I have learned great amount of information on concussion after reading the article of “The young brain and concussion: Imaging as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis” and had group discussions in our neurochemistry class. I had almost no information on concussion and its consequences. This article is a great source to obtain general information of what is concussion, and impacts of concussion on the brain in short and long term.
Changes in the brain after concussion, diagnosis, treatment, and current science on concussion: 
Concussion causes alterations in the regions of the brain which in return impacts our behavior and perceptions of events happening in our body and in our environment. When concussion happens, it causes parts of the brain cells (neurons) to get injured and my die off. This is when the long term effects of concussion occurs. There is not a very in depth and well known scientific knowledge on pathophysiology (the functional changes associated with or resulting form) of concussion. This makes the treatment and diagnostic processes difficult. The techniques of imaging concussion’s effects on the brain are costly and most people might not afford it. Based on our group discussion on the topic, the insurance agencies do not cover the cost of these diagnostic measures. Some of the techniques also uses radiation which is not safe for us to use it often, in case of having second or third concussion especially for people who play sports like football. Since there is no well understanding of how and why the functional changes in the brain after concussion occurs, the treatment of concussion is not very well developed either. Treatment options might even make further functional changes in the brain.
Increasing awareness about concussion and its consequences to the best of our knowledge is the best method to approach concussion: Football is very important in American culture and the “hitting” part of it is what people enjoy. This is what causes concussion. As we discussed in our class, it is not easy to change a culture, but it is very crucial to raise awareness and educate public on concussion. We spoke about whether to change some rules in sports like football which might lead to less head injuries or develop more protective equipment. Since football has a very deep root in American culture, it would be difficult to convince people to make football safer by changing some rules. At the same time, it might cause players to hit harder if they wear protective equipment. The best conclusion we came up with was the fact that people do not know a lot about concussion, and educating them, and raising awareness would be the best possible solution at this time. It is very important to increase information of people on concussion so they take better care of their children or themselves who are playing some sports like football. This is because the impact of concussion is not the same for everyone, and its “healing” process also varies person to person. This is not for football, any sport or activity in which we hurt our head can cause concussion. I think it is important to increase public awareness because this is the secret to make informed and responsible decisions.