THE IMPACT OF BRIEF ELECTRONIC GUIDED MINDFULNESS MEDITATION ON ANXIETY SCORES

In the United States, anxiety rates are on the rise for the general population (Goodwin et al., 2020a). Prolonged and frequent anxiety can become unprompted and problematic (American Psychiatric Association, 2021). Management of anxiety is crucial for overall wellbeing. Access to treatment and resources for anxiety may be limited in rural geographical locations (Morales et al., n.d.). This DNP project sought to determine whether a brief intervention of electronic guided mindfulness meditation (MM) by Insight Timer is effective in decreasing anxiety in a rural populous. Convenience sampling recruited a final total of 11 rural participants who participated in seven sessions of mindfulness meditation over a 14-day period. Analysis via permutation testing of Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale scores from pre/post scores showed the intervention of MM to be statistically significant (p=0.0015)

The Mongolian Remodeling and the structure of Anoplocephalid cestode diversity

Ecological disruption plays an important role in structuring diversity of flora, fauna, and their parasites. At the end of the Eocene, climatic change across Asia resulted in a faunal turnover (the Mongolian Remodeling) as rodents diversified and larger mammals declined. Throughout the Oligocene, the landscape in Asia was characterized by episodic climatic and landscape changes resulting in pulses of rodent diversification. The role of historical ecological disruption in Central Asia in structuring the diversity of parasites of small rodents has not been thoroughly investigated. The hyper-diverse Paranoplocephala species complex (family: Anoplocephalidae) infect rodents throughout the Holarctic and present an opportunity to investigate the consequences of ecological disruption on the diversity of parasites. Here, I use whole mitogenome sequencing to produce a well-resolved phylogeny showing relationships within the Paranoplocephala species complex. I test the hypotheses that the Mongolian Remodeling initiated diversification and subsequent recurrent episodes of climatic change increased the tempo of diversification within this parasite assemblage. Using mitochondrial genome sequencing, I built the most robust phylogenetic tree of seven known species and eight previously unknown lineages. A clock calibration estimate put the temporal origin of the Paranoplocephala species complex approximately 42 MYA and lineage through time tests showed more diversification occurred in deeper time. Results indicated multiple trans-Beringian dispersal events and numerous host-colonization events, consistent with ecological disruption playing an important role in structuring parasite diversity

KINEMATICS CHANGE IN COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMPS WITH ADDITIONAL LOADS

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sex and additional load during countermovement jumps on hip, knee, and ankle joint kinematics. For this purpose, a total of 25 female and male participants performed barbell-loaded countermovement jumps with up to 80% of body mass. No significant main effect of sex on any of the kinematic parameters was found. The additional load resulted in a significant decrease in hip, knee, and ankle joint angles in the sagittal plane and an increase of the absolute performance time. Significant differences were also found in the frontal and transverse plane kinematics. Hence, since changes in kinematics of all three anatomical planes could increase the risk of injury, they should be closely monitored

VISIBILITY AND USAGE OF ISBS PROCEEDINGS AT FORTY YEARS

This study described the visibility and usage of research published in ISBS conference proceedings articles from 1983 to 2022. The 6,688 articles were downloaded 1,955,728 times in total, and 78% were indexed by Google Scholar. In recent proceedings, the number of articles and total downloads have decreased but downloads per article per year of availability have increased steeply. Top (1%) cited articles in Google Scholar had citations and citation rates similar to articles in biomechanics journals. While visibility has grown, there is limited citation of most ISBS proceedings articles compared to journal articles

PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF FREE THROW SHOT TRAJECTORIES IN RELATION TO SHOOTING PERFORMANCE

The purpose of this study was to analyze free throw (FT) shot trajectories of individual basketball players using principal component analysis (PCA) and investigate whether variation in trajectories correlated with FT shooting performance. A markerless motion capture system was used to record three-dimensional FT shot trajectories of seven basketball players during practice. Horizontal and vertical positioning of the wrist joint center of the shooting hand were captured in both the sagittal and frontal planes for all trials. These coordinates were used as the input to the PCA. Positive correlations between the amount of variation accounted for by the first principal component and FT shooting performance (in-game FT%) suggest that players with simpler and less variable (i.e., more deterministic) shooting trajectories are better FT shooters

DETERMINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN KINEMATIC SEQUENCING AND BASEBALL PITCH VELOCITY USING MARKERLESS MOTION CAPTURE

The purpose of this study was to determine how the timings and magnitudes of peak pelvis rotational velocity, peak trunk rotational velocity, peak elbow extension velocity, and peak shoulder internal rotation velocity affect pitch velocity. Eighty pitchers (187.2 ± 8.2cm, 89.3 ± 13.0kg, 20.1 ± 3.3yrs) had a minimum of 3 fastballs recorded and video was processed using pitchAITM. Average pitch velocity was 38.1 ± 2.5 m/s. A multilinear regression generated a significant prediction for pitch velocity (R2 = 0.368 and p \u3c 0.01). Pitcher weight (β = 0.535, p \u3c 0.001), peak pelvis rotational velocity timing (β = -0.157, p = 0.001), peak elbow extension timing (β = 0.122, p = 0.006), and peak shoulder internal rotation timing (β = -0.113, p = 0.018), were significant contributors to the multilinear model. In conclusion, player weight and their kinematic sequence metrics from pitchAITM can be significant predictors of pitch velocity

A NOVEL STUDY EXAMINING COGNITIVE-MOTOR INTERFERENCE AFTER ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION

The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of examining cognitive motor interference (CMi) in athletes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and return to sport through electroencephalography (EEG) and three-dimensional motion capture recordings. A 128-electrode EEG system is used to track brain wave patterns for specific biomarkers of CMi during sitting and balance tasks. An 8-camera Optitrack system is used to obtain three-dimensional kinematics during anticipated and unanticipated drop vertical jumps. Preliminary EEG N200 amplitudes (ACL: -4.99 ± 2.39; Control: -7.75 ± 5.83) and peak knee flexion (ACL: 93.29 ± 12.92°; Control: 92.87 ± 7.17°) during dual-task and unanticipated landings, respectively, demonstrate the feasibility of this study. Future work will continue to assess the effect of CMi on risk factors for secondary ACL injury

APPLICATION OF SURFACE EMG DECOMPOSITION TO IDENTIFY CHANGES IN NEUROMUSCULAR CONTROL DURING FATIGUING EXERCISE

The purpose of this study was to apply surface EMG decomposition to identify changes in neuromuscular control of lower limb muscles during fatiguing exercise. Trained participants (n=15) completed a repeat sprints cycling fatigue protocol. Motor unit firing rates and motor unit recruitment timings were identified for six muscles. A moderate to strong correlation between firing rates and recruitment timings were identified for individual participant data (r = -0.46 to r = -1.00). No significant group effects were reported when each muscle was examined independently (repeat measures ANOVA; slope, intercept; F \u3c 1.84, p \u3e 0.119). However, changes in regression parameters were indentified for individual participant data. Surface EMG decomposition provides a novel approach for identifying individual changes in neuromuscular control of lower limb muscles during fatiguing exercise

MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS OF UPPER EXTREMITY DURING DIFFERENT STROKES OF BADMINTON: A SINGLE SUBJECT PILOT STUDY

The purpose of this study was to quantify muscle activation patterns during different stroke techniques in badminton. We hypothesized that muscle activation patterns in upper extremity would be different depending on stroke techniques. We recruited a recreational badminton player. The participant performed five stroke techniques such as forehand and backhand drive, high clear, smash, and drop with electromyography sensors on wrist flexor, wrist extensor, elbow flexor, elbow extensor, middle deltoid, upper trapezius, and pectoralis major. We compared muscle activations within muscle and between stroke techniques. We found that muscle activation patterns were different depending on strokes. Our results provide background knowledge about muscle activation patterns and suggest that trainers should target different muscles depending on stroke techniques

EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INJURY PREVENTION WARM-UP FOR FEMALE COLLEGIATE SOCCER PLAYERS

Neuromuscular training programs have been shown to decrease injury risk. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a soccer-specific injury prevention warm-up program at improving game-time movement patterns. Acceleration and gyroscope data from IMUs and foot forces from smart insoles were collected in-the-field from 16 players during regularly scheduled soccer practice sessions. Change in impact and tibial anterior shear force, and lower extremity kinematics were compared throughout the season with a MANOVA. Tibial anterior shear force and acceleration, knee extension, and knee valgus decreased within each training session (Λ = 0.387, F18,75 = 12.65, p \u3c 0.01), but not across the season (Λ = 0.913, F5,18 = 0.34, p = 0.879). This injury prevention warm-up program may be effective at modifying ACL injury risk factors in the short-term but not the long-term