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Introduction/Objective. Pain, stiffness and limited mobility are the main factors that lead to difficulties in performing daily activities and are also responsible for the decline in the quality of life in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional capacity and health related quality of life (HRQoL) compared to pain in patients with knee OA, as well as to determine the correlation between these three clinical variables. Methods. The study involved 931 patients diagnosed with knee OA. In all patients, pain was evaluated by a short form of the McGill pain questionnaire (SF-MPQ), functional status was assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), while life quality was evaluated using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results. The average age of patients was 61.21 ± 4.62 years, while 71.3% of them were women. The quality of life in patients with knee OA and all pain parameters contained in the SF-MPQ were highly statistically positively associated (p ≤ 0.01). In addition, the physical functioning was mostly affected by emotional pain (rho = -0.585). A high statistical correlation (p ≤ 0.01) was noted between stiffness and physical functioning from the WOMAC questionnaire and all of the parameters from the SF-MPQ. The physical functioning from the WOMAC questionnaire had the strongest correlation with total pain incorporated into the McGill questionnaire (rho = 0.530). Conclusion. Knee pain has a significant impact on functional capacity and HRQoL in patients with knee OA. Therefore, one of the main therapy goals for OA of the knee should be to reduce the pain in the affected knee, which can help to improve the functionality and HRQoL of these patients.

Background/Aim. Neuropathy represents the most frequent complication in the patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Symmetric distal sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSP), which represents the most frequent type of diabetic neuropathy, is present in 30% of hospitalized diabetic patients. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of physical therapy (PT) and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation on pain reduction and quality of life improvement in the DSP patients. Methods. The study was performed on 60 adult patients with DM type 2 and DSP. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: group A (n = 30) was treated by PT and group B (n = 30) was treated by ALA. The study lasted 6 months during which 3 diagnostictherapeutic cycles were performed. To asses their pain before and after every of 3 cycles, we used visual analog scale (VAS). We also evaluated quality of life before the 1st and after the 3rd cycle with the European Quality of Life Questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L). To analyze results between groups we used mixed between-within subjects ANOVA and statistical significance was set on p < 0.05. Results. Pain intensity showed statistically significant influence of both PT and ALA (λ = 0.028; p < 0.001). A statistically significant difference between the effects of those two therapy modalities was observed (F = 4.78; p < 0.05): PT reduced pain to the greater extent than ALA. A statistically significant improvement was found in the domain of pain/discomfort both in the group A (η = 0.54, p < 0.001) and group B (η = 0.57, p < 0.001), as well as anxiety/depression (group A: η = 0.32, p = 0.008; group B: η = 0.22, p < 0.019) and EQ-VAS (both groups, p < 0.05). Conclusion. Our research showed that physical therapy had a greater influence in pain reduction than alpha-lipoic acid in the patients with DSP.

Since its first adoption as a computational model for language learning, evidence has accumulated that Rescorla-Wagner error-correction learning (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) captures several aspects of language processing. Whereas previous studies have provided general support for the Rescorla-Wagner rule by using it to explain the behavior of participants across a range of tasks, we focus on testing predictions generated by the model in a controlled natural language learning task and model the data at the level of the individual learner. By adjusting the parameters of the model to fit the trial-by-trial behavioral choices of participants, rather than fitting a one-for-all model using a single set of default parameters, we show that the model accurately captures participants' choices, time latencies, and levels of response agreement. We also show that gender and working memory capacity affect the extent to which the Rescorla-Wagner model captures language learning.

Assessment is among the inevitable components of a curriculum and directs students' learning. E-assessment, as prepared and administered with the use of ICT, provides opportunities to make the process easier in some aspects, but also brings certain challenges. This paper presents an e-assessment framework from a student perspective. Our study lasted for one academic year and incorporated a total of 631 students' responses to questionnaires conducted three times in two different mathematics courses. The courses are compulsory for undergraduate informatics students. The research included a three-step factor analysis: two exploratory factor analyses and a confirmatory factor analysis. It yielded a model of a student perspective on e-assessment consisting of four factors: "Transparency and fairness of assessment", "Formative and summative assessment and feedback", "Meaningful use of technology in assessment" and "Difficulty of learning outcomes." The students' opinion about the use of e-assessment was generally positive. The students appreciated the student-centred approach based on sound pedagogical alignment of all teaching and learning elements with assessment. They found it important that technology should not distract students during assessment tasks and considered cheating in a controlled e-assessment environment to be no more frequent than in face-to-face assessment.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the motivation and expectations of stakeholders (students, teachers, and employers) related to their participation in simulated work-integrated learning (WIL) taking place in a form of work-related projects in an academic environment. Analysis is based on data gathered from 49 students, four teachers and six employers who participated in WIL within four different units of study in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI), Croatia. The findings of this research revealed that student learning, student career development and increasing quality of learning and teaching are common motivational factors for stakeholders' participation in WIL. Additional factors pertinent to respective stakeholders' motivation and expectations are also detected. The results of this study can help higher education institutions (HEIs) in the organization of WIL practices to increase motivation and meet expectations of all stakeholders.

Abstract Background Primary Health Care (PHC) plays a crucial role in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, with only 8% of cases requiring hospitalization. However, PHC COVID-19 data often goes unnoticed on European government dashboards and in media discussions. This project aims to examine official information on PHC patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with specific objectives: (1) Describe PHC’s clinical pathways for acute COVID-19 cases, including long-term care facilities, (2) Describe PHC COVID-19 pandemic indicators, (3) Develop COVID-19 PHC activity indicators, (4) Explain PHC’s role in vaccination strategies, and (5) Create a PHC contingency plan for future pandemics. Methods A mixed-method study will employ two online questionnaires to gather retrospective PHC data on COVID-19 management and PHC involvement in vaccination strategies. Validation will occur through focus group discussions with medical and public health (PH) experts. A two-wave Delphi survey will establish a European PHC indicators dashboard for future pandemics. Additionally, a coordinated health system action plan involving PHC, secondary care, and PH will be devised to address future pandemic scenarios. Analysis: Quantitative data will be analysed using STATA v16.0 for descriptive and multivariate analyses. Qualitative data will be collected through peer-reviewed questionnaires and content analysis of focus group discussions. A Delphi survey and multiple focus groups will be employed to achieve consensus on PHC indicators and a common European health system response plan for future pandemics. The Eurodata research group involving researchers from 28 European countries support the development. Discussion While PHC manages most COVID-19 acute cases, data remains limited in many European countries. This study collects data from numerous countries, offering a comprehensive perspective on PHC’s role during the pandemic in Europe. It pioneers the development of a PHC dashboard and health system plan for pandemics in Europe. These results may prove invaluable in future pandemics. However, data may have biases due to key informants’ involvement and may not fully represent all European GP practices. PHC has a significant role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, as most of the cases are mild or moderate and only 8% needed hospitalization. However, PHC COVID-19 activity data is invisible on governments’ daily dashboards in Europe, often overlooked in media and public debates.

It is widely acknowledged that graduates need to develop skills and competences beyond the theoretical knowledge nurtured within higher education curricula. In the last twenty years there has been an increased interest in supporting learners with work-based learning (WBL) (e.g. apprenticeships, practice-based lab sessions, project-based learning). The experience of COVID-19-related lockdowns has ignited a push to support and provide these opportunities for skills development online. In this systematic literature review, the authors explored (1) which innovative technologies and online WBL typologies are implemented in online WBL in higher education; and (2) to what extent there is evidence that online WBL is effective. From an initial pool of 269 studies identified from two datasets, the authors selected thirteen studies which implemented and evaluated online WBL. In total, 1,015 respondents were included in these studies (M = 84.58, SD = 118.28, range: 7-390). The authors' findings indicate that most studies used descriptive, qualitative approaches to explore the lived experiences of participants, mostly from Australia. Substantial differences were found in the designs of online WBL practices and technologies, although there was limited robust evidence of effectiveness due to a lack of evidence-based evaluation approaches. The authors encourage WBL researchers to be more precise in their design parameters of online WBL, and to consider (quasi)experimental designs to measure the impact of their approaches.

Professional development (PD) is a key element for enhancing the quality of academic teaching. An increasing number of PD activities have moved to blended and online formats, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the desire, potential, and need for collaboration among educators to learn from innovative and best practices, several institutions have started to pool their resources and expertise together and have started to implement cross-institutional and cross-national online professional development (OPD). The questions of what type of a (cross-)institutional OPD educators might prefer, and whether educators learn effectively from (and with) peers in such cross-cultural context have not been adequately explored empirically. In this case-study across three European countries, we explored the lived experiences of 86 educators as a result of a cross-institutional OPD. Using a mixed methods design approach our pre-post findings indicated that, on average, participants made substantial gains in knowledge. In addition, several cultural differences were evident in the expectations and lived experiences in ODP, as well as the intention to transfer what had been learned into one's own practice of action. This study indicates that while substantial economic and pedagogical affordances are provided with cross-institutional OPD, cultural differences in context might impact the extent to which educators implement lessons learned from OPD.

To ensure the validity of an assessment programme, it is essential to align it with the intended learning outcomes (LO). We present a model for ensuring assessment validity which supports this constructive alignment and uses learning analytics (LA). The model is based on LA that include a comparison between ideal LO weights (expressing the prioritization of LOs), actual assessment weights (maximum assessment points per LO), and student assessment results (actually obtained assessment points per LO), as well as clustering and trace data analysis. These analytics are part of a continuous improvement cycle, including strategic planning and learning design (LD) supported by LO prioritization, and monitoring and evaluation supported by LA. To illustrate and test the model, we conducted a study on the example of a graduate-level higher education course in applied mathematics, by analysing student assessment results and activity in a learning management system. The study showed that the analyses provided valuable insights with practical implications for the development of sound LD, tailored educational interventions, databases of assessment tasks, recommendation systems, and self-regulated learning. Future research should investigate the possibilities for automation of such LA, to enable full exploitation of their potential and use in everyday teaching and learning.

The adoption of the Open Data Directive in 2019 compelled the launch of the Open Maps for Europe project, aiming to provide accessible and harmonized geospatial data from over 40 European countries. This research investigates the suitability of Open Maps for Europe data for creating a general purpose small-scale map of Croatia. The study applies digital cartographic procedures to produce the map, while assessing data quality and fitness for this task. The methodology for map creation involved seven key steps: (1) extracting data from the 1:250,000 scale EuroRegionalMap dataset, (2) performing geometric, topological, and attribute conversions, (3) applying cartographic generalization to adapt the map content to a 1:500,000 scale, (4) conducting data quality checks, (5) addressing exceptions, (6) symbolizing and placing names, and (7) designing a printable map. The resulting general-purpose map of Croatia at a 1:500 000 scale demonstrates that Open Maps for Europe data is generally suitable for map creation at this scale. However, challenges such as data heterogeneity among countries, data gaps in certain areas, inappropriate levels of generalization, and disordered geometry may arise. The map created should be considered an intermediate, rather than a reliable and trustworthy final product since rigorous quality control measures should be undertaken to produce the final map.

Access, availability, and general interest in open data have increased significantly over the past decade. Open data can be published by various organizations and individuals, with public organizations being the largest producers of open data. Despite governments' efforts to publish a large number of high value datasets on open data portals, data reuse is still not satisfactory because users often lack the technical skills required to reuse data. Research has shown that providing open-source software and tools can help solve this problem. Since statistical datasets are among the high-value datasets and their visualization on a map can help in decision-making, this research explores the possibilities of using the Eurostat-map.js library, a novel JavaScript tool, to enable non-specialized users (e.g., researchers, journalists, and citizens) to use Eurostat statistical data to create thematic maps. By analysing use cases that utilize the Eurostat-map.js library and exploring cartographic principles and techniques available for mapping official statistical data, this research addresses its capabilities, limitations, and opportunities for future development. Although the eurostat-map.js library aims to provide a user-friendly approach, it is important to note that non-specialist users may still face challenges in using the library due to their limited technical and cartographic expertise. Creating maps and effectively visualizing Eurostat data requires a certain level of technical skills and cartographic knowledge. Non-specialist users, such as researchers, statisticians, journalists, and government agency personnel, who do not have extensive experience in programming or cartography, may find it more difficult to use the library than specialists in these fields.

The content of the data lake comes (is filled) from different sources, and different users (experts in various fields) of the same data can download and analyse the same data for their (different) needs and analysis. Big Data about the human environment and the effect of natural and human-caused disasters (in this case: heat islands, earthquakes and lava flows, and landmine contamination) on that environment have been available to many people for years and are the subject of discussions, but there are still numerous research challenges in the form of structuring and storing data and analysis results. This implies certain requirements for efficient integration, access and querying of the various data in the data repository for the described purpose. Data lakes and data warehouses are offered as solutions to this problem. Well-designed data lakes can be a basic building block for different solutions in the analysis of the effects of disasters on the environment, and high-quality data warehouses for modelling future potential disasters in the same area. This paper presents certain personal observations and certain proposals for the creation of efficient data lakes and data warehouses (based on many years of work on problems in areas: humanitarian demining, heat islands and volcanic activity) for the needs of decision-making in crisis based on examples from practice. The goal is to influence the development of a unique framework for the creation and maintenance of a data lake, in terms of its better utilization so that it does not become a data swamp.

Introduction: Accidental caustic burns of the esophagus in children represent a significant global health challenge, often necessitating esophageal reconstruction. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and morbidity related to esophagus replacement with colonic and gastric tube transplants in a pediatric population followed for caustic stenosis. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary pediatric surgery unit for children treated from January 1989 to December 2022. We compared colonic and gastric tube esophageal replacement. Short term (within 30 days) and mid-term outcomes and complications were reviewed. Statistical evaluation was considered using a Chi-square test for categorical data analysis. Results: A total of 124 children with caustic esophageal burns were included. Among them, 23 (18.5%) had a gastric tube transplant for esophagus replacement and 101 (81.5%) a colonic transplant. During surgical intervention, we found a significantly higher risk of complications when using a colonic transplant (34%, p < 0.001). There was no significant statistical difference in postoperative short term and mid-term complications between the two techniques. Twenty-six (26%) of the children required a reoperation, with a higher risk in the gastric tube transplant group (p < 0.001). Endoscopic dilatation after surgery was also performed on a higher number of children who had received a gastric tube transplant (p = 0.005). Overall, 97.6% recovered full normal oral feeding. Conclusions: We found that colonic and gastric tube replacement are both good options for pediatric esophageal replacement after a caustic injury and show effectiveness over time. Gastric tube transplants carried a slightly higher risk of reoperations and a higher number of dilatations post-surgery. However, our groups are not really comparable, due to the much higher number of colonic transplants. Both surgical options have to be considered during surgery, and the choice depends on the anatomy of the patient. Our future research will focus on assessing long term quality of life and the potential risk of neoplastic complications.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated changes in European healthcare systems, with a significant proportion of COVID-19 cases being managed on an outpatient basis in primary healthcare (PHC). To alleviate the burden on healthcare facilities, many European countries developed contact-tracing apps and symptom checkers to identify potential cases. As the pandemic evolved, the European Union introduced the Digital COVID-19 Certificate for travel, which relies on vaccination, recent recovery, or negative test results. However, the integration between these apps and PHC has not been thoroughly explored in Europe. Objective: To describe if governmental COVID-19 apps allowed COVID-19 patients to connect with PHC through their apps in Europe and to examine how the Digital COVID-19 Certificate was obtained. Methodology: Design and setting: Retrospective descriptive study in PHC in 30 European countries. An ad hoc, semi-structured questionnaire was developed to collect country-specific data on primary healthcare activity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the use of information technology tools to support medical care from 15 March 2020 to 31 August 2021. Key informants belong to the WONCA Europe network (World Organization of Family Doctors). The data were collected from relevant and reliable official sources, such as governmental websites and guidelines. Main outcome measures: Patient’s first contact with health system, governmental COVID-19 app (name and function), Digital COVID-19 Certification, COVID-19 app connection with PHC. Results: Primary care was the first point of care for suspected COVID-19 patients in 28 countries, and 24 countries developed apps to complement classical medical care. The most frequently developed app was for tracing COVID-19 cases (24 countries), followed by the Digital COVID-19 Certificate app (17 countries). Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Romania had interoperability between PHC and COVID-19 apps, and Poland and Romania’s apps considered social needs. Conclusions: COVID-19 apps were widely created during the first pandemic year. Contact tracing was the most frequent function found in the registered apps. Connection with PHC was scarcely developed. In future pandemics, connections between health system levels should be guaranteed to develop and implement effective strategies for managing diseases.

Although there is a broad consensus that both the procedural and declarative memory systems play a crucial role in language learning, use, and knowledge, the mapping between linguistic types and memory structures remains underspecified: by default, a dual-route mapping of language systems to memory systems is assumed, with declarative memory handling idiosyncratic lexical knowledge and procedural memory handling rule-governed knowledge of grammar. We experimentally contrast the processing of morphology (case and aspect), syntax (subordination), and lexical semantics (collocations) in a healthy L1 population of Polish, a language rich in form distinctions. We study the processing of these four types under two conditions: a single task condition in which the grammaticality of stimuli was judged and a concurrent task condition in which grammaticality judgments were combined with a digit span task. Dividing attention impedes access to declarative memory while leaving procedural memory unaffected and hence constitutes a test that dissociates which types of linguistic information each long-term memory construct subserves. Our findings confirm the existence of a distinction between lexicon and grammar as a generative, dual-route model would predict, but the distinction is graded, as usage-based models assume: the hypothesized grammar-lexicon opposition appears as a continuum on which grammatical phenomena can be placed as being more or less "ruly" or "idiosyncratic." However, usage-based models, too, need adjusting as not all types of linguistic knowledge are proceduralized to the same extent. This move away from a simple dichotomy fundamentally changes how we think about memory for language, and hence how we design and interpret behavioral and neuroimaging studies that probe into the nature of language cognition.

Full-fledged grammatical article systems as attested in Germanic and Romance languages are rather uncommon from a typological perspective. The frequency with which articles occur in these languages, together with the difficulty encountered in detecting them and the lack of a water-tight account of article use, make article errors one of the most frequent errors in language produced by L2 learners whose L1 does not feature an article system of similar complexity, all the while appearing unproblematic for L1 users. We present a conceptually and methodologically interdisciplinary approach to the grammatical category of articles in English and combine a usage-based, cognitive linguistic account of the function and use of articles that respects its discourse-based nature with a computational exploration of the challenges the system poses from the perspective of learning. Running a statistical classifier on a large sample of spoken and written discourse chunks extracted from the BNC and annotated for the five main determinants of article use reveals that Hearer Knowledge is the driver of a hierarchical system. Once Hearer Knowledge is acknowledged as the motivating principle of the category, article use becomes eminently predictable and restrictions are in line with the forms from which the articles have developed historically, with the and a acting as category defaults and zero acting as default override. Simulations with a computational model anchored in the psychology of learning shed light on whether and how human cognition would handle the proposed relations detected in the data. We find that different articles have different learnability profiles that, again, are in line with their historical development: while the can be learned from one strong indicator, the relationships for the zero article are less exclusive. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the article category appears as a referent tracking system that grammaticalizes the principles of “audience design”: it forces a speaker to track and mark reference from the vantage point of the memory of the hearer, thereby reducing the processing effort required from the hearer. This particular mindset inverses the typologically dominant situation in which this information is not explicitly marked by the speaker but implicitly retrieved from context by the hearer.

Abstract Professional development (PD) is a key element for enhancing the quality of academic teaching. An increasing number of PD activities have moved to blended and online formats, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the desire, potential, and need for collaboration among educators to learn from innovative and best practices, several institutions have started to pool their resources and expertise together and have started to implement cross-institutional and cross-national online professional development (OPD). The questions of what type of a (cross-)institutional OPD educators might prefer, and whether educators learn effectively from (and with) peers in such cross-cultural context have not been adequately explored empirically. In this case-study across three European countries, we explored the lived experiences of 86 educators as a result of a cross-institutional OPD. Using a mixed methods design approach our pre-post findings indicated that, on average, participants made substantial gains in knowledge. In addition, several cultural differences were evident in the expectations and lived experiences in ODP, as well as the intention to transfer what had been learned into one's own practice of action. This study indicates that while substantial economic and pedagogical affordances are provided with cross-institutional OPD, cultural differences in context might impact the extent to which educators implement lessons learned from OPD.

Flipped classroom (FC) approaches have gotten substantial attention in the last decade because they have a potential to stimulate student engagement as well as active and collaborative learning. The FC is generally defined as a strategy that flips the traditional education setting, i.e., the information transmission component of a traditional face-to-face lecture is moved out of class time. The FC relies on technology and is therefore suitable for online or blended learning, which were predominant forms of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-July 2021). In this paper we present a systematic literature review (SLR) of studies that covered online FC approaches in higher education during the pandemic. We analyzed 205 publications in total and 18 in detail. Our research questions were related to the main findings about the success of implementation of online FC and recommendations for future research. The findings indicated that those who had used FC approaches in face-to-face or blended learning environments more successfully continued to use them in online environments than those who had not used it before. The SLR opened possible questions for future research, such as the effectiveness of the FC for different courses and contexts, the cognitive and emotional aspects of student engagement, and students' data protection. It pointed to the need to examine different aspects of online delivery of the FC more comprehensively, and with more research rigor.

Non-native speakers have been found to be penalized for their accent and grammatical errors. However, little is known about whether and how accent and grammaticality interact to influence native listeners’ perception of non-native speech, and whether listeners’ personality plays a role in this. We examined these questions by relating the acceptability scores of 40 English speech stimuli rated by 60 British listeners (30 female; 30 unfamiliar with accented speech) to factors including speech accent (British vs. Polish), grammaticality (well-formed vs. error-filled) and listener personality. The results suggest that non-native accent “protects” the speaker from being penalized for grammatical errors unless the listener has a certain personality profile: compared to non-native accented speech, the acceptability ratings of native accented speech showed a larger decrease when grammatical errors were present, yet listeners who were more conscientious, extravert or agreeable tended to give lower acceptability ratings to non-native accented speech, regardless of grammaticality.

Dividing attention by loading working memory is an effective method of probing the declarative and procedural underpinnings of linguistic knowledge. The current study explores WM/DA effects on four specific L2 domains: morphology (aspect versus case), syntax and semantics (collocations). We contrast performance of 68 learners of Polish as a foreign language (L1 Chinese) in a grammaticality judgement task in baseline and divided attention conditions. We found corroborating evidence for heightened dependency on declarative memory in early (A2) L2 learners across all linguistic categories and in both experimental conditions. While the lexical judgement of more advanced (B1) learners also proved vulnerable to secondary-task interference, introduction of additional cognitive load had a positive effect on participants’ grammatical judgement, yielding more accurate responses in the aspect category. These results point towards the need for pursuing a new line of inquiry into a potentially facilitative role of cognitive load on L2 learners’ grammatical processing.

We developed and tested the methodology that supports the identification of individual motor unit (MU) firings from the Hoffman (or H) reflex recorded by surface high-density EMG (HD-EMG). Synthetic HD-EMG signals were constructed from simulated 10% to 90% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), followed by 100 simulated H-reflexes. In each H-reflex the MU firings were normally distributed with mean latency of 20 ms and standard deviations (SDLAT) ranging from 0.1 to 1.3 ms. Experimental H-reflexes were recorded from the soleus muscle of 12 men (33.6 ± 5.8 years) using HD-EMG array of ${5}\times {13}$ surface electrodes. Participants performed 15 to 20 s long voluntary plantarflexions with contraction levels ranging from 10% to 70% MVC. Afterwards, at least 60 H-reflexes were electrically elicited at three levels of background muscle activity: rest, 10% and 20% MVC. HD-EMGs of voluntary contractions were decomposed using the Convolution Kernel Compensation method to estimate the MU filters. When applied to HD-EMG signals with synthetic H reflexes, MU filters demonstrated high MU identification accuracy, especially for $\text {SD}_{\text {LAT}}>{0.3}$ ms. When applied to experimental H-reflex recordings, the MU filters identified 14.1 ± 12.1, 18.2 ± 12.1 and 20.8 ± 8.7 firings per H-reflex, with individual MU firing latencies of 35.9 ± 3.3, 35.1 ± 3.0 and 34.6 ± 3.3 ms for rest, 10% and 20% MVC background muscle activity, respectively. Standard deviation of MU latencies across experimental H-reflexes were 1.0 ± 0.8, 1.3 ± 1.1 and 1.5 ± 1.2 ms, in agreement with intramuscular EMG studies.

The current study investigated the contributions of working memory, vocabulary size, education and age to letter fluency performance in healthy adults (N = 50, mean age = 26.5). We administered a letter fluency task using three stimulus letters (F, A, S). Using Bayesian generalized linear mixed model analysis, we established independent contributions of each predictor to letter fluency performance. While our results demonstrate that age, vocabulary size, education level and, to a lesser extent, working memory capacity contribute to performance on the letter fluency task, they also indicate a complex interplay of these factors. The results highlight the importance of separately assessing various verbal and executive skills in combination with demographic factors when using fluency tasks as indicators of adults' general verbal skill., Author(s): Srdan Medimorec [sup.1] , Petar Milin [sup.2] , Dagmar Divjak [sup.2] [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.26597.3f, 0000 0001 2325 1783, Department of Psychology, Teesside University, , Tees Valley, TS1 [...]