Category Archives: Government/Research

Government Moves Regeneration to the FRONT

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has unveiled its transformative Functional Repair of Neocortical Tissue (FRONT) program, a bold five-year initiative aimed at developing curative therapies for millions of Americans suffering from chronic brain damage. This groundbreaking program positions the United States as the global leader in brain repair technology.

Under the current leadership in Washington, FRONT addresses one of America’s most pressing health challenges. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill emphasized the program’s potential to “deploy regenerative medicine to transform the treatment of neurological diseases and relieve the suffering” of millions affected by strokes and traumatic brain injuries.

The program targets the neocortex, the brain’s largest region responsible for sensory perception, motor control, and higher cognitive functions. Currently, damage from stroke, trauma, or neurodegeneration leaves patients dependent on costly, limited therapies. FRONT aims to revolutionize treatment by using cutting-edge stem cell technology to regenerate brain tissue and restore lost functions.

“This will enable millions of individuals with what is currently considered permanent brain damage to regain lost functions, such as motor control, vision, and speech,” said FRONT Program Manager Jean Hebert, Ph.D.

The economic impact is remarkable. Brain damage costs the U.S. healthcare system over a trillion dollars annually, while FRONT is projected to save approximately $800 billion annually and recover lost taxable income from affected individuals.

The program prioritizes veteran support, targeting traumatic brain injuries—a leading cause of military disability. FRONT will use exclusively adult-derived dedifferentiated stem cells, ensuring ethical development while maintaining scientific rigor.

ARPA-H is soliciting proposals through September 25, 2025, focusing on graft tissue generation and engraftment procedures. With strict performance metrics designed to prepare for human clinical trials, FRONT offers unprecedented hope to over 20 million Americans with chronic neocortical brain damage and their families.

(For more information, visit the FRONT program page: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/front)

MO Brings Oxygen into TBI Recovery

Missouri has demonstrated remarkable commitment to our veterans with the ratification of SB 664 on July 14, 2025.  The “Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment and Recovery Act,” was passed with overwhelming support of 33-0 in the Senate and 156-1 in the House. Governor Mike Kehoe signed this groundbreaking legislation on Monday, establishing a fund to reimburse Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) facilities treating veterans with TBI or PTSD, recognizing the treatment’s potential to combat veteran suicide and opioid addiction. The initiative represents a projected investment exceeding $5 million annually, underscoring the state’s confidence in this therapeutic approach.

HBOT works by delivering 100% oxygen in pressurized chambers at 1.4-3 times normal atmospheric pressure, dramatically increasing oxygen delivery to damaged brain tissues. Advocates report that this treatment “stimulates brain wound healing and can reverse soft tissue and neurocognitive damage” without requiring invasive surgery or pharmaceutical interventions. Patients can “experience recovery of cognitive and neurological functioning” through this non-invasive approach.

Clinical research has yielded encouraging results across multiple studies. For moderate-to-severe TBI cases, several high-quality studies demonstrated statistically significant improvements in consciousness recovery compared to standard care alone. Research has consistently shown better Glasgow Outcome Scale scores and reduced mortality rates in HBOT treatment groups. A comprehensive 2016 review highlighted that “most successes occurred within hours after TBI,” emphasizing the importance of early intervention. Particularly compelling evidence comes from pediatric research, where a study of 56 children with severe TBI found that HBOT “significantly improved quality of life and reduced complications” compared to control groups. Additional research involving 56 patients showed “significant improvement in symptoms and increased brain activity” measurable through SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) brain imaging.

The treatment maintains a generally acceptable safety profile, with most side effects being minor and temporary, including ear discomfort, headaches, and fatigue. Serious adverse events remain rare when HBOT is properly administered. This positive safety record, combined with growing clinical evidence and strong legislative support, has led some VA facilities to begin offering HBOT treatment to veterans, representing an important step toward broader acceptance of this promising therapeutic intervention.

Pandemic Accountability

About seven months ago, the U.S. government declared the COVID pandemic “over”.  As part of going forward, on May 9th, 2023, President Biden signed an Executive Order titled, “Moving Beyond COVID-⁠19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers.”  Federal workers previously were required to get the COVID vaccine.  Currently, the vast majority of Americans walk in public without masks or fear.  However, the repercussions of government policies, actions and opinions about COVID-19 linger for some Americans.

Millions of people, in America and beyond, were initially eager to receive the vaccine shot, after their lives had been essentially halted for months due to the unforeseen COVID virus.  Before taking the jab, neither American citizens nor the government had information regarding its long-term effects. Soon after, though, we all became better educated on the topic.  “It was like playing Russian roulette,” said a father about the COVID-19 vaccine.  His previously healthy son died after receiving a dose of the Pfizer vaccine in April 2021.  In Louisiana, another such calamity occurred, this time with the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine.  The healthy 16-year-old woman who received the vaccine shot in April 2021 was left with a brain injury.  “Now, after three brain surgeries and thousands of hours of physical therapy, she struggles to walk, write, and care for herself,” says the lawsuit, filed in Louisiana, about the vaccine’s lifelong consequences for this woman. 

Last year, the federal government even acknowledged the connection between COVID vaccines and brain damage, noting that, “There is a greater than expected occurrence of severe neurological adverse events…following different kinds of COVID-19 vaccinations,” in the aptly titled 2022 report, Neurological Complications Following COVID-19 Vaccination.   Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and others considered to be Big Pharma cannot, under law, be sued for these outcomes and, ultimately, Big Pharma did not mandate the vaccine – that was the purview of the federal and state governments, as well as various individual organizations.  While negative outcomes from the COVID vaccine were rare, they occurred and someone should be held accountable.         

NOTE: Though I penned this article months ago, I never posted it on my site.  If more up-to-date information is available, related specifically to this topic, please comment below.

Update: Have a TBI?  Find out anytime, anyplace.

Researching for TBI-related news today brought me to an article that was just released hours ago and focused on a topic I previously posted about in 2017: “The DoD has granted $11.3 million to Abbott Laboratories for the development of a mobile device that allows one to determine if they have a traumatic brain injury, anytime and anyplace.”  The portable blood test, which should be administered within 12 hours of potential brain injury, detects certain biomarkers in the blood that indicate a brain injury.  In March 2023, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration finally approved the Abbott’s Alinity i-Stat laboratory device for commercial use.  Soon, it appears, this blood test will be available to athletes, soldiers, and others at medical centers throughout the country.   

Excuse or Legitimate Condition? Time Blindness after TBI

If a family member told you that they may be late for your wedding because they suffer from time blindness, I believe that many people would scoff.  If you were chronically late for work for the same reason, you would likely be fired.  If you were consistently tardy for school, you would definitely get detention.  It seems like time blindness may be an easy excuse for a failure to wake when an alarm clock goes off, but people on TikTok and other social media sites are taking it seriously.  This tendency to over or underestimate the time needed for a particular activity has even been studied by the government, well before these posts.  But how legitimate is the condition and, though it is often seen as a symptom of ADHD, does it also affect those with a brain injury?

Time blindness, medically termed chronotaraxis, is associated with the brain functions controlled by the thalamus, which is located near the center of the brain.  The thalamus plays a key role in many human functions, including memory, emotions, the sleep-wake cycle, executive functions, mediating general cortical alerting responses, processing of sensory information, including taste, somatosensory, visual, and auditory, and relaying it to the cortex, and sensorimotor control.  While thalamic strokes, a brain injury, are not rare, chronotaraxis following such a stroke is uncommon – affecting only 5 of 120 subjects, or 4%, according to a study.  (While this NIH study was published over 15 years ago, in 2007, the results coincide with more recent results.)  

In 2013, the National Institute of Health reported on another study that studied stroke and other types of brain injury and found that this time issue goes beyond the effect of a stroke and is related to the consequences of traumatic and other brain injuries.  “We concluded that while timing variability in TBI patients is not consequent to dysfunctions at the clock stage, but rather related to attentional, working memory and executive functions disorders, medial temporal lobe damage affects the memory component, and possibly the downstream decision-making stage, of the temporal information processing model.”  Unfortunately, issues with mental executive functions are hugely affected by both acquired and traumatic brain injuries.

More recently, just this summer, USA Today reported on time blindless, focusing on its effect on those who also suffer from ADHD.  They highlight other personal issues that can have this effect, specifying noted that time management is controlled by the frontal lobe of the brain, an area that is often affected when one has a brain injury.  (This, of course, seems to go against the above-mentioned study that points to the medial temporal lobe of the brain as the source of time blindness, as well as a 2020 report that refers to it as an underestimated right hemisphere syndrome.)

Personally, I can relate to the symptoms of time blindness.  Well before my brain injury, I tended to underestimate time requirements for various activities, from homework to travel.  Both before and after my brain injury, would I, and others with brain injuries, be helped by a system that considered/recognized “time blindness” as an impairment, or would it just delay the start/end of whatever task caused the tardiness?  I’m somewhat skeptical, though the results cannot be denied.  Perhaps more academic research must be done to understand the possible difference between poor time management skills and a medical deficit, related to time.  Or, maybe rehabilitation programs and those with brain injuries need to spend more time on strategies to overcome any time deficits that result from damage to the brain.   

NIH Finds Stressful Days Ahead

“Early-life stress* changes more genes in brain than a head injury,” posted The Ohio State University just this past weekend.  This headline captured my interest and required me to research more.  Ultimately, I found the claim to be both true and in need of clarification.  Below I discuss research that further explains the findings:

The Ohio State University conducted an animal study with young rats, separating them into four different categories: stress alone, head injury alone, stress combined with head injury and neither stress nor head injury.  Without getting into the intricacies of the study, the key seems to relate to errant signaling of oxytocin.  (According to the National Institute of Health, oxytocin is a hormone that is related to maternal behavior and social bonding.)  Stress and stress combined with head injury resulted in maladaptivity, but head injury alone did not have this effect.  The result of this maladaptive signaling resulted in young rats being less risk avert, specifically because they voyaged out without companion rats, which they consider a negative.  Depending on the level of risk, I see this as a positive, as humans, particularly younger people, are told to “face their fears.”

In 2022, the NIH submitted a report that stated the obvious: “Taken together it is apparent that stress appraisal and physiology both prior to and after traumatic brain injuries are key predictors of short- and long-term outcomes.”  In another 2022 NIH study, it was found that, “stress often aggravates oxidative stress, reduces brain antioxidant** capacity… thus, antioxidant drugs can significantly reduce oxidative stress caused by stress and significantly improve brain injuries and diseases.”  A Department of Health & Human Survives webpage, though, references the findings of other government studies that seem to contradict this.  They acknowledge that, “not all stress is bad.”  All studies consider long-term stress to be negative and the page is not specifically related to stress AND brain injury, but the results seem to be relevant to all people.

The similarities, and differences, of brain injury and stress are interesting findings, as I believe the link is already perceived by those affected.  One thing that I don’t think the researchers have specifically addressed in their animal studies is that in humans, it’s almost impossible to have a life without any stress, with or without a head injury.

*Early-life stress (ELS) includes: loss of caregiver attachment: divorce/separation, foster care, parental incarceration, lack of attention, racism, separation from parents, exposure to violence: physical, mental and sexual abuse, substance abuse, being over-scheduled, feeling pressured to perform or behave beyond their ability, neglect: emotional and physical neglect, meeting new people, starting a new school, death of a loved one, illness: mental and physical, difficulty with school work, increased pressure/responsibility at home, being bullied (Wikipedia)

 ** https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/antioxidant-supplements-what-you-need-to-know

UArizona Visualizes New Detection & Treatment for TBI

The Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care (EPIC) project has led to University of Arizona (UArizona) and various affiliates across the State to research new and varying aspects of brain injury.  Looking at the EPIC website, I could find no study report after 2019, and before 2019, there also was a 6-year gap in studies.  However, regardless of the operation of the EPIC Project, it is a well-regarded research university.  To that end, the Department of Defense recently announced that it has provided millions of dollars in grants to UArizona for new research that will increase knowledge and, hopefully, provide better solutions to identify and treat brain injury.

The most intriguing study, at least for a layman like me, is that of a portable video game to detect brain injury for which the DoD provided $1.5 million in funding.  The project, Model Development and Translation of a Virtual Reality Military Operational Neuropsychological Assessment, or VRMONA, involves immersing oneself in a combat-related activity with the use of a VR headset and a hand sensor system.  While one plays the immersive game, data is collected about the player’s accuracy, response time, motor coordination and inhibition.  The goal is to ready its use for the military, though those connected to the study hope that it can be used in civilian life too, such as in sports, in the future.

Additionally, new treatments for brain injury are always sought after by the government.  The University of Arizona Health Sciences was awarded $3 million to study if peptide hormones are an effective treatment for brain injury.  In the four-year study, they will be investigating the efficacy of one specific peptide hormone, angiotensin 1-7, in the treatment of brain injury.  (The NIH has found that, “Peptide hormones play a prominent role in controlling energy homeostasis and metabolism.”)

Call for More Studies, Not Solutions

At the start of 2019, Congress sought to showcase its “great concern” for brain injury, with Congresswoman Joyce Beatty’s (OH) introduction of H.R.280, the Concussion Awareness and Education Act of 2019.  Cosponsored by 36 others, the Bill seeks, “to provide for systemic research, treatment, awareness, and dissemination of information with respect to sports-related and other concussions.”  Specifically, it focuses on children, aged 5 to 21.  It is an admirable goal to care for America’s children, but just like similar bills that seem to go through Congress every year, it just calls for research.  Additionally, once introduced on January 8, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it still sits without action.

Citizens have expressed their concern over what they see as a lack of concern for the youth, but stateside, similar government pseudo-action seems to be present.  For example, the Salt Lake Tribune wrote, “there’s a dirty little secret plaguing high school sports in Utah.”  According to the newspaper, that “dirty little secret” is the incidence of concussions in high school sports.  In Washington, S.R. 5238, which is currently being considered in State Congress, “would require UW Medicine to publish and maintain a website making… research available to parents,” – again, the government is proposing research, not action.  (Some states have taken legislative action, though, by eliminating certain sports and certain actions in sports.  A bill introduced to Congress in Maryland this month, for example, “would… prohibit cheerleaders age 12 and younger from engaging in aerial stunts.”)

As I have noted in the past, this heightened concern (and, perhaps, this seeming lack of federal action) may be the cause of the decreased sports enrollment in schools.  While that is unfortunate, a positive outcome of this current parental concern could be a heightened concern for sports safety from school districts.  Even without legal mandate, this could lead to a lower concussion percentage rate for the millions of American children who, theoretically, stay on the field and court.

Sex in the Brain: Asexuality

Sometimes, when you’re without a partner, it may seem that it would be easier if you had no sex drive at all.  For those with brain injuries, who, for example, are in the hospital or have an inability to safely leave their homes, a lack of sexual urges may seem even more desirable.  However, for those who suffer from asexuality, a.k.a. a loss of sexual urges, this reality is anything but desirable.

In a 1995 report, it was “understood” that, “asexuality typically results from extreme fear of bonding with others, extreme narcissism which results in an inability to genuinely care for or empathize with others and/or severe repudiation of one’s genitals, sexual arousal or gender.”  This millennium, more research and some understanding into post-traumatic asexuality has occurred.  “Individuals post-TBI report frequent physiological, physical and body image difficulties which negatively impact sexual activity and interest,” a 2000 NIH study reports.  This statement, however, is very broad and suggests that post-TBI asexuality was not then fully understood.

Since then, few studies have followed on the topic and those that have been done have contradictory results.  In 2014, though, the NIH reported that “nervous system damage… impairs physiological aspects of sexual response.”  Physical limitations, such as fatigue, resulting muscle weakness, and having different physical abilities than one had prior to their brain injury can also have an effect.  Certain medications may also limit sexuality.  Oft-prescribed antidepressants, for example, can block certain brain chemicals, resulting in ejaculation failure, impotence and decreased libido.  Lastly, stereotypical sexual assumptions towards those with disabilities can have a negative effect.  The public perception that all those with physical and/or neurological disorders must be asexual can lead to psychosocial and emotional issues that inadvertently may cause someone to be asexual, due to lack of opportunity or lack of satisfaction.

Though research into asexuality has broadened, “the particular needs of LGBTQIA+ individuals living with a neurological disorder are neglected in clinical practice and research. The invisibility of LGBTQIA+ individuals with neurological disorders reflects the historical exclusion of marginalized identities and creates disparities of access to healthcare.”  Lack of medical understanding of neurosexuality and a botched medical treatment that left a man with a brain injury and without sexual urges resulted in a hospital being sued for $1.2 million by a now widowed Australian woman this month.  Maybe, if nothing else, it will be a fear of being sued that increases acceptance.

(For those who became asexual following a brain injury or who just want to know more about the topic, visit the Asexual Visibility and Education Network or read The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality.)

A Noble Treatment for TBI on the Table

Following a physical trauma, a person may become comatose or ostensibly inert.  It is through the use of an inert gas, though, that the effects of this trauma may be lessened in the brain.

The inert noble gas xenon (Xe) has been found to be a possible first treatment for brain injury, lessening the progression of the injury.  (Traumatic physical trauma causes both primary and secondary injuries.)  The study in which this discovery was made, published by the NIH in 2018, found that, “Xenon applied 1h after blast exposure reduced injury 24h, 48h, and 72h later, compared with untreated control injury.”  Of course, this study was focused on brain injuries obtained in combat and was tested only in mice, but it seems probable that the effects of xenon would apply to humans who suffer physical traumas, as well.

Beyond being a possible first treatment, xenon has been found to have other benefits related to brain injury.  For example, last year it was reported that when xenon is used in the treatment of cardiac arrest, brain damage is lessened or even prevented.  Xenon provides analgesia, a pain killer, to the body.  Also, Xenon activates TREK-1 channels.  TREK-1 channels have an “important role in neuroprotection against epilepsy,” a common negative side effect of brain injury.  Additionally, inhalation of Xe has been used effectively to eliminate the fear-inducing memories that result from PTSD.

However, Xenon is not a miracle drug.  The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which creates the list of prohibited drugs for the Olympic and Paralympic leagues, has xenon on its Prohibited List.  Xenon can enhance athletics performance likely because it, “stimulates the synthesis of erythropoietin (EPO) by increase of hypoxia inducible factor.”  (EPO is a hormone needed to form red blood cells.  Hypoxia-Inducible factor regulates oxygen consumption.)  Xe, though, is not prohibited by the NCAA or any professional sports league in the United States.