Evaluation of a rotating swim bench as a surrogate for freestyle swimming

Introduction: The swim bench is an isokinetic ergometer designed for competitive swimming training and is used in research as an accessible alternative to in-water data collection. However, limited literature addresses the biomechanical fidelity of the swim bench relative to in-water swimming. The lack of body roll on a conventional fixed swim bench may limit realistic simulation of the freestyle stroke pull. Accordingly, the KayakPro SwimFast swim bench includes a rotating bench setting; yet specific changes to a competitive swimmer’s kinematics and muscle activity on a rotating bench compared to a fixed bench or in-water swimming are unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of swim bench setting on freestyle stroke 3D kinematics and muscle activity and evaluate the similarities between the swim bench and pre-existing in-water kinematic data [1]. The rotating bench setting was expected to produce greater shoulder angles and shoulder roll, narrower elbow angles, and less torso flexion than the fixed. Further, the rotating bench setting was expected to generate greater muscle activation of the shoulder prime movers, rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers. In comparison to the in-water data, the stroke length, elbow flexion, total shoulder roll, and length of entry phase were expected to differ on the swim bench.Methods: Fifteen, male, right-handed, collegiate and national level competitive swimmers [20.4±1.18 yrs., 1.81±5.11 m, 78.5±6.01 kg] recruited from local varsity swim teams participated. Upper limb and torso kinematics were collected bilaterally, and surface electromyography (sEMG) collected on 12, right, upper limb muscles. Participants performed 8 sets (4 rotating &amp; 4 fixed) of 30 seconds freestyle stroke pulling on a KayakPro SwimFast swim bench (KayakPro USA LLC, Florida, USA) at 55 stroke cycles/minute.Kinematic data was filtered with a low-pass Butterworth filter at a 4 Hz cut off, and time normalized to percent stroke cycle (%SC). sEMG data was filtered with a band-pass Butterworth filter between 30 to 500 Hz, amplitude normalized to maximum voluntary isometric contraction and time normalized to %SC. Swim bench setting continuous joint angles and muscle activations were compared using statistical non-parametric mapping, one-tailed, paired t-tests. In-water measures were compared to the swim bench using mixed one-way ANOVAs via JMP 17 software (SAS Institute, North Carolina, USA).Results &amp; Discussion: Contrary to the hypotheses, few kinematic and sEMG differences existed between the rotating and fixed swim bench settings. Significant differences were found in the right shoulder elevation (p = 0.021) (Fig. 1), posterior deltoid activation (p = 0.015) (Fig. 2), and infraspinatus activation (p = 0.026). However, the fixed bench produced greater activations and angles rather than the hypothesized rotating setting. Regardless of bench setting, participants laterally flexed the torso, potentially as compensation for the lack of roll allowance on the swim bench overall. The similarities between the settings indicate that the rotating swim bench may not substantially augment the realistic simulation of the underwater freestyle pull. Thus, swimmers can choose the more comfortable setting for training. Compared to in-water swimming, both swim bench settings produced similar elbow flexion ranges; however, the stroke length decreased (p&lt;0.0001), total shoulder roll decreased (p&lt;0.0001), and entry phase duration decreased (p&lt;0.0001) significantly. Despite the difference in shoulder roll magnitude, the movement pattern aligns with current literature, indicating at least partial replication of in-water swimming [2]. The reduction in stroke length may relate to the lack of entry phase on the swim bench because swimmer’s commonly glide further forward during entry and elevate the shoulder to facilitate a longer moment arm for the catch [3]. The reduction in stroke length, total shoulder roll, and entry phase duration with the addition of the lateral torso flexion are notable considerations for long term use. Swimmers could develop associated habits that reduce swimming economy and increase drag when translated to in-water training. Significance: This study provides novel findings for coaches and researchers to consider for the use of the swim bench for training and research purposes.<br/

The Innovation Makerspace: Geographies of Digital Fabrication Innovation in Greater New York City

Desktop digital fabrication technology has the potential to powerfully alter the economics, geography, and sociology of production. The desktop technology cannot reach its potential for widespread impact until it improves in quality and decreases in price. Makerspaces have emerged in the United States in the last eight years as informal social organizations where innovation in this technology may be occurring. This study examines whether innovation in digital fabrication technology has occurred, or has the potential to occur, at makerspaces in the New York City area

Developing an appreciation of what it means to be a school-based teacher educator

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Teacher Education on 2 October 2015. The version of record, Elizabeth White, Claire Dickerson and Kathryn Weston, ‘Developing an appreciation of what it means to be a school-based teacher educator’, European Journal of Teacher Education, Vol 38(4): 445-459, first published online on 25 August 2015, is available online via doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2015.1077514The nature of partnership between schools and higher education institutions is changing in many countries, with experienced teachers taking on more responsibility for teacher education whilst remaining in their school as teachers, rather than entering the higher education sector to become teacher educators. This research considers the perspectives of these school-based teacher educators in England, exploring the impact that this role has on them, their student-teachers and their schools. Some benefits and challenges that they face in the dual role of teacher and teacher educator are revealed. The research takes an interpretive perspective, listening to the meanings being constructed by the participants through use of a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and a focus group of student-teachers who learned from these school-based teacher educators. Possible impacts on student-teachers’ learning and implications for the development of high quality teacher education are examined.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Use of progression criteria to support monitoring and commissioning decision making of public health services: : lessons from Better Start Bradford

BACKGROUND:Commissioning and monitoring of community-based interventions is a challenge due to the complex nature of the environment and the lack of any explicit cut-offs to guide decision making. At what point, for example, is participant enrolment to interventions, course completion or satisfaction deemed to be acceptable or sufficient for continued funding? We aimed to identify and quantify key progression criteria for fourteen early years interventions by (1) agreeing the top three criteria for monitoring of successful implementation and progress; and (2) agreeing boundaries to categorise interventions as 'meeting anticipated target' (green); 'falling short of targets' (amber) and 'targets not being met' (red). METHODS:We ran three workshops in partnership with the UK's Big Lottery Fund commissioned programme 'Better Start Bradford' (implementing more than 20 interventions to improve the health, wellbeing and development of children aged 0-3) to support decision making by agreeing progression criteria for the interventions being delivered. Workshops included 72 participants, representing a range of professional groups including intervention delivery teams, commissioners, intervention-monitoring teams, academics and community representatives. After discussion and activities, final decisions were submitted using electronic voting devices. All participants were invited to reconsider their responses via a post-workshop questionnaire. RESULTS:Three key progression criteria were assigned to each of the 14 interventions. Overall, criteria that participants most commonly voted for were recruitment, implementation and reach, but these differed according to each intervention. Cut-off values used to indicate when an intervention moved to 'red' varied by criteria; the lowest being for recruitment, where participants agreed that meeting less than 65% of the targeted recruitment would be deemed as 'red' (falling short of target). CONCLUSIONS:Our methodology for monitoring the progression of interventions has resulted in a clear pathway which will support commissioners and intervention teams in local decision making within the Better Start Bradford programme and beyond. This work can support others wishing to implement a formal system for monitoring the progression of public health interventions

Assessing and predicting adolescent and early adulthood common mental disorders using electronic primary care data:analysis of a prospective cohort study (ALSPAC) in Southwest England

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine agreement between common mental disorders (CMDs) from primary care records and repeated CMD questionnaire data from ALSPAC (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) over adolescence and young adulthood, explore factors affecting CMD identification in primary care records, and construct models predicting ALSPAC-derived CMDs using only primary care data. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective cohort study (ALSPAC) in Southwest England with linkage to electronic primary care records. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care records were extracted for 11 807 participants (80% of 14 731 eligible). Between 31% (3633; age 15/16) and 11% (1298; age 21/22) of participants had both primary care and ALSPAC CMD data. OUTCOME MEASURES: ALSPAC outcome measures were diagnoses of suspected depression and/or CMDs. Primary care outcome measure were Read codes for diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of depression/CMDs. For each time point, sensitivities and specificities for primary care CMD diagnoses were calculated for predicting ALSPAC-derived measures of CMDs, and the factors associated with identification of primary care-based CMDs in those with suspected ALSPAC-derived CMDs explored. Lasso (least absolute selection and shrinkage operator) models were used at each time point to predict ALSPAC-derived CMDs using only primary care data, with internal validation by randomly splitting data into 60% training and 40% validation samples. RESULTS: Sensitivities for primary care diagnoses were low for CMDs (range: 3.5%–19.1%) and depression (range: 1.6%–34.0%), while specificities were high (nearly all >95%). The strongest predictors of identification in the primary care data for those with ALSPAC-derived CMDs were symptom severity indices. The lasso models had relatively low prediction rates, especially in the validation sample (deviance ratio range: −1.3 to 12.6%), but improved with age. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care data underestimate CMDs compared to population-based studies. Improving general practitioner identification, and using free-text or secondary care data, is needed to improve the accuracy of models using clinical data

Regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis in erythropoiesis by mTORC1-mediated protein translation.

Advances in genomic profiling present new challenges of explaining how changes in DNA and RNA are translated into proteins linking genotype to phenotype. Here we compare the genome-scale proteomic and transcriptomic changes in human primary haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and erythroid progenitors, and uncover pathways related to mitochondrial biogenesis enhanced through post-transcriptional regulation. Mitochondrial factors including TFAM and PHB2 are selectively regulated through protein translation during erythroid specification. Depletion of TFAM in erythroid cells alters intracellular metabolism, leading to elevated histone acetylation, deregulated gene expression, and defective mitochondria and erythropoiesis. Mechanistically, mTORC1 signalling is enhanced to promote translation of mitochondria-associated transcripts through TOP-like motifs. Genetic and pharmacological perturbation of mitochondria or mTORC1 specifically impairs erythropoiesis in vitro and in vivo. Our studies support a mechanism for post-transcriptional control of erythroid mitochondria and may have direct relevance to haematologic defects associated with mitochondrial diseases and ageing

Increased hypoglycemia associated with renal failure during continuous intravenous insulin infusion and specialized nutritional support

Objective: To evaluate glycemic control for critically ill, hyperglycemic trauma patients with renal failure who received concurrent intensive insulin therapy and continuous enteral (EN) or parenteral nutrition (PN). Methods: Adult trauma patients with renal failure, who were given EN or PN concurrently with continuous graduated intravenous regular human insulin (RHI) infusion for at least 3 days were evaluated. Our conventional RHI algorithm was modified for those with renal failure by allowing greater changes in blood glucose concentrations (BG) before the infusion rate was escalated. BG was determined every 1-2 hours while receiving the insulin infusion. BG control was evaluated on the day prior to RHI infusion and for a maximum of 7 days while receiving RHI. Target BG during the RHI infusion was 70 to 149 mg/dL (3.9 to 8.3 mmol/L). Glycemic control and incidence of hypoglycemia for those with renal failure were compared to a historical cohort of critically ill, hyperglycemic trauma patients without renal failure given our conventional RHI algorithm. Results: Twenty-one patients with renal failure who received the modified RHI algorithm were evaluated and compared to forty patients without renal failure given our conventional RHI algorithm. Average BG was significantly greater for those with renal failure (133 + 14 mg/dL or 7.3 + 0.7 mmol/L) compared to those without renal failure (122 + 15 mg/dL or 6.8 + 0.8 mmol/L), respectively (p \u3c 0.01). Patients with renal failure experienced worsened glycemic variability with 16.1 + 3.3 hours/day within the target BG range, 6.9 + 3.2 hours/day above the target BG range, and 1.4 + 1.1 hours below the target BG range compared to 19.6 + 4.7 hours/day (p \u3c 0.001), 3.4 + 3.0 hours/day (p \u3c 0.001), and 0.7 + 0.8 hours/day (p \u3c 0.01) for those without renal failure, respectively. Moderate hypoglycemia (\u3c 60 mg/dL or \u3c 3.3 mmol/L) occurred in 76% of patients with renal failure compared to 35% without renal failure (p \u3c 0.005). Severe hypoglycemia (BG \u3c 40 mg/dL or \u3c 2.2 mmol/L) occurred in 29% of patients with renal failure compared to none of those without renal failure (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusion: Despite receiving a modified RHI infusion, critically ill trauma patients with renal failure are at higher risk for developing hypoglycemia and experience more glycemic variability than patients without renal failure

Implementation evaluation of multiple complex early years interventions: : an evaluation framework and study protocol

Introduction: Implementation evaluations are integral to understanding whether, how and why interventions work. However, unpicking the mechanisms of complex interventions is often challenging in usual service settings where multiple services are delivered concurrently. Furthermore, many locally developed and/or adapted interventions have not undergone any evaluation, thus limiting the evidence base available. Born in Bradford’s Better Start cohort is evaluating the impact of multiple early life interventions being delivered as part of the Big Lottery Fund’s ‘A Better Start’ programme to improve the health and well-being of children living in one of the most socially and ethnically diverse areas of the UK. In this paper, we outline our evaluation framework and protocol for embedding pragmatic implementation evaluation across multiple early years interventions and services. Methods and analysis: The evaluation framework is based on a modified version of The Conceptual Framework for Implementation Fidelity. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, our evaluation framework incorporates semistructured interviews, focus groups, routinely collected data and questionnaires. We will explore factors related to content, delivery and reach of interventions at both individual and wider community levels. Potential moderating factors impacting intervention success such as participants’ satisfaction, strategies to facilitate implementation, quality of delivery and context will also be examined. Interview and focus guides will be based on the Theoretical Domains Framework to further explore the barriers and facilitators of implementation. Descriptive statistics will be employed to analyse the routinely collected quantitative data and thematic analysis will be used to analyse qualitative data. Ethics and dissemination: The Health Research Authority (HRA) has confirmed our implementation evaluations do not require review by an NHS Research Ethics Committee (HRA decision 60/88/81). Findings will be shared widely to aid commissioning decisions and will also be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, summary reports, conferences and community newsletters