The Reflective Sport and Exercise Science Practitioner

The development of reflective practitioners within the sport and exercise sciences and allied disciplines has started to gain prominence in discussions surrounding education, training, and practice in these fields. However, while the principles associated with doing reflective practice are becoming more widely discussed in the sport and exercise literature, debate concerning what it means to be a reflective practitioner remains limited. This has perhaps resulted in ongoing conceptual and applied considerations relating to the nature and importance of reflective practice, often leading to the promotion of, and engagement in, reflection that is overly technical, restricted, and compliant. Drawing on the perspectives of those who have contributed to this text, in this chapter we (editorial team) present a series of vignettes that offer accounts of what it means to be a reflective practitioner. In doing so, our aim is to allow the reader to immerse themselves within the contributors’ own experiences, perspectives and developmental journeys. Finally, we offer our own analytical summary of the contributors’ vignettes to draw together some of the common ideas and themes concerning the attitudes, skills, perspectives, and philosophy required by the reflective practitioner

SLIMMER (FHL1B/KyoT3) Interacts with the Proapoptotic Protein Siva-1 (CD27BP) and Delays Skeletal Myoblast Apoptosis*

The fhl1 gene encoding four-and-a-half LIM protein-1 (FHL1) and its spliced isoform, SLIMMER, is mutated in reducing body myopathy, X-linked myopathy with postural muscle atrophy, scapuloperoneal myopathy, and rigid spine syndrome. In this study we have identified a novel function for SLIMMER in delaying skeletal muscle apoptosis via an interaction with the proapoptotic protein Siva-1. Siva-1 was identified as a SLIMMER-specific-interacting protein using yeast two-hybrid screening, direct-binding studies, and glutathione S-transferase pulldown analysis of murine skeletal muscle lysates. In C2C12 skeletal myoblasts, SLIMMER and Siva co-localized in the nucleus; however, both proteins exhibited redistribution to the cytoplasm following the differentiation of mononucleated myoblasts to multinucleated myotubes. In sections of mature skeletal muscle from wild type mice, SLIMMER and Siva-1 co-localized at the Z-line. SLIMMER and Siva-1 were also enriched in Pax-7-positive satellite cells, muscle stem cells that facilitate repair and regeneration. Significantly, SLIMMER delayed Siva-1-dependent apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts. In skeletal muscle sections from the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, SLIMMER and Siva-1 co-localized in the nucleus of apoptotic myofibers. Therefore, SLIMMER may protect skeletal muscle from apoptosis

Opportunistic infections and AIDS malignancies early after initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries