Select graduating residents across various specialties will need to perform bedside procedures as fellows, as supervising faculty, or as practicing providers. Therefore, the development of a focused and structured curriculum is needed to enhance procedure training. We aim to introduce reproducible frameworks and tools for procedure training. Virginia Commonwealth University internal medicine residents rotate through a two-tertiary care hospital system which consists of 1200 inpatient beds. Categorical internal medicine residents participated in this curriculum with no significant difference in age, gender, or percentage of residents pursuing procedure-related fields before or after curriculum implementation. The procedure curriculum entails just-in-time simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) for bedside procedures with complete supervision in a clinical environment thereafter with multimodal assessments regardless of competency level achieved at the discretion of a procedure competency committee. Residents provide feedback via dedicated evaluations for faculty, SBML sessions, procedure rotation, and program evaluations. Our findings reinforce the use of just-in-time SBML and a medicine procedure service and show the benefit of continued supervision with multimodal assessments regardless of competency level assigned by a procedure competency committee.
Academic burnout impairs university students' development, yet research on Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students facing both academic and high-intensity training pressure is insufficient. This study explored the association between positive parenting style and academic burnout among PETE students, testing the chain mediating roles of physical activity and meaning in life based on Conservation of Resources theory. A cross-sectional design was used. In December 2025, a stratified sampling method was applied to survey 1,192 PETE students from 15 provinces in China (age range 18-24 years, M = 19.5, SD = 1.27; 54.4% male). Participants completed the Short Form of the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (S-EMBU) for positive parenting style, the Physical Activity Behavior Scale, the Chinese Meaning in Life Questionnaire (C-MLQ), and the Adolescent Learning Burnout Inventory (ALBI). Chain mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS macro (Model 6) in SPSS 25.0, and indirect effects were tested with the bootstrap method (5,000 resamples). Correlation analysis showed significant pairwise correlations among positive parenting style, physical activity, meaning in life, and academic burnout. After controlling for gender and grade, the chain mediation model was supported. Positive parenting style was negatively associated with academic burnout (β = -0.110, p < 0.001). Three indirect pathways were identified: (1) via physical activity (indirect effect = -0.307, 95% CI [-0.340, -0.274]), (2) via meaning in life (indirect effect = -0.019, 95% CI [-0.030, -0.011]), and (3) via the sequential path of physical activity to meaning in life (indirect effect = -0.048, 95% CI [-0.061, -0.037]). Positive parenting style was negatively associated with academic burnout among PETE students. The independent mediating effect of physical activity was the strongest (effect = -0.307, 63.3% of total indirect effect). The chain mediation pathway (positive parenting style → physical activity → meaning in life → academic burnout) showed a small effect size (indirect effect = -0.048, contributing only 9.9% of the total indirect effect), indicating it plays a minor, auxiliary role rather than a dominant mechanism. Due to the cross-sectional design, causality cannot be inferred. Future longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these associations.
The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is driving transformative changes in physical education, highlighting the critical need for pre-service teachers to develop AI-specific pedagogical knowledge and ethical awareness. This study explores the role of self-regulation in mediating the relationship between basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and digital competence, specifically Intelligent-TPACK and ethics, among Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students. Data were collected from 548 PETE students at six universities in Wuhan, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis demonstrated that self-regulation positively predicted both Intelligent-TPACK and ethical awareness, with self-regulation mediating the effects of basic psychological needs on these two dimensions of digital competence. These findings underscore the importance of promoting self-regulation skills to strengthen pre-service teachers' capacity to integrate AI tools effectively into their educational practices while fostering ethical decision-making. The results offer both theoretical and practical insights implications for teacher education programs seeking to advance AI literacy and ethical responsibility in future physical educators.
This study aimed to comprehensively understand how children engaged with physical activity in after-school programs developed through a university-community partnership initiative. The program was designed to enhance physical activity opportunities for elementary school students by offering a variety of structured and unstructured activities, facilitated by physical education teacher education (PETE) major students serving as mentors. A mixed-methods approach was employed, using both quantitative and qualitative data. Seventy children completed the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) before and after participating in a 12-week program. Additionally, 68 children participated in focus group interviews, and 32 physical education major students provided written reflections. Data were collected during the spring semester of 2025 from four elementary schools. Quantitative findings indicated an increase in children's enjoyment of physical activity from pre- to post-test. Qualitative analysis revealed four central themes: (a) enjoyment of the after-school program, (b) engagement in physical activity, (c) learning through play, and (d) positive relationships with mentors. This study demonstrates that prioritizing enjoyment, autonomy, social connection, and authentic learning within playful physical activity in after-school programs is paramount for fostering children's long-term engagement. The university-community partnerships create a synergistic "win-win" environment, where the involvement of PETE major students as mentors not only enriched children's experiences but also provided valuable teaching practice for university students. Such partnerships are essential for building high-quality after-school programs that equip children with lifelong healthy habits and foster their overall well-being.
College students face many mental health struggles. Research shows the positive mental health impact of canine-assisted interventions (CAI), especially among college students. This study draws on a 2023 case study of Pete's Pet Posse (P3) at Oklahoma State University (OSU), an institutionally-integrated CAI program providing yearlong events since 2013. The exploratory study was guided by the following research question: How do campus community members perceive the well-being benefits of P3? We utilize (all data collected in 2023) feedback surveys (students n = 1,900; response rate 8.8%; P3 Handlers n = 40; response rate 66%; P3 student volunteers n = 31; response rate 87%), in-depth interviews (n = 30), and one focus group (n = 5) to descriptively document P3's perceived benefits to the campus community. Findings reveal that P3 helps the OSU community in managing life stressors, building a sense of community, and spreading joy in their everyday lives.
Despite the United States having a low overall gastric cancer incidence rate, there remain disparities by race/ethnicity. We examined the incidence of gastric cancer by stage at diagnosis among Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI), American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) populations, compared with the non-Hispanic White (NHW) population, during 2009 to 2019. Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data, age-adjusted gastric cancer incidence rates, rate ratios (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by stage and race/ethnicity. Stratified analyses were performed by sex, age, and anatomic site. Compared with NHW individuals, the incidence rates of regional and distant-stage gastric cancer diagnoses were nearly two times higher in Hispanic (RRregional, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.78-1.97; RRdistant, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.84-2), A/PI (RRregional, 2.17; 95% CI, 2.04-2.30; RRdistant, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.49-1.68), and NHB (RRregional, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.67-1.88; RRdistant, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.71-1.89) individuals. In stratified analyses, the increased rate of advanced-stage diagnosis for Hispanic, A/PI, and NHB individuals remained generally consistent by sex and age, although young AI/AN individuals also had a significantly higher rate of distant gastric cancer (RR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.36-3.83). By site, the increased rates of advanced-stage diagnosis were limited to noncardia and overlapping/unspecified gastric cancer, whereas these populations had lower rates of cardia gastric cancer than NHW individuals. Hispanic, A/PI, and NHB individuals have disproportionately high advanced-stage noncardia gastric cancer rates compared with NHW individuals. This study has identified significant disparities in advanced-stage noncardia gastric cancer, suggesting the need to identify strategies to improve early detection in these populations.
When interpreting data visualizations, people have expectations of how colors should map onto quantities. These expectations are constructed from multiple biases, including the dark-is-more bias (darker colors represent larger quantities) and the opaque-is-more bias (regions appearing more opaque represent larger quantities), among others. The extent to which any one bias influences interpretations of data visualizations depends on the degree to which that bias is applicable for a given visualization (applicability principle) and its relative weight in combination with other biases (combination principle). However, basic questions remain concerning the perceptual conditions necessary to activate such biases so they become applicable. For example, in previous studies of the opaque-is-more bias, the test stimuli appeared to vary in opacity because they were created by interpolating between a "base" color and a background color, which was lighter or darker than the base color. As such, opacity variation was confounded with large lightness variation. From prior work, it is unknown whether the opaque-is-more bias can be activated without substantial lightness variation. Here, we varied opacity by varying colormap saturation relative to the background while reducing lightness contrast (holding L* in CIELAB constant). We found that the opaque-is-more bias can indeed be activated without substantial lightness variation. In the process, we also found evidence for a new, "saturated-is-more bias," leading to expectations that regions greater in saturation map to larger magnitudes. These findings extend knowledge of how people infer meaning from visual features and can translate to inform design of effective information visualizations.
Individuals experiencing severe polytrauma are typically transported to the highest level of care as soon as possible, including helicopter evacuation from remote and/or rural environments. However, several recent preclinical and clinical studies have suggested that aeromedical evacuation exacerbates central nervous system injury and inflammation, and potentially results in increased mortality, questioning the right time and conditions under which to fly. Twenty-four swine with moderate-to-severe rotational traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ∼40% blood loss were randomly assigned to standard (∼8500 feet), tactical (evasive maneuvering), or mock (stationary on ground) helicopter (U.S. Army Black Hawk; HH-60M model) evacuation 2 h post-injury, with standard recommended therapies initiated in-flight. Results indicated that tactical evacuation was associated with increased cerebral perfusion pressure and inflammation (IL-6) post-flight relative to the standard and mock evacuation profiles, even after statistically controlling for pre-flight trauma procedures. Although the overall mortality rate was ∼25%, indicating severe polytrauma, no differences in mortality were observed as a function of aeromedical evacuation scenarios. Primary biomarkers of hemorrhagic shock, traumatic brain injury, lung and kidney pathology were also negative for aeromedical evacuation effects. In summary, the medical benefits associated with immediate (i.e., within a few hours of injury) helicopter evacuation of severe polytrauma patients likely outweigh the few increased complications associated with flight, as the latter may only be present during more extreme helicopter evacuation scenarios. Additional studies are needed to address potential adjunctive therapies that can be administered pre-flight to minimize the potential adverse effects of tactical flight.
Autumn freeze-thaw cycles (AFTCs) represent critical transitional periods influencing greenhouse gas emissions in permafrost peatlands, yet field-based evidence regarding how freeze-thaw variability interacts with peatland type to affect carbon flux dynamics remains limited. Here, we conducted a field observational study across three permafrost peatland types in the Great Hinggan Mountains, Northeast China, including Calamagrostis angustifolia peatland (CA), Larix gmelinii-Sphagnum peatland (LG-SP), and Eriophorum vaginatum peatland (EV). Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes were monitored during AFTCs under different freeze-thaw variability stages to evaluate relative influences of peatland type, freeze-thaw variability, and their interaction on greenhouse gas dynamics. CO2 fluxes ranged from -266.93 to 209.34 mg m-2 h-1, whereas CH4 fluxes ranged from 1.00 to 2.23 mg m-2 h-1 across peatland types. Most peatlands functioned as net CO2 sources during AFTCs; however, the LG-SP peatland exhibited temporary net CO2 uptake under severe freeze-thaw variability, indicating ecosystem-specific differences in carbon exchange responses during AFTCs. General linear model and effect-size analyses revealed contrasting response patterns between the two greenhouse gases. For CO2, the interaction between peatland type and freeze-thaw variability explained a greater proportion of flux variability (η2p = 0.057) than freeze-thaw variability alone (η2p = 0.004). In contrast, CH4 fluxes were primarily associated with peatland type (η2p = 0.557), followed by the interaction effect (η2p = 0.217), whereas freeze-thaw variability alone explained only a small proportion of variation (η2p = 0.018). These contrasting effect-size patterns indicate that CO2 and CH4 responded differently during AFTCs across permafrost peatland ecosystems. The results highlight the importance of considering peatland type and freeze-thaw variability when evaluating greenhouse gas dynamics during AFTCs. This study provides field-based evidence that autumn carbon dynamics in permafrost peatlands are characterized by both ecosystem-specific and gas-specific response patterns during AFTCs.
Evaluation of diastolic function (DF) increases the prognostic value of exercise echocardiography. A protocol including both systolic and diastolic evaluation could predict different types of events. Systolic and DF were evaluated during exercise echocardiography in 2519 patients: left ventricular systolic function at peak-exercise (step 1), and E/e'/systolic pulmonary pressure postexercise (step 2). Abnormal systolic function was defined as ischemia or fixed wall motion abnormalities; abnormal DF was defined as postexercise E/e'> 15. The endpoint was to analyze the predictive value of systolic and DF for cardiac failure/cardiovascular death (CF/CVD), and for ischemic events. Systolic abnormalities were found in 806 patients (32%) and diastolic abnormalities in 451 (18%). Patients with CF/CVD more frequently had abnormal postexercise DF than those with ischemic events (48% vs 27%; P <.001), whereas the percentage of systolic abnormalities was higher in the latter group (78% vs 40%; P <.001). During follow-up, there were 477 events. Independent overall predictors included Δ wall motion score index (Δ WMSI) (HR, 8.08; 95%CI, 6.15-10.60; P <.001), and postexercise E/e' (HR, 1.02; 95%CI, 1.01-1.04; P=.004). Predictors of CF/CVD also included postexercise DF (E/e': sHR, 1.04; 95%CI, 1.00-1.07; P=.035) but not systolic function. Conversely, predictors of ischemic events included systolic function (Δ WMSI: sHR=12.81; 95%CI, 8.8- 18.71; P <.001) but not DF. Two-step exercise echocardiography assessing systolic and diastolic function predicts different types of events. Exercise echocardiography based only on systolic function might not capture the full spectrum of abnormalities.
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) offer promising platforms for single-molecule sensing due to their quasi-1D channels and discrete electronic states, providing superior sensitivity toward molecular perturbations. While prior studies emphasize smoother edges as essential for optimal performance, the potential benefits of controlled edge roughness remain largely unexplored. Additionally, most investigations focus on GNR arrays, leaving critical edge- and width-dependent factors, including fringe fields, bandgap widening, interactions between adsorbing molecules and GNR atoms, density of states (DOS) suppression, and electrostatic screening lengths, and their collective impact on sensitivity, poorly understood. Here, we fabricated field-effect transistors using individual GNRs (widths: 200-20 nm) and characterized their response to molecular adsorption with perfluorooctanoic acid as the model analyte. Narrower ribbons displayed significantly enhanced sensitivity, yielding a coverage-normalized response of 116 ± 10 mV per molecule in 20 nm-wide GNRs (from calibrated ensemble Dirac-point shifts). Experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that this heightened sensitivity arises from stronger fringe fields, width-dependent quantum confinement effects, reduced DOS, and increased edge roughness that facilitates molecular anchoring, enhanced orbital overlap, and improved charge transfer efficiency. Our findings challenge the conventional assumption that smoother edges inherently enhance sensor performance, demonstrating that controlled edge disorder substantially boosts molecular sensitivity in GNR sensors.
This study builds a predictive model for lung cancer screening (LCS) adherence using social determinants of health (SDOH) data in high-risk populations. By identifying key factors influencing non-adherence, we seek to improve risk stratification for individuals less likely to complete annual LCS follow-up scans within 15-months. We recruited 188 minoritized individuals meeting high-risk smoking pack year criteria who underwent their first low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan between 2017 and 2021 at four clinical centers in Los Angeles County. Participants completed an IRB-approved survey assessing demographics, tobacco use, social needs, discrimination, and lung cancer risk perception. Residential address at time of first LDCT was geocoded to match with neighborhood-level SDOH metrics. The data were split into training (N = 145) and testing cohorts (N = 43) by whether individuals received their initial LDCT by June 30, 2021. Electronic medical records were checked for LDCT follow-up within 15 months of initial LCS. Those who underwent the subsequent LDCT within 15 months of the initial LCS were considered adherent. We trained an XGBoost classifier with hyperparameter tuning and performed SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis to interpret model predictions. The cohort included 69 (37 %) Asian/Pacific Islander, 53 (28 %) Black/African American, and 49 (26 %) Hispanic/Latino participants. The LCS non-adherence rate was 66 %. The XGBoost classifier achieved an AUROC of 0.81 and AUPRC of 0.90, with prediction performance of accuracy = 0.79, recall = 0.78, specificity = 0.81, positive predictive value = 0.88, and negative predictive value = 0.68. SHAP analysis indicated that neighborhood-level SDOH factors, such as school proficiency and poverty levels, were more predictive of non-adherence than individual-level factors like smoking status. This machine learning approach accurately predicted LCS non-adherence using individual- and neighborhood-level SDOH factors. These findings emphasize the relevance of community-level characteristics in informing LCS adherence interventions and may support the development of regionally tailored strategies to improve adherence in high-risk populations.
Although microplastics are ubiquitous in marine systems, our current knowledge on how biofilms that form on them affect their degradation and removal from the surface ocean is limited. In the ocean, it is expected that plastics denser than seawater will sink (i.e., polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene terephthalate), but in the water column their fate can be unpredictable for polymers like polystyrene (PS), whose density range (960-1040 kg/m3) overlaps with that of surface seawater (1020-1029 kg/m3). While plastic biodegradation by bacteria growing on microplastics is well known, biofilms can also slow plastic degradation by shielding them from UV radiation, or by enhancing microplastic sedimentation rates, but this has rarely been studied. We incubated microplastic particles (<5 mm) of the common household consumer products polyethylene terephthalate (PETE, #1), high-density polyethylene (HDPE, #2), polyvinyl chloride (PVC, #3), low-density polyethylene (LDPE, #4), polypropylene (PP, #5), and polystyrene (PS, #6) in coastal waters of the Pacific (San Diego, CA) and the Caribbean (Bocas del Toro, Panama) to determine how biofilm formation affects their degradation and sinking rates. Due to higher water temperatures and lower salinity, ambient water in the Caribbean was less dense than that in the coastal Pacific. We found that the formation of biofilms slowed degradation processes, as indicated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and a reduced loss of phthalates, an indicator of plastic degradation. Additionally, biofilm formation enhanced sinking velocities of PETE, PVC, and PS at both sites, and PS, in fact, required a biofilm to sink at the Pacific site. Our results show that biofilm formation impacts the degradation and transport behavior of microplastics in the ocean.
Purchased/Referred Care Delivery Area (PRCDA) counties are those where resident American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people are eligible for Indian Health Service care. Due to concerns about racial misclassification, cancer statistics for AIAN people are often restricted to PRCDA counties. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics may exist between PRCDA and non-PRCDA counties, but have not been described; therefore, the potential selection bias associated with the restriction to PRCDA counties remains unknown. We used data from the University of California, San Francisco Health Atlas to explore ecological differences in county-level demographic, socioeconomic, healthcare access, and health outcomes data between PRCDA and non-PRCDA counties (n = 3152 counties). We tested for statistical differences in mean levels of demographics between PRCDA and non-PRCDA counties using Pooled or Welch t-tests. We observed small, but statistically significant differences between PRCDA and non-PRCDA counties in county-level demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (age, poverty, utility services threat, unemployment, educational attainment, computer access, and median income), neighborhood and environment characteristics (overcrowding, severe mortgage/rent burden), healthcare access and utilization (uninsured, annual checkup, annual dental visit, mammography, binge drinking, smoking, physical inactivity, social isolation), and health outcomes (poor mental health, arthritis, poor self-rated health, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity). These results indicate variability in county-level measures between PRCDA and non-PRCDA counties. While these data do not speak specifically to AIAN peoples' experiences, they provide critical contextual information to understand how exclusion of AIAN people residing in non-PRCDA counties from cancer statistics may bias risk estimates.
The activating receptor NKp30 is important in NK cell killing of cancer cells. Here, we demonstrated that a pair of splice signals in the Ig domain exon of human NKp30 is largely conserved among primates and placental mammals and produces an alternatively spliced NKp30 ectodomain (NKp30-S) with an in-frame, nonartefactual deletion of 25 amino acid residues. Transfection yielded NKp30-S bands in NKL cells but not in 293T cells, suggesting that the splicing mechanism is cell-specific. Molecular modeling indicated that the overall folding of NKp30-S is maintained compared with NKp30. NKp30-S was expressed at the cell surface but did not bind to the NKp30 ligand B7H6 in soluble fusion protein or reporter cell assays. Single-cell RNA sequencing showed that NKp30-S transcription was not restricted to major NK cell subsets but suggested that a small fraction of blood NK cells expressed only the NKp30-S splice variant. The ratio of NKp30-S to full-length transcript was increased after activation of blood NK cells with IL-2 or IL-15 or crosslinking with anti-CD16 antibody, suggesting that this unique splicing mechanism, not seen in other Ig superfamily proteins, is regulated and may play a role in modulating NK cell responsiveness toward B7H6+ cancer cells in vivo.
The Gaylord Occupational Therapy Cognitive screen (GOT-Cog™) is a novel cognitive screening tool developed to support inpatient occupational therapy treatment planning. It has demonstrated excellent content, construct, and criterion validity, as well as good internal consistency. To assess GOT-Cog rater reliability and responsiveness. Repeated-measures design. GOT-Cog was administered to participants twice at admission and once at discharge. When different investigators collected the first two assessments, interrater reliability was tested; when collected by the same investigator, intrarater reliability was tested. The first and final GOT-Cog scores were used to assess responsiveness. Single long-term acute care hospital (LTACH). 192 participants, recruited from inpatients admitted with an order for occupational therapy services. GOT-Cog total score was the primary outcome measure. Rater reliability was evaluated using interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs); responsiveness was calculated using effect size and score change. Scale-level interrater reliability of GOT-Cog was moderate to good, ICC(2, 1) = .80 (95% confidence interval [CI] [.71, .87], r = .81, n = 87); intrarater reliability was good to excellent, ICC(2, 1) = .84 (95% CI [.76, .90], r = .86, n = 89). Domain-level rater reliability ranged from poor to excellent. A small effect size was demonstrated from admission to discharge (d = .37, n = 149) over a mean length of stay of 24.06 d (95% CI [20.70, 27.41]; n = 192). Previous findings are supported, which indicates that GOT-Cog has the validity and reliability needed to support its use in the LTACH setting with a mixed medically complex inpatient population. Plain-Language Summary: Conducted in the long-term care setting, this study explains how consistent the Gaylord Occupational Therapy Cognitive screen (GOT-Cog™) is when given to the same person, multiple times, and by the same or different people, as well as how sensitive it is to change over time. To test this, GOT-Cog was given to participants twice at inpatient admission and once at discharge. GOT-Cog was found to have moderate to good consistency when delivered by different people and good to excellent consistency when used by the same person. Over an average of 24 days, GOT-Cog showed a small level of change in participants who were tested admission and again at discharge.
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The participation of people with disabilities (PWD) in physical activity and sports is essential for social inclusion and health promotion. The self-efficacy perceived by professionals greatly influences the success of inclusive practices; higher confidence in adapting activities and addressing diverse needs leads to better experiences for PWD. The self-efficacy scale for physical education teacher education majors toward children with disabilities (SE-PETE-D) measures this construct but lacked a validated Brazilian version. To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Brazilian Portuguese version, named EAE-EFI/Brazil. Content validity indices exceeded 0.90 across all subscales. Exploratory factor analysis revealed high internal consistency (Cronbach's α > 0.96). Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA <0.10; CFI, TLI, IFI > 0.90), supporting the original structure for subscales related to physical disability (PD) and visual impairment (VI). The EAE-EFI/Brazil is a valid and reliable tool for assessing physical education teachers' and students' self-efficacy concerning inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities, PD, and VI in Brazil. Future studies should evaluate the scale's applicability in diverse contexts and explore links with professional development and institutional support, advancing inclusive practices and policies in Brazilian education.
Achieving high performance in elite sport requires athletes to endure extreme physical and psychological demands. While collective identity is often assumed to enhance commitment to these efforts, many elite athletes must train autonomously, raising questions about the role of social identification in sustaining effort when training alone. This study investigates how social identity influences physical engagement in endurance tasks performed in isolation, examining whether identification with a team enhances perseverance or if individual goal pursuit fosters greater effort. Fifty-four elite youth athletes (36 males; age: 15.7 ± 1.1) from team-based sports (handball, basketball, volleyball, and rugby) performed a cycling time-to-exhaustion test at 80% of their maximal aerobic power under two conditions: one emphasizing personal achievement and another emphasizing team success. Results revealed that athletes persisted longer in the personal identity condition compared to the collective identity condition, with no significant differences in perceived exertion, muscle pain, or time perception. However, athletes in the collective condition reported higher motivation and greater expectations of team success, despite performing less. These findings challenge conventional perspectives on identity processes in sport, suggesting that while identification with a team might boost motivation, it does not necessarily contribute to sustaining physical effort when training alone as personal identity seems to do. Instead, individual goal framing appears to facilitate the ability to sustain physical effort in autonomous settings. This underscores the need for coaches to consider the different effects of identity processes regarding endurance and engagement.
Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) includes persistent cognitive, affective, and physical symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study proposes a 6-week virtual reality (VR)-based cognitive intervention to improve cognitive-affective functions in individuals with PCC and presents initial results through a case report. A 46-year-old female with PCC completed a 6-week immersive VR-based cognitive intervention. Neuropsychological and psychological assessments occurred at baseline, after VR intervention (2-month follow-up), and at 5-month follow-up. The VR intervention included cognitive activities and diaphragmatic breathing exercises. Immersion, presence, cybersickness and other aspects of the VR experience were systematically evaluated. The patient showed improvements in attention, executive functions, processing speed and performance in VR cognitive games. Reductions in perceived cognitive deficits and depression, along with enhanced functional status, resilience, self-esteem and emotional flexibility, were observed. However, anxiety and life satisfaction exhibited unexpected trends. The participant reported high satisfaction with the VR intervention and no notable cybersickness symptoms. This study contributes to the limited literature on VR interventions for PCC, showcasing its potential in neuropsychological rehabilitation and proposing a possible rehabilitation protocol.