
NEUROIMAGING CORRELATES OF REPETITIVE LOW-
LEVEL BLAST EXPOSURE IN MILITARY SERVICE MEM-
BERS
James Stone
University of Virginia, Radiology and Medical Imaging, Charlottes-
ville, USA
Military service members may undergo blast exposure in a variety of
settings, ranging from occupational, repetitive low level exposure to
higher levels associated with a traumatic event. Concern exists that
traumatic brain injury (TBI) may result from repetitive, low-level
blast exposure that occurs in an occupational setting. The current
presentation will review studies conducted to date on dynamic entry
personnel/breachers, with varying lifetime exposures to blast, with an
emphasis on neuroimaging observations.
Dynamic entry personnel have undergone neuroimaging assessments
in three distinct studies to date, including: (i) students and instructors at
the Dynamic Entry School in Quantico, Virginia, (ii) special operations
personnel from the New Zealand Defence Force in Auckland, New
Zealand, and (iii) experienced breachers from multiple United States
locations, assessed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.
Across these studies, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and 3D-T1
weighted sequences were acquired for white and gray matter analyses.
Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs) was used for subject proces-
sing. White matter labels were provided by the JHU tractography atlas.
Cortical thickness maps were generated using ANTs pipeline. ROI-
based regression analysis was employed using ANTsR-a data analysis
interface between the statistical project R and ANTs. Student t-tests
were performed between groups using multiple testing FDR correction.
Similar analyses were carried out for cortical thickness maps. Changes
in cortical thickness and DTI measures were seen across conducted
studies with decreasing cortical thickness measures and white matter
fractional anisotropy values observed that were correlated with length of
service and independent of age-related changes. Personnel trained to
perform breaching maneuvers may be exposed to hundreds of blast
events during their career. Ongoing studies will continue to assess
whether cumulative changes are seen in the brains of individuals with
occupational repetitive low-level blast exposure and will seek to un-
derstand the clinical significance of observed differences.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by: (i) the Defense Health Program
through the USAMRAA Grant Number W81XWH-09-2-0055; (ii)
USUHS award HU0001-08-1-0001; (iii) NINDS intramural funding;
(iv) CNRM intramural funding.
Keywords: neuroimaging, diffusion tensor imaging, blast, military,
subconcussive
PL05-02
NEUROIMAGING OF BOXERS
Barry Jordan
Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Clinical Neurology, White Plains, USA
Traditional structural neuroimaging such computed tomography (CT)
and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilized to assess chronic
brain injury in boxers typically demonstrate non-specific changes
including diffuse atrophy, ventricular dilatation, cavum septum pel-
lucidum (CSP) and white matter changes. Volumetric MRI has been
noted to reveal lower brain volumes, in particular involving the
amygdala, caudate and thalamus. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has
identified decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the corpus callosum
and internal capsule consistent with decreased white matter tract in-
tegrity. Functional neuroimaging may also be useful in identifying
neuroradiological evidence of chronic exposure to repetitive trauma.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning
may demonstrate decreased perfusion primarily in the frontal and
temporal lobes. Qualitative analysis of glucose positron emission to-
mography (PET) scans may reveal hypometabolism in the bilateral
medial temporal and parietal lobes similar to the abnormalities rec-
ognized in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Quantitative analysis of these
scans has noted decreased glucose metabolism in the bilateral poste-
rior parietal lobes extending to the occipital lobes, bilateral frontal
lobes and bilateral cerebellar hemispheres. Furthermore glucose hy-
pometabolism has been reported in the posterior cingulate, another
finding consistent with what is observed in AD. Molecular neuroi-
maging such as amyloid and tau PET scans may hold promise in the
future in identifying athletes with chronic traumatic brain injury.
Alzheimer’s disease.
Keywords: Chronic traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease,
Positron emission tomography (PET), Magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI),
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