PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Age, previous sports experience, stronger predictors of performance in children than previous concussions, York U study finds

2025-04-29
(Press-News.org) April 29, 2024, TORONTO – A new study from York University’s Faculty of Health may offer reassuring news for parents whose children have a history of concussion, but want to get back to playing sports. Researchers from York University’s Faculty of Health spent more than a decade scouting fields, rinks and courts across the Greater Toronto Area for participants with a history of concussion and tested their performance on complex eye-hand coordination tasks, finding that age and previous sports experience were larger factors in cognitive-motor integration than a history of multiple concussions. 

“In previous work, we've already shown that kids who have any number of concussions perform worse than children who've never had a concussion, but we did notice there was this subgroup of kids who seemed to perform motor skills just fine within weeks of getting a concussion,” says School of Kinesiology and Health Science Prof. Lauren Sergio. “What we found here suggests that previous sports experience may offer some neuroprotective benefits against the effects of concussion.” 

The York researchers, including Sergio and first author York PhD candidate Nicole Smeha, recruited 223 individuals for the study who have a previous history of concussion and gave them a standard task to perform and a more complex one. While the study mostly looked at children and youth playing hockey, soccer, football and basketball, there were a smaller number of “beer league” adult participants included in the research, with the youngest participant being nine and the oldest 53, with experience also being the more important factor with older players. They also looked at sex, but did not find it to be a significant factor, says Sergio, also the York Research Chair in Brain Health and Gender in Action.

“Our hypothesis was that a higher number of concussions would be the largest factor for cognitive-motor integration, but after analyzing the results we realized there were likely stronger factors at play,” says Smeha. 

Concussions, a form of brain injury, are a complex health issue with most concussions sustained in youth and adolescents under the age of 18. Research shows concussion can lead to deficits in cognitive and motor function, including slower processing speed, increased reaction time, slower upper limb velocity and poorer accuracy. While further injury is a risk, Sergio says that the takeaway message is that multiple factors need to be considered when deciding whether and when to put a kid back into sports after a concussion. 

“If your child has had a second concussion, and they're new to sports, they might be more vulnerable to getting hurt again, because they're not going to be able to perform at the same level, whereas if your kid is playing at a higher level, yes, they’ve still suffered a brain injury, but the neural network controlling movement may be more resilient.” 

-30- 

York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. York's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

Media Contact: Emina Gamulin, York University Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

 

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Dogs with meningiomas live longer with radiation therapy than surgery, Texas A&M researchers find

2025-04-29
Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have discovered that dogs with meningiomas — the most common type of brain tumor in dogs — live longer if they receive radiation therapy rather than surgery. With collaborators at clinics in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, the researchers compared the treatment records of 285 pet dogs with meningiomas and found that the average post-treatment survival rate for radiation therapy ...

Pregnancy-related proteins in tumors linked to worse survival in female lung cancer patients

2025-04-29
Lung cancer can co-opt genes that normally help a fetus develop and evade the mother’s immune system. And while these pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) can get activated in the cancers of both men and women, female patients had poorer outcomes, a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) research team has found. The analysis suggests targeting these genes might improve survival in female patients with lung cancer, according to findings presented at this year’s American Associate for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. Genes That Protect Fetuses… and Cancer? During pregnancy, the placenta ...

New study highlights success of financial toxicity tumor board in reducing cancer treatment costs 

2025-04-29
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – April 29, 2025 – Financial toxicity, the financial distress linked to cancer treatment, significantly impacts patient outcomes. To combat this, the Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute established a Financial Toxicity Tumor Board in 2019.  The board is the first known institutional-level intervention of its kind, functioning like a traditional disease-focused multidisciplinary tumor board, but with a singular focus on financial distress. It includes participants from all areas of the cancer center ...

CAD/CAM shows clinical benefits in jaw reconstruction, reports Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

2025-04-29
April 29, 2025 — For patients undergoing jaw reconstruction after surgery for head and neck cancer, computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques can improve some key clinical outcomes, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "Our experience suggests that CAD/CAM techniques offer several benefits in patients undergoing free fibula ...

Missed school is an overlooked consequence of climate change

2025-04-29
In brief: ·  Exposure to tropical cyclones during early childhood significantly reduces school enrollment. ·  The effect is greater in areas unaccustomed to frequent storms. ·  Girls shoulder an uneven share of the burden. ·  Possible solutions include increased investment in disaster preparedness, resilient infrastructure, and community-based adaptation programs. New Stanford-led research sheds light on an overlooked climate consequence: the impact of tropical cyclones on schooling opportunities and education in low- and ...

Reasons why anxiety and depression promote low self-belief revealed

2025-04-29
Researchers at UCL have uncovered why individuals who experience anxiety and depression often struggle with persistent low self-belief in their abilities. A new study, published in Nature Communications, examined two large groups of people (230 and 278 participants) to measure their “confidence” when doing individual jobs and their “self-belief” when judging their overall performance of these individual jobs collectively. They found that those with symptoms of anxiety and depression tended to build their overall self-belief by focusing their attention on jobs where ...

UMass Amherst graduate student’s discovery shows that even neutral molecules take sides when it comes to biochemistry

2025-04-29
AMHERST, Mass. — A new study led by a pair of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst turns long-held conventional wisdom about a certain type of polymer on its head, greatly expanding understanding of how some of biochemistry’s fundamental forces work. The study, released recently in Nature Communications, opens the door for new biomedical research running the gamut from analyzing and identifying proteins and carbohydrates to drug delivery. The work involves a kind of polymer made up of neutral ...

Electroactive biofiltration dynamic membrane: A new hope for wastewater treatment

2025-04-29
A recent study published in Engineering presents a novel approach to wastewater treatment and membrane fouling mitigation. The research, led by Zhiwei Wang from Tongji University, focuses on the development of an electroactive biofiltration dynamic membrane (EBDM). The increasing scarcity of freshwater resources and the need for more efficient wastewater treatment have driven the search for innovative solutions. Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) have shown promise, but membrane fouling remains a significant ...

Disparities in breast reconstruction persist after ACA, reports Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

2025-04-29
April 29, 2025 — Despite steady increases in rates of immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) after mastectomy, racial disparities in IBR have persisted in the years since implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "Our study demonstrates that Hispanic women are more likely to undergo ...

Making magnetic biomaterials

2025-04-29
What if doctors could guide life-saving treatments through the body using only a magnet?  An interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering is bringing that concept closer to reality with the development of silk iron microparticles (SIMPs)—tiny, magnetic, and biodegradable carriers designed to precisely deliver drugs and treatments to sites in the body like aneurysms or tumors.  Led by Pitt alumna Ande Marini (BioE PhD ‘25), now a postdoctoral scholar in cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University, David Vorp, John A. Swanson Professor of bioengineering, and Justin Weinbaum, research ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

How NIL boosts college football’s competitive balance

Moffitt researchers develop machine learning model to predict urgent care visits for lung cancer patients

Construction secrets of honeybees: Study reveals how bees build hives in tricky spots

Wheat disease losses total $2.9 billion across the United States and Canada between 2018 and 2021

New funding fuels development of first potentially regenerative treatment for multiple sclerosis

NJIT student–faculty team wins best presentation award for ant swarm simulation

Ants defend plants from herbivores but can hinder pollination

When the wireless data runs dry

Inquiry into the history of science shows an early “inherence” bias

Picky eaters endure: Ecologists use DNA to explore diet breadth of wild herbivores

Study suggests most Americans would be healthier without daylight saving time

Increasing the level of the protein PI31 demonstrates neuroprotective effects in mice

Multi-energy X-ray curved surface imaging-with multi-layer in-situ grown scintillators

Metasurface enables compact and high-sensitivity atomic magnetometer

PFAS presence confirmed in the blood of children in Gipuzkoa

Why do people believe lies?

SwRI installs private 5G network for research, development, testing and evaluation

A new perspective in bone metabolism: Targeting the lysosome–iron–mitochondria axis for osteoclast regulation

Few military spouses use formal support services during, after deployment

Breakthrough in the hunt for light dark matter: QROCODILE project reveals world-leading constraints

2D x-ray imaging technique reveals hidden processes in CO2 electrolyzers

Rational high entropy doping strategy via modular in-situ/post solvothermal doping integration for microwave absorption

Circular Economy has been officially included in the ESCI

Recent advances in exciton-polariton in perovskite

Efficacy and safety of GLP-1 RAs in children and adolescents with obesity or type 2 diabetes

Over-the-counter sales of overdose reversal drug naloxone decline after initial surge

Global trends and disparities in social isolation

Country of birth, race, ethnicity, and prenatal depression

Kissick Family Foundation, Milken Institute announce $2 million in funding for frontotemporal dementia research and new call for proposals

Mayo Clinic study reveals hidden causes of heart attacks in younger adults, especially women

[Press-News.org] Age, previous sports experience, stronger predictors of performance in children than previous concussions, York U study finds