Belson, Ken. "Study Bolsters Link Between Routine Hits to Head and Long-Term Brain Disease." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 05 Dec. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/sports/study-bolsters-link-between-routine-hits-to-head-and-long-term-brain-disease.html?ref=science>.
The article “Study Bolsters Link Between Routine Hits and Brain Disease” talks about how multiple hits to the head can lead to a disease called, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E.. It is incurable disease whose symptoms can include memory loss, depression and dementia. The study was conducted by the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and included people from ages 17 to 98. The study allowed the researchers to see how routine hits affect the brain and the different stages of the disease. The study included 85 people and 80% showed evidence of C.T.E. most of these people participated in sports. 50 of them were football players, including 33 who played in the N.F.L.. However, the study did not mention the number of people who could be suffering from this disease because it is impossible to know, because they only studied brains of people who suffered from this disease.
Brain injuries are now becoming a very important part of our society. Schools are now required to have regulations for students who have received head injuries. Coaches, athletes, and doctors are being trained to recognize the signs of concussions and other dangerous or repeated hits to the head. Since many students at our school participate in contact sports it is important for them to realize the dangers of being continually hit in the head. Additionally, the dangers of being continually hit in the head are constantly being explored and more research is becoming available all the time.
I think that this article is very informative. It summarizes the main points of C.T.E. and gives detailed information on the study. For example, the article mentions that it is impossible to know how many professional football players could be affected by C.T.E. It explains that this is because brains are only donated to study if the family believes the person was suffering from the disease. By explaining why the study could or could not predict certain things helped the reader understand the issues with learning more about the disease.
Maddy Foley
ReplyDeleteCommentary #6
12/6/12
I read Argentina’s review of the article “Study Bolsters Link Between Routine Hits and Brain Disease,” from the New York Times. Firstly, I think the reviewer presented the causes and effects of the disease in a clear and comprehensible way. She notes that, C.T.E. or chronic traumatic encephalopathy is very connected to multiple head hits, typically occurring through athletics. The effects of this disease include memory loss, depression and dementia. The reviewer also did well to include the statistics on the studies. This provided the reader with a clear and more supported understanding of the connection between athletics and these head injuries. Of the 85 people included in the study, the 80% of people who had C.T.E. were usually involved in contact sports. 50 of them were football players, including 33 from the NFL alone. Lastly, the reviewer related the reading to high school students, helping to increase the intensity of the evidence presented. Specifically, she noted that in high schools regulations are being increased for preventative measures for those who play contact sports and treatment methods are being adjusted for those who may have signs of concussions or have been subjected to multiple hits on the head. This personally made the review more relatable for me as I have witnessed many concussions in friends who play football, field hockey and other sports, and have been taught through health officials about the importance of the safety measures taken.
One thing I think the reviewer could have improved was to elaborate a bit more on the disease itself. As addressed in the actual article, the disease has four stages making it most undiagnosed with people who have Stage 1 or 2 C.T.E. Stage 1 includes headaches and loss of attention, Stage 2 symptoms are depression and memory loss. Stage 3, cognitive impairment and Stage 4, dementia and aggression. The series of degrees of the disease imparts a more serious warning on how the disease can progress and how even smaller symptoms should be examined. The second thing the reviewer could have do to improve the review is to address the flaws in the link between routine hits and brain disease. Scientists are still trying to prove that head injuries sustained on the field definitely caused C.T.E. It is difficult because certain athletes who performed in the same conditions did not develop C.T.E. They need to identify the disease in living patients through more techniques and studies to really, definitively draw the conclusion that head injuries on the field cause C.T.E. By addressing this, the reader would have received a better idea of the lengthy process this is.
One thing I learnt was that it is impossible to know how many current football players have C.T.E. yet the estimate is high. This is because the brains are only donated to study if the family believes the person is or has suffered from this disease.
Samantha Past
ReplyDelete12/7/12
The review Argentina wrote pertaining to the article, “Study Bolsters Link Between Routine Hits to Head and Long-Term Brain Disease” started off very strong. Within the first two sentences Argentina expressed the main idea of the article, C.T.E., and stated exactly what C.T.E. stood for/ means. Therefore allowing the reader, to immediately be aware of the primary focus of the article. Likewise, Argentina did a nice job of including various statistics from the article, therefore informing the reader of the results of the study conducted, and likewise providing evidence for some conclusions made within the experiment. Another part of the article, I particularly enjoyed was how Argentina related the article to Bronxville School, therefore making a personal connection. She briefly discussed, how it is important for the various students at our school to be aware of the dangers of concussions, as a result of the sports they participate in.
Although Argentina did a nice job of including various details/ facts about the study conducted relating to C.T.E. perhaps if she specifically described, the stages of the disease, for example, like how those categorized as having Stage 1 of the disease, “had headaches and loss of attention and concentration” and “those with Stage 2 also had depression, explosive behavior and short-term memory loss,” the reader would have a better understanding of the effects of C.T.E. or possible things to look for in diagnosing such a disease. Another aspect of Argentina’s review that could have possibly been made better was the lack of detail pertaining to specific quotes from the article. If Argentina included a few direct quotes from the article, for example, one perhaps stated from Ann McKee, the main author of the study, and a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University School of Medicine; the reader would have gotten a clue as to how other people, specifically those directly related to this study, are feeling about the progress/ experimentation being made.
An aspect of the article I found particularly interesting was the study conducted in order to further examine C.T.E. I was unaware prior to reading this article, such an examination had occurred. As stated in the article, “It took four years to complete, included subjects 17 to 98 years old, and more than doubled the number of documented cases of C.T.E. The investigators also created a four-tiered system to classify degrees of C.T.E., hoping it would help doctors treat patients.” Prior to reading this article I was unaware such a study was conducted, and upon reading this piece I found the entire study very interesting, especially due to the broad scope of subjects tested, those of ages 17 to 98 years old.