Left ventricular diastolic mechanics in trained athletes during submaximal exercise using speckle tracking echocardiography

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science by ResearchThis thesis investigated sport specific responses of diastolic mechanics at rest and during submaximal exercise. Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) was used to assess diastolic mechanics at rest and whilst triathletes (TRI, n=9, 32 ± 7 years), long distance runners (LDR, n=7, 34 ± 3 years), resistance trained (RT, n=5, 24 ± 5 years) and untrained controls (CON, n=5, 29 ± 5 years) performed dynamic and static exercise. Cycling consisted of 5 minute stages at 30% and 60% maximum workload (Wmax), and leg extension involved 15 second contractions at 40% and 75% maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Peak untwisting velocity (PUV), apical and basal rotation velocities did not differ between groups at rest or during exercise (p>0.05). PUV increased in TRI from rest to 30% and 60% Wmax (p<0.01), remained unchanged in LDR, RT and CON from rest to 30% (p>0.05, p0.05, respectively) and 60% Wmax (p=0.018, p>0.05, p>0.05, respectively). PUV did not change from rest to 40% (p>0.05) and 75% MVIC in TRI, LDR, CON (p>0.05) and RT (p<0.05). These findings suggest diastolic mechanics do not differ at rest or during exercise based on sport specificity, yet mixed training (TRI) athletes demonstrate augmented diastolic mechanics during dynamic exercise

Dystopia and Euphoria: Time-Space Compression and the City

This chapter examines the representation of urban space in British literature of the 1980s and 1990s. It begins by suggesting that such representations must be read in the light of the structural shifts within the composition of capitalism during the 1970s, which played themselves out in postmodern fiction over the course of the final two decades of the twentieth century. The chapter surveys representations of London during this period before suggesting that critical literature surrounding the ‘London literature’ has failed to recognise that the exceptionalism on which this genre is constructed is itself a consequence of a restructuring of the relationship between centre and periphery within the UK during the 1980s and 1990s. The chapter then addresses the representation of peripheral urban space through a sustained examination of Alasdair Gray’s Glasgow-set 1981 novel Lanark and Jeff Noon’s Manchester-set novels Vurt (1993) and Needle in the Groove (1999)

Ballard’s Island(s): White Heat, National Decline and Technology After Technicity Between ‘The Terminal Beach’ and Concrete Island.

This essay argues that the early fiction of J.G. Ballard represents a complex commentary on the evolution of the UK’s technological imaginary which gives the lie to descriptions of the country as an anti-technological society. Such descriptions were lent credence during the postwar period by a perceived crisis in English identity as the British Empire slowly broke apart and the British state appeared to enter a period of decline. Ballard’s work has recently been positioned as an example of this national crisis; however, by reading the representation of landscape in the short story ‘The Terminal Beach’ (1964) alongside Harold Wilson’s ‘white heat’ speech of 1963, and interpreting both in the light of David Edgerton’s complication of declinist interpretations of Britain’s technological revolution, this essay argues that any straightforward attempt to identify Ballard as an example of traumatised Englishness is likely to oversimplify matters. Instead it suggests that, in identifying a numinous fantasy of technology after technicity, ‘The Terminal Beach’ offers a much more complicated vision of the role of technology in the UK of the 1960s and early 1970s. The significance of Concrete Island lies in how the collision at the outset of the novel marks a move away from this technological imaginary, and a violent transition into a landscape marked by the immanent practice of technicity rather than a transcendent fantasy of technology after technicity

Physical activity accrued whilst golf caddying

Golf caddies are involved in golf at all levels of the game; however, little research has considered the physical activity (PA) accrued working in this profession. Importantly, the PA from playing golf can improve aspects of health; therefore, caddying may provide a PA that elicits similar benefits. This study, therefore, assessed the PA accrued whilst golf caddying. Eleven male caddies wore a PA monitor for 7-days and recorded time spent caddying while walking the 18-hole course at Carnoustie Golf Links, Scotland. Per day, caddies spent 224 minutes (58%) of their time caddying in light-intensity PA and 115 minutes (30%) of their time caddying in moderate-to-vigorous PA, accumulating 15480±4089 steps. Caddying accumulates enough moderate-to-vigorous PA across a week to exceed current PA guidelines, and the step count accrued is classified as highly active. Caddying can provide PA that has the potential to provide health benefits

Physical activity accrued whilst golf caddying

Golf caddies are involved in golf at all levels of the game; however, little research has considered the physical activity (PA) accrued working in this profession. Importantly, the PA from playing golf can improve aspects of health; therefore, caddying may provide a PA that elicits similar benefits. This study, therefore, assessed the PA accrued whilst golf caddying. Eleven male caddies wore a PA monitor for 7-days and recorded time spent caddying while walking the 18-hole course at Carnoustie Golf Links, Scotland. Per day, caddies spent 224 minutes (58%) of their time caddying in light-intensity PA and 115 minutes (30%) of their time caddying in moderate-to-vigorous PA, accumulating 15480±4089 steps. Caddying accumulates enough moderate-to-vigorous PA across a week to exceed current PA guidelines, and the step count accrued is classified as highly active. Caddying can provide PA that has the potential to provide health benefits

Freedom After Neoliberalism

Over the last four decades, the rise of the socio-political formation widely referred to as neoliberalism has seen a particular model of freedom – the freedom of free markets, property rights, and entrepreneurial self-ownership – gain prominence in a variety of ways around the globe. More recently, there has been a surge in critical activity around neoliberalism, which has led to the emergence of an increasingly settled understanding of its political, economic, and cultural mechanics. Most critiques, however, have proven reluctant to engage neoliberalism on the territory that it has conspicuously made its own: namely, freedom. This special collection aims to rethink, re-evaluate, and renovate the many meanings of freedom beyond its limited economic function in neoliberal theory and practice, and to imagine what freedom might look like in a world beyond neoliberalism. The introduction provides an overview of the current conjuncture, in which there is a growing realisation that neoliberal governance has failed to deliver on its promises of freedom. We argue that this realisation has made possible, and necessary, the exploration of new histories and new futures of freedom. The introduction concludes with a brief summary of the articles that comprise this special collection

Long-term athletic training does not alter age-associated reductions of left-ventricular mid-diastolic lengthening or expansion at rest

Purpose: The interaction of ageing and exercise training status on left-ventricular (LV) peak strain is unclear. Additionally, strain analysis across the entire cardiac cycle facilitates a more detailed assessment of deformation, yet this has not been implemented to characterize the ageing LV and in association with training status. This study investigated healthy ageing and training status on LV systolic and diastolic strain utilizing novel echocardiographic applications. Methods: Forty healthy males were included and allocated into four groups; young recreationally active (YRA,n = 9; 28 ± 5 years), old recreationally active (ORA, n = 10; 68 ± 6), young trained (YT,n = 10; 27 ± 6 years), and old trained (OT, n = 11, 64 ± 4 years) groups. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed to ascertain peak LV longitudinal and circumferential strain (base and apex) strain within each myocardial layer and at 5% increments across the cardiac cycle. Results: Older groups had lower diastolic longitudinal lengthening and circumferential expansion between 40–85% mid-diastole, regardless of training status (P 0.05). Longitudinal and circumferential (base and apex) peak and layer-specific strain did not differ between groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Novel applications of diastolic strain revealed lower age-associated LV longitudinal lengthening and circumferential expansion in older age. Yet, diastolic strain profiles did not differ based on chronic habits of exercise training and, thus, older trained men did not demonstrate an attenuation of age-associated differences in mid-diastolic LV strain. © 2020, The Author(s)