News & Headlines

A single mild concussion while playing amateur sports does not lead to long-term cognitive decline a recent study has found. This conclusion may seem at odds with much research on head injury and concussion in sport. However, a closer look at the study shows its findings are not so different after all: experiencing repeated concussions is not a good thing.

A recent study found that despite a rise in mental health disorders among first responders, only 13% of front-line health care workers say they've received behavioral health services.

One of Australia's most decorated and longest serving military commanders has revealed he will donate his brain to research, as the Australian Defence Force grapples with the impact of blast exposure on soldiers' cognitive health. In the past two weeks, more than 200 current and former service personnel have pledged their brains to the Australian Veterans Brain Bank (AVBB), after the ABC reported growing evidence of a link between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) associated with blast exposure and poor mental health and suicide.

Researchers in Michigan State University's Department of Kinesiology found significant geographic variations in concussion diagnoses in United States emergency departments—with the highest rates in the South and lower rates in the Midwest and Northeast.

Study reveals that impaired brain clearance, indicated by larger perivascular space volume, may be the missing link between repetitive head impacts and cognitive decline in former American football players.

The Warrior Games have become a symbol of the military’s changing perceptions about who is fit to serve. Some of the athletes make it to the Paralympics, which start this week in Paris.

The U.S. FDA is ramping up its investigation of the clinical trials that tested an MDMA-based therapy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Food and Drug Administration investigators this week interviewed four people about the clinical trials sponsored by Lykos Therapeutics, the report said.

Proponents of psychedelic medicine had a setback this month. The federal Food and Drug Administration declined to approve a combination of talk therapy and MDMA, also known as ecstasy and “Molly,” as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. The application had been hailed as a potential milestone in the treatment of PTSD — and the broader field of psychedelic medicine. But the FDA said it needed more research.

Proteins left behind by COVID-19 long after initial infection can cause cortisol levels in the brain to plummet, inflame the nervous system and prime its immune cells to hyper-react when another stressor arises, according to new animal research by University of Colorado Boulder scientists. The study, published in the journal Brain Behavior and Immunity, sheds new light on what might underly the neurological symptoms of Long COVID, an intractable syndrome which impacts as many as 35% of those infected with the virus.

Some weapons used by the U.S. military are so powerful they can pose a threat to the people who fire them. When weapons are fired, an invisible blast wave travels through the brains of anyone nearby. Exposure to lots of these blasts over time – even low-level ones – has been shown to cause brain health problems for service members.

Many patients thought to be in vegetative or minimally conscious states may be capable of thought, researchers reported.

Young football players who sustained a head-to-ground concussion practicing or playing games on natural grass experienced more symptoms—and significantly higher severity—than those who suffered concussions on artificial turf, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found.