The second week of my internship at the CU Change Lab in Boulder was just as exciting as the first!
I began my week at the Wardenburg health clinic on the CU campus. This is were the second of the two follow up appointments for the FORCE study are conducted. When the participant first arrives a nurse draws their blood. The blood that is taken is split into different bags. Some of the bags we put one ice to be taken back to CINC, were most of the FORCE study takes place. This blood is used for extracting DNA. The other portion of the blood is taken to a regular hospital to run basic tests (potassium, sodium, ect.). After the blood draw, the worker from Wardenburg begins prepping the participant for the same exercise test they did at the beginning of the study. First the EKG is placed. For this test 12 leads are used to get a clearer picture of the heart’s rhythm. After those are placed the participant is asked to insert a mouth piece into their mouths that measures oxygen input and CO2 output based on the known oxygen and CO2 levels in the atmosphere. After all the technology is in place the exercise test begins. The participant walks/runs on the treadmill for as long as they can. The treadmill always goes the same speed, but every two minuets the percent grade increases. When the participant feels they can no longer continue the test stops. At this point the heart rate is taken and considered the participant’s maximum heart rate. However, I learned that these test are not always “good tests”, meaning that some times the participant was not able or simply did not reach their true maximum. While the test is going on the computer system measures the EKG and VO2(maximum oxygen consumption) and displays it on graphs. When the exercise test is over the participant completes a series of surveys regarding their health habits(sleeping and eating) as well as they perceived social, emotional, and financial health. The participant is also tested on their balance and walking pace. After watching my mentor administer the surveys to the participant on the first day, I was able to administer them to the next participant! This part of the study was really fascinating and, from what I learned, vitally import to the results of the study.
After spending two days at Wardenburg, I went back to CINC to resume the regular pattern of the study. I had two participants finish their exercise sessions this week! Some of the participants find it a relief to be done seeing as it is a huge commit that takes up at least 16 weeks of their lives. Most, however, are sad to be done with it. At the end of the study the participants are paid a set amount, and they get a bonus if they attended every single one of their exercise sessions.
The study is also training a new research assistant to work on FORCE, so I got to help. I acted as the participant while the new RA administered the cognitive tests to me, which was really cool! I did not realize how hard these tests actually were. The national adult reading test was very difficult for me, and I do not think I did very great. The other tests gave me a hard time as well, but it was still really interesting to get to take the tests. I now understand why the participants struggle so much with these!
During this week I also did a load of data entry for the study. I entered the standard data (heart rate and RPE) for each of the participants who completed the study this week. I also entered the information of those who did not complete the study. I did not know that those who did not finish the exercise were still used in the results, but as my mentor explained, every bit of data is valuable. In between data entry, I completed another set of training. This time it was in regards to biosaftey! It mainly talked about the procedures and protocols for dealing with potentially infectious material (blood in FORCE’s case).
The week outside of the lab was a very exciting one! My host brother, Oliver, and his team won the Colorado little league baseball state championships! It was a really exciting game and they were all so happy when they won! Then the very next day he made finals in his championship swim meet! Him and his little sister swam in the meet on Saturday and did amazing!
I loved this week and cannot wait for more to come!
What fun to read about your journey Jess! I admire you so much.