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Accurate, and objective diagnosis of brain injury remains challenging. This study evaluated useability and reliability of computerized eye-tracker assessments (CEAs) designed to assess oculomotor function, visual attention/processing, and selective attention in recent mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), persistent post-concussion syndrome (PPCS), and controls. Tests included egocentric localisation, fixation-stability, smooth-pursuit, saccades, Stroop, and the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Thirty-five healthy adults performed the CEA battery twice to assess useability and test–retest reliability. In separate experiments, CEA data from 55 healthy, 20 mTBI, and 40 PPCS adults were used to train a machine learning model to categorize participants into control, mTBI, or PPCS classes. Intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated moderate (ICC > .50) to excellent (ICC > .98) reliability ( p  < .05) and satisfactory CEA compliance. Machine learning modelling categorizing participants into groups of control, mTBI, and PPCS performed reasonably (balanced accuracy control: 0.83, mTBI: 0.66, and PPCS: 0.76, AUC-ROC: 0.82). Key outcomes were the VOR (gaze stability), fixation (vertical error), and pursuit (total error, vertical gain, and number of saccades). The CEA battery was reliable and able to differentiate healthy, mTBI, and PPCS patients reasonably well. While promising, the diagnostic model accuracy should be improved with a larger training dataset before use in clinical environments.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted health professional education, with lasting effects on student wellbeing. Following documented post-lockdown declines in quality of life (QOL) among chiropractic students in Aotearoa New Zealand, targeted wellbeing programs were implemented to support institutional recovery. Methods Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey data were collected, March–April 2024, and compared across time points (2019, 2022, 2024) and against New Zealand normative values. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared data with norms, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests compared between-cohort, with effect sizes reported as rank-biserial correlations. Results One hundred and fourteen students (25.2 ± 5.5 years, 59.0% female) were compared with 276 pre-COVID (25.6 ± 5.2 years, 51.1% female) and 120 post-COVID (25.1 ± 6.0 years, 60.8% female) datasets. QOL declined markedly in 2022, with partial recovery by 2024. Improvements were most evident in Role Emotional (Year 4: 21.6 to 76.4, p  < .001), Emotional Wellbeing (Year 4: 50.7 to 73.8, p  < .001), and Energy and Fatigue (Year 4: 27.0 to 52.3, p  < .001). However, scores generally remained below 2019 levels, and Pain scores remained markedly lower than population norms. Conclusion By 2024, chiropractic students’ QOL had improved compared with post-COVID levels but had not fully returned to pre-pandemic values. While institutional and environmental factors may have supported partial recovery, persistent deficits in bodily pain experienced and reduction in energy and fatigue highlight the need for ongoing targeted support. These findings suggest that low-cost institutional wellbeing programs may have supported QOL recovery, though causality cannot be inferred from this design. Key Points Following the COVID-19 pandemic, chiropractic students in Aotearoa New Zealand experienced marked declines in quality of life, particularly in emotional wellbeing, energy, and social functioning. Two years after institutional wellbeing programs were introduced, students showed clear improvements across most areas, although pain and energy and fatigue levels remained below pre-pandemic levels. These findings suggest that low-cost wellbeing initiatives in health professional education can meaningfully support student recovery and may offer a cost-effective way to strengthen future healthcare workforce resilience.

Objective To explore differences in palpatory acuity between two independent student cohorts from 2015 to 2024, and to assess the potential effect of pedagogical changes in the teaching of palpation skills that emphasize sensory awareness over anatomical identification at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic (NZCC). Methods This study was a comparative cross-sectional study using two independent student cohorts. In 2015, palpatory acuity was assessed in 199 chiropractic students (42.5% female, mean: 25.8 ± 7.4 years) from 4 different cohorts. In 2024, 154 students (54.5% female, mean: 23.6 ± 5.6 years) over 4 cohorts were assessed. Palpatory acuity was measured by the participant’s ability to accurately locate a 0.1 mm nylon monofilament under a variable number of 80gsm white copying paper sheets while blindfolded. Unpaired Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to assess differences between timepoints (2015 and 2024) and year groups. Results The 2024 group (mean: 67.8 ± 22.5 pages) demonstrated significantly higher palpatory acuity compared with the 2015 group (mean: 31.1 ± 22.4 pages, p  < .001). All cohorts in 2024 outperformed their 2015 counterparts ( p  < .001). In both groups, acuity improved notably between cohorts in years 2 and 3 but showed minimal further gains in the final year. In the 2015 group, year 3 (mean: 38.0 ± 24.4) and year 4 (mean: 37.5 ± 20.1) students outperformed year 1 (mean: 25.1 ± 19.8, p  = .028–0.040) and year 2 students (mean: 26.3 ± 22.6, p  = .039–0.040). In the 2024 group, year 3 students (mean: 81.7 ± 15.2) performed significantly better than year 1 (mean: 59.8 ± 22.5, p  < .001) and year 2 students (mean: 70.6 ± 17.5, p  = .023). Discussion These findings suggest that emphasizing sensory experience in palpation training may enhance student performance. Educators may consider integrating more structured haptic exercises early in curricula, while future research should explore longitudinal outcomes and the neural mechanisms underlying skill acquisition to guide further educational reform. Conclusion Curricular and pedagogical changes at NZCC were linked to significantly greater palpatory acuity in students. Palpatory acuity appears to improve early-to-midway through training (regardless of the method used to teach it), with limited gains thereafter. Practical experience and repetition contribute to improving acuity, but this study highlights the value of sensory-focused practice in curriculum design for chiropractic education.

The effect of body posture on the human soleus H-reflex via electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve at the popliteal fossa was studied. All parameters that may influence the reflex were controlled stringently. H-reflexes were elicited in three different body postures while keeping the level of background muscle activation to a minimum. The H-reflex curve relative to the M-wave curve did not change significantly in any of the body postures. However, the maximal H-reflex amplitude significantly increased in the prone position compared with the sitting (p = 0.02) and standing positions (p = 0.01). The background level of electrical activity of the soleus muscle did not significantly change during varying body postures. Together, these findings indicate that the effectiveness of the spindle primary afferent synapse on the soleus motor neuron pool changes significantly in prone position as compared to sitting and standing positions. Given that we have controlled the confounding factors excluding the head position relative to the gravity and the receptors that may be differentially activated at varying body postures such as the proprioceptors, it is concluded that the tonic activity from these receptors may presynaptically interfere with the effectiveness of the spindle primary afferent synapses on the soleus motor neurons.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage between health and dementia, with various symptoms including memory, language, and visuospatial impairment. Chiropractic, a manual therapy that seeks to improve the function of the body and spine, has been shown to affect sensorimotor processing, multimodal sensory processing, and mental processing tasks. In this paper, the effect of chiropractic intervention on Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in patients with mild cognitive impairment was investigated. EEG signals from two groups of patients with mild cognitive impairment ( = 13 people in each group) were recorded pre- and post-control and chiropractic intervention. A comparison of relative power was done with the support vector machine (SVM) method and non-parametric cluster-based permutation test showing the two groups could be separately identified with high accuracy. The highest accuracy was obtained in beta2 (25-35 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) bands. A comparison of different brain areas with the SVM method showed that the intervention had a greater effect on frontal areas. Also, interhemispheric coherence in all regions increased significantly after the intervention. The results of the Wilcoxon test showed that intrahemispheric coherence changes in frontal-occipital, frontal-temporal and right temporal-occipital regions were significantly different in two groups. Comparison of the results obtained from chiropractic intervention and previous studies shows that chiropractic intervention can have a positive effect on MCI disease and using this method may slow down the progression of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent, chronic neurodevelopmental disorder that affects oculomotor (eye movement) control. Dysfunctional oculomotor control may result in reading or educational difficulties. This randomized controlled crossover study sought to investigate the feasibility of a larger scale trial and effects of a single session of spinal manipulation on oculomotor control in children with ADHD. Thirty children participated in the study and were randomized into either control-first or spinal manipulation first groups. The results indicate that the trial was feasible. Secondary outcomes showed that there was a significant decrease in reading time after the spinal manipulation intervention compared to the control intervention. Future studies of the effects of spinal manipulation on oculomotor control in children with ADHD are suggested.

The Pew Research Center (2010, March 1) identified three crucial “new metrics of news” (p. 2) that help to explain the appeal of new, interactive media forms among young adult news consumers. These metrics of Portability, Personalizability and Participation (Pew, 2010) highlight the rapid transformations in technology and user interests that have helped create a new manifestation of what McLuhan called an “age of anxiety” (1967/2001, pp. 8-9) in mass media industries and in mass communication education and scholarship. The purpose of this research is to investigate this very shift in how news is delivered and consumed, with particular attention to the preferences of college students for news that offers Pew’s (2010, March 1) new metrics. Which facet of news best attracts college students’ engagement? Do young adults’ media choices depend mostly on the news content or channel, or mostly on the technology through which content is delivered? This research explores these questions with new theoretical tools, combining traditional uses and gratifications theory (Blumler & Katz, 1974) with concepts from ecological psychology (Gibson, 1979; Michaels & Carello, 1981). This examination asks whether users’ preferences for Pew’s (2010) new metrics differ, based on respondents’ action goals, informational goals, or selected demographic characteristics.

Part of what makes Delta so appealing to families is its greenery. As far as housing goes, Delta is full, and to make more houses at the expense of trees and fields would be tragic.

Television has certainly supplied our society with a lot of rubbish over the years but it has also managed to do a great deal of good. It has relayed news that would otherwise have been hidden. It has allowed us to share historic moments as eyewitnesses. It has provided entertainment and insight to so many.

Tissue engineering approaches have the potential to increase the physiologic relevance of human iPS-derived cells, such as cardiomyocytes (iPS-CM). However, forming Engineered Heart Muscle (EHM) typically requires >1 million cells per tissue. Existing miniaturization strategies involve complex approaches not amenable to mass production, limiting the ability to use EHM for iPS-based disease modeling and drug screening. Micro-scale cardiospheres are easily produced, but do not facilitate assembly of elongated muscle or direct force measurements. Here we describe an approach that combines features of EHM and cardiospheres: Micro-Heart Muscle (μHM) arrays, in which elongated muscle fibers are formed in an easily fabricated template, with as few as 2,000 iPS-CM per individual tissue. Within μHM, iPS-CM exhibit uniaxial contractility and alignment, robust sarcomere assembly and reduced variability and hypersensitivity in drug responsiveness, compared to monolayers with the same cellular composition. μHM mounted onto standard force measurement apparatus exhibited a robust Frank-Starling response to external stretch and a dose-dependent inotropic response to the β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol. Based on the ease of fabrication, the potential for mass production and the small number of cells required to form μHM, this system provides a potentially powerful tool to study cardiomyocyte maturation, disease and cardiotoxicology in vitro .