Degenerate sport
What do neurodegeneration and suicide have in common? American football. The long-term effects on health as a consequence of playing professional football, and other sports like boxing that have traditions of violent tackles and trauma to the head, has long been a source of debate in medical and sports circles.
?Please, see that my brain is given to the NFL?s brain bank?, was the haunting note Dave Duerson scribbled (and sent via text, just to be doubly sure) before he shot himself in the chest, leaving his brain intact and reigniting the debate. The defensive back for the Chicago Bears, 50, long suspected that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). But because the condition cannot be diagnosed, other than in post-mortem, it is likely that he felt he would be vindicated only in death.
The condition was first observed in boxers more than 80 years ago. And isn?t limited only to contact sports. According to Ann McKee, co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University, anyone who has exposure to even mild but repetitive head trauma?which could include rugby, soccer and hockey players, boxers, wrestlers, soldiers, victims of physical abuse and ?head bangers? at rock concerts?are susceptible to this condition. That the symptoms appear in mid-life, long after athletes have retired, and can only be confirmed via a post-mortem examination doesn?t make its diagnosis any easier.
As to how common it is, again, no one knows, says Nature. But it is worrying that McKee and her colleagues found that 321 professional football players died between February 2008 and June 2010. And of the 12 brains they examined, all 12 showed signs of CTE. Beware next time you?re rocking out to your favourite AC/DC song or your elder brother tackles you over fiddling with his playstation.
Regenerate your cells
Degenerative diseases like Alzheimer?s, a symptom of CTE, occur because of cell death. A team of researchers at Harvard University have found that this process of ageing can be slowed down, and even reversed, by reactivating an enzyme called telomerase. After its discovery, in the 1980s, telomerase was termed the fountain of youth. Cells have only a finite amount of DNA?telomerase prevents the decline in telomeres (where the DNA is stored), slowing cellular ageing.
Mice treated with oral telomerase, in the form of 4-OHT, saw their shrivelled testes grow back to normal and regain fertility. Others saw improvement in spleen, liver and intestines recuperate from the degenerate state. The team terms these results a ?Ponce de Leon? effect?a reference to the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, who went in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth.
But the news isn?t all rainbows and puppies, there are downsides to reactivating telomerase. The enzyme is often associated with cancer?its mutated forms are found in human cancer cases, helping tumours grow faster. The laboratory, however, argues that the telomerase would prevent healthy cells from becoming cancerous in the first place by preventing DNA damage, illustrating its potential for breakthroughs in treating organ failure and a myriad of age-related diseases.
This finding is likely to make the Upper East siders and all the botox aunties very happy. Yes, the studies have so far only found this link in mice, but hey, that?s where all good discoveries start.