BOSTON -- Dozens of times since beginning their work on the brains of former football players, boxers and military members who suffered repeated blows to the head, researchers have announced their findings with slides of damaged tissue. Researchers presented strong words about the danger of concussions and perhaps a call for sports officials to take the issue more seriously.At a Boston University medical conference on Thursday, doctors put a human touch on the often clinical diagnoses, announcing to a room stocked with family members of CTE casualties that former?Patriots and Eagles?fullback Kevin Turner -- the lead plaintiff in the NFLs concussion lawsuit -- also was a victim of the disease.Theres people there, not just brains, said Tamara Alan, executive director of the Kevin Turner Foundation. She choked back tears to thank the researchers for their work.With Turners parents in the crowd, neuropathologist Ann McKee said the former Alabama and NFL star had the most severe form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a traumatic brain disease linked to repeated hits to the head. CTE likely caused the Lou Gehrigs disease that killed Turner in March at the age of 46, according to McKee.The severity of Mr. Turners CTE was extraordinary and unprecedented for an athlete who died in his 40s, she said.CTE has been linked to repeated brain trauma and diagnosed in hundreds of former football players. It can also cause symptoms of Lou Gehrigs disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.After showing slides with evidence of both CTE and ALS in Turners brain, McKee said its not possible to determine whether the CTE caused Lou Gehrigs disease through an autopsy, but this is the best circumstantial evidence we will ever get.After helping Alabama to the national championship in 1992, Turner played eight years in the NFL for New England and Philadelphia. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 and pledged his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation that year.McKee said Turner had several symptoms associated with CTE, including cognitive and impulse control difficulties. She said it also appears that the disease damaged the motor cortex of his brain when he was young, likely leading to his ALS symptoms.What Kevin Turners case shows is that when you start playing football at 5 years old, and youre successful, it destroys your brain, said Chris Nowinski, a founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation.Nowinski said children whose brains are still developing shouldnt be playing tackle football, pointing to medical research and even football coaches, who say there would be benefits from playing non-contact football until ninth grade.This is a totally preventable disease, McKee said. Lets start preventing it.Raymond Turner, Kevins father, said Kevins son stopped playing tackle football before resuming when he reached high school. Raymond Turner said he didnt regret that Kevin played football, but he wouldnt have started him in tackle football so early if hed known the risks.Wed probably do it again, Raymond Turner said, just in a safer way.Turner was one of the named plaintiffs from as many as 6,000 potential players who reached a $1 billion settlement with the NFL to monitor more than 20,000 NFL retirees over 65 years old and compensate those with dementia, Alzheimers disease and other serious neurological conditions.Turner also created and served as president of the Kevin Turner Foundation, which seeks to show the potential connections between repeated brain trauma and Lou Gehrigs disease. ALS causes muscle weakness, paralysis and respiratory failure.In the documentary American Man featured on the foundations website, Turner said he wants to help convince old-school coaches to take concussions seriously.I believe this is the most important thing Ill ever do in my life, other than raising my kids, he said. 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Nike React Canada Sale . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string.ARLINGTON, Va. -- Even as one of the best defensemen in the NHL, Victor Hedman is in awe of Swedens blue line for the World Cup of Hockey.Hedman watches two-time Norris Trophy-winner Erik Karlsson and potential future winner Oliver Ekman-Larsson man the power play. He steps onto the ice with Tampa Bay defensive partner Anton Stralman to rekindle the same chemistry that got the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015.And then he sees three-time Chicago Blackhawks Cup winner Niklas Hjalmarsson blocking shots and Mattias Ekholm and Hampus Lindholm moving the puck all over the ice. Swedens defense may be one of the best units constructed in international play.The competition there is, especially on D, its pretty remarkable, Hedman said. You look at the guys that didnt make it. You have that kind of talent on the back end, it makes you appreciate being here.John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars who finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting last season, missed the cut and Sweden is already one injury replacement in after Niklas Kronwall withdrew from the World Cup, which begins Saturday in Toronto. Yet the greatness of the Swedish blue line isnt just in its depth of talent but in its diversity.Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators captain, is a point-producing machine who can play 30 minutes a game just like Hedman, a 6-foot-6 force who doesnt give up much skating with his size. Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes is a balance of that, someone who has tried to model his game after Hall of Fame countryman Nicklas Lidstrom.Obviously we feel very fortunate that we have that many defensemen we can pick from and all kinds of different defensemen, too, coach Rickard Gronborg said. It feels like we have quite a few players to choose from, and we have excellent players that are not on the team but obviously weve got to make a cut somewhere and these are the guys we feel like were going to win the battle with when the tournament starts.Sweden reached the final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics after somehow leaving Hedman and Stralman off the roster and benching Ekman-Larsson. This defense is deeper and more talented -- and has the benefit of time.I just think wee have a little bit more experience, Karlsson said.ddddddddddddMost of the guys that are here played in the Olympics and that was two years ago, and everybody since then has gotten more mature and more experience and become better players, so I think thats why we have a better blue line now than we did two years ago.Henrik Lundqvist, who was a big part of the run in Sochi and who backstopped Sweden to gold at the 2006 Olympics, said it was hard to rate this group against previous ones he has played on. But the New York Rangers goaltender appreciates his countrys proud heritage on defense, which is becoming a national tradition.Its been one of our strengths throughout the years, I think, to have a good D group, Lundqvist said. I think a lot of D-men growing up in Sweden really learn how to read the game well and play the puck well. They dont just dump it in and go. They really try to make plays. I think every time I come to the national team, you get surprised how well they move the puck and pass the puck.Canada has Norris winner Drew Doughty, big Shea Weber and other top NHL players on its blue line, but Sweden has the best group of puck movers in the tournament. The power play was impressive in an exhibition victory against Finland on Saturday, and there is still time to tweak things before Sweden plays its World Cup opener Sunday against Russia.Lundqvist said Sweden is still working on clicking as a unit, which is dangerous for the other seven teams. And there are enough versatile pieces to survive penalties, injuries and for players to be used at their positions of strength.I think everybody on the blue line can do everything, Ekman-Larsson said. Were good skaters, were really good with the puck. Hopefully we can use that in our favor.NOTE: Sweden on Monday named Patrik Berglund of the St. Louis Blues to replace sick forward Rickard Rakell on its roster. Rakell has been hospitalized in Gothenburg, Sweden, with an unspecified illness.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . ' ' '