Even in infancy, babies with talkative mothers begin to develop better language skills than those whose mothers syay little. Under the right conditions, t-PA can significantly improve a stroke patient's chances for full recovery. Quitting protects your brain as well as your lungs. With quick intervention after trauma to the head or spinal cord, the nervous system can be protected from the deluge of nerve cell damage that continues for hours after the injury. Large doses of the drug methylprednisolone, given within six hours of injury to the spinal cord, can improve functional recovery by 20 percent.
Protective headgear decreases the chances of brain or spinal cord injury.
Research offers new hope for those struggling with addiction. In the laboratory, vaccines are showing how the body might be stimulated to produce antibodies that block the action of cocaine. New insights have proven that mental illness results not from weakness or lack of willpower, but from chemical imbalances within many levels of the brain. However, new medications such as Prozac for depression and risperidone for schizophrenia are very effective with minimal side effects. Researchers are investigating ways in which messages and sensations of pain are transmitted between brain and body.