I am pleased to report that i-STAT, the Abbott Laboratories’ portable brain injury detector that I first posted about in 2017 as in development, and again cited in 2023, has received the attention it deserves from a major publication.
On October 9. 2025, Time acknowledged i-STAT as one of the best new inventions:
“During head traumas like concussions, the brain’s cells release two proteins, GFAP and UCH-L1. Abbott’s i-STAT Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) test only takes about 15 minutes to look for signs of brain injury by checking for these biomarkers, offering a much quicker alternative to CT scans—the go-to diagnostic since the 1970s. The medical community long thought a TBI blood test was impossible, largely because of the blood-brain barrier. “It was a tall order, and there was no road map,” Dr. Beth McQuiston, Abbott’s medical director of diagnostics, says. The test was FDA cleared in 2024, and MotoAmerica has already deployed Abbott’s test during motorcycle races.”
The 2025 film HIM follows a quarterback’s descent into madness after brain trauma. This current wide-release brings cinematic attention to a real medical nightmare: post-traumatic psychosis. This devastating condition is reported to affect 0.7% of traumatic brain injury patients, typically emerging 4-5 years after the initial trauma.
Among those who develop post-traumatic psychosis, research funded by such institutions as the NIH, reveals 92% of patients develop delusions while 87% experience hallucinations, with brain scans showing frontal and temporal lobe damage. Medical literature documents chilling cases, including a man who developed paranoid delusions and personality changes decades after a gunshot wound to his frontal lobe, and another patient who couldn’t recognize familiar people following severe head trauma.
Dr. David Arciniegas, Director of Education at Marcus Institute for Brain Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, notes that, “delusions are a core feature of posttraumatic psychosis,” making diagnosis critical. The federal government invests heavily in brain injury research, so hopefully there will soon be more understanding of this condition.
This week, Wired published a story featuring the Lion’s Mane mushroom. The article includes recipes that use this fungi, which has a distinctive seafood-like texture, such as “crab” cakes and mushroom ragu. Such an article begs the question as to why a publication known for its technological news would choose to focus on an ancient food.
In fact, the Lion’s Mane mushroom has been gaining scientific attention in the past several years for its potential therapeutic benefits, particularly for brain health and traumatic brain injury recovery. Recent research published by the National Institutes of Health has explored this distinctive white, shaggy mushroom’s neuroprotective properties.
This fungi contains unique compounds called hericenones and erinacines that can stimulate nerve growth factor synthesis, which have been shown to aid in cognitive function, memory, and neurological recovery. Studies suggest benefits for conditions ranging from mild cognitive impairment (mTBI) to traumatic brain injury, with additional advantages for immune system support, gut health, and inflammation reduction.
“The mushroom’s capacity to stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis has highlighted its potential in preventing and managing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” according to a 2025 NIH research review. Earlier NIH research notes that “erinacine C treatment led to significantly reduced brain inflammation and normalization of mTBI-induced deficits through the modulation of the Nrf2 activation pathway.”
Based on this research, it appears consumption of Lion’s Mane mushrooms could prove beneficial to all people, brain damaged or not.
(Experts caution that most studies remain in animal models, human clinical trials are limited. Consultation with healthcare providers is recommended before supplementation.)
Cursive writing functions as a complex motor skill that can remarkably persist even when brain injury patients lose explicit memory of how to perform it. This surprising phenomenon occurs because cursive engages procedural memory systems stored in the basal ganglia and cerebellum, which often remain intact when other cognitive functions are impaired. Recent NIH-funded research demonstrates that “attempting to write each letter produces a unique pattern of activity in the brain,” as Stanford’s Dr. Frank Willett explained in a 2025 study. A comprehensive 2025 analysis published by the NIH found that cursive writing creates enhanced connectivity across motor, visual, and memory regions.
For brain injury survivors, studies suggest cursive practice offers superior rehabilitation benefits. Unlike typing, which “relies on repetitive finger movements,” cursive engages “fine motor coordination and smooth transitions between letters,” activating broader neural networks crucial for recovery, according to recent university research. The continuous motor control required for cursive helps rebuild damaged neural pathways and enhances fine motor skills essential for rehabilitation.
Currently, many states have been dropping cursive instruction as a curriculum requirement, but recent neurological evidence has prompted policy reversals. New Jersey State Senator Angela McKnight recently advanced legislation requiring cursive proficiency by fifth grade, stating: “We’re doing our children a disservice by not teaching them a vital skill they will need for the rest of their lives.” California, Kentucky, and New Hampshire have reinstated requirements after recognizing cursive’s cognitive benefits. This resurgence reflects growing understanding that cursive writing enhances memory retention, motor control, and neural integration—benefits particularly valuable for cognitive development and including for those with a brain injury.
Mosquitoes present their greatest threat during summer and fall months, with peak activity from July through October between dusk and dawn. The southeastern United States, Great Lakes region, and areas near freshwater wetlands face the highest risks from mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, but all regions of the United States are at risk.
Growing up, the majority of the mosquito bites I was subject to occurred on the school playground. As school begins, it should be noted that children face unique vulnerabilities to certain mosquito-borne illnesses. Eastern Equine Encephalitis proves most severe in infants, while La Crosse encephalitis primarily affects children under 16. The CDC reports that as of September 2, 2025, there were 577 total West Nile cases nationally, with 356 being neuroinvasive cases affecting the brain and nervous system. (Note that these statistics are somewhat deceptive, as only 37 states reported numbers to the CDC.)
The dramatic shift in children’s outdoor time creates a complex scenario. Today’s children spend an average of only 30 minutes daily in unstructured outdoor play compared to over seven hours with electronic screens. This reduction paradoxically offers some protection from mosquito exposure while potentially leaving children less experienced with prevention strategies when they do venture outdoors. Additionally, I have previously discussed how it has been proven that this lack of in-person human interaction can have its own negative neurological effects.
Despite technological advances, school prevention education to address this risk remains largely unchanged from decades past. Students still learn to wear protective clothing, use EPA-approved repellents containing DEET or picaridin, and eliminate standing water breeding sites. Recent developments include updated repellent formulations and expanded surveillance systems, but fundamental prevention strategies have remained constant.
It has been surmised by some that climate change has extended mosquito seasons in over two-thirds of U.S. locations studied, making year-round vigilance increasingly necessary for protecting public health.
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), industrially manufactured products containing ingredients rarely used in home kitchens, such as emulsifiers, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and stabilizers, has been at the forefront of the federal Department of Health and Human Services in 2025. These foods undergo extensive processing and include products such as packaged snacks, frozen meals, sodas, processed meats, hot dogs, chips, candy, ice cream, instant noodles, ready-to-eat cereals, packaged baked goods, and more.
Health experts and the federal government have been particularly concerned about UPFs’ impact on brain injury, related to both tbi recovery and stroke risk, for years. According to research, a 10% increase in UPF intake raises cognitive impairment risk by 16% and stroke risk by 8-15%. Not only do UPFs not “trigger our normal satiety” but an 10% increase in UPF intake raises cognitive impairment risk by 16% and stroke risk by 8-15%. Research shows higher UPF consumption was associated with a 28% faster rate of cognitive decline and 25% faster executive function decline. They can also negatively impact recovery by disrupting the brain’s ability to heal and create new neural pathways. As they increase inflammation and impair recovery, all brain injury patients are advised to avoid these foods.
The Trump administration has worked to create the first federal definition of ultra-processed foods through a joint request for information from the Agriculture Department, Health and Human Services, and FDA. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made UPFs central to his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, calling them harmful to public health and advocating for reduced consumption through education campaigns. In July 23, 2025, the FDA, in conjunction with the USDA and HHS, released a report stating, “Dozens of scientific studies have found links between the consumption of foods often considered ultra-processed with numerous adverse health outcomes, including… neurological disorders.”
Democrats generally haven’t contradicted these positions on UPFs. For example, in January 2025, California Governor Newsom issued an executive order to crack down on ultra-processed foods, demonstrating bipartisan concern about these products.
(Criticism of MAHA tends to focus on implementation approaches rather than the underlying goal of reducing UPF consumption, showing shared recognition of the importance of nutrition policy for brain health and stroke prevention.)
A brain injury is undeniably a significant event in one’s life, but whether it permanently changes a person’s political views and/or affiliation seems an individual matter. Those across the pond, though, have found that the level to which one holds these ideologies may be altered by this traumatic event, specifically heightened.
Found on the NIH website, an Oxford University study published this spring determined, “political involvement was more intense after lesions connected to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior precuneus… in conservative-leaning participants. Political involvement was less intense after lesions connected to the amygdala and anterior temporal lobe… in liberal-leaning participants.”
NOTE: The UK traditionally leans more socially liberal than America. Would the results of this study have the same conclusion if analyzed with United States participants?
Sleep is crucial for humans to survive and thrive. “Emerging evidence implicates sleep in the most basic of neurological functions, namely the exchange of metabolic wastes associated with neurological homeostasis… sleep is integral in the function of the glymphatic system… Natural sleep or anesthesia accounts for an increase in interstitial space that facilitates the subsequent exchange of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with interstitial fluid.” All people have been told to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. While this number is actually higher for the young, 7-8 hours is the recommended hours of sleep needed for those 18 and up. For those with brain injuries, an energized brain is necessary to perform at their best. However, about 30 to 70 percent of those with brain injuries have sleep disorders including deprivation, deficiency, disruption, etc. (Although fatigue may be the most obvious side effect of a sleep disorder, “the consequences of disrupted sleep following injury range from deranged metabolomics and blood brain barrier compromise to altered neuroplasticity and degeneration.”)
The above links are all from government studies into brain injury and sleep disorders. While they may be interesting and informative, methods of curing these sleep disorders are what really matter to those afflicted with them. So far, many means to induce sleep and reduce the activity of a restless mind have been explored and written about, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, the use of activities, etc.
My advice is to read the results of these studies while you’re in bed, using one of the recommended sleep aids: a weighted blanket. Weighted blankets have gained popularity in the past few years. So named because the weight of the blanket equals about 10 percent of the user’s weight, the extra weight that this blanket provides the user is soothing, rather than encapsulating. They are a form of deep pressure touch stimulation, which can help with one of the more common symptoms of TBI, anxiety, among other things. (I am not promoting weighted blankets more than cognitive behavior therapy or any other means of ridding one’s self of a sleep disorder, I’m just on the search for a new sleep strategy.)
America is, and should be, a country of religious freedom. The roots of the winter holiday season, though, are based on the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity expressed in the Bible. (Currently, more than 70 percent of Americans consider themselves either Christian or Jewish and all but two of our Presidents have been officially affiliated with some form of Christianity.)
Although the Bible is seen as the word of God by many, according to the American government, “the Bible is not just a religious text. It is also a historical account.” Taking this point of view, the government has studied the existence of brain injury in the Old Testament. In 1995 and 1997, the NIH reviewed, “the death of Sisera by the hand of Jael (Judges 4: 21; 5: 25); the skull fractures of Avimelech incurred at the tower of Tevetz, (Judges, 9: 53, 54); and the slaying of Goliath by David, (Samuel I 17: 49-51).” In addition, the government studied the child of the Shunammite woman in II Kings 4. They determined that the child had a subarachnoid hemorrhage, also known as bleeding around the brain. In 2010, an NIH study titled New insights to the neurological diseases among biblical characters of old testament found evidence of stroke in 1 Samuel, Psalms 137 5-6 and Ezekiel.
Notwithstanding the conclusions of these new studies, the Hebrew and Christian Bibles are ultimately religious books – the government calls them books of love, peace and hope. Searching through the Bible, I discovered a quote that expresses love, peace and hope to all brain injury survivors: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame,” (Romans 5:3-5).
Brain injury is not just a traumatic issue that affects people in the United States, it is a global epidemic. For that reason, the Unites States National Institute of Health has been partnering with the European Commission (EC) and the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) since 2011, “to advance clinical traumatic brain injury (TBI) research, treatment and care.” Specifically, the EC and the NIH brought together politicians, scientists, and others, from the European Union, United States, Canada, China, and Australia in Brussels in October 2011 to discuss joining forces. Ultimately, the EC, the CIHR and the NIH joined together, “to coordinate and leverage clinical research activities on traumatic brain injury research” and created the International Initiative for Traumatic Brain Injury Research (InTBIR). Even though well-over 100 studies related to brain injury are completed in America every year, more than 100 people die of brain injury every day and over 2 million brain injuries occur in the U.S. every year. The three who formed the InTBIR saw the definite benefit of being connected to additional research and other resources. To this end, many of the links found on various posts on this blog have directed you to research done in Europe or in Canada, as well as links to American research.
TBI on the Hill 