Review paper on WPW and athletes: Let sleeping dogs lie?

Accessory pathways are present in 1 in 300 young individuals. They are often asymptomatic and potentially lethal arrhythmias may be the first presentation. During long-term follow-up, up to 20% of asymptomatic individuals with pre-excitation go on to develop an arrhythmia and the absence of traditional clinical and electrophysiological high-risk markers does not guarantee the "safe" nature of an accessory pathway. The widespread availability of permanent cure for the condition at low risk by catheter ablation, creates an incentive to screen for accessory pathways with a 12-lead ECG, particularly in individuals who are perceived to be at increased risk, such as athletes and high-risk professions. We review the existing literature on the assessment and management of accessory pathways (Wolff-Parkinson-White [WPW] syndrome) and discuss its implications for the young athletic population

Information Processing is not Affected by Multiple Concussions in College Age Students

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Mental Health is not Affected by Multiple Concussions in Young Adults

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RFD-SF and Time to Peak Force for Grip Strength is not affected in College Aged Students with Multiple Concussions

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Daily Sleep Quality is Associated with Daily Cognition in Late-Life

Background: Older adults often face sleep disturbance or cognitive decline that goes beyond the scope of normal aging. The present study examined the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported daytime attention in a community-dwelling sample of older men at the between-persons and within-persons levels of association. Methods: Thirty-eight participants (M age =75.36 years, SD age =7.51 years, range=66-90 years) completed a twice-daily sleep diary for one week. Sleep quality and attention were assessed using a single-item 0-10 rating scales from the morning diary (“How was the quality of your sleep last night?”) and from the evening diary (“How was your attention today?”). A two-level multilevel model was parameterized with days nested within individuals to examine whether nightly sleep quality predicts an individual’s daily attention rating. Results: A multilevel model predicting self-reported attention revealed (1) older individuals who reported better sleep quality reported having better daily attention [Beta=0.64, t(248.15)=10.12, p\u3c0.001] and (2) following a day of above-average sleep quality, older individuals experienced above-average attention [Beta=0.16, t(259.79)=2.75, p=.006]. Conclusion: Not only was overall sleep quality associated with self-reported attention, but a good night\u27s sleep was associated with better self-reported next-day attention. Results point to the potential importance of fluctuations in sleep quality for daytime functioning. Interventions aimed at improving nightly sleep consistency may be worth exploring as methods to improve daytime cognitive functioning in older adults. Support: This work was supported by the Sleep Research Society Foundation/Jazz Pharmaceuticals (001JP13, PI: Dzierzewski) and by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AG049955 (PI: Dzierzewski), and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health under award number K24HL143055 (PI: Martin). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Veterans Affairs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1089/thumbnail.jp

Universal point contact resistance between thin-film superconductors

A system comprising two superconducting thin films connected by a point contact is considered. The contact resistance is calculated as a function of temperature and film geometry, and is found to vanish rapidly with temperature, according to a universal, nearly activated form, becoming strictly zero only at zero temperature. At the lowest temperatures, the activation barrier is set primarily by the superfluid stiffness in the films, and displays only a weak (i.e., logarithmic) temperature dependence. The Josephson effect is thus destroyed, albeit only weakly, as a consequence of the power-law-correlated superconducting fluctuations present in the films below the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature. The behavior of the resistance is discussed, both in various limiting regimes and as it crosses over between these regimes. Details are presented of a minimal model of the films and the contact, and of the calculation of the resistance. A formulation in terms of quantum phase-slip events is employed, which is natural and effective in the limit of a good contact. However, it is also shown to be effective even when the contact is poor and is, indeed, indispensable, as the system always behaves as if it were in the good-contact limit at low enough temperature. A simple mechanical analogy is introduced to provide some heuristic understanding of the nearly-activated temperature dependence of the resistance. Prospects for experimental tests of the predicted behavior are discussed, and numerical estimates relevant to anticipated experimental settings are provided.Comment: 29 pages (single column format), 7 figure

Pastoralist Use of Reseeded Fields for Additional Resilience to Climate Variability through Alternate Livelihood Activities

Land degradation, climate variability, socio-economic changes and population increase are some of the factors that shrink grazing lands making forage availability less predictable and affecting the resilience of pastoralists communities. Reseeding as an intervention can rehabilitate degraded lands for profitable use through offering pastoralists alternative sources of livelihood and encourage livelihood diversification. This study evaluated two pastoral communities, the Tugen and the Njemps from Baringo County, Kenya, who have owned, managed and used reseeded fields to study the dynamics of reseeding land. A total of 193 pastoralist households were interviewed. These two pastoral communities used their fields for: dry season grazing, grass seed harvesting, cutting thatching grass, milking of mostly cattle, engaging in fattening programs, bailing of hay, and leasing of land. On average, each household engaged in two to three activities with a maximum of five activities combined. The most common activity was dry season grazing which is practiced by 82% of the respondents followed by grass seed harvesting. These activities can be performed in sequence but proper planning is required to ensure that the field remains sustainably productive and successful. Reseeding appears to have high potential for implementation in other dry land counties of Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa as an intervention that can improve resilience to climate variability as it provides additional grazing ground for the livestock

Oscillatory decay of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the decay of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate with negative effective interaction energy. With a decreasing atom number due to losses, the atom-atom interaction becomes less important and the system undergoes a transition from a bistable Josephson regime to the monostable Rabi regime, displaying oscillations in phase and number. We study the equations of motion and derive an analytical expression for the oscillation amplitude. A quantum trajectory simulation reveals that the classical description fails for low emission rates, as expected from analytical considerations. Observation of the proposed effect will provide evidence for negative effective interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figue

Effect of psychosocial factors on low back pain in industrial workers

Aim: To test the hypothesis that workplace psychosocial factors such as demand, control, support, job satisfaction and job appreciation can predict the future onset of disabling low back pain (LBP). Methods: The present study involved a prospective cohort of 4500 Iranian industrial workers. Data were gathered by means of a self-reported questionnaire about LBP, as well as working life exposure, lifestyle factors, social exposures, co-morbidity, life events and psychosomatic complaints in 2004. All new episodes of disabling LBP resulting in medically certified sick leave during the 1-year follow-up registered by occupational health clinic inside the factory. Results: The participation rate was good (85). A total of 744 subjects reported current LBP (point prevalence cases). A total of 52 (<2) new episodes of disabling LBP were observed during the 1-year follow-up (incident cases). Male employees reported higher demands, lower control and lower support than female employees. Employees with high demands, low control, job strain, low job satisfaction and low job appreciation showed increased odds ratios, and these results were statistically significant. Conclusions: Few prospective studies in this field have been published, but all of them are related to industrialized countries. This prospective study suggests the aetiological role of job strain for LBP. The findings of this study indicate a substantial potential for disease prevention and health promotion at the workplace. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved