Team-Based Ultrasound Objective Structured Practice Examination (OSPE) in the Anatomy Course

The clinical use of ultrasound has dramatically increased, necessitating early ultrasound education and the development of new tools in ultrasound training and assessment. The goal of this study was to devise a novel low-resource examination that tested the anatomical knowledge and technical skill of early undergraduate medical students in a gross anatomy course. The team-based ultrasound objective structured practice examination (OSPE) was created as a method for assessing practical ultrasound competencies, anatomical knowledge, and non-technical skills such as teamwork and professionalism. The examination utilized a rotation of students through four team roles as they scanned different areas of the body. This station-based examination required four models and four instructors, and tested ultrasound skills in the heart, abdominal vessels, abdominal organs, and neck regions. A Likert scale survey assessed student attitudes toward the examination. Survey data from participants (n = 46) were examined along with OSPE examination grades (n = 52). Mean and standard deviations were calculated for examination items and survey responses. Student grades were high in both technical (96.5%). and professional (96.5%) competencies with structure identification scoring the lowest (93.8%). There were no statistical differences between performances in each of the body regions being scanned. The survey showed that students deemed the examination to be fair and effective. In addition, students agreed that the examination motivated them to practice ultrasound. The team-based OSPE was found to be an efficient and student-favored method for evaluating integrated ultrasound competencies, anatomical knowledge, team-work, and professional attributes.     

Rethinking fat as a fuel for endurance exercise

Abstract

A key element contributing to deteriorating exercise capacity during physically demanding sport appears to be reduced carbohydrate availability coupled with an inability to effectively utilize alternative lipid fuel sources. Paradoxically, cognitive and physical decline associated with glycogen depletion occurs in the presence of an over-abundance of fuel stored as body fat that the athlete is apparently unable to access effectively. Current fuelling tactics that emphasize high-carbohydrate intakes before and during exercise inhibit fat utilization. The most efficient approach to accelerate the body’s ability to oxidize fat is to lower dietary carbohydrate intake to a level that results in nutritional ketosis (i.e., circulating ketone levels >0.5 mmol/L) while increasing fat intake for a period of several weeks. The coordinated set of metabolic adaptations that ensures proper interorgan fuel supply in the face of low-carbohydrate availability is referred to as keto-adaptation. Beyond simply providing a stable source of fuel for the brain, the major circulating ketone body, beta-hydroxybutyrate, has recently been shown to act as a signalling molecule capable of altering gene expression, eliciting complementary effects of keto-adaptation that could extend human physical and mental performance beyond current expectation. In this paper, we review these new findings and propose that the shift to fatty acids and ketones as primary fuels when dietary carbohydrate is restricted could be of benefit for some athletes.     

Assessing the Worth of the College Degree on Self-perceived Police Performance

Many formal policies have suggested that officers need a college degree; however, policies forced little change in practices of American police organizations. Six hundred-fifty patrol officers employed in 12 medium-sized police departments in three Midwestern states were surveyed as to their current educational attainment and job performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between educational level and police performance.     

Embedded creative workers and creative work in education

This article is concerned with the many connections between creative work and workers, and education work and industries. Employment in the education sector has long been recognised as a significant element in creative workers’ portfolio careers. Much has been written, for example, about the positive contribution of ‘artists in schools’ initiatives. Australian census analyses reveal that education is the most common industry sector into which creative workers are ‘embedded’, outside of the core creative industries. However, beyond case studies and some survey research into arts instruction and instructors, we know remarkably little about in which education roles and sectors creative workers are embedded, and the types of value that they add in those roles and sectors. This article reviews the extant literature on creative work and workers in education, and presents the findings of a survey of 916 graduates from creative undergraduate degrees in Australia. The findings suggest that education work is very common among creative graduates indeed, while there are a range of motivating factors for education work among creative graduates, on average they are satisfied with their careers, and that creative graduates add significant creative-cultural and creative-generic value add through their work.     

Field and laboratory measurements of softball player swing speed and bat performance

The swing speed of the bat is one of the most important factors affecting the hit-ball speed. Most field studies tend to focus on measuring ball speed, which is easier to measure and quantify than bat speed. For this reason, relatively little data exist describing bat motion in field conditions. The following describes a relatively large swing speed field study involving bats of the same model with nearly constant weight and varying inertia. The study was conducted using right-handed batters on a regulation outdoor field with a live pitcher. Swing speed was measured by tracking markers on the bat with two high-speed video cameras so that the bat markers could be traced in three-dimensional space. The ball motion was tracked using the same high-speed video cameras and a three-dimensional Doppler radar system. Bat swing speed was observed to be proportional to the batter skill level and the normalised swing speed increased with decreasing bat inertia. The bat centre of rotation during impact was close to the knob of the bat. The bats were tested under controlled laboratory conditions using a standardised performance test. The field and laboratory results showed good agreement including the hit-ball speed and the subtle effect of bat inertia on the maximum performance location. The vibrational response of the bats was considered using modal analysis. The maximum performance location was correlated with the node of the first vibrational mode.     

Student participation styles in adventure education

Sport pedagogy researchers have contributed much to the literature on physical education teaching by describing the participation styles of children, youth and young adults in various settings. The purpose of this study was to describe the participation styles of children enrolled in two consecutive week-long summer adventure camps. Primary participants were 31 elementary and middle school students. Secondary participants were the two adventure educators (AEs) responsible for carrying out all the instruction at the camps. Data were collected using a variety of qualitative techniques and analysed using standard interpretive methods. Nine participation styles were identified indicating that the children in the camps had differing experiences of adventure education and varying degrees of success. Some of the participation styles had similar characteristics to those discovered previously in middle school physical education. Despite these similarities and unlike the middle school setting, there was no indication that a hierarchy of participation styles existed and, consequently, there was no sign of any bullying. Reasons for this difference may well have been the heavy focus on affective objectives within adventure education, much lower student–teacher ratios, higher levels of supervision and management, and greater instructional intent and skill.     

Validation of a videogrammetry technique for analysing American football helmet kinematics

ABSTRACT

Professional American football games are recorded in digital video with multiple cameras, often at high resolution and high frame rates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a videogrammetry technique to calculate translational and rotational helmet velocity before, during and after a helmet impact. In total, 10 football impacts were staged in a National Football League (NFL) stadium by propelling helmeted 50th percentile male crash test dummies into each other or the ground at speeds and orientations representative of concussive impacts for NFL players. The tests were recorded by experienced sports film crews to obtain video coverage and quality typically available for NFL games. A videogrammetry procedure was used to track the position and rotation of the helmet throughout the relevant time interval of the head impact. Compared with rigidly mounted retroreflective marker three dimensional (3-D) motion tracking that was concurrently collected in the experiments, videogrammetry accurately calculated changes in translational and rotational velocity of the helmet using high frame rate (two cameras at 240 Hz) video (7% and 15% error, respectively). Low frame rate (2 cameras at 60 Hz) video was adequate for calculating pre-impact translational velocity but not for calculating the translational or rotational velocity change of the helmet during impact.