Category Archives: Government/Research

Hard Hats & Neural Nets: Scaffolding’s Life-or-Death Role

During severe weather at Utah’s RedWest music festival in October 2025, a 2’x12’ scaffolding board broke loose from a nearby construction site and struck 23-year-old Ava Ahlander, killing her instantly. This tragedy underscores construction scaffolding’s critical vulnerability—despite providing essential support for workers, these temporary structures can traumatically injure or turn deadly when they fail.

The stakes are staggering. “In 2023, 5,283 workers lost their lives. That means a worker dies every 99 minutes,” stated Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in December 2024. While that death rate is a conglomeration of all construction deaths, in 2022 alone, falls from elevation claimed 365 construction workers’ lives – additionally, it does not note the rate of disability.

Yet inside our skulls exists another type of scaffolding—neural networks that support brain function. Unlike construction platforms that can be dismantled and rebuilt, brain scaffolding faces unique repair challenges. Traumatic brain injury severely limits the brain’s natural regeneration capacity.

Now researchers are developing biodegradable polymer scaffolds seeded with neural progenitor cells to bridge the gap. These biological structures can reduce lesion volume, promote neurite outgrowth, and significantly improve motor function after brain injury. As noted in a June 2025 NIH-published study How neural stem cell therapy promotes brain repair after stroke, understanding how these stem cell grafts promote neural repair “remains incompletely understood.”

While construction scaffolding must be secured to prevent tragedy, our own scaffolding benefits from neuroplasticity—the remarkable ability to reorganize and heal.

UC/DVA Brain-Gut Study Results May Bring Relief

“Colorado researchers think they might be able to help veterans with traumatic brain injury and PTSD by improving the health of their gut microbiome,” reported Colorado Public Radio on November 9, 2025.

A University of Colorado School of Medicine study, focused on veterans who experience both brain injury symptoms and severe gastrointestinal distress, has just wrapped up. As Dr. Lisa Brenner, a clinical research psychologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the UC School of Medicine, and the lead researcher for this study, says, “One soldier I talked to started talking to me about how in addition to his brain injury symptoms, his guts hurt for several weeks after he was exposed to a blast.”

The research team used Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a specific probiotic strain designed to reduce inflammation and calm the body’s systems. Though full results with not be available until next year, researchers emphasize their focus on scientifically validated – single-strain probiotics rather than over-the-counter multi-strain products, ensuring precise treatment effects for veterans in need.

This targeted OTC approach could decrease TBI symptoms for all brain injury survivors.

Emotional Release with the Mocktail

America is now three days past the 2025 elections, the results of which may have either brought celebration or disappointment. Regardless, this weekend may be one of excess drinking of adult beverages. Before partaking, though, people with and without a brain injury should know the neurological facts of imbibing:

Alcohol attacks your brain in multiple ways.  A 2025 American Academy of Neurology study of 1,781 brain autopsies found heavy drinkers had 133% more brain lesions—damaged tissue that chokes off blood flow and causes memory problems.

Despite knowing that alcohol’s negative effects, a person may to choose to indulge in a social setting to release stress or to just “fit in” with the crowd. Those with brain injuries, though, often already have daily struggles in social skills (the words they communicate, intonation, voice volume, use of gestures, facial expressions, body positioning) and should be more cautious. Unlike the general public, for which the NIH-published scientific results are less clear, science has determined there’s no safe drinking level for those with brain injuries.  Many medications specifically state “no alcohol”.  Additionally, a 2025 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism review found TBI and alcohol create a synergistic effect—together they trigger far worse inflammation and damage than either alone.

What about wine’s “brain-cleaning” benefits? A 2025 Stanford research report debunked this theory, exposing that earlier studies suffered from selection bias when comparing moderate drinkers to “abstainers”. Apparently, these “abstainers” were often former heavy drinkers who had stop due to their failing health. When properly analyzed, the protective effects vanished. Even low alcohol doses damage DNA and disrupt brain signaling. 

The good news? Brain damage from alcohol abuse may reverse with abstinence, as nerve cells regenerate. Additionally, more alcohol-centric establishments now offer popular and tasty mocktails as an alternative.  

Gambling At Odds With Your Brain

Hollywood has long depicted the brutal consequences of gambling debt. In Casino, debtors are beaten with baseball bats and buried alive. Uncut Gems, a favorite of mine, shows Adam Sandler’s character shot in the face despite finally winning enough to pay everyone back. These fictional beatings causing head trauma mirrors a darker real-world cycle: brain injuries can themselves create devastating gambling vulnerabilities.

Gambling is legal and gambling establishments exist in 48 states and they are engineered to entice. Casinos use specific lighting, no clocks, free alcohol, and calculated rewards to keep people playing. Online gambling apps employ similar tactics through notifications, bonus offers, and easy one-click betting designed to override rational decision-making. These manipulative tactics can be especially perilous for brain injury survivors. A 2020 study found brain injury survivors face 2.8 times higher odds of developing gambling problems.

Traumatic brain injuries can affect the prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal regions. This can then cause behavioral changes by disrupting impulse control, creating powerful urges that override rational thinking and causing disinhibition. On August 8, 2025, the NIH published results of a study that found the dopamine system can also be dysregulated, driving brain injury survivors to seek the stimulation that gambling provides. A person with a brain injury may simply struggle to recognize they’re losing, calculate odds accurately, or stop when they should.

The consequences can be devastating. In one case, a construction worker who sustained a workplace head injury lost $80,000 at Las Vegas casinos within six months, unable to process his mounting losses due to impaired executive function. Thankfully, his family intervened before complete financial ruin.

Hope exists: There are support organizations, such as Gamblers Anonymous (https://gamblersanonymous.org/) which reports 50-70% sustained recovery rates. For those with brain injuries, overcoming this addiction may require both addiction and cognitive rehabilitation, but recovery is very possible.

Brain Injury in Blue

While citizen brain injuries from police interactions are prominent in the news, galvanizing the “Defund the Police” movement, they remain rare—occurring in just 0.36% of encounters according to 2024 data from one major US city. Officers face greater risks. Across the pond, a 2025 University of Exeter study highlighted the problem: “Police officers face twice the risk of traumatic brain injuries and PTSD.”  An August 2024 Ohio State University study found 30% of law enforcement officers are injured on duty. Reporting on this study, the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation May/June edition states that, “[Head injuries] are prevalent in LEOs, which may have consequences for their performance, well-being, and career longevity. PTSD and depressive symptoms are higher in those with a HI history, suggesting LEOs need better traumatic brain injury and mental health resources.”

For police officers, brain injuries are primarily sustained from assaults, vehicle crashes, and falls, and can have horrific outcomes. Ferguson, MO Officer Travis Brown exemplifies the danger of the myriad of anti-law enforcement protests: struck during a 2024 protest, he remained unable to walk or talk nearly a year later. Additionally, in a September 5, 2025 article, ‘Something Is Wrong With My Brain’, the New York Times reported on Brent Simpson, the first police officer known to have CTE.

Congress has responded with the TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act, signed into law in August 2024. Led by Rep. Don Bacon and the late Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, this legislation mandates CDC studies on first responder concussions and crisis intervention training, allotting $270 million over five years for training and research. Mick McHale, President, National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) said, in relation to protecting the police, “This legislation also recognizes that law enforcement and first responders are among those in our communities who suffer from these afflictions and requires the CDC to do a study on the prevalence of TBI and PTSD in the profession. We thank [senators] for championing this legislation and… [their] support of the law enforcement community.”

Thankfully, officers can and do protect themselves through ballistic helmets, baseline concussion testing, and return-to-duty protocols following head impacts. More so, additional research likely will be a benefit, assuming that it results in positive action.

Bringing Back the Scent to Recovery – 2

While some survivors lose their sense of smell completely, others experience something equally disturbing: smelling things that aren’t there. This phenomenon, called phantosmia, often involves putrid odors, such as “fecal-like, burned, chemical-like, or metallic” and may persist or come and go unpredictably, according to research published in The FASEB [Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology] Journal. One survivor who had been recovering from a TBI for two years shared in January 2024 that they developed a persistent smell of cigarette smoke that wouldn’t go away. Another person reported that after a concussion from a blackout, everything tasted and smelled like burnt plastic, profoundly affecting their quality of life and ability to work.

Distinct, but similar to phantosmia, is parosmia, which involves the distortion of smells and has been proved to be caused by many medical conditions, one of which is NIH-confirmed to be traumatic brain injury. As a NIH review states, “The condition was first documented in 1895 and can affect up to 5% of the general population.”

Bringing Back the Scent to Recovery – 1

The benefit of certain foods and smells is a subject I continue to explore, as it as an easy and pleasing treatment for those with neurological issues. It is much more complex, though, for the many brain-injured who may not be able to smell these fragrant odors or who smell odors that aren’t present. Today, I delve into these surprisingly common phenomenons:

When a traumatic brain injury damages the olfactory bulb and orbitofrontal cortex—the brain’s smell-processing centers—patients can lose their sense of smell entirely, a condition called anosmia. A July 2023 study published in the NIH’s Frontiers in Neurology found these problems are surprisingly common, reporting that it affects about 10% of those with mild cases to over 40% of those with severe injuries.

For the brain injured and all those who suffer from smell conditions, there is hope, though. About 30% of patients naturally regain some smell function 6 to 12 months after the injury. For the remaining 70%, the most promising treatment for smell conditions is olfactory training, where patients sniff specific scents like rose, eucalyptus, and lemon twice daily for at least six months – smells that I have previously reported as beneficial for the brain injured. NIH studies have examined this, finding that such enhanced training protocols show significantly greater improvements.

The Menopause-Brain Injury Connection Doctors Are Missing

Last week, new research was presented at The Menopause Society’s 2025 Annual Meeting that revealed menopause may significantly complicate brain injury recovery. The NIH-recognized organization further notes that current medical assessments completely miss this in evaluations. The problem? Standard tests ignore hormonal status, potentially delaying healing in millions of women.

As previously noted in two 2018 articles on this site, when estrogen and progesterone levels plummet during menopause, the brain loses critical protective shields. According to NIH data, these hormones normally work to fight inflammation, reduce brain swelling, and protect cells after injury. Without them, recovery becomes more challenging. More so, menopause symptoms, such as memory problems, headaches, and mood changes, exactly mirror those of brain injury, making diagnosis nearly impossible without hormone-specific assessments.

More recent NIH studies, though, also emphasize that it is very possible to protect yourself from menopause’s adverse effects. A 2024 report by the NIH National Institute on Aging, found that regular exercise (150 minutes weekly), a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fish and vegetables, quality sleep, and managing hot flashes all support brain resilience. Additionally, maintaining healthy blood pressure and preventing falls also becomes crucial during this vulnerable time of life. Most importantly, the Institute emphasizes the importance of having a conversation about your hormonal status with your doctors following a head injury. This simple action could transform your recovery.

Post-Traumatic Path to Communication

Research published in 2025 and found in the NIH database found that brain injury significantly impacts auditory function, with studies documenting outcomes ranging from normal hearing to complete deafness, with approximately 41% of cases involving sensorineural hearing loss. For those experiencing severe hearing impairment, sign language may become essential for communication.

However, learning sign language presents unique challenges for brain injury survivors. Since sign language requires visual—spatial processing, motor coordination, and sustained attention—which may all be affected by a brain injury—the learning curve can be steeper.

Despite these challenges, rehabilitation specialists emphasize that it is possible with individualized instruction that accounts for specific cognitive strengths and limitations. A BBC story from last week showcases a specific success story, quoting a patient, “Learning BSL has helped me say words that I cannot speak.”

(Note: Early intervention and patient-centered approaches maximize recovery outcomes.)

Widening Knowledge of Narrowing Cerebral Blood Vessels 

When blood vessels in the brain suddenly narrow – a condition called vasospasm—the consequences can be devastating. Vasospasm ranks among the leading causes of cerebral ischemia, in which there is a lack of blood flow to the brain. The effect of such a condition can be brain injury, particularly it may trigger a stroke. Statistically, about twenty to thirty percent of patients experiencing vasospasm develop delayed cerebral ischemia and infarction, even when narrowing occurs without trauma.

However, the relationship between vasospasm and brain injury is more complex than a simple ‘cause-and-effect’. A July 25, 2025 report from NIH-recognized source Journal of Intensive Medicine, and brought to my attention by an October 17 third party article, found that the post-traumatic vasospasm ranges from 19% – 68%, though many cases go undetected. “Post-traumatic vasospasm is often silent but dangerous,” explains the lead researcher. “Recognizing it early can help prevent secondary brain injury.”

A case documented in the NIH’s PubMed database illustrates both the danger and hope surrounding post-traumatic vasospasm. A 26-year-old man arrived at the hospital with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of just 4 – indicating severe brain injury – after a motor vehicle accident. He underwent emergency brain surgery for bleeding, but while recovering in the intensive care unit, he developed severe vasospasm. Medical monitoring revealed dangerous narrowing of his cerebral arteries. Over three separate days, physicians treated him with intra-arterial infusions of calcium channel blockers, which dramatically improved his arterial diameter by as much as 60%. After 22 days, the vasospasm resolved.

Federal researchers are making progress. A 2024 federally-funded study led by Dr. Rima Rindler at Emory University developed AI machine models that predicted which patients will develop vasospasms with 94% accuracy. Meanwhile, NIH-supported scientists are pioneering detection methods using transcranial ultrasound and biomarkers.

These advances offer hope that this complication may become routinely preventable, potentially saving thousands from permanent disability.