Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

1.1 Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of diseases that affect memory, behaviour and motor skills. The causes vary depending on the disease but largely the presence of “plaques” and “tangles” on the neurons of the brain is found in people with Alzheimer’s. Plaques are protein that the body no longer breaks down and allows to build up; these get between the neurons and disrupt the message transmission. Tangles destroy a vital cell transport system made of proteins. The transport system is organised in orderly parallel strands like rail tracks. In healthy areas a protein call “tau” helps the tracks stay straight but in areas where tangles

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is caused by many years of playing football. The National Football League (NFL) does not associate CTE to players that have played many years in the NFL. CTE is the root cause of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in football players. The NFL needs to take more steps to prevent injuries that cause CTE and other types of brain damages by taking hard hits more seriously and the test should be better determined for concussions.

Concussion is the true gripping story of one man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar business. Nigerian pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu works at the coroner’s office in downtown Pittsburgh. Here he made a discovery in the body of one of the greatest football players ever to play the game, Mike Webster. He suffered a decline in his body and started to act very strange by living out his car and tasering himself till he was unconscious so he can go to sleep; he was only fifty years old. Omalu discovered that Webster had a disease caused by multiple blows to the head from his football career, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which could affect everyone playing the game. Omalu felt that everyone should know of this and the harm

On opening day, a lot of people watched the movie "Concussion," and it changed the way they saw the football forever. The way that concussions have been viewed by fans in the past was that it was not a big deal. With the release of this movie, people may soon adopt a more conservative approach to management with how medical professionals manage players who suffered a brain injury. That might sound like a bad thing, but extra caution could help to save players and their families a lot of heartache down the road.

Concussions have been very controversial lately, especially in the youth sports industry, slowly progressing towards high school, college, and even professional sports. The movie “Concussion” has also been an agent of the controversial chaos. Now that the truth is out, that the NFL deceived millions of people, the concussion issue is flourishing. Although, it’s just a Hollywood movie, this movie could make a huge impact on how the nation looks at concussions. Thousands, even millions have already seen the 4 star movie, which can cause a huge change in outlook and perspective on

CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, has become a serious issue for NFL players and that issue is only continuing to grow. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes, mostly boxers and football players, with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as hits to the head.

“The only thing comforting about not knowing this play would be the last of my career, is knowing that I never took a second for granted. After months of introspection, I am retiring from football. I suffered the 3rd and 4th concussions of my career this past season and I am walking away from the game I love to preserve my future health. This decision is the hardest I've made yet but after much research and contemplation I believe it's what is best for me going forward.” - A.J. Tarpley retiring from the Buffalo Bills on April 6, 2016. (Young, Shalize Manza. “Bills' A.J. Tarpley retires after one NFL season, citing concussions.” Yahoo 6 April, 2016).

There is a dark cloud hanging over the world of contact sports and it is growing at an alarming rate. With the size and speed of today’s athletes, the sports of football and hockey have become more exciting, fast paced, wide open, and fun to watch. However, there is another consequence of these ever growing athletes on their sports. They have made the collisions in them increasingly more violent. The velocity that these athletes hurl themselves through the air has created an atmosphere that could not have been imagined when these sports were created. Although the athletes’ bodies have become

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy-- an abnormal buildup of tau proteins-- is a brain condition that results from repeated head injuries (Powell 1). Tau proteins have a distinct pattern not seen in any other diseases, making it very easy to diagnose (F&W 1). The damage occurs in areas that influence the ability to think clearly, organize information, and store memory in the brain (F&W 1). CTE causes progressive

While football is enjoyable to watch and loved by people all over the world, it can be a dangerous sport to play. The injuries that football players sustain during their careers can later be the cause of them obtaining a brain disease resulting in their death. For example football players have a higher risk of being diagnosed with ALS, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Some studies have shown that a big percentage of ex-football players that have died, once an autopsy was done, that the ex-football player had had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The problem is though that CTE can not be diagnosed until after death once an autopsy has

Not long before his death, Hoffman told a news reporter who had become interested in his story, “something is wrong with me. I don’t know what it is, but I used to be normal. ” Hoffman and his family believed football -related brain injuries were at least partly to blame for the tragic unravelling of his life. Hoffman’s family plans on keeping a promise they made to Hoffman that when he died they would have his brain tested for C.T.E. – there is currently no test for C.T.E. that can be done while someone is still living. Now, after years of not knowing, his family will finally be able to know the

It is amazing to me how people’s brains are so small compared to the whole body, yet it is an exceedingly complex organ that deals with so many mental and physical functions that help regulate our body. The brain is one of our main sources of operation, and so when a person’s brain is harmed or damaged in any way, there can be major consequences for that individual. One detrimental brain injury that has recently been heavily researched and talked is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive degenerative disease in the brain (Comer, 2014). More light has been showed on CTE in order to raise more awareness and seek solutions in helping prevent and fix the disease. In the following paragraphs, I will explain more in detail about CTE, specifically the causes, symptoms and outcomes, and the importance of being aware of CTE.

Overexpressing tau transgenic mice with ApoE4 showed greatest activation of neuroinflammation, showing high levels of TNF-alpha and lowest levels of neuronal viability not present among mice with E2 and E3 alleles (Shi et al., 2017). Additionally, only mice with E4 showed significant high levels of neuronal damage and death (Shi et al., 2017). On the other hand, ApoE KO mice displayed the opposite effects, benefitting from high neuronal viability, low levels of TNF-alpha, as well as lowest levels of neuronal damage and death (Shi et al., 2017). These results are in line with what was previously proposed by Metcalfe & Figueiredo-Pereira (2010), that tau pathology and the

Neuroinflammation is inflammation responses in the nervous system. Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of all major CNS diseases. (Farooqui, 2007) In human body, inflammation in the nervous system, especially the central nervous system (CNS), can course severe diseases, for example chronic neurodegenerative conditions, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and even depression(Lucas et al.,2014). The structure of brain has its own features, which course the differences between inflammation in brain and other tissues of human body. The brain has several protective mechanisms. First, its own protective shield, the blood brain barrier (BBB), and second its lack of a conventional lymphatic drainage system. Third, it has its own immunoregulatory cells that include endothelial cells, microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. These cells serve to protect and nourish the brain and to maintain its homeostasis. (Gendelman, 2002(18)). Take Alzheimer’s disease as an example, there is an association between chronic CNS inflammation and AD pathogenesis. Neuropathological studies show that a neuroinflammatory response in the cerebral neocortex parallels the early stages of AD pathology and precedes the late stage, tau-related pathology. Epidemiological and genetic studies indicate that systemic markers of the innate immunity are risk factors for late-onset AD. (Eikelenboom,2010(17)). Experimental findings

To examine cellular toxicity of biologically relevant Aβ species, we utilized the 7PA2 cell line: CHO cells expressing APP (V717F). 7PA2 cells secret biologically relevant forms of Aβ [15, 22]. We prepared the conditioned medium of 7PA2 cells (CM7) and the control medium (CMC) of wild type CHO cells. PC12 cells and rat primary neurons were treated with CMC and CM7, and AD related phenotypes were analyzed. The concentrations of Aβ in CM7 were: ~2nM total Aβ; ~130 pM Aβ42. We found that CM7: 1) induced endosomal enlargement (Fig. 2A); 2) increased Rab5 activation (Fig. 2B); 3) impaired signaling pathway; 4) impaired axonal trafficking; 5) decreased synaptic connectivity; and 6) induced Tau phosphorylation. These phenotypes are all related to AD pathogenesis.