The Lived Experience of an In-Season Concussion Amongst NCAA Division I Student-Athletes

International Journal of Exercise Science 7(1) : 62-74, 2014. The clinical presentation and recovery from a sports-related concussion has been well-documented in the sports medicine literature; however, the post-injury experience of the injured individual has been largely unexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine collegiate student-athletes’ lived experiences of an in-season concussion. Four NCAA Division I student-athletes who suffered an in-season concussion were interviewed utilizing an existential phenomenological approach to capture the lived experience of the injury. Five major themes developed from the participants’ experiences: 1) symptoms and emotional response to injury, 2) experiences of concussion testing, 3) fear of failing to meet teammate expectations, 4) support from friends and family, and 5) effect on school. These results provide documented evidence of multiple clinical concerns and anecdotal reports of student-athletes unwillingness to report concussion symptoms, potential dishonesty in reporting post-injury symptoms, negative effects on academic performance, challenges of concussion assessment, and the need to monitor student-athletes activity levels outside athletics. The results of this study can help sports medicine clinicians improve their understanding of the injured student-athlete’s perceptions following an in-season concussion

Comparison of Psychological Response between Concussion and Musculoskeletal Injury in Collegiate Athletes

The psychological response to musculoskeletal injuries has been well documented, however, research on the psychological response to concussion is limited. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) have recently been used to assess the psychological recovery of concussions. Although some studies indicate that psychological response is different for musculoskeletal injuries and concussion, there is currently not enough information to indicate this difference occurs at specific clinical milestones. The purpose of this study was to compare the psychological responses of student-athletes who have been diagnosed with a concussion to those of athletes diagnosed with musculoskeletal injuries with similar recovery duration. Fifteen collegiate athletes who sustained a musculoskeletal injury were recruited and matched with 15 previously collected concussion participants. The main outcome measures were the scores of POMS constructs: tension-anxiety, anger-hostility, fatigue-inertia, depression-dejection, vigor-activity, confusion-bewilderment, and total mood disturbance and STAI (state anxiety only). Two-way MANOVAs was run to determine the effects of group and time on POMS and STAI constructs. There were no significant interactions identified, but follow-up ANOVAs identified a main effect for time for most POMS subscales, with POMS scores improving over time in both groups. Analyses also revealed that tension-anxiety, vigor-activity and the STAI were not affected by time or group. The findings of this study, that both groups' psychological response to injury improves over time and at similar clinical milestones suggests reduction in sports and team related activities may play a substantial role in the psychological response to either concussion or musculoskeletal injury

Magnetic Field Generation and Particle Energization at Relativistic Shear Boundaries in Collisionless Electron-Positron Plasmas

Using 2.5-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations, we study the kinetic physics of relativistic shear flow boundary in collisionless electron-positron (e+e-) plasmas. We find efficient magnetic field generation and particle energization at the shear boundary, driven by streaming instabilities across the shear interface and sustained by the shear flow. Nonthermal, anisotropic high-energy particles are accelerated across field lines to produce a power-law tail, truncated at energies below the shear Lorentz factor. These results have important implications for the dissipation and radiation of jets in blazars, gamma-ray bursts and other relativistic outflows.Comment: 16 pages 5 figures. revised 1/28/2013. submitted to APJ

Artificial Intelligence and Antibody Genus Claims

Antibodies are the guard dogs of the human immune system. They travel through the bloodstream, sniffing out foreign invaders (antigens), binding to them, and preventing them from harming the body. Instead of having a nose, four legs, and a tail, antibodies are Y-shaped proteins comprised of amino acids that viciously protect their hosts. Think of the tips of the “Y” as mouths that can bite certain antigens and lock them in place, rendering them harmless. Antibodies have the ability to identify a plethora of antigens to bind to and neutralize; “[s]ome researchers have estimated that the theoretical number of different types of antibodies . . . is on par with the number of stars in the galaxy.

The Second Bite at the Apple Watch Through the United States Customs and Border Protection: A Further Whittling of Patent Rights Post-eBay

Underlying the patent system is a bargain between the general public and patent owners. In exchange for the limited-time right of the patentee to exclude others from making, using, or selling their patented invention or process, the public receives the benefit of both the disclosure of new and useful inventions and processes and the increased incentive to innovate. The Supreme Court’s eBay v. MercExchange decision, however, fundamentally changed this bargain by removing the presumption of injunctive relief for patent owners upon a finding of infringement in Article III courts. The Court replaced this presumption with a four-factor test, making it more difficult for patent owners to exclude infringers from their claimed invention or process. The eBay decision led many patent owners to the United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”), where the four-factor test did not apply

Boston University Medical Center: Perspectives on Health Policy

Report of a symposium held at the Boston University Medical Center

A Comparison of Instructor Professional Development Hours and Student Academic Achievement

The problem of this study was to determine if there is a significant positive correlation between Airman Leadership School (ALS) instructors who actively participated in a professional development program and the academic achievement of their trainees

Flow-induced dynamic surface tension effects at nanoscale

The aim of this study is to investigate flow-induced dynamic surface tension effects, similar to the well-known Marangoni phenomena, but solely generated by the nanoscale topography of the substrates. The flow-induced surface tension effects are examined on the basis of a sharp interface theory. It is demonstrated how nanoscale objects placed at the boundary of the flow domain result in the generation of substantial surface forces acting on the bulk flow

Infrastructural Speculations: Tactics for Designing and Interrogating Lifeworlds

This paper introduces “infrastructural speculations,” an orientation toward speculative design that considers the complex and long-lived relationships of technologies with broader systems, beyond moments of immediate invention and design. As modes of speculation are increasingly used to interrogate questions of broad societal concern, it is pertinent to develop an orientation that foregrounds the “lifeworld” of artifacts—the social, perceptual, and political environment in which they exist. While speculative designs often imply a lifeworld, infrastructural speculations place lifeworlds at the center of design concern, calling attention to the cultural, regulatory, environmental, and repair conditions that enable and surround particular future visions. By articulating connections and affinities between speculative design and infrastructure studies research, we contribute a set of design tactics for producing infrastructural speculations. These tactics help design researchers interrogate the complex and ongoing entanglements among technologies, institutions, practices, and systems of power when gauging the stakes of alternate lifeworlds