Exercise and progressive supranuclear palsy : the need for explicit exercise reporting

Background Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is the most frequent form of atypical Parkinsonism. Although there is preliminary evidence for the benefits of gait rehabilitation, balance training and oculomotor exercises in PSP, the quality of reporting of exercise therapies appears mixed. The current investigation aims to evaluate the comprehensiveness of reporting of exercise and physical activity interventions in the PSP literature. Methods Two independent reviewers used the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) to extract all exercise intervention data from 11 studies included in a systematic review. CERT items covered: ‘what’ (materials), ‘who’ (instructor qualifications), ‘how’ (delivery), ‘where’ (location), ‘when’, ‘how much’ (dosage), ‘tailoring’ (what, how), and ‘how well’ (fidelity) exercise delivery complied with the protocol. Each exercise item was scored ‘1’ (adequately reported) or ‘0’ (not adequately reported or unclear). The CERT score was calculated, as well as the percentage of studies that reported each CERT item. Results The CERT scores ranged from 3 to 12 out of 19. No PSP studies adequately described exercise elements that would allow exact replication of the interventions. Well-described items included exercise equipment, exercise settings, exercise therapy scheduling, frequency and duration. Poorly described items included decision rules for exercise progression, instructor qualifications, exercise adherence, motivation strategies, safety and adverse events associated with exercise therapies. Discussion The results revealed variability in the reporting of physical therapies for people living with PSP. Future exercise trials need to more comprehensively describe equipment, instructor qualifications, exercise and physical activity type, dosage, setting, individual tailoring of exercises, supervision, adherence, motivation strategies, progression decisions, safety and adverse events. Conclusion Although beneficial for people living with PSP, exercise and physical therapy interventions have been inadequately reported. It is recommended that evidence-based reporting templates be utilised to comprehensively document therapeutic exercise design, delivery and evaluation

Quantifying Ecosystem Functions of Shellfish Habitats within the South-East England

Decline in Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis) populations since the 1960s by 90% globally has resulted in momentum to restore this species to coastal areas. One justification for Native Flat Oyster restoration is ecosystem function and services shellfish can provide, but restoration of this species is questioned as Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) populations continue to rise on UK coastlines (Beck et al., 2011). The Crassostrea species has been the primary focus of oyster-based studies, as a result ecosystem function data are heavily assumed for O. edulis with no evidence to support the possibility for species differentiation. Mesocosm and field experiments were conducted to quantify these ecosystem functions. Mesocosms involved a comparison between live oyster with a shell layer, live oyster alone, and bare sediment in relation to nutrient (nitrogen) cycling for C. gigas only. Mesocosm results for microbial communities inconclusive but did however show a significant change in N compounds within sediments, based on presence of oyster communities dependent on day. In-situ field experiments compared species C.gigas vs O.edulis and density of oysters in 10x10m2 plots (living oyster to dead shell ratio = 1:4 - densities of living oyster 1, 5, 10, 15 per m2). Field experiments showed high variation in sediment-stored inorganic carbon content for both species at all densities with overall no significant difference. Biodiversity measured as animal abundance showed insignificant difference based on density and based on base oyster species, but showed variation in abundance as C. gigas displays overall higher abundance with O. edulis having higher richness. C. gigas show trend of higher functionality than O. edulis in higher densities potentially due to size and site placement, but data inconclusive

Wall turbulence control

A variety of wall turbulence control devices which were experimentally investigated are discussed; these include devices for burst control, alteration of outer flow structures, large eddy substitution, increased heat transfer efficiency, and reduction of wall pressure fluctuations. Control of pre-burst flow was demonstrated with a single, traveling surface depression which is phase-locked to elements of the burst production process. Another approach to wall turbulence control is to interfere with the outer layer coherent structures. A device in the outer part of a boundary layer was shown to suppress turbulence and reduce drag by opposing both the mean and unsteady vorticity in the boundary layer. Large eddy substitution is a method in which streamline curvature is introduced into the boundary layer in the form of streamwise vortices. Riblets, which were already shown to reduce turbulent drag, were also shown to exhibit superior heat transfer characteristics. Heat transfer efficiency as measured by the Reynolds Analogy Factor was shown to be as much as 36 percent greater than a smooth flat plate in a turbulent boundary layer. Large Eddy Break-Up (LEBU) which are also known to reduce turbulent drag were shown to reduce turbulent wall pressure fluctuation

Career Orientations of New York State Assistant Superintendents for Instruction: A Quantitative Study

This research study is an examination of the career orientations of assistant superintendents for instruction in New York State public school districts, excluding those in New York City. Career orientations represent an individual’s self-perceived talents, needs and values and address the question of what drives and gives direction to a career over the long term (Schein, 1996). While ASI’s are the district leaders primarily responsible for system-wide achievement of The No Child Behind Act (2001) accountability targets, less than a handful of research studies have focused on these crucial leaders. The purpose of the proposed study was to identify the career orientations of ASI’s and examine the relationships between and among the orientations and other variables including personal demographic and professional profile characteristics. Using a quantitative research design, a single-stage sample of 364 public school district ASI’s in New York State was surveyed. The findings suggest that over half of the NYS ASI’s are relatively new to their role and hold service to a cause, general managerial competence, geographic and job security dominant orientations. The service to a cause orientation ranked highest suggesting ASI’s perceive making a difference in the lives of students as a central value directing their career. Career plans and district types affected ASI’s career orientations. The need for additional research studies exploring the relationship of career orientations to role functions was identified. Creating a professional organization aimed at supporting and enhancing ASI’s would uphold the importance of the role and influence excellence in education for all students

Advance Care Planning Within Individualized Care Plans: A Component of Emergency Preparedness

Federally-legislated Medicaid requirements for recipients with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) to have a person-centered plan (PCP) do not specifically require that advanced care plans (ACP) be a component of the plan. However, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has provided a salient reminder of the importance of incorporating ACP within the PCP for people who have IDD. As demonstrated by situations arising from COVID-19, emergencies and crises can dramatically alter access to care for people with IDD. This paper synthesizes results from an environmental scan related to ACP for adults with IDD. Findings suggest that the use of ACP, particularly when such planning processes result in the delineation of roles and documentation of preferences, can be helpful in mitigating the impact of these crisis situations on the person with IDD and their caregivers

Pupil-linked Phasic Arousal Predicts a Reduction of Choice Bias Across Species and Decision Domains

Decisions are often made by accumulating ambiguous evidence over time. The brain's arousal systems are activated during such decisions. In previous work in humans, we found that evoked responses of arousal systems during decisions are reported by rapid dilations of the pupil and track a suppression of biases in the accumulation of decision-relevant evidence (de Gee et al., 2017). Here, we show that this arousal-related suppression in decision bias acts on both conservative and liberal biases, and generalizes from humans to mice, and from perceptual to memory-based decisions. In challenging sound-detection tasks, the impact of spontaneous or experimentally induced choice biases was reduced under high phasic arousal. Similar bias suppression occurred when evidence was drawn from memory. All of these behavioral effects were explained by reduced evidence accumulation biases. Our results point to a general principle of interplay between phasic arousal and decision-making