Latest news with #BostonUniversityCTECenter
The Herald Scotland
01-08-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
NYC shooter's brain will be tested for CTE, other conditions
"Our office has neuropathology expertise in house and will be examining the brain as part of the additional testing for the complete autopsy," a spokesperson wrote in an email. The story was first reported by The Washington Post. The medical examiner's tests come after Tamura asked in a three-page note, found in his wallet after the shooting, to be tested for CTE, which is a brain condition experienced by people who have suffered repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports such as football. Tamura claimed his time playing high school football in California caused him to develop CTE. He also wrote in his note the NFL "knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us." CTE can result in a variety of symptoms, including increased aggression, emotional instability and suicidal thoughts and behavior, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can only be diagnosed posthumously. As of 2023, the Boston University CTE Center had tested 376 former NFL players for the disease. It found 345 of them (91.7%) suffered from CTE. However, an article revealing that data noted the prevalence among all NFL athletes is unknown because it can only be diagnosed after death and "brain bank samples are subject to selection biases." "While the most tragic outcomes in individuals with CTE grab headlines, we want to remind people at risk for CTE that those experiences are in the minority," said Dr. Ann McKee, then the director of the BU CTE Center and chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System. "Your symptoms, whether or not they are related to CTE, likely can be treated, and you should seek medical care. Our clinical team has had success treating former football players with mid-life mental health and other symptoms." Chris Nowinski - the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which works closely with the Boston University CTE Center - cautioned The Washington Post that even if Tamura is diagnosed with CTE, it wouldn't rule out other factors from having contributed to his actions. Those potential factors include mental illness, genetic disorders and drug use.
Hindustan Times
30-07-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Gunman Who Targeted NFL Cited Grievances Over Football-Connected Brain Disease
Shortly after Shane Tamura was identified as the shooter at the NFL's Park Avenue headquarters building in New York on Monday, investigators found a clue that spoke to his potential motive. Tamura wrote in a note that he believed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE, a brain disease associated with head injuries and often found in former football players. CTE can only be definitively diagnosed postmortem, and it isn't clear whether Tamura, who played in high school, actually had the disease—a diagnosis can take weeks after someone's death. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Las Vegas police reported he had mental-health issues. Tamura, who shot himself in the chest, asked in the note for his brain to be studied. That message instantly threw the spotlight back on CTE. The issue has grown over the past two decades into a threat to football, from the youth level to the pros. In response, the NFL has paid money to former players suffering from cognitive issues and overhauled its rules and protocols in a bid to make the game safer. The disease, which stems from repeated head trauma, has been found by researchers in the brains of scores of former football players. The symptoms, according to the Boston University CTE Center, can include impulse-control problems, dementia and memory loss. Those symptoms overlap with conditions such as Alzheimer's—but Alzheimer's can be detected in living patients using PET scans and blood tests. Some former players, including the retired superstar running back Bo Jackson, have said they would have reconsidered ever playing football had they been aware of CTE and its risks during their playing days. A number of former players who have died by suicide were found to have the disease, including the former All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau. Many deceased players or their families later donated their brains to scientific research on the disease. Tamura's note cited Terry Long, a former offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers whose 2005 death was ruled a suicide. An autopsy concluded that Long had the degenerative disease. The debilitating, incurable condition can only be definitively diagnosed after death, when an examination of the brain tissue reveals lesions in the outermost layer of the brain, which are a hallmark of the disease. 'The surface of the brain has hills and valleys,' said Chris Nowinski, a co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation and a member of the research team at Boston University's CTE Center. 'The lesions appear at the bottom of the valleys and usually around blood vessels.' In the 2010s, widespread awareness of the risks associated with the disease led to a drop in high-school football participation and larger doubts about its future as America's dominant sport. Simultaneously, the NFL began rigorous overhauls of its policies in a bid to make the game safer and alleviate concern that fans might have about playing—or even watching—football. The league has beefed up standards for helmet testing, with players encouraged to use the safest models while those that don't meet particular standards are phased out of use. Now, during practice and sometimes even games, some players wear what is known as a Guardian Cap, a soft-shell pad that goes over the helmet. The NFL and its owners have also committed huge chunks of money to not just research and innovation on the safety front but also paying out former players who competed in a bygone era when vicious hits were widely celebrated. In 2017, the league agreed to a billion-dollar settlement fund with former players found to have qualifying diagnoses, such as CTE, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's. Beyond that, the NFL now has concussion protocols to diagnose and treat head injuries, along with a phased process that only allows players to return to certain activities and playing once they have cleared certain thresholds. On the field and in the booth during games, there are independent neurotrauma experts who watch the action looking for signs of a concussion or other potential brain injuries. While these changes have undoubtedly made the game safer and curbed concerns about the sport's future, the systems in place aren't infallible. In 2022, the NFL and players union adjusted its protocols to address a gap after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a pair of violent hits in less than a week, the second of which sent him to the hospital with a concussion. 'We have come a long way over the past 15 years,' then-NFL Players Association President JC Tretter said at the time. 'But the last week proves how far we have left to go.' Write to Andrew Beaton at and Jo Craven McGinty at
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dr. Ann McKee, who was mentioned in Manhattan gunman's note, speaks with CBS News
The gunman who killed four people in a New York City office building on Monday left a note voicing anger about his mental illness that may be linked to CTE. Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center who was among the neuroscientists the shooter praised in his note, joined CBS News to discuss the condition. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
29-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
What is CTE? Explaining the disease referenced by New York gunman at NFL HQ building
New York Mayor Eric Adams said a note found on the gunman who carried out a deadly Midtown Manhattan office shooting on Monday evening mentioned the NFL, and that authorities 'have reason to believe he was focused on the league.' The three-page note, according to the New York Times, criticized the league for concealing the sport's safety issues and mentioned chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease that has been connected to repetitive brain trauma. Advertisement 'The motive appeared to be connected to the shooter's belief that he was suffering from CTE and (a claim that) he was an ex-NFL player,' Adams said on CNN. 'Those items just don't pan out. He never played for the NFL.' The shooter was identified as 27-year-old Shane Devin Tamura, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Tamura played high school football in California, according to MaxPreps, and appeared on the roster for Granada Hills Charter in 2015, but he never played professionally. Let's examine what CTE is and its connection to football and the NFL. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease most commonly found in athletes, particularly those who participate in contact sports such as football. It has also been linked to others with a history of repetitive brain trauma, such as military veterans. One of the leading experts in developing the understanding of CTE is Dr. Ann McKee, a neurologist who is the director of the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and Boston University CTE Center. 'The most common neurodegeneration that we know about is Alzheimer's Disease,' McKee said. 'But CTE is similar. In the case of CTE, it's triggered by repetitive head trauma. We think that after sufficient amount of head trauma, this disease starts to develop in your brain and then becomes a progressive, widespread brain disease, as time goes on.' CTE is defined neuropathologically. It's not possible to make the diagnosis while a person is still alive, meaning a definitive CTE diagnosis can only be made after a person has died and the brain is preserved. According to the New York Times, Tamura's note included a request to 'Study my brain please. I'm sorry.' While a definitive diagnosis can't be made while a person is still alive, there are signs that one may be suffering from CTE. Personality shifts and drastic changes in a person's behavior or mood are common symptoms. Advertisement 'There are things like aggression and violent behaviors,' McKee said in the video. 'Impulsivity, a short fuse. Another common set of symptoms is memory loss and difficulty planning and organizing and difficulty with attention.' CTE is not a stagnant disease. The mildest form of CTE starts in one area of the brain, but the condition gets progressively worse as one ages, spreading to other parts of the nervous system. According to a 2023 report by the Boston University CTE Center, 345 of 376 deceased former NFL players whose brains were studied by the program were diagnosed with CTE. The first autopsy done on an NFL player that revealed CTE was in 2002, on former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster. Webster died of a heart attack on Sept. 24, 2002, at age 50, and was also diagnosed with CTE after his death. In December 2009, former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died after falling out of the back of a moving truck. An autopsy revealed that the 26-year-old had CTE, the first instance of a player who had died while still active in the NFL being diagnosed with CTE. Over the years, numerous players have been in the headlines for CTE diagnoses. Three years after completing his Hall of Fame career, linebacker Junior Seau died after shooting himself in the chest, and was later diagnosed with CTE. Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez died by suicide inside his prison cell after being found guilty of first-degree murder. Former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was also diagnosed with CTE after he died in a murder-suicide, first killing his girlfriend and then driving to the Chiefs' facility and shooting himself. The disease isn't only connected to those who played professionally. Another Boston University study of 152 young athletes who experienced repetitive head impacts and died under the age of 30 showed that 63 (41.4 percent) had evidence of CTE. Among those 63 with CTE, 49 of them played football and most of them didn't play above the high school or college level. Advertisement Beginning in 2011, nearly 5,000 former players sued the NFL for head trauma they endured during their professional playing careers. The lawsuits alleged the NFL knew about the health risks for years, but withheld that information from its players. Eventually, a settlement was reached that promised to provide benefits to retired NFL players and their families, including baseline testing as well as an uncapped compensation fund for those suffering from conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or ALS. Yet complaints have followed about how the NFL approves or denies player claims to the fund. According to a 2024 report by The Washington Post, the settlement had approved nearly 900 dementia cases since 2017 but denied nearly 1,100 others, including about 300 players who had been diagnosed by a network of doctors the league funded to evaluate players showing early signs of dementia.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers aim to diagnose CTE in living athletes
(NewsNation) — A new study seeks to diagnose CTE, a deadly brain illness that often affects athletes, in living patients. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, has often been linked to repeated head injuries and contact sports. Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after a patient's death. The Concussion Legacy Foundation wants to collaborate with top academic research centers to change that. Led by the Boston University CTE Center, researchers are looking to recruit 350 men aged 50 and older — including 225 former college and professional football players, 75 control participants and 50 people with Alzheimer's disease — for DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project-II. Map: 11th state confirms measles outbreak Researchers will examine new potential disease biomarkers to help doctors 'accurately diagnose' CTE in living patients. The findings are also meant to help doctors learn how to differentiate CTE from similar diseases like Alzheimer's. Participants will join one of five Alzheimer's disease research centers, where they will undergo neurological, cognitive and neuropsychiatric exams, along with multimodal brain imaging, tau PET scans, and blood tests. 'It will fill two missing links in the literature preventing us from developing definitive diagnostic criteria for CTE during life,' said Michael Alosco, associate professor of neurology at Boston University. 'First, we need longitudinal studies that include brain donation. Second, we need to better compare people at risk for CTE to other disease groups.' The study will only include male players; however, researchers said the findings will 'benefit all groups at risk for CTE, including male and female contact sports athletes and military veterans.' Do Medicare and Medicaid cover weight loss drugs? It depends Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been named an ambassador for the study. On 'Morning in America' on Friday, he expressed confidence in the study's wide-reaching impact across all sports. 'I think that the difference here is that we haven't had a test subject of people, mainly football players. In this case, a contact sport that we know there is head trauma, head collision. But I think this will affect every other sport,' he said. 'I think that football will lead the way, but I think we're going to learn a lot, and it's going to help everybody.' Former football players and men with no history of contact sports interested in participating in the study are encouraged to sign up for the Concussion Legacy Foundation Research Registry at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
