Hernandez suffered most severe CTE ever found in a person his age

[Kontradiction]

Aaron Hernandez found to have suffered most severe CTE ever found in a person his age (report)

Aaron Hernandez's brain was determined to have the most severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy of any case discovered, Boston University researchers announced Thursday.

Dr. Ann McKee, who has been at the front of every major CTE discovery in relation to the NFL, said Hernandez was diagnosed with Stage 3 CTE. Researchers had never seen that in a brain of a person younger than 46 years old. The brain had significant damage to the frontal lobe, which impacts a person's ability to make decisions and monitor behavior.

"We can't take the pathology and explain the behavior," McKee said, according to The Washington Post. "But we can say collectively, in our collective experience, that individuals with CTE, and CTE of this severity, have difficulty with impulse control, decision-making, inhibition of impulses for aggression, emotional volatility, rage behaviors. We know that collectively."

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Aaron Hernandez found to have suffered most severe CTE ever found in a person his age (report)

I still don't know what to make of this. How long has he been playing football? A heavy drug user. Idk when he started it.

 

[Urgent]

Small sample size issue.
How many 30-year old former football players have had brain autopsies?
The testing for CTE is relatively recent, and there haven't been many former players who have died that young, and of those few of them probably donated their brains.
Not at all surprising.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Who was the WR from Cincinnati who was killed a while back? He also had CTE.

 

[varjao]

hummm...who am I to question this group of elite doctors. However, I will have a hard time to believe he did what he did because of this condition.

 

[primetime]

While technically correct, the headline is somewhat misleading as the pool of people he is being compared against is very, very small as the vast majority of brains available to CTE researchers are from people who died at a much later age than 27.

 

[Kdo5]

hummm...who am I to question this group of elite doctors. However, I will have a hard time to believe he did what he did because of this condition.

Hernandez was clearly a ****ed up individual. Having such severe CTE definitely played a role in that. But it seemed that he was also involved with gangs and that stuff back in college and before.

I imagine it could only have exacerbated his 'issues'.

 

[mosi]

hummm...who am I to question this group of elite doctors. However, I will have a hard time to believe he did what he did because of this condition.

Agreed. None of the others who had CTE did.

 

[Vindicate]

Haven't read the article yet; did they say how they're grading CTE? Loss of grey matter? Bundling of tau proteins?

How did they attribute the loss of grey matter (or whatever quality they were observing) to concussions?

Did Hernandez have a record of reported concussions? Hmm. Interesting. I love CTE research. I guess I should read the article now.

 

[primetime]

I still don't know what to make of this. How long has he been playing football? A heavy drug user. Idk when he started it.

Drug use (and alcohol use) does not cause the tau deposits associated with CTE. There is some evidence (i.e. one published paper - good paper though) that use of certain drugs (opiates, I believe) is associated with the acceleration of natural aging processes in relation to tau accumulation, but it would not present similarly to CTE. This was caused by head trauma, and CTE is associated with the accumulation of small, regular traumas such as a football player might experience rather than large single traumas such as anyone who has ever suffered a concussion might experience.

Obviously, CTE has a significant effect on behavior similar to Alzheimer's or dementia. Anyone who has dealt with someone with Alzheimer's or dementia can attest to random outbursts of aggression and bizarre behavior.

That doesn't mean Hernandez did what he did because of CTE. Obviously, many people have CTE and most people with CTE are not murderers. But it certainly cannot be dismissed that his condition may have exacerbated or interacted with brain chemistry and social environment in ways that led to high levels of aggression and bizarre behavior. These things are complicated.

 

[Vindicate]

Obviously, CTE has a significant effect on behavior similar to Alzheimer's or dementia. Anyone who has dealt with someone with Alzheimer's or dementia can attest to random outbursts of aggression and bizarre behavior.

That doesn't mean Hernandez did what he did because of CTE. Obviously, many people have CTE and most people with CTE are not murderers. But it certainly cannot be dismissed that his condition may have exacerbated or interacted with brain chemistry and social environment in ways that led to high levels of aggression and bizarre behavior. These things are complicated.

The grey line (pun intended) between Alzheimer's and CTE is interesting.. I'm wondering how they attributed this damage solely to CTE. Doesn't tau play a role in Alzheimer's as well? Or is that strictly a CTE marker? Tau creates neurofibullary tubes.. So I just assume their would be an issue with the protein in Alzheimer's as well.

I guess what I'm getting at is - Hernandez has always had emotional issues and judgment issues since he was young, indicated by his brother's testimony in a rather long, descriptive article that covers the length of their relationship. I wonder if it's been considered that he suffered an early onset of a neurodegenerative disease, which was only exacerbated by concussions he sustained in football.

I took one semester of psychobiology so I am in NO WAY qualified to assert my question as a claim lol. Stuff is fascinating to me.

 

[primetime]

The grey line (pun intended) between Alzheimer's and CTE is interesting.. I'm wondering how they attributed this damage solely to CTE. Doesn't tau play a role in Alzheimer's as well? Or is that strictly a CTE marker? Tau creates neurofibullary tubes.. So I just assume their would be an issue with the protein in Alzheimer's as well.

I guess what I'm getting at is - Hernandez has always had emotional issues and judgment issues since he was young, indicated by his brother's testimony in a rather long, descriptive article that covers the length of their relationship. I wonder if it's been considered that he suffered an early onset of a neurodegenerative disease, which was only exacerbated by concussions he sustained in football.

I took one semester of psychobiology so I am in NO WAY qualified to assert my question as a claim lol. Stuff is fascinating to me.

Alzheimer's and CTE present similarly but can be differentiated. This explains it better than I can: Autopsies of athletes reveal characteristic brain changes: UC Davis Health System Feature Story

Very recently another paper was published on another specific marker that presented in people with CTE but not in people with Alzheimer's or otherwise. There was a lot of news coverage, perhaps some overhype, on the idea that these markers could be used to identify CTE in living brains.

 

[Tony2046]

Small sample size issue.
How many 30-year old former football players have had brain autopsies?
The testing for CTE is relatively recent, and there haven't been many former players who have died that young, and of those few of them probably donated their brains.
Not at all surprising.

My assumption is that the cognitive effects associated with that level of damage is age irrelevant. But I agree that "worst case at this age" is based on a small sample.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

My assumption is that the cognitive effects associated with that level of damage is age irrelevant. But I agree that "worst case at this age" is based on a small sample.

Without putting in any research... I'd hazard a guess that rapid onset of cognitive degeneration (i.e., getting to CTE level 3 by age ~25ish) is possibly more debilitating than a slower decline.

This headline is attention grabbing because it's a young man who murdered people after being a millionaire football star. I hope his case is somewhat attention grabbing to scientists in that it breaks down preconceived notions about the disease (i.e., tau protein accumulation - apparently can occur over a short period of time) and helps to further inform research. (Disclaimer that I don't know if tau protein / age relationship is a solidified notion in the field or not.)

 

[Love The Drake]

Who was the WR from Cincinnati who was killed a while back? He also had CTE.

Chris Henry

 

[primetime]

(Disclaimer that I don't know if tau protein / age relationship is a solidified notion in the field or not.)

Yeah. That's natural senility and dementia. Alzheimer's is also age-related though can present in younger people, but with a much more sudden onset.

 

[Jackson 2]

hummm...who am I to question this group of elite doctors. However, I will have a hard time to believe he did what he did because of this condition.

Was that a conclusion of the BU report?

 

[upstater1]

Drug use (and alcohol use) does not cause the tau deposits associated with CTE. There is some evidence (i.e. one published paper - good paper though) that use of certain drugs (opiates, I believe) is associated with the acceleration of natural aging processes in relation to tau accumulation, but it would not present similarly to CTE. This was caused by head trauma, and CTE is associated with the accumulation of small, regular traumas such as a football player might experience rather than large single traumas such as anyone who has ever suffered a concussion might experience.

Obviously, CTE has a significant effect on behavior similar to Alzheimer's or dementia. Anyone who has dealt with someone with Alzheimer's or dementia can attest to random outbursts of aggression and bizarre behavior.

That doesn't mean Hernandez did what he did because of CTE. Obviously, many people have CTE and most people with CTE are not murderers. But it certainly cannot be dismissed that his condition may have exacerbated or interacted with brain chemistry and social environment in ways that led to high levels of aggression and bizarre behavior. These things are complicated.

It really depends on the drugs.

Heavy usage of certain anti-depressants can do this.

 

[Snooky97]

I'm from England (u.k)

The whole Aaron Herndanz era is the saddest part of this.

The families he affected and will always affect for years.

The Odin family who lost there son.

Hernandez daughter will have to live her whole life knowing her dad was a murderer.

It's just a very very sad, horrible thing that's happens.

I'm not defending him by any stretch of the imagination as what he done was disgusting. Just think the whole thing is a horrible thing to remember for everyone involved.

I feel so bad for his daughter..

 

[BTTA]

We know that very small amounts of lead can destroy the parts of the brain that regulate natural aggression, leading to violent behavior.

Why couldn't CTE destroy different parts of the brain, to different degrees, in different people, rendering everyone's diagnosis and resultant behavior entirely individualized?