A qualitative analysis of the factors that protect athletes against doping in sport

Design: Ten competitive athletes (M = 5, F = 5) representing five different sports (field hockey, boxing, football, triathlon, rugby) were recruited through convenience sampling to undertake a semi-structured interview to enable a qualitative analysis of athletes' lifelong athletic careers. Method: Verbatim transcripts were analysed using an established three-stage coding process to identify the common themes within the narratives. Results: Personal and situational protective factors were identified in the accounts. Personal factors included: (i) a strong moral stance against cheating; (ii) an identity beyond sport; (iii) self-control; and (iv) resilience to social group pressures. Situational factors included secure attachments to people at all stages of the athlete's life. This facilitated both the promotion of moral decision making and assisted in the development of anti-doping attitudes. When situational factors – such as a pro-doping climate – arose, key attachments in the athletes' lives interplayed with personal factors to reduce the risk of doping. Conclusions: These findings offer insights into factors that protect competitive athletes against using PEDs in sport and further our understanding of the complex interaction between risk and protective factors at individual, psychosocial and societal levels among competitive athletes. As a complex behaviour, doping in sport cannot be prevented by solely focussing on the individual athlete; contextual factors beyond the athlete's control also impact on this behaviour. Thus, a paradigm shift is warranted to move beyond an athlete-centred approach to anti-doping

Doping In Sports: Do Parents Matter?

Athletes exist and function in an environment of complex relationships; however, little is known about the influence of particular relationships for athletes’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors towards doping in sport. Among adolescent and young adult athlete populations, parents and coaches have been highlighted as particularly influential, but when and how they influence athletes in this context is unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the role of significant others in this domain. Design: Cross-sectional qualitative methodology. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 British (M = 8) track and field student-athletes. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the transcripts. Results: Prominently, the parent-athlete relationship influenced athletes’ lives in and beyond sport. Parents shape(d) athletes’ personal morals by establishing their initial sense of right and wrong. In turn, this appears to guide athletes’ decision-making and behaviors even after leaving the family home. Additionally, parents impacted the trajectory of participants’ athletic careers and their approach toward sport in general. Ensuing from this, participants exhibit a desire to give back to their parents. Cumulatively, the parent-athlete relationship (in)directly deters athletes from doping. Conclusion: Given the enduring significance of the parent-athlete relationship for shaping athletes’ attitudes, experiences and behaviors towards doping, parents should be prioritized with targeted anti-doping education. Specifically, parents should be provided with doping knowledge (e.g., risks, warning signs, consequences), and then equipped and empowered to transmit this information to athletes. Such an approach has the potential to simultaneously increase the engagement of parents and athletes in anti-doping efforts and education

“The process isn’t a case of report it and stop”: Athletes’ lived experience of whistleblowing on doping in sport

Whistleblowing is effective for exposing doping in sport, garnering increased support and promotion within the global anti-doping community. However, limited attention has been afforded towards understanding the doping whistleblowing process. In response, the authors convey a sense of the whistleblowing context by using the actual words of whistleblowers to illuminate their experience. To achieve this aim, the authors have adopted a narrative approach. Three doping whistleblowers were interviewed regarding their lived experiences of whistleblowing on doping and the data has been represented in the form of one composite creative non-fiction story. The story narrates the whistleblowing experience as a process whereby individuals must (a) determine what they witnessed and experienced was doping, (b) make the decision and take action to report it, and (c) deal with the myriad of consequences and emotions. It also highlights the dilemma faced by whistleblowers who are likely equally compelled to adhere to the moral of loyalty and fairness; yet in this context they are unable to do both. Stemming from the story presented and the forms of retribution experienced, the authors offer practical suggestions for sporting organisations to address in order to empower others to whistleblow on doping in sport. Specifically, organisations should establish and implement whistleblowing policies that: (a) provide protection for whistleblowers, (b) mandate whistleblowing education, and (c) identify an independent person for individuals to seek guidance and support from before, during and following the act of whistleblowing

“I don’t know if I would report them”: Student-athletes’ thoughts, feelings and anticipated behaviours on blowing the whistle on doping in sport.

Revisions to global anti-doping policy and growing evidence of systematic doping in sport means athletes and athlete support personnel are increasingly encouraged to ‘blow the whistle’ on doping. Yet, individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and anticipated behaviours in reporting wrongdoing of this kind are unknown, hindering its promotion. To inform current anti-doping efforts, this study explored student-athletes’ anticipated behaviours relative to blowing the whistle on performance enhancing drug (PED) use and their underpinning attitudes. Design: Qualitative methodology. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 track and field university student-athletes from the UK (N = 14) and US (N = 14). Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Addressing doping presents a true moral dilemma and is not a dichotomous process whereby athletes either report doping or do nothing. Instead, four options for addressing others’ PED use emerged: (1) confront PED user directly, (2) report to ‘someone’, (3) report to anti-doping ‘authorities’, or (4) ignore the behaviour. Underpinned by relational concerns and empathy, direct confrontation was participants’ preferred approach to addressing doping. Conclusion: Student-athletes are reluctant to blow the whistle on doping so the currently promoted method for reporting wrongdoing may be met with resistance. Instead, student-athletes indicate a willingness to personally confront PED users, which has the potential to protect both the doping athlete and whistleblower, while simultaneously reducing the presence of PEDs in sport. Thus, these findings serve to stimulate debate and discussion within anti-doping efforts regarding the possibility of confrontation being encouraged as an effective deterrent to sport doping

Impaired perceptual learning in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome is mediated by parvalbumin neuron dysfunction and is reversible.

To uncover the circuit-level alterations that underlie atypical sensory processing associated with autism, we adopted a symptom-to-circuit approach in the Fmr1-knockout (Fmr1-/-) mouse model of Fragile X syndrome. Using a go/no-go task and in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we find that impaired visual discrimination in Fmr1-/- mice correlates with marked deficits in orientation tuning of principal neurons and with a decrease in the activity of parvalbumin interneurons in primary visual cortex. Restoring visually evoked activity in parvalbumin cells in Fmr1-/- mice with a chemogenetic strategy using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs was sufficient to rescue their behavioral performance. Strikingly, human subjects with Fragile X syndrome exhibit impairments in visual discrimination similar to those in Fmr1-/- mice. These results suggest that manipulating inhibition may help sensory processing in Fragile X syndrome

The generalized cusp in ABJ(M) N = 6 Super Chern-Simons theories

We construct a generalized cusped Wilson loop operator in N = 6 super Chern-Simons-matter theories which is locally invariant under half of the supercharges. It depends on two parameters and interpolates smoothly between the 1/2 BPS line or circle and a pair of antiparallel lines, representing a natural generalization of the quark-antiquark potential in ABJ(M) theories. For particular choices of the parameters we obtain 1/6 BPS configurations that, mapped on S^2 by a conformal transformation, realize a three-dimensional analogue of the wedge DGRT Wilson loop of N = 4. The cusp couples, in addition to the gauge and scalar fields of the theory, also to the fermions in the bifundamental representation of the U(N)xU(M) gauge group and its expectation value is expressed as the holonomy of a suitable superconnection. We discuss the definition of these observables in terms of traces and the role of the boundary conditions of fermions along the loop. We perform a complete two-loop analysis, obtaining an explicit result for the generalized cusp at the second non-trivial order, from which we read off the interaction potential between heavy 1/2 BPS particles in the ABJ(M) model. Our results open the possibility to explore in the three-dimensional case the connection between localization properties and integrability, recently advocated in D = 4.Comment: 53 pages, 10 figures, added references, this is the version appeared on JHE

A non-catecholamine-producing sympathetic paraganglioma of the spermatic cord: the importance of performing candidate gene mutation analysis

textabstractBackground: Catecholamine-producing tumours are called pheochromocytomas when they are located in the adrenal gland and sympathetic paragangliomas when they are located elsewhere in the abdomen. Rarely these tumours do not produce catecholamines and even more rarely they arise in the spermatic cord. Over the past decade, systematic mutation analysis of apparently sporadic cases of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas has elucidated the frequent presence of germ line mutations in one of five candidate genes, including RET, VHL, SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD. Clinical history and methods: We describe a 45-year-old man with a non catecholamine-producing paraganglioma of the spermatic cord. We performed SDHB immunohistochemistry and performed mutation analysis of the SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD genes. Results: There was no staining of tumour cells with SDHB immunohistochemistry, indicative of an SDH mutation. Mutation analysis demonstrated a germ line SDHD mutation (p.Val147Met). Conclusions: Systematic mutation analysis is required in paraganglioma patients for the detection of germ line mutations. This should be preceded by SDHB immunohistochemistry to limit the number of genes to be tested

Evaluation of neuroendocrine markers in renal cell carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of the study was to examine serotonin, CD56, neurone-specific enolase (NSE), chromogranin A and synaptophysin by immunohistochemistry in renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) with special emphasis on patient outcome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied 152 patients with primary RCCs who underwent surgery for the removal of kidney tumours between 1990 and 1999. The mean follow-up was 90 months. The expression of neuroendocrine (NE) markers was determined by immunohistochemical staining using commercially available monoclonal antibodies. Results were correlated with patient age, clinical stage, Fuhrman grade and patient outcome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eight percent of tumours were positive for serotonin, 18% for CD56 and 48% for NSE. Chromogranin A immunostaining was negative and only 1% of the tumours were synaptophysin immunopositive. The NSE immunopositivity was more common in clear cell RCCs than in other subtypes (<it>p </it>= 0.01). The other NE markers did not show any association with the histological subtype. Tumours with an immunopositivity for serotonin had a longer RCC-specific survival and tumours with an immunopositivity for CD56 and NSE had a shorter RCC-specific survival but the difference was not significant. There was no relationship between stage or Fuhrman grade and immunoreactivity for serotonin, CD56 and NSE.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Serotonin, CD56 and NSE but not synaptophysin and chromogranin A are expressed in RCCs. However, the prognostic potential of these markers remains obscure.</p

Transtorno autístico e doença celíaca : sem evidências de associação

Objective: To evaluate the possible association between celiac disease (CD) and/or gluten sensitivity (GS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Occurrences of CD were determined in a group of children and adolescents affected by ASD and, conversely, occurrences of ASD were assessed in a group of biopsy-proven celiac patients. To detect the possible existence of GS, the levels of antigliadin antibodies in ASD patients were assessed and compared with the levels in a group of non-celiac children. Results: The prevalence of CD or GS in ASD patients was not greater than in groups originating from the same geographical area. Similarly the prevalence of ASD was not greater than in a group of biopsy-proven CD patients. Conclusion: No statistically demonstrable association was found between CD or GS and ASD. Consequently, routine screening for CD or GS in all patients with ASD is, at this moment, neither justifed nor cost-effective. ___________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMOObjetivo: Avaliar a possível associação entre doença celíaca (DC) e/ou sensibilidade ao glúten (SG) e transtorno do espectro autista (TEA). Métodos: Ocorrências de DC foram determinadas em um grupo de crianças e adolescentes afetados pelo TEA e a ocorrência d TEA foi avaliada em um grupo de pacientes com DC comprovada por biópsia. Para detectar a possível existência de SG, foram determinados níveis de anticorpos antigliadina em pacientes com TEA e comparados ao grupo de crianças sem a doença celíaca. Resultados: A prevalência de DC ou SG não foi maior no grupo de pacientes com TEA quando comparada a grupos de indivíduos originários da mesma região geográfca. De modo similar, a prevalência do TEA não foi maior ao ser comparada ao grupo de pacientes com DC. Conclusão: Não houve associação estatisticamente demonstrável entre DC ou SG e TEA. Consequentemente, não são justifcáveis, no momento, exames de rotina para detecção de DC ou SG em pacientes com TEA