Electronic health record: integrating evidence-based information at the point of clinical decision making

The authors created two tools to achieve the goals of providing physicians with a way to review alternative diagnoses and improving access to relevant evidence-based library resources without disrupting established workflows. The “diagnostic decision support tool” lifted terms from standard, coded fields in the electronic health record and sent them to Isabel, which produced a list of possible diagnoses. The physicians chose their diagnoses and were presented with the “knowledge page,” a collection of evidence-based library resources. Each resource was automatically populated with search results based on the chosen diagnosis. Physicians responded positively to the “knowledge page.”     

Engaging Introductory Writing Students Through Facebook Assignments

Elyse D'nn Lovell, mentored by Betsy Palmer, harnesses her Highlands College students' enthusiasm for social networking to increase their feelings of connectedness and improve critical thinking and writing skills.     

Evaluating the self and the other: Imagined intercultural contact within a ‘native-speaker’ dependent foreign language context

Recent research has shown that imagined intercultural contact, being based upon the adoption of principles of mental imagery and imagination, is able to elicit similar emotional, attitudinal and motivational responses as actual lived contact experiences. Furthermore, it has been noted that possessing the multiple competencies required to successfully negotiate an intercultural contact encounter with a target language speaker represents one of the most prominent sources of motivation for many foreign language learners. Therefore, situated within the context of a Japanese foreign language university which exhibits a dependency on ‘native-speaker’ English teachers from inner-circle (Kachru, 1985) countries, this paper showcases a social psychological study undertaken with 120 Japanese English language learners which sought to explore various dimensions of imagined intercultural contact via evaluations of the self and three intercultural others of different racial and ethnic appearance across two specific contact situations (positive and neutral). The outcomes are discussed in relation to underlying theories, as well as to the practical implications created for the improvement of foreign language teaching and learning practices which specifically seek to incorporate an explicit intercultural dimension.     

Theory and practice in sport psychology and motor behaviour needs to be constrained by integrative modelling of brain and behaviour

Because of advances in technology, the non-invasive study of the human brain has enhanced the knowledge base within the neurosciences, resulting in an increased impact on the psychological study of human behaviour. We argue that application of this knowledge base should be considered in theoretical modelling within sport psychology and motor behaviour alongside existing ideas. We propose that interventions founded on current theoretical and empirical understanding in both psychology and the neurosciences may ultimately lead to greater benefits for athletes during practice and performance. As vehicles for exploring the arguments of a greater integration of psychology and neurosciences research, imagery and perception–action within the sport psychology and motor behaviour domains will serve as exemplars. Current neuroscience evidence will be discussed in relation to theoretical developments; the implications for sport scientists will be considered.     

Cardiorespiratory,hormonal and haematological responses to submaximal cycling performed 2 days after eccentric or concentric exercise bouts

The aim of this experiment was to determine the effectiveness of two video-based perceptual training approaches designed to improve the anticipatory skills of junior tennis players. Players were assigned equally to an explicit learning group, an implicit learning group, a placebo group or a control group. A progressive temporal occlusion paradigm was used to examine, before and after training, the ability of the players to predict the direction of an opponent's service in an in-vivo on-court setting. The players responded either through hitting a return stroke or making a verbal prediction of stroke direction. Results revealed that the implicit learning group, whose training required them to predict serve speed direction while viewing temporally occluded video footage of the return-of-serve scenario, significantly improved their prediction accuracy after the training intervention. However, this training effect dissipated after a 32 day unfilled retention interval. The explicit learning group, who received instructions about the specific aspects of the pre-contact service kinematics that are informative with respect to service direction, did not demonstrate any significant performance improvements after the intervention. This, together with the absence of any significant improvements for the placebo and control groups, demonstrated that the improvement observed for the implicit learning group was not a consequence of either expectancy or familiarity effects.     

Lactate accumulation following isometric exercise training and its relationship with reduced resting blood pressure

Abstract

The purpose of this study was (a) to assess lactate accumulation during isometric exercise, and to quantify the shifts in accumulation following isometric training; and (b) to relate any training-induced changes in lactate accumulation to reductions in resting blood pressure. Eleven male participants undertook isometric training for a 4-week period using bilateral-leg exercise. Training caused reductions in systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial resting blood pressure (of ?4.9 ± 6.3 mmHg, P = 0.01; ?2.6 ± 3.0 mmHg, P = 0.01; and ?2.6 ± 2.3 mmHg, P = 0.001 respectively; mean ± s). These were accompanied by changes in muscle activity, taken as electromyographic activity to reach a given lactate concentration (from 114 ± 22 to 131 ± 27 mV and from 136 ± 25 to 155 ± 34 mV for 3 and 4 mmol · L^?1 respectively. Training intensity expressed relative to peak lactate was correlated with reduced resting systolic and mean arterial blood pressure. Training caused significant shifts in lactate accumulation, and reductions in resting blood pressure are strongly related to training intensity, when expressed relative to pre-training peak lactate. This suggests that higher levels of local muscle anaerobiosis may promote the training-induced reductions in resting blood pressure.     

Examining the influence of acute instructional approaches on the decision-making performance of experienced team field sport players

Abstract

We examined the influence of instructions on decision-making accuracy using video simulations of game-specific scenarios in Australian football. Skilled performers (average age of 23.4 ± 4.2 years) differing in experience (range 0 to 339 Australian Football League (AFL) matches) assumed the role of the key attacker and verbally indicated their kicking decision. Participants were randomly stratified into three groups: (1) LOOSE (n = 15) – instructed to “keep the ball away from the loose defender”; (2) TTF (n = 15) – instructed to “take the first option”; and (3) NI (control) (n = 16) – given no instructions. Gaze behaviour for a subset of participants (n = 20) was recorded. In the scenarios with an even number of attacking and defensive players, the decision-making accuracy of LOOSE was greater than TTF. This difference was most evident for lesser experienced performers, highlighting that lesser experienced performers are more affected by instructional foci than experienced performers. Gaze behaviour was not affected by instructional foci, but visual search rate was greater in scenarios of greater player number and complexity.     

Enhancing skill transfer in tennis using representative learning design

ABSTRACT

Representative Learning Design advocates that practice should simulate the demands of competition. The effectiveness of increased task representativeness to improve serving skill of junior tennis players was assessed after a six-week intervention. Thirty-three participants (15.4 ± 1.9 years of age) were assigned to one of the three groups; “serve only” (participants served to no opponent), “serve return” (participants served to an opponent and hit no extra shots) or “serve +3^rd” (participants served to an opponent and hit one extra shot). Using the validated representative practice assessment tool (RPAT) tasks were considered to be low, moderate and high in task representativeness, respectively. Participants hit 56 serves, twice weekly for 6-weeks. Pre and post serving performances were assessed via a skill test and in-situ matchplay using SportsCode and HawkEye ball tracking, respectively. Serve speed, landing locations, serve angle and positional advantage was obtained for 1^st and 2^nd serves. The relationship between increasing representativeness and increased skill acquisition was not linear, rather different behaviours emerged. For example, when hitting 2^nd serves in matchplay, the low and moderate representative groups prioritised speed over placement while the high representative group prioritised placement over speed. Coaches therefore need to carefully individualise representativeness to an athletes’ specific needs.     

Interprofessional partnerships involving school counsellors for children with special needs: a broad based systematic review using the PRISMA framework

Interprofessional educational partnerships can include a diverse group of helping professionals involved in consultation at both the school and community levels. Central to these partnerships should be school counsellors; this systematic review sought to understand the dynamics of these partnerships using the PRISMA framework. The review found that the role school counsellors can play on these teams varies from leader to convener but the specificity in terms of outcomes was missing. Noteworthy is the number of conceptual pieces, which is interpreted as researchers developing models that need additional testing. Future research should put the conceptual models available to directional testing; authors should include more information about the team’s development and each person’s role; and more attention should be paid to the outcomes of these team-based approaches.