PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Head injuries could result in neurodegenerative disease in rugby union players

2015-05-22
(Press-News.org) A new article publishing online today in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine has reported the first case showing an association between exposure to head injuries in rugby union players and an increased risk in neurodegenerative disease.

Until now, the association between head injuries and neurodegenerative disease, specifically chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), has predominantly been made with boxers. However Dr Michael Farrell and colleagues have presented the first comprehensive case report of CTE in a former amateur rugby union player, who died six years after displaying the first symptoms of neurological decline at age 57.

The patient in the report played rugby for most of his life, from early teens to age 50 and played just below international standard for much of his career. His family have said that he experienced many head injuries and symptoms of mild concussion throughout this time. The report demonstrates CTE, sometimes known as Punch Drunk Syndrome, arising in an amateur rugby union player who had repeated concussion through participation in the sport. However, the report also illustrates there may still be a way to go. Dr Farrell says "despite increasing recognition of the association between concussion and CTE, confirmed cases remain few."

He went on to say "there remains limited awareness in clinics that the condition occurs in sports outside of boxing...with increased awareness of CTE, we would suggest the diagnosis might be considered in any patient presenting to dementia services with a prior history to exposure of TBI."

In this case report, the patient was not diagnosed with CTE prior to his death, and was only discovered post-mortem. Dr Farrell and colleagues believe that their findings display a need for currently understanding of CTE to be reviewed, especially since concussion levels in rugby union are reported to be among the highest in contact sport.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Time is muscle in acute heart failure

2015-05-22
Sophia Antipolis, 22 May 2015: Urgent diagnosis and treatment in acute heart failure has been emphasised for the first time in joint recommendations published today in European Heart Journal.1 The consensus paper is the result of a novel collaboration between the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the European Society for Emergency Medicine and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in the USA. Professor Alexandre Mebazaa, lead author and HFA board member, said: "This is the first guidance to insist that acute heart failure ...

Research identifies best treatment for blood pressure in diabetic kidney disease

2015-05-22
Blood pressure lowering drugs do not improve life expectancy among adults with diabetes and kidney disease, a new study of the global evidence published today in The Lancet reveals. However, the study, which brings together 157 studies involving more than 43,000 adults with diabetes, shows that angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) treatments, alone or in combination, are the most effective drug regimen for preventing end-stage kidney disease -- an important finding given that diabetes is now the leading cause of people ...

Mood instability common to mental health disorders and associated with poor outcomes

2015-05-22
A study by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London has shown that mood instability occurs in a wide range of mental disorders and is not exclusive to affective conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder. The research, published today in BMJ Open, also found that mood instability was associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Taken together, these findings suggest that clinicians should screen for mood instability across all common mental health disorders. Targeted interventions ...

Smoking and drug abuse could more than triple annual ER visits

2015-05-21
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Smokers are four times more likely than non-smokers to become frequent visitors of emergency rooms. That is one of the findings uncovered by a preliminary study led by Jessica Castner, a University at Buffalo emergency room utilization researcher. The research - which sought to shed light on whether patients are replacing visits to their primary care physicians with trips to hospital ERs- also found that Americans with chronic diseases use both services equally and that, overall, medical care visits have soared in recent years. "There are a few super-users ...

Beyond average

Beyond average
2015-05-21
Imagine someone hands you a smoothie and asks you to identify everything that went into it. You might be able to discern a hint of strawberry or the tang of yogurt. But overall it tastes like a blend of indiscernible ingredients. Now imagine that the smoothie is made of 20,000 ground-up cells from, say, the brain. You could run tests to determine what molecules are in the sample, which is what scientists do now. That would certainly give you useful information, but it wouldn't tell you which cells those molecules originally came from. It would provide only an average ...

EBV co-infection may boost malaria mortality in childhood

2015-05-21
Many people who live in sub-Saharan Africa develop a natural immunity to malaria, through repeated exposure to Plasmodium parasites. Even so, the disease kills close to half a million children per year, according to the World Health Organization. What factors can interfere with the development of immunity? Infectious disease researchers at Emory are calling attention to a trouble-maker whose effects may be underappreciated: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Their experiments with mice show that co-infection with a virus closely related to EBV can make a survivable malaria parasite ...

Using healthy skin to identify cancer's origins

2015-05-21
Normal skin contains an unexpectedly high number of cancer-associated mutations, according to a study published in Science. The findings illuminate the first steps cells take towards becoming a cancer and demonstrate the value of analysing normal tissue to learn more about the origins of the disease. The study revealed that each cell in normal facial skin carries many thousands of mutations, mainly caused by exposure to sunlight. In fact, around 25 per cent of skin cells in samples from people without cancer were found to carry at least one cancer-associated mutation. ...

Savannahs slow climate change

2015-05-21
Tropical rainforests have long been considered the Earth's lungs, sequestering large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and thereby slowing down the increasing greenhouse effect and associated human-made climate change. Scientists in a global research project now show that the vast extensions of semi-arid landscapes occupying the transition zone between rainforest and desert dominate the ongoing increase in carbon sequestration by ecosystems globally, as well as large fluctuations between wet and dry years. This is a major rearrangement of planetary functions. ...

UC Davis study finds significant cost savings in pediatric telemedicine consults

2015-05-21
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Researchers at UC Davis have conducted a comprehensive study to determine whether pediatric telemedicine consultations with rural emergency departments save money compared to telephone consults. The answer is a resounding yes. While telemedicine systems are expensive to install and maintain, they more than pay their way, saving an average $4,662 per use. The study was published in the journal Medical Decision Making. "Our previous work showed that telemedicine was good for kids, families and providers, but we didn't really address the cost issue," ...

Lawrence Livermore researchers use seismic signals to track above-ground explosions

2015-05-21
Lawrence Livermore researchers have determined that a tunnel bomb explosion by Syrian rebels was less than 60 tons as claimed by sources. Using seismic stations in Turkey, Livermore scientists Michael Pasyanos and Sean Ford created a method to determine source characteristics of near earth surface explosions. They found the above-ground tunnel bomb blast under the Wadi al-Deif Army Base near Aleppo last spring was likely not as large as originally estimated and was closer to 40 tons. Seismology has long been used to determine the source characteristics of underground ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

[Press-News.org] Head injuries could result in neurodegenerative disease in rugby union players