Airway inflammation responses to walking roadside and park routes after school: a real‐world crossover study

Active travel to and from school is encouraged as a form of daily exercise. However, a significant proportion of children's pollution exposure has been attributed to this time due to road traffic volume. We investigated fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) responses in children walking roadside and park routes after school. 18 children (9.6 ± 1.0 years) completed six 30 min walks immediately after a school day (three in each environment). FeNO was measured before and after, with pollution concentrations measured during each walk. FeNO was reduced following roadside (20.87 ± 17.14 vs. 18.96 ± 15.63 ppb and p = 0.006) and park walks (19.13 ± 2.22 vs. 16.60 ± 2.74 ppb and p < 0.001). The reductions were not different between the two environments. The ICC for all pre‐walk FeNO was good (0.882 95% CI: 0.792, 0.947). Measured PM2.5 (5.9 ± 2.2 vs. 6.5 ± 2.6 μg/m3), PM10 (14.9 ± 11.9 vs. 14.8 ± 8.1 μg/m3) and VOCs (132 ± 91 vs. 80 ± 50 ppb) were not different between roadside and park conditions, respectively. Modest reductions in FeNO after walking suggest a normal response to light to moderate intensity exercise. The similar responses for roadside and park environments suggest that the benefits of active travel outweigh potential risk of pollution exposure where pollution concentrations are below current World Health Organisation thresholds. FeNO can also be reliably measured at the end of a school day with little direct control of behaviour in the hours before measurement

Suffolk Libraries: enhancing well-being within its community

Libraries are community spaces that offer social and health-related activities. Yet, evidence high-lighting how libraries enhance well-being in their communities is limited. This paper examines how activities run by Suffolk Libraries enhance the well-being of users within their community. DuringStudy 1, library users completed a questionnaire investigating library use, loneliness, social connectedness, and social assurance. Study 1 identified that as library usage increased social connectedness, social assurance also increased. During Study 2, activity group users completed a questionnaire investigating happiness, satisfaction with life, and mental well-being before and after their activity group. Study 2 found increases in satisfaction with life and mental well-being after an activity group. These findings demonstrate the positive impact that Suffolk Libraries has on users. Thus, it is concluded that Suffolk Libraries, an example of a community-based service, facilitates well-being. Future work is proposed that examines in what way community services support well-being, as well as user’s motivations to engage with these services

A guide to formulation in coaching

Lane, Corrie and Kovács present a foundational text for coaches wishing to improve their coaching practice through use of formulation. A Guide to Formulation in Coaching examines the nature and purpose of formulation and how to develop effective formulations that can inform and improve practice. It combines theoretical perspectives with case studies illustrating its use in different coaching contexts to provide a comprehensive and accessible account of the purpose, perspectives and processes used in formulation. In addition to providing practice-based examples and drawing on the literature, the book provides a series of exercises to enable readers to refine their individual approaches. Practical and accessibly written, this book will be a valuable resource for coaches and coaching psychologists, coaching supervisors and trainers, and academics interested in understanding the role of formulation and how it applies in a coaching context

A spatial analysis of ball recovery locations, ball recovery methods and eventual possession outcomes in elite women’s football using a Bayesian network approach

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact ball recovery tactics had on attacking performance in women’s football. As such, in this study (n = 19,040), occurrences of open-play possession regain events in professional women’s football across professional European leagues were analysed. A Bayesian Network model was applied to the data and the results revealed some unique insights. Organised pressing was revealed to be effective throughout the pitch but its pay-off mainly depends on where the ball is won. Successful pressing occurrences that resulted in the regaining of possession in the attacking right-hand side of the playing surface produced the highest likelihood of creating goal-scoring chances. Furthermore, the results of this study revealed that interceptions are the dominant recovery method, especially in central zones and tackling becomes more influential in wide areas of the pitch. In addition, this study revealed that team quality and recovery method both influenced outcomes, but only indirectly via their effect on regain location, while venue has no detectable impact on possession outcomes. Whilst this study did discover some similar trends in ball recovery patterns to those discovered previously in men’s football, some unique findings specific to women’s football were also discovered

The role of ambient air pollution, exercise intensity and duration on the acute lung function and airway inflammation responses to exercise: a systematic review

Background: More attention is required on the relations between air pollution and exercise characteristics. Aims: This systematic review aims to investigate the combined effects of exercise intensity and duration in ambient air pollution referenced against 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines, on lung function and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO). Methods: A search was conducted using PubMed, Sport Discus, Proquest, and Web of Science databases, up to August 2023, in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Results: From 1220 identified articles, 22 were included based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Exercise intensity and duration were reported as described by authors of the original research. Pollutant concentrations were classified as above or below the 2021 24-h WHO Air Quality Guideline pollutant thresholds. Exercise intensities were inconsistent, ranging from “comfortable pace” walking to 90% maximum heart rate. Exercise duration ranged from 20 min to 8 h of intermittent exercise. Eighteen studies measured pollutants that the WHO provide 24 h thresholds for; 14 of those 18 studies had conditions that exceeded threshold for at least one pollutant, and 11 of the 14 reported significant associations between air pollution, exercise, lung function and/or FeNO. Conclusions: Adverse lung function and FeNO responses were associated with exercise in conditions with pollutant concentrations exceeding the 2021 24 h WHO thresholds. Longer duration exercise (> 2 h) was frequently associated with adverse acute responses, whilst the potential influence of exercise intensity was less clear. Evidence appears to suggest exercise ≥ 120 min in pollution concentrations exceeding WHO thresholds may result in reduced lung function

Writing German history biographically IX: Becoming a bourgeois killer: Peter Kürten, the Vampire of Düsseldorf

This short essay uses the life (and death) of Peter Kürten, an infamous Weimar-era serial killer, to show how the category of "Weimar Killer" obscures more than it reveals about crime in twentieth-century Germany

Review of "Abstract Erotic: Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Alice Adams"

This essay reviews Abstract Erotic, an exhibition curated by Jo Applin that revisits Lucy Lippard's "Eccentric Abstraction" exhibition

Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty for Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension results of an international multicenter prospective registry

Background Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension results from mechanical obstruction of major pulmonary artery lumina with fibrotic tissue. Main treatment has been pulmonary endarterectomy, a complex surgical procedure removing vascular obstruction. However, at least 40% of patients are not candidates for pulmonary endarterectomy because of technical inoperability, comorbidities, or limited access to surgery. Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) has emerged as an interventional treatment for these patients. Objectives \ud The International BPA Registry (NCT03245268) was designed to investigate BPA practice across 18 established centers in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Methods A total of 500 patients were prospectively and consecutively enrolled between March 2018 and March 2020, with follow-up until March 2022. Of these, 484 patients were included in the analysis set. Results Regional differences were seen in patient characteristics (fewer patients with prior pulmonary endarterectomy and more elderly women in Japan) and procedural details (less medical pretreatment, more jugular access, more segments and more occlusive lesions treated per session and patient, less conscious sedation, less contrast and less radiation, shorter intervals between BPA sessions in Japan). Female sex, procedure in Europe/United States, pulmonary hypertension medications at any time, and higher baseline pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), calculated as transpulmonary pressure gradient divided by cardiac output, emerged as independent predictors of complications during BPA. After a median of 5 (Q1-Q3: 3-6) BPA sessions per patient within a median time of 4.9 months (Q1-Q3: 1.7-11.0 months), a 15-mm Hg (38%) decrease in mPAP, a 332 dynes/s/cm−5 (57%) decrease in PVR, and a 3.2% increase in arterial saturation (medians; P < 0.001) were observed, and there were significant improvements in functional class, 6-minute walk distance, serum levels of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide, and Borg dyspnea index. BPA complications occurred in 11.3% of sessions and 33.9% of patients and were mostly hemoptyses. No patient died within 30 days of BPA. Conclusions Our data are in line with previous reports on changes of clinical and hemodynamic parameters and complication rates of BPA. Centers with more experience providing BPAs were more likely to achieve a higher percentage decrease in PVR