N.F.L. lockout could cost the former Lineman for dementia care facility

78-year-old man, Bruce Schwager, spends most waking hours staring at the NFL Network, quietly consoled himself by images of players run and block and tackle the way he did as a lineman for the United States Merchant Marine Academy so long ago. He noted not his wife, Bette, quietly packing his clothes and pictures to move boxes, and do not understand when she accuses the Union players that her husband still belongs.

Since July 2009, the charitable arm of the N.F.L. players Union voluntarily paid the Schwagers medical bills, which eventually topped $ 250,000. Schwager never played in a regular season game — he joined the Union by taking part in two training camps — and the Club players are treated him as one of its own.

But on March 14, the first day after the N.F.L. account lockout began and Union ready for what could be a long and costly work stoppage, a union official called Schwager's son, and said the aid would cease immediately.

With his family, who cannot pay for continued care at Silverado Schwager is scheduled to be removed on 2 July. Bette Schwager said she had yet to find a facility that would take care of her husband, who is still big, strong and combative when upset. Schwagers doctor said in an interview to force him to move from their usual surroundings, given his advanced heart disease, could bring in a fatal heart attack.

Schwager situation will as the Football League's players are faced with the prospect that the tumbling incomes during the negotiations on a new contract for work – in which it is trying to increased benefits for retired players — and at all football wrestles with how to compensate veterans whose neurological disease is attributed to more and more football.

Three players Association officials, including Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, did not respond to messages seeking comment about the Schwagers cases. In an April 4 letter to the Schwagers Attorney, Cy Smith, DeMaurice Smith wrote, "we have been, and remains deeply concerned at the financial and medical welfare Mr. Schwager and his family during this crisis," but he added that there was no "agreement to pay such expenses indefinitely into the future."

DeMaurice Smith does not refer to the account lockout policy in his letter. But Schwager's son, Joshua, said that the operation is terminated so soon after the work stoppage began "cannot be a coincidence."

Bette and Joshua Schwager admitted that the Union had no legal obligation to help his family two summers ago by player assistance Trust. Aid seemed to derive partly from the way the EU Director of retired players, Andre Collins, played cards with Joshua Schwager at Penn State in the twenties and knew the family.

Bette and Joshua Schwager argues, however, Collins has never mentioned any limit on players aid confidence would give support, and that they relied on his promises. E-mail she shared with The New York Times, Collins originally wrote that "N.F.L.P.A. PAT Fund is responsible for hospice" and eight months later, that the Union "is still fully committed" Schwagers care.

"We build everything in our lives to what they said – that they would take care of him," Bette Schwager said while packing her husband's belongings. "I sold my home and signed the lease agreement rent right around the corner from here so I could be close to him. Now my whole world falls apart. "

Schwager was born and raised in Brooklyn near the two soon become prominent football families, Lombardis and Paternos, as Jewish as they were Italian. (This day good friends call Schwager "Ben", short for his Hebrew name, Binyomin.) He was 6 feet 3 inches and 260 pounds and turned down scholarships at several prominent college programs to enroll in the program, engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., mainly for the discipline of a military environment.

Chicago Cardinals selected him late in the 1955 draft cut him in his first camp, then refused to trade him outside their reserve list, despite its request for an opportunity with another team. Cardinals kept him under contracts throughout his service in the Navy from 1956 through 1958 and refused to release him until April 1959, when the team felt he was no longer in the game.

Schwager played one year in Canada and attended the camp with the New York Titans (now the Jets) in 1960, but he was wounded and cut before the season began. He went on to work for Grumman, a prominent supplier of aircraft to the military, then moved to Houston to work with NASA, whom he helped in the design for this module, the lunar landing which relieved Neil Armstrong and others to the moon. He later went to the restaurant business and his mid-60s, he began showing signs of early-onset dementia, he was institutionalized two years ago.

Duerson's Autopsy results announced Monday

Duersons suicide scared unique football community since he shot himself in the chest, rather than in your head, so his brain could be investigated for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease that is caused by repetitive brain trauma and linked to memory loss, depression and dementia. His last note to his family ended with a handwritten request: "Please see that my brain is provided for the N.F.L. brain bank".

For C.T.E Duerson had indeed., would his suicide at the same time, apparently in fear of their own cognitive deterioration, add a new and perhaps the key role of the chapter of football still-developing narrative surrounding concussions.

About two dozen retired N.F.L. players found to have the disease, but no other players have committed suicide following suspicion with C.T.E. who did the Duerson, 50, who privately complained of his deteriorating mental state during his last months.

The diagnosis has been kept private until now so that Duerson's former wife, Alicia, may be part of the announcement at a press conference at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Ann McKee, neuropathologist who examined the Duersons brain, joined the other members of the University's Center for the study of traumatic encephalopathy in declining to discuss the results before Monday's announcement.

Retired N.F.L. players have taken different approaches to the issue of whether Duerson had C.T.E. some have hoped he did not do so football would not be so connected to his death. Others have said that a positive diagnosis can contribute to his family, peace, and to invite other players are experiencing symptoms, seek help.

"We must do everything in our power to not only make gradual changes to minimize the potential for C.T.E. in active players, but ensure that there is intervention strategies for those who exhibit early signs and symptoms, so they have access to the services they need," said Sean Morey, who retired as a player last year because of postconcussion syndrome. He has since helped lead the Club players to drive changes in connection with the concussion policy.

Morey added: "we are in favour of former players who are experiencing cognitive decline and early onset dementia. Their wives did not sign up to become full-time caregivers. We should adopt a model that the military — you break them, you own them, be ashamed if we do not find the money to take care of the guys who built our game to a 9-billion-dollar industry, then released us. "

Duerson, 50, was an all-American defensive back at Notre Dame before spending most of his 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears N.F.L.. He was part of the famed 46 defense propelled the bears Super Bowl championship season in 1985. He retired after 1993 and became successful in the food-services before his company collapsed in recent years.

Duersons case is unique, in addition to the circumstances of his suicide. Since 2006, he served on the Panel of six members which are regarded as applications for disability benefits filed by former N.F.L. players.

Although individual votes will be held in confidence, that the Board save in the award of benefits, including the neurological damage. Duerson himself told a US Senate Subcommittee in 2007 as he questioned whether the player's cognitive and emotional struggle was related to football.

N.F.L. have changed their approach to concussions over the last few years, changing rules to restrict them and of how concussions are handled when they occur. But these efforts do not turn the clock back to players as an irreversible harm decades ago.

"I will be surprised if there is C.T.E.," said Tony Davis, 58, who played six N.F.L. seasons. "It's too much mirrors what has been going on."

Equipment-group says it will no longer Refurbish old helmets

But the use of obsolete head protection will soon become much less common. Trade group that monitors the refurbishment of used helmets, National Athletic equipment reconditioners, packaging users Association (Naera), announced on Thursday that it would no longer accept helmets more than ten years old.

National bodies for high school and youth football, covering approximately 4.4 million players aged 6-18, only requires that helmets can originate from the factory passes the standard set by the National Committee for operation on standards for Athletic equipment (Nocsae). Helmets of the age and condition, can therefore be met, despite concerns over how the assessment of the foam and degrading of polycarbonate shell can leave a player more susceptible to concussions.

Schools and youth organizations, organizations often send their helmets to refit, which involves cleaning and replacement of worn parts, but this is still a voluntary process. Naeras decision to reject the helmets more than 10 years old will force organizations to choose between buying new helmets or introduce youth of used helmets known to be less secure.

This was to discourage the use of old helmets are nearly extinct, said experts on the matter this week.

"It has been a growing concern that we are doing some kind of policy to make coaches and parents to do what we think is right," says Ed Fisher, Naeras Executive Director. "As the current Manager and former administrator, I want my son or anyone's son, to be in a helmet, less than 10 years old. We must get the elderly from the field. "

Naera's 10-year rule following Nocsaes notice in January that it will continue several new safety-related measures, including the development of a test-standard considers the complex forces that cause concussions. Nocsae, a voluntary consortium of mostly doctors and sporting goods officials, said it would also exert a special testing standard for youth and school helmets.

These efforts began soon after the consumer products safety Commission opened a formal investigation into football helmet safety. Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, claimed that the Federal Trade Commission investigate helmet makers, in particular, industry-leading Riddell and Schutt, for potentially false and misleading advertising with respect to their headgear safety properties. F.T.C. officials have not confirmed studies, referring to Commission policy.

On Monday asked representatives Henry a. Waxman, Democrat of California and g. k. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, the House Subcommittee on trade, manufacture and trade to hold a hearing on football helmet safety, citing, inter alia, the use of old helmets. Such a negotiation could accelerate the development of additional safety-related measures are under consideration, as well as warning labels on helmets which would explain their limited security features with respect to concussions.

"I see this as a step forward in the much larger and necessary to ensure that all protective helmets – both new and second-hand — provides as much security as possible," said Inez Tenenbaum, safety with the President of the Commission. "I think it is equally important that all responsible parties take all appropriate measures to ensure safety helmet buyers and users understand clearly what a helmet has been shown or not shown in order to protect against. This is particularly the case when it comes to concussions. "

Since many schools have paid for their helmets to refurbishing this autumn, said Naeras new rule will take effect the next off-season, Fisher, its Executive Director.

Experts have long discouraged the use of helmets more than ten years old, but the National Federation of State High School associations have always made the decision to the schools, and manufacturers, "says Bob Colgate, the Organization's Deputy Director.

He said that the Group had not discussed adopting any rule if a mandatory helmet lifespan at its last meeting of the rules.

Asked why, given the recent concern about helmet safety, Colgate said: "I don't know. We have not had that discussion yet. "

A possible downside of Naera's 10-year rule, underfunded schools and youth organisations and organisations that might have refurbishing their old helmets — at a cost of approximately $ 30 apiece – could balk at the idea of spending $ 150 to $ 200 for each new helmet and choose to use the old for another year. Fisher said he believed the resulting legal liability would run counter to it, and that most organizations would buy new helmets.

"The school budgets is whacked, but schools have not purchased new helmets because they do not have the needed," said Bob Fawley, owner of Capitol Varsity sports, refurbishing helmets in Oxford, Ohio. "Now, they have to, basically. I do not think that it will be hit so hard in high school level. Youth football is where you see the numbers – there are a lot of older helmets. "

Rule Naera was welcomed by Joy Conradt, whose stepson, Max, was permanently disabled in 2001 by concussions he suffered playing Oregon high school football team in a 20-year-old repaired helmet. Conradt's family sued the school district, its insurance carrier and renovation company and settled in the courts for 3.2 million dollars in damages against Max lifelong medical care.

-This is a huge step towards takes very seriously the safety of our young players which is perhaps the most vulnerable, "said Joy Conradt. "And it is forcing school systems and staff to look very carefully at the financial cost of contact Sports – as well as the ethical and the costs of health and life that so many young players and even older player, has been recognized in recent years."

This article has been changed to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 14, 2011

A story on Friday about the decision of the National Athletic equipment reconditioners, packaging users Association, trade group that oversees the refurbishment of used helmets, it would no longer accept helmets more than 10 years old misstated the day representatives Henry a. Waxman and g. k. Butterfield asked that the House Subcommittee on trade, manufacture and trade to hold a hearing on football helmet safety. It was Monday, not Tuesday. And due to incorrect editing misidentified the item is also the State represented by Butterfield. He is a Democrat from North Carolina, Michigan. (Error if his condition appeared also on Tuesday in a report in the Sport column Briefing about the Waxmans and Butterfield's request for the hearing.)

New Version of Heather 12 is called an "educational tools" on concussion

Madden NFL 08, the upcoming version of the game was eerily true-to-life N.F.L; played by millions of players, will be sufficiently realistic to not only show the player who receives the concussions, but also to show all players who have an be overridden for the rest of the game – no exceptions. In addition to this in the background, the show's announcers will explain that the player has been removed due to the severity of head injuries.

Player animations, now so sophisticated that depict Peyton Manning throwing motion and Randy Moss, appears not helmet-to-helmet tackles, hits of defenseless players or dangerous headfirst tackle, said Phil Frazier, maker of Madden 12.

John Madden, Hall of Fame coach, for whom the game is named and who participate in its development, said that the impetus for the change was twofold: to further refine the game's realism and to teach young people to play football more safely.

"Concussions is such a great thing, it must be a big deal in the video game," Madden said in a telephone interview. "It is young children – they start in the video games. I believe osmosis is if you get a concussion, there is a serious matter and you should not play. Or management with the head you want to delete. We want the message to be strong. "

Frazier described in the game, which will be released in August independently of any N.F.L. work stoppage, as "a training tool."

"I would not say it is a complete public announcement, but there is a way of educating," he said.

Madden changes when it comes to concussions and tackling will drastically affect how young people see on head injuries, said experts. Football concussions have been covered heavily in national newspapers and TV news programs, and enhanced plots on the show "Law & Order" and "Grey's Anatomy", but not in anything with reach Madden franchise among video game players. According to industry data sold more than 90 million copies of the game in its 22 years, including five million of last year's version.

"It is a good strategy to teach children in a way no other can achieve," says Chris Nowinski, Co-director Sports Legacy Institute and a former footballer for Harvard, speaking at schools and summer camps about the seriousness of concussions.

Nowinski added: "considering how difficult it is to reach young children and expose them early, it is brilliant. You are training the children from the cradle to play the Sport safer. If you get a concussion, came out of the game. You cannot unteach one. "

In November, after Toyota TV commercials showed a mother worrying about her son playing soccer and depicted teenage players to crash helmet-to-helmet, N.F.L. complained to Toyota executives and threatened to revoke the automaker game sponsorship unless the advertisement was revised. Toyota capitulated.

N.F.L. fully supported changes by Electronic Arts Madden video game, League spokesman Greg Aiello said, calling it "a very different circumstance" from Toyota.

"This is a N.F.L.-licensed computer games on the N.F.L. football, as opposed to a commercial selling automobiles, TV" Aiello wrote in an e-mail message. "We are working with EA on exact handling of a concussion suffered in the game. We will strive for authenticity and a correct and responsible depiction. "

Previous versions of the Madden series showed players receive concussions and were allowed to stay on the field. When these players are removed now, comment from announcers Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth underscores why.

Coincidentally, NBC Collinsworth was the primary television analyst in educating the audience about the severity of head injuries and dangerous tackling, says, "this is that we have always celebrated the greatest hits and the ben-doors nature, but you cannot hide from evidence anymore."

Collinsworths concussion commentary on the new game Madden, Frazier said: "we have received our authors working on the lines on which we are to record in April. When the damage occurs, they say they don't really know what it is, how most injuries. But a few plays later, when they learn from the sideline the player received a concussion, and they'll say something like, "because of the seriousness of concussions, you know, the player will return to the game." ”

Prohibits players playing through concussions reflects new N.F.L. Protocol on the position of head injuries, as in real life have significant short-and long-term health risks among teenagers, and sometimes death. It also reflects many laws that have passed or considered by State legislatures to protect young athletes.

Was praised for changes on gaming sites boards drowned by fans who grind the introduction of the real issues to their private football universe. FOXSports.com, wrote boomer12, "its a game!"

EA has not always been so sensitive to the head injuries. In the 1992 version of its N.H.L. games, was able to currently checked hard or knock his head on the ice shown unconscious in growing pools of blood. (The feature was quickly deleted.) In the game, the ambulances on Madden used to operate on the ground and run over players.

Heather said that he would prefer some security questions to be depicted as they occurred on the field — as well as grabbing the face mask, resulting in a 15-yard penalty – but that he no longer wanted the helmet-to-helmet hits or head shots on defenseless receivers N.F.L. considers more dangerous and under players temporarily with significant fines. Madden said if James Harrison, the hard-hitting Pittsburgh Steeler who complained of the League's security measures last season, would have similar find fault in Madden 12.

"Kids are used to learn football on the playground, but now they learn the game more of the game," Madden said. "Strategy is probably a major part, but also as graphics are better, we may be better to display the correct addressing techniques. And to show that concussions are really serious: If we show who plays through them, when children do not understand.

"We want it to be handed over to the next generation. There was a time when someone would get a concussion and you would say he just got dinged, take some smelling salts and get back in the game. Those days are over.

New testing estimates football helmet models concussion Risks

Riddell VSR-4, a recently discontinued model still worn by some 75,000 high school and college players, and Adams A2000, a less widely used helmet now available for purchase, it was the lowest-rated models in a new testing regime designed to estimate the risk of concussion. The full results were scheduled to appear as the first publicly available objective data on football helmet performance at a Virginia Tech website.

Industry experts have varying degrees of concern about the reliability of the system, but scientists said they were trying to pull the curtain back on helmet performance mysteries. Recent concerns about industrial testing standards and specific companies advertising has led to an investigation by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

"If you go to buy a helmet, all you're looking at is currently aesthetics and price and regardless of the manufacturer says you are trying to convince you if it is a good thing," says Stefan Duma, Virginia Tech lead, biomedical engineer on the project. "We wanted to develop a system to quantify what helmets improves specifically at the risk of concussion."

The only standardized test of helmets assessed today if a helmet can allow a skull fracture, not a less serious injury a concussion. It is overseen by the National Committee for operation on standards for Athletic equipment, a volunteer group that provides manufacturers and other interested parties.

Riddels Revolution speed model earned a five stars in the Virginia Tech scale, followed by five four-star helmets by Riddell and Schutt and Xenith. Only helmets intended for players of high school age and older were examined.

"Half our team is, for example, VSR-4 — and there is a significant reduction of concussion risks in newer helmets, so by autumn ball, we will be in new," the Duma said for Virginia Tech football team. A prominent college programs have used outdated Helmets would specify how rural high schools can provide players with less protection.

Virginia Tech has for eight years had players in college programs nationwide wear helmets equipped with accelerometers to track the number and severity of hits to the head, as well as documented concussions. This data shows such as how the event that results in 100 g's power to reach the skull leads to a diagnosed concussion 1% of the time.

Helmet models was drop tested from five heights to assess how much power that they allow to reach the skull; the lower that power, the lower the risk of concussion and better helmet did. The method that has been reviewed and approved for publication by the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

As an example of the use of its system, the Duma said, "you can cut your risk of concussion 55 percent by switching from VSR-4 to the Xenith X 1."

Critics have cited several restrictions on Virginia Tech strategy. It considers not rotating forces are believed to cause a large number of concussions. The collection of data from player came through helmets designed by Riddell, may skew results. Additionally, only certain concussions reported, so the harm true prevalence is still too much of a mystery to justify such precise statements.

"I am unmoved by this information, and I would say that no matter how our helmet ranked, said Xeniths Executive Director, Vin Ferrara, the X 1 model was ranked among the most protective measures available."We find this type of hierarchy concept be harmful to consumers ' understanding and detrimental to the development of superior helmets. "

Schutt said in a statement: "we have not seen any relationship between test results and exactly predict what happens on the field. There are many questions to be asked about this test.

Adamss Executive Director, David Wright, did not respond to requests for comment about the company's A2000 helmet.

Riddels Dan Arment praised Virginia Tech for confirming the performance differences between helmet models. as for the company's low-performing VSR-4 he said users can trade with that helmet and get $ 50 off a Revolution model.

Helmet company has this year gone amongst themselves not to disclose this type of test data to the public because of how it can be misinterpreted. This has led to false advertising claims and other methods currently under review in the Government.

The Duma said the public needed an independent Compass make more educated decisions about football head protection. He also stressed how even the best head protection can still allow damage to concussions and individual athletes risks may vary due to earlier damage and genetic differences.

Dave Duerson were found to have the Brain Trauma he suspected

Diagnosis adds a new and perhaps pivotal role chapter football still-developing story about concussions. Duerson shot himself in the chest feb 17 instead of the head, presumably so that his brain will be examined by the Boston University Center for the study of traumatic encephalopathy, announced his diagnosis.

About two dozen retired N.F.L. players found to have the disease, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but no one acted on his suspicions about what Duerson, 50, who complained to the family of his deteriorating mental state during his last months.

His death reminded the football community that the injury suffered by former players for all the reforms in the management of concussions and other brain trauma on the field during the last years, still has traces of the game more brutal times.

"It is tragic that Dave Duerson took his own life, but it is very meaningful that he recognized the symptoms of malaise — it validates this condition," said Dr. Ann McKee, neuropathologist who examined the Duersons brain. She said she found incontrovertible evidence for C.T.E. in tissue samples, with "evidence of any other disturbance."

Although the exact motives behind Duersons suicide remains unknown, he had complained of headaches, blurred vision and a deteriorating memory during the months before his death.  His last note to his family ended with a handwritten request: "Please see that my brain is provided for the N.F.L. brain bank".

N.F.L. does not run the Group Boston University research but donating $ 1 million to finance last year, after the League recognized the long-term effects of football brain trauma.

C.T.E., a condition which was previously mainly associated Boxer and manifests itself in behavior, better known as dementia pugilistica, is a degenerative and incurable disease compromises neural activity and is linked to memory loss, depression and dementia. Although groups at Boston University and elsewhere, carries out tests on live patients, the condition currently identified only after death, an autopsy of the brain.

"We hope these results will contribute to the understanding of C.T.E.," said N.F.L. in a statement. "Our head, neck and spine Medical Committee will study today's results, and as a league, we will continue to support the work of researchers at Boston University Center and elsewhere to deal with this issue in a straightforward and efficient manner.

DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the Association who said in a telephone interview with the Duerson C.T.E. "makes it quite clear what the cost of the football team is the men who played and families."

He added: "it seems that any decision or action that is not recognized as being the truth not only perpetuating a lie, but doing a disservice to Dave feared and what he wanted to lead from the donation of their brains to science."

Duersons – rattled players both active and retired, which after years of News Media are more aware that their brains damage may be permanent. Pete Kendall, a recently retired offensive lineman, said, "the whole issue of C.T.E. is something that players young and old have no choice but to think."

Duersons previous wife, Alicia, took part in the Conference in Boston News with their four children. Their son Tregg, 25, made a brief statement, saying, "it is our hope that the issues that go beyond our interest can be answered by this research — questions that lead to a safer fixtures, from professionals to Pop Warner."

"He added with his father," it is my greatest hope that his death was not in vain and that his heritage through this research, will live and others don't have to suffer in the same way. "

Duerson was an all-American defensive back at Notre Dame before spending most of his 11 seasons with the bears N.F.L.. He played safety on the famed 46 defense that fueled their Super Bowl championship season in 1985, and he won the 1991 Super Bowl with the Giants.

Duerson retired after the 1993 season and became successful in the food-services before his company collapsed, the marriage failed and he went bankrupt. He started showing symptoms of repetitive brain trauma, including memory loss, poor impulse control and abusive behavior towards loved ones.

Another son, Brock, 22, said that the diagnosis of C.T.E. given an explanation for his father's decline and the final act.

"I don't want people to think just because he was in debt and broke he wanted to finish it," he said. "C.T.E. took his life. He changed dramatically, but it eats in his brain. He knew how to fight it. "

Duersons case is unique, in addition to the circumstances of his suicide. Since 2006, he served on the Panel of six members which are regarded as applications for disability benefits filed by former N.F.L. players. Although individual votes will be held in confidence, that the Board save in the award of benefits, including the neurological damage.

Duerson himself told a Senate Subcommittee in 2007 as he questioned whether the player's cognitive and emotional struggle was related to football.

Duerson's legacy will almost certainly be how he apparently believed he had acted the C.T.E., and requested that his brain tissue examined for confirmation and contributions to science.

Dr. Robert Stern, along with McKee a Co-director of the Group Boston University research, cautioned that C.T.E. couldn't explain all a player's actions.

-Regarding suicide and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, it is possible that some individuals the combination of C.T.E.-related symptoms of poor impulse control, depression and cognitive impairment can actually lead to suicide, said Stern. "But we can never clearly point to a cause and effect relationship in any case one."

The sport must change

When he shot himself to death at his home last month, as declared Duerson, who was 50, fired bullet in his chest rather than his head to southern Florida. He did not want to further damage his brain. He explained in text messages and a hand-written note, wanted the former all-pro safety his brain tissue studied, presumably in order to determine whether he had been suffering from a devastating degenerative disease that takes a terrible toll on what appears to be an increasing number of pro football players and other athletes.

As The Times reported, Duerson wrote, "Please see that my brain is provided for the N.F.L. brain bank".

Professional football has major, major problem on his hands, and I am not talking about the account lockout policy settings as jeopardizing the 2011 season. The game is chewing tobacco up players as a meat grinder. Proof that grow an extra number of players who are struggling with lifelong physical impotence, depression, dementia and many other serious problems linked to their playing days.

Duersons concerns are believed to have been centered on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, an incurable disease associated with depression and dementia in athletes who played violent sports such as football and boxing. A number of retired soccer players, including some who took his own life, was found to have had the disease, which can only be diagnosed post mortem inspection.

Pro Football, the country's most popular sport, ratcheting up their violence quota this year. Fans loved it, but a backlash has developed as more and more stories coming to light about horrific price retired players pay for a sport that is increasingly resembling the Colosseum-like combat. Some players escape unscathed after years of brain-rattling joint-devastating, bone-breaking, mind-changing collisions. Many are living out their lives in chronic pain, varying degrees of paralysis, and all manner of cognitive and emotional distress.

N.F.L. has taken some corrective measures, in particular in the area of head injuries. Pro Football, always violent, is now extremely violent but there is some question as to whether the violent style of play – and the consequences that flow from it – really can be changed. Paul Tagliabue, a former N.F.L. Commissioner, told The New Yorker about comments by a group of former players who had looked closely at how defensive game has changed. "They took up the idea," said Tagliabue, "that it was no longer tackle football. The all collision football. The players looked like bionic men. "

I am a big fan of football, but I get a feeling of nausea when I see one of these huge items leaving the opposing players lying as if lifeless on the turf. Or when I read about player Andre waters, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals, who shot himself to death in 2006 at 44 years of age. A forensic pathologist said water on the brain tissue looked like an 85-year-old man. It turned out that he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease that Duerson may have feared.

This is a huge tragedy. So many players are suffering in the shadows. They need more help from the N.F.L., the players ' Union and countless others cashing in on a sport that has become a multibillion-dollar phenomenon. And big changes required by the rules, equipment, and culture of the sport to cut down on the carnage inflicted on current and future players.

Was once a big fan of boxing. I marveled at the breathless, carefully detailed stories my parents ' generation told of Joe Louis and the excellent Sugar Ray Robinson. I have followed Muhammad Ali career from beginning to end. I read biographies of the great boxers in the 20th century.

But I also saw TV fight in March 1962, in which Emile Griffith defeated Benny (Kid) Paret so barbaric that the couple died 10 days later. Robinson also killed a man in the ring, Jimmy Doyle, in a struggle in 1947. And it is no secret that even the biggest fighters tended to be in bad shape, demented or weakened from punishment for their trade – Louis, Robinson, Ali, as many others. I have not been able to watch the sport this year.

It is a very bad sign that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, long associated with boxing, is now linked to football. With the carnage that is increasingly emerging from the shadows, there is no guarantee that the soccer magic hold on public opinion will last. Players suffer not only, some are dying. The game must be changed.

Joe Perry, Hall of Fame Fullback, dies at 84

The cause was complications of dementia, which he had about 10 years, said his wife, Donna. She said that Perry's doctors believed that dementia caused by football concussions.

Perry, who lived in Chandler, Ariz., had been receiving financial assistance under a plan of benefits of the National Football League aiding former players with dementia, his wife said, and his brain will be donated to a facility for Boston University which examines this issue.

Perry, one of pro football top runners during the decade after World War II, was the first player to rush for N.F.L. more than 1,000 yards in two seasons, reaching the milestone in 1953 and ' 54, and he was voted all-N.F.L. team in both seasons. He was a three-time Pro Bowl player.

In the mid-1950s, Perry starred in what became known as the million Dollar Backfield, teaming with y. a. Tittle, and Hugh McElhenny at quarterback and John Henry Johnson at halfback, all future Hall of Famers. Perry was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1969.

Perry was small for a fullback at 6 meters and 200 pounds, but he pulled on speed earned him the nickname "Jet and a knack for finding holes in the defensive line.

"If you saw a hole, you take it," Perry told The Sacramento Bee in 2006, that describes his running style. "If you didn't, you kept moving until you did. You are running with instinct. "

Fletcher, Perry was born on January 22, 1927 in Stephens, Ark., but moved with his family to Los Angeles as a drug spray. His heroes were U.C.L.A. 's black football stars Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Jackie Robinson, who would later break baseball's color barrier.

Perry played football at Compton Junior College in Los Angeles area in 1944, then joined the Navy. He was discovered by 49ers while playing football for Alameda Naval Air Station in the Bay Area.

Perry joined the 49ers in 1948, his third season in the All-America Football Conference, becoming the team's first black player. Washington, Strode was signed by the Los Angeles Rams N.F.L. two years earlier, and the Cleveland Browns, who won the All-America Football Conference championship in each of its four seasons, featured the Black Stars Marion Motley and Bill Willis. But there were some other black players in pro football in the 1940s.

Perry recalled how teammates, including those from the South, which strongly supported from the beginning.

"If someone on the other team has ever any idea that he wanted to start something, he had to destroy our whole team," said Perry, Andy Piascik "Gridiron Gauntlet" (2009), an oral history of trailblazing black players.

But he had been ready to fight back on their own if necessary. "You had two or three bigots on every team, so you hear things just about every game," he recalled. "I could take all they had to say, but if they had ever put your hands on me, as if they wanted to fight, it would have been something else."

Perry averaged 7.3 yards a carry and ran for 10 touchdowns as a rookie, he played with future Hall of Fame quarterback Frankie Albert.

In a game, which Perry remembers it, he had twice burst past Albert as he tried to leave him for a play off in the middle. "He said, ' Joe, you're like a jet coming through there." From as long as I played, I was known as a Jet. "

49Ers joined the N.F.L. 1950, after All-America Football Conference went bankrupt, and Perry soon made his mark with pro football's most famous player. 1954 (limit values averaging 6.1 yards a carry out) he got 1.018 yards in 1953 and 1,049 yards in a 12-game seasons. But the 49ers never N.F.L. championship game during his years with them comes closest in 1957 when they were beaten by the Detroit Lions in a playoff for the Western Conference title.

Perry was traded to the Baltimore Colts season 1961, played two seasons for them, and then returned to the 49ers for his final season.

He received 9,723 rushing yards in 16 pro seasons, 1,345 yards in All-America Football Conference and 8,378 yards in the N.F.L., after having been the League's career rushing leader until he was surpassed by Cleveland's Jim Brown in October 1963. Perry had 71 rushing touchdowns and 12 as a recipient.

Perry was later a scout and Assistant for the 49ers and a sales manager for Gallo wines, and he owned a bowling-supplies shop.

In addition to his wife survived him by a son, Jon, his daughters Joanne Frazier, Denise Simmons and Karen Perry, a stepdaughter, Gabrielle Vasseur, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Pro Football popularity soared during the decades after he played and the contestant became larger and faster, but Perry seemed unimpressed.

"When I played, it was a lot of tough guys," he says Football Digest 2003. "We would play with broken bones and things that you do not see these days."

Brain Trauma in the N.F.L.: the next step is to find the

After the latest suicide Dave Duerson, however, and on Monday's announcement that he also had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain damage previously associated with boxers, shocked the finding none. Duerson became the 14th player retired N.F.L. — 15 audited by Boston University researchers — testing positive for the condition.

Water and Duerson bookend a remarkable SHIFT in the understanding of football brain trauma: four years after some positive tests begged explanation, questions mainly surrounds the absence of negative.

"Do you have to worry about which players — I can imagine that we all have it," said Chidi Ahanotu, 40, who played defensive lineman for Tampa Bay from 1993 to 2004. "To what extent, I do not know. But I do not know how you think.

So far, however, each successive cases of C.T.E. said more about the presence of the disease than the actual width.

Of 15 players who tested by B.U. researchers that this point is far from a random sample of N.F.L. pensioners who may constitute the broader population. Many of the players died in circumstances which may be related to C.T.E.: water and Duerson with suicide, John Grimsley from a gun accident, Tom McHale from an overdose. Their families donated since brains in large part to request an explanation for their behavior.

-This is a huge selection bias, so you can't make any conclusions about the existence or occurrence of the disease, says Dr. Ann McKee, Group B.U. lead neuropathologist and Director of neuropathology at the New England Veterans Administration medical centers.

She added: "a family is much more likely to donate a loved brain if they have even the smallest suspicion that something was wrong. If they were absolutely sure they were functioning 100 percent normal, they are much less likely to go through the process. "

In other words, although 93 percent of players tested so far have had C.T.E., it does not mean that 93% of retired players who live today, although if they do, not the disease jeopardizes their memory, emotional condition or impulse control in an appreciable manner.

The only test for the condition is the brain autopsy after death.

Together with a West Virginia University group that have found similarly high levels of the retired footballer C.T.E., what Boston University researchers require most today is not more middle-aged N.F.L. veterans who died with symptoms, but players of all ages – and nonplayers – who never showed symptoms.

B.U. has been brain-donation commitments from 128 live, current and retired N.F.L. players, but only 11 have died, and have brains that are pending an autopsy. McKee said that she has examined about 300 nonplaying males and never find C.T.E. — but not many of whom were middle-aged, impeding sound comparisons case water and Duerson.

"We desperately Need is what one would call a healthy brains," said Dr. Robert-Cantu, a Co-director B.U. group. "If they have C.T.E., then that opens up lots of other issues."

If the tests find asymptomatic players without the disease, would figure 93% fall drastically and provide a more fair assessment of the player's actual ability to have or develop it. If high-functional players brains shows still protein deposits and other pathologies that marks C.T.E., that would raise the question of why some people with the disease suffer from injuries and others not.

"People with mild illness can be flexible – resilient for various reasons, their genetic make-up, most likely, '' McKee said. "So they would be considered positive, but an asymptomatic cases.

"Secondly, if someone's brain disease, not just C.T.E. without say Alzheimer's disease, is this thing called cognitive reserve. Some individuals who are intelligent and have a great capacity for rewiring their nervous system, or take different paths to access the same information may have a lot of structural damage, but shows symptoms. "

The fact that 14 retired N.F.L. players were found to have C.T.E. can be spun in many directions, of course. To add the "out of 15 tested" stresses the existence of a problem. To say that it is "just" x "case" of a population of around 15,000, sceptics within and outside the N.F.L. once did with each successive cases only minimized what the presence of even the "x" positive means — that certain players that wound up with a devastating disease that simply does not exist, people who have suffered repeated brain trauma.

As recently as last year, Johns Hopkins University gave a N.F.L.-sponsored symposium pointedly entitled "traumatic brain injury in professional football: an evidence-based perspective," the leaflet cited "hype" and "claims" problems, and whose Director accused McKee misleading people.

-The only player that I know of which have been investigated are those that have died and ended up on Dr. McKee table, as a doctor, Constantine Lyketsos of Johns Hopkins, said in an interview before the Symposium. "We do not know the denominator here. It can be 12 or 15 or 15,000. "

It is neither, of course. Of brain diseases among retired N.F.L. players may wind up stunningly high – especially among linemen – but that 93% figure will at last be diluted by slower healthy brains. Then again, is to suggest that the only 14 players with C.T.E. have been found and that the other 14,986 men will be affected is absurd.

In other words: if 14 out of 15 people who died in a town of 15,000 in later received diagnoses varying degrees of water poisoning, the rest would have legitimate reason to worry. And in order to avoid water fountains.

Helmet safety is the focus of two bills in Congress

The legislation, drafted by Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, would force football helmet industry to adopt the testing standards specifically concussions and the needs of children under 12 years of age, who do not believe that the existing standards. It would mandate independent third party oversight of this process – compared to largely self-policing "environment on site now – as well as tags that clearly identify each helmet age.

Called the children's Sports Athletic equipment Safety Act, the Act also would strengthen the power of the Federal Trade Commission and State attorneys general to penalize companies that false or misleading claims about all children's Sport safety product, including earrings, mouth guards, and other objects.

Sport equipment safety standards are monitored by the National Committee for operation on standards for Athletic equipment (Nocsae), a voluntary trade association consists mainly of doctors and representatives of the sporting goods industry. Nocsaes football standard developed to prevent the skull fractures and other catastrophic brain damage, was not altered meaningful since 1973.

Respond to a survey of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has promised to pursue the Nocsae officials some of the reforms required in the Udalls legislation.

In a telephone interview Tuesday confirming his plan to introduce legislation, Udall said that the Bill was designed to "light a fire under" helmet industry and, on the Nocsae does not act in a satisfactory manner, in order to call for the C.P.S.C. to introduce new standards.

"The voluntary efforts have failed — the voluntary supervisory authority or body, what we want to call it, just not moved forward in an aggressive way," Udall said. "We hope they will act only in order to protect safety. But if they're not C.P.S.C. will.

Udall had asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate two helmet manufacturers for false and misleading advertising of how their helmets protect against concussion. (The Commission did not confirm or deny investigations, as a matter of policy.) Last week, two Democratic members of Congress, representative Henry Waxman of California and g. k. Butterfield, North Carolina, urged the Republican-controlled House to hold a hearing on football helmet safety issues.

Mike Oliver, Nocsaes Executive Director and legal counsel, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that his organisation had as aggressive as possible in order to achieve a helmet testing standard when it comes to concussions, but that science had not yet established the forces that are damaging. Olives, expressed confidence that the Nocsae soon would be able to design a helmet standard specific to young players, with the help of science borrowed from children's bicycles and motor-Sport helmets.

"I don't understand a democratic frustration, and frustration of others, since there is an answer yet," said Oliver. "We have almost a crisis with regard to concussions and what to do about it. One thing that we do not do is change a default display did we quote unquote. Otherwise we just experimenting on children. "

A spokesman for the C.P.S.C., which pressured Nocsae to consider new helmet labels and other security measures, said that the Commission did not comment on pending legislation.

A bill on companions to Udalls will be introduced Wednesday in the House of representative Bill Pascrell, Democrat of New Jersey. Pascrell authored a bill adopted by Parliament in the autumn of last year that requires national protocols for the treatment of youth-sports concussions; The Senate has yet to vote on this legislation.

Last Thursday, the organization that monitors the reconditioning of used helmets — which involves cleaning and replacement of worn parts — announced that it would no longer accept headgear for more than ten years old, which would eventually phase out helmets in this age. National standards for youth and high school football continue to permit the use of headgear of the age or condition, as long as it met the Nocsae standard at the time of manufacture.

Udall's bill does not specify an age limit on helmets or require that the professional be reconditioned every year or two, but the task of labels clearly indicate when the helmet was made and, where appropriate, being renovated. Such labels are placed now, often burying under helmets interior padding, leave the helmet age a relative mystery.

The Bill requires either financing or immediate government intervention, to which both the Udall and Pascrell said should help to encourage bipartisan support.

"It's got to help us," said Pascrell. "We have people in Congress right now that is nitpicking over public safety, as we saw with resources for firefighters, police officers and E.M.T. 's. Seems to me a top priorities is to protect our children. Will they look in the mirror and say that? We'll see. "

The Bill expands beyond football helmets address advertising for all of the children's safety sports equipment, such as ear rings for football and lacrosse glasses. This allows F.T.C. to require manufacturers to false or misleading claims in civil fines and authorizes State attorneys general to sue companies under the new law.

"It is not just a question of football," said Udall. "We have all kinds of athletic equipment is out to fulfill her role as security or protection. So it seems to me if you have a Headband or a mouth guard, the same set of questions comes to misleading questions. We are trying to be wide. "

John Mackey was defined by greatness and disease

In March 2007, in his Hall of Fame golf blackshirts and trademark cowboy hat, Mackey proudly recounted how in Super Bowl V, he caught a 75-yard touchdown pass that fueled his Baltimore Colts 16-13 victory over Dallas. The problem was, the question was simply, "where you live, John?"

When you are prompted that the 75-yard catch, he replied with trimmed non sequiturs, "they put me in the Hall of Fame" and "I want a cookie. He used a spoon to drink his coffee, thinking it was a soup.

The legacy of Mackey, who died Wednesday at age 69, will derive less from what his muscles revolutionized the tight end position from 1963 to 1972, or how his heart struggled for players ' free-agency rights, but from how his brain atrophied eyes face football. No player so vividly advertised the growing problem of early onset dementia among veterans of his time, or unconsciously, spurred the N.F.L. to recognize it.

Mackey was found first frontal assault temporal dementia in 2000, the same year that the owner of Cowboys, Jerry Jones, told ESPN he would push his oft concussed quarterback Troy Aikman for a decisive game because "there is no evidence of any long-term, lasting impact" from head trauma in the N.F.L. a few years later, published a Committee of physicians appointed by the League several newspapers makes the same claimto howls more independent experts.

As this developed, Mackey deteriorated to the point that he needed constant home care. He could no longer fly after so become enraged at an airport security checkpoint – agents asked him to remove his Super Bowl V and Hall of Fame rings — that he was lacking against the gate and wrestled to the ground, screaming, by armed officers. He kept mumbling, "I got in the zone statement."

While the N.F.L. minted videos with hallowed Colts of UNITA and Moore and Sylvia Mackey, Mackey, became John's 60-year-old wife, a United Airlines flight attendant pay mounting medical bills. She was so distraught that she wrote a three-page letter to Paul Tagliabue, outbound N.F.L. the Commissioner, to warn him that what happened to one of the game's legends.

Sylvia Mackey haunting description of dementia – "a slow deterioration, ful, caregiver-killing, degenerative, destroys brain tragic horror," she called it — almost caused Tagliabue to tears. He and the players Union quickly creates a fund that would pay up to $ 88,000 in medical expenses to the families of retired players with dementia. Why $ 88,000? John Mackey wore no. 88. It continues today simply as 88 plan, forever identified with Sylvia as much as John.

Move was not entirely magnanimous. N.F.L. — curiously as Mackey players Union was once President, continued to assert that football and dementia was not related to, the 88 plan was only an attempt to help the players need. (Dementia, League spokesman explained, was a condition "that affect many elderly people.") But the fuse was lit, and an explosion forslade.

Dozens of applications that is poured in, displays the N.F.L. veterans with cognitive decline broad population. Sylvia Mackey became nexus growing support network of N.F.L. wives whose husbands mentally vanishing middle age. She offered them skills and empathy, often during layovers in Denver or anywhere else. She signed e-mail messages that Mrs. # 88.

A total of 166 players have benefited from the 88 plan over four years, receiving nearly 13 million dollars and counting. Their age distribution also helped confirm that the N.F.L. players actually were against a diagnosis of dementia or other memory-related diseases earlier and more often than other American men, that prompted Congressional hearings and security reform from professionals to the pee wee 's.

If John Mackey terms actually resulted from football will probably remain a mystery. Sylvia Mackey promised last year to donate his brain to researchers at Boston University to see if he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, collision-induced disease that compromises cognitive function and has been identified in almost two dozen retired N.F.L. players. But also a positive diagnosis cannot definitively confirm her suspicions of football role.

"I can't say I know for certain," said Mackey. "In an exhibition game in Hershey, PA., he ran in the target after headfirst. Yes, he has a frontal attack temporal dementia, but how can I prove it? I can't find even one item in it. I will only remember the incident because I was there. "

His mid-60s became Mackeys decline more poignant. He petulantly refused to brush their teeth or shower until Sylvia printed fake N.F.L. directive – she wrote Paul Tagliabue name at the bottom — and taped his bathroom door. (He immediately followed orders.) He would forget which mailbox was his until they reminded it was Johnny UNITA's uniform number, 19.

Linked to football or not, became the most audible Mackeys dementia among scores more anonymous cases dotted across the United States. It was the elephant in the Reunion room, with some players change the subject if the name came up. In some ways became John Mackey Lou Gehrig in baseball, a declaration that is defined by his death.

In the end, thankfully, the only soccer insider who knew John Mackey destiny — and lasting impact – was no 88 himself.

John don't know what's going on with him, "said Sylvia Mackey in March 2007, sitting next to her husband that he swallowed a dozen Oreos. "John is happy, everything is good, is he above the ground, he has a good time, he enjoys life, and he played football."

Retired players Sue Over treatment of Concussions N.F.L.

In the suit, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, is the first legal measure to Center on how the N.F.L., while evidence steadily mounted in medical journals and elsewhere, took until 2010 to unequivocally warn players about concussions could have effects on brain function long after they retired.

The Suit contends that the League not "regulate practices, games, equipment and care so as to minimise the long-term risks of Concussive brain injury." It took particular aim at the N.F.L. Medical Committee on concussions, formed in 1994, published a constant string of studies claim that concussions had any long-term effects on the footballer.

They contain many players who were active in the 1980s, including Mark Duper, a star wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins; Ottis Anderson, who played for the Giants, and Vernon Dean, who played with the Washington Redskins.

The players contend they suffered multiple concussions, which was wrongly diagnosed by the team medical staff, leading to short-term memory loss, headaches, vision problems and other ailments. The Suit seeks an unspecified amount amount of damages above the terms of the lesser of $ 25,000.

N.F.L. spokesman Greg Aiello said the League "is going to contest vigorously any claims of this kind." Riddell, football helmet manufacturer which was named as a co-defendant, said in a statement, "we have not yet reviewed the complaint, but it is our policy not to comment on ongoing litigation."

The lawsuit was filed just like the N.F.L. four-month account lockout seemed close to an end with the ratification of a 10-year collective bargaining agreement. Many resources on how to split the 9 billion dollars in revenues the League generates each season, but includes some measures to reduce brain trauma during frequent workouts.

That would be only the last of the many changes in the Protocol because members of a Congressional Committee in October 2009 compared to the League's handling of concussions to the tobacco industry. N.F.L. has since required that all players who are suspected of also a concussion be removed from the game or practice for the rest of the day, and were allowed to return only after being cleared by an independent expert.

Before last season was placed a poster in every team locker room alerts players to how concussions could lead to depression and early onset of dementia and "could change your life and your family's life forever."

This was in stark contrast to a pamphlet that League began to provide players with 2007, all but quote its committees research papers, said, "current research with professional athletes have not been shown to have more than one or two concussions, leading to permanent problems if any damage be treated correctly." It left open the question: "If there are any long-term effects of concussion in the N.F.L. athletes."

Many of the writ of summons the defendants retired long before the formation of the Committee in 1994, not to mention the publication of these statements. The lawsuit claims that the League still ought to have known about the dangers of concussions in eras where men played, because of the many medical articles published on the subject.

"The defendants acted with callous indifference to the rights and obligations vis-?-vis the plaintiffs, all American rules football leagues and players and the public at large," says the mood. "The defendants acted willfully, redl?st, was, with reckless abandon and with a high degree of moral culpability."

Thomas v. Girardi, one of the lawyers for the players, compared the injuries suffered by soldiers in the war.

"They have fallen and they are not respected as the injuries, he said. "You cannot get hit in the head so many times without causing a problem. You have a lot of subtle lesions that become apparent and there is no question that these young people are injured.

In an attempt to minimize discussed potential head injuries, the league and players in their negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, a number of proposals aimed at making the game safer by reducing the number of business opportunities for potential head injuries.

The proposed amendments cover virtually eliminating traditional day two methods in the camp, reducing the number of so-called organized team activities, 9, 14 and delaying the start of activity often several weeks, until the end of April or early May.

Previous law gave many people in your field "quarterback schools" and "voluntary camp" in April or March.

Club player has pushed for a shorter and less intense often workout schedule in order to reduce the risk of injury. It is unclear how much the team owners will have given up if they accept these proposals, since they do little or no money from these activities.

These changes would probably not address head injuries during the season. And players, especially those who are fighting to stay in the team or earn a new contract, will continue to have incentives to hide concussions from medical personnel.

Mike Westhoff, the Jets special teams coach, said he was in favour of the amendments and that they would not change or reduce the aggressiveness of the game.

-It is our responsibility to control the collision while preparing them for the speed and tempo of the game to be played on Sunday, said Westhoff. "This is football, so you cannot briefings in shorts all week and then stroke on Sunday."

Mike Tanier contributed reporting.

College Football: to protect players, Ivy League, which has to reduce contact

Change, to be implemented season go far beyond the rules that N.C.A.A. and is thought to be more stringent than any other Conference. The League will also review the rules for men's and women's hockey, lacrosse and football to determine whether there are ways to reduce hits head and concussions in these sports.

The new rules will be introduced as a growing amount of research suggests to limit full-contact practice can be among the most practical ways to reduce brain trauma among footballers. According to a study of three Division I College teams, was published last year in the journal of Athletic training, college players pass more of total hits to the head in practice than in the game.

"Because of the seriousness of the potential consequences, the Presidents are determined in the league needed to take preventive steps to protect the welfare of our student-athletes," said Robin Harris, the Executive Director of the Ivy League.

Under the new rules, teams will be able to keep full-contact only two practices per week during the season, compared to a maximum of five, according to the guidelines for the N.C.A.A.. Methods cannot have contact or live tackles the other days of the week, and no player may "be on the ground."

During the preseason, will act to keep only a full-contact meeting during day two methods.

In the spring, then the number of no-contact practices be increased to four from three. Above all, the number of methods with some form of contact reduced 42% compared with the N.C.A.A. borders.

An ad hoc Committee which included college presidents, athletic directors, coaches, team doctors and other medical experts creates rules after a nearly yearlong investigation, the League said. Although an exact link not defined between playing football and long-term effects on the brain's functions, are invited to a growing body of data Committee moving proactively.

The League is also like football coaches to spend more time stress and the teaching of technology in order to avoid helmet hits and show videos permissible and nonpermissible hits.

Some buses in the eight-team Ivy League has already limit the number of full-contact practice sessions and rules is to investigate and remove them from the game if they have suffered serious head hits or concussions. The new rules, but will prevent existing or new buses from adding full-contact practice, "said Harris.

"I am not sure is going to be any dramatic change, since changes in recent years to handle header items have changed dramatically," said Tim Murphy, coach at Harvard. "If we want young people to continue to fall in love with this great sport, we need to protect the athletes."

Murphy said to reduce contact during the week will not only reduce the risk of head trauma, but also keep their players fresher game days. Too much contact in practice may lead to diminishing returns, "he said. Murphy added that he did not believe that the more stringent rules will have any impact on recruitment.

For a full season of practice average each team that are tracked in the study published by the Journal of Athletic Training 2,500 total hits to the head which is measured as significant battles (50-79 g's of force) and about 300 hits in the head ", which was in the range hj?rnskakning-cause (80-119 g 's). Each team had nearly 200 law collisions measured over 120 g 's, which experts have likened to crash a car into the concrete wall at 40 miles an hour.

Ivy League has no League statistics on the number of concussions and head items that occur during practices or games because universities track them in different ways. But in more than 40 games including Ivy League teams last year, eight penalties were assessed for helmet hits or blows to the head. Four other penalties were provided for hits to a defenseless player. In all involved 0,18% of plays significant helmet hits or hits in the head, according to the Association's tasks.

Several schools and conferences have re-evaluated the protocols on head injuries in recent years, although restrictions on the practice carried out by the Ivy League is considered rare if not unprecedented.

"We have to worry about it, and it seems we should err on the side of caution," says Margot Putukian, Director of athletic medicine at Princeton University. My hope is that this will work at Penn State, too.

Duerson case highlights the limitations of the N.F.L. Disability Plan

Disability programme jointly run by the League and the players Union to give its "football degenerative" award for total and permanent disability, up to $ 110,000 per year, for damages which are deemed to be related to football that occur within 15 years of a player's retirement. Something that manifests itself later receiving more than $ 40,000 and players with neurological disabilities have found it difficult to get that.

Duerson, an All-Pro safety for three teams over 11 seasons, had been retired for 17 years when he committed suicide feb 17. He shot himself in the chest instead of his head, and prayed in a note that his brain is examined for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease that is caused by repetitive brain trauma. Researchers at Boston University confirmed Monday that he had the disease, which is linked to the type of memory loss, impaired judgment and depression by the Duerson complained.

Facts again debate over soccer security issues, including how the League's disability plan manages latent-related cognitive Duerson 's. One of six managers who voted for health claims since 2006, Duerson told a Senate Subcommittee hearing in 2007 he questioned whether mental decline was related to football.

If he changed his mind before his suicide, when he appeared to connect her condition to football – is not known.

Another issue that is beginning to circle between retired players whose claims were denied under Duersons whether they can refile given his admitted impairment. The Board of Directors votes is not revealed to the applicant or the public.

John Hogan, a lawyer for dozens of players in the disability issues, said he may request a review of the United States Department of Labor to see how Duerson voted with claims.

"He had to exercise a high degree of care, skill, prudence and diligence — C.T.E. results, along with his suicide, really does raise the question of whether he could properly carry out the duties required in such an important undertaking," Hogan said. "Therefore call into question the possibility that some or all of the decisions he made when crossing on disability claims are under suspicion, and might invalid."

Douglas Ell, the plan's lead lawyer, said in an e-mail message on Tuesday that votes were usually unanimously, which means Duersons was not a decisive voice. To the extent that a 4-to-2 vote for denial or a 3-3 tie may be reason to investigate the Duersons decision, Ell said he knew of no case where "If Daves vote were declared, the result would have been different."

Ell also said, "despite whatever disability that Dave can be seen at different times, he still demonstrated the mental acuity, well above the average person."

Pete Kendall, a recently retired lineman with longtime interest in players ' disability issues, said: "it is indeed an interesting question. At what point he may have become in appearance and at what times can he have made a decision that he may have or have not been? "

Regardless, Duerson never Award ' football degenerative "benefits to a retired more than 15 years because of the way the League and the Union negotiated the terms of the plan in 2006. The best players can hope for is $ 40,000 in "inactive" disability benefits if they are totally and permanently disabled.

This benefit has been difficult to accept, retired players have complained, in particular in cases of cognitive impairment. Soon after selecting Duerson as one of the Union's three representatives on board the disabled, ex-Union Chief Gene Upshaw said, "just don't believe" the mental decline is related to football – and therefore compensable at all.

Until December 2009 was the N.F.L. official position on players cognitive decline and dementia also no scientific association with the football team had been established. And even after the League admitted the relationship, one of its outside lawyers on disability issues, Larry Lamade, wrote in a memo to the Ell last year that while orthopedic impairments. attributable to football activities, "this is not the State of scientific and medical research at the moment when it comes to concussions and neurological disabilities."

League spokesman Greg Aiello responded to questions about the credit memo to an e-mail message, says, "the League is unlikely to present a few opinions on board pension." Ell did not respond to a request for comment on the credit memo specifically.

Ell previously wrote in an e-mail message, "I should note that I do not know of a single disability within the corporate world that pays benefits when a former employee first becomes unable to work decades after leaving employment, over all I think that the system is incredibly generous."

Certain industries have had to wrestle with how employees develop work-related diseases long after leaving the workplace, mainly construction workers exposed to asbestos. Workers ' compensation cases in California are testing at the moment the application of this model of a professional football player.

N.F.L. and its players Union has four years be repaid families of players with complete dementia up to $ 88,000 for medical expenses, through a program called the 88 plan. Two weeks ago said the N.F.L. Executive Adolpho Birch that the League had engaged in "improve 88 benefits" and "relief qualifications for disability" in negotiations with the EU on a new collective bargaining agreement, but is stopped by the details.

DeMaurice Smith, CEO of certified players Union, said in a telephone interview Monday that he would not comment on these discussions, given the current litigation Dissolve the League's lockout of players.

Previous N.F.L. player broaden the focus of the concussion Suit

A new trial, however, try to expand the focus. In what could become the first hj?rnskakning-related class action against N.F.L., a group of former players, including two players who have retired in the last two years – seeking monetary damages for injured players, and changes in medical monitoring of players, a measure which experts say can push the boundaries in both law and science.

Introduction of archiving of Joseph e. Thomas, 30, and Mike Furrey, 34, is important, according to the Group's lawyer, Larry Coben, because it highlights the issue of monitoring. Coben said that while the new collective bargaining agreement between the League and players are significant improvements in how concussions would be analysed and dealt with, the provisions do not go far enough in identifying injuries to current players.

Specific judgment Coben use of blood tests as a way to diagnose concussions, said the United States military has already begun to use the technology and argued that such tests would increase player safety in the N.F.L.

Coben also argued that the N.F.L. should use test procedures to examine genetic markers for indications if a player can be a greater risk for developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy later in life.

"Modern technology is advancing," said Coben in a telephone interview. "We need to get past only use doctors on the sideline and locker rooms to see if a player has been wounded."

Medical experts questioned the validity of Cobens standards — in particular readiness for widespread use of blood test or genetic marks in the field of head injury – but the larger issue, at least for the moment, the likelihood that this group of players could be certified to conduct a class action lawsuit.

Coben won $ 12 million product liability judgment 2000 arguing for a former high school player who was paralyzed during a tackle, but Samuel Issacharoff, a professor of law at New York University, said the most recent case had "a series of complex inventory."

In essence, Issacharoff said, there are three potential classes within the Group of players (and their spouses) are named in the lawsuit: the younger players, who Thomas and Furrey, both of which are recently retired, which is symbolic of the need to seek changes in the monitoring of current players. Middle-aged pensioners as the former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, showing 52 Sunday, seeking changes in the monitoring of retired players in order to identify (and treat) potential brain-related conditions as early as possible. and the older players such as Ray Easterling, 61, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, and a former defensive back in the 1970s.

The last group, Issacharoff said, it is almost impossible to certify as a class because the damage (and thus damage) are not uniform. everyone has a different level of pain and suffering, which makes it difficult to show consistency in a class.

The Middle group would have the same problem if it sought damages for injuries, Issacharoff said, but would be likely to succeed is certified as a class if it sought changes in the supervision of former players.

And the first group, the younger players, is virtually certain to be certified under Issacharoff because it seeks "injunction", or a legally authorized change in action.

"So the mood as it is submitted is in fact a number of classes," Issacharoff said. "Some of them possible certified classes, some of them do not."

A N.F.L. spokesman Greg Aiello said the League was unaware of this particular mood but "will deny all claims of this kind."

In addition to the legal issues are also significant debate in the medical and scientific communities over some of the practices cited by Coben current vitality.

Dr. Robert Stern, Co-director of the Center for the study of traumatic encephalopathy at Boston University, said that although the research was conducted on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, "there are no good evidence available at this point to indicate that a specific gene or genetic marker exposes people to a greater risk for C.T.E."

For some troops, cocktails of potent drugs with deadly results

In his last months alive, Senior Aviator Anthony Mena rarely left the home without a backpack filled with drugs.

He returned for his second deployment to Iraq complaining of back pain, insomnia, anxiety and nightmares. Doctors diagnosed disorder by post-traumatic stress disorder and prescribed potent cocktail of psychiatric and narcotic drugs.

However his pain only deepened, as did his depression. "I've almost given its hope," said a doctor in 2008, the show's medical records. "I have died in Iraq."

Aviator Mena instead died were in their apartment in Albuquerque, July 21, 2009, five months after leaving the air force in a high medical. A toxicologist found eight drugs prescribed in their blood, including three antidepressant, sedative, a sleeping pill and two powerful painkillers.

However, his death was not suicide, the coroner came to the conclusion. That killed Aviator Mena was not any one drug overdose, but the interaction of many. He was 23.

After a decade to treat thousands of wounded soldiers, the military medical system is awash in prescription drug and the results were sometimes fatal.

According to some estimates, more than 300,000 soldiers had returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with P.T.S.D., depression, traumatic brain injury or a combination of those. The Pentagon has approached the pharmacology to treat these complex problems, following the initiative of civilian medicine. As a result, psychiatric medications have been more widely used by the military than in any previous war.

But these medications with narcotic pain relievers are ever more linked to a rising tide of other problems, including drug dependence, suicides and fatal accidents - sometimes the interaction of the drugs themselves. A report from the army on suicide, released last year documented the problem, saying that a third of the force was on prescription medications at least one.

"Prescription drug abuse is on the rise," said the report, noting that drugs were involved in one third of suicides of record 162 active soldiers in 2009. An additional 101 soldiers accidentally killed the toxic mixture of medicines prescribed from 2006 to 2009.

"I am not a doctor, but there is something inside me said the younger of these things we carry, it would be best," General Peter Chiarelli from w., the vice Chief of staff of the army that has led the efforts on the suicide, said in an interview.

Awareness of the dangers of the overmedicated troops has made to the Department of Defense to improve the monitoring of prescription drugs and restrict its use.

In November, the army issued a new policy on the use of several medications which requires further training for doctors, limits of 30 days on new recipes and General examination of cases where patients are receiving four or more drugs.

The Pentagon is also promoting measures to prevent troops from storage of drugs, a common source of overdose. For example, the Navy that provides medical care for the Marines, has begun to days of "reward" pill in certain databases. In Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 22,000 expired pills were returned in December.

The army and Navy are also offering more treatments without drugs, such as acupuncture and yoga. And they have sought to expand programs in speech, one of whom, exposure therapy, therapy it is considered by some experts as the only proven treatment for P.T.S.D. But the shortage of mental health professionals has hampered the efforts.

Still, given the depth of the medical problems of combat veterans, well as the strong dependence of the medical system of drug, few experts expect that the widespread use of various medications to decrease significantly in the near future.

The New York Times reviewed in detail the cases of three members of service who was killed by forensic doctors said were toxic interactions of prescription drugs. All were classified as accidents, suicides do not.

Aviator Mena was part of a military police unit that patrols you battle with units of the army in the center of Baghdad. Clean up the remains of bombing victims suicide and he was almost killed by a bomb, display their records.

Christopher Bachus artillery Sergeant had spent virtually all his adult life in the Marine Corps, the deployment in the Middle East in 1991, Iraq during the invasion of 2003, and for a brief tour, Afghanistan in 2005. He suffered from what he calls the survivor guilt and returned as "a ghost," medical, said his brother, Jerry, of Westerville, Ohio.

Cape Nicholas Endicott joined the Marines in 2003 after working as a West Virginia coal miner. He deployed twice to Iraq and once a Afghanistan, where he saw heavy combat. On a mission, Corporal Endicott was injected more than eight feet in the air by a bomb, display medical records. Wine House was plagued by nightmares and memories and rarely left the House.

Given the complexity of the interactions of drugs, it is difficult to know exactly what killed the three men, and the Pentagon refused to comment on their case, citing confidentiality. But there were significant similarities with their stories.

All the men had been deployed several times and finally received diagnoses of P.T.S.D. All of them had five or more drugs in their systems when they were killed, including opioid analgesics and psychiatric drugs alter state of mind, but not alcohol. Everything had changed drug repeatedly, expecting better results that never arrived.

All died in his sleep.

Psychiatry and war

The military medical system has struggled to meet the demand caused by two wars, and today still reports of shortage of therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists. But the drugs have always been available.

Across all branches, spending on psychiatric medication has more than doubled since 2001, to $ 280 million in 2010, according to the numbers obtained by the Defense Logistics Agency by a psychiatrist from Cornell University, Dr. Richard a. Friedman.

Doctors in the health systems of the defense and Veterans Affairs departments say that you for most patients, medications have proven to be safe. "It is important to not reduce the benefit of these medications," said Dr. Robert Kerns, national director of pain management for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Toby Lyles contributed research.

Veterans to go to get help online

Mr. Danielson, who had recently returned from a 14-month tour in Iraq, dove beneath his car.

It was in cold sweats, says Mr. Danielson, 2004 incident. "My friends asked what he was doing." "I had no clue".

In the next five years, Mr. Danielson spent mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantry soldier and a civilian contractor, the call became a real struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He said he would draw tried therapy group and medication, but was not but until he entered veterinary prevail, an interactive program for Web prevail health solutions, a company headquartered in the loop of West, who started to deal with what he said were thoughts suicidal and homicidal.

"We are not claiming a treatment for P.T.S.D.," said Michael Amiet, director of strategy and development of business solutions of health prevail. "We are a first step to health care help the injured foot fall in total, clinical disorder".

Created by veterans in early 2008, free program online offers six half-hour lessons in management after implementing combat stress and depressive symptoms. Roger Sweis, Chairman of health solutions prevail, he co-founded veterinary prevail with Richard Gengler, a former fighter pilot marine which flew in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the two were students of the University of Chicago business.

Mr. Sweis said he hoped the program would eventually a tool funded by the Government to connect with veterans and soldiers tired of the war.

A narrator guides users through the lessons, with each segment focused on a strategy, as the programming of activities and break down tasks into smaller steps. Participants respond to questions, get homework and check with advisers to the same level through Instant Messaging. Between sessions, receiving text messages, e-mails and phone calls encouraging them to complete assignments.

Mr. Danielson stopped participating after three lessons, when he returned to Iraq. But he still accredits veterinary prevail motivate to take responsibility for their problems.

He then returned to his home, he entered recovery programme for residential male Trauma in the Department of affairs of State veterans in Menlo Park, California, a Centre for research and education. He said that his experience with the vets prevail revealed a path. "Finally, I found someone who knew what hell was talking about," said.

It is beyond medications and therapy,"said Mr. Danielson, now 29 years old and I live in Arizona. "It is to accept what happened." "If it were not for veterinarians to prevail, would have ended up in jail".

Some studies estimate that nearly 37 percent of the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or other symptoms related to the implementation. However only about half of those who need help seek attention, according to a report by the Rand Corporation in 2008 and between the Group of approximately 50 per cent receive adequate treatment.

Obstacles, such as the life away from fear of lack of work or services, it is believed that prevent many ask for his help. For others, the stigma of seeking psychological counselling is a barrier.

Prevail vets with non-profit, dozens of government programs also offer outreach guides and resources for mental health online.

Web site of the Department of Defense, afterdeployment.org, provides a number of psychological problems and behaviour self-assessment tests. Its online Real warriors campaign presents testimonies of active soldiers who have been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Today's service members are often more comfortable access to online resources," wrote Robert w. Saum Army Colonel, head of the Defence Centre of excellence for psychological health and traumatic brain injury in an email. "Programs based on web, peer-to-peer construction system of dedicated buddy that has existed in the military for decades".

Like many Web sites for advice, prevailing veterinary underlines how thoughts affect mood and the program tries to reduce to avoid generating situations of anxiety and increase pleasant activities, said Dr. Benjamin Van Voorhees, a consultant of payment which is overseeing a pilot study of the veterinary program prevail. Dr. Van Voorhees is an Assistant Professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and President of Rise Consulting, a company of Internet health advice.

The company has partnered with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the Illinois National Guard to try an updated version of the program, which has content separately to the members of the guard and their families.

However, not everyone is sold in online programs.

"The extent that Web-based interaction is the same as better or worse than the interactions face to face is now the central issue in our society," said Dr. Joseph Yount, clinical psychologist and coordinator of the clinic P.T.S.D. Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago. "It is veterinary prevail the way of the future, or Web-based interactions do not have something so significant that it only occurs when people are together?"

Dr. Stevan Hobfoll, Chairman of Department of science of the conduct of the Rush University Medical Center and an adviser to veterinarians prevail, he said, "we stay is about prevention". Does not replace psychotherapy or treatment for traumatic brain injury, he said, "but for the young people who are so computer interactive, can be an important piece of the puzzle".

Help veterans overcome the battle within

To the Editor:

"A deadly mixture: overwhelmed by veterans and handfuls of prescription medications" (cover story, February 13) presents a complex issue that surrounds our population of military veterans.

Improvements in armor and battlefield medicine have allowed thousands of soldiers to survive traumatic combat injuries, but many face a lifetime of physical pain and the invisible wounds such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

While all drugs have risks, prescription medications to manage the physical and psychological pain can be effective in function of improving and restoring the quality of life when properly prescribed and taken as directed. When there are no prescribed medications, or if there is no known history of the medicina-uso of a person for the authorized physician, the results can be tragic.

Along with medications can improve your health, returning soldiers need an education appropriate on the use of these medications safely. An open dialogue between the soldier and his provider of health care is an essential component of a secure, individualized treatment plan.

Perry g. fine
Salt Lake City, February 16, 2011

The writer is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah, school of medicine.

•

To the Editor:

The article highlighted the plight of our veterans who face psychological conditions related to their service in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These conditions are just as real as any physical injuries, and it must be recognized to grant soldiers who suffer traumatic brain injury or disorder by post-traumatic stress disorder purple heart.

Many of our veterans are taking the field with them. These veterans are injuries to prisoners of war who dealt often invisible. We do not have enough therapists to care for them all, and as shown in his article, the medications we use to treat them are insufficient in the best and potentially deadly at worst.

There is more to us, as nation can do to help our military personnel suffering from neurological disorders. Even in an era of tight budgets, we must increase our commitment to the research of the brain to help our veterans fully return home from the battlefield.

I have announced a new organization - 1Mind4Research - dedicated to supporting research through the political process. This national initiative, not partisan aims to break down science barriers and funding for this critical research on disorders of the brain. We put scientific attention to this issue to the Moon equal shot effort initiated by President John f. Kennedy, my uncle, half a century ago. We can not rest until that all our veterans home not only the body but also present.

Patrick J. Kennedy.
Washington, February 15, 2011

The writer is a former member of the Congress of Rhode Island and the author of the 2008 Mental health parity and Addiction Equity Act.

•

To the Editor:

Improving education about drugs and monitoring practices for our troops, while critical, are only a first step to avoid the kinds of tragedies that describes the article.

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to adopt policies of comprehensive prevention overdose, including dispensers naloxone, an antidote to the overdose - directly to service people who are prescribed drugs and their families. In this way, we can help save the lives of those who have risked to his own on the battlefield.

Drug replacement therapies must also be made available for soldiers and veterans who depend on painkillers. Drugs such as methadone and buprenorphine are the most effective means of treatment of opioid dependence, but are underutilized in the V.A. and coverage prohibited outright military insurance, although they could help thousands of veterans and troops today.

In addition, veterans suffering from pain and post-traumatic stress disorder can best respond to medical marijuana. This safe and effective medication should be available to all veterans who need it.

Daniel Robelo
Berkeley, California, on February 14, 2011

The writer, an associate researcher at the drug policy Alliance, is co-author of the report "healing a broken system: Veterans Battling addiction and incarceration."

Manual of the lunatic

On a visit to the emergency room, he was given a recharge of 30 tablet Ambien. He went to his car and committed suicide by ingesting prescription throughout with a quantity of rum. He left a suicide note stating her headaches and other headaches were unbearable.

As if there is not enough that he's gone tragically wrong in this age of endless war, the army is facing an epidemic of suicides. In the year ended September 30, 2009, 160 active duty soldiers took their own lives, a record for the army. The Marines tragic own record in 2009 with 52 suicides. And the month of June, set another record: 32 military suicides in only a month.

War is a meat mincer for service members and their families. It grinds people without mercy, killing them and causing the worst imaginable wound types, physical and psychological. The Pentagon is trying to cope with the wave of suicides, but has a bad side: the desperate shortage of troops has forced the military to reduce of the enlistment bar, thus leaving people whose abuse of alcohol and drugs or other behavioral problems have previously maintained them. And multiple implementations (four, five and six tours in war zones) have been jacked stress levels to the point where many simply cannot understand.

The G.I. had fought bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands have been killed and many, many more have suffered. But the wars have made as if its leaders had been reading a crazy man. It is not Germany or Japan or the former Soviet Union that we are fighting. But after almost a decade, no war has been won and there is no chance of winning.

You squandered billions of dollars. W george ("mission accomplished") Bush took the step unprecedented taxes on the Court while waging the war. And Barack Obama has set a deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan without having any idea of how that war might go when it comes to the deadline.

This is the war as it could have been fought by Laurel & Hardy. Absent the shedding of blood, it would be fun. I should like much to listen to Dwight Eisenhower commentary on how these wars have been made.

July was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan. Sixty-six were killed, that was six years older than the number who died in the previous deadliest month June. The nation is providing little or no attention to these deaths, which is shameful. The President goes up to fundraisers and yuks's "The view". For most ordinary Americans, the war is not more than an afterthought.

We're getting the worst of all worlds at Afghanistan: we are not winning and we're not cutting our tragic loss. Most Americans don't care because they do not feel any of the tragic losses. A small fraction of the population is doing the fight, and troops are sent in the tour after tour, war zone as if it is connected to a yo - I nightmare.

Some kind of shared sacrifice is in order, but Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama asked the Americans to make real sacrifices in connection with any of these wars. It is the way to fight a war mobilization of the country - not only the combat troops, behind an integrated effort in times of war. To this end, leaders need to convince the public that is worth fighting and it's worth paying for the war.

What we have in Afghanistan is a war that most Americans believe that it is not worth fighting and not worth raising taxes to pay. President Obama has not made a convincing case for war and has set a deadline for the start of the withdrawal which seems curiously close to the early start of his campaign of 2012 for a second term.

It is time to bring down the curtain for good in these tragic wars, this farce. The fantasy of the burgeoning democracy at the point of a gun in Iraq and happily spread throughout the Middle East has been deleted. And it is hard to believe that someone buy the notion that United States can be installed to a successful society in the medieval madness of Afghanistan.

For those who have not noticed, we have a nation that needs reconstruction here at home. Perhaps we could meet some sacrifice shared on that front.

It is time to bring troops and nurse the wounded, and I thank them for their extraordinary service. It is time to come to our senses and ignore the manual of lunatic.

In terms of Software to help treat brain injuries

Find any type of treatment, much less a cure has not been easy. But some neurologists now see great potential in the techniques of manipulation of the neuroplasticity "of the brain", their propensity to reorganize its neuronal structure in response to stimuli and behavior.

This year, the Department of Defense awarded a grant of 2 million dollars to brain plasticity Inc. to study the effectiveness of the science software running in restoring memory and the care of victims of traumatic brain injury or science T.B.I. directors, based in San Francisco, is one of several companies, including Nintendo and luminosity, they sell software of brain health products to consumers.

Posit science software is effective, could become one of the first medical applications of an approach to improvement of brain that continues to be controversial. The software could potentially help patients T.B.I. and also those that have been identified have autism, the disease of Parkinson, schizophrenia and other psychiatric and neurological diseases.

"This is the beginning of a revolution," said Michael Merzenich, co-founder and Chief Scientist of the science postulate; the President of the brain plasticity; and a famous neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, pioneered the idea of neural plasticity.

Posit science software, sold commercially under the name of vision and brain Fitness program, should be to strengthen memory, attention, skills and visual spatial skills in adults for revocation. The same studies have improved in these areas, but critics such as Dr p. Murali Doraiswamy, a psychiatrist at Duke University, are not convinced that these achievements translate into benefits long term that can be generalized to daily challenges and remember where it is parked the car.

"There is a large gap between claims and evidence," said Dr. Doraiswamy, who said he doubted whether short-term improvements in memory could last more than test period of studies more than three months.

"If" they were a medicine, it said the software, "which would have been pulled from the market."

If the software PC-game-like can be used to improve mental acuity in general in those with brain damage from trauma to the head is an even bigger question.

"It is theoretically sensible," said Gary Abrams, director of the Neurorehabilitation at U.C.S.F. and head of support at the San Francisco VA Medical Center clinic T.B.I.. "But it will really work to help veterans"? I can not talk with "."

The idea of neuroplasticity dates back to the early 1980s, when the scientific wisdom argued that once people reached adulthood, their brains were cabled and would remain so for life. Dr. Merzenich does not believe to be true and eventually his research showed that the brain of primates continued change at maturity.

In the mid-2000s, Dr. Merzenich and colleagues at the University had brought much of the neuroscience field around the idea that the change of brain, plasticity, was the rule and not the exception.

Dr. Merzenich core claim is that brain structure always is changing, based on what they do and what they pay attention to. Making specific brain exercises that focus and improve care, he says, can adjust the structure of his brain. It is well known that this happens when we learn a new skill, such as dancing. The question is, can use the same processes to correct brain damage?

The brain does not work, or what Dr. Merzenich calls the "noisy" brain is like a radio that, for any number of reasons, is badly adjusted to its destination station. The objective of its software, says, is to clarify a strong signal repeatedly practicing simple tasks, such as repeated Visual pattern recognition.

The software available on the market, which is slightly amended for the study of veterans, presents challenges that increase in difficulty in small increments enough to adjust settings can be done and then reinforced in the minds of users.

Randomized clinical trial of brain plasticity will include 132 service members who have mild t.b.i. half of them to train in the software of the company. The other half, a control group, play video games. Before the training starts, all tests of memory, learning, attention, planning, social control, post signs of disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other factors. Patients in the trials after three months of training and again three months later. Any persistent improvement would be a step forward in the status quo.

T.B.I. patients are mostly helped with "compensatory" strategies, said Tiffanie Sim, a Neuropsychologist who sees many such patients in transitional programme for the rehabilitation of the VA polytrauma in Palo Alto. Patients are given application programming for your portable devices and taught ways to compensate for the loss of memory, said Dr. Sim.

Doctors sometimes prescribe drugs to treat anxiety or depression in patients T.B.I. hoping to release the patient cognitive reserves, said Dr. David Elkin, a psychiatrist at San Francisco General Hospital. But otherwise not much even intends to address the underlying injury.

Specialist Orlando Gonzalez, 23, is recovering from a brain injury received his squadron of infantry in Afghanistan when suicide bomber. Specialist Gonz?lez is currently a patient at the center of Palo Alto polytrauma in physical therapy of partial paralysis on his left side. For the first month after his injury, he said, he "could barely remember things at all." It has improved under treatment.

If it is effective software as science applying, patients futures specialist Gonzalez can do an hour of brain training powered by the software every day, along with physical therapy exercises to help restore cognitive functions.

Theoretically, the brain training software could deal with cognitive problems and post-traumatic stress disorder, said Henry Mahncke, Executive Director of the science candidates, a neurologist and a former student of Dr. Merzenich.

To make sure that the product will be of interest to this generation of veterans, the company is "re-pelado" your brain Fitness software: "so it has a look and feel is suitable for boys you played Xbox 50 hours a week," said Dr. Mahncke.

Thinking that join a gym but it quickly tired of the routine, Dr. Doraiswamy said he was skeptical of the veterans get stuck with the software. Even so, said the trial is worth the penalty.

"They have to start somewhere," he said.