Wisconsin governor Scott Walker signed youth concussion legislation into law today at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Support for the bill came from physicians, student-athletes, the NFL's Green Bay Packers and other organizations. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has exhibited an unwavering committment to the adoption of concussion legislation nationwide, starting with the Washington state concussion law named after middle school football player Zackery Lystedt, who was injured during a game in 2006. Like the Lystedt Law, Wisconsin's concussion law calls for the removal of any athlete suspected of having suffered a concussion and requires a player to obtain written medical authorization before resuming activity. The new law also requires the state Department of Public Instruction to work in conjunction with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association to develop guidelines and education standards for parents, coaches, and athletes. Source: Walker signing bills legalizing wolf hunt, cracking down on youth concussions -- Star Tribune --April 2, 2012 Questions/comments? Contact Jean Rickerson at Jean@SportsConcussions.org

NFL Hall of Famer "Iron Mike" Webster's life ended in 2002 when he suffered a heart attack at age 50. Four Super Bowl rings, nine Pro Bowls, and voted to the NFL's all-time team in 2000, the driven, ultra-competitive Steelers' center drifted into a life of drug use, homelessness, and enormous suffering after retiring in 1988. In 2005, his son Garrett told ESPN that the only way his father could get to sleep was to taser himself into unconsciousness. Former teammates and friends offered assistance over the years but it wasn't enough. After Webster's death, forensic neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu was determined to find neurological reasons for his cognitive decline. Seventeen years in the NFL at a time when safety precautions and concussion awareness were both minimal had resulted in thousands of impacts to his head. Though his brain looked normal at autopsy, Omalu pressed on until he found the abnormalities that we now call Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE and Alzheimer's CTE and Alzheimer's are both “neurodegenerative diseases.” That is, they are brain diseases that result in the progressive destruction of brain cells, eventually leading to cognitive, behavioral, and other impairments. Both Alzheimer’s and CTE can only be accurately diagnosed postmortem through a neuropathological examination of the brain and their progression has remained elusive. But clues about how Alzheimer's spreads from neuron to neuron are now emerging. Whether the same process of progression applies to CTE is currently unclear. Photo: Alzheimer's infects from neuron to neuron The inexorable spread of Alzheimer’s disease through the brain leaves dead neurons and forgotten thoughts in its wake. Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden are the first to show how toxic proteins are transferred from neuron to neuron. Through experiments on stained neurons, the research team – under the leadership of Martin Hallbeck, associate professor of Pathology – has been able to depict the process of neurons being invaded by diseased proteins that are then passed on to nearby cells. “The spread of Alzheimer’s, which can be studied in the brains of diseased patients, always follows the same pattern. But until now how and why this happens has not been understood,” says Hallbeck, who along with his research group has now published their results in The Journal of Neuroscience. The illness starts in the entorhinal cortex – a part of the cerebral cortex, and then spreads to the hippocampus. Both of these areas are important for memory. Gradually, pathological changes take place in more and more areas of the brain, while the patient becomes even sicker. Two proteins have been identified in connection with Alzheimer’s: beta amyloid and tau. Normally tau is found in the axons – the outgrowths that connect between neurons – where it has a stabilising function, while beta amyloid seems to have a role in the synapses where the neurons transfer signal substances to each other. But in Alzheimer’s patients, something happens with these proteins; autopsies reveal abnormal accumulations of both. Why they become abnormal is still unknown, but what is known is that it’s not the large accumulations, or plaques, that damage the neurons. Instead, smaller groups of beta amyloid – called oligomeres – seem to be the toxic form that gradually destroy the neurons and shrink the brain. “We wanted to investigate whether these oligomeres can spread from neuron to neuron, something many researchers tried earlier but didn’t succeed,” Hallbeck says. The study was inaugurated with an experiment on neuron cultures, where researchers injected oligomeres stained with a phosphorescent red substance called TMR using a very thin needle. The next day the neighbouring, connected neurons were also red, which showed that the oligomeres had spread. To test whether a sick neuron can “infect” others, they conducted a round of experiments with mature human neurons stained green and mixed with others that were red after having taken up stained oligomeres. After a day, approximately half of the green cells had been in contact with a few of the red ones. After two more days, the axons had lost their shape and organelles in the cell nucleus had started to leak. “Gradually more and more of the green cells became sick. Those that hadn’t taken up the oligomeres, on the other hand, weren’t affected,” Hallbeck says. The study is a breakthrough in understanding Alzheimer’s and its progress. If a way of stopping the transfer can be found, it could lead to a more effective inhibitor against the disease. Article: Spreading of neurodegenerative pathology via neuron-to-neuron transmission of beta-amyloid by Sangeeta Nath, Lotta Agholme, Firoz Kurudenkandy, Björn Granseth, Jan Marcusson and Martin Hallbeck. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27 June 2012. Photo: Alzheimer's infects from neuron to neuron: Two nerve cells, each about 10 micrometers large, are visible as shadows in this picture. From the beginning only the right one (yellow arrow) contained the toxic, red stained, oligomeric beta-amyloid. When these sick cells make contacts with the healthy, green labeled cells (black arrow), toxic beta-amyloid will spread through the neuronal projections (white arrow). Subsequently, also the green cell will become sick. Credit: Martin Hallbeck Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Linköping University. Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

Collisions. Headers. Goalpost run-ins. Soccer athletes and fans can't help but wonder which elements contribute most to the frequency of concussions in the sport, particularly among young girls. Researchers have been collecting data in helmeted sports for many years using accelerometers embedded in head gear, but non-helmeted sports have presented obvious challenges. Impact data has provided some of the most critical science in the concussion field. As a result, the forces that players sustain in various contact sports are well-documented and found, in some cases, to be alarming. The latest addition to the data bank was the inclusion of an impact study on 7-and 8-year-old football players and the adult-sized forces they incurred during practices. Now the focus is turning to other sports, including soccer. A new study by researchers at Wayne State University, published in the Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine offers insight into head acceleration in girls' youth soccer (U14) during game play. HITS The Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS) used to measure the force impacts, was utilized in this study. Small accelerometers typically mounted inside helmets, transmit data wirelessly to researchers on the sideline. In this case, soccer headbands with the padding removed were outfitted with the instrumentation. Impacts over 10g, or 10x the force of gravity, were recorded and analyzed at a later time alongside corresponding video footage to determine the nature of the hit. For reference, a sneeze might be 3g, a fighter pilot might "pull" 9g during maneuvers, and high school football players regularly sustain hits ranging from 60-100g and higher, many without reporting concussion symptoms. A total of 24 girls participated in the study, conducted during scrimmages on grass fields. Scrimmages lasted 30 to 65 minutes each. None of the players suffered a concussion during the research. Results There were 47 header impacts and 20 non-header impacts observed during the study. Non-header impacts included collisions with another player, player falls, collisions with goalposts, and unintended collisions with the ball. Researchers found: - majority of non-header impacts (40%) were player-to-player collisions - most headers impacted the front of the head; the peak linear acceleration (force) recorded was 4.5g- greatest header force occurred on the right side of the head and was measured at 62.9g - most head impacts players sustained in one scrimmage was four - side headers resulted in greater forces than back headers - player collisions resulted in the highest number of nonheader impacts and had a maximum force of 56.7g - impacts from player falls measured a maximum force of 23.7g - a goalpost collision measured a maximum of 27.1g Researchers hypothesized that non-header impacts would exceed those from heading the ball, but that was not what the case. Many of the players experienced multiple impacts in a single scrimmage, the cumulative effects of such impacts within a short time frame are unknown. Conclusions Concussions can occur in any sport and amending equipment and making rule changes to decrease the frequency and severity of the injury depends on science. Soccer has emerged as the leading cause of sport-related concussions for young girls and researchers are working to unravel the reasons why. Hypotheses range from less neck strength, to hormonal differences to better reporting by females. Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: June 2012 - Volume 44 - Issue 6 - p 1102–1108 doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3182444d7d Applied Sciences Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

"Short term memory's not good," Jim McMahon, former Chicago Bears quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion tells ESPN. "I won't remember a lot about this interview in about 10 minutes." McMahon and his girlfriend give a rare look inside the daily struggles he says were a result of repeated blows to the head incurred during his 15-year NFL career. McMahon and hundreds of other former NFL players are suing the league for allegedly concealing information about the risk of concussions. ESPN Outside the Lines -- Taking Its Toll (8:12)(video) The 52-year-old McMahon says he suffered three documented concussions during his career, impacts significant enough that he was unaware of his surroundings. Now he has good days and bad days according to his girlfriend, Laurie Navon, who has programmed the GPS in his car with their home address in case he gets lost. He repeatedly purchases the same books on his e-reader. The Chicago Bears selected McMahon in the first-round of the 1982 NFL Draft where he won the starting quarterback position as a rookie. McMahon led the Bears to a Super Bowl victory in 1985, where he became the first quarterback in the championship's history to rush for two touchdowns. He returned to win the Super Bowl a second time as a Green Bay Packer in 1996. On Oct. 12, 1988 the Chicago Tribune reported that McMahon had been evaluated by an athletic trainer on the sideline who said, "He had a concussion, but it cleared by halftime." The NFL has much stricter policies and standards regarding head injury today, as more information on concussions has become available. Source: ESPN: Outside the Lines -- Taking Its Toll March 18, 2012 Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

Starting in 2012, helmet reconditioners will no longer accept helmets 10 years or older. Leagues that have depended on reconditioning their helmets every year and cannot afford replacement gear will be most affected. Although helmets do not prevent concussions, most experts agree that newer ones are preferable to used, and an older, unreconditioned helmet might increase the risk of injury. Many leagues ask their booster clubs for assistance with fundraising as this issue has now reached a critical phase. Limited grants for replacement helmets by leading manufacturers are now available for eligible youth leagues in several areas around the country. Applications are now being accepted for youth football programs seeking to replace their league's helmets before the start of the 2012 season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA Football and partnering organizations have introduced a helmet replacement program for youth in underserved communities. It is estimated the program will provide almost 13,000 new helmets to athletes in low-income communities beginning in July 2012. To qualify a league must meet the following criteria: - Operate a youth football league (no middle or high school programs) - Live in one of the following areas: Cleveland, New Orleans, New York, or the San Francisco Bay area - Serve an economically disadvantaged area The application process requires registration at USA Football, the governing body for youth football under the NFL. The application is accessible only after viewing a concussion awareness video and pledging to utilize USA Football's resources to educate members of your league before the 2012 season. A visit from an official to verify the ages and number of helmets exceeding 10 years of age in your inventory will occur by mid-June, with new helmets arriving prior to the beginning of the 2012 season. Participating helmet manufacturers include Rawlings, Xenith, Riddell and Schutt. Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

As the on-ice passion of the NHL playoff games intensifies so do the penalties, particularly for vicious hits to the head. Saturday's games resulted in three separate incidents that will highlight the league's commitment to cracking down on illegal hits that may, and often do, cause concussions. Brendan Shanahan, Senior Vice President, Player Safety and Operations held hearings on two of the three violations Sunday afternoon. The third is scheduled for Monday. The hits are reviewed on video and the suspensions are explained in great detail by Shanahan on the NHL network (see videos below). Shanahan suspended New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin for an illegal hit that forced opponent Daniel Alfredsson's head into the glass. Alfredsson, the Senators captain, left the game for evaluation and his status for the rest of the playoffs is uncertain. On Monday the team announced he had suffered a concussion on the play. This is Hagelin's first major penalty. The Wall Street Journal reports that disciplinary action against Hagelin may increase if Alfredsson, who has a history of concussions, is unable to return to the series. A one-game suspension was also issued Sunday for Ottawa Senators defenseman Matt Carkner for continuing to pummel an "unwilling opponent," Rangers forward Brian Boyle, who was knocked to the ice after Carkner delivered two powerful blows to his head. Carkner continued to hit Boyle as he lay on the ice. Boyle did not return the punches. Carkner was classified as an "aggressor" under NHL rules and was assessed a minor penalty for instigating, a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct. Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw is scheduled for a hearing on Monday for a shoulder-to-head hit on Coyotes goalie Mike Smith that left him down on the ice writhing in pain. Shaw earned a charging major and game misconduct on the play. Smith remained in the game. Last Thursday, Vancouver Canucks forward Byron Bitz was suspended for two games for a vicious hit to the head on Los Angeles Kings forward Kyle Clifford the night before. Clifford's head was shoved into the glass causing him to miss at least one game. In addition to the suspension Bitz was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct the night of the game. Carl Hagelin/ Daniel Alfredsson Matt Carkner/ Brian Boyle Byron Bitz/ Kyle Clifford Source: NHL Network Questions/comments? Contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

Concern over longevity issues stemming from a string of injuries including back-to-back concussions, may have contributed to Chris Owusu's omission from the first seven rounds of the NFL draft this weekend. But Stanford's talented receiver, who turned in one of the fastest times in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February and was considered a possible top 100 prospect during his senior year, was signed by the San Francisco 49ers shortly after the draft concluded on Saturday. Owusu, one of Andrew Luck's go-to receivers missed the end of his senior season including two Bowl games after suffering two concussions in three weeks, his third in a little more than a year. Admitting to frustration because his symptoms cleared rapidly after each injury, he was not authorized by Cardinal physicians to return. Considered a third-round talent, Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter spoke to several general managers about Owusu. "He's off our board," says one general manager. "He was from the start. It wouldn't matter if he was RG3, he'd still be off our board. With that kind of history it's not worth the risk of him being seriously injured, especially with all the attention you're going to receive. If you draft him you're going to be under the microscope the whole time. Every time he gets hit it's going to be magnified tenfold." For the 49ers, Owusu was too good to pass up. "Chris wasn't wiped off our board," 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said Saturday when he met the media at the conclusion of the draft. "You've got to remember, he was cleared to play by the same group of doctors that work with us on a regular basis. He certainly was not off our board," according to NBC SportsGroup. Owusu was taking part in a Stanford School of Medicine research project when he suffered at least one of his concussions. Researchers recorded impact data from players wearing high-tech mouthguards in an effort to gain a better understanding of the forces that cause the injury. Source: Read more: https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jim_trotter/04/25/draft.concussions/index.html#ixzz1tSyGvhE8 Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at Jean@SportsConcussions.org Photo: (c) Maveric2003@creativecommons

PITTSBURGH – The unpredictable nature of concussions is one of the most frustrating factors to the millions of sufferers each year, but early neurological indicators and symptoms can predict a protracted healing time in certain cases, according to specialists at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “It’s a highly variable injury with a variety of outcomes,” said Michael “Micky” Collins, Ph.D., director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program and co-investigator of the Pitt/UPMC study published in the February issue of Neurosurgery. “We see some patients who take a day or two to recover, and some who take a year or longer to recover. If clinicians had a way of determining within two days of injury who’s going to take a month or longer to recover, that’s a very important piece of information to have. It’s a game-changer.” The study, one of the first to examine concussion prognoses, showed that specific neurocognitive “cut-off” scores derived from ImPACT™ (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) improved clinicians’ ability to predict which sports-related concussions could take longer –- as much as five times longer -- to rehabilitate than others. They found, in as many as 85 percent of the cases, the scores could warn athletes, parents, coaches, schools, teams and health professionals when a concussion is likely to take on average a month to heal. Such an objective prognosis could help clinicians to better prepare a treatment plan, arrange academic accommodations for students and set tangible expectations for return to play and school, Dr. Collins said. The study reviewed 108 high-school football players who were given ImPACT tests within a median of two days after their concussions. Fifty boys experienced a recovery lasting, on average, 33 days before returning to play, and those longer rehabilitations could be forecast by specific “cut-off” scores in ImPACT Visual and Processing Speed testing. Migraine and cognitive symptoms also appeared to have predictive power. Study participants who scored above the threshold levels recovered within a median of seven days. “We’ve established statistical ‘cut-offs’ that indicate people who take a month or longer to recover,” Dr. Collins said. “Eighty percent of concussed people recover inside of three weeks. This prognostic information allows us to develop a risk profile of athletes who don’t recover well from this injury. Other study authors include Brian Lau, B.S., from the Pitt School of Medicine, and Mark Lovell, Ph.D., the Concussion Program’s founding director who retired from UPMC last summer. About UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program The first-of-its-kind UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, established in 2000, is the largest multi-disciplinary clinical and research program that focuses on the diagnosis, evaluation and management of sports-related concussion in athletes of all levels. The UPMC clinicians and researchers treat more than 13,000 patients a year, and published more than 75 clinical research studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals. About ImPACT ImPACT™ (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is an independently validated and researched concussion-evaluation system that has become the most widely used in the United States. Co-founded in the early 1990s by Drs. Mark Lovell, Joseph Maroon and Michael “Micky” Collins, who have a proprietary interest in ImPACT Applications, Inc., ImPACT is a 20-minute test that is a standard tool used as part of comprehensive clinical concussion management adopted across the NFL, NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball, college and high-school athletics -- with roughly 3 million people tested. Source: UPMC press release- https://www.upmc.com/mediarelations Photo courtesy UPMC

Coy Wire was a team captain for the Buffalo Bills (2002-2007) and the Atlanta Falcons (2008-2011) during his nine years in the NFL. An All-American Honors athlete at Stanford University, Coy was the first player to lead the Cardinal in both rushing and tackles. He was a recipient of the NFL’s Ed Block Courage Award. Q: What would you tell athletes about concussions? The NFL is in a state of evolution and recent changes will only make it safer for younger athletes. The league and the NFLPA (National Football League Players’ Association) have made huge strides to address the concussion issue, while maintaining the excitement of the game for both fans and players. It’s important that all athletes remember that you only get one brain and as we learn more about the long-term and adverse effects of contact sports and repetitive head injury, we know that smaller hits over the course of a career- even a high school career- can accumulate. Learn to recognize the symptoms of head trauma. You can have headaches or you might be slightly dizzy …these are all bearable and many athletes mask these symptoms by taking a Tylenol and then they go out and play again. But a concussion is not an ankle or shoulder injury…later in life you can have surgery on that ankle or have knee replacement surgery but you only get one brain. You can’t get a brain replacement. If you mask head trauma you can be risking increased problems in the future for Alzheimer’s or dementia. Head trauma has to be looked at very differently. Yes, in a way it’s a body part like a shoulder, but your brain must be treated very differently. You can ice and elevate an ankle but can’t do that with your brain. Real damage may show up later in life …and it’s not just football, it can happen in any sport. We used to look at toughness and playing through injuries as a badge of honor. That you were tough both mentally and physically and that continuing to play while hurt brought you the respect of your peers. But we need to change the culture now, and that starts with you. You need to believe that it’s OK to miss a game or a week or longer. If you do have to sit out, it means you were playing hard and you took one for the team. You shouldn’t feel ashamed. And if you care about your friends and your teammates, keep them from harm. If you see a friend of yours doing something to hurt themselves, like playing with a concussion, step up and help them. You’re doing them a huge injustice by allowing them to continue to play. You are your brother’s keeper. Become a hero in their life and help them realize what they probably know deep down inside anyway. Someday they’ll look back and know what you did for them, and they’ll respect you more, later in their lives. Be a leader and help change the game. Help create a new norm. Coy Wire is the author of Change Your Mind; 10 Unconventional Secrets to Retrain Your Brain; March 2012. He is an inspirational speaker and mind coach. For more information contact him at https://www.coywire.com/