Aaron Hernandez....severe CTE diagnosis

[Tunaboat]

I think we better keep a close eye on Duke Dawson in the coming weeks. He may be killing some folks for spilling drinks on him any day now!

My wife has delivered death threats on me for spilling a beer. This confirms it - her brain is nothing but tater tots - I'm married to a psycho-killer!!!

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

My wife has delivered death threats on me for spilling a beer. This confirms it - her brain is nothing but tater tots - I'm married to a psycho-killer!!!

Qu'est-ce que c'est? Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-far better run run run run run run awayyyyyyyyy

 

[8802Gator]

He was born a sociopath. There are plenty of dudes that have really advanced cases of cte that arent on murder sprees, but the cte knocked him silly enough that he thought destroying the cameras would also get rid of the footage.

 

[divits]

Sorta like the cigarette industry?

No actually, absolutely nothing like that.

"People are coming away from the constant media barrage with the belief that concussions are the sole and direct cause of CTE, most or all football players have CTE, and CTE has led football players to become violent, commit suicide or develop dementia.

I had the same impression before I decided to look a little deeper. But when I dove into the published literature regarding CTE, I discovered the scientific evidence to support the media’s narrative was lacking; in fact, I found bodies of evidence to the contrary and a whole other side to the science that is largely ignored.

I’m not alone. A number of members of the medical and research communities are also voicing serious doubts about the current state of the science linking concussion and CTE.

In fact, it’s not entirely clear if CTE is unique to traumatic brain injury. CTE-like pathology has also been seen in the brains of people who’ve died of epilepsy, without any history of head trauma. There are also cases of opioid overdose deaths where the brains show signs of early aging, including tau accumulation. This might suggest other mitigating factors make some people more prone to developing CTE than others."

https://sports.yahoo.com/im-brain-scientist-let-son-play-football-135727314.html


"There is current disagreement in the scientific literature about the relationship between playing football and suicide risk, particularly among professional players in the National Football League (NFL). While some research indicates players are at high risk of football-related concussions, which may lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy and suicide, other research finds such a connection to be speculative and unsupported by methodologically sound research."

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363546516645093

 

[divits]

He didn't? He killed a guy for spilling a drink on him. That's about as blatant an example of going apeshyt as I can think of. Do you disagree?

Context is again needed. Was Hernandez a bad person? Did he do bad things to other people? Yes and, furthermore, yes. That's not the point of the discussion. The point is he had advanced-stage CTE, the worst case the NFL has seen at his age, and he hadn't played football since 2012, which means it likely began long before the NFL, unless one of you guys can produce shots of his brain from 2010 or 2011 that show the damage.

That, combined with certain life events, lead me to BELIEVE in how things may have unfolded for Hernandez. Again, emphasis on believe, may. Father (and role model) unexpectedly died at a young age, he lost his way. Became rebellious. Turned to drugs and alcohol, which we all know rewires the brain at that age. Played football and got in repeated violent fights in high school. Head trauma? Likely. Came to UF as damaged goods and proceeded to get in deeper trouble. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

A pattern begins to develop.

Nothing occurs in a vacuum, and that includes the sad case of Aaron Hernandez. Even armed with this knowledge, his defense attorneys would have faced an uphill battle, but their chances of defending against a reasonable doubt would have been much better.

Yes, I disagree with the first question. He didn't show a lack of impulse control as associated with brain injury when he killed those guys. If he had he would have fought or shot them then and there on the dance floor. He calculated as to how he'd kill them and waited for his opportunity. He killed them for the same reasons a$$hole gangbangers always kill innocent people, for being "disrespected." It's in their "code" and all part of being a supposed badass. Then he calculated and planned how he would kill one of the witnesses. Then he calculated and planned how he was going to kill yet another witness. Then he calculated and planned how he would cover it up.

And exactly what is the sample size of 27 year old NFL brains that the NFL has studied? One?

You of course are welcome to believe whatever you want. I've already made my opinion known. I've had at least three concussions that I know of in my life. One involved being hit by a car, thrown into the air and landing on my head on a curb. My mom also died suddenly when I was about the same age as Hernandez when his dad died. Haven't shot anybody in the face........yet.

 

[revgator]

Fwiw I actually work in the mental health field.

I also don't give a hoot about AH.

But, if we are saying that CTE was a contributing factor to the murder of three people, if we really believe that, then following the logic do we not have a moral obligation to end football completely?

If we knowingly allow our sacred angels to undergo a metamorphis into serial killers for our own enjoyment through football, then we must have a moral obligation to put a stop to it.

 

[rogdochar]

Actually, there is a whole lot about CTE and its effects that remain a question mark. The science is still in it's infancy with no quantifiable evidence of cause and effect.

Absolutely correct divits. Science understanding of the brain is a new frontier due to the brain (human or other) being such a miraculous organ, almost beyond physicality .? That's how much science has yet to explore & discover.

The most studied fact is the presence of the aforementioned tau lesions. For at least 70+ years brain scientist have learned about tau lesions by examinining slices of "normal" brains (= no abnormal behavior/symptoms expressed.)They have spotted lesions by staining tissue slices. That would be people 20 y.o. to 70 y.o. who die from car accidents etc. The especial focus has been on people who had alzheimer's disease when they died.

From all that range of sampled people, scientist established a % of tau lesions present in asymptomatic brains vs alzheimeric brains. Conclusion is = all people have alzheimers; they just die from more frequent bio-killers (CV disease, heart failure, kidney disease failure, etc.) before that alzheimeric % is reached. These other diseases progress to death faster than tau lesions progress to alzheimers. So if all folks lived long enough they would show alzheimers - every one of us.

Reaching the tipping-point % of tau lesions to show alzheimer's symptoms depends on how early tau lesions get their beginning. Tau lesions appear at various ages via a combo of genetics (inherited chromosomal dictates) plus environmental insults to tissue/chromosomes, insults/assaults like xs alchohol comsumption, heavy smoking, harsh drugs, etc. So a geneticly resistant person could live to a ripe old age (say 95) with no symptoms, no alzheimers and there also exists early-onset alzheimers(Pakinson's too = Michael J. Fox) due to chromosomes having propensity for
specific surrender to specific diseases.

As to the debate on this thread. Actuarial tables show that a very, very small % of brain damaged people go either solitarily violent or mass violent = it's rare. Those peaceful 95%+ just die quietly without infamy = without the horror-fame. That is the solid science that blaring media headlines disinform the public on. [Individual examples (samples) do not advance any correct debate.] For instance, that sniper in U of Texas tower had a specificly located expanding tumor pressing 'exactly' on the neural network that activates violent behavior combined with runaway paranoia.

 

[Traumagirl]

Percentages? Glad you raised that point.

* His father, whom he worshipped, died after hernia surgery when Hernandez was 16.
* The kid never had time to prepare himself for the loss.
* Absent an authority figure in his life, he developed a defiance to authority.
* At 17, under the influence, busted a guy's eardrum in a restaurant.
* One example of his ability to example to control his emotions.
* Five months later, five gunshots fired into a car in Gainesville.
* Coincidence?
* Whether it occurred before or during CTE, we are left with conjecture.

Enough gray area for y'all?

He likely was born with sociopathy, those brains are lit up differently on scans. But the extra stress of losing the guidance of his Dad made him start acting out. Then you throw in frontal lobe damage their is no recognition of consequences or ability to control compulsion. The perfect storm.