TORONTO - With the spotlight on concussion prevention as NHL teams officially take to the ice this week, Canadian researchers are unveiling a prototype brain-injury scanning device they hope will end up rinkside in coming seasons. The Halifax Consciousness Scanner, developed by Mindful Scientific Inc. in conjunction with scientists at the National Research Council of Canada, analyzes brainwaves to determine whether a player has suffered a concussion from a fall or hit to the head. But the device — a miniaturized form of EEG, or electroencephalogram — isnt intended only for NHL players, said Chris Barden, the companys chief operating officer. The scan could be employed at the sidelines of any high-impact sporting event, whether the players are children, amateurs or pros, as well as in hospital emergency rooms or at the site of a car crash involving a suspected head injury, he said. "Effectively, HCS acts as a kind of thermometer for brain status, so any situation where somebody might have suffered some kind of change in brain status could be a place where this would be useful," Barden said from Halifax. "And particularly, we think in the area of concussion, this could be useful because we could deploy it to the site of injury — to the hockey rink, to the soccer field, to airports — basically any public space where someone might hit their head and would like to be checked out." To measure brainwave activity, electrodes are placed on the persons head and various sounds are fed through earphones to elicit electrical activity in the brain. The scanner then analyzes brainwaves to determine whether they fall within normal parameters. Co-inventor Dr. Donald Weaver, a neurologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said the auditory stimuli could include a nonsense sentence such as "this pizza is much too hot to sing," which the brains of people without a concussion or other brain damage "would recognize as unusual." "And so if we had electrodes on your scalp, we would have picked up the signal where your brain went: What? That didnt make any sense," said Weaver, explaining that the device translates the brainwaves into a measure that shows how aware or conscious the person is. The scanner can be used even when someone is unconscious, including in a long-standing coma, he said. One advantage of the scanner is that it is cheat-proof, because it cant be manipulated as cognitive-behavioural tests for concussion can. "Take a pro football player, for instance," said Weaver. "They know that if they get hit on the head, theyre going to have conventional sorts of testing done on them to ascertain whether or not they have an injury. "What some of these players do before the season begins and the baselines are being done, they dont do so well," he said of cognitive tests that are used as a basis for comparison after a head injury. "The baseline is already affected, so if they get hit, theyre not so far off baseline. "Whereas with this test, the brains responses to sounds like "this pizza is too hot to sing," you cant fake your brains responses to that. Youve got no way of getting around this." The company hopes to begin marketing a commercial version of the scanner to hospitals by next year, once it receives approval from Health Canada, followed by a more miniaturized device for sports teams and other public use in 2013. The company expects the latter product to retail for under $500. "Were trying to make this user-friendly, so we dont want just wave patterns ... what we are aiming for is a red-light, amber-light, green-light system," said Weaver, noting that the test can be done in five minutes on the sidelines of a game to determine if a player can safely return to play. With lights as indicators, the decision would be easy for lay people without specific medical training — for instance, coaches of kids teams, he said. "Red light, youre not going back out. Green light, you can go back out. Amber light is we need to watch you a bit longer." Larry Zarins, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, welcomed the idea of an easy-to-use brain scanner. "Certainly anything that could identify a concussion quicker is a positive step in terms of identifying a brain injury and dealing with it in the appropriate manner, " he said from Ottawa. "I see a number of uses for it," including as a tool for paramedics at the site of a traffic accident or when a person has fallen or cracked their head on the street or in their home, Zarins said. "This would be the first line of defence — or offence — in identifying a brain injury, and then it could be followed up with (other tests)." Barden said scans have been done on about 100 subjects without a brain trauma to calibrate "normal" brainwave patterns, and studies are underway of people with various types of brain injuries for comparison. The idea is not only to identify an athlete who has a concussion so the persons brain can take the time needed to heal, but also to prevent a second complicating concussion from occurring by avoiding a precipitous return to play on the ice or field. "So instead of an individual saying, Yeah coach, Im OK, I can go back out, this would give a dispassionate verdict on that decision," said Weaver. "So having a powerful tool, which is rapid and easy to use, will definitively be a game-changer in trying to change how we approach and think about concussion. It will let us identify people earlier and therefore get them out, so they dont do the dangerous repeat concussions." cheap nfl jerseys . Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Rodgers was limited in practice Friday and has not yet been medically cleared to play as the former MVP continues his recovery from a fractured collarbone. cheap jerseys from china . You can see all the action on TSN2 beginning at 2:55pm et/11:55am pt. United and rival Manchester City are tied atop the table with 70 points. After todays match, both clubs have eight games remaining in the season. http://www.cheapjerseyssafe.com/ . Pau Gasol had 23 points and 17 rebounds, and injury-riddled Los Angeles used its sixth different starting point guard of the season in a 110-99 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night. cheap jerseys . Jair Jurrjens pitched six strong innings to become the first 10-game winner in the NL and the Braves had eight extra-base hits in a 10-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night. wholesale nfl jerseys . Then Baylors dual-threat quarterback tore the ACL in his right knee and missed the last nine games of the 2009 season. BARCELONA, Spain -- Lionel Messi scored four times to take his season tally to an unprecedented 72 goals and give Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola a 4-0 win over crosstown rival Espanyol in his last home game at Camp Nou Stadium on Saturday. Messis scoring display was a fitting farewell for the coach who helped the Argentina forward become the worlds best player and forged Barcelona into one of the best teams to have played football. After scoring his Spanish league-record 50th goal late on, Messi went to the sideline to embrace Guardiola, who is leaving after 13 titles in four seasons. The only other player to have scored 70 goals in a first-division season was Archie Stark of Bethlehem Steel in the American Soccer League in 1924-25. Real Madrid, which clinched the league title in the last round, won 2-1 at Granada thanks to Cristiano Ronaldos 45th league goal and David Cortes own goal in stoppage time. "Life has given me this gift during the past five years of being able to live with these players and enjoy this spectacle," Guardiola told the packed stands following his 97th win in 118 home games. "I have been the privileged one, to feel so loved and admired during all these years. Many thanks to all, above all to those who I have worked with every day." Guardiola will coach Barcelonas last league game at Real Betis before having a chance at a 14th piece of silverware in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao. Guardiolas assistant Tito Vilanova will then take over. The stands were full of posters and signs in Guardiolas honour and a banner saying "Thanks Pep" hung on the outside of the stadium to greet the departing manager on arrival. When Guardiola came out of the tunnel he was met by another enormous banner saying "We love you Pep!" and chants from the 89,044 fans. Messi put Barcelona in front in the 12th with a free kick, his curling delivery slightly grazing the defensive wall before finding the side of the net. Barcelonas all-time leading scorer made it 2-0 in the 64th when Cristian Gomez handled a ball he had tried to flip by the defender. Messi, who missed a critical penalty in Barcelonas elimination by Chelsea from the Champions League, stroked an unreachable strike off the inside of the post and into the back of the net. ";Messi deservedly captured all the spotlights tonight," Guardiola said.dddddddddddd "I hope that in the future he continues to play as well. He undoubtedly helped me a lot as a coach." With the result beyond doubt, the game turned into a party for the Catalan club, and it ended with a homage to its most successful manager ever. Messi added another by racing onto a long pass and firing a left-footed shot by the goalkeeper in the 75th, and he scored another penalty in the 80th. This is the second time Guardiola has said goodbye to Barcelona. But his exit in 2001 after 11 seasons as a midfielder was not given special treatment from his boyhood club. The contrast with now could not have been starker. After the final whistle the club played a video in Guardiolas honour with the highlights of his coaching career, which included two Champions League titles and three Spanish league crowns. The former Barcelona midfielder then danced with his team in a circle in the middle of the pitch. "Know that I will miss you all," Guardiola told the crowd. "But I am leaving you all in the good hands of these players." In Granada, Madrid fell behind early after Franco Jara robbed Marcelo of the ball, charged up the field and shot under the legs of Madrid goalkeeper Adan Garrido, playing in place of Iker Casillas. But Ronaldo converted a penalty in the 82nd and Cortes turned a cross into his own goal three minutes into injury time. Madrid has 97 points and can set a league record with 100 points with a win over Mallorca in the final round. Elsewhere, Valencia beat Villarreal 1-0 to clinch third place for the third straight season and automatically qualify for next seasons Champions league. Atletico Madrid beat fourth-place Malaga 2-1, giving it a shot at overtaking the Costa del Sol club in the final round and claiming Spains last Champions League playoff spot. The race to avoid the drop could not be tighter after Zaragoza downed the already-relegated Racing Santander 2-1 and Sporting Gijon beat Betis 1-0. Second-to-last place Sporting has 37 points. Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano both have 40, while Villarreal has 41 and Granada 42. Also, it was: Mallorca 1, Levante 0; Athletic Bilbao 0, Getafe 0; Sevilla 5, Rayo Vallecano 2; and Osasuna 1, Real Sociedad 0. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '