Examining College Student Athlete Attitudes Towards Concussion Testing and Reporting Concussions

Examining College Student Athlete Attitudes and Behaviors Toward Baseline Neurocognitive Concussion Testing FryK, Anderson, M, Anderson, M, Schatz, P, Elbin, RJ: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas Context: Examining athletes’ attitudes toward concussion diagnosis, management, and treatment can lead to improved multi-faceted management of a concussion injury. Although attitudes towards concussion injuries have been studied, the examination of athletes’ attitudes towards baseline computerized neurocognitive testing is understudied and is warranted. Objective: To examine the relationship between sex, concussion history, and previous exposure to baseline testing on athletes’ perceptions of effort provided during baseline testing and the utility of neurocognitive testing. Methods: College athletes (18-23 years) completing a baseline neurocognitive test (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test: ImPACT) were asked to complete an anonymous 33-item online survey. Survey questions included demographics and inquired about athletes’ effort and utility of baseline and post-concussion neurocognitive testing. A series of chi-square analyses measured the association between sex, concussion history, and previous exposure to baseline testing on effort provided during testing and utility of the test. Level of statistical significance was p \u3c .05. Results: One hundred eighty-two (88 males, 95 females) athletes (M =19.05, SD = 1.15 years) completed the survey. Thirty-eight percent (70/183) reported prior concussion history and 27% (50/182) were first time test takers. Ninety-four percent (172/183) reported providing above average to maximal effort on the baseline test they completed prior to completing the survey. Ninety percent (158/176) and 87% (156/179) of the sample reported that the baseline and post-concussion test results were useful in mitigating premature return to play, respectively. There was no association between sex, concussion history, or previous exposure to baseline testing on reported effort or perceptions of utility for baseline neurocognitive testing (p \u3e .05). Conclusion: The majority of athletes report high effort on baseline neurocognitive testing and recognize the utility of this measure for safe return to play

Relative Stabilities of Conserved and Non-Conserved Structures in the OB-Fold Superfamily

The OB-fold is a diverse structure superfamily based on a β-barrel motif that is often supplemented with additional non-conserved secondary structures. Previous deletion mutagenesis and NMR hydrogen exchange studies of three OB-fold proteins showed that the structural stabilities of sites within the conserved β-barrels were larger than sites in non-conserved segments. In this work we examined a database of 80 representative domain structures currently classified as OB-folds, to establish the basis of this effect. Residue-specific values were obtained for the number of Cα-Cα distance contacts, sequence hydrophobicities, crystallographic B-factors, and theoretical B-factors calculated from a Gaussian Network Model. All four parameters point to a larger average flexibility for the non-conserved structures compared to the conserved β-barrels. The theoretical B-factors and contact densities show the highest sensitivity. Our results suggest a model of protein structure evolution in which novel structural features develop at the periphery of conserved motifs. Core residues are more resistant to structural changes during evolution since their substitution would disrupt a larger number of interactions. Similar factors are likely to account for the differences in stability to unfolding between conserved and non-conserved structures