Father gives concussion advice to Redskins CB David Amerson

Friday's health and safety news from the world of sports:

• The Washington Post talked to neuropsychologist Efland Amerson, whose son, Washington Redskins cornerback David Amerson, is recovering from his first pro football concussion. The elder Amerson studies how concussions affects soldiers' lives.

• The Baltimore Ravens reported that retired center Matt Birk has lost 75 pounds and is aiming to compete in a modeling contest.

• The San Francisco Chronicle reported how low hits in the NFL are drawing a lot of attention.

• The San Francisco 49ers' coordinators said they will miss Dr. Daniel Garza, who died earlier this week, CSN Bay Area reported.

• CBS News reported on a study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday that says brain scans of former football players show they may develop small neurological defects that doctors might not see with regular tests.

• The Los Angeles Times reported on another study in Nature Scientific that shows modest differences between the performance of 13 retired NFL players and 60 healthy comparison subjects on a standardized test. But in a brain scanner, researchers report they detected differences in the brain activity of the two groups.

• WLS-TV in Chicago looked at the reliability of concussion tests.

• The Appleton (Wis.) Post-Crescent reported on parents who are conflicted over football concussion risks.

-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor