-- epidemiological conditions must be improved. there is an understanding in the nfl and college level that significant research is needed. several members of this panel are leading cutting-edge efforts in this area. incremental rule changes and more stringent enforcement of existing rules are needed. some of the new rules regarding are making players more hesitant on the field. these rules may increase the risk of injury. rule changes should be studied and possibly reversed. it is my belief a return to the level of padding worn in the 1970's would make the game safer. more thorough doping rules should be developed and enforced. the nfl season should be reduced to 14 games. the college season returned to 11.

more stringent requirements regarding when a player with concussion can return to the game need to be implemented. these are my thoughts for your consideration. thank you for your attention and valuable time. >> thank you for your valuable time. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. the opportunity to speak on behalf of the safety of our children in this country. i am a pediatric neuropsychologist at children's national health system in washington, d.c., and the director of the concussion program. i would like to take my time to focus my comments on the importance of public health education for youth concussion using my expertise as a clinician and researcher. i have worked for the last decade with the cdc on their

heads up concussion program materials. ianll know, and i think said it perfectly, the sports and recreation provide important developmental opportunities to enrich the lives of our youth. they teach life lessons. we have to balance those incredible benefits with careful attention to safety issues. science must drive our action oriented approach. concussions threaten the development of our youth. in an attempt to protect our youth, we have laws in all states with the good intent of protecting our student athletes through rules for educating coaches and parents and removing suspected concussions and not allowing them to return until cleared. include the high school at this level, but only 15 of 51 include youth sports. 1/3 are looking at

the majority of athletes. and preparing for this testimony, i was posed with an important question. with awareness at an all-time high, our organizations and parents more aware but still not sure what to do about it? the simple answer is yes. many coaches and parents are not equipped to know what to do with a suspected concussion. are inconsistent and limited in scope. to health and safety of youth athletes is largely in the hands of coaches and parents at the youth level. they need medically guided training and early identification and protection. coaches and parents must receive training on recognition and response. awareness is not enough. they have to be for. properly. -- they have to be prepared properly. we know repeated concussions

present them latest challenge -- the greatest challenge. our challenge is the imitation -- implementation so we can prepare coaches and parents to know what to do and have the tools with which to do it. our the past 10 years, program has delivered hundreds of education and training programs using the headset materials from the cdc. we have learned much about the community needs and how to deliver the message. we deliver scenario-based training where we present two coaches and parents an actual situation and what they must do to respond. this is important as we put these responsible adults in place. you have heard important other activities and examples of head safe and had smart action such

as the tackling program where coaches are educated in response and recognition but also taught techniques we believe can improve taking the head out of the game. we have to go further in all youth sports. we do not have a universal strategy to recognize and respond to these injuries. we have tools and programs, but we do not have the delivery mechanism to do that. partnershipsild on between organizations and medical care systems. concussions are complicated. we are not asking parents and coaches to be clinicians and diagnose. as you willing teammates buildeard, but we need to those partnerships. we need the help of the professional sports leagues.

we need the manufacturing world to team with us. we need the quarterback to make this happen. we have to leverage the efforts of other organizations like the national council on youth sports safety. all of this is important for us to do. we need funding to do that to move forward. can we move from awareness to action? yes, we can. concussion's are serious injuries that threaten our youth. we do not need to be scared away from that or avoid participation in sports activities. we need to focus on how to teach recognition and response. our country needs a universal mechanism to implement community focused solutions. we believe that can help children as they enjoy the benefits of sports. our motto applies.

it says play hard, play safe, but play smart. thank you. you are now recognized for your five minutes. >> thank you. my focus will be on the radiological evidence of concussion and sub concussive blows to the head. what is known is mild traumatic brain injury is common in sports injury. when we are talking about a single mild tbi, about 80% get better. between 15% and 30% have s.rsistent cy symptm whatmost concerning our -- are most concerning our chronic disorders. that is the second one.

it is repetitive mild traumatic brain injury we are concerned with. the clearest evidence comes from postmortem studies. the next slide. this is a postmortem slide that shows protein in the brain. this is the brown areas. this is in the case of a retired professional football player who had symptoms and was presumed to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy which was confirmed postmortem. here are four individuals. injury andhows repetitive brain trauma look the same postmortem. we have a military person at 45 with one close range blast injury, of 34-year-old with two blast injuries, and amateur football player at 18 with repetitive concussions, and a 21-year-old with sub concussive

blows to the head only. mild tbi is difficult to diagnose. that has been a serious problem. if you use conventional ct and m ri, are not likely to find differences in abnormalities in the brain. many have said there is no problem. the problem is the correct tools have not been used until recently. weh advanced neuroimaging, are able to diagnose and move towards prognosis and hopefully intervention. advanced neuroimaging techniques which we have been using show radiological evidence of brain alteration in living individuals with mild tbi. if we can detect this early and look at underlying mechanisms and characterize what is going on to come up with preventative measures. the next slide.

this is a study from our group looking at hockey players in canada. the bottom line is on the right. preseason is the first. to second his post season. the red dots are three individuals who had concussions. is an increase in next to cellular water in the brain, not a good sign. we also looked at gray matter, that is the cortex where neurons are in the brain. study in former professional football players who were symptomatic. we found there is cortical thinning compared to age matched and trolls -- controls. or does most concerning is the blue line that shows it accelerates with age -- what is most concerning is the blue line that shows it accelerates with age. indicateests it may

abnormal aging any risk for dementia we can see in living individuals. the next slide, please. this is a study we did in germany with elite soccer players. we selected them specifically for not having a history of concussion and not having any symptoms. we found compared to professional swimmers, there was a huge difference between the groups. that control is on the left and the soccer players on the right. there's all most a complete separation between the groups with the measure of damage to m yelin in the brain. what we don't know. what is a result in some and not others? why do some develop neurodegenerative disease while others do not? what are the predisposing factors?

is it exposure? our genetics involved -- are genetics involved? not every player who gets hit ends up with these neurodegenerative diseases. next slide. we need diagnosis to detect brain imagery -- injury early. we have tools that can be applied. prognosis to follow recovery. we need to follow recovery and degenerative processes to predict who will have a poor outcome and a good outcome. knowing that, we might be able to intercede with treatment to halt cascade of changes. concussion sports leads to alteration of the white and gray matter.

detect injuryan following trauma. the impact over time is important. we need longitudinal studies to identify different stages of recovery and being able to pick out ahead of time what will lead to a poor outcome so we can intercede. such assures of safety rules for returning to play are needed after observable evidence of brain trauma. thank you. >> thank you. very impressive testimony from everyone. i was impressed you all stuck to the five minutes, pretty close. i'm going to go back to dr. mo lfese because years juxtapose each others nicely. your research is finding the baseline of the new athletes that enter university of

nebraska. is this allowing you to detect injuries earlier? there may have been pre-existing subconcussion. how are you identifying that? what is it telling you? what is the university doing to implement some level of protections? >> one of the major changes we have seen occurring across the field is the effort to get pre-concussion data. more schools are moving to observing students before the start of the season. , oned a player be injured of the weaknesses is the players do not always self identify.

we run across that a number of times in our testing. we will pick up something on our tests that the trainers and medical team did not know about because the player did not disclose. to test someone else who plays a similar position has not been injured. they act as a control over the course of the season. what occursng across the season in normal players with no history of concussion, their speed of processing does change over the 45 months of training and the season. with the players who experience concussion, we see a slowdown of about 200 milliseconds. that is four times faster than the slowdown in multiple sclerosis, for contrast. clearly, the brain has changed the way it is processing.

we are moving to start intervention programs with the players identified. there is some data with alzheimer's that suggest working week, canks, even one show continual gain and improvements. we are trying to see some of that occurring. >> thank you. , in regard to concussions, many times it is not a direct blow. the head is going back and forth and the brain is sloshing around. you mentioned going back to 1970's type equipment. describe what you mean by 1970's equipment and how it may reduce concussions. collarneck roll or horse

is a piece of equipment that has disappeared from the game. it doesn't important thing. -- it does an important thing. it mobilizes the head. if concussions are incurred by rattling of the head back and forth or a blow to the side, the horse collar will substantially damp that down. to my knowledge, there are no studies of that being effective. opinion, even though i am ignorant -- largely ignorant of medical science, is if you immobilize the head, that will solve a lot of the problems, especially with rotational hits. yeah. >> dr. graham, does that make sense? >> whether or not the horse collar would have that effect, i don't know.

our committee was based truly on science and reviewing the literature. i think the principle is you want to find ways to minimize the linear and rotational forces that come into effect with a blow to the head. whether you can do that by equipment, by change in play, that is what you have to do to decrease the incidence of concussion. >> thank you. i only have 11 seconds left. i will recognize my ranking member. >> in addition to the science, so much talk has been about culture. it seems that is very important. a change in the culture means not only managing head injuries alsothey occur, but

encouraging safer play to reduce the risk of injuries. mr. heaton, you spoke about the need to change the win at all costs attitude among players and coaches. what would you tell teams to help them change that attitude? >> thank you. coaches toourage the stress this as much as possible, as well as the parents. and coaches and parents are there to help us learn how to play these sports correctly. not having emphasize to worry about winning to the point where you get hurt, it will trickle down to the players . the players become coaches. it is the cycle of teaching and making sure players no winning is not the most important thing. it feels great to win.

but i would much rather lose than have another concussion. you were aware of the severe consequences of brain injury. do you think youth athletes understand what the symptoms are? >> yes. i think it is getting better, especially at my school. sure youize making know the symptoms of concussions. i feel like it is spreading as well. doctor.he asked the >> at this point, the education programs are being directed toward athletes. about five or six years ago, there was a study that showed that was the number one reason why athletes were not coming out of the game, because they did not help -- did not know how to tie the symptomology. they did not know what they were dealing with.

we also believe athletes and teammates need to watch out for each other. the concussed athlete may not have the wherewithal to know they are not right. their teammate often does. there is a responsibility within that team to take care of each other. that is an important focus. >> that goes to culture as well. these explain how advanced neuroimaging works. incribe the type of changes the brain your lab is able to detect that traditional imaging cannot, and also some of the haveng used by your lab been a significant part of the research on diseases like alzheimer's and schizophrenia. wired the same images -- why are the same imaging techniques useful? >> i have one slide that

explains diffusion imaging. >> the one i did not understand was comparing soccer players? why was going to show you it is important. happens with the impact to the brain is generally a stretching of the cables in the brain, the white matter. is thepus callosum largest white matter track in the brain. this does not show up on traditional ct or mri. the first mild tbi conference i went to, no one showed a brain. my colleague and said, why would no one show a brain? he said because everyone knows you cannot see anything on the brain. but nobody is using the right tools. this is a simple principle of diffusion imaging. ink thatft, this is

goes in all directions. ink on dropping newspaper. newspaper has fiber so it restricts the water. this is the same principle used to look at the brain. cfs, it is round. everything goes in the same direction. if you're looking at white matter, you are restricted in two directions. you can measure the integrity of white matter fiber bundles in the brain. that is what you need to look at in mild tbi. if you have a moderate or severe brain injury, you don't need this technology. they will be put into neurosurgery and they will do an operation. it is the subtle brain injuries that are not recognized using conventional imaging where you

can recognize it if you use something like diffusion imaging. we have shown you can see. it is not just our group. people started3, using it because it is the most sensitive imaging tool that exist today looking at the major injury in mild tbi. what needs to be done is to look at acute injury and see what predicts outcome. hours, three months, six months. what happens at 72 hours? we have someone in our lab trying to separate water outside the brain. if you can predict from 72 hours, you can go back and say

maybe we want to put in anti-inflammatory medications. we don't know enough right now. the only way to know is to do these longitudinal studies and follow over time using sophisticated imaging technology. once you know, you can diagnose. >> this could be very promising, not only for athletes before returning veterans, and applied eventually to schizophrenia or alzheimer's. >> i am primarily schizophrenia research. that is what i have done for 30 years before i became a tbi researcher in 2008. we have a measure called free water based on imaging that shows at the first episode of schizophrenia, you see fluid around all of the brain. it is free water. it is isotropic. in the frontal lobe, you see it were restricted to tissue inside.

this is a new technique developed by a fulbright scholar in our lab from israel. >> i'm going to have to say thank you. >> thank you. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. you stated many sports related concussions still go undiagnosed. i would like to know why that is the case and how we can improve that. laws and the involvement of players, coaches, pta's, areas where we need to have improvement. >> thank you for the question. i would echo what has been said by others on the panel. i think a lot of it has to do with recognition. people are very good at recognizing when someone gets

knocked out on the field. that is a very small percentage of all concussions. as our understanding of the arisen, it becomes incumbent on us to improve the quality of education we give to coaches, players, trainers, officials about the symptoms of concussion. culture,is in general, speaking to the state of alabama, the coaches i have come into contact with our believers. they are not perfectly hiding kids and putting them back in with concussions. sometimes it is hard to recognize when young athletes do not tell you how they are feeling. we brought up the importance of teammates being involved in diagnosing players. >> how close are we to a better design for homans -- helmets?

>> i think we are at the beginning. we have been using a standard that has not changed for 40 years that was designed for skull fractures. many investigators are working to improve standards to include acceleration as well as other important aspects of impact. just as the automotive industry thewith safety ratings, market can be relied upon for manufacturers to improve designs to improve sales. i think standards are important part of the equation. >> thank you. factay, you discussed the there is a numerical rating helmet for home and -- impact. is for dying -- is designed at virginia tech, the star system. you called it the best tool we

have for analyzing the merits of helmet systems. can you describe how it works? it involves a test where you drop the helmet from a toen height, varying height, the side, front, back. it tries to simulate the kind of impact a player would experience. numerical scores are given to the maximum acceleration the head inside the helmet feels for the given drops, based on a crude initial model of what causes concussions. into accountake rotation or temperature. , the opinion reproducibility is not as good as one would like with these

tests. i think it is a good first start. is the best we have right now. i think it needs to be paid attention to. there is a lot of room for i am 18, a senior. >> yes. >> where will you go to college? >> elon university. you and myations to condolences to your parents. a great school. i have a goddaughter was a freshman there, i will be happy to introduce you to her. let me say i'm very proud of your testimony am a and i could not have done what you have just done when i was 17 or 18, and

certainly, i think the nation has benefited by your outstanding testimony. >> thank you. >> thank you. mississippi,from you're recognized for five minutes. forhank you, and thank you sharing your expertise on what is a topic that we are only really learning about, as it has been in the news for several years, but it is coming to the forefront. your work and your permission to my testimony on the record here today, will be beneficial to us. of a 24-year-old condition, ih a appreciate the work you do at the children's hospital. but this is in preparation, i had discussion with parents back and the interesting

discussion is i had several friends who have daughters playing youth soccer, and a number of them have reported an increase in the number of by youngns suffered ladies playing youth soccer. allave seen in the news, the news associated with the nfl, helmet to helmet contact, and concussions we see on the field of play, but it appears in everything we do in life, every sporting event there is that danger and risk. that is why what i think -- that is why i think what you're doing with it in alabama, dr. johnston, what we're doing with coaches, parents, and perhaps using the teammate approach, it may be the safest thing, to have the backup position player be

the one to report to the first team are when they come out. that might hit them off the field. -- that might get them off the field. after johnston, educate us, what is a sub concussive impact? what does that mean. -- what does that mean? impactsub concussive affect rules of play, and if so, how? of athink the definition sub concussive impact would be all those impacts that happen that do not result in a concussion. rubhas been pointed out, the with concussion is the diagnosis art. if you look at historical loties, is variable and a of that has to do with who is diagnosing it and males versus men or, whether or not more likely to report symptoms, but a sub concussive impact, and

all those other impacts where we have more information to the work that has been done in boston and other places that even these impacts have results in terms of an atomic structural changes in the -- in anatomic structure changes the brain over time. it needs to be addressed in terms of lessening the overall cumulative impact load that every player has. for all is the most obvious thing -- football is the most obvious thing in terms of how many practices a week children should do hitting, but that has applications for all sports. >> thank you. if i could ask you a question, for clarification, if i can ask them the 77% of military, that figure, is that how many of the heard -- have such have suffered concussions? 77%rying to bring in --

are concussions, mild pbi. >> can you talk about the work you are doing? weit practical, something can expect as he rolled out the sidelines across america, to diagnose for athletes, and perhaps onto battlefields to diagnose our warriors? >> it is very possible. we published a paper last year where we took one of our e.g. systems and recorded on the sideline of the field. the biggest challenge for us in making a practical -- making it practical is getting the processing time down. for now it takes an hour. if we get it down to five minutes we can sell it to the coaches, because they are the ones who are going to determine. all thepoint, given other issues, the common tests used now are like the impact, which are assessment tools,

questions to the player. they have to reflect, and may be foggy because of the concussion. do not have predictability after two days post injury. that is a big problem. time,ot predict recovery severity of the injury. these biomarkers are the critical things. we hope these will be much more reliable and predictive. >> thank you for being here, and i yield back. >> thank you. generally, this would end, but we have 70 questions, we are going to do a second round. plus, the bells are not going to go off for another seven minutes. and she hasnflict given us approval that she is going to leave, but she trusts us to ask legitimate questions. panel, inthank this the previous panel as well.

the intensity of the scientific research and then its fieldation to the playing and so many other fields, i really want to thank you for telling us what is going on. i also wanted to thank ian heaton for coming here today. it is important to have people ian to tell and their stories and give us a face to the importance of this, and i for makingnk the ftc sure that false claims are not made, but this is so important, so appreciated. we will have to figure out where it leaves us, that it has informed us. thank you. >> i would agree with every word of that. you,is is a question to dr. shenton, and it dovetails into what the gentleman from mississippi was talking about as well.

are the symptoms of a concussion tbi uniform enough so that it is possible for early detection or developing a check list for a coach or a parent to be used by nonmedical? start with you, dr.. >> no. >> that was easy. overlap withms depression and ptsd, and has been a real problem. there was a paper published in the new england journal of medicine that said when you remove the effects of depression i does notmild tb exist. that is a disservice. cameed to be that people in complaining they still had symptoms from hitting their head, there was no evidence from conventional mra or ct, they

said, see a psychiatrist. it was really not appropriate acause there is at least small minority of people who have mild concussion who go on to have symptoms. they can go on for months, years, and then they can clear up. that is separating it from cte . logical really a evidence, the same way you want to know values of a blood test for cholesterol or a broken leg. we are moving in that direction, and that is what we need as the hard evidence, because the symptoms are too nonspecific >. >> there are studies looking at a number of citizens, and a wide friday of these symptoms people report, there's no indication to report whether somebody reports lots of symptoms versus a few symptoms, that that has any relation to how >> long they will recover.

>>can we get to a point where he seventh grade coach, the seventh-grader takes a a checklist that the coach could use to determine if that kid should go back into the game? bythere are guidelines out the cdc and others that list concussion symptoms. the general bias at this point is if an individual reports these symptoms they should be topulled. if you have a concussion and played before the symptoms have resolved, the likelihood of death is much greater, not to mention further significant concussion that will take longer to recover. dr. johnston. for one of the debates occurring in nebraska right now is you have a child or a high schools didn't that suffers -- high school

student that suffers a concussion. it has been diagnosed. what do you do next? right now the thought is you keep them home or her home, dark, no electronics. that is the norm. there is a discussion whether that is appropriate or not or to what length. what do you know? what would you recommend? >> i will tell you how we handle things in alabama, which ,s once an athlete is diagnosed removed from the field of play, tt evaluated, we use the sca -basedwhich is a sideline tool, which has a quick mini inventory of neurological exam and cognitive function. when children have symptoms that persist, they do not return to any sort of play or escalation affect the until the symptoms have resolved.

those children who have persistent symptoms are then referred to in your psychologists -- neuro psychologists. >> this is a big question at this point. this comes to what is the best treatment for this injury. let me say the field is moving on this one. andrecommendations we make, i have written several papers on this, is that acute stage of symptoms, the first few days, maybe for some little bit longer if there is a more severe number of symptoms, they really reduce their activity, cognitive and physical. what you want to do is increase that activity over time, so we did not like fox kids until they are asymptomatic. that has the likely negative effects on kids being removed. we initially shut them down and then we gradually ring them back

into the school and to physical activity. that has to be individualized, based on the severity of that symptom presentation. that is where we are now. we need a lot of research to help validate that. >> thank you, and mr. lance? gentleman from missouri gets to ask another question -- mississippi. [laughter] i thought you were billy long. >> that hurt. thank you, mr. chairman, in a couple of questions i would have. one with the if we are looking at this -- dr. gay, if i may ask a question, in your testimony you stated foot fault players at the elite -- football players are shedding mobility. the decision which helmet to wear is their own, and that player often chooses a helmet's

looks over it collision cushioning ability. do some positions require different levels of collision cushioning, and if so, would you recommend a special helmet for a specific position? >> a great question. currently, there are no -specific helmet. the manufacturers try to do the best they can for everybody. i would say that not to belabor the point, but i think for a lineman, where you typically get hit, but a lot of sub contents isblows, that horse collar crucial. i would not recommend a wideout wear a horse collar. that would affect the quality of the play. it is an interesting point because some players might tend

-- and this is why i am at. advocate for the hits system. it will give us more information about which positions get hit where. one could envision if we have a large database, and improving help but -- helmet design from that kind of information. >> if i could as you, how much money has been spent on sports concussion research, and where is most of the funding coming for for that research? an issue thatt our committee looked at, nor would we have the resources to pull it out. clearly, you can identify some research done on the federal sector that applies to this. but the private research that may be done by the sports league s, manufacturers of equipment, i do not know of any

good way to quantify that for you. >> i appreciate everybody being here, and it is a very important issue. we love our children going through sports. we love to watch it. we do not want anybody being heard that should not be hurt. hopefully, this increased focus will lead to better research, better safety equipment, detection, and of course prevention. thank you very i yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman from mississippi. this was truly an all-star panel of medical experts and physics. much appreciated. thank you. ourso that does conclude hearing for today. now, for our witnesses, we, whether we showed up or not, have the right to send you a question, a written question.

we have about 14 days to write those and submit them to you, and i would appreciate a couple do nots not over, you have to do it right away, but if you could get them back to us, if there are any, within about 14 days. i want to thank you for coming out here and providing some very valuable testimony for us. and we are adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] the house hearing from last thursday. we will re-air this tonight at 8:00. at can find more about this www.c-span.org. we thought we would open up our phone lines get your thoughts.

what can congress do about brain injuries caused by sports? the numbers -- if you are on facebook, we are taking your comments as well. what can congress do about brain injuries in sports? and if you have been impacted by the issue, whether your team or your child's team and your consideration of whether they play that sport, we will get your thoughts as well. a reporter wrote a piece about a new jersey hockey team that is using technology as a way to detect the concussions. it is done by reebok, called the check light. thank you for joining us.

>> thanks for having me. >> how does this technology work? >> the first thing i think everyone who was working on it is that this technology does not affect concussions. it takes impacts. there is a skullcap and a thin sensor strip and a bit of electronics at the back, and it will blink green for no impact, yellow for moderate impact, and red for a severe impact to the head. there are thresholds for those different types of impacts, something that reebok keeps for private terry. -- proprietary. estimated 3000 people in high school sports who suffer from and cautions during the year. what was this particular new jersey hockey team's experience prior to trying this technology?

>> you hear not able -- you hear a lot of them are getting hits in the game. these are 17-year-old to 19-year-old kids. they skate fast, hit hard, and one player had suffered a concussion was off the ice for a week or two and coming back. they had just cut and all these check light. hopefully, the coaches will be able to see when they get hit. >> you write about a hit count standard for this technology. what are they trying to do? >> there's a group called the sports legacy institute, and they are trying to advance the hit count standard where players will wear the sensors and it will keep track of the number of sub contents of hits they sustain. the issue with that is the science does not know how to interpret what a number of sub dan coats of hits means yet. hits meanscussive

yet. based on that hearing we have covered and the hearings we have covered, have you heard about government involvement, whether local or federal, in terms of relations for sports teams? >> a good question. i have not heard anything specific that. the only many fracture involved in developing this technology? >> they are the most prominent one, but there are a bunch of other companies. one of the more interesting things about what reebok has developed is it in the war on it can be worn on the head, independent of the helmet. there are others that can be integrated with the helmet. it is a company that is working on one that is built as a headband. they have been testing it with women's sports teams. covers sports

safety at "the new york times or ." thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what can congress do about brain injuries in sports? paul is in new york. go ahead. it is very interesting, and i respect the gentleman's intelligence, but it sounds to me that the only way they are going to stop concussions, to contact -- to eliminate sports. all this money and research, somebody is making an awful lot of money. the sports equipment companies are going through these tests because they want to continue to sell helmets. a lot of fancy footwork. >> would you say the idea of getting rid of these contexts ports would be a tough sell to begin with? >> that is right, because we are

a society where nobody goes to a nascar race if there is no races. people want to go to a hockey game and watch them patch each other out, -- watch them punch each other out. same with football, soccer, and baseball, and they are trying to do the best they can because they cannot control a wild pitch or anything. concussions, it is not going to stop. >> the pop warner football league announced changes in terms of concussions. rule changes regarding practices and concussion invention. hi. >> ok, listen to me. i am 92 years old. when i went to high school in brooklyn, new york, the principal's son was killed. off the agenda. no more football. from the mayo clinic

regarding concussions. they say high school athletes concussions. with a link to a report that says more than half of high school student athletes have concussions despite their symptoms, and often coaches are not aware of the injury, according to a new report. , florida.urray >> thank you for taking my call. would like tog i say, is the first thing they can do to help our children is to ban peewee football. that is number one. gentlemen, i hear a make comments about dropping helmets on the side, on the heads. this is a complete waste of time and a waste of money.

you want to know what a helmet does? you measure the force that a .elmet gives 00-plus lineman 2 at almost full speed it's another ballplayer in the helmet. there is technically not hing to be gained by dropping a helmet, you will find him nothing about football. football is a violent sport. testing.ntioned the a professor talked about the impact of two players hitting each other regardless of the sport. we will re-air the hearing on brain injuries in sports tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. thank you for your comments on facebook as well. here's one from blake who posed city and state governments are

posed for building multibillion dollars stadiums. they have bankrupted cities. the government has no place in sports. safety is no different. if you choose to play, it is your problem. sarasota, florida. all ahead. >> hi. i have not heard a lot of talking about baseball. senior, waswho is a at practice after school, and and were doing a soft toss, a ball went through a hole and hit him in the front part of his head. unconscious, just maybe may be a few seconds. then woke up. the coach had him put a water bottle on his head, and he went back on the field after about 10

minutes. i was very upset about it when he arrived home. basically not quite himself. >> when did this happen, how recently? >> in early february, so it was preseason. son who is 23r who also played baseball, and i thought, hi pass things -- i tv, andy things on there are foul balls, but the fact that it went right to into d wasor head was -- forehea surprising. we went to the er, and we are in the process of following up with a neurologist. i have seen such a change in his personality. it was so informative today. it was great. i am just so glad i found you on.

i have had to educate myself. >> when you say his personality has changed, what is the most noticeable thing you have seen? >> being very irritated, agitated. he does not like people to have to talk. it has worsened. a lot of sleepless nights. he is taking more naps. >> how old is he? >> 17. >> thank you for sharing your story this afternoon. nancy in california, on our independent's line. >> hi. nancy, in georgia. i have been brain damaged for 32 years. i had a craniotomy when i was living in north carolina and working on a -- one of the things i think congress could do is help to becausea portable eeg,

there is a distinction between brain damage -- i have epilepsy as a consequence of the removal of the portion of my brain -- maybe that is why i voted for obama -- if we could have not only sports players, but people like me at home, it would do a lot to better the lives of -- one of the symptoms of epilepsy is called absent seizures. >> thank you for your call. we will take our viewers to a discussion on the crisis in ukraine, after russian president putin today signed the law that an excesses -- that annexes crimea. we will have it live when it begins, featuring professors from estonia and ukraine. we will stay here live. thanks for the calls. commentsmonths -- your

at facebook and www.c-span.org. >> good afternoon. i am cory welt. at the institute i co-direct a program on new approaches to research and security in eurasia. it is a network of about a hundred scholars on russian and post-soviet affairs and includes experts from north america, russia, ukraine, other post-soviet states. -- program is supposed to

supported by the carnegie foundation of new york, macarthur foundation, and new york university. -- and george washington university. we have been transfixed by the russian government's audacious invasion of crimea. the conversation has conserved responses of the international community, the united states and the european union, and rightly so. as well, the effectiveness of that response and also there is much escutcheon concerning the impacts of russian actions on their future role in the region and its global status. we will address all these issues in our q and a and in our discussion as well. first, we would like to take some time to discuss the implications of this crisis on ukraine. we are fortunate to have several of our colleagues from ukraine in town for a conference.

we have two of them who will speak to us today. ukraine is a country that has gone from a revolution to an external invasion within the matter of days. still reeling from this. also beginning to look forward to its political future and the steps out of its current economic crisis. as well, we have the opportunity sense ofs, try to make russian policy of that region, russian actions in crimea, what the russian government seeks to achieve, with the annexation of crimea, and also an issue that has not been discussed as much perhaps in recent days is the impact of russian actions on domestic politics and governance inside russia itself. we have an excellent panel. i need to get my -- [indiscernible]

first, we will have the associate professor of international relations and director of the center for international studies at a national university in ukraine. the professor has conducted research at the international center of scholars. next we will have a professor who is the chair of political science at a national university , a major city in ukraine in the east. he is the founding editor of a journal for imperative studies. fellowshipsvisiting

at the woodrow wilson center. , as well as a book other chapters and articles on regime change. have a professor e.u.-russian studies. he taught for 13 years at st. petersburg state university in russia. he has published on russian national identity in foreign policy and on russian domestic politics. he is the author of russia and others. of an article.r we have a senior research scientist in the strategic studies division of a not for

profit and... -- not for research organization. articles.editor of thes an associate of harvard university center for eurasian centers. he was the -- he has published numerous articles on these topics. he is the author of nationalism for the masses. blogs on issues related to the russian military. the panel,rn over to i want to extend our appreciation to the carnegie corporation of new york, the macarthur foundation, and george .ashington university peac

>> thank you. i would like to say a few things about the crimea situation, secondly, about the situation in odessa and the south of ukraine. then a few things about the agenda for ukraine as a country, the way i see it. finally, a few words on western support at this critical day. in crimea, we received another word that the referendum has did notegitimate, withstand criteria that we try to apply to events of this sort. the commission has spoken today and added its voice characterizing this referendum as illegitimate. it has been a show in the worst

conditions of society. were not counted, the votes were not counted. what has happened is an armed robbery. it is when you have a gang of bank or anring a apartment and taking everyone hostage. the situation does not change in the way that some people profess. some of us would like to see those people coming with the guns, because it is still an armed robbery. you steal from thing -- you still something from someone else which is not yours. there was no threat for the crimean population. russian speakers in crimea, nationalsnothing like moving into crimea. it has all been created by the russian propaganda machine. in crimea, having

witnessing a human drama there of the highest degree and level. s who have been extremely loyal to crimean -- ukrainian statehood. they have been antagonistic to the russian invasion. right now they are still there, trying to figure out what they are going to do next. there is a potential for confrontation there. we have seen episodes on tv that tartars have already buried one of their own. the young person was found there. there were signs of torture. that have already been being pushedartars away from their land. there have been instances of one small hotel which belongs to a tartar person being turned to

the ground. we are to anticipate the russian government trying to buy tartars with positions in the regional government, financial them land iniving various parts of the crimean peninsula. there will be maneuvering back and forth. right now crimean's are unhappy about what is happening to their land. -- ethnic russians are crimea, they are the majority. 60% of the population. what about the 40%, romania, not ethnic russians? also the most recent polls taken in crimea prior to the russian , democraticg in initiatives, have shown us

only 41% of people in crimea were in favor of becoming part of russia. what about the rest of the people? those voices are not hurt. what we see today, people fleeing crimea, families being disunited. we are seeing them internally displaced appearing in ukraine in vast numbers. seen 2000 people coming from crimea looking for refuge. these people are going to need a place to stay and jobs, schools for their kids. happeningan drama before our own eyes. what is going to happen to crimean next? what should we do? it is an annexation, occupation, and crimea still remains part of ukraine. the troops and many people in

ukraine share the same assumption that troops should be evacuated as soon as possible. some people might call it surrender. those people behaved bravely and have shown signs of her age and -- of coverage and restraint. they did not give pretext to russian troops for further innovation into other parts of ukraine. i believe the troops should be evacuated. there is debate on what we should do next in crimea. should we try to strangle rimea, prop them with a supply of water or not? a lot of people are debating this. i believe we should not be doing this because a lot of people who are innocent there, it is not that annexation took place. we should not be doing anything that would make this people suffer unnecessarily.

the big debate in ukraine is what should we do with the social pensions? should we continue or stop those? that is a big question. for the time being we should continue, even though it is difficult to do, especially considering our budget is kind of empty. the other thing that we should continue to call this issue to the attention of international organizations, our friends and variousan agenda of organizations, and we should bring it to the courts. armed robbery is armed robbery. when russia takes control of our oil, drilling facilities by the crimean sure, it is nothing else but robbery, and that should be seen as such, by various courts. we should go to court as well.

another thing we are hearing voices involved in ukraine that we should nationalize the russian are pretty belonging to the russian oligarchs in oh ukraine -- in ukraine. that is not the way we should proceed. that would be a + for any person taking about investing money in ukraine, and we need investment now more than it used to be in the previous years. view, i for my point of do not think nationalization of russian property should take place. what is going on in odessa? 3/4 of the population of odessa is not enthusiastic about this

idea. is an areapercentage where you have 33% thinking about leaving ukraine and joining russia. everywhere in the east and south of ukraine you should be aware of that, most people, the vast majority are strongly in favor of maintaining territorial integrity of ukraine. why some people do come to the separatist camps? are beingem brainwashed and subjected to russian propaganda, which has been carried for years by tv stations, and also many local channels. many of them are senior citizens who have nostalgia for soviet times, so they are thinking of a time machine that would transport them 20, 30, years ago, into the soviet past. that is another important

element, segment of that kind of camp that i have been talking about. there is a constant and ablation of the language issue, which you are well aware, and most of the calls are coming from moscow. speaking ukrainian from odessa. i never felt persecution. i never felt any fear of this new government in kiev. i never felt any scare of this so-called radicals coming to odessa to forbid me to use the russian language and talking to my friends and family. person,krainian-minded but i teach russian because that reflects the language situation in my hometown, in the region. pat has been a fact for years. what kind of repression against russian speakers are you talking about in the case of odessa or anywhere else? movementthe separatist

and the actions of that movement are well organized. no doubt about it. the plans were drafted long time ago. the moneys were falling from the sky in colossal numbers on this people. it is almost limitless funding for someone who is in that kind of separatist movement in ukraine now. people brought from other parts of ukraine, the same situation in odessa, people who were brought from outside ukraine to a desolate many of them were sought from a nearby place, there were a lot of people, younger thugs who were brought to participate in the demonstrations and attacks on public buildings in odessa. we have had cases like that. we should remember that the vukovich -- -- yana

a lot of people who were there are still there. a lot of people in law enforcement agencies field .isoriented, demoralized arrest the people who are attacking public buildings. many of these people should be fired, and a new bunch of people their be brought into positions. that is an important issue to us, because the branch of powers in ukraine was nonexistent.

same people there. how can we talk about the new government? that is a very important issue. the party in my hometown control everything in odessa. those are the people who are complacent in the crimes of yanu kovych. nowe are the people who are taking part in separatist activities. i believe that that should explain to you the situation we find ourselves in odessa. why there are some separatist demonstrations and actions that appropriateter in a way? the security service has been heavily infiltrated by russian agents. it started happening before he came to power. since he came into power, that

has been a fact of massive russian infiltration into the ukrainian security service. that is why we see odessa in the well formed, well organized, well-funded. we have a strong ukrainian court in odessa. it has been reinforced by russian aggression. we have people say we do not know about yanukovych. change when russian troops came to crimea. politicalh a lot of loyalties, they are now united. that is very important. we have a lot of people taking part in various marches, seeing athens, social media is booming. matches, underr the slogan of south and east and

west being together. the have a generational change in place because a lot of youngsters are pro-ukrainian. odessa intellectuals in came out in vast numbers. painters,tors, have made, they their own statements in support of territorial integrity. some of them have made a video saying -- mr. putin, please go home. side of the spectrum, there are people who are unknown in our city. nobody knows their names, where they came from. are aliens to

odessa. they were not in existence prior to this event. we're talking to the brighter side, the activists side of forsans speaking territorial integrity, while there is a bunch of troublemakers outside that are funding organizations' activities in the east and south. there are several priorities today. to withstand the invasion. to stop russian aggression. to try to continue to fight for crimea. to prepare for further invasion. we hope it will not happen, but we need to be ready. to support armed forces. we are giving our money from our small salaries and from our own wallets to support our army. here have been millions of -- just in the last week. we've are giving their money to support the army.

the government should be supporting the army, providing money, and locating money for the army to survive. that was not set in recent years. the army has almost been liberally destroyed. people like myself, giving some of our savings to the army so the army could actually be operating and performing its function. the second priority is to drag the country out of the deep economic pit they find the find themselves in. accepting money from the fund,ational monetary which requires us to do drastic measures, radically increasing the payments that the people would have to do. that will not be popular, but it is needed. there's no other way to delay it. that needs to be done, the sooner the better. ukraine is deeply wounded

out. we have a weak state. we have a strong civil society. that is very important. are playing very active role in ukraine, keeping the country together. everything thet new government in kiev does? absolutely not. there are issues about them being indecisive. there are the same phases people are tired of seeing -- same faces people are tired of seeing on the tv screens. whether we like it, we tell of, but for the time being we are coalescing, so we need to stay united. on the support we're receiving from the west and from the united states, we are very grateful for that support. we have been inpatient.

thinking sanctions have been delayed. we are thinking sanctions are not rested enough. you bet we are. whatever support we are receiving from this country, it is very important. symbolic and also a matter of fact, very important. the financial aid, we hope the bill will sail through congress. on my facebook page i wrote the other day we would like to have her working as the foreign minister of affairs in ukraine. a lot of people monitor her statements with delight. assistance we might get, including ready-to-eat

meals, rations, the commitments of our u.s. armed forces to support allies in nato, that is a good sign. we are hearing talk about a nato andrcise with u.s. military. that is a good sign. we understand sanctions facing a lot of difficulties. nothing moves fast enough in this town. aere are difficulties, democratic country, so you need to coordinate activities with various agencies. it is not where one person decides everything. finally, i just would like to say that we claim, we ask that the united states to the right thing. what the united states is doing now, supporting ukraine, corresponds to the various interests of this country. the help we are receiving today ukrainians.y no doubt about it. we are grateful.

we can see now who our real friends are. thank you. [applause] thank you very much. professor from the odessa national university. now i would like to invite another professor. at the start of the crimean

crisis, a number of ukrainian cities [indiscernible] -- restoring mr. busy of it restoring the legitimacy of the government. secularization or unification with the russian federation. this waslaces accompanied by disturbances of public order. [indiscernible] attempt to take over regional administration, demands of the referendum, and for russia to introduce military troops to ukraine. calledents have been russian speak [indiscernible]

pro-russian forces proved to be and they are weighted by much larger ukrainian protests. a similar situation in -- in odessa, a protest of at least several thousand people strong, peaceful, in part due to the presence of ukrainian demonstration and the possibility of violent collisions. emphasized working with so-called legal frameworks. in my comments i will speak about the general context, actors, the position of andinian official elites, the role of the russian government in the eastern and south ukraine.

i will be sure to [indiscernible] odessa and the republic of crimea. [indiscernible] about 40% people, or of the population of ukraine. around 7 million are russian, 30% of the population of this region. in other words, southeastern 82% of approximately russianss are

[indiscernible] the rest of the russian population range the populations range across different regions to 72%. sevastopol and other regions, ethnic russians account for part of the general population. 36% of the population. in crimea, about 60% of the population. everywhere ukrainians and russians are combined. 95% of the total populations. the exception in crimea where crimea tartars are an ethnic minority. easternarly in the region of ukraine.

the communist party of ukraine has a level of support for significantly declined elections in 2007. the 2012 elections, the support for the party ranged to 52% to 57%, depending on the region. around 65% in one region. the russian nationalist party has traditionally been marginal in ukraine. in large part, that is due to the fact that the communist party of ukraine and other parties have been primary.

any attempts at alternate political organization in odessa brought in-- crimea a movement. it has the potential to do much better than they have. yanukovychion of mr. sociological key attitudes towards ukrainian statehood. it has produced different results. unification of russia was supported by 41% of people in crimea. 33% in another region. 24% in another region.

15% in another region. 4% in another region. in another region. it is difficult to assume a direct correlation between the persecution of russians and supporting the unification with russia. several organizations have come forward. a variety of organizations. [listing ukranian organizations]

one of the organizations his man from aded by a region of ukraine. there are several groups in odessa region. there is reason to believe that not all people who participate protests wantpol to join the russian federation. --re are a lot of different different motivations to participate in the protests. social and economic considerations. pro-russian groups.

speak russiannts and carry russian wife. -- flags. this is rather than direct unification. there was protests in kiev. activity ofuctive the russian special service. evidence ofo protests of russian citizens who arrived from russia. importanceplay the of this protest. it is clear that the maidan protests were 50% of the ukrainian population.

it is significantly high in the cities south and east of the country. protests occurred. protesters were activated ideologically. on the other hand, besides of the protest in a death the -- odessa and other areas is simply the case of russian organization. overestimate this. in the direction of ukrainian authority developing in these areas, it is important to understand the political ofnsition after the collapse yanukovych's government.

it has yet to be completed. he can parkree ways himself from the system. ukrainians are involved. there is a direct action -- defection of local elites from a party of power. to regions are examples of this defection of power. is aecond model transition. an arrangement to be part of local elites' form of our. -- power. inre is an example of this

leaders of city council. we could make some arrangement with the new power about new governors. this is part of the transition that you can see in some regions of ukraine. the odessably in region. involves local elites again and local government. with the support of foreign oritary troops in crimea with the support of paramilitary , and with strong support from the local

anyway, inelite the aftermath of the revolution and important parts of regional yanukovych's networks will lead to new power. there are separatist movements. see, you can see for example the governor of a certain region. even the city had -- head of one area has not created a new government. the local elites want to the

port ukrainian -- support ukrainian protest in crimea. inter-elitel of settlement. regionstern ukrainian are probably the best way to engage with local ely -- elites. time, some regional similar to the ones who were targeted by anti-made on the test -- protests.on -- maidan the head of the fraction of the party has been openly speaking out about this.

protection of the russian language and other eastern european regions. time, yanukovych and his team have weakened the structure of the state. the replacement of security sensors is very slow. be subject toes protests. consolidation of the state and their systematic attempts to appear protective vest -- protective vest -- protectivist. there was an arrest of a governor, and activist.

there are some aggressive members of a blood organization. it happened in my home city. -- people are dead around and around 12 were wounded. there is evidence of decline of productivity as the situation remains shaky. is still the presence of a russian factor. on march 16, last weekend, there was a lot of math them is ration in odessa -- math the menstruation -- mass demonstrations in odessa.

i want to outline new political goals. regarding the annexation of crimea -- in preparing our presentation, i have made some calculations about the results of presidential elections. 2004, and 2010. here are the resulting crimea and sevastopol. we have a new political

geography. when the most interesting around elections of november 21. the leader of the elections, it is very interesting. between yanukovych and the other only zero there is point 38 -- 0.38% difference. the situation is similar to moldova. it probably could happen in future residential elections. result that is nationalized.

between a new division political parties. crimea andof sevastopol and the situation in ukraine, from an international is the start, it of international relations. there is a chance for international order. from a domestic point of view, it is disintegration. it is the result of a shift in power in ukraine. arel political regimes characteristic of a different type of arrangements. thank you for your attention.

[applause] >> thank you very much. now we have a professor from the university in estonia. >> thank you. aboutsentation will be russia and trying to make sense of the russian position and behavior and the situation. let me start by saying that russia as i see it is also going through difficult times. i do not mean that as a and by no means as an attempt to somehow downplay the plight of the ukrainians. the country is divided

between the brainwashed majority and a minority that feels threatened. that is not a good situation to be in. estonia the border in is also not emotionally an easy place. there is anxiety of the local community. it is deeply concerned about possible consequences of the annexation of crimea from the baltic states. there are all sorts of conspiracy theories that we thought were conspiracies. now they are true. we do not know what to expect. let's try to make sense of what is going on. there are different explanations for what russia is trying to achieve. the simplest one is probably -- theysian behavior just take whatever is there.

this is simple geopolitical logic. it expands whenever you can expand. there is some truth to this explanation. i would say that it is not a full explanation. filling the empty space would -- it would imply inviting other countries to join the union a long time ago. anything crimea and incorporating it into the russian federation, there are other areas that have long been requesting that. for some reason, it started with crimea. all of that could still happen. happens,ay that if it it would have been because of not for other reasons.

i feel uncomfortable describing russia's behavior is simply opportunistic and cold-blooded. passion in what is going on. there is a different explanation, which helps to inrify the situation tajikistan and curtis then -- 30 stand -- kyrgistan. of defendingpolicy russian interests wherever they are. tajikistan and kyrgistan are in this place. integrating them with russia would involve integrating the population. possibility, but this

is not a solution for ethnic nationalists. in crimea, they believe that they are helping fellow russians. that brings a lot of false points. hesitate to argue this case. experiment, of that -- thoughtent experiment, let's say that the baltic states lose credibility. would russia take them over? we would say no. the baltic states would somehow be incorporated and included. that would be the next target. it would not stop. involve a repetition of

1940's. this is an intuitive knowledge that we all have about the possible consequences of this watershed. it does not really fit into the logic. the only thing that is out there in operation. another explanation is to say that this is domestically motivated. there is a potential economic crisis. a war would last long enough to divert-- diaper -- attention from domestic problems. it were such a calculation, a cold-blooded calculation, it should have included some assessment of risk.

russia havesay that that perspective. the risks are huge. for the economy, in the first place. the russian economy was stagnating. it was in pretty bad shape. nowg what russia does strongly increases the possibility of a collapse. an economic collapse. the logic that it would be ok -- what do we do? we risk collapsing the economy to prevent collapsing the economy. that does not sound very russian of me. again, we have to look at the picture. the whole operation is executed locally. it is a mixture of different factors, and each in isolation look credible.

but not fully credible. we can go the usual academic way and save it is a combination of factors both i think there is a certain magic formula which if situation,t to the it will actually put all of the pieces of the puzzle in ways. this magical formula might sound banal, but i'm still going to say it. there is desperation in the soviet union. i mean it not as a policy. i am not going to try to prove wants to restart -- to vladimir putin wants to restore the soviet union. i would argue that it has already happened. let me play what i mean. russia is much smaller than the soviet union historically.

it will probably never regained the land that it lost during the collapse. image of the world which is shared by the majority of the beyond its international borders. putin last description of the canadian state being in crisis for the last 50 years, that is a view he shares. the post-soviet states are nothing but a quirk of history. their sovereignty is questionable to russians. in order to understand what is going on, one simply needs to simply look at these events as part of the soviet worldview. ethnic nationalism was a key

component of soviet ideology. we all know that. ethnic russians were the dominant group in the ussr. there were other officially recognized nationality. they had their moment and he enjoyed some autonomy. this is what relates to the crimean tartar's -- tartars today. crimea andre to support for russia. it was also justified by historical allusions. they saw as clear to anyone like myself who grew up in the ussr. girl learns boy or that. with russianoaked blood. russianol is a place of

naval glory. that comes directly from soviet mythology. it is not interpretation. it is a direct vote. -- quote. this explains why propaganda has been so effect it in presenting the russian revolution is a fascist movement. there are clichés about ukrainian national movement. on thealso based profoundly anti-western attitude inherited from the cold war. in this mentality, all political development derives from geopolitical struggle between east and west. sovereigntyt their in the face of corrupt authoritarian regimes. they protest and fight for their rights. everything that happened in ukraine or elsewhere, as long as

it has not been plotted in moscow, it must've been plotted in washington. there is no other possibility. a victory for the west, not the ukrainians. if russia does not fight back, and --t meet on -- made maidan protest will happen in moscow. unfortunately, it seems that the crimean case has made it clear that the project of fostering a new national identity for russia , which was initiated in 1991 and 1992, has largely failed. when this happens is that backan society has fallen on the only shared legacy that it has. the memory and myth of empire.

it is not just material myths. it is myths that have been promoted by the soviet. the soviet system was the first universal system. universal education and universal indoctrination. everyone went to school. nations in the post-soviet state have other memories. for thishe main reason new identity project. , 10 yearsneration back, they will no longer be soviet. this new generation has fewer identities to choose from. since they had no firsthand andrience with soviet times experiencing the hardship of the soviet regime or soviet life, they were even more eager than

the people in their 40's and 50's to embrace this new soviet identity. i would argue that with the involved in the taxation of crimea, the soviet union has been restored. in terms of identity of this political identity -- entity and in terms of global outlook. anyone who wants to understand what is going on and what to expect in the future must look at the soviet cap. -- path. this does not give us 100% certainty. we cannot predict if ukraine will be intervened and. -- in. nothing may happen for the next few years or decades. that crimea with

a special case. very symbolic. it was very mythologized in this outlook. it will be logical to stop their -- there and see what comes out of this move. i think, and i'm coming back to where you started, we should think about russia and its future. restoration is anyially important for prospects of food and -- qiagen -- putin's regime. it might be that by mere putin's russia will follow the same path. there will be some economic catastrophe. because the question is, what happens next.