Functional, but minimal microstructural brain changes present in aging Canadian football league players years after retirement

Noseworthy, Michael D.

doi:10.1016/j.dscb.2022.100036

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 81 publications

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“…The rCFL participants also completed a battery of clinical tests to measure cognitive, emotional, and physical health. These tests were explained in our previous publication on the same participants (24) and included the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment Tool (ImPACT), (25) Beck's Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), (26) and the Short-Form 36. ( 27)…”

Section: Demographic and Clinical Data Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous brain fluctuation abnormalities in retired football players

Danielli,

Sharma,

Nowikow

et al. 2024

Preprint

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BACKGROUND New measures of the spontaneity of signal amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) present in resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) may provide useful objective information when applied to concussion. These metrics provide a spatial map of where signal spontaneity departs from normal values to indicate areas of impairment or over-compensation. Former professional American-style football players would show diffusely decreased ALFF and fALFF. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study of 18 retired Canadian Football League (rCFL) players (male, aged 58.78 ± 6.10) recruited and 62 healthy age and sex-matched controls (male, aged 58.81 ± 5.69) downloaded from OASIS-3. High resolution 3D T1-weighted and rsfMRI data was collected on a 3T GE MRI. CONN was used to preprocess the rsfMRI data and compute ALFF/fALFF metrics, while voxel-wise and brain region-of-interest (ROI) Z-scoring analyses were computed in MATLAB. The rCFL participants also completed self-reporting clinical behavioural tests. Significant ALFF and fALFF differences were calculated as clusters (Threshold Free Cluster Enhancement, FWE-corrected p < 0.05) and ROI Z-scoring (Abnormal ROI, +3≤Z-score≤-3). Correlations and multiple linear regression analyses between participant demographics, clinical test data, and total number of abnormal brain ROIs were also computed. RESULTS: Two large clusters of decreased signal spontaneity and one large cluster of increased signal spontaneity were found in retired athletes compared to controls. The Z-scoring analysis found consistently abnormal ROIs from ALFF and fALFF data from the right amygdala, right thalamus, bilateral occipital pole, and bilateral cerebellum crus II. The total number of positive fALFF Z-score outliers correlated with a longer career length. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses showed that cerebellar and central sub-cortical brain regions were most frequently and seriously abnormal. Spontaneous brain activity, a measure of brain health, was compromised in retired athletes years after competitive sport.

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Section: Demographic and Clinical Data Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous brain fluctuation abnormalities in retired football players

Danielli,

Sharma,

Nowikow

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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A review of brain regions and associated post-concussion symptoms

et al. 2023

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The human brain is an exceptionally complex organ that is comprised of billions of neurons. Therefore, when a traumatic event such as a concussion occurs, somatic, cognitive, behavioral, and sleep impairments are the common outcome. Each concussion is unique in the sense that the magnitude of biomechanical forces and the direction, rotation, and source of those forces are different for each concussive event. This helps to explain the unpredictable nature of post-concussion symptoms that can arise and resolve. The purpose of this narrative review is to connect the anatomical location, healthy function, and associated post-concussion symptoms of some major cerebral gray and white matter brain regions and the cerebellum. As a non-exhaustive description of post-concussion symptoms nor comprehensive inclusion of all brain regions, we have aimed to amalgamate the research performed for specific brain regions into a single article to clarify and enhance clinical and research concussion assessment. The current status of concussion diagnosis is highly subjective and primarily based on self-report of symptoms, so this review may be able to provide a connection between brain anatomy and the clinical presentation of concussions to enhance medical imaging assessments. By explaining anatomical relevance in terms of clinical concussion symptom presentation, an increased understanding of concussions may also be achieved to improve concussion recognition and diagnosis.

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Functional, but minimal microstructural brain changes present in aging Canadian football league players years after retirement

Cited by 2 publications

References 81 publications

Spontaneous brain fluctuation abnormalities in retired football players

Spontaneous brain fluctuation abnormalities in retired football players

A review of brain regions and associated post-concussion symptoms

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