Frederick Carrick

• Professor of Neurology at University of Central Florida

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of six computerized eye-tracking tests against a clinician-administered oculomotor exam. Methods A total of 53 participants completed the horizontal random saccade (HRS), circular smooth pursuit (CSP), horizontal smooth pursuit (HSP), vertical smooth pursuit (VSP), horizontal saccade (...

Background: Eye movement research serves as a critical tool for assessing brain function, diagnosing neurological and psychiatric disorders, and understanding cognition and behavior. Sex differences have largely been under reported or ignored in neurological research. However, eye movement features provide biomarkers that are useful for disease cla...

Context: Spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) is a condition characterized by muscle stiffness and involuntary movements, which greatly affect movement abilities and overall well-being. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has emerged as a treatment option for managing spasticity, though the current evidence varies. Objective: This systematic review seeks to ass...

Background/Objectives: Chronic pain syndromes pose a significant global health challenge to patients and physicians with a complex relationship of biological and psychosocial factors that are only partly understood. Emerging research suggests an association between prenatal and childhood adversity and the development of somatic syndromes, particula...

Background/Objectives: Chronic pain syndromes pose a significant global health challenge to patients and physicians with a complex relationship of biological and psychosocial factors that are only partly understood. Emerging research suggests an association between prenatal and childhood adversity and the development of somatic syndromes, particula...

This study aimed to identify when and how eye movements change across the human lifespan to benchmark developmental biomarkers. The sample size comprised 45,696 participants, ranging in age from 6 to 80 years old (M = 30.39; SD = 17.46). Participants completed six eye movement tests: Circular Smooth Pursuit, Horizontal Smooth Pursuit, Vertical Smoo...

In Islamic countries, many religious scholars have allowed organ transplantation. However, ethical judgments on organ transplantation are disputable and unpredictable. Therefore, opinions about organ transplantation depend on personal beliefs, as well as religious faith, cultural convictions, and sociocultural factors, which deserve discussion and...

Quantifying saccadic eye movements can assist in identifying dysfunctional brain networks in both healthy and diseased people. Infrared Oculography is a simple and non-invasive approach to capturing and quantifying saccades, providing information that might aid in diagnosis and outcome assessments. The effect of spinal manipulation on quantified sa...

Quantifying saccadic eye movements can assist in identifying dysfunctional brain networks in both healthy and diseased people. Infrared Oculography is a simple and non-invasive approach to capturing and quantifying saccades, providing information that might aid in diagnosis and outcome assessments. The effect of spinal manipulation on quantified sa...

Objective Comparison of 2 mobile device measures of balance assessment using EQ and Sway balance systems. Design Method-comparison study. Setting Sports Medicine and Concussion Clinic. Participants 70 individuals (25 males and 45 females (mean age: 37.8 ± 14.8, range: 13–65) with and without concussion or other neurological conditions (39 concus...

We had attended a Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patient for a non-healing wound who reported a marked decrease in his hand tremor and freezing of gait when his wound was exposed to a ceramic far-field infrared (cFIR) blanket. PD is the most frequent motor disorder and the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The...

Simple Summary Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Unfortunately, medical researchers have struggled to develop methods to understand why some people develop AD while others do not while also focusing on the disease’s late-stage consequences. We wanted to address this problem by modeling the disease using...

The aim of this review was to explore the relevant neurobiology and the association between peripheral levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and acute and short to long-term exercise regimes, as well as its relation to depression and antidepressant treatment. A 20-year literature search was conducted. The screening process resulted in...

Chronic low-level blast exposure has been linked with neurological alterations and traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers. Impaired smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with TBI. The purpose of this study was to determine whether long-term operators of low-level blast exposure or high-caliber weapons use displayed oculomotor be...

Background: There are major health benefits of physical activity (PA) during pregnancy, yet there is scant data about a woman's knowledge and understanding of these benefits globally. Design and Methods: We aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women in the United Arab Emirates concerning exercise. We wanted to investi...

Background: Studies have shown that public awareness of ovarian cancer is weak, and women are often diagnosed at late stages when treatment is difficult. Design and Methods: To determine the barriers for seeking early medical care and level of knowledge and awareness among women regarding ovarian cancer. A structured questionnaire was designed and...

The perinatal temporal window is a highly vulnerable time in which environmental factors, such as nutrients, drugs, infections, chemicals, and stress, experienced by the mother can be communicated to the offspring and produce lasting consequences on the new-born brain, thus contributing the evolutionary origin of non-communicable neuropsychiatric d...

Introduction: We aimed to provide an insight on the feasibility and impact of telemedicine use among primary health care (PHC) providers and on nonurgent health care delivery during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: This observational study was conducted using telemedicine data from Dubai H...

Aim Deficits in smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with mild traumatic brain injury(TBI). Eye tracking tests serve as a quick objective clinical tool to assess such predictive visual tracking. In this study, SPEM was assessed along circular, horizontal and vertical trajectories in adolescents with concussion and age-matched co...

Although breastfeeding has been the primary source of nutrition for infants, many women do not choose to practise breastfeeding due to lack of knowledge, inability to do so or personal choices. This study aimed at determining the breastfeeding practices and examining the sociodemographic factors associated with optimal breastfeeding among mothers a...

The size of our pupils changes continuously in response to variations in ambient light levels, a process known as the pupillary light reflex (PLR). The PLR is not a simple reflex as its function is modulated by cognitive brain function and any long-term changes in brain function secondary to injury should cause a change in the parameters of the PLR...

The size of our pupils changes continuously in response to variations in ambient light levels, a process known as the pupillary light reflex (PLR). The PLR is not a simple reflex as its function is modulated by cognitive brain function and any long-term changes in brain function secondary to injury should cause a change in the parameters of the PLR...

Objectives We aimed to determine the awareness, knowledge, and attitude of people residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Our aim was to further identify prospects to increase awareness of modifiable CVD risk factors and influence behavior. Methods This observational study was conducted in Duba...

Introduction: Wounds are associated with ranges of simple to complex disruption or damage to anatomical structure and function. They are also associated with enormous economic and social costs, increasing yearly, resulting in a severe impact on the wellbeing of individuals and society. Technology that might accelerate wound healing is associated wi...

Background: Prior concussion studies have shown that objective neurophysiological measures are sensitive to detecting concussive and subconcussive impairments in youth ice-hockey. These studies monitored brain vital signs at rink-side using a within-subjects design to demonstrate significant changes from pre-season baseline scans. However, practica...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immeasurable impact, affecting healthcare systems, the global economy, and society. Exploration of trends within the existing COVID-19 data may guide directions for further study and novel treatment development. As the world faces COVID-19 disease, it is essential to study its epidemiological and clinical...

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and perception of middle-aged women regarding menopause and hormone therapy (HT). Methods: This observational study was conducted on pre-, peri-, post-, and surgically menopausal women (n = 591) from January 2020 until June 2020 in Dubai. A structured questionnaire was developed based on...

Body Carl Jung used the term, ‘The Wounded Healer’ as an archetypal dynamic to describe a phenomenon which may take place in the relationship between analyst and analysand. Jung discovered the Wounded Healer archetype in relation to himself. For Jung, ‘It is our own hurt that gives the measure of our power to heal‘. Indeed, recurrent themes in the...

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly significant health concern worldwide, compounded by the difficultly in detection and diagnosis. Fortunately, a growing body of research has identified oculomotor behavior, specifically fixations, saccades and smooth pursuit eye movements as a promising endophenotype for neurotrauma. To dat...

Balance control systems involve complex systems directing muscle activity to prevent internal and external influences that destabilize posture, especially when body positions change. The computerized dynamic posturography stability score has been established to be the most repeatable posturographic measure using variations of the modified Clinical...

ImportanceChildren have the highest incidence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the United States. However, mTBI, specifically pediatric patients with mTBI, are notoriously difficult to detect, and with a reliance on traditional, subjective measurements of eye movements, the subtle but key oculomotor deficits are often missed.Objective The p...

Mental health problems are over-represented in doctors and medical students. However, stigma and 'a culture of shame' are formidable barriers to mental health services and consequently many doctors and medical students with mental health difficulties continue to suffer in silence despite the availability of effective treatment. Indeed, a recent stu...

Objectives: This study was conducted in order to explore and analyze the status of gestational diabetes (GDM) amongst pregnant women in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE); a country with high prevalence of diabetes. We aimed to describe GDM-associated risk factors and clinical outcomes of pregnant women and their neonates. Our objective was to cont...

Aims Diabetes is a self-managed condition; knowledge, attitudes, and practices about the condition can influence the overall treatment outcomes and complications of the disease. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward diabetes among T2DM patients in the UAE, a highly prevalent country with diabetes. Methods...

Fixation Stability as an mTBI Biomarker Fixation Stability as a Biomarker for Differentiating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury from Age Matched Controls in Pediatrics Fixation Stability as an mTBI Biomarker Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly significant health concern worldwide, compounded by the difficultly in detection and diagnosis. Fort...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the single biggest cause of mortality in the United States. However, TBI is notoriously difficult to detect, and with a reliance on traditional, subjective measurements of eye movements, the subtle but key oculomotor deficits are often missed. Recent research has illustrated the efficacy of eye tracking measures as p...

Background: Eye tracking tests to measure vertical smooth pursuit as a proxy for neural deficitsassociated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were evaluated in the present study. Methodology: 92 participants reporting either no TBI, mild, moderate or severe TBI participated in an automated test of vertical smooth pursuit performance using a remote e...

Background: Psychiatrists play a multifaceted and critical role in improving the lives of people with mental illness. However, despite how rewarding, important and thrilling a career in mental health is, there continues to remain a shortage of psychiatrists in Low-, Middle-and High-Income Countries. There has been resurgence in interest in improvin...

Mass gatherings occur in different situations and settings around the world. A mass gathering can range in size from thousands to millions and in nature from recreation (i.e. concerts) to religious festivals (i.e. the Hajj pilgrimage). Such mass gatherings can result in high rates of morbidity and mortality from communicable and non-communicable di...

Introduction: Despite the launching of multiple initiatives to increase recruitment into psychiatry, the profession continues to remain undersubscribed. Studies have shown that teaching on global mental health can improve attitudes toward psychiatry in medical students. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have been published hitherto that eva...

Mental health related stigma is a pernicious phenomenon that permeates and pervades our world. As stigma continues to evolve so too must our approach to reduce it. This paper outlines a protocol that leverages the power of virtual contact and digital technology to challenge mental health related stigma in West Bengal, India.

Introduction: A recent study commissioned by the Scottish Government on the prevalence of mental disorders in Muslims in Scotland revealed that over 50% of the sample met the diagnostic criteria for a mental illness. Stigma is a major barrier to mental health services and despite the availability of effective treatment, many Muslims in Scotland wit...

Introduction: Eye movement pathology can assist in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders. Eye-tracking paradigms have been utilized to provide greater ecological validity, and directly capture the detailed sequence of processes in perception and attention, while quantifying classifiers in mood, anxiety, and psychot...

Introduction: There is increasing awareness that Lyme borreliosis (LB) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) may cause mental health symptoms. TBI and Lyme disease compromise the health and activities of millions of patients per year. The chronic symptoms and disability of TBI and Lyme disease share a similar clinical presentation. We have identified a...

Clinical assessment of a patient, monitoring the progress of a condition, and/or titration of a therapy is dependent on the metro-logical characteristics of diagnostic equipment. While metrological performance of instruments is commonly assessed in research, it is not so often done in clinical practice. Physical rehabilitation applications may bene...

Background: Psychiatrists play a multifaceted and critical role in improving the lives of people with mental illness. However, despite how rewarding, important and thrilling a career in mental health is, there continues to remain a shortage of psychiatrists in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries. There has been resurgence in interest in improv...

Introduction: Academic learning is the most important source of stress among young students worldwide and appears to be quite severe in eastern countries. We aimed to examine the relationship between academic stress and depression among adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescents in United Arab Emirates using th...

Introduction: A recent study commissioned by the Scottish Government on the prevalence of mental disorders in Muslims in Scotland revealed that over 50% of the sample met the diagnostic criteria for a mental illness. Stigma is a major barrier to mental health services and despite the availability of effective treatment, many Muslims in Scotland wi...

Introduction: Women in the UAE and Muslim countries are a largely understudied population with significant disparities in knowledge to most basic health concerns and family planning. Our objective was to identify UAE contraceptive knowledge similarities and variances to other world regions, and to inform efforts to improve contraceptive care at Ar...

Introduction: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is the most prevalent type of diabetes among adults and constitutes around 90% of all cases. Substantial evidence demonstrates that depression in the context of diabetes is associated with a wide range of adverse consequences such as reduced adherence to the prescribed treatment regimen, lower quality o...

Objectives The Dubai Residency Training Program (DRTP) commenced in the year 1993; then, a “Residency Research Program (RRP)” has implemented from 2011 to promote research among young physicians. This study was conducted by the Dubai Health Authority to review the RRP to assess its effectiveness in meeting original objectives and generating desired...

Objective The objective of the present study was to explore obstetric management in relation to clinical, maternal and child health outcomes by using the Robson classification system. Methods Data was collected from obstetrics registries in tertiary care hospitals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Results The analysis of > 5,400 deliveries (60%...

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in both military and civilian casualties. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi civilians died which was often described with an unfortunate term “collateral damage” by Allied forces led by the Americans and British.

Islamophobia describes a state of mind and a set of consequences which affect Muslims and those who are perceived as such throughout the world, especially in the West. The roots of this complex “phobia” are embedded in the history of the Islamic faith and those who have feared or rejected it over many centuries. To understand the origins of Islamop...

The rise of radicalisation, the demonisation of Muslims by demagogues and segments of the British media and the immigration crisis in Europe are all factors that collude and contribute to heightened levels of Islamophobia in the United Kingdom (UK). Islamophobia has been associated with psychological distress in Muslims. However, reputable organisa...

In this paper we identify some of the critical factors that contribute to the ongoing shortage of psychiatrists in the UK. We discuss initiatives that have been launched to try and encourage more medical students and trainee doctors to choose psychiatry as a career. We describe the innovative anti-stigma Wounded Healer programme that was pioneered...

United Arab Emirates initiated the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening on 2013. Yet, one of the barriers to participation in CRC screening is lack of knowledge about the importance of CRC, its risk factors, and the benefits that could be gained through screening. We aimed in this study to identify knowledge, attitude, and behavioral factors among the...

Introduction: Children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have impairment of social interaction and demonstrate difficulty with emotional communication, display of posture and facial expression, with recognized relationships between postural control mechanisms and cognitive functions. Beside standard biomedical interventions and psych...

Introduction Persistent imbalance between work demands and resources seems to be a crucial contributor to the development of burnout among medical professionals. Yet, it seems that Middle East is lacking studies analyzing psychological well-being's of medical residents. Hence, we aimed to conduct a nationwide study to understand and address burnout...

Objective To determine the incidence, demographic data, risk factors, indications, outcome and complications of emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH) performed in two major tertiary care hospitals in Dubai, and to compare the results with the literature. Materials and Methods The records of all women who underwent EPH from January 2000 to Decemb...

Although psychotropic drugs have been hailed as, 'One of the success stories of modern psychiatry' the prescribing of these medicines has not been without commotion, concern and controversy. Moreover, the President of the World Psychiatry Association Professor Dinesh Bhugra and colleagues, after conducting a recent large-scale study (n=25,522) on p...

Background: On the 22nd May 2017, suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Manchester Arena killing 22 people and injuring 116 others. Following the 'massacre in Manchester', the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, linked UK foreign policy with terrorism on British soil. Controversial and contentious...

Background: Mental health problems are common in Muslim communities however due to fear of exposure to stigmatization many people in this group continue to suffer in silence despite the availability of effective treatment. The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) organized the first ever Muslim mental health conference in Ireland to cha...

Background: There is a preponderance of mental health problems in students on a global scale which can have a considerable effect on their academic performance and a profound impact on their quality of life. Many universities offer free counselling services however despite this a recent study in the US revealed that up to 84% of students who scree...

Aims: To conduct a pilot study on a motion picture based, anti-stigma programme entitled, "The Wounded Healer film" to measure if it is associated with any changes in stigma variables in healthcare students and if it encouraged care seeking in this group. Background: The 2008 Stigma Shout Survey of almost 4000 people using mental health services an...

Background: There are higher levels of psychological distress in healthcare professionals and students compared to the general population. Yet, despite the availability of effective treatment, many in this group continue to suffer in silence. Fear of exposure to stigmatization has been identified to be a major barrier to accessing and using mental...

Background: On the 9th October 2000, Dr Daksha Emson, a London based psychiatrist with bipolar affective disorder, tragically killed herself and her three-month-old baby daughter during a psychotic episode. An independent inquiry into Dr Emson's death concluded that mental health stigma in the National Health Service was a factor that contributed...

Background: 1 in 4 people experience mental health problems at some point during their lives and Muslims are no exception. Exacerbating the morbidity and mortality associated with mental health problems in Muslims is Islamophobia. Stigma and shame are major barriers to accessing and using mental health services and many Muslims with mental health...

Background: Moral competencies and ethical practices of medical professionals are among the desired outcomes of academic training. Unfortunately, academic dishonesty and misconduct are reported from medical colleges across the world. This study investigates the level of academic dishonesty/misconduct among multicultural medical students. Objective:...

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant public health problem adversely affecting mothers, their newborns, and other members of the family. Although PPD is common and potentially dangerous, only a minority of the cases are identified in primary health care settings during routine care, and the majority of depressed mothers in the...

Context Approximately 1.8–3.6 million annual traumatic brain injuries occur in the United States. An evidence-based treatment for concussions that is reliable and effective has not been available. Objective The objective of this study is to test whether head–eye vestibular motion (HEVM) therapy is associated with decreased symptoms and increased f...

Context Medical Education can be delivered in the traditional classroom or via novel technology including an online classroom. Objective To test the hypothesis that learning in an online classroom would result in similar outcomes as learning in the traditional classroom when using a flipped classroom pedagogy. Design Randomized controlled trial....

Eye movements such as saccades are utilized in therapeutic strategies in clinical settings within psychiatry, psychology, vestibular therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and chiropractic. Attempts have been made to measure the relationship between saccades and postural stability within laboratory conditions. Conflicting information exist...

Context Eye-movement training (EMT) can induce altered brain activation and change the functionality of saccades with changes of the brain in general. Objective To determine if EMT would result in changes in quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) and NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) in patients suffering from acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarctio...

Background: 37-year-old, Venezuelan male, with a prior established diagnosis of schizophrenia presented with emotional disturbances including depression, expressive agnosia, paresthesias, hyper-emotionality, fear/paranoia, aggressive thoughts, and brain fog. His Graded Symptom Checklist (GSC) severity was 44/162. His Trails A and B times were 22.7...

Background: A 76-yeear-old, male, previously diagnosed vascular dementia, presented with symptoms of memory problems, decreased cognition, and fogginess. Graded Symptom Checklist (GSC) severity was 34/162. Trails A (TA) was 55.4 seconds, Trails B (TB) was 117.7 upon intake. Processing speed was unable to perform upon intake due to processing speed...