The Effect of Remote Work on Family and Work Dynamics within the Sport Industry

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of required remote work on work–family spillover within U.S. college sport. In particular, we examined the changes in work–family spillover (positive and negative), job commitment, and workaholism as employee’s work environment changed from traditional work expectations to work from home, and if these changes were, at least partially, due to parental responsibilities. Data were collected from full-time, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic department employees (n = 1,139) in November 2019 and again in May 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and after the transition to remote work. Results showed that sport employees found a number of benefits associated with working remotely, including a significant decrease in negative work–family spillover. However, employees with children at home reported higher levels of negative family–work spillover after going to remote work. Workaholism was also higher after the move to remote work. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed

A Deficiency of Donors or an Abundance of Barriers? Title IX Fundraising Challenges from the Perspective of Athletic Department Fundraisers

This paper explores how Title IX effects college athletic fundraising, particularly how athletic fundraisers creates an unfair environment for non-football and basketball programs. Using distributive justice as a theoretical lens, we examine the perspective of athletic department fundraisers working at NCAA, Power Five athletic departments. Interviews from participants gleaned insights into only meeting the minimum legal requirements of Title IX, fighting between non-revenue programs for remaining resources, elevated requirements for program success for non-football and basketball programs, and more. This paper aims at providing insight into a distinct context of fundraising, which often avoids Title IX scrutiny, but is the primary outlet for athletic departments to raise additional funds for their sport programs

Did tool-use evolve with enhanced physical cognitive abilities?

The use and manufacture of tools have been considered to be cognitively demanding and thus a possible driving factor in the evolution of intelligence. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that enhanced physical cognitive abilities evolved in conjunction with the use of tools, by comparing the performance of naturally tool-using and non-tool-using species in a suite of physical and general learning tasks. We predicted that the habitually tool-using species, New Caledonian crows and Galápagos woodpecker finches, should outperform their non-tool-using relatives, the small tree finches and the carrion crows in a physical problem but not in general learning tasks. We only found a divergence in the predicted direction for corvids. That only one of our comparisons supports the predictions under this hypothesis might be attributable to different complexities of tool-use in the two tool-using species. A critical evaluation is offered of the conceptual and methodological problems inherent in comparative studies on tool-related cognitive abilities

Intradialytic Massage for Leg Cramps Among Hemodialysis Patients: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Patients on hemodialysis often experience muscle cramps that result in discomfort, shortened treatment times, and inadequate dialysis dose. Cramps have been associated with adversely affecting sleep and health-related quality of life, depression and anxiety. There is limited evidence available about massage in dialysis; however, massage in cancer patients has demonstrated decreases in pain, inflammation, and feelings of anxiety. These correlations indicate massage may be an effective treatment modality for hemodialysis-related lower extremity cramping.Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of intradialytic massage on the frequency of cramping among hemodialysis patients prone to lower extremity cramping.Participants: 26 maintenance hemodialysis patients with frequent lower extremity cramps.Setting: three outpatient hemodialysis centers in Northeast Ohio.Research Design: randomized controlled trial.Intervention: The intervention group received a 20-minute massage of the lower extremities during each treatment (three times per week) for two weeks. The control group received usual care by dialysis center staff.Main Outcome Measure: change in frequency of lower leg cramping.Results: Patient reported cramping at home decreased by 1.3 episodes per week in the intervention group compared to 0.2 episodes per week in the control group (p=.005). Patient reported cramping during dialysis decreased by 0.8 episodesin the intervention group compared to 0.4 episodes in the control group (p=0.44).Conclusion: Intradialytic massage appears to be an effective way to address muscle cramping. Larger studies with longer duration should be conducted to further examine this approach

A causal roadmap for generating high-quality real-world evidence

Increasing emphasis on the use of real-world evidence (RWE) to support clinical policy and regulatory decision-making has led to a proliferation of guidance, advice, and frameworks from regulatory agencies, academia, professional societies, and industry. A broad spectrum of studies use real-world data (RWD) to produce RWE, ranging from randomized trials with outcomes assessed using RWD to fully observational studies. Yet, many proposals for generating RWE lack sufficient detail, and many analyses of RWD suffer from implausible assumptions, other methodological flaws, or inappropriate interpretations. The Causal Roadmap is an explicit, itemized, iterative process that guides investigators to prespecify study design and analysis plans; it addresses a wide range of guidance within a single framework. By supporting the transparent evaluation of causal assumptions and facilitating objective comparisons of design and analysis choices based on prespecified criteria, the Roadmap can help investigators to evaluate the quality of evidence that a given study is likely to produce, specify a study to generate high-quality RWE, and communicate effectively with regulatory agencies and other stakeholders. This paper aims to disseminate and extend the Causal Roadmap framework for use by clinical and translational researchers; three companion papers demonstrate applications of the Causal Roadmap for specific use cases

Early inhaled budesonide for the prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

BACKGROUND Systemic glucocorticoids reduce the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia among extremely preterm infants, but they may compromise brain development. The effects of inhaled glucocorticoids on outcomes in these infants are unclear. METHODS We randomly assigned 863 infants (gestational age, 23 weeks 0 days to 27 weeks 6 days) to early (within 24 hours after birth) inhaled budesonide or placebo until they no longer required oxygen and positive-pressure support or until they reached a postmenstrual age of 32 weeks 0 days. The primary outcome was death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia, confirmed by means of standardized oxygen-saturation monitoring, at a postmenstrual age of 36 weeks. RESULTS A total of 175 of 437 infants assigned to budesonide for whom adequate data were available (40.0%), as compared with 194 of 419 infants assigned to placebo for whom adequate data were available (46.3%), died or had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (relative risk, stratified according to gestational age, 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75 to 1.00; P = 0.05). The incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia was 27.8% in the budesonide group versus 38.0% in the placebo group (relative risk, stratified according to gestational age, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.91; P = 0.004); death occurred in 16.9% and 13.6% of the patients, respectively (relative risk, stratified according to gestational age, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.69; P = 0.17). The proportion of infants who required surgical closure of a patent ductus arteriosus was lower in the budesonide group than in the placebo group (relative risk, stratified according to gestational age, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.83; P = 0.004), as was the proportion of infants who required reintubation (relative risk, stratified according to gestational age, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.96; P = 0.03). Rates of other neonatal illnesses and adverse events were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Among extremely preterm infants, the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia was lower among those who received early inhaled budesonide than among those who received placebo, but the advantage may have been gained at the expense of increased mortality

Consistency of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Results Among Identical Twins

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consistency of 3 commonly used direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits. Genetic testing kits are widely marketed by several companies but the consistency of their results is unclear. Because identical twins share the same DNA, their genetic testing results should provide insight into test consistency. Forty-two identical twins (21 pairs) provided samples for 3 testing companies. Outcomes were concordance of ancestry results when twin pairs were tested by the same company and the same participant was tested by different companies. Concordance of 8 self-reported traits with 23andMe genetic analyses were also examined. Concordance of ancestry results when twin pairs were tested by the same company was high, with mean percentage agreement ranging from 94.5% to 99.2%. Concordance of ancestry results when participants were tested by 2 different companies was lower, with mean percentage agreement ranging from 52.7% to 84.1%. Concordance of trait results was variable, ranging from 34.1% for deep sleep and detached earlobes to 90.2% for cleft chin. The consistency of consumer genetic testing is high for ancestry results within companies but lower and more variable for ancestry results across companies and for specific traits. These results raise questions about the usefulness of such testing