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Athletes' Brains Reveal Concussion Damage
jamie found a story on research about what concussions do to athletes, with the insights coming mostly from the study of the donated brains of dead athletes. The NFL has the biggest profile in the piece, but other sports make an appearance too. Turns out that repeated concussions can result in depression, insomnia, and the beginnings of something that looks a lot like Alzheimer's. "The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said [retired wrestler] Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."
Cancer survival not linked to a positive attitude, study finds
Print version: page 14
Some cancer patients seek out support groups and psychotherapy with the notion that improving their emotional states will extend their lives, says University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine psychologist James C. Coyne, PhD.
However, in a study in the journal Cancer, (Vol. 110, No. 11) Coyne and colleagues reported that emotional well-being in no way predicted survival among patients with head and neck cancer.
"If people want to go to a support group there are lots of advantages to it, such as a sense of belonging, but survival isn't one of them," says Coyne.
In the large-scale study conducted over nine years, Coyne and colleagues used baseline quality-of-life questionnaires to assess the well-being of 1,093 cancer patients. All participants were involved in clinical trials, which ensured uniformity of treatment and ruled out substantial health disparities in the sample. During the study, 646 patients died, and the research team found no relationship between their emotional well-being and cancer progression and death.
Though his findings strongly contradict the notion that a positive attitude is related to survival, the idea of "fighting" cancer is deeply rooted in our culture, says Coyne.
"It's the American way, that you can do it, you can fight it," he adds.
Based on the study results, Coyne believes it's important to not blame cancer patients who don't adopt an aggressively positive spirit.
"We want to recognize thatthere are lots of individual differences in coping with cancer," he says. "People have to do what's comfortable with them, but they have to do it without the burden of thinking they've got to have the right attitudeto survive."
Actually, my understanding is that he suffers from Parkinson's syndrome, which is not the same as the disease proper.
-b
myselfmusic
The tissue samples we're seeing are from guys who, for the most part, played in the 70's and 80's, back when "shut up and play you pussy, you just 'got your bell rung'" was a way of life. Now, concussions are handled with considerably more care. Is it enough? I don't know that anyone is sure yet. But at least they're being treated like the legitimate, serious injury they are.
My father was a linebacker for 8 years in the '80s, and he says something very similar. He had several concussions himself, and only when he suffered the one or two major ones did he come out of the game. He's coached for a high school and a smaller college team recently and says that even at that level everyone is so much more aware of injuries, and other dangers like dehydration and heat exhaustion, than they were when he played professionally. And before that it was worse...when he was in high school they used to take salt pills instead of water breaks.
Anyway, he's 50 now, his knees and back are shot so he walks like a 75 year old. Maybe it's because he just turned 50, but the NFLPA has recently gotten serious about former player health, so they've begun periodically checking his heart and other health problems. But thankfully the only mental problem I've noticed is that he votes Republican.