Atypical symptom reporting after mild traumatic brain injury

Objective: Early reporting of atypical symptoms following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be an early indicator of poor prognosis. This study aimed to determine the percentage of people reporting atypical symptoms 1-month post-mTBI and explore links to recovery 12 months later in a community-dwelling mTBI sample. Methods: Adult participants (>16 years) who had experienced a mTBI were identified from a longitudinal incidence study (BIONIC). At 1-month post-injury, 260 participants completed the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (typical symptoms) plus four atypical symptom items (hemiplegia, difficulty swallowing, digestion problems and difficulties with fine motor tasks). At 12 months post-injury, 73.9% (n = 193) rated their overall recovery on a 100-point scale. An ordinal regression explored the association between atypical symptoms at 1 month and recovery at 12 months post-injury (low = 0–80, moderate = 81–99 and complete recovery = 100), whilst controlling for age, sex, rehabilitation received, ethnicity, mental and physical comorbidities and additional injuries sustained at the time of injury. Results: At 1-month post-injury <1% of participants reported hemiplegia, 5.4% difficulty swallowing, 10% digestion problems and 15.4% difficulties with fine motor tasks. The ordinal regression model revealed atypical symptoms were not significant predictors of self-rated recovery at 12 months. Older age at injury and higher typical symptoms at 1 month were independently associated with poorer recovery at 12 months, p < 0.01. Conclusion: Atypical symptoms on initial presentation were not linked to global self-reported recovery at 12 months. Age at injury and typical symptoms are stronger early indicators of longer-term prognosis. Further research is needed to determine if atypical symptoms predict other outcomes following mTBI.

Telephone-Based Word List Recall and Hearing Ability

Certain consonant sounds called fricatives (e.g, “s” and “f”) are difficult to hear over the telephone; phones exclude high-frequency sounds that affect their intelligibility. This may be problematic for older adults responding to phone-based memory tests. Many older adults have some degree of hearing loss, and older men have it more in the high-frequency range. Hearing loss, in combination with phone bandwidth restrictions, may reduce older adults’ recall of fricative words. Participants (n=3,612, mean age=64.2, 60% women) in the 1998 wave of the Health and Retirement study (HRS) completed a word list immediate recall task over the phone. List 4 recall was examined because it was evenly split (5 each) between words with and without fricative consonant sounds. Subjective ratings of hearing and health, age, depression, and education were also measured. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed participants recalled fewer fricative (M=2.8) than nonfricative (M=3.0) words, Z=-8.47, p&lt;.001. An ordinal regression for fricative word recall indicated a sex by hearing interaction; males with worse hearing were less likely to recall more fricative words, OR=.94, 95% CI [.88, 1.01], p=.076, after controlling for age, education, health, and depression. An ordinal regression for nonfricative word recall did not show a main effect for hearing or a hearing by sex interaction. For both models, age, education, and health were related to recall. Consonant sounds may influence phone-based word recall, particularly for older men. Attention should be paid to word selection when designing phone-based cognitive tests in order to avoid memory impairment overestimation.

A Bayesian Multilevel Ordinal Regression Model for Fish Maturity Data: Difference in Maturity Ogives of Skipjack Tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) Between Schools in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

The maturity ogive is vital to defining the fraction of a population capable of reproduction. In this study, we proposed a novel approach, a Bayesian multilevel ordinal regression (i.e., Bayesian continuation ratio model), to model the maturity ogive. The model assumes that the observed maturity stage originates from the categorization of latent continuous variables. We demonstrated this approach by testing whether there are differences in the maturity ogive of skipjack tuna (Katsuonus pelamis) in the western and central Pacific Ocean between two school types, i.e., free-swimming and floating-object-associated schools. The model results show that K. pelamis, given the same fork length, are more likely to have a higher maturity stage in a free-swimming school than those associated with floating objects. The gonadosomatic index revealed the same conclusion. Our results indicate that fish aggregation devices (FADs) could negatively affect the maturity of K. pelamis and consequently reduce the population reproductive potential. This study provides (1) an alternative approach to analyze fisheries ordinal data; (2) important quantitative evidence to evaluate the existing ecological hypotheses; and (3) implications for tuna fisheries management.

Minimally Invasive Surgery in Emergency Surgery: A WSES Survey

Background: The diffusion of minimally invasive surgery in emergency surgery still represents a developing challenge. Evidence about the use of minimally invasive surgery shows its feasibility and safety, however the diffusion of these techniques is still poor. The aims of the present survey were to explore the diffusion and variations in the use of minimally invasive surgery among surgeons in the emergency setting.Methods: This is a web-based survey administered to all the WSES members investigating the diffusion of minimally invasive surgery in emergency. The survey investigated personal characteristics of participants, hospital characteristics, personal confidence in the use of minimally invasive surgery in emergency, limitations in the use of it and limitations to prosecute minimally invasive surgery in emergency surgery. Characteristics related to the use of minimally invasive surgery were studied with a multivariate ordinal regression.Results: The survey collected a total of 415 answers; 42.2% of participants declared a working experience >15 years and 69.4% of responders worked in tertiary level centre or academic hospital. In primary emergencies only28,7% of participants declared the use of laparoscopy in more than 50% of times. Personal confidence with minimally invasive techniques was the highest for appendectomy and cholecystectomy. At multivariate ordinal regression a longer professional experience, the use of laparoscopy in major elective surgery and bariatric surgery expertise were related to a higher use of laparoscopy in emergency surgery.Conclusions: The survey shows that minimally invasive techniques in emergency surgery are still underutilized. Greater focus should be placed on the development of dedicated training in laparoscopy among emergency surgeons.

Discrimination and victimisation of minorities in Spain: The research potential of the EU-MIDIS project

This article highlights the research potential of the European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS), which the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights had conducted twice across Europe by 2021. It begins with an overview of the EU-MIDIS project before concentrating on the second survey (EU-MIDIS II) conducted in 2015 and 2016 (N=25,500), the database of which is available in open access. The paper focuses on the main findings of the EU-MIDIS II in Spain, where the sample was composed of migrants from North Africa and people of Roma ethnicity (N=1,563). The main findings of the survey provide helpful insights into a form of victimisation that is usually absent in official criminal statistics, yet the Spanish EU-MIDIS II database is a mine of information waiting to be exploited. This article proposes a series of analyses that could be performed, including logistic and ordinal regression, as well as mediation modelling, which could identify the variables that influence minorities’ discrimination and victimisation. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the EU-MIDIS project are discussed.

Association between Neighborhood Social Deprivation and Stage at Diagnosis among Breast Cancer Patients in South Carolina

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between neighborhood social deprivation and individual-level characteristics on breast cancer staging in African American and white breast cancer patients. We established a retrospective cohort of patients with breast cancer diagnosed from 1996 to 2015 using the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry. We abstracted sociodemographic and clinical variables from the registry and linked these data to a county-level composite that captured neighborhood social conditions—the social deprivation index (SDI). Data were analyzed using chi-square tests, Student’s t-test, and multivariable ordinal regression analysis to evaluate associations. The study sample included 52,803 female patients with breast cancer. Results from the multivariable ordinal regression model demonstrate that higher SDI (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02–1.10), African American race (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.29–1.41), and being unmarried (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13–1.22) were associated with a distant stage at diagnosis. Higher tumor grade, younger age, and more recent year of diagnosis were also associated with distant-stage diagnosis. As a proxy for neighborhood context, the SDI can be used by cancer registries and related population-based studies to identify geographic areas that could be prioritized for cancer prevention and control efforts.

Age-Related Differences in Hamstring Flexibility in Prepubertal Soccer Players: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to investigate the hamstring flexibility rate among prepubertal soccer players from U8 to U12 and the role of age and soccer years of practice on the course of hamstring flexibility. Six hundred eleven young Italian soccer players from a local soccer school in Turin were recruited for this research and assigned to each group according to their chronological age (U8 = 124 players; U9 = 130 players; U10 = 151 players; U11 = 89 players; and U12 = 120 players). Hamstring flexibility was measured using the Sit and Reach Test (SAR), while data analysis was run using a one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA). Furthermore, Tuckey’s post hoc was used to determine differences among the classes of age. Finally, a bivariate ordinal regression analysis was used to evaluate a potential association between age categories and hamstrings flexibility. In addition, multivariable ordinal regression was used to analyze this relationship adjusted for the Body Mass Index (BMI). The one-way ANOVA showed significant differences in flexibility among groups (F = 32.76, P &lt; 0.0001). Tuckey’s post hoc identified significant differences between U8 and U10 (p &lt; 0.01; −2,39 cm of hamstring stretching), U8 and U11 (p &lt; 0.05; −2.19 cm), U8 and U12 (p &lt; 0.0001; −5.90), U9 and U12 (p &lt; 0.0001; −4.98 cm), U10 and U12 (p &lt; 0.0001; −3.5 cm), U11 and U12 (p &lt; 0,001; −3.70 cm). In the bivariate ordinal regression analysis, there was a negative association between the age categories and hamstrings flexibility (R2 = 0.137; p &lt; 0.0001). The association persisted in multivariable ordinal regression analysis adjusted for BMI (R2 = 0.138; p &lt; 0.0001). This study underlines changes in hamstring flexibility across different age groups of prepubertal soccer players. The older and more experienced in soccer are less flexible than the younger, considering the hamstring muscles. Thus, appropriate stretching protocols should be included in prepubertal soccer training to avoid the risk of lead players to excess hamstring tightness.

KESIAPAN SEKOLAH DI TINJAU DARI USIA DAN KECERDASAN DI SD MUHAMMADIYAH KABUPATEN ROKAN HULU RIAU

School readiness is essential for children because children ready to enter elementary school will benefit and progress further than those not prepared to enter elementary school. Kustimah (2008) stated that the factors that influence children's readiness to enter elementary school include age and level of intelligence. Age factors can affect thinking and work. A person's mindset and grasping power are also influenced by age. The older a person gets, the more his grasping ability and attitude will develop and, of course, affect the knowledge he gains. This study is a quantitative study that aims to determine the effect between age and intelligence of early childhood on their readiness to enter elementary school by using psychological test tools Nijmeegse Schoolbekwaamheids Test (NST) and Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM). Studies conducted this research at Muhammadiyah Elementary School, Rokan Hulu Regency, Riau Province. From 85 respondents, using the ordinal regression model, the results were 0.998, 0.998, 0.278, and 0.887; this shows that age and intelligence have no significant effect on children's readiness to enter school.