A team of Colorado State University researchers received more than $380,000 from the National Institutes of Health to examine methods that could improve the rehabilitation process for stroke survivors.
The project is a collaborative study between Dr. Matt Malcolm's NeuroRehabilitation Research Laboratory and Dr. Michael Thaut's Center for Biomedical Research in Music. Dr. Malcolm is a Department of Occupational Therapy professor. The department is in the College of Applied Human Sciences. Dr. Thaut is chair of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance in the College of Liberal Arts.
The BRAINSTIM Project will use magnetic stimulation to excite an area of the brain that controls voluntary movement. For 10 days, transcranial magnetic stimulation will be delivered to the stroke-damaged brain hemisphere. Following treatment, the participants will undergo rigorous therapy to redevelop voluntary movement in their stroke-affected arm. This therapy, known at constraint-induced therapy, involves restraining the individual's unaffected arm, which encourages them to use their stroke-affected limb.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Although nearly 5 million people in this country survive from a stroke, it sill remains the leading cause of disability. Currently, the project is seeking volunteers to participate in the study. For more information on the BRAINSTIM Project, visit the NeuroRehabilitation Research Laboratory Web site at www.cahs.colostate.edu/nrrl/.
Colorado State University scientists have been closely involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize announced Friday.
Thousands of scientists from across the globe were involved in the IPCC. At Colorado State University, Dr. David Randall, Atmospheric Science professor, served as a Coordinating Lead Author on a chapter on climate modeling in the final report issued earlier this year by the IPCC. Other CSU participants included Drs. Keith Paustian and Rich Conant with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, who served as lead authors on chapters for a carbon cycle report, commissioned to review the status of carbon cycle science knowledge and research. Also contributing from NREL was Dr. Stephen Ogle who served as a lead author on a chapter dealing with mitigation options in agriculture.
"I'm very pleased that IPCC received this honor," Dr. Randall said. "We're extremely happy about it. I think it's deserved by this enormous team of people of which I'm just one member."
He also commended participants at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and had high praise for NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory scientist Susan Solomon, who has co-chaired Working Group I of the IPCC.
"Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said of the IPCC in its announcement Friday.
