Objective We examined perceived workload as it is related to Brief Visual Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) short-delay and long-delay performance in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and healthy comparison (HC) participants. Method The sample consisted of 39 TBI participants and 54 HC participants. Demographically corrected BVMT-R scores were used to evaluate short-delay and long-delay performances. The perceived workload was measured using the NASA-TLX. Results ANOVA revealed that the HC group outperformed the TBI group on the BVMT-R short-delay and long-delay score, p < 05, η p 2 = 0.05. ANCOVAs controlling for age were used to evaluate NASA-TLX group differences. In regards to the NASA-TLX, TBI participants reported higher levels of physical demand, effort, frustration and overall subjective workload on the BVMT-R short-delay compared to HC participants, p < 05, η p 2 = 0.01–0.09. Furthermore, on the long-delay of the BVMT-R, the NASA-TLX revealed that the TBI group reported higher levels of temporal demand, effort, frustration and overall subjective workload compared to the HC group, p < 0.05, η p 2 = 0.05–0.14. Conclusions Results revealed that TBI participants demonstrated worse BVMT-R performances than HC participants. However, TBI survivors reported higher perceived workload demands compared to the HC group in both short-delay and long-delay of the BVMT-R. Our findings suggest that TBI impacts non-verbal memory performance in both BVMT-R short-delay and long-delay. Also, brain injury may be impacting TBI survivors’ awareness of their non-verbal memory performance. Further work is required to determine what drives the impaired perception of non-verbal memory performance among TBI survivors.
Childhood obesity leads to numerous health problems making it a national health crisis. Prevalence rates have tripled since the 1980's, and without identifying the causes the problem will continue to intensify. It is crucial to detect obesity risk factors early in life so that strategies can be formulated to reverse this trend. This study's objective was to determine if a relationship exists between BMI category and screen time in preschool children enrolled in Head Start in Central Arkansas. A retrospective cross‐sectional study was conducted using de‐identified data. Study participants included children ages 3–5 years (n=360) enrolled in Head Start. The main outcomes measures were BMI category and screen time. Almost half (44%) of the children viewed more than 2 hours of screen time per day despite the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics to limit screen time in children to ≤2 hours per day. Additionally, 24% of the children did not participate in any physical activity in the past week. Pearson's Chi Square showed no significant association (p=0.057) between BMI category and hours of screen time. A significant negative association was determined between screen time and participation in physical activity (p=0.024). Interventions that stress TV reduction and increased physical activity are crucial for obesity prevention and treatment in this population.
Introduction Repeated sports-related concussions have been associated with cognitive deficits, similar to other forms of traumatic brain injury. We investigated three different measures of executive ability derived from the Trail Making Test part B (TMT-B) in healthy comparison (HC) adults and retired football players. Methods The sample consisted of 32 HC, 15 retired football speed players (FSP; e.g., quarterbacks), and 53 retired football non-speed players (FNP) participants. Participants were administered both TMT part A (TMT-A) and TMT-B, and total time for completion was recorded. A series of ANCOVAs, controlling for age and education were conducted to evaluate group differences in executive abilities. Executive measures included the TMT-B raw score (i.e., seconds to complete TMT-B), the raw score difference (in seconds) between TMT-A and TMT-B (TMT-BA), and the difference between a predicted TMT-B score (TMT-BP) and the obtained TMT-B score (TMT-BBP). Correlations between TMT-B, TMT-BA, and TMT-BBP and other executive functioning tests (i.e., letter fluency and animal naming) were evaluated. Results Results revealed that the HC group outperformed both retired football player groups on all measures of executive ability derived from TMT-B, p’s < 0.05, ηps2 = 0.18–0.45. Furthermore, the retired FNP TMT-B and TMT-BA were significantly correlated with both letter fluency and animal naming, r’s = −0.40 to −0.36, p’s < 0.05. Discussion We found that the HC group outperformed both retired football player groups on all three TMT variables. In our retired FNP sample, more TMT variables correlated with executive functioning measures which suggests that TMT-B and TMT-BA are likely better measures of executive ability than TMT-BBP.
Objective We examined the effects of depression in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and healthy comparison (HC) adults attention/processing speed (APS) performance. Method The sample size consisted of 44 acute TBI (ATBI), 32 chronic TBI (CTBI), and 59 HC participants. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test Oral (SDMT-O) and written (SDMT-W), Stroop Color Word Test word (SCWT-W) and color (SCWT-C), and Trail Making Test part A (TMT-A) were used to evaluate APS. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to assess depression (HADS-D). Results ANCOVAs, controlling for age revealed the HC group outperformed both TBI groups on the SDMT-W and SCWT-C, p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.08–0.24. We also found the CTBI group outperformed the ATBI group on the SDMT-W, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.24. Next, on the SDMT-O and TMT-A, the HC and CTBI groups outperformed the ATBI group, p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.10–0.15. On the SCWT-W, the HC group outperformed the ATBI group, p = 0.004, ηp2 = 0.08. Additionally, on HADS-D, both TBI groups reported higher symptoms of depression compared to the HC group, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.09. Pearson correlations revealed that for the CTBI group HADS-D correlated with SDMT-W, R2 = -0.36, p = 0.043. Finally, for the HC group HADS-D correlated with SDMT-O, R2 = -0.38, p = 0.003, and SCWT-C, R2 = -0.26, p = 0.045. Conclusions Overall, the ATBI survivors underperformed on all APS tasks compared to the HC group. Furthermore, we found the CTBI group outperformed the ATBI group on several APS tasks. Our data suggests that depressive symptoms are related more to APS tasks in CTBI survivors and HC compared to ATBI survivors.
Objective We examined two established Spanish-English bilingual norms to assess if traumatic brain injury (TBI) deficits were still found if language was no longer a variable influencing Boston Naming Test (BNT) performance. Method The sample consisted of 47 healthy comparison (HC; 24 English-Monolinguals; 23 Spanish-English Bilinguals), 33 acute TBI (ATBI; 20 English-Monolinguals; 13 Spanish-English Bilinguals), and 25 Chronic TBI (CTBI: 13 English-Monolinguals; 12 Spanish-English Bilinguals) participants. Raw scores and adjusted demographic T-scores (Roberts et al., 2002; Rosselli et al., 1997) were used to evaluate BNT performance. Results An ANCOVA controlling for age, revealed the HC group outperformed the TBI group on the BNT (raw score), p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11. We also found monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on the BNT, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.24. Using the Roberts et al., (2002) norms, we found the HC group outperformed the TBI group, p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11, but no language differences were found. Next, using Rosselli et al., (1997) norms, we found the HC group outperformed the TBI group on the BNT, p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11, and monolingual speakers outperformed bilingual speakers, p = 0.014, ηp2 = 0.06. No interactions were found. Conclusions As expected, the TBI group demonstrated worse BNT performance compared to HC group on both language norms. However, when using Roberts et al., (2002) Spanish-English bilingual norms, no language group differences were found. Our data indicates that when examining BNT performance in a Spanish-English bilingual and English-monolingual TBI sample, Roberts et al., (2002) normative data may be better suited to evaluate BNT deficits in a TBI while taking language into account.
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