Psychological momentum in sport:Toward a complex and dynamical perspective

Psychological momentum (PM) is a social phenomenon that has triggered the curiosity of sport psychologists since the early 1980s. From early to recent conceptualizations, PM has been considered as a complex construct, inherently related to variations in sport performance. Over the past 30 years, several models have been proposed to untangle how PM is triggered, which psychological changes are involved in PM experiences, and how PM relates to performance. While linear (causal) models have dominated past research on PM, researchers have recently found that PM can change nonlinearly, depending on the performance history of the competition. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of different PM models that have been proposed in the past to increase insights into the complexity of PM, including the transition from linear causal models to nonlinear dynamical models. Moreover, based on the current state of affairs, perspectives for future research are provided. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Societe francaise de psychologie

Evaluation of Convalescent Plasma for Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea

: In the wake of the recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in several African countries, the World Health Organization prioritized the evaluation of treatment with convalescent plasma derived from patients who have recovered from the disease. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma for the treatment of EVD in Guinea. : In this nonrandomized, comparative study, 99 patients of various ages (including pregnant women) with confirmed EVD received two consecutive transfusions of 200 to 250 ml of ABO-compatible convalescent plasma, with each unit of plasma obtained from a separate convalescent donor. The transfusions were initiated on the day of diagnosis or up to 2 days later. The level of neutralizing antibodies against Ebola virus in the plasma was unknown at the time of administration. The control group was 418 patients who had been treated at the same center during the previous 5 months. The primary outcome was the risk of death during the period from 3 to 16 days after diagnosis with adjustments for age and the baseline cycle-threshold value on polymerase-chain-reaction assay; patients who had died before day 3 were excluded. The clinically important difference was defined as an absolute reduction in mortality of 20 percentage points in the convalescent-plasma group as compared with the control group. : A total of 84 patients who were treated with plasma were included in the primary analysis. At baseline, the convalescent-plasma group had slightly higher cycle-threshold values and a shorter duration of symptoms than did the control group, along with a higher frequency of eye redness and difficulty in swallowing. From day 3 to day 16 after diagnosis, the risk of death was 31% in the convalescent-plasma group and 38% in the control group (risk difference, -7 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -18 to 4). The difference was reduced after adjustment for age and cycle-threshold value (adjusted risk difference, -3 percentage points; 95% CI, -13 to 8). No serious adverse reactions associated with the use of convalescent plasma were observed. : The transfusion of up to 500 ml of convalescent plasma with unknown levels of neutralizing antibodies in 84 patients with confirmed EVD was not associated with a significant improvement in survival. (Funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02342171.).<br/

Optimising complementary soft tissue synchrotron X-ray microtomography for reversibly-stained central nervous system samples

Synchrotron radiation microtomography (SRμCT) is a nominally non-destructive 3D imaging technique which can visualise the internal structures of whole soft tissues. As a multi-stage technique, the cumulative benefits of optimising sample preparation, scanning parameters and signal processing can improve SRμCT imaging efficiency, image quality, accuracy and ultimately, data utility. By evaluating different sample preparations (embedding media, tissue stains), imaging (projection number, propagation distance) and reconstruction (artefact correction, phase retrieval) parameters, a novel methodology (combining reversible iodine stain, wax embedding and inline phase contrast) was optimised for fast (~12 minutes), high-resolution (3.2-4.8 μm diameter capillaries resolved) imaging of the full diameter of a 3.5 mm length of rat spinal cord. White-grey matter macro-features and micro-features such as motoneurons and capillary-level vasculature could then be completely segmented from the imaged volume for analysis through the shallow machine learning SuRVoS Workbench. Imaged spinal cord tissue was preserved for subsequent histology, establishing a complementary SRμCT methodology that can be applied to study spinal cord pathologies or other nervous system tissues such as ganglia, nerves and brain. Further, our ‘single-scan iterative downsampling’ approach and side-by-side comparisons of mounting options, sample stains and phase contrast parameters should inform efficient, effective future soft tissue SRμCT experiment design

Combining microRaman and microdiffraction to investigate keratin modifications during<i>in situ</i>deformation

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Modelling the B-DNA base pair opening reaction

Molecular modelling has been used to study the opening of the central base pair of a B- DNA oligonucleotide (dA)5.(dT)5. In our model, opening occurs by rotating the bases around an axis passing through the centre of the sugar connected to the opening base and oriented perpendicularly to the plane of the base. The results of this study show that the opening energies obtained for a single base pair are compatible with the activation energies deduced from hydrogen exchange experiments. Studies of possible opening pathways show that many possibilities exist although there is an overall preference for opening towards the major groove. In addition, we have demonstrated that a coupling exists between opening and DNA bending: bending the double helix facilitates base pair opening and, conversely, opening a base pair bends DNA and increases its local flexibility. Finally, based on the opening energetics obtained, we have carried out a Brownian dynamics study of the opening kinetics which again leads to results in good correlation with experimental findings and indicates that the base pair opening reaction is of a stochastic nature

BurnoutEnsemble: Augmented Intelligence to Detect Indications for Burnout in Clinical Psychology

Burnout, a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress, is a growing concern. It is known to occur when an individual feels overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, and unable to meet the constant demands imposed upon them. Detecting burnout is not an easy task, in large part because symptoms can overlap with those of other illnesses or syndromes. The use of natural language processing (NLP) methods has the potential to mitigate the limitations of typical burnout detection via inventories. In this article, the performance of NLP methods on anonymized free text data samples collected from the online forum/social media platform Reddit was analyzed. A dataset consisting of 13,568 samples describing first-hand experiences, of which 352 are related to burnout and 979 to depression, was compiled. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of NLP and machine learning methods in detecting indicators for burnout. Finally, it improves upon standard baseline classifiers by building and training an ensemble classifier using two methods (subreddit and random batching). The best ensemble models attain a balanced accuracy of 0.93, test F1 score of 0.43, and test recall of 0.93. Both the subreddit and random batching ensembles outperform the single classifier baselines in the experimental setup.</jats:p

Momentum sequence and environmental climate influence levels of perceived psychological momentum within a sport competition

International audienceThe present study examined the influence of momentum sequence (positive vs. negative) and environmental climate (hot-wet vs. neutral) on supporters' (i.e. virtual observers') reported levels of perceived psychological momentum (PM) during a simulated cycling competition. Participants supported one of two competing cyclists involved in a race that was displayed on a screen in a lecture hall. The race scenario was manipulated so that the supported cyclist appeared to undergo either a positive or negative momentum sequence. In addition, participants were either exposed to a hot-wet environmental climate or to a neutral environmental climate while observing the race scenario. According to the results, reported levels of PM were higher in the positive momentum sequence condition than in the negative momentum sequence condition, consistent with the notion that supporters' PM is influenced by a positivity bias, and reported levels of PM were also found to be higher in the hot-wet climate condition than in the neutral climate condition, consistent with the notion that environmental climate is a contextual factor that influences PM through the operation of a causal augmenting mechanism