Honorary Personal Professor Rheumatology, University of Galway, Ireland. Athbheochan na Gaeilge. Athletics, Mayo GAA, Brain Health in Sport. Views are my own.
Galway, Ireland
Joined October 2013
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As a former distance runner my heart goes out to girls #Camas runners who exited the course after Logan #Mihailoff, who had already raced on boys' JV team, competed in girls' events under WIAA rules. Washington voters can resolve this w a YES vote on I-638
The response to the ban on #Sally #Rooney’s books shows how differently her work & political activism are being judged. #Spectator article by Alys #Denby not just critical of her political activism; also questions her literary merit. The #Guardian defended her, as brave & humane.
Denby attacks her on 3 fronts: literary merit, left-wing politics & support for #Palestine Action. The Guardian's Zoe #Williams argues that case exposes problems with Britain's terrorism legislation, implications for free expression
theguardian.com/books/2026/o…
spectator.com/article/good-r…
A 2026 study of youth American-footballers found assocs between repetitive head-impact (RHI) & changes in magnetoencephalography (MEG) theta-band activity, altho other neuroimagess didn't show any association. MEG a new method, but not a biomarker of #CTE. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4170…
In a study of 47 former combat- & collision-sport athletes (70% #rugby) Greene et al. used dynamic contrast-enhanced #MRI (DCE-MRI) to investigate blood-brain barrier (#BBB) disruption. Persistent systemic inflammation & BBB dysfunction from head injuries. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4184…
In addition to DCE-MRI blood #transcriptomics, cognitive assessments & #postmortem (PM) pathology done. PM brain tissues from confirmed cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (#CTE) showed membrane attack complex (#MAC) deposition, #inflammation around cerebral blood vessels
The essential next step is to establish whether these signatures are reproducible & predictive, rather than simply associated with exposure. A central unresolved question is whether we can identify, during life rather than at PM, athletes developing pathological processes of #CTE
A study of select 200 former elite #rugby players (aged 30–61; avg 44) w #brain-health concerns found more symptoms, incl memory loss & #depression. Forwards more likely to have #TES, but not #CTE-#MRI scans were unremarkable. Long-term follow-up essential academic.oup.com/brain/artic…
A study of blood #biomarkers, #MRI & clinical features in same group. Finding: blood p-tau217 17.6% higher in players so some neurodegeneration present in those but w one important caveat: p-#tau217 is assoc w #Alzheimer's pathology & not specific for CTE. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article…
#Hummingbirds, native only to the #Americas & not #Europe, are only #vertebrates capable of hovering w/o wind-they can fly forward, backward, upside down & side-to-side. Their wings beat 15 to 80+ times per sec, creating the characteristic "humming" sound.
youtube.com/watch?v=MA1ONbA3…