After Canadian soldiers have suffered Afghan bombings and explosion, they now contribute in a couple of researches carried out in Western Canada. The research was conducted to find out how the brains of Canadian soldiers are affected by roadside bombings in the long run.

Dr. Robert Thirsk, who was a former Canadian astronaut, is now the vice-president of the Canadian Institute of Health Research. He said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan caused traumatic injuries in the brains of several Canadian soldiers. The impact of the blasts did not appear instantly.

It will take months after an incident of such bombing that soldiers will start suffer from neurological problems. They may also suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety. He said we need to respond strategically to the improvised weapons.

Dr. Yu Tian Wang from the Brain Research Center at the University of British Columbia has the responsibility of studying the biological changes which may occur at the cellular level of the brain after any injury caused by explosives. He was also looking after the effect of a drug in reducing the dysfunction and the death of brain cells after such an injury.

Dr. Wang informed there is a number of synaptic connections that get weakened during traumatic brain injuries. The information from a neuron to another gets slowed down. He cited the reason behind such an impact is the reduction of a particular protein in the memory surface. A peptide injection may provide protection for the brain cells before a blast happens. This can possibly repair damage of the brain cells if they are injected right after the explosion.

He said it would be even better if those injections were given even before the explosion. The rescue will become more dramatic if the injections are given early. They are in the process of finding out if the injections are given after the explosion. They are also trying to find out how long one may wait before getting injected after an explosion.

Source: CBC News