Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

James Giordano, Ph.D., is the Director of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Center for Neurotechnology Studies.  Dr. Giordano says with all the attention currently focused on the issue of traumatic brain injury (TBI), both among returning veterans and in the arena of sports, it's a good time to take a closer look at who's at risk for TBI, how we can lessen that risk, and how to provide better treatment to those who have experienced TBI.  Dr. Giordano says in many cases, signs of TBI can be subtle, and may not emerge for weeks or months following the injury. In addition, we're learning more about causes of TBI - which can occur even in cases where the patient has not suffered a blow directly to the head.  The good news, says Dr. Giordano, is that in recent years we've learned that the brain is not a static organ, and that it retains some ability to remodel and repair itself in our adult years.  Dr. Giordano says the challenge is to find treatments that are "technically right and ethically good" for patients who may face a difficult period of rehabilitation. Click below to see comments by Dr. Giordano on the subject of TBI.  

 

Col. Vince J. Goulding, USMC (Ret.) is the Director of the Experiment Division at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, Quantico, VA.  Col. Goulding is an expert on issues concerning Marine Corps experimentation and future force development.  In a recent issue of the Marine Corps Gazette, he outlines areas for enhancement of Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) operations.  Click below to read more.

President Obama is asking his war council for more options in Afghanistan, as deliberations over the way forward continue.  The current commander, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for thousands more troops. But the US ambassador to Afghanistan has publicly questioned that course of action.  Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Research Associate and counterterrorism expert Chris Brown argues that now is not the time to abandon a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan; Brown tells Hearst Television that more troops are essential to the mission. See a clip of his interview in the Hearst story here:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/21587806/index.html

 

        

In the October 2009 issue of Practical Pain Management, Drs. James Giordano and Anita Gupta consider the difficult question of whether pain is experienced by patients with severe neurological disorders, including those in a vegetative state, and how that pain should be treated. The authors write that a growing body of evidence suggests that these patients do experience pain on some level, although our understanding of the nature of that experience remains limited. As a result, they argue for a fresh look at clinical practice in dealing with these patients, including a reexamination of whether anesthesia should be provided to brain-injured patients undergoing invasive medical procedures.  Click below to read more.