Student and Teacher Perceptions of the Relationship Between Self-Regulation Executive Functions and Playing Team Sports

Executive functions (EF) are the directive capacities of the human brain that are responsible for a person’s ability to engage in purposeful, organized, goal-directed behavior and to cue and direct perceptions, feelings, thoughts and actions in specific ways. There has been a growing body of research indicating that sports such as soccer, basketball, and baseball require the effective use of self-regulation executive functions that cue and direct attention, inhibition, shifting, flexibility and working memory. The objective of the study was to investigate student athletes’ perceptions of the relationship between playing sports and their effective use of executive functions and teacher perceptions of student athletes’ effective use of executive capacities. The data file used in this study consisted of the survey responses obtained from 70 student athletes divided into two groups: contact required sports (n=37), and contact nonrequired sports (n=33). The data file also consisted of teacher ratings of the athletes’ current executive function abilities, which were divided into two groups: contact required sports (n=25), and contact nonrequired sports (n=25). The results of the student survey item analyses indicated that a majority of the athletes agreed or strongly agreed that playing organized sports helped them with the effective use of their executive capacities. The results from the student surveys did not indicate any perceived differences in the use of executive capacities between students in contact required sports and students in contact nonrequired sports. Teacher ratings indicated that a large portion of the athletes rated demonstrate executive strengths and did not indicate any perceived differences in the use of executive capacities between students in contact required sports and students in contact nonrequired sports

Europeos y estadounidenses en la Norpatagonia andina: nuevas experiencias

La crisis financiera ha producido un relativamente novedoso tipo de movilidad desde países del Norte hacia América Latina. Este artículo analiza la inserción de migrantes de origen europeo y estadounidense en la Norpatagonia andina, área de un alto valor paisajístico y vocación turística. El uso de datos estadísticos e instrumentos cualitativo-interpretativos muestra que esta migración ha cobrado importancia en el marco de la llamada «migración por insatisfacción», en contraposición a la «migración por deficiencia». Si bien la expresión del fenómeno presenta diferencias en el interior de la región, este produce nuevos procesos socioterritoriales y culturales que ameritan un análisis

Mixed-use development as a neighborhood revitalization strategy : obstacles and approaches to financing

Thesis (S.M. and M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87).The focus of this research paper is to identify and explore the obstacles to financing neighborhood mixed-use development. This model of development has proven to be an important neighborhood revitalization strategy for many inner-city neighborhoods. However, the difficulties in financing mixed-use projects limit the opportunity for replication in other communities. The case studies presented in this paper highlight the types of challenges that face developers in assembling financing for mixed-use projects. They also provide some insight into various strategies to overcome these obstacles to financing. The thesis concludes that the mechanisms for providing public resources to neighborhood mixed-use development are inefficient and add to the costs of a project; private lending institutions currently play only an inadequate and limited role in financing these projects; and the strength of the commercial component is critical to the success of a mixed-use project.by Eliza Emond Edelsberg.S.M.and M.C.P

Trends in US Hospital Admissions for Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

Using data from the 2000–2004 US Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample, we found that total hospital admissions for skin and soft tissue infections increased by 29% during 2000–2004; admissions for pneumonia were largely unchanged. These results are consistent with recent reported increases in community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections

Pan-European early switch/early discharge opportunities exist for hospitalised patients with methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus</em> <em>aureus</em> complicated skin and soft-tissue infections

AbstractThe objective of this study was to document pan-European real-world treatment patterns and healthcare resource use and estimate opportunities for early switch (ES) from intravenous (IV) to oral antibiotics and early discharge (ED) in hospitalized patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTIs). This retrospective observational medical chart review study enrolled 342 physicians across 12 European countries who collected data from 1542 patients with documented MRSA cSSTI who were hospitalized (July 2010 to June 2011) and discharged alive (by July 2011). Data included clinical characteristics and outcomes, hospital length of stay (LOS), MRSA-targeted IV and oral antibiotic use, and ES and ED eligibility according to literature-based and expert-validated criteria. The most frequent initial MRSA-active antibiotics were vancomycin (50.2%), linezolid (15.1%), clindamycin (10.8%), and teicoplanin (10.4%). Patients discharged with MRSA-active antibiotics (n = 480) were most frequently prescribed linezolid (42.1%) and clindamycin (19.8%). IV treatment duration (9.3 ± 6.5 vs. 14.6 ± 9.9 days; p <0.001) and hospital LOS (19.1 ± 12.9 vs. 21.0 ± 18.2 days; p 0.162) tended to be shorter for patients switched from IV to oral treatment than for patients who received IV treatment only. Of the patients, 33.6% met ES criteria and could have discontinued IV treatment 6.0 ± 5.5 days earlier, and 37.9% met ED criteria and could have been discharged 6.2 ± 8.2 days earlier. More than one-third of European patients hospitalized for MRSA cSSTI could be eligible for ES and ED, resulting in substantial reductions in IV days and bed-days, with potential savings of €2000 per ED-eligible patient

Early response to antibiotic treatment in European patients hospitalized with complicated skin and soft tissue infections: analysis of the REACH study

Background: The treatment of complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTI) is challenging and many patients do not receive adequate first-line therapy. REACH (REtrospective Study to Assess the Clinical Management of Patients With Moderate-to-Severe cSSTI or Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Hospital Setting) was a retrospective observational study of cSSTI patients in real-life settings in European hospitals. In this analysis, we review characteristics and outcomes of patients with an early response (<= 72 hours) compared with those without an early response to treatment. We also compare the results according to two differing definitions of early response, one of which (Definition 1) requires resolution of fever within 72 hours, in line with previous US FDA guidelines. Methods: Patients were adults hospitalized with cSSTIs 2010-2011 and requiring treatment with intravenous antibiotics. Clinical management, clinical outcomes and healthcare resource use were assessed using a descriptive analysis approach. Results: The analysis set included 600 patients, of which 363 showed early response with Definition 1 and 417 with Definition 2. Initial treatment modification was frequent, and highest in patients without early response (48.1% with Definition 1). Patients without early response were more likely to have diabetes than those with early response (31.6% vs. 22.9%,respectively) and to suffer from more severe disease (e.g. skin necrosis: 14.8% and 7.7%,respectively), to be infected with difficult-to-treat microorganisms and to have recurrent infections. Furthermore, patients without early response had a higher rate of adverse clinical outcomes (e.g. septic shock) and higher use of healthcare resources. The results obtained with the two definitions for early response were largely similar. Conclusions: This study highlights the significance of early evaluation of patients in hospitals, in potentially preventing prolonged use of inappropriate or ineffective antibacterial therapy