Indian Supercourse Network in Epidemiology - Development and Evaluation

There are many advantages to using locally produced health information, such as its cultural appropriateness, geographic specificity, and flexibility. The Indian Supercourse is an online repository of lectures in Epidemiology, written by authors in India, on topics of particular interest to teachers and students in India.The purpose of this dissertation is to describe the planning, development and evaluation of the Indian Supercourse Network. The Indian Supercourse Network has 6,000 faculty members in India, and more than 200 epidemiology lectures written by authors in India. Evaluation of the Indian Supercourse Network included an assessment of utilization of these educational materials in India using page views measured by web statistics analysis software. The main hypothesis compared page views from India, between the Indian Supercourse and the Main Supercourse. The results of the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test showed that there were significantly more page views from India to the Indian Supercourse as compared to the Main Supercourse (p < 0.0001). This means that users in India prefer to use the Indian Supercourse more than the Main Supercourse. This may be because information in the Indian Supercourse is more pertinent to the epidemiology education needs of users in India. In contrast, there were significantly more page views from non-Indian countries to the Main Supercourse as compared to the Indian Supercourse (p < 0.0001). Interestingly, there was no significant difference (p = 0.0642) in total page views from all countries considered together, between the Indian Supercourse and the Main Supercourse.Public Health Significance - In India, there is a lack of an adequate system for formal epidemiology education. The Indian Supercourse has made epidemiology education available to everyone interested in learning epidemiology in India. The results of this study have shown that the Indian Supercourse is being utilized by people in India. Information contained on the Indian Supercourse website can eventually be disseminated across the digital divide via low-bandwidth methods and the postal system in India

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSCULOSKELETAL STRENGTH, PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND KNEE KINESTHESIA FOLLOWING FATIGUING EXERCISE

Fatiguing exercise may result in impaired functional joint stability and increased risk of unintentional injury. While there are several musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics related to fatigue onset, their relationship with proprioceptive changes following fatigue has not been examined. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics and changes in proprioception, measured by threshold to detect passive motion (TTDPM), following fatiguing exercise. Twenty, physically active females participated (age: 28.65 ± 5.6 years, height: 165.6 ± 4.3 cm, weight: 61.8 ± 8.0 kg, BMI: 22.5± 2.3 kg/m2, BF: 23.3 ± 5.4%). During Visit 1, subjects completed an exercise history and 24-hour dietary questionnaire, and body composition, TTDPM familiarization, isokinetic knee strength, and maximal oxygen uptake/lactate threshold assessments. During Visit 2, subjects completed TTDPM and isometric knee strength testing prior to and following a fatiguing exercise protocol. Wilcoxon signed rank tests determined TTDPM and isometric knee strength changes from pre- to post- fatigue. Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients determined the relationship between strength and physiological variables with pre- to post-fatigue changes in TTDPM and with pre-fatigue and post-fatigue TTDPM in extension and flexion (α=0.05). No significant differences were demonstrated from pre-fatigue to post-fatigue TTDPM despite a significant decrease in isometric knee flexion strength (P<0.01) and flexion/extension ratio (P<0.05) following fatigue. No significant correlations were observed between strength or physiological variables and changes in TTDPM from pre- to post-fatigue in extension or flexion. Flexion/extension ratio was significantly correlated with pre-fatigue TTDPM in extension (r=-0.231, P<0.05). Peak oxygen uptake was significantly correlated with pre-fatigue (r=-0.500, P<0.01) and post-fatigue (r=-0.520, P<0.05) TTDPM in extension. No significant relationships were demonstrated between musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics and changes in TTDPM following fatigue. The results suggest that highly trained individuals may have better proprioception, and that the high fitness level of subjects in this investigation may have contributed to absence of TTDPM deficits following fatigue despite reaching a high level of perceptual and physiological fatigue. Future studies should consider various subject populations, other musculoskeletal strength characteristics, and different modalities of proprioception to determine the most important contributions to proprioceptive changes following fatigue

Differences in Male and Female Scapular Strength and the Relationship to Sprint Swimming Performance

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Accuracy of recall of musculoskeletal injuries in elite military personnel: a cross-sectional study

Background Self-reported data are often used in research studies among military populations. Objective The accuracy of self-reported musculoskeletal injury data among elite military personnel was assessed for issues with recall. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Applied research laboratory at a military installation. Participants A total of 101 subjects participated (age 28.5±5.6 years). Study participants were active duty military personnel, with no conditions that precluded them from full duty. Primary and secondary outcome measures Self-reported and medical record reviewed injuries that occurred during a 1-year period were matched by anatomic location, injury side (for extremity injuries), and injury year and type. The accuracy of recall was estimated as the per cent of medical record reviewed injuries correctly recalled in the self-report. The effect of injury anatomic location, injury type and severity and time since injury, on recall, was also assessed. Injuries were classified as recent (≤4 years since injury) or old injuries (\u3e4 years since injury). Recall proportions were compared using Fisher’s exact tests. Results A total of 374 injuries were extracted from the subjects’ medical records. Recall was generally low (12.0%) and was not different between recent and old injuries (P=0.206). Injury location did not affect recall (P=0.418). Recall was higher for traumatic fractures as compared with less severe non-fracture injuries (P values 0.001 to \u3c0.001). Recall for non-fracture injuries was higher for recent as compared with old injuries (P=0.033). This effect of time since injury on recall was not observed for fractures (P=0.522). Conclusions The results of this study highlight the importance of weighing the advantages and disadvantages of self-reported injury data before their use in research studies in military populations and the need for future research to identify modifiable factors that influence recall

Does Fatiguing Exercise Influence Performance on an Affordance-Based Action Boundary Task?

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Effect of Increasing Military-Related Load Carriage Magnitude on Dynamic Postural Stability in Men and Women

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Comparison and Correlation of Dynamic Postural Stability Indices Obtained during Different Dynamic Landing Tasks and Footwear Conditions

Objectives: To compare the dynamic postural stability indices (DPSI) from two different landing protocols with normalized jump distance (NDP) and jump height (RWDP) and footwear conditions (barefoot and shod).Design: Cross-sectional.Setting: Research laboratory.Participants: Twenty-five physically active adults (13 males/12 females, age: 22.1±4.2yrs, height: 178.3±11.1cm, weight: 75.6±19.4kg).Main Outcome Measures: Subjects jumped off two feet and landed with their preferred foot on a force-plate. From the ground reaction forces, the DPSI scores in the anterior-posterior, medial-lateral, and vertical directions, and the cumulative scores (DPSI) were calculated under two protocols and footwear conditions. Based on normality of data distribution, paired t-tests/Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Pearson/Spearman correlation coefficients were used to compare, and measure the relationship between the two protocols under two footwear conditions (p&lt;0.05).Results: There were mixed results for DPSI scores when comparing the two protocols. There were significant differences (p=0.001–0.039) and positive correlations (r=0.660–0.870, p&lt;0.001) on the DPSI scores between footwear conditions during the NDP protocol while the RWDP showed no significant differences.Conclusions: Different protocols and footwear conditions may impact DPSI scores. Therefore, a standardized protocol and footwear condition should be established for future studies examining dynamic postural stability

The Effects of Loaded Fatigue on Loaded Postural Stability

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An Analysis of Musculoskeletal Variables, Comparative to Team Norms, Leading to an ACL Rupture

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