Sideline test accurately detects athletes' concussions in minutes

Ω

A simple test performed at the sideline of sporting events can accurately detect concussions in athletes, according to study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Current sideline tests can leave a wide amount a brain function untested following concussion. Penn researchers showed that this simple test was superior to current methods and accurately and reliably identified athletes with head trauma. The study appears online now in Neurology.

The one-minute test involves the athlete reading single digit numbers displayed on index-sized cards. Any increase (worsening) in the time needed to complete the test suggests a concussion has occurred, particularly if the delay is greater than five seconds compared to the individual's baseline test time.

The test, called the King-Devick test, captures impairments of eye movement, attention, language and other symptoms of impaired brain function. It looks at saccadic and other types of eye movements that are frequently abnormal following a concussion.

"This rapid screening test provides an effective way to detect early signs of concussion, which can improve outcomes and hopefully prevent repetitive concussions," said the study's senior author, Laura Balcer, MD, MSCE, Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "If validated in future studies, this test has the potential to become a standard sideline test for athletes."

While more extensive testing can best capture post-concussion syndrome symptoms, and these tests may be influenced by other factors such as intellectual ability or depression, tests of rapid number naming such as the King-Devick test are objective and capture many aspects of function. This may help coaches and athletic trainers determine whether players should be removed from games or not.

As emphasized by the study's lead author, Kristin Galetta, MS, "Concussion is a complex type of brain injury that is not visible on the routine scans we do of the brain, yet is detectable when we measure important aspects of brain function, such as vision. The K-D test is only one test on the sidelines, though, and the diagnosis of concussion requires a combination of tests and input of medical professionals."

In a study of 39 boxers and MMA fighters, post-fight time test scores were significantly higher (worse) for those who had head trauma during their matches (59.1 ± 7.4 vs 41.0 ± 6.7 seconds, p < 0.0001). Among those with head trauma, fighters who lost consciousness had even higher post-fight scores compared to those who didn't lose consciousness (65.5 ± 2.9 vs 52.7 ± 2.9 seconds, p < 0.0001). Test times improved by more than a second on average for participants who did not have head trauma, while average times for those who suffered head trauma worsened by 11.1 seconds. Fighters who lost consciousness were 18 seconds slower on the test after their bouts.

The study was funded by a grant from the National Eye Institute.

A follow-up study, looking prospectively at college athletes at the University of Pennsylvania, is examining changes in athlete test scores over the course of a season, reliability of retest or tests conducted by different testers such as athletic trainers, and establish test norms and expected ranges of pre-competition scores for this age group. It will also provide large-scale results to further evaluate the effectiveness of the test to identify closed head injury and concussions accurately.

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://universosportinguista.blogspot.com/2011/02/sideline-test-accurately-detects.html. Thanks!

Far too much emphasis on a single pathway to success: attending and graduating from a four-year college

Ω

Despite decades of efforts to reform education, and billions of dollars of expenditures, the harsh reality is that America is still failing to prepare millions of its young people to lead successful lives as adults. Evidence of this failure is everywhere: in the dropout epidemic that plagues our high schools and colleges; in the harsh fact that just 30 percent of our young adults earn a bachelor's degree by age 27; and in teen and young adult employment rates not seen since the Great Depression.

Today, the Pathways to Prosperity Project, which is based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is releasing a major new report that examines the reasons for our failure to prepare so many young adults, and advances an exciting vision for how the United States might regain the leadership in educational attainment it held for over a century. Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century contends that our national strategy for education and youth development has been too narrowly focused on an academic, classroom-based approach. It is now clear that this strategy has produced only incremental gains in achievement and attainment, even as many other nations are leapfrogging the United States. In response, the report advocates development of a comprehensive pathways network to serve youth in high school and beyond.

This pathways system would be based on three essential elements. The first is the development of a broader vision of school reform that embraces multiple pathways to help young people successfully navigate the journey from adolescence to adulthood. The report contends that at present, we place far too much emphasis on a single pathway to success: attending and graduating from a four-year college. Yet only 30 percent of young adults successfully complete this preferred pathway. Meanwhile, even in the second decade of the 21st century, most jobs do not require a bachelor's. The report notes that while the United States is expected to create 47 million jobs in the 10-year period ending in 2018, only a third of these jobs will require a bachelor's or higher degree. Almost as many jobs - some 30 percent - will only require an associate's degree or a post-secondary occupational credential. Given these realities, the report argues we need to broaden the range of high-quality pathways that we offer young adults. This would include far more emphasis on career counseling and high-quality career education, as well as apprenticeship programs and community colleges as viable routes to well-paying jobs.

Second, the report argues that we need to ask our nation's employers to play a greatly expanded role in supporting the pathways system, and in providing more opportunities for young adults to participate in work-based learning and actual jobs related to their programs of study. Third, the report contends that we need to develop a new social compact between society and our young people. The compact's central goal would be that by the time they reach their mid-20s, every young adult will be equipped with the education and experience he or she needs to lead a successful life as an adult. Achieving this goal would require far bigger contributions from the nation's employers and governments.

"We are the only developed nation that depends so exclusively on its higher education system as the sole institutional vehicle to help young people transition from secondary school to careers, and from adolescence to adulthood," says Robert Schwartz, academic dean and professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, who heads the Pathways to Prosperity Project. As the first president of Achieve, Schwartz has been a key supporter of the need to raise expectations and academic standards for all young people. But in recent years, Schwartz has become increasingly concerned about the "college for all" movement, especially as that movement has led states to allow the admissions requirements of four-year colleges and universities to become the default curriculum for all high school students. "Unless we are willing to provide more flexibility and choice in the last two years of high school, and more opportunities for students to pursue program options that link work and learning, we will continue to lose far too many young people along the path to graduation," he says.

"People don't realize how far behind other nations we have fallen. Some of the international comparisons in the report will truly shock people who assume that we lead the world in education and youth development," adds Pathways co-chair Ronald Ferguson, a senior lecturer in education and public policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School, and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University. "Crafting a 21st century system that takes lessons from abroad but is tailored to the particulars of our own unique society will require our best effort. It can't be a superficial process and still succeed on the scale that we need it to."

The report notes that even as many young adults are failing to earn a post-secondary degree, they have also been hit far harder than older adults by unemployment in the Great Recession. Indeed, the percentage of teens and young adults who have jobs is now at its lowest level since the end of World War II. This has dire implications, because employment in the teen and young adult years can have such a positive impact on future prospects for employment and earnings.

The report was developed over two years of effort that included both research and working closely with partners interested the pathways challenge. An unusually wide range of organizations were involved in the project, including major corporations, leaders from K-12 and higher education, the non-profit community, and government. The project has also been involved in "on the ground" work in several different regions where it has collaborated with people and organizations eager to develop solutions to the challenge. So far, the Project has worked with partners in Silicon Valley, Illinois and Boston, as well as with leaders interested in developing more effective pathways to careers in health care.

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://universosportinguista.blogspot.com/2011/02/far-too-much-emphasis-on-single-pathway.html. Thanks!

Preschool beneficial, but should offer more, study finds

Ω

As more states consider universal preschool programs, a new study led by a Michigan State University scholar suggests that two years of pre-K is beneficial – although more time should be spent on teaching certain skills.

In the current issue of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Lori Skibbe and colleagues argue that pre-K programs generally do a good job of teaching literacy and that two years of preschool is better than one.

However, the researchers also recommend that preschool teachers focus more on vocabulary instruction and exercises that build self-control as part of a broader curriculum.

“In terms of kindergarten preparation, I believe preschool does a very good job in certain areas in promoting children’s skill sets,” said Skibbe, MSU assistant professor of child development. “But it might do a better job if there was also explicit attention directed at building children’s self-regulation and vocabulary skills.”

The researchers assessed the skills of a cohort of Michigan children attending the first and second years of preschool (generally, 3- and 4-year-olds). The study was one of the first to directly assess self-regulation in this age group.

The findings come amidst a brewing controversy over preschool. Many states are debating whether to offer preschool to all families and how many years children should attend – an important policy question in a time of tight budgets.

Some researchers argue that pre-K programs such as Head Start, a federally funded program for low-income families, offer no long-term benefits for children.

Skibbe disagrees. The study found that attending preschool was associated with gains in literacy skills – specifically, learning the letters of the alphabet and comprehending how they go together to form words.

Skibbe said she supports a preschool curriculum that combines a focused, “holistic approach” to all three elements – literacy, vocabulary and self-control.

“Children should be spending more time in preschool, not less, because the results appear to be cumulative,” she said. “Children who spent two years in preschool, for example, did better in literacy.”

Ω

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://universosportinguista.blogspot.com/2011/02/preschool-beneficial-but-should-offer.html. Thanks!