Athleticode founder and CEO Dr. James Kovach, a former NFL football player, said, “We are excited about the launch of Athleticode’s Physician Network that will transform sport concussion management. Sport concussion is a highly variable injury that must incorporate more personalized approaches. We are expanding our team of leading physicians who manage concussion with the joint goal of reducing sport injury and its consequences with the help of powerful genetic technologies such as ApoE testing.”

Dr. Mark Lawler of Marin Orthopedics, Novato, California said, “Athleticode’s ApoE test is a game changer for concussions, providing for a more personalized approach to concussion management.”

New members of the Athleticode Network include Dr. Daniel Solomon, also of Marin Orthopedics, Dr. Eric Warren, Waxhaw Family Physicians and Sports Medicine Center, Dr. Greg Motley, Southeastern Sports Medicine, and Dr. John McMenemy, Caldwell Memorial Hospital.

About Athleticode
Athleticode utilizes advanced technologies including genetic testing to provide physicians with the ability to provide more personalized training and rehabilitation strategies to athletes at all levels of play. The Company has combined its proprietary testing regimens with partnered technologies to establish its program of Contextual Brain Health™. Athleticode is based in San Francisco, California. For more information see: www.athleticode.com or email: info@athleticode.com

About Marin Orthopedics: Marin Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is a team of physicians and health care professionals dedicated to bringing quality orthopedic and sports care to the Northern California community. For more information see: http://www.marinorthopedics.com/index.html

About Waxhaw Family Physicians & Sports Medicine Center: The mission of Waxhaw Family Physicians & Sports Medicine Center is to be caring, responsive medical providers and to be the primary resource for healthcare needs of Waxhaw and the surrounding community. For more information see: http://waxhawfamilyphysicians.org/

About Southeastern Sports Medicine (SESM): SESM provides comprehensive sports medicine and general orthopedic care for the athletes, students, and families of Asheville and Western North Carolina. For more information see: http://www.sesportsmed.com

About Caldwell Memorial Hospital: Caldwell Memorial: Caldwell Memorial Hospital has provided safe, effective, compassionate care and to promote healthy lifestyles to the Lenoir, North Carolina community since 1951. For more information see: http://caldwellmemorial.org/#pg-home

Athleticode founder and CEO Dr. James Kovach, a physician and former NFL football player said, “We are excited about the opportunity to launch our novel technology platform through the high tech, high touch clinical approach offered by M.O.S.T. and its leading sports medicine physicians, certified athletic trainers and other sports therapy personnel. This relationship is an important part of our mission to reduce sport injury and its consequences by providing the right information, to the right athlete, at the right time, through powerful genetic technologies such as ApoE testing.”

M.O.S.T. provides its athletes with athletic performance and health sciences service, in order to personalize and customize the consumer experience of health and well-being. M.O.S.T President Dr. James Gilbert said, “Athleticode offers us access to the world’s best sports injury technologies through its internal development efforts and partnering reach. We are excited to make this technology available to athletes seeking to optimize their health after suffering a concussion.”

About Athleticode
Athleticode utilizes proprietary technologies including genetic testing to provide physicians with the ability to provide more personalized training and rehabilitation strategies from concussion and other injuries to athletes at all levels of play. The company has combined its proprietary testing and training regimens with partnered technologies to establish its program of Contextual Brain Health™. Athleticode is based in San Francisco, California. For more information see: www.athleticode.com or email: info@athleticode.com.

About Metro Orthopedics & Sports Therapy
Metro Orthopedics & Sports Therapy (M.O.S.T.) provides orthopedic medicine and rehabilitative services to athletes of all ages, incorporating cutting edge technologies into its practice and emphasizing personalized training programs. M.O.S.T. clients include leading sports teams of all levels, including the DC United, a member of Major League Soccer, and US Soccer, the national governing body of soccer in the US. M.O.S.T. is based in Silver Springs, Maryland. For more information see www.mostsportsmedicine.com or email: jamesgilbertmd@yahoo.com.

Its got to be tough being a sports journalist these days.  I know there are stories of NFL head coaches barring reporters from access if a reporter asks the tough questions.

But we talk about the need for concussion education, and what profession educates the American public on the subject of sports more than journalism.

This fascinating article from the National Post analyzed 541 newspaper articles in US and Canadian newspapers over a 13 year period time, concluding that "American papers spoke less frequently about aggression contributing to head injuries in hockey. But more often they address perceptions of the risks of brain injury. In both Canada and the United States, we see accurate reporting of the medical side of things more frequently ut there is still the sense, in both media to a certain extent, that aggression and violence are part of the sport."

We are seeing the tip of the iceberg on the long-term effects of repetitive brain trauma.  It will be interesting to see the role that journalistic reporting plays in the upcoming months and years.

Physicians have recognized that concussions are highly individualized and must be treated individually.  In fact, the American Academy of Neurology recently named the ApoE4 genotype as a risk factor for chronic neurobehavioral impairment after concussion.

This is why we make the ApoE test available to physicians in the Athleticode Network who are developing a personalized return to play program after an athlete has suffered multiple concussions.  The ApoE test offers contextual information that is helpful in the planning required in this environment.

Stay tuned for much more as concussion treatment and prevention gets personal!

For the first time in 15 years, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) updated its evidence-based concussion guidelines, naming APOE4 as a risk factor for chronic neurological impairment after concussion.

Athleticode had already made this call in launching its physician network to conduct APOE testing as a part of a more personalized return to play protocol after sport concussion.

APOE research has been ongoing for over 15 years, and we applaud the AAN for reviewing the body of literature and recognizing the association of the APOE4 genotype with poorer cognitive outcomes after traumatic brain injury including concussion.

Look for Athleticode to extend our pioneering work in genotyping former NFL players to providing services through its network to younger athletes.  After all, its the younger athletes (and their parents) who can take proactive steps to ensure optimal brain health on the playing field and after the cleats are hung up for the last time.

In daily life, people rely on implicit memory every day through the acts such as how to tie their shoes or ride a bicycle without consciously thinking about these activities.

A real-world manifestation of implicit memory is the ‘illusion of truth’ effect.  Studies show that a person is more likely to believe that a statement is true if it has been heard before – whether or not the statement is actually true.

In one study, subjects rated the validity of plausible sentences every two weeks.  Without letting on, the experimenters snuck in some repeat sentences (both true and false ones) across the testing sessions.  And they found a clear result:  if subjects had heard a sentence in previous weeks, they were more likely to rate it as true, even if they swore they had never heard it before.  This is even true when the investigators tells the subjects the sentences they are about to hear are false. (Begg, I. M., A. Anas, and S. Farinacci. 1992. "Dissociation of processes in belief: Source recollection, statement familiarity, and the illusion of truth." Journal of Experimental Psychology 121: 446-58.

Despite the exposure to a false idea, mere exposure to the idea is enough to boost believability later on.

The illusion-of-truth effect highlights the potential danger for people who are repeatedly exposed to the same religious edicts, political slogans, or assurances that progress in concussion research is proceeding quickly.

There is much room for encouragement, with many new approaches being introduced, as is the case in any market that appears suddenly and urgently.  Evaluating these approaches by professionals requires one dose prior education, two doses of active memory, and three doses of common sense.

Concussion is a study of physics.  The back and forth motion of the brain is caused by deceleration after a hit brings the head to a sudden stop.  Many point out that better helmets merely make it easier for football players to lead with their head, exacerbating the g-forces caused in a collision.

As this article points out, helmet manufacturing is hitting the ‘law of diminishing returns.’  This axiom observes that one reaches a point where more and more money provides less and less return – in this case, the ability of the helmet to reduce and dissipate impact of head traumas caused by football collisions.

But how about work to identify athletes who may be more susceptible to concussions, or who may exhibit a more difficult time returning to baseline after a concussion, based on the genetic makeup of that athlete.  This field is one that Athleticode has pioneered, implementing in partnership with a network of physicians treating sport concussion.  As valuable as the information in our APOE test is to physicians helping athletes return to play after a concussion, we predict the field will expand rapidly, as more athletes are tested and as forward looking research studies are launched by Athleticode and its network.  Stay tuned and join us in evaluating this return on investment.

Read more here: study-bolsters-link-between-routine-hits-to-head-and-long-term-brain-disease.html?_r=0

December 26, 2012.  Today's Post:

Zhou and his colleagues carried out a comprehensive survey and meta-analysis of cohort studies of sufficient rigor to determine whether the presence of the APOE4 allele contributes to initial injury severity and/or poor outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Literature published from January 1993 to October 2007 was the subject of this analysis. Of 100 identified studies, 14 cohort studies were selected for analysis based on comprehensive quality assessment.  These studies included a total of 2527 participants, 736 with and 1791 without the APOE4 allele

The APOE4 allele was not associated with initial injury severity of TBI. However, the APOE4 allele was significantly associated with a poor outcome of TBI at 6 months after injury.  The association remained significant in sensitivity tests.

Further research is ongoing, however in the interim this comprehensive analysis can be useful to physicians and certified athletic trainers in providing a more personalized return to competition after concussion.

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December 19, 2012 - Today's Post:

To help advance the field in understanding the growing consensus about a connection between head injury and long-term consequences, Lehman, et. al analyzed neurodegenerative causes of death, specifically Alzheimer disease (AD), Parkinson disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), among professional football players.

They found that the neurodegenerative mortality of former NFL players is 3 times higher than that of the general US population; and for 2 of the major neurodegenerative subcategories, Alzheimer’s disease and ALS, the increased risk of disease is 4 times higher. These results are consistent with recent studies that are showing an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease among football players, boxers and other athletes who participate professionally in contact sports.

The work leads directly to the next question – what genetic links exist that contribute this relationship between trauma and its long-term consequences?

Put another way, is every former NFL player at a 4 times higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, or do these increased risks vary in size based in part on the DNA make-up of the player?

All serious scientists will say it’s the latter – that a person’s genetic make-up contributes to the risk of neurological consequences after head injury.

That’s our starting point for working with physicians and athletes.  First is a commitment to providing a balanced analysis of new information that emerges.  And second is our commitment to leading the field in supporting new studies to further understand these risks.  ---- Jim Kovach

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