Biology in the Real-World Draft Submission Page 1

Biology in the Real-World Draft Submission

BIOL 120: Foundations of Biology 1

Jacob Pool

October 20, 2019

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 Biology in the Real-World Draft Submission

Short Summary

The topic I chose for the “Biology in the Real-World” activity is Numerous head injuries

leaving to the production of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE, shortly put, is a

progressive neurodegenerative disease that occurs due to repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries.

Sports athletes and young athletes, alike, withstand head injuries to continue the sport(s) they

love playing. Throughout the next several weeks, I plan on diving into the short-term, like

memory loss, headaches and ineligibility to play, and long-term effects, permanent memory loss,

brain injuries (like CTE), other diseases (Alzheimer’s, dementia) and immobility, to just name a

few, caused by repeated head injuries.

Project Timeline

 Initial Research

o Anticipated completion date: September 22, 2019

o Completed

 Outline

o Anticipated completion date: October 3, 2019

o Completed

 Rough Draft

o Anticipated completion date: October 20, 2019

o Completed

 Continued research

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 o Ongoing throughout assignment

 Anticipated completion date: October 25, 2019

 Continued revision

o Continued throughout assignment

 Anticipated completion date: October 26, 2019

 Final draft

o Anticipated completion date: November 3, 2019

Key Vocabulary

 Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE): progressive neurodegenerative disease that

occurs due to repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries

 Traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES): Another scientific name for CTE

 Neurodegenerative: nerve dying

 “Punch-drunk syndrome”: what CTE was commonly called before it was truly

understood; discovered

 Stage I: headaches; loss of concentration

 Stage II: depression, mood swings, short term memory loss

 Stage III: executive dysfunction, memory loss, explosivity, and difficulty with attention

and concentration

 Stage IV: severe memory loss with dementia; impulsive; dysarthria

 Dysarthria: impaired speech; slurred or slow

 Tau: protein that clumps slowly and spreads throughout the brain killing brain cells

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 Module Connection

When reviewing Chapter 43 “The Nervous System”, specifically, starting at 43.4, the

brain and all of its detailed intricacies are visually and textually represented. When referring to

Figure 43.22, 43.23, Figure 43.24, Figure 43.25, the researcher can see images of the brain,

cerebral hemispheres, brain lobes and sensory and motor skills. When someone suffers from

extensive head injuries and/trauma, the images of their brains differ from what we see in our

textbook. By comparing a side-by-side image of a healthy brain versus one of a person suffering,

the person can see the visible changes in the brain; both motor and sensory. In addition, there are

images that rely the brain regions “lighting up” during different activities. Showing the

differences is remarkable, meaningful.

Real World Connection

When choosing a topic, I wanted to ensure I chose one that I could be passionate about

completing and researching. I am an avid sports lover; especially baseball and football. I watch

football every week, personally played grades 7-12 and currently have 2 sons, ages 12 and 10,

who play contact football. When initially researching CTE, I was enlightened on how often CTE

is diagnosed; how frequent people have concussions or head injuries. Ward (2017) explains that

out of 111 players in the NFL, 110 were found to have CTE. Those numbers are huge; very eye-

opening on a sport that I enjoy watching. Furthermore, my sons play the positions that are found

to be the “most common” to receive the injuries that can play a part in ending up being hurt

(receiver, defensive back, linemen). I, myself, experienced concussions in high school and in

military. Perhaps I was just naïve, but I believe it is just human nature to believe “that will never

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 happen to me”. Upon completion of my initial proposal, I began additional research on the

biological real-world connection to CTE. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston

University has a CTE Center. One of the nation’s best, most popular CTE centers, explains that

“a protein called Tau forms clumps that slowly spread throughout the brain, killing brain cells”.

According to Concussion Legacy Foundation (2018) when the microtubules break down, the Tau

protein is granted access to float freely inside the cell. The free Tau proteins change their shape

in a process called phosphorylation; causing the clumping. As mentioned previously, the

clumped proteins spread throughout the brain. Consequently, they begin to grow, spread and

impacts brain areas (prion spread). Per additional scientific research, they have found that Tau

spreads in a distinctive, unique pattern in CTE patients. Hence, why scientist believe it is so

difficult to diagnose and the systems to show up clearly.

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 References

Mason, K. A., Losos, J. B., Singer, S. R., & Raven, P. H. (2017). Biology. New York,

NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Ortiz, A. (2017, September 21). Learn the symptoms in the four stages of CTE - The Boston

Globe. Retrieved October 20, 2019, from

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/21/symptoms-watch-for-four-stages-

cte/Q1wniQOnQXH1bU8OibU3WJ/story.html.

The Science of CTE. (2018, November 6). Retrieved October 20, 2019, from

https://concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/science-of-CTE.

Ward, J., Williams, J., & Manchester, S. (2017, July 25). 111 N.F.L. Brains. All But One Had

C.T.E. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html

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