Mentorship Experiences of Doctoral Students: Understanding Desired Attributes of Doctoral Student Mentors

Background: Mentorship is a critical aspect of the professional development of the doctoral student who wishes to pursue a role in higher education. Continued understanding is needed regarding the needs of the doctoral student when it comes to mentorship. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the needs of a doctoral student from their mentoring relationships, as they work towards their terminal degree. Methods: This is a descriptive, phenomenological qualitative research study within universities that offer doctoral education. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted using Zoom video conference technology. Each interview, after transcribed, was analyzed following the step-wise approach of a phenomenological study. Credibility was established by 1) research triangulation, 2) bracketing/reflexivity, and 3) peer review. Results: Twelve doctoral students (7 females, 5 males) who were enrolled in doctoral programs with a focus on allied health or exercise science completed the Zoom interviews. Our participants were an average age of 28 3 years, and all twelve had graduate assistantship positions in association with their doctoral programs. Three main themes materialized from the data analyses including 1) guided autonomy, 2) humanistic nature, and 3) professional advocate. Doctoral students want guidance to develop the technical skills necessary for success by providing opportunities to perform with the chance to gain feedback. Mentors were identified as needing to demonstrate humanistic qualities that were rooted in being interpersonal. The importance of a mentor serving as a professional advocate to help the student grow and develop as a professional was also discussed. Conclusions: Doctoral students need their mentors to demonstrate both personal and professional attributes in the mentor relationship. Specifically, they are looking for guidance and feedback through independent learning, as well as a mentor who values them, is relatable, and is invested in their development as a professional

Revisiting the "enigma" of musicians with dyslexia:Auditory sequencing and speech abilities

Previous research has suggested a link between musical training and auditory processing skills. Musicians have shown enhanced perception of auditory features critical to both music and speech, suggesting that this link extends beyond basic auditory processing. It remains unclear to what extent musicians who also have dyslexia show these specialized abilities, considering often-observed persistent deficits that coincide with reading impairments. The present study evaluated auditory sequencing and speech discrimination in 52 adults comprised of musicians with dyslexia, nonmusicians with dyslexia, and typical musicians. An auditory sequencing task measuring perceptual acuity for tone sequences of increasing length was administered. Furthermore, subjects were asked to discriminate synthesized syllable continua varying in acoustic components of speech necessary for intra-phonemic discrimination, which included spectral (formant frequency) and temporal (voice onset time (VOT) and amplitude envelope) features. Results indicate that musicians with dyslexia did not significantly differ from typical musicians and performed better than nonmusicians with dyslexia for auditory sequencing as well as discrimination of spectral and VOT cues within syllable continua. However, typical musicians demonstrated superior performance relative to both groups with dyslexia for discrimination of syllables varying in amplitude information. These findings suggest a distinct profile of speech processing abilities in musicians with dyslexia, with specific weaknesses in discerning amplitude cues within speech. Since these difficulties seem to remain persistent in adults with dyslexia despite musical training, this study only partly supports the potential for musical training to enhance the auditory processing skills known to be crucial for literacy in individuals with dyslexia

Carbon Fiber Insoles Enhance Perception of Performance Despite Variable Objective Outcomes: Specific to the Moderately Active Individual

International Journal of Exercise Science 16(4): 885-897, 2023. Carbon fiber insoles (CFIs) may benefit performance in elite athletes, however, their use in moderately active individuals has been adopted without evidence supporting such enhancements in this population. Fifteen male subjects performed vertical jump (VJ) and repeat treadmill sprint tests before and after a VO2peak while wearing 1) CFIs and 2) control insoles (CON). Subjects completed a subjective survey regarding their perceived performance abilities for both conditions. There were no significant differences between CFIs and CON in VJ height, sprint distance, heart rate following sprints; and rate of oxygen consumption, perceived fatigue, and perceived exertion at 85% of maximal speed (p \u3e 0.05) during the VO2peak. At maximal speed, although there was no difference between conditions in peak rate of oxygen consumption (95%CI [-4.85, 0.21]) and respiratory exchange ratio (95%CI [-0.01, 0.03]), CFIs resulted in a reduced level of perceived fatigue (95%CI [-1, 0]) and perceived exertion (95%CI [-2, 0]) compared to CON. Subjects subjectively reported increased feelings of “propulsion or explosiveness” (p = 0.026) and being able to “perform better while jumping” (p = 0.029) while wearing CFIs. Heightened perceptions of performance enhancements when wearing CFIs indicate, in the moderately active, perceptual benefits could be more influential for determining CFI use

Multi-site genetic analysis of diffusion images and voxelwise heritability analysis : a pilot project of the ENIGMA–DTI working group

The ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium was set up to analyze brain measures and genotypes from multiple sites across the world to improve the power to detect genetic variants that influence the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) yields quantitative measures sensitive to brain development and degeneration, and some common genetic variants may be associated with white matter integrity or connectivity. DTI measures, such as the fractional anisotropy (FA) of water diffusion, may be useful for identifying genetic variants that influence brain microstructure. However, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) require large populations to obtain sufficient power to detect and replicate significant effects, motivating a multi-site consortium effort. As part of an ENIGMA–DTI working group, we analyzed high-resolution FA images from multiple imaging sites across North America, Australia, and Europe, to address the challenge of harmonizing imaging data collected at multiple sites. Four hundred images of healthy adults aged 18–85 from four sites were used to create a template and corresponding skeletonized FA image as a common reference space. Using twin and pedigree samples of different ethnicities, we used our common template to evaluate the heritability of tract-derived FA measures. We show that our template is reliable for integrating multiple datasets by combining results through meta-analysis and unifying the data through exploratory mega-analyses. Our results may help prioritize regions of the FA map that are consistently influenced by additive genetic factors for future genetic discovery studies. Protocols and templates are publicly available at (http://enigma.loni.ucla.edu/ongoing/dti-working-group/)

Impacts of Parasites in Early Life: Contrasting Effects on Juvenile Growth for Different Family Members

Parasitism experienced early in ontogeny can have a major impact on host growth, development and future fitness, but whether siblings are affected equally by parasitism is poorly understood. In birds, hatching asynchrony induced by hormonal or behavioural mechanisms largely under parental control might predispose young to respond to infection in different ways. Here we show that parasites can have different consequences for offspring depending on their position in the family hierarchy. We experimentally treated European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristoteli) nestlings with the broad-spectrum anti-parasite drug ivermectin and compared their growth rates with nestlings from control broods. Average growth rates measured over the period of linear growth (10 days to 30 days of age) and survival did not differ for nestlings from treated and control broods. However, when considering individuals within broods, parasite treatment reversed the patterns of growth for individual family members: last-hatched nestlings grew significantly slower than their siblings in control nests but grew faster in treated nests. This was at the expense of their earlier-hatched brood-mates, who showed an overall growth rate reduction relative to last-hatched nestlings in treated nests. These results highlight the importance of exploring individual variation in the costs of infection and suggest that parasites could be a key factor modulating within-family dynamics, sibling competition and developmental trajectories from an early age

Multi-site study of additive genetic effects on fractional anisotropy of cerebral white matter:Comparing meta and megaanalytical approaches for data pooling

Combining datasets across independent studies can boost statistical power by increasing the numbers of observations and can achieve more accurate estimates of effect sizes. This is especially important for genetic studies where a large number of observations are required to obtain sufficient power to detect and replicate genetic effects. There is a need to develop and evaluate methods for joint-analytical analyses of rich datasets collected in imaging genetics studies. The ENIGMA-DTI consortium is developing and evaluating approaches for obtaining pooled estimates of heritability through meta-and mega-genetic analytical approaches, to estimate the general additive genetic contributions to the intersubject variance in fractional anisotropy (FA) measured from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We used the ENIGMA-DTI data harmonization protocol for uniform processing of DTI data from multiple sites. We evaluated this protocol in five family-based cohorts providing data from a total of 2248 children and adults (ages: 9-85) collected with various imaging protocols. We used the imaging genetics analysis tool, SOLAR-Eclipse, to combine twin and family data from Dutch, Australian and Mexican-American cohorts into one large "mega-family". We showed that heritability estimates may vary from one cohort to another. We used two meta-analytical (the sample-size and standard-error weighted) approaches and a mega-genetic analysis to calculate heritability estimates across-population. We performed leave-one-out analysis of the joint estimates of heritability, removing a different cohort each time to understand the estimate variability. Overall, meta- and mega-genetic analyses of heritability produced robust estimates of heritability

The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Physical Literacy in Children

Context: Physical literacy is a growing concept throughout the United States. In order to be physically active, children must develop physical literacy, which is the competency to control their body, and the confidence and motivation to be active. Socioeconomic status of children’s living communities may influence opportunities for physical activity and motor development, but this has not been examined in relation to physical literacy in the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate physical literacy competency between a low-resourced community and a high-resourced community. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to compare children between high-resourced (HIGH) and low-resourced (LOW) categories (LOW: \u3e50% free/reduced lunch; HIGH: PLAYfun assessment tools. Results: There was a statistically significant interaction between environment and school level for LESS scores (p=0.02), Balance (p=0.02) and Running (pConclusion: Findings from this study reinforce the concern that children in low-resourced environments, specifically those in elementary school, may not have the neuromuscular control or fundamental movement skill competency needed to be active for life, which places them at risk of comorbidities associated with a sedentary lifestyle

The Comparison of Psychological Barriers Between Individuals with a History of Anterior Knee Pain, Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, and Healthy Individuals

# Background Psychological barriers due to anterior knee pain (AKP) and anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) may have a direct impact on an individual's return to physical activity. A comprehensive understanding of these psychological barriers in individuals with AKP and ACLR may help clinicians to develop and implement better treatment strategies to address deficits that may exist in these individuals. # Hypothesis/Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate fear-avoidance, kinesiophobia, and pain catastrophizing in individuals with AKP and ACLR compared with healthy individuals. The secondary purpose was to directly compare psychological characteristics between the AKP and ACLR groups. It was hypothesized that 1) individuals with AKP and ACLR would self-report worse psychosocial function than healthy individuals and 2) the extent of the psychosocial impairments between the two knee pathologies would be similar. # Study Design Cross-sectional study. # Methods Eighty-three participants (28 AKP, 26 ACLR, and 29 healthy individuals) were analyzed in this study. Fear avoidance belief questionnaire (FABQ) with the physical activity (FABQ-PA) and sport (FABQ-S) subscales, Tampa scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) and pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) assessed psychological characteristics. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the FABQ-PA, FABQ-S, TSK-11, and PCS scores across the three groups. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to determine where group differences occurred. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated with the Mann-Whitney U z-score divided by the square root of the sample size. # Results Individuals with AKP or ACLR had significantly worse psychological barriers compared to the healthy individuals for all questionnaires (FABQ-PA, FABQ-S, TSK-11, and PCS) (p\0.86). There were no differences between the AKP and ACLR groups (p≥0.67), with a medium ES (-0.33) in the FABQ-S between AKP and ACLR groups. # Conclusion Greater psychological scores indicate impaired psychological readiness to perform physical activity. Clinicians should be aware of fear-related beliefs following knee-related injuries and are encouraged to measure psychological factors during the rehabilitation process. # Level of Evidence

Longitudinal Changes in Hip Strength and Range of Motion in Female Youth Soccer Players: Implications for ACL Injury. A Pilot Study

Context: Risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in young female athletes increases with age, appearing to peak during maturation. Changes in hip muscle strength and range of motion (ROM) during this time may contribute to altered dynamic movement patterns that are known to increase risk of ACL injuries. Understanding the longitudinal changes in hip strength and ROM is needed to develop appropriate interventions to reduce the risk of ACL injuries. Objective: To examine the longitudinal changes in hip strength and ROM in female youth soccer players. Design: Longitudinal descriptive study. Setting: Field setting. Participants: 14 female youth soccer athletes (14.1 ± 1.1 y, 165.8 ± 5.3 cm, 57.5 ± 9.9 kg) volunteered as part of a multiyear risk factor screening project. Main Outcome Measures: Clinical measures of hip strength and ROM were collected annually over 3 consecutive years. Passive hip internal rotation (IR), external rotation (ER), abduction (ABD), and adduction (ADD) ROM were measured with a digital inclinometer. Isometric hip ABD and extension (EXT) strength were evaluated using a hand-held dynamometer. Separate repeated-measures ANOVAs compared hip strength and ROM values across 3 consecutive years (P \u3c .05). Results: As youth female soccer players increased in age, there were no changes in normalized hip ABD (P = .830) or EXT strength (P = .062) across 3 consecutive years. Longitudinal changes in hip ROM were observed with increases in hip IR (P = .001) and ABD (P \u3c .001), while hip ADD (P = .009) and ER (P \u3c .001) decreased. Conclusions: Anatomical changes at the hip occur as youth female soccer players increase in age. While there are no changes in hip strength, there is an increase in hip IR and ABD ROM with a concomitant decrease in hip ER and ADD ROM. The resulting asymmetries in hip ROM may decrease the activation and force producing capabilities of the hip muscles during dynamic activities, contributing to altered lower extremity mechanics known to increase the risk of ACL injuries