INTRODUCTION: @entity8638 ( @entity8638 ) is a progressive @entity179 associated with repetitive head impacts. Understanding @entity16 and @entity131 (UNITE) is a U01 project recently funded by the National Institute of @entity16 and @entity64 and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The goal of the UNITE project is to examine the neuropathology and clinical presentation of brain donors designated as "at risk" for the development of @entity8638 based on prior athletic or military exposure. Here, we present the rationale and methodology for UNITE. METHODS: Over the course of 4  years, we will analyze the brains and spinal cords of 300 deceased subjects who had a history of repetitive head impacts sustained during participation in contact sports at the professional or collegiate level or during military service. Clinical data are collected through medical record review and retrospective structured and unstructured family interviews conducted by a behavioral neurologist or neuropsychologist. Blinded to the clinical data, a neuropathologist conducts a comprehensive assessment for @entity179 , including @entity8638 , using published criteria. At a clinicopathological conference, a panel of physicians and neuropsychologists, blinded to the neuropathological data, reaches a clinical consensus diagnosis using published criteria, including proposed clinical research criteria for @entity8638 . RESULTS: We will investigate the validity of these clinical criteria and sources of error by using recently validated neuropathological criteria as a gold standard for @entity8638 diagnosis. We also will use statistical modeling to identify diagnostic features that best predict @entity8638 pathology. CONCLUSIONS: The UNITE study is a novel and methodologically rigorous means of assessing clinicopathological correlation in @entity8638 . Our findings will be critical for developing future iterations of @entity8638 clinical diagnostic criteria.

Assessing clinicopathological correlation in chronic XXXX : rationale and methods for the UNITE study.

@entity131 :: ('MESH:D001930', 'Disease') :: ['Traumatic Encephalopathy'] @entity64 :: ('MESH:D020521', 'Disease') :: ['Stroke'] @entity16 :: ('MESH:D009422', 'Disease') :: ['Neurologic Injury', 'Neurological Disorders'] @entity179 :: ('MESH:D019636', 'Disease') :: ['neurodegeneration', 'neurodegenerative disease'] @entity8638 :: ('MESH:D020208', 'Disease') :: ['CTE', 'Chronic traumatic encephalopathy']
@entity131 :: (MESH:D001930,Disease) :: ['traumatic encephalopathy']
