[...] one neurologist insisted ALS has become more recognized in the past five years as “part of the picture” surrounding chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease found in dozens of former NFL players. Dr. Sam Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Health and the NFL Neurological Care Program at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said cases of ALS patients with a history of head trauma “began to sort of pile up” in recent years. Another neurologist, Dr.