sports neurology

Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury causing temporary neurologic dysfunction. Symptoms following concussion are variable and generally are expected to resolve within about 1 month, but some patients experience persistent and prolonged symptoms. An early return to safe, symptom-limited activity is now favored, using targeted rehabilitation and treatments. Accommodations may be needed to facilitate return-to-school and work following concussion. Athletes should not be cleared for a full return to sport until they have recovered from a concussion and completed a return-to-play progression, in addition to returning to work/school fully...

This research presents a novel method for objectively evaluating college badminton players' physical function levels. It examines current evaluation methods before proposing a novel model that combines Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with Backpropagation (BP) neural networks and data mining. The model establishes an evaluation index system that considers physical form, function, quality, and neural mechanisms. The study uses PSO-BP neural networks to adjust indicator weights for more accurate ratings. This recurrent improvement reduces errors while increasing prediction ability, resulting in accurate assessments of athletes' physical talents and neurological insights...

Our study addresses the critical question of how learners acquire skills without the constant crutch of feedback, utilizing a specialized training approach with intermittent feedback. Despite recognized benefits in skill retention, the underlying mechanisms of intermittent feedback in motor control neuroscience remain elusive. Leveraging a previously published dataset from visuomotor learning experiments with intermittent feedback, we tested a wide range of proxy-process models that posit the presence of an inferred error signal even when an explicit sensory performance is not present...

Whole-body electromyostimulation has proven to be a highly effective alternative to conventional resistance-type exercise training. However, due to adverse effects in the past, very extensive contraindications have been put in place for the commercial, non-medical WB-EMS market. Considering recent positive innovations e.g., federal regulation, mandatory trainer education, revised guidelines, and new scientific studies on WB-EMS application, we believe that a careful revision of the very restrictive contraindications on WB-EMS is needed...

BACKGROUND: The ability to walk is a key issue for independent old age. Optimizing older peoples' opportunities for an autonomous and active life and reducing health disparities requires a better understanding of how to support independent mobility in older people. With increasing age, changes in gait parameters such as step length and cadence are common and have been shown to increase the risk of mobility decline. However, gait assessments are typically based on laboratory measures, even though walking in a laboratory environment may be significantly different from walking in outdoor environments...

Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI, e.g. sports concussions) may be associated with both acute and chronic symptoms and neurological changes. Despite the common occurrence of these injuries, therapeutic strategies are limited. One potentially promising approach is N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) blockade to alleviate the effects of post-injury glutamatergic excitotoxicity. Initial preclinical work using the NMDAR antagonist, memantine, suggests that immediate treatment following rmTBI improves a variety of acute outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Although limited, recent research suggests that contact sport participation might have an adverse long-term effect on brain health. Further work is required to determine whether this includes an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and/or subsequent changes in cognition and behaviour. The Advanced BiomaRker, Advanced Imaging and Neurocognitive Health Study will prospectively examine the neurological, psychiatric, psychological and general health of retired elite-level rugby union and association football/soccer players...

BACKGROUND: Social communication impairments (SCI) is a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is marked by challenges in social interaction. Although physical exercise has been shown to improve SCI, this finding has not been supported by comprehensive scientific evidence. Existing research has established a strong link between the SCI in children with ASD and abnormalities in regional homogeneity (ReHo). Therefore, investigating the effects of physical exercise on SCI and Reho in patients with ASD may help to elucidate the neurological mechanisms involved...

Muscle fatigue significantly impacts coordination, stability, and speed in daily activities. Accurate assessment of muscle fatigue is vital for effective exercise programs, injury prevention, and sports performance enhancement. Current methods mostly focus on individual muscles and strength evaluation, overlooking overall fatigue in multi-muscle movements. This study introduces a comprehensive muscle fatigue model using non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) weighting. NMF is employed to analyze the duration multi-muscle weight coefficient matrix (DMWCM) during synergistic movements, and four electromyographic (EMG) signal features in time, frequency, and complexity domains are selected...

Studies have indicated that skilled soccer players possess superior decision-making abilities compared to their less-skilled counterparts. However, the underlying neural mechanism for this phenomenon remains incompletely understood. In our investigation, we explored distinctions in the topology of functional brain networks between skilled and less-skilled soccer players. Employing mediating analysis, we scrutinized the relationships among functional brain network parameters, training duration, and decision-making accuracy...

INTRODUCTION: Letters of recommendation (LOR) are an integral component of physical therapy residency applications. Identifying the influence of applicant and writer gender in LOR will help identify whether potential implicit gender bias exists in physical therapy residency application processes. REVIEW OF LITERATURE: Several medical and surgical residency education programs have reported positive, neutral, or negative LOR female gender bias among applicants and writers...

OBJECTIVE: Early detection of cognitive impairment in the elderly is crucial for diagnosis and appropriate care. Brief, cost-effective cognitive screening instruments are needed to help identify individuals who require further evaluation. This study presents preliminary data on a new screening technology using automated voice recording analysis software in a Spanish population. METHOD: Data were collected from 174 Spanish-speaking individuals clinically diagnosed as cognitively normal (CN, n  = 87) or impaired (mild cognitive impairment [MCI], n  = 63; all-cause dementia, n  = 24)...

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has made breakthroughs in spinal cord neural injury and restoration in recent years. It has a positive impact on clinical treatment. This study explores AI research's progress and hotspots in spinal cord neural injury and restoration. It also analyzes research shortcomings related to this area and proposes potential solutions. METHODS: We used CiteSpace 6.1.R6 and VOSviewer 1.6.19 to research WOS articles on AI research in spinal cord neural injury and restoration...

AIM: Address deficiencies in access to sports sideline medical care by using a Concussion Check Protocol (CCP) for non-medically-trained people. METHOD: A prospective observational cohort study was undertaken on a single amateur female club-based soccer team over two consecutive years in New Zealand utilising a non-medically trained support person termed a Safety officer. CCP is an extension of the King-Devick test with features such as warning signs and symptoms of concussion built into the application...

Fabry disease (FD) is caused by mutations in the galactosidase alpha (GLA) gene which lead to the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb-3). Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and oral chaperone therapy are the current pharmacological treatments for this condition. However, in the literature, there is a growing emphasis on exploring non-pharmacological therapeutic strategies to improve the quality of life of patients with FD. In particular, the nutritional approach to FD has been marginally addressed in the scientific literature, although specific dietary interventions may be useful for the management of nephropathy and gastrointestinal complications, which are often present in patients with FD...

This comprehensive review explores the dynamic relationship between sports, nutrition, and neurological health. Focusing on recent clinical advancements, it examines how physical activity and dietary practices influence the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of various neurological conditions. The review highlights the role of neuroimaging in understanding these interactions, discusses emerging technologies in neurotherapeutic interventions, and evaluates the efficacy of sports and nutritional strategies in enhancing neurological recovery...

BACKGROUND: Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) has severe impact on the sport horse population. OBJECTIVE: Study the influence of EHM on the likelihood of affected horses to return to their previous performance and investigate the association of clinical variables with prognosis. ANIMALS: Twenty-six horses positive for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) were admitted to a veterinary teaching hospital (VTH) during a natural EHM outbreak at an international jumping event...

There are no validated diagnostic criteria for traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES). During the early and middle 20th century, TES was described as a clinical condition that was experienced by some high-exposure boxers-and it was believed to reflect chronic traumatic brain injury. Consensus criteria for the diagnosis of TES were published in 2021. We applied the consensus criteria for TES retrospectively to cases of chronic brain damage in boxers described in articles published in the 20th century that were obtained from narrative and systematic reviews...

(1) Purpose : The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures in children and adolescents has considerably increased during the last decades due to higher levels of competitive athletic activity, and early sport specialization and professionalization. Contemporary ACL reconstruction techniques have recently been subject to renewed interest in this population. The objective of this study is to report the short- and mid-term results of our physis-sparing ACL reconstruction technique using an "over the top" technique associated with a modified Lemaire procedure...

Multimodal biomarkers may identify former contact sports athletes with repeated concussions and at risk for dementia. Our study aims to investigate whether biomarker evidence of neurodegeneration in former professional athletes with repetitive concussions (ExPro) is associated with worse cognition and mood/behavior, brain atrophy, and altered functional connectivity. Forty-one contact sports athletes with repeated concussions were divided into neurodegenerative biomarker-positive (n = 16) and biomarker-negative (n = 25) groups based on positivity of serum neurofilament light-chain...