The Coach Expectancy Cycle and the Impact of a Coaching Education Intervention in Youth Soccer

The coach expectancy cycle is a four-stage model that explains coaches’ feedback behaviors (Horn, Lox, and Labrador, 1998). In the first stage coaches make judgments based off of previous sport experience and knowledge. In the second stage, these judgments influence coaches’ behaviors. Solomon (2008, 2012) has shown that coaches provide more instruction, praise, and corrective instruction to athletes they perceive to be higher expectancy. In the third stage, the unequal behaviors coaches exhibit affect athlete performance and satisfaction in sport. Research has shown that athletes perceptions of poor coaching behavior positively correlates with drop out (Gearity & Murray, 2011; Hollembeak & Amorose, 2005) In the fourth stage, athlete performance reinforces coaches’ initial expectations, thereby creating a continuous cycle. Although this cycle’s occurrence has been confirmed in high school and collegiate sport, the youth sport setting has seen minimal research (Solomon, 1998). The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, to confirm the presence of the second stage of the coach expectancy cycle in a competitive youth sport context. Specifically, to investigate if competitive soccer coaches provide higher instances of instruction, correction, and praise to high expectancy athletes when compared to their low expectancy peers. Second, to provide a coach education intervention aimed at decreasing the disparity of behaviors between high and low expectancy athletes in a treatment group. A strategic sample (N=8) of competitive youth soccer coaches was selected to participate in six weeks of behavioral observation. The first three weeks of data were analyzed using three Mann-Whitney U rank order tests to confirm coaches provide higher feedback to youth athletes they perceive to be high expectancy. A treatment group of coaches received an intervention to reduce the disparity in behavior. Post-intervention, three repeated measures ANOVA’s tested the effects of the intervention. Mann Whitney U tests revealed coaches provided significantly more of all three behaviors to high expectancy athletes. Although the RM-ANOVRA’s did not yield significant results, large effect sizes suggest that with a larger sample a behavioral intervention could statistically reduce the disparity of behaviors seen between high and low expectancy athletes

Serum Total Thyroxine Evaluation in Critically Ill Feline Patients

This retrospective case control study compared serum total thyroxine (tT4) concentrations in hospitalized critical cats (CCs) and non-hospitalized cats with non-thyroidal chronic diseases (chronic group, CG) and evaluated the relationship between the serum tT4 concentration of CCs and systemic inflammation (systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)), disease severity (Acute Patient Physiologic and Laboratory Evaluation (APPLEfast)), and prognosis. Cats with previously suspected or diagnosed thyroid disease were excluded. Serum tT4 was evaluated in surplus serum samples at the time of admission for CCs and CGs. The APPLEfast score of the CC group was calculated at admission. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in CCs was determined using proposed criteria. Cats were divided into survivors and non-survivors according to the discharge outcome. Forty-nine cats were retrospectively included. Twenty-seven cats died during hospitalization. The CG group was composed of 37 cats. The CC group showed a significantly lower tT4 compared to the CG group (1.3 ± 0.7 vs. 2 ± 0.9; p < 0.0001). Among SIRS, APPLEfast, and tT4, only tT4 was associated with mortality (p = 0.04). The tT4 cut-off point for mortality was 1.65 mug/dL (sensitivity 81%, specificity 57%, odds ratio (OR) 5.6). Twenty-five cats (51%) had SIRS that was not associated with tT4. Non-thyroidal illness syndrome can occur in critically ill cats and the evaluation of tT4 in hospitalized cats could add prognostic information

An Exploration of Esports Consumer Consumption Patterns, Fandom, and Motives

Esports, or competitive gaming, has become a large market in the entertainment industry, with a total market value approaching $1 billion USD in 2019. An understanding of esports consumers has become increasingly important as the industry continues to grow and evolve. Using a sample of 374 university students at a large public university, this study examines the motivations and fandom of esports consumers using a modified version of the Sport Fandom Questionnaire (SFQ) and the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC). Survey respondents were asked about their consumption of esports in relation to viewership, event attendance, social media usage, and spending. Three stepwise regression analyses were employed to examine the predictive capabilities of esports fandom and esports motivations on esports consumption variables. The results reveal a wide variety of relationships between esports fandom, motivation for consumption, and consumption behaviors

Dupilumab in the treatment of severe uncontrolled chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP): A multicentric observational Phase IV real-life study (DUPIREAL)

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is associated with significant morbidity and reduced health-related quality of life. Findings from clinical trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of dupilumab in CRSwNP, although real-world evidence is still limited. Methods This Phase IV real-life, observational, multicenter study assessed the effectiveness and safety of dupilumab in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP (n = 648) over the first year of treatment. We collected data at baseline and after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of follow-up. We focused on nasal polyps score (NPS), symptoms, and olfactory function. We stratified outcomes by comorbidities, previous surgery, and adherence to intranasal corticosteroids, and examined the success rates based on current guidelines, as well as potential predictors of response at each timepoint. Results We observed a significant decrease in NPS from a median value of 6 (IQR 5–6) at baseline to 1.0 (IQR 0.0–2.0) at 12 months (p < .001), and a significant decrease in Sino-Nasal Outcomes Test-22 (SNOT-22) from a median score of 58 (IQR 49–70) at baseline to 11 (IQR 6–21; p < .001) at 12 months. Sniffin' Sticks scores showed a significant increase over 12 months (p < .001) compared to baseline. The results were unaffected by concomitant diseases, number of previous surgeries, and adherence to topical steroids, except for minor differences in rapidity of action. An excellent-moderate response was observed in 96.9% of patients at 12 months based on EPOS 2020 criteria. Conclusions Our findings from this large-scale real-life study support the effectiveness of dupilumab as an add-on therapy in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP in reducing polyp size and improving the quality of life, severity of symptoms, nasal congestion, and smell

Developing a Theory-Driven Intervention to Challenge Coach Thinking: A Case Study

Coaching as a profession is a complex role that requires professional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge . In order for coaches to develop expertise in these areas, continued education can be beneficial. The case study presented focuses on the development and dissemination of a coach-education intervention designed to challenge coach thinking surrounding the coach-expectancy cycle. The coach-expectancy cycle is a well-researched model of coach behavior that follows a 4-stage cyclical pattern in which coaches develop biases based on their previous experiences. These biases then affect coach behavior toward athletes, which in turn affects athlete performance and motivation. Finally, athlete performance reinforces coach expectations. The authors developed a 2-hr theory-based intervention promoting mitigation of the cycle in a group of youth-soccer coaches. Theories used, the intervention, and practitioner reflections are discussed

Controlling attention to gaze and arrows in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The aim of this research was to assess implicit processing of social and non-social distracting cues in children with ADHD. Young people with ADHD and matched controls were asked to classify target words (LEFT/RIGHT) which were accompanied by a distracter eye-gaze or arrow. Typically developing participants showed evidence of interference effects from both eye-gaze and arrow distracters. In contrast, the ADHD group showed evidence of interference effects from arrow but failed to show interference from eye-gaze. This absence of interference effects from eye-gaze observed in the participants with ADHD may reflect an attentional impairment in attending to socially relevant information

Piperazine- and Piperidine-Containing Thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine Derivatives as New Potent and Selective Adenosine A2A Receptor Inverse Agonists

The therapeutic use of A2A adenosine receptor (AR) antagonists for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases, is a very promising approach. Moreover, the potential therapeutic role of A2A AR antagonists to avoid both immunoescaping of tumor cells and tumor development is well documented. Herein, we report on the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new set of piperazine- and piperidine- containing 7-amino-2-(furan-2-yl)thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives designed as human A2A AR antagonists/inverse agonists. Binding and potency data indicated that a good number of potent and selective hA2A AR inverse agonists were found. Amongst them, the 2-(furan-2-yl)-N5-(2-(4-phenylpiperazin-1-yl)ethyl)thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine-5,7-diamine 11 exhibited the highest A2A AR binding affinity (Ki = 8.62 nM) as well as inverse agonist potency (IC50 = 7.42 nM). In addition, bioinformatics prediction using the web tool SwissADME revealed that 8, 11, and 19 possessed good drug-likeness profiles