HPD Perspectives Magazine Summer/Fall 2019

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 27 RATIONALE Professional contact sport athletes are at risk for developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head impacts. Until very recently, CTE was not well understood. It was initially observed in boxers and classified as “dementia pugilistica.” Due to the robust relationship between mood and long-term outcomes for neurological health in contact sport athletes, two groups of elite contact sports athletes were tested—National Football League (NFL) players and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters. PROCEDURE The test addressed a comprehensive set of neurobe- havioral health areas and included both emotion and cognition domains. These groups were then compared to a professional, noncontact-sport control group. FINDINGS Study #1— Although both the NFL and MMA groups experience repetitive blows to the head, neither group demonstrated cognitive impairments relative to a control group. The NFL group showed significant impairments on three measures of negative affect (fear/anxiety, perceptions of physical anxiety, and anger/ physical aggression) and on the measure of perceived stress. However, the data are preliminary. We will need a much larger sample to make any definitive statements. Study #2— Nineteen MMA fighters were compared to 21 noncontact-sport athlete controls and 41 nonathlete controls in a collaboration project with the neurosci- ence department. At the focus of the project was a functional, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the catechol-O- methyltransferase (COMT) gene (rs4680) (aka, the warrior/worrier gene). The team found a trend for an increase in the warrior (GG) genotype, wherein MMA fighters have the highest frequency (58 percent), followed by the athlete control group (43 percent). The non- athlete control group showed the lowest frequency (20 percent). Combined, our findings suggest that the “warrior” genotype may play a role in participation in competitive sports, and especially combat sports. STUDENT PARTICIPANTS Kudos are extended to exercise and sport science and neuroscience students Alina Ali, Dom Cabrera, Madaline Kenyon, Sarah Knafo, Julius Thomas, Kayla Thompson, and Cailey Weaver, who have helped with the second project. Our latest data will be presented at the 16th Annual International Society of Sports Nutrition in Las Vegas, Nevada. o Jose Antonio is a program director and an associate professor in the Health and Human Performance Exercise and Sport Science B.S. Program—Fort Lauderdale. From left, Jose Antonio, graduate students Julius Thomas and Dominick Cabrera, and professors Jaime Tartar and Corey Peacock