Mechanisms of Secondary Brain Damage from Trauma and Ischemia Recent Advances of our Understanding

Secondary brain damage — the basic sciences.- Knowledge matters.- Gene profiling — chances and challenges.- Role of mitochondrial proteins for neuronal cell death after focal cerebral ischemia.- Signalling mechanisms for survival of lesioned motoneurons.- Genetically modified animals in molecular stroke research.- Progress in the understanding of brain injury from ischemia.- The Janus face of inflammation in ischemic brain injury.- The natural course of lesion development in brain ischemia.- Pharmalogical preconditioning in global cerebral ischemia.- Traumatic brain and spinal cordinjury — the experimental approach.- The role of inflammatory processes in the pathophysiology and treatment of brain and spinal cord trauma.- L-type calcium channel antagonist nifedipine reduces neurofilament restitution following traumatic optic nerve injury.- Neuronal activity and cortical perfusion determined by quantitative EEG analysis and laser Doppler flowmetry are uncoupled in brain injured rats.- Glial scar and axonal regeneration in the CNS: lessons from GFAP and vimentin transgenic mice.- Traumatic brain and spinal cord injury — clinical progress including treatment.- Recovery from spinal cord injury — underlying mechanisms and efficacy of rehabilitation.- Lessons from epidemiologic studies in clinical trials of traumatic brain injury.- The MRC CRASH trial — a large, simple randomised trial of steroids in head injury.- Clinical trials in traumatic brain injury: current problems and future solutions.- Prospective documentation and analysis of the pre- and early clinical management in severe head injury in Southern Bavaria at a population based level.- Author Index.- Index of Keywords.