Practice of and Barriers to Prevention by Secondary School Athletic Trainers

Purpose: Prevention is a key aspect of care from athletic trainers. There is limited research on the practice strategies employed to prevent injury by secondary school athletic trainers (SSATs). The purpose of this study was to describe the prevention practice strategies and barriers faced by secondary school athletic trainers. Methods: Athletic trainers (n=3010) were recruited from secondary schools through e-mails provided by the national professional organization database. Secondary school athletic trainers were surveyed on their self-reported prevention practices and barriers using a web-based survey platform. Respondents were 28±3 years, predominantly female (n=260/359, 72.4%), with about 5 years (±2yrs) of clinical experience. The survey contained prevention strategies items with tasks from Domain 1 of the Board of Certification Role Delineation Study (6th ed.) that relates to athletic training clinical practice. Barrier items were developed from previous literature about implementing evidence-based practice strategies. Partial data (completion rate=359/473, 75.9%) was used for the analyses. Data were analyzed by using frequencies, medians with percentiles, means, and standard deviations. Results: The least frequently practiced environmental illness monitoring techniques and addressing patient-specific nutritional needs were identified. In contrast, secondary school athletic trainers most frequently practiced compliance for both equipment maintenance and maintaining a clean facility. The most common ‘always practiced’ skills align with Task 102, 103, and 104 in Domain 1 of the Board of Certification Role Delineation Study. These include pre-participation and screening, personal protective equipment, and maintaining treatment and rehabilitation areas through regulatory standards. A lack of time, workload, player compliance, available space, and coach support were the most commonly cited barriers to prevention practice. Conclusions: Overall, secondary school athletic trainers engaged in prevention strategies frequently, yet external factors were barriers to implementation. The consistent and continual practice of prevention skills are essential to risk mitigation. As a result, always practicing the skill is essential and should not be completed as an occasional duty of the athletic training. As many prevention strategies are required for all patient encounters, the frequency of task performance must improve for clinical practice

Effect of a Mobile Phone Intervention on Quitting Smoking in a Young Adult Population of Smokers: Randomized Controlled Trial

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Background: Digital mobile technology presents a promising medium for reaching young adults with smoking cessation interventions because they are the heaviest users of this technology. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of an evidence-informed smartphone app for smoking cessation, Crush the Crave (CTC), on reducing smoking prevalence among young adult smokers in comparison with an evidence-informed self-help guide, On the Road to Quitting (OnRQ). Methods: A parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled trial with 2 arms was conducted in Canada to evaluate CTC. In total, 1599 young adult smokers (aged 19 to 29 years) intending to quit smoking in the next 30 days were recruited online and randomized to receive CTC or the control condition OnRQ for a period of 6 months. The primary outcome measure was self-reported continuous abstinence at the 6-month follow-up. Results: Overall follow-up rates were 57.41% (918/1599) and 60.48% (967/1599) at 3 and 6 months, respectively. Moreover, 45.34% (725/1599) of participants completed baseline, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat analysis (last observation carried forward) showed that continuous abstinence (N=1599) at 6 months was not significantly different at 7.8% (64/820) for CTC versus 9.2% (72/779) for OnRQ (odds ratio; OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.59-1.18). Similarly, 30-day point prevalence abstinence at 6 months was not significantly different at 14.4% (118/820) and 16.9% (132/779) for CTC and OnRQ, respectively (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.63-1.08). However, these rates of abstinence were favorable compared with unassisted 30-day quit rates of 11.5% among young adults. Secondary measures of quit attempts and the number of cigarettes smoked per day at 6-month follow-up did not reveal any significant differences between groups. For those who completed the 6-month follow-up, 85.1% (359/422) of young adult smokers downloaded CTC as compared with 81.8% (346/423) of OnRQ, χ21(N=845)=1.6, P=.23. Furthermore, OnRQ participants reported significantly higher levels of overall satisfaction (mean 3.3 [SD 1.1] vs mean 2.6 [SD 1.3]; t644=6.87, P<.001), perceived helpfulness (mean 5.8 [SD 2.4] vs mean 4.3 [SD 2.6], t657=8.0, P<.001), and frequency of use (mean 3.6 [SD 1.2] vs mean 3.2 [SD 1.1], t683=5.7, P<.001) compared with CTC participants. Conclusions: CTC was feasible for delivering cessation support but was not superior to a self-help guide in helping motivated young adults to quit smoking. CTC will benefit from further formative research to address satisfaction and usage. As smartphone apps may not serve as useful alternatives to printed self-help guides, there is a need to conduct further research to understand how digital mobile technology smoking cessation interventions for smoking cessation can be improved. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01983150; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01983150 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6VGyc0W0i)This work was supported by a grant from Health Canada, Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (Agreement #: 6549-15-2011/8300125) and a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant #: MOP-130303). NBB received salary support from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (Grant #: 2011-701019 & Grant# 2017-704507)

Evolution of genes and repeats in the Nimrod superfamily

The recently identified Nimrod superfamily is characterized by the presence of a special type of EGF repeat, the NIM repeat, located right after a typical CCXGY/W amino acid motif. On the basis of structural features, nimrod genes can be divided into three types. The proteins encoded by Draper-type genes have an EMI domain at the N-terminal part and only one copy of the NIM motif, followed by a variable number of EGF-like repeats. The products of Nimrod B-type and Nimrod C-type genes (including the eater gene) have different kinds of N-terminal domains, and lack EGF-like repeats but contain a variable number of NIM repeats. Draper and Nimrod C-type (but not Nimrod B-type) proteins carry a transmembrane domain. Several members of the superfamily were claimed to function as receptors in phagocytosis and/or binding of bacteria, which indicates an important role in the cellular immunity and the elimination of apoptotic cells. In this paper, the evolution of the Nimrod superfamily is studied with various methods on the level of genes and repeats. A hypothesis is presented in which the NIM repeat, along with the EMI domain, emerged by structural reorganizations at the end of an EGF-like repeat chain, suggesting a mechanism for the formation of novel types of repeats. The analyses revealed diverse evolutionary patterns in the sequences containing multiple NIM repeats. Although in the Nimrod B and Nimrod C proteins show characteristics of independent evolution, many internal NIM repeats in Eater sequences seem to have undergone concerted evolution. An analysis of the nimrod genes has been performed using phylogenetic and other methods and an evolutionary scenario of the origin and diversification of the Nimrod superfamily is proposed. Our study presents an intriguing example how the evolution of multigene families may contribute to the complexity of the innate immune response

Proinsulin and heat shock protein 90 as biomarkers of beta-cell stress in the early period after onset of type 1 diabetes

Rapid evaluation of therapies designed to preserve β cells in persons with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is hampered by limited availability of sensitive β-cell health biomarkers. In particular, biomarkers elucidating the presence and degree of β-cell stress are needed. We characterized β-cell secretory activity and stress in 29 new-onset T1D subjects (10.6 ± 3.0 years, 55% male) at diagnosis and then 8.2 ± 1.2 weeks later at first clinic follow-up. We did comparisons with 16 matched healthy controls. We evaluated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), β-cell function (random C-peptide [C] and proinsulin [PI]), β-cell stress (PI:C ratio), and the β-cell stress marker heat shock protein (HSP)90 and examined these parameters' relationships with clinical and laboratory characteristics at diagnosis. Mean diagnosis HbA1c was 11.3% (100 mmol/mol) and 7.6% (60 mmol/mol) at follow-up. C-peptide was low at diagnosis (P < 0.001 vs controls) and increased at follow-up (P < 0.001) to comparable with controls. PI did not differ from controls at diagnosis but increased at follow-up (P = 0.003) signifying increased release of PI alongside improved insulin secretion. PI:C ratios and HSP90 concentrations were elevated at both time points. Younger subjects had lower C-peptide and greater PI, PI:C, and HSP90. We also examined islets isolated from prediabetic nonobese diabetic mice and found that HSP90 levels were increased ∼4-fold compared with those in islets isolated from matched CD1 controls, further substantiating HSP90 as a marker of β-cell stress in T1D. Our data indicate that β-cell stress can be assessed using PI:C and HSP90. This stress persists after T1D diagnosis. Therapeutic approaches to reduce β-cell stress in new-onset T1D should be considered

Disturbance and Predictability of Flowering Patterns in Bird-Pollinated Cloud Forest Plants

The distribution and flowering patterns of hummingbird—pollinated plants were compared from July 1981 to June 1983 in three patch types in cloud forest at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Study plots were: (1) four recent, large (1100—2500 m2) disturbances ("cutovers") produced by cutting vegetation, (2) six recent, smaller (200—600 m2) disturbances caused by treefalls, and (3) four plots (1600—1800 m2) of canopied forest. Based on published literature dealing with communities that characterize different regimes of disturbance, we tested one assumption and two hypotheses. Assumption: Plant species composition differs among the three patch types. Hypothesis 1: Phenotypic specialization by plants for co—evolved interactions with hummingbirds will be lowest in large gaps, highest in forest, and intermediate in treefalls. Hypothesis 2: Predictability of flowering phenologies and nectar production will be lowest in large gaps, highest in forest, intermediate in treefalls. Neither the assumption nor the hypotheses were supported by the results. The patch mosaic in this cloud forest was not associated with major differences in species composition of bird—pollinated plants. Most species studied were self—compatible. Most abundant in cutovers were species with long corollas, relatively specialized for attracting long—billed hummingbirds. Species with short corollas, which can be visited by many hummingbird species and some insects, were most abundant in treefalls and forest. Variation in phenological patterns showed no consistent trends among patch types. Predictability of flower and nectar production tended to be greatest in treefalls, which are foci of concentrated flowering activity by all species. Discrepancies between our results and previous studies can be ascribed to two facts. (1) Much of the literature dealing with ecological consequences of disturbance has dealt with large—scale anthropogenic disturbances such as old fields of the eastern USA, whereas we studied small, natural, or quasi—natural disturbances. (2) Studies of forest disturbance have focused on the tree layer, whereas we studied the understory herbs, shrubs, and epiphytes. Natural disturbance usually involves death and replacement of one or more trees, whereas individuals of other life forms may persist through the disturbance

Turnip mosaic potyvirus probably first spread to Eurasian brassica crops from wild orchids about 1000 years ago

Turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV) is probably the most widespread and damaging virus that infects cultivated brassicas worldwide. Previous work has indicated that the virus originated in western Eurasia, with all of its closest relatives being viruses of monocotyledonous plants. Here we report that we have identified a sister lineage of TuMV-like potyviruses (TuMV-OM) from European orchids. The isolates of TuMV-OM form a monophyletic sister lineage to the brassica-infecting TuMVs (TuMV-BIs), and are nested within a clade of monocotyledon-infecting viruses. Extensive host-range tests showed that all of the TuMV-OMs are biologically similar to, but distinct from, TuMV-BIs and do not readily infect brassicas. We conclude that it is more likely that TuMV evolved from a TuMV-OM-like ancestor than the reverse. We did Bayesian coalescent analyses using a combination of novel and published sequence data from four TuMV genes [helper component-proteinase protein (HC-Pro), protein 3(P3), nuclear inclusion b protein (NIb), and coat protein (CP)]. Three genes (HC-Pro, P3, and NIb), but not the CP gene, gave results indicating that the TuMV-BI viruses diverged from TuMV-OMs around 1000 years ago. Only 150 years later, the four lineages of the present global population of TuMV-BIs diverged from one another. These dates are congruent with historical records of the spread of agriculture in Western Europe. From about 1200 years ago, there was a warming of the climate, and agriculture and the human population of the region greatly increased. Farming replaced woodlands, fostering viruses and aphid vectors that could invade the crops, which included several brassica cultivars and weeds. Later, starting 500 years ago, inter-continental maritime trade probably spread the TuMV-BIs to the remainder of the world

DNA barcoding reveals the coral “laboratory-rat”, Stylophora pistillata encompasses multiple identities

Stylophora pistillata is a widely used coral “lab-rat” species with highly variable morphology and a broad biogeographic range (Red Sea to western central Pacific). Here we show, by analysing Cytochorme Oxidase I sequences, from 241 samples across this range, that this taxon in fact comprises four deeply divergent clades corresponding to the Pacific-Western Australia, Chagos-Madagascar-South Africa, Gulf of Aden-Zanzibar-Madagascar, and Red Sea-Persian/Arabian Gulf-Kenya. On the basis of the fossil record of Stylophora, these four clades diverged from one another 51.5-29.6 Mya, i.e., long before the closure of the Tethyan connection between the tropical Indo-West Pacific and Atlantic in the early Miocene (16–24 Mya) and should be recognised as four distinct species. These findings have implications for comparative ecological and/or physiological studies carried out using Stylophora pistillata as a model species, and highlight the fact that phenotypic plasticity, thought to be common in scleractinian corals, can mask significant genetic variation

Evolutionary Toggling of Vpx/Vpr Specificity Results in Divergent Recognition of the Restriction Factor SAMHD1

SAMHD1 is a host restriction factor that blocks the ability of lentiviruses such as HIV-1 to undergo reverse transcription in myeloid cells and resting T-cells. This restriction is alleviated by expression of the lentiviral accessory proteins Vpx and Vpr (Vpx/Vpr), which target SAMHD1 for proteasome-mediated degradation. However, the precise determinants within SAMHD1 for recognition by Vpx/Vpr remain unclear. Here we show that evolution of Vpx/Vpr in primate lentiviruses has caused the interface between SAMHD1 and Vpx/Vpr to alter during primate lentiviral evolution. Using multiple HIV-2 and SIV Vpx proteins, we show that Vpx from the HIV-2 and SIVmac lineage, but not Vpx from the SIVmnd2 and SIVrcm lineage, require the C-terminus of SAMHD1 for interaction, ubiquitylation, and degradation. On the other hand, the N-terminus of SAMHD1 governs interactions with Vpx from SIVmnd2 and SIVrcm, but has little effect on Vpx from HIV-2 and SIVmac. Furthermore, we show here that this difference in SAMHD1 recognition is evolutionarily dynamic, with the importance of the N- and C-terminus for interaction of SAMHD1 with Vpx and Vpr toggling during lentiviral evolution. We present a model to explain how the head-to-tail conformation of SAMHD1 proteins favors toggling of the interaction sites by Vpx/Vpr during this virus-host arms race. Such drastic functional divergence within a lentiviral protein highlights a novel plasticity in the evolutionary dynamics of viral antagonists for restriction factors during lentiviral adaptation to its hosts. © 2013 Fregoso et al

Wandering behaviour prevents inter and intra oceanic speciation in a coastal pelagic fish

Small pelagic fishes have the ability to disperse over long distances and may present complex evolutionary histories. Here, Old World Anchovies (OWA) were used as a model system to understand genetic patterns and connectivity of fish between the Atlantic and Pacific basins. We surveyed 16 locations worldwide using mtDNA and 8 microsatellite loci for genetic parameters, and mtDNA (cyt b; 16S) and nuclear (RAG1; RAG2) regions for dating major lineage-splitting events within Engraulidae family. The OWA genetic divergences (0-0.4%) are compatible with intra-specific divergence, showing evidence of both ancient and contemporary admixture between the Pacific and Atlantic populations, enhanced by high asymmetrical migration from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The estimated divergence between Atlantic and Pacific anchovies (0.67 [0.53-0.80] Ma) matches a severe drop of sea temperature during the Gunz glacial stage of the Pleistocene. Our results support an alternative evolutionary scenario for the OWA, suggesting a coastal migration along south Asia, Middle East and eastern Africa continental platforms, followed by the colonization of the Atlantic via the Cape of the Good Hope.Portuguese Foundation for Science & Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BD/36600/2007]; FCT [UID/MAR/04292/2013, SFRH/BPD/65830/2009]; FCT strategic plan [UID/Multi/04326/2013]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio