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CTE found in 110 of 111 donated NFL players brains

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
Flexible helmet technology. This video has been around a while but this technology looks promising. The explanation of the helmet begins at the 2:25 mark of the video

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/zero-1-football-helmet-helps-prevent-concussions/
Gwallaia, this helmet could decrease the factors leading to concussions to a very limited extent. Concussions to be exact do not even require direct hits to the head, as the bell tolling can occur on simple hard tackles where the accompanying brain's deceleration movements bangs back and forth inside the skull. Unfortunately, I don't see any helmet design existing today or yet to be developed, eliminating concussions. The most important point that is lost in all of this is that helmets were never primarily intended to prevent concussions.......they were originally invented and developed solely with the purpose of preventing skull fractures.

What Happens to the Brain in a Car Crash (this can essentially occur without direct impact to the head, as in violent body collisions occurring in football) [SHORT VIDEO]
 
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CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
As I've been cautioning ever since the "landmark" CTE study..........too many potentially invalid conclusions drawn from too little information.........too much of this fueled by the publicity-seeking media and lapped up by the poorly-informed public. The prestigious LANCET [Neurology, March 1, 2019] medical journal now strongly cautions against the same.:

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Primum non nocere: a call for balance when reporting on CTE


As clinicians and researchers in traumatic brain injury and neurodegeneration, we are concerned by the tone of reporting on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that has developed over the past decade, highlighted in an article in The New York Times.

Misleading reporting can have unintended, negative consequences and we call for balance from the medical and scientific communities and the media when communicating on issues related to CTE.

Contrary to common perception, the clinical syndrome of CTE has not yet been fully defined,
its prevalence is unknown, and the neuropathological diagnostic criteria are no more than preliminary.

We have an incomplete understanding of the extent or distribution of pathology required to produce neurological dysfunction or to distinguish diseased from healthy tissue, with the neuropathological changes of CTE reported in apparently asymptomatic individuals.

Although commonly quoted, no consensus agreement has been reached on staging the severity of CTE pathology. A single focus of the pathology implicated in CTE is not yet sufficient evidence to define disease.

Recognising limitations of the diagnostic process in human pathology, pathologists are careful to note that they are merely providing an opinion, thereby acknowledging that another pathologist might reasonably reach a different conclusion on the same case.

In diagnoses where the criteria for assessment and reporting are established by broad consensus, the expectation is that variance in opinion is minimised. However, at this time, while CTE diagnostic criteria are far from established, discordance in opinions on individual cases is to be expected.

Unfortunately, the uncertainties around the clinical syndrome and the pathological definition of CTE are not acknowledged adequately in much of the current research literature or related media reporting, which at times has resembled science by press conference.

Too often an inaccurate impression is portrayed that CTE is clinically defined, its prevalence is high, and pathology evaluation is a simple positive or negative decision. This distorted reporting on CTE might have dire consequences. Specifically, individuals with potentially treatable conditions, such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, might make decisions on their future on the basis of a misplaced belief that their symptoms inevitably herald an untreatable, degenerative brain disease culminating in dementia.

We propose that the principle of, first, to do no harm, is used when communicating on CTE, whatever the platform. In particular, the many remaining uncertainties should always be acknowledged. Otherwise, the risk of doing harm is very real.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Scary: Study Finds Every Year Of Tackle Football Raises Chances Of CTE 30%

According to a new study from the Boston University CTE Center, every year someone plays tackle football, their risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) rises by 30%. Additionally, for every 2.6 years of play, the risk of developing CTE doubles, as bu.edu reports.

Full story
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
Scary: Study Finds Every Year Of Tackle Football Raises Chances Of CTE 30%

According to a new study from the Boston University CTE Center, every year someone plays tackle football, their risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) rises by 30%. Additionally, for every 2.6 years of play, the risk of developing CTE doubles, as bu.edu reports.

Full story
By no means do I close the relationship between tackle football and CTE.............BUT, this study has as many flaws in it as the original. Most of the brains donated were donated in the non-control group because players or families felt there were symptoms that could be consistent with the entity. This study included the brains of 223 football players with CTE, and 43 without..............this sample is not only bias but is too small especially the control group) to make sweeping and "scary" conclusions presented. When there are significant numbers of players with >15 year exposure and with no signs of CTE, the sample has to come into question. There are thousands of those having played tackle football for 5-15 years and longer...............trying to make valid conclusions from the numbers presented are the truly scary part of the study. As long as CTE remains a postmortem diagnosis, it will almost be impossible to identify and establish valid risks that exist. Questions that don't have answers right now are many, such as..........does alcohol or drug abuse accelerate (despite that we accept the fact that it is not the cause of CTE)?.........do the multiple anesthesias that football players (high school through NFL) accelerate CTE?

I can't see how getting hit in the head repeatedly over many years can have a positive effect on brains, but there are still too many questions unanswered before we can feel comfortable with the specific conclusions that have been drawn from the yet very limited information available.
 
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