The Indianola-based nonprofit CTE Hope announced the launch of a new pilot study to explore potential relationships between proteins in athletes’ saliva and cognitive measurements taken by the ClearEdge assessment tool — the only FDA-approved concussion assessment currently available. The study is a follow-up on preliminary results published Feb. 8 by the organization, which found that inflammatory proteins that cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) can be measured through saliva. Using these studies, CTE Hope aims to create a point-of-care device to properly diagnose and monitor athletes for concussions before allowing them to return to play.