Sabatini and Associates, LLC

There is a potential new test for brain injuries currently in development.  Researchers are closing in on identifying biomarkers that would allow diagnosis of brain injuries with a simple blood test.  The biomarkers are proteins produced by an injured brain.  Such testing could allow for quicker diagnosis of a brain injury and quicker appropriate medical treatment.  For example, brain injury is not just an immediate injury.  It is a disease process that can last for days following the traumatic event.  During that time, a cascade of biomarker proteins are produced.  This suggests that the brain damage continues to take place.  If a simple blood test could result in an immediate diagnose, earlier medical intervention could prevent the additional brain damage from occurring.

Chris Henry, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver who died in a traffic accident last year, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a form of degenerative brain damage caused by multiple hits to the head — at the time of his death, according to scientists at the Brain Injury Research Institute, a research center affiliated with West Virginia University. Researchers have now discovered CTE in the brains of more than 50 deceased former athletes, including more than a dozen NFL and college players, pro wrestler Chris Benoit and NHL player Reggie Fleming. Repeated blows to the head are the only known cause of CTE, researchers say. Concussive hits can trigger a buildup of toxic tau protein within the brain, which in turn can create damaging tangles and threads in the neural fibers that connect brain tissue. Victims can lose control of their impulses, suffer depression and memory loss, and ultimately develop dementia.

Almost one year ago, an Air France jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.  Flight AF447  crashed on June 1, 2009 killing all 228 people onboard.  Efforts to locate the flight-data and cockpit voice recorders commenced shortly after the crash; however, to date, have not been discovered.  The digital devices do not float and are presumed to be resting somewhere in the ocean floor.  The digital devices do emit a signal, but the signal dies about 30 days after activation.  Lat year as the French Navy was looking for the black boxes, signals were detected by one of its submarines.  However, the French navy at that time could not determine whether the signals came from the black boxes.  Recently, the improved software was developed to better analyze the data and now it is believed that the signals detected do come from the black boxes.  This should prove to be a significant step in locating the black boxes.  It narrows the search area to roughly the size of Paris.  Locating and retrieving the black boxes is crucial to determine what caused this terrible aviation disaster.

Drivers of commercial trucks and buses are now prohibited from texting under federal guidelines. The federal regulation goes into effect immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, the Department of Transportation said in a news release.

In the wake of the tragic school bus accident, Connecticut is now considering passing a law requiring school bus passengers to wear seat belts. Currently, school buses are not required to even have seat belts for passengers. Only a handful of states have laws requiring seat belts in school buses. Wearing seat belts is a proven safety benefit. Seat belts should be mandatory in school buses.