Educational program on evaluation of alleged sexual abuse victims

Increased awareness of the problem of child sexual abuse has resulted in increasing numbers of children presenting to professionals for the evaluation of possible sexual victimization. A multidisciplinary project to develop professionals' knowledge and skills in the identification and evaluation of possible victims is described. The program focused on the child as a victim and emphasized developmental perspectives with regard to identification, interviewing children, the medical examination, and children in the legal system. Fifty-one medical and social work professionals from ten Indiana counties attended the program and responded to questionnaires about their experience and knowledge. Of 40 (78%) respondents, 63% had had no previous training in the medical evaluation for child sexual abuse. Child protective workers referred alleged victims primarily to the child's regular physician (37%) or emergency room (31%) for medical examination. Knowledge about child sexual abuse improved significantly at two weeks postsymposium (p = .001) and remained improved at six months postsymposium (p less than .02). These original participants have subsequently organized similar multidisciplinary programs in their local communities for medical, social, law enforcement, and legal professionals; thus, they have been "seeds" for further educational and cooperative efforts throughout the state.     

Reviewing the Variability-Overuse Injury Hypothesis: Does Movement Variability Relate to Landing Injuries?

Purpose: Overuse injuries are common in sport, but complete understanding of injury risk factors remains incomplete. Although biomechanical studies frequently examine musculoskeletal injury mechanisms, human movement variability studies aim to better understand neuromotor functioning, with proposed connections between overuse injury mechanisms and changes in motor variability. Method: In a narrative review, we discuss the variability-overuse injury hypothesis, which suggests repeated load application leads to mechanical tissue breakdown and subsequent injury when exceeding the rate of physiological adaptation. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this hypothesis, we incorporate concepts from motor control, neurophysiology, biomechanics, as well as research design and data analysis. We therefore summarize multiple perspectives while proposing theoretical relationships between movement variability and lower extremity overuse injuries. Results: Experimental data are presented and summarized from published experiments examining interactions between experimental task demands and movement variability in the context of drop landing movements, along with comparisons to previous movement variability studies. Conclusion: We provide a conceptual framework for sports medicine researchers interested in predicting and preventing sports injuries. Under performance conditions with greater task demands, we predict reduced trial-to-trial movement variability that could increase the likelihood of overuse injuries.     

Resting MAPK expression in chronically trained endurance runners

Purpose: There is a paucity of research investigating the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) in chronically trained (CT) athletes. Thus, it is unclear how MAPK may contribute to performance and muscle adaptation in CT subjects. The purpose of this study was to determine MAPK total protein, and phosphorylated expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38-MAPK (p38) between untrained, and chronically trained runners. Methods: Tissue samples were analysed from sedentary (SED; n?=?5) controls and chronically trained runners (CT; n?=?5). Resting muscle biopsy samples were analysed for total-MAPK – and ratio of phosphorylated/total (p-MAPK) – ERK1/2, JNK, and p38-MAPK via western blotting. Mann–Whitney U tests and effect sizes were utilized to determine differences in total MAPK protein content and phosphorylation status between SED and CT subjects. Results: There was no difference in total-MAPK expression between SED and CT (p?>?.05). p-p38-MAPK tended to be greater for CT compared to SED (p?=?.07). There were moderate effect sizes of decreased pERK/total-ERK (d?=??0.69) and increased pJNK/total-JNK (d?=?0.54) in CT compared to SED. There was a positive correlation between p-p38-MAPK/total-MAPK and the percentage of type I fibres (r?=?0.73, p?=?.016). Conclusion: Contrary to previous studies, chronic endurance training does not greatly influence total MAPK protein expression in chronically trained runners. However, resting phosphorylation of p38-MAPK may contribute to enhanced oxidative metabolism at chronically trained levels. These alterations are likely involved in the different physiological adaptations that occur following long-term training or at highly competitive levels.     

A new footwear technology to promote non-heelstrike landing and enhance running performance: Fact or fad?

This study sought to compare the kinetics and kinematics data in a group of habitual shod runners when running in traditional running shoes and newly designed minimalist shoes with lug platform. This novel footwear design claims to simulate barefoot running and reduce energy loss during impact. We compared footstrike angle (FSA), vertical average (VALR) and instantaneous (VILR) loading rates, energy loss and initial vertical stiffness between two shoe conditions. Runners demonstrated a decreased FSA while running in minimalist shoes with lug platform than traditional shoes (P = 0.003; Cohen’s d = 0.918). However, we did not observe a landing pattern transition. VALR and VILR between two footwear conditions showed no significant difference (P = 0.191–0.258; Cohen’s d = 0.304–0.460). Initial vertical stiffness (P = 0.032; Cohen’s d = 0.671) and energy loss (P = 0.044; Cohen’s d = 0.578) were greater when running in minimalist shoes with lug platform. The results show that minimalist shoes with lug platform reduce the FSA but may not lead to a landing pattern switch or lower vertical loading rates. Interestingly, the new shoe design leads to a greater energy loss than traditional running shoes, which could be explained by a higher initial vertical stiffness.     

Regular class teachers' perceptions of transition programs for EMR students and their impact on the students

This study was designed to obtain the perceptions of regular class teachers who taught children who had been in EMR programs, but had been decertified (D) and returned to regular classes in response to court cases and recent legislation. A cohort of regular class (RC) students were selected for comparative purposes. It was found that D students were placed into low ability classes; yet, teachers perceived D subjects to be significantly lower than RC students in both academic achievement and social acceptance. Only a small proportion of teachers indicated that the enrollment of D students had much impact on the regular class instructional program. However, the teachers were rather critical of the services received under the auspices of a transitional program, indicating in large part that the services were either not apparent or ineffective.     

Predicting student self-concept,anxiety, and responsibility from self-evaluation and self-praise

Nineteen elementary teachers were observed for the frequency with which they modeled self-praise for their students and taught their students to praise and evaluate themselves. Measures of student self-concept, anxiety, and achievement responsibility were taken at the end of the year. It was found that teacher modeling of self-praise correlated negatively with boys' selfconcept and positively with girls'. Teacher encouragement of students to praise other students correlated positively with boys' anxiety and negatively with girls'. Teacher modeling of self-praise and teacher encouragement of students to praise other students were the best predictors of self-concept.     

Contextual influences on baseball ball-strike decisions in umpires, players, and controls

Baseball umpires, players, and control participants with no baseball experience were asked to call balls and strikes for video clips. In a basic judgement task, umpires and players were significantly better at calling pitches than controls. In a direct information task, borderline pitches were presented following clips of definite balls and definite strikes. Participants called target pitches closer to the strike end of the scale when viewed after definite balls than when they followed definite strikes. Similarly, when borderline pitches were shown in different pitch counts, participants called pitches more towards the strike end of the scale when there were three balls in the count (3-0, 3-2). These findings indicate that the standard for evaluation changes based on the context in which stimuli are processed. Moreover, the strength of the contextual factors is illustrated in that the effects were shown in observers with and without experience in the task. Overall, however, umpires had a greater tendency to call strikes, indicating that they may use a norm of "hastening the game".