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Aim: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality of both young adults and the elderly, and is a key contributing factor in about 30% of all injury‐associated deaths occurring within the United States of America. Albeit substantial impact has been made to improve our comprehension of the mechanisms that underpin the primary and secondary injury stages initiated by a TBI incident, this knowledge has yet to successfully translate into the development of an effective TBI pharmacological treatment. Developing consent suggests that a TBI can concomitantly trigger multiple TBI‐linked cascades that then progress in parallel and, if correct, the multifactorial nature of TBI would make the discovery of a single effective mechanism‐targeted drug unlikely. Discussion: We review recent data indicating that the small molecular weight drug (−)‐phenserine tartrate (PhenT), originally developed for Alzheimer's disease (AD), effectively inhibits a broad range of mechanisms pertinent to mild (m) and moderate (mod)TBI, which in combination underpin the ensuing cognitive and motor impairments. In cellular and animal models at clinically translatable doses, PhenT mitigated mTBI‐ and modTBI‐induced programmed neuronal cell death (PNCD), oxidative stress, glutamate excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and effectively reversed injury‐induced gene pathways leading to chronic neurodegeneration. In addition to proving efficacious in well‐characterized animal TBI models, significantly mitigating cognitive and motor impairments, the drug also has demonstrated neuroprotective actions against ischemic stroke and the organophosphorus nerve agent and chemical weapon, soman. Conclusion: In the light of its tolerability in AD clinical trials, PhenT is an agent that can be fast‐tracked for evaluation in not only civilian TBI, but also as a potentially protective agent in battlefield conditions where TBI and chemical weapon exposure are increasingly jointly occurring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study developed standardized vignettes that depict a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) from one of several causes and subjected them to formal expert review. Method: A base vignette was developed using the World Health Organization operational criteria for mild TBI. Eight specific causes (e.g. sport vs assault) were examined. A convenience sample of mild TBI experts with a discipline background of Neuropsychology from North America, Australasia and Europe (n= 21) used an online survey to evaluate the vignettes and rated the role of cause on outcome. Results: The vignette suite was rated as fitting the mild TBI WHO operational diagnostic criteria at least moderately well. When compared to other factors, cause was not rated as significantly contributing to outcome. When evaluated in isolation, approximately half of the sample rated cause as important or very important and at least two of three clinical outcomes were associated with a different cause. Discussion: The vignettes may be useful in experimental mild TBI research. They enable the injury parameters to be controlled so that the effects of cause can be isolated and examined empirically. Such studies should advance understanding of the role of this factor in mild TBI outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]