Diagnostic Prospectives with Tau Protein and Imaging Techniques to Detect Development of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Brain damage sustained from repeated blows in boxing, wrestling, and other combat sports has serious physical and mental health consequences. The degenerative brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), presents clinically with memory loss, aggression, difficulty in rational thinking and other cognitive problems. This spectrum, which mimics Alzheimer's disease, is diagnosed post-mortem through a brain biopsy in many professional athletes. However, little is known about the process of development and how to identify vulnerable individuals who may be on course for developing CTE. Boxing is a sport that has a severe toll on athletes' health, primarily on their brain health and function. This review addresses the concerns of brain injury, describes the pathologies that manifest in multiple scales, e.g., molecular and cognitive, and also proposes possible diagnostic and prognostic markers to characterize the early onset of CTE along with the aim to identify a starting point for future precautions and interventions.

Role of Physical Exercise, Education and Work Related Measures with the Longevity of Work in Older Population in United States.

Growth of older population in United States (US) raises concerns for evaluation of health indices that could sustain their workability. This study aimed to characterize the association of health practices used by older working population and measures of quality and duration of their work. Forty (40) non-treatment seeking healthy working individuals residing within United States within 22 - 75 years of age were included in this study. Data were collected from the Customized Employee Biographical Questionnaire (EBQ) and Occupational Health Surveillance Questionnaire (OHRQ) by age groups as 22 - 31, 32 - 41, 42 - 51, 52 - 61 and 62+ and statistically analyzed. Length of working (LOW) showed close association with the duration of physical exercise (DPE) at adjusted R2 = 0.295 and type of work (TOW) at adjusted R2 = 0.598; and Education in the 62+ (oldest) age group. However such relationship was not observed in the 52 - 61 years age group even when DPE and Education were not significantly different from the 62+ group. In the 42 - 51 age group, significant correlation of LOW with DPE and TOW was found. Duration of physical activity could be an important factor associated with the duration of work in the oldest group. Type of work could be significant modifier in determining the length of working in older age-groups. Predecessor elderly groups might need to incorporate some of the measures that were significant in the oldest group, to improve their expectations to work longer. Larger studies could identify and capture various other measures that could be important both for the regional and national US perspective.