What can family medicine providers learn about concussion non-disclosure from former collegiate athletes?

Background: Despite the risks, concussion symptoms often go underreported by athletes, leading to delayed or forgone treatment and increased potential for concussion recurrence. One of the most serious long-term consequences of sports-related concussions is Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy (CTE), a disorder associated with progressive neurological deterioration. The purpose of this study was to explore former collegiate athletes' understanding of concussions and motivations behind concussion non-disclosure in order to better assist family medicine providers in screening for and managing a history of concussions.

Characterizing Information Processing With a Mobile Device: Measurement of Simple and Choice Reaction Time.

Information processing is typically evaluated using simple reaction time (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT) paradigms in which a specific response is initiated following a given stimulus. The measurement of reaction time (RT) has evolved from monitoring the timing of mechanical switches to computerized paradigms. The proliferation of mobile devices with touch screens makes them a natural next technological approach to assess information processing.

Using Accelerometer and Gyroscopic Measures to Quantify Postural Stability.

Context: Force platforms and 3-dimensional motion-capture systems provide an accurate method of quantifying postural stability. Substantial cost, space, time to administer, and need for trained personnel limit widespread use of biomechanical techniques in the assessment of postural stability in clinical or field environments.

Objective: To determine whether accelerometer and gyroscope data sampled from a consumer electronics device (iPad2) provide sufficient resolution of center-of-gravity (COG) movements to accurately quantify postural stability in healthy young people.

Distinguishing the transition to chaos in a spherical pendulum.

Complex responses are studied for a spherical pendulum whose support is excited with a translational periodic motion. Governing equations are studied analytically to allow prediction of responses under various excitation conditions. Stability for certain cases of damping is predicted by means of existing analysis and compared with experimental data.