The three Shakesperean periods in the life and achievements of Sidney Lanier

Thesis (Ed. M.)--Boston University, 194

Contributors to the Fall Issue/Notes

Notes by Wilmer L. McLaughlin, John F. Mendoza, Patrick F. Coughlin, William J. O\u27Connor, Arthur L. Beaudette, Henry M. Shine, Jr., William M. Dickson, and William B. Wombacher

Recognizing and integrating wildlife as Elwha restoration agents

Ecosystem restoration involving large dam removal spans large spatial extents, long time scales, and diverse societal constituencies. Restoration success requires collaboration among partner organizations. Success also can be facilitated by integrating components and processes of the ecosystem itself in restoration planning and practice. We review early and future roles of wildlife in restoration of valleys flooded by Elwha dams, with implications for dam removals on other rivers. Detecting early wildlife responses depended on baseline inventories prior to dam removal, followed by monitoring during and after dam removal. Pre-removal studies revealed patterns of small and mid-sized mammal occupancy, bear movement, amphibian occupancy, and avian distributions and species composition. In the few years since dam removal, wildlife colonization of exposed reservoir beds has been rapid, dominated by early successional and mobile species. Wildlife also perform important restoration functions, and contribute to all nine attributes defining restored ecosystems. This early in Elwha restoration, conspicuous wildlife functions include native seed dispersal to restoration sites, herbivore effects on revegetation, and organic matter dispersal to nutrient-poor sediments. In future decades, diverse wildlife also will help restore terrestrial-aquatic connections by dispersing nutrients from increasing salmon runs to riparian and terrestrial areas. Each of these wildlife roles is influenced by spatial distributions of pre-dam structural legacies and structures placed during active restoration efforts, particularly large woody debris. By placing these structures in locations and configurations that support wildlife functions, restoration planning and practice more effectively integrate wildlife in restoration. Benefits include increasing the rate of restoration progress and directing it along more desirable trajectories. In this way, the collaborative interdisciplinary approach in Elwha restoration can be expanded in future restoration projects to encompass active collaboration with the ecosystem itself

Predicting VO2max in Collegiate American-Style Football Athletes

Introduction: Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is an important measurement for athletic performance. A common method of VO2max prediction is the Foster equation (MSSE, 1996). This equation produces accurate predictions in a normal population, however, significant difference has been noted between predicted and measured VO2max values when testing athletes. While other studies have produced new equations for athletes in general or even for soccer players, to our knowledge none have made one specifically for American-style football players. Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop an accurate VO2max prediction equation for collegiate American-style football athletes for testing on the treadmill with the standard Bruce protocol. Methods: Over 13 years, a total of 413 collegiate American football players (age: 18.5±1.15 yrs, height: 186.8±7.0 cm, weight 102.1±20.8 kg) were assessed for VO2max (Medical Graphics, Corp® Metabolic Cart) using the standard Bruce treadmill protocol. Linear regression analysis (JMP v. 12) determined which factor out of height, weight, or time spent on the test had a greater impact on VO2max. The linear regression analysis of the most significant factor against VO2max produced a prediction equation. Predicted VO2max was calculated using these data in both the Foster equation and this novel equation. Predicted values were compared to actual measured values with a t-test. α=0.05 for all statistical tests. Results: Of all the factors, time had the strongest relationship (p\u3c0.0001; r2=0.6464). The linear regression between VO2max and time produced a prediction equation: VO2max= -3.546 + 3.904(time in minutes). Both the Foster equation and this new equation were significantly and positively correlated with the actual VO2max values (Foster=0.805, New r=0.804). However, t-tests indicate that the Foster equation results were significantly different from the measured values (p=0.0007), and the new model’s results were not significantly different (p=1.0). Conclusion: The Foster equation is not a reliable predictor of VO2max as assessed on a treadmill in collegiate American-style football athletes. This new equation is more accurate to predict VO2max in this population

Survey of the Use of Massage for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Background: Conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are merging into the broader field of “integrative medicine.” Massage is no longer considered complementary or alternative in some conventional medical circles today. Purpose: We aimed to determine the prevalence of massage use among children with cerebral palsy (CP) in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, the reasons that massage is being used, and the limits of recruitment for a future randomized controlled trial. Methods: This study, the first step in a three-stage research plan, was conducted at the Neurodevelopmental and Neurology clinics at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a tertiary pediatric hospital that provides service to patients primarily from Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. As a feasibility study (stage one), it precedes a planned pilot study (stage two), and subsequently, a full-scale randomized controlled trial (stage three) of whether massage can improve the health of children with CP. The study subjects—104 families with a child with CP ranging in age from 17 months to 21 years—were surveyed by the principal investigator and a research assistant in exam rooms at the hospital. Results: In the families surveyed, 80% of the children had received massage at some point. Massage was currently being used in 51%, and trained professionals were providing the massage in 23%. Most families use massage for musculoskeletal relaxation, to improve quality of life, and to help their children sleep. Lower maternal income was associated with relatives as compared with professional massage therapists providing the massage. Massage therapy use by the mother and more severe CP were significantly associated with current use of massage for the child. Conclusions: Most children with CP in the Pacific Northwest have used massage. Most parents surveyed believe that massage is helpful to their child. Additional research is needed to determine whether massage should be routinely recommended for children with CP

The Relationships between Fitness Assessments, Fitness Levels and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Markers in Police Officers

Given the physical nature of a position in law enforcement, the assessment of cardiovascular (CV) health as well as muscular strength and endurance is paramount to ensuring the safety of these personnel and the citizens they serve. The present study retrospectively examined correlations between several markers of CV and muscular fitness for 65 local police officers (8 female, average age 35.6 ± 9.0 yrs, height 70.5 ± 2.8 in, weight 91.8 ± 18.7 kg, VO2 33.0 ± 5.3 mL/kg/min) taken from their annual screening including a graded exercise test (GXT; Bruce protocol), pushups completed in 1 minute, situps completed in 1 minute, handgrip strength, body composition (through DEXA and circumference measures) and bloodwork. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated using the Foster equation. Coronary heart disease risk (CHD risk) was calculated using the online NIH 10-year heart attack risk calculator, which uses age, gender, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, smoking status, and blood pressure status in its algorithm. Significance was determined using an alpha level of 0.05. Interestingly, there was no significant correlation between VO2max and CHD risk (p = 0.1851). Apart from risk markers included in the risk calculation, CHD risk was significantly correlated with waist-hip ratio (r = 0.24739), and LDL cholesterol (r = 0.39117). VO2max was significantly negatively correlated with fat mass (r = -0.51849), body fat percentage (%BF; r = -0.64297), total cholesterol (TC; r = -0.3371), and LDL cholesterol (r = -0.267). Positive correlations were found between VO2max and other measures of fitness such as pushups (r = 0.54274), situps (r = 0.3282), and handgrip strength (r = 0.32041). As for body composition measures, %BF was significantly positively correlated with TC (r = 0.30188), systolic blood pressure (r = 0.28795), LDL cholesterol (r = 0.26533), and fasting glucose (r = 0.26536), but negatively correlated with fitness markers such as pushups (r = -0.58599), situps (r = -0.43604), and handgrip strength (r = -0.32393). Lean mass was significantly correlated with handgrip strength (r = 0.71835), though not pushups, situps or VO2max. Waist circumference was significantly negatively correlated with HDL cholesterol (r = -0.39202). Additionally, 62 of the participants (7 female) completed both a 1.5 mile run and GXT, allowing for a comparison of a submaximal to a maximal fitness assessment of CV fitness. Time to complete 1.5 miles was significantly correlated to GXT VO2max, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.79593. Overall, relationships found between health markers, fitness, and CHD risk in this sample were in line with previous research on CHD risk factors and the assessment of CV and muscular fitness

Brain Parcellation Selection: An Overlooked Decision Point with Meaningful Effects on Individual Differences in Resting-State Functional Connectivity

Over the past decade extensive research has examined the segregation of the human brain into large-scale functional networks. The resulting network maps, i.e. parcellations, are now commonly used for the a priori identification of functional networks. However, the use of these parcellations, particularly in developmental and clinical samples, hinges on four fundamental assumptions: (1) the various parcellations are equally able to recover the networks of interest; (2) adult-derived parcellations well represent the networks in children\u27s brains; (3) network properties, such as within-network connectivity, are reliably measured across parcellations; and (4) parcellation selection does not impact the results with regard to individual differences in given network properties. In the present study we examined these assumptions using eight common parcellation schemes in two independent developmental samples. We found that the parcellations are equally able to capture networks of interest in both children and adults. However, networks bearing the same name across parcellations (e.g., default network) do not produce reliable within-network measures of functional connectivity. Critically, parcellation selection significantly impacted the magnitude of associations of functional connectivity with age, poverty, and cognitive ability, producing meaningful differences in interpretation of individual differences in functional connectivity based on parcellation choice. Our findings suggest that work employing parcellations may benefit from the use of multiple schemes to confirm the robustness and generalizability of results. Furthermore, researchers looking to gain insight into functional networks may benefit from employing more nuanced network identification approaches such as using densely-sampled data to produce individual-derived network parcellations. A transition towards precision neuroscience will provide new avenues in the characterization of functional brain organization across development and within clinical populations