Glenohumeral Instability and Arm Pain in Overhead Throwing Athletes: A Correlational Study.

Background: The overhead activity of throwing a baseball is arguably the most demanding athletic endeavor placed on the glenohumeral (GH) joint. Previous studies illustrate that 75-80% of baseball players will experience some degree of upper extremity (UE) pain. GH instability is thought to play a role.

Tracking implementation within a community-led whole of system approach to address childhood overweight and obesity in south west Sydney, Australia.

Background: Obesity is a chronic disease that contributes to additional comorbidities including diabetes, kidney disease and several cancers. Change4Campbelltown implemented a 'whole of system' approach to address childhood overweight and obesity. We present methods to track implementation and stakeholder engagement in Change4Campbelltown.

Tools and analytic techniques to synthesise community knowledge in CBPR using computer-mediated participatory system modelling.

Participatory systems thinking methods are often used in community-based participatory research to engage and respond to complexity. Participation in systems thinking activities creates opportunities for participants to gain useful insights about complexity. It is desirable to design activities that extend the benefits of this participation into communities, as these insights are predictive of success in community-based prevention.

Quantifying a Systems Map: Network Analysis of a Childhood Obesity Causal Loop Diagram.

Causal loop diagrams developed by groups capture a shared understanding of complex problems and provide a visual tool to guide interventions. This paper explores the application of network analytic methods as a new way to gain quantitative insight into the structure of an obesity causal loop diagram to inform intervention design. Identification of the structural features of causal loop diagrams is likely to provide new insights into the emergent properties of complex systems and analysing central drivers has the potential to identify leverage points.

Enhancing medical named entity recognition with an extended segment representation technique.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to formulate an extended segment representation (SR) technique to enhance named entity recognition (NER) in medical applications.

Methods: An extension to the IOBES (Inside/Outside/Begin/End/Single) SR technique is formulated. In the proposed extension, a new class is assigned to words that do not belong to a named entity (NE) in one context but appear as an NE in other contexts.

A comparison of two non-thrust mobilization techniques applied to the C7 segment in patients with restricted and painful cervical rotation.

Objectives: Cervical mobilization and manipulation have been shown to improve cervical range of motion and pain. Rotatory thrust manipulation applied to the lower cervical segments is associated with controversy and the potential for eliciting adverse reactions (AR). The purpose of this clinical trial was to describe two translatory non-thrust mobilization techniques and evaluate their effect on cervical pain, motion restriction, and whether any adverse effects were reported when applied to the C7 segment.

Ultrasound analysis of the vertebral artery during non-thrust cervical translatoric spinal manipulation.

Objective: Cervical translatoric spinal manipulation (TSM) techniques have been suggested as a safer alternative to cervical thrust rotatory techniques. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of three C5-C6 non-thrust TSM techniques on vertebral artery (VA) lumen diameter (LD) and two blood flow velocity parameters. The two-tailed research hypothesis was that the TSM techniques would result in a significant change (increase or decrease) in blood flow velocity and arterial LD at the C5-C6 intertransverse portion of the VA.

Comprehensive review of neural network-based prediction intervals and new advances.

This paper evaluates the four leading techniques proposed in the literature for construction of prediction intervals (PIs) for neural network point forecasts. The delta, Bayesian, bootstrap, and mean-variance estimation (MVE) methods are reviewed and their performance for generating high-quality PIs is compared. PI-based measures are proposed and applied for the objective and quantitative assessment of each method's performance.

Lower upper bound estimation method for construction of neural network-based prediction intervals.

Prediction intervals (PIs) have been proposed in the literature to provide more information by quantifying the level of uncertainty associated to the point forecasts. Traditional methods for construction of neural network (NN) based PIs suffer from restrictive assumptions about data distribution and massive computational loads. In this paper, we propose a new, fast, yet reliable method for the construction of PIs for NN predictions.

The effect of tibio-femoral traction mobilization on passive knee flexion motion impairment and pain: a case series.

The purpose of this case series was to explore the effects of tibio-femoral (TF) manual traction on pain and passive range of motion (PROM) in individuals with unilateral motion impairment and pain in knee flexion. Thirteen participants volunteered for the study. All participants received 6 minutes of TF traction mobilization applied at end-range passive knee flexion.

The immediate effects of upper thoracic translatoric spinal manipulation on cervical pain and range of motion: a randomized clinical trial.

This study examined the effect of translatoric spinal manipulation (TSM) on cervical pain and cervical active motion restriction when applied to upper thoracic (T1-T4) segments. Active cervical rotation range of motion was measured re- and post-intervention with a cervical inclinometer (CROM), and cervical pain status was monitored before and after manipulation with a Faces Pain Scale. Study participants included a sample of convenience that included 32 patients referred to physical therapy with complaints of pain in the mid-cervical region and restricted active cervical rotation.

Use of anterior tibial translation in the management of patellofemoral pain syndrome in older patients: a case series.

The currently most plausible pathophysiologic theory for the etiology of pain in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome involves abnormal mechanical stress to the patellofemoral joint. At this time, there is no consensus nor is there a sufficient body of research evidence to guide management of patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome. This means that clinicians have to rely to some extent on a mechanism-based approach.