Presidential Rhetoric: How John Adams and George W. Bush Used Religion to Effectively Communicate with Their Respective Constituency

President George W. Bush’s affiliation with the conservative and political Christian right helped him win the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. During the past six years, Bush has courted this vast voting public by referencing Christian doctrine in his speeches. John Adams, this nation’s second president, was of Puritan ancestry. Yet Adams, an eloquent writer, carefully crafted his communiqués to avoid overt religiosity. An analysis of the public communications of these two presidents will show how allusions to Christianity have been used as a rhetorical and political tool to facilitate national unity for their agenda

Book Review: Christian Practical Wisdom: What It Is, Why It Matters

Christian Practical Wisdom: What It Is, Why It Matters, by Dorothy C. Bass, Kathleen A. Cahalan, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, James R. Nieman, and Christian B. Scharen. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016. 368 pages, $25.10

Evaluating “GRIT” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) Groups at the Highland Church of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement of Small Group Community Life

ABSTRACT This project, Evaluating “GRIT” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) at the Highland Church of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement of Small Group Community Life is a response to the request for intergenerational partnership in worship, fellowship, and ministry by the university students at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The church’s robust small group life was a logical place to create a vehicle in which intergenerational partners could ride for a determined period in pursuit of their common goals of furthering Highland’s mission and vision. The “Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied” or GRIT groups were formed by combining existing small groups which were joined with university discipleship groups consisting of students, student leaders, and adult spiritual mentors from the congregation who regularly volunteer in university ministry. Founded on the key principles of perichoresis and kenosis within trinitarian doctrinal theology embedded in Phil 2:2–11 and the Fuller Institute’s Growing Young theoretical principles of “key chain leadership” and “fueling warm community,” these six partnerships gathered throughout the fall 2022 semester. Equipped with a familiar curriculum modeled after the typical “Discipleship in Groups” (DIG), GRIT groups explored the themes of koinonia fellowship, generational theory, and the value of intergenerationality within a church. Along the way many discovered commonalities, shared interests, and engaged in Christian service and informal fellowship, fostering varying depths of community life outside of but inspired by the frame of the project. Focus groups convened in spring 2023 to lend insight for the future 2 enhancement of Highland’s communal life, based on their GRIT experiences. These groups’ engagement in the pastoral cycle of observation, action, and reflection in examining and cataloging their shared experiences and key learning about Highland’s high value of intergenerationality will inform both the future of university ministry at the church and the body life of the congregation. Churches interested in university students becoming deeply integrated and experiencing mutuality in church relationships and ministries during their college years will benefit from examining this project. The church and innumerable future congregations stand to benefit from the rich learning students experience in the concentration of their university years when embedded in the diverse fellowship that is possible within a local church

Anticipatory Postural Adjustments and Spatial Organization of Motor Cortex: Evidence of Adaptive Compensations in Healthy Older Adults

During anticipated postural perturbations induced by limb movement, the central nervous system generates anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) in the trunk and hip musculature to minimize disturbances to equilibrium. Age-related changes in functional organization of the nervous system may contribute to changes in APAs in healthy older adults. Here we examined if altered APAs of trunk/hip musculature in older adults are accompanied by changes in the representation of these muscles in motor cortex. Twelve healthy older adults, 5 with a history of falls and 7 nonfallers, were compared with 13 young adults. APAs were assessed during a mediolateral arm raise task in standing. Temporal organization of postural adjustments was quantified as latency of APAs in the contralateral external oblique, lumbar paraspinals, and gluteus medius relative to activation of the deltoid. Spatial organization was quantified as extent of synergistic coactivation between muscles. Volume and location of the muscle representations in motor cortex were mapped using transcranial magnetic stimulation. We found that older adults demonstrated significantly delayed APAs in the gluteus medius muscle. Spatial organization of the three muscles in motor cortex differed between groups, with the older adults demonstrating more lateral external oblique representation than the other two muscles. Separate comparisons of the faller and nonfaller subgroups with young adults indicated that nonfallers had the greatest delay in gluteus medius APAs and a reduced distance between the representational areas of the lumbar paraspinals and gluteus medius. This study indicates that altered spatial organization of motor cortex accompanies altered temporal organization of APA synergies in older adults

The Role of Gut Health in Parkinson’s disease: The Impact on Motor Symptoms and Fitness Levels

While Parkinson’s disease (PD) has traditionally been considered a central nervous system disease, recent groundbreaking research argues that PD symptomology is influenced by gut microbiota alterations (dysbiosis).1 People with PD suffer from dysbiosis,2-6 and gut symptoms characteristic of dysbiosis, like constipation.7,8 Given this evidence, strategies that improve gut health in PD are warranted. One possible strategy is exercise. In non-PD populations, fitness status is linked to gut health,9-13 and exercise which increases fitness status improves the gut.14-19 It is now known that exercise improves motor symptoms in PD,20-23 but the gut may be a moderator of these improvements. However, no study has taken the crucial first step to link fitness with motor and gut symptoms in PD. In addition, there is a need to determine whether norms for fitness status 24 indicate PD symptom severity to provide clinicians with a benchmark by which they can improve the fitness of people with PD. PURPOSE: We aimed to 1) associate fitness, motor symptoms, and constipation and 2) determine the influence of aerobic fitness norms on motor symptoms and constipation in 19 people with PD. METHODS: Constipation was measured via the ROME-IV survey (summing nine symptom questions). Fitness was defined as estimated oxygen consumption (VO2) via a 6-minute walk test (6MW). Normative classifications were used to determine whether participants met (HI) or did not meet aerobic fitness status (LO).25 Motor symptoms were assessed via the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS-III). A linear regression was used to associate VO2 peak, UPDRS-III, and constipation. A MANOVA was used to compare symptoms between HI and LO groups. RESULTS: VO2 peak was inversely associated with constipation (t= 2.67, p=.018, effect size = -.48, 95% CI= -.86 to -.10) and UPDRS-III scores (t= -2.35, p= .033, effect size= -.48, 95% CI= -.92 to -.04). The HI group had lower constipation (p=.018) and UPDRS-III scores (p=.03) than the LO group. DISCUSSION: Not only is there a link between aerobic fitness, motor function, and constipation in people with PD, but there seems to be aerobic fitness benchmarks (i.e., HI vs. LO) that clinicians can use to improve the fitness status of their patients. In doing so, this can not only lead to improvements in motor function, but also improved gut health in people with PD. REFERENCES 1. McCann H, Cartwright H, Halliday GM. Neuropathology of alpha-synuclein propagation and braak hypothesis. Mov Disord. 2016;31(2):152-160. 2. Aho VTE, Pereira PAB, Voutilainen S, et al. Gut microbiota in Parkinson\u27s disease: Temporal stability and relations to disease progression. EBioMedicine. 2019;44:691-707. 3. Scheperjans F, Aho V, Pereira PA, et al. Gut microbiota are related to Parkinson\u27s disease and clinical phenotype. Mov Disord. 2015;30(3):350-358. 4. Heintz-Buschart A, Pandey U, Wicke T, et al. The nasal and gut microbiome in Parkinson\u27s disease and idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. Mov Disord. 2018;33(1):88-98. 5. Cilia R, Piatti M, Cereda E, et al. Does Gut Microbiota Influence the Course of Parkinson\u27s Disease? A 3-Year Prospective Exploratory Study in de novo Patients. J Parkinsons Dis. 2021;11(1):159-170. 6. Ren T, Gao Y, Qiu Y, et al. Gut Microbiota Altered in Mild Cognitive Impairment Compared With Normal Cognition in Sporadic Parkinson\u27s Disease. Front Neurol. 2020;11:137. 7. Fasano A, Visanji NP, Liu LW, Lang AE, Pfeiffer RF. Gastrointestinal dysfunction in Parkinson\u27s disease. Lancet Neurol. 2015;14(6):625-639. 8. Adams-Carr KL, Bestwick JP, Shribman S, Lees A, Schrag A, Noyce AJ. Constipation preceding Parkinson\u27s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2016;87(7):710-716. 9. Clarke SF, Murphy EF, O\u27Sullivan O, et al. Exercise and associated dietary extremes impact on gut microbial diversity. Gut. 2014;63(12):1913-1920. 10. Durk RP, Castillo E, Marquez-Magana L, et al. Gut Microbiota Composition Is Related to Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Healthy Young Adults. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2019;29(3):249-253. 11. Yang Y, Shi Y, Wiklund P, et al. The Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Gut Microbiota Composition in Premenopausal Women. Nutrients. 2017;9(8). 12. Estaki M, Pither J, Baumeister P, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness as a predictor of intestinal microbial diversity and distinct metagenomic functions. Microbiome. 2016;4(1):42. 13. Barton W, Penney NC, Cronin O, et al. The microbiome of professional athletes differs from that of more sedentary subjects in composition and particularly at the functional metabolic level. Gut. 2018;67(4):625-633. 14. Cronin O, Barton W, Skuse P, et al. A Prospective Metagenomic and Metabolomic Analysis of the Impact of Exercise and/or Whey Protein Supplementation on the Gut Microbiome of Sedentary Adults. mSystems. 2018;3(3). 15. Resende AS, Leite GSF, Lancha Junior AH. Changes in the Gut Bacteria Composition of Healthy Men with the Same Nutritional Profile Undergoing 10-Week Aerobic Exercise Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients. 2021;13(8). 16. Louis S, Tappu RM, Damms-Machado A, Huson DH, Bischoff SC. Characterization of the Gut Microbial Community of Obese Patients Following a Weight-Loss Intervention Using Whole Metagenome Shotgun Sequencing. PLoS One. 2016;11(2):e0149564. 17. Kang SS, Jeraldo PR, Kurti A, et al. Diet and exercise orthogonally alter the gut microbiome and reveal independent associations with anxiety and cognition. Mol Neurodegener. 2014;9:36. 18. Campbell SC, Wisniewski PJ, Noji M, et al. The Effect of Diet and Exercise on Intestinal Integrity and Microbial Diversity in Mice. PLoS One. 2016;11(3):e0150502. 19. Allen JM, Mailing LJ, Cohrs J, et al. Exercise training-induced modification of the gut microbiota persists after microbiota colonization and attenuates the response to chemically-induced colitis in gnotobiotic mice. Gut Microbes. 2018;9(2):115-130. 20. Uhrbrand A, Stenager E, Pedersen MS, Dalgas U. Parkinson\u27s disease and intensive exercise therapy--a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Neurol Sci. 2015;353(1-2):9-19. 21. Li Y, Song H, Shen L, Wang Y. The efficacy and safety of moderate aerobic exercise for patients with Parkinson\u27s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Ann Palliat Med. 2021;10(3):2638-2649. 22. Fisher BE, Wu AD, Salem GJ, et al. The effect of exercise training in improving motor performance and corticomotor excitability in people with early Parkinson\u27s disease. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008;89(7):1221-1229. 23. Tabak R, Aquije G, Fisher BE. Aerobic exercise to improve executive function in Parkinson disease: a case series. J Neurol Phys Ther. 2013;37(2):58-64. 24. Rikli RE, Jones CJ. Senior fitness test manual. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2001. 25. Enright PL, Sherrill DL. Reference equations for the six-minute walk in healthy adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1998;158(5 Pt 1):1384-1387

Aerobic Fitness Levels Relate to Cognitive Function in People with Parkinson’s Disease as Assessed by the 6 Minute Walk Test

While individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) present with impaired motor control, 26% demonstrate cognitive impairment independent of dementia1. In fact, cognitive dysfunction often predates motor impairments and can diminish quality of life2 as well as life expectancy3. Fortunately, aerobic exercise has been shown to improve cognition in older adults4 as well as PD patients5-7. However, only a limited number of studies have determined a clear relationship between aerobic fitness levels and cognition in people with PD. Determining whether cognitive status and aerobic fitness levels are associated in people with PD would provide greater evidence for intervention focused on aerobic fitness that has a goal of improving cognition. Using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), we were able to categorize participants based on their aerobic fitness levels9. This categorization allowed us to test the relationship between cognitive status and aerobic fitness. PURPOSE:The purpose of this study is to identify differences in cognition in people with PD who meet aerobic fitness norms compared to those who do not meet aerobic fitness norms. METHODS:19 people with PD (Hoehn & Yahr stages I-III) were recruited. Aerobic fitness was assessed via estimated oxygen consumption using the 6MWT (VO2 peak) This test has shown test-retest reliability in people with PD8. 6MWT classifications were used to determine if participants met (PD-HI) or did not meet fitness norms (PD-LO). Cognitive function was assessed via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and scored out of 30 points. To compare the two groups, a Welch’s Two Sample T-Test was performed using the R Statistical Program, and p-values were set to \u3c0.05. RESULTS: The PD-HI group (n=9) had a mean MoCA score of 26.0(+/-1.5). The PD-LO group (n=10) had a mean MoCA score of 22.4(+/-3.2). The PD-HI group had significantly higher MoCA scores compared with the PD-LO group (p=0.004). CONCLUSION: This study is one of the first to observe a relationship between increased MoCA scores and high aerobic fitness status in populations with PD

Altered Dynamic Postural Control during Step Turning in Persons with Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease

Persons with early-stage Parkinson's disease (EPD) do not typically experience marked functional deficits but may have difficulty with turning tasks. Studies evaluating turning have focused on individuals in advanced stages of the disease. The purpose of this study was to compare postural control strategies adopted during turning in persons with EPD to those used by healthy control (HC) subjects. Fifteen persons with EPD, diagnosed within 3 years, and 10 HC participated. Participants walked 4 meters and then turned 90°. Dynamic postural control was quantified as the distance between the center of pressure (COP) and the extrapolated center of mass (eCOM). Individuals with EPD demonstrated significantly shorter COP-eCOM distances compared to HC. These findings suggest that dynamic postural control during turning is altered even in the early stages of PD

Identification of potential neuromotor mechanisms of manual therapy in patients with musculoskeletal disablement: rationale and description of a clinical trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many health care practitioners use a variety of hands-on treatments to improve symptoms and disablement in patients with musculoskeletal pathology.</p> <p>Research to date indirectly suggests a potentially broad effect of manual therapy on the neuromotor processing of functional behavior within the supraspinal central nervous system (CNS) in a manner that may be independent of modification at the level of local spinal circuits. However, the effect of treatment speed, as well as the specific mechanism and locus of CNS changes, remain unclear.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>We developed a placebo-controlled, randomized study to test the hypothesis that manual therapy procedures directed to the talocrural joint in individuals with post-acute ankle sprain induce a change in corticospinal excitability that is relevant to improve the performance of lower extremity functional behavior.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study is designed to identify potential neuromotor changes associated with manual therapy procedures directed to the appendicular skeleton, compare the relative effect of treatment speed on potential neuromotor effects of manual therapy procedures, and determine the behavioral relevance of potential neuromotor effects of manual therapy procedures.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><url>http://www.clinicaltrials.gov</url> identifier NCT00847769.</p

From Relief to Recovery: Peer Support by Consumers Relieves the Traumas of Disasters and Facilitates Recovery from Mental Illness

This paper is about the expertise those with a lived experience of recovery from personal trauma can bring to disaster relief efforts in the form of peer support