New CTE article and book

[WisNeuro]

Op-ed: How one flawed study and irresponsible reporting launched a wave of CTE hysteria

Finally, some of the reporters are getting the picture.

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[jdawg2017]

Op-ed: How one flawed study and irresponsible reporting launched a wave of CTE hysteria

Finally, some of the reporters are getting the picture.

This is pretty interesting. If I had a lot of time on my hand (which I don't as a PhD student), I would like to look at Dr. Cumming's research articles and see if he only discusses limitations in the last paragraph of each article, like virtually every major researcher and journal does. I agree there is CTE hysteria, partially caused by McKee, Stern, and others at BU, but this article could have been more of a general referendum at journalists blowing research articles WAY out of proportion. I will say that for reasons unknown to me people like Dr. Stern (who I have seen give a talk on this study) over-dramatize the research, saying things like "I went to the Superbowl and used to love football; now, I refuse to even watch it on TV."

Parceling out how substance abuse, in particular, mediates or moderates tau deposits in CTE is an area that has been relatively underexplored, so I appreciated the article's commentary on that topic. That being said, the research is not invalid because of its limits, but it is a step in more fully understanding of CTE pathogenesis.

 

[WisNeuro]

This is pretty interesting. If I had a lot of time on my hand (which I don't as a PhD student), I would like to look at Dr. Cumming's research articles and see if he only discusses limitations in the last paragraph of each article, like virtually every major researcher and journal does. I agree there is CTE hysteria, partially caused by McKee, Stern, and others at BU, but this article could have been more of a general referendum at journalists blowing research articles WAY out of proportion. I will say that for reasons unknown to me people like Dr. Stern (who I have seen give a talk on this study) over-dramatize the research, saying things like "I went to the Superbowl and used to love football; now, I refuse to even watch it on TV."

Parceling out how substance abuse, in particular, mediates or moderates tau deposits in CTE is an area that has been relatively underexplored, so I appreciated the article's commentary on that topic. That being said, the research is not invalid because of its limits, but it is a step in more fully understanding of CTE pathogenesis.

I wouldn't focus on this one thing, as the attached article is just a quick op-ed, mostly meant to promote the book. I do agree with the point they make that the limitations are indeed buried. They are briefly mentioned, if at all, and then subsequent research by the same people never address the limitations in a systematic way. It's one thing to list limitations and then address some of them in your line of research, it's another to list them and never address them as you continue to do studies.

Also, most of the CTE detractors don't refute that something is happening to certain individuals, they have an issue with CTE as it is currently proposed, given the methodological issues. I'd be interested in this book, but Randolph and Iverson have great reviews in this area.

 

[PsyDr]

Parceling out how substance abuse, in particular, mediates or moderates tau deposits in CTE is an area that has been relatively underexplored, so I appreciated the article's commentary on that topic.

My prediction of how the science is gonna progress:

They discovered the glymphatic system like 6 years ago, and showed it plays a key role in beta amyloid clearance like 5 years ago. The link between DM and AZ is easily understood. They've shown that DM causes serum osmo changes for decades, and specific changes to the glympahtic system in the last year. Since ETOH has a known effect on osmo, it's not hard to make an assumption of similar albeit periodic effect. Throw in some APOE, and you're showing an interaction between Rao and Groot's work. Similar findings for microvascular changes interacting with the glymphatic system and brain reserve. Similar findings for HD, and FTD.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

@PSYDR....that’s all well and good, but what about vaccines causing autism?! I think they must cause CTE too....

 

[PsyDr]

@Therapist4Chnge

Clearly the genetic penetrance studies in autism, the prevalence rate differences between females and males, and the temporal disassociation between development of the observed neuroanatomical differences and administration of vaccinations, the lancet retraction, etc are all bunk.