Student-Athletes' Development: An Institutional Responsibility

At most NCAA Division institutions, the academic and social development of the student-athlete has increasingly become the sole responsibility of the athletics department. However, the current athletic reform movement calls for increased integration of the athletics department into the overall university community. The increased emphasis in this area offers university student affairs departments a unique opportunity to become more involved in the personal and academic development of the student-athlete

Luncheon Address to N4A Region Meeting

This is the author's speech at the N4A Region Meeting. He left college athletics to be able to live with his family, and reflected on the system. "We conduct games that have no lasting significance and contribute very little of substance to our culture" (p. 66). "To describe The Final Four as a 'sporting event' is no longer accurate; it is an entertainment extravaganza, subject to all the promotional and marketing distortions of a three ring circus. It is packaged, merchandised, and marketed as entertainment. It is more about money, television ratings, advertising rates, and corporate skyboxes than it is about education, or even sport" (p. 67). "Finally, universities will be challenged to weigh the political consequences of athletics' effect on the declining public trust in higher education. Many argue that it is athletics, with its scandals, coaches being paid more than presidents, student-athletes being exploited in the name of generating ticket sales and television revenue, and disregard for academic integrity that has contributed more than anything to this loss of public trust" (p. 68)

The Impact of Urban Planning and Governance on the Historic Built Environment (PICH) : Final Report of the JPI-JHEP funded project

This report summarises the findings of the JPI Heritage Plus PICH Project’s nvestigation of the impact of the reform of urban planning on the historic built environment. The project team conducted twelve in-depth case studies in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK covering three settings: the built heritage of historic urban cores, former industrial areas and the urban landscape. The findings are more fully reported in three comparative reports which compare findings for each setting in the four countries; in four national reports which look across the three settings in one country; and 12 case study reports

Early short course of neuromuscular blocking agents in patients with COVID-19 ARDS: a propensity score analysis

Background The role of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is not fully elucidated. Therefore, we aimed to investigate in COVID-19 patients with moderate-to-severe ARDS the impact of early use of NMBAs on 90-day mortality, through propensity score (PS) matching analysis. Methods We analyzed a convenience sample of patients with COVID-19 and moderate-to-severe ARDS, admitted to 244 intensive care units within the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium, from February 1, 2020, through October 31, 2021. Patients undergoing at least 2 days and up to 3 consecutive days of NMBAs (NMBA treatment), within 48 h from commencement of IMV were compared with subjects who did not receive NMBAs or only upon commencement of IMV (control). The primary objective in the PS-matched cohort was comparison between groups in 90-day in-hospital mortality, assessed through Cox proportional hazard modeling. Secondary objectives were comparisons in the numbers of ventilator-free days (VFD) between day 1 and day 28 and between day 1 and 90 through competing risk regression. Results Data from 1953 patients were included. After propensity score matching, 210 cases from each group were well matched. In the PS-matched cohort, mean (± SD) age was 60.3 ± 13.2 years and 296 (70.5%) were male and the most common comorbidities were hypertension (56.9%), obesity (41.1%), and diabetes (30.0%). The unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for death at 90 days in the NMBA treatment vs control group was 1.12 (95% CI 0.79, 1.59, p = 0.534). After adjustment for smoking habit and critical therapeutic covariates, the HR was 1.07 (95% CI 0.72, 1.61, p = 0.729). At 28 days, VFD were 16 (IQR 0–25) and 25 (IQR 7–26) in the NMBA treatment and control groups, respectively (sub-hazard ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.67, 1.00, p = 0.055). At 90 days, VFD were 77 (IQR 0–87) and 87 (IQR 0–88) (sub-hazard ratio 0.86 (95% CI 0.69, 1.07; p = 0.177). Conclusions In patients with COVID-19 and moderate-to-severe ARDS, short course of NMBA treatment, applied early, did not significantly improve 90-day mortality and VFD. In the absence of definitive data from clinical trials, NMBAs should be indicated cautiously in this setting.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCPediatrics, Department ofReviewedFacultyResearche

Heparan sulfate 6-O-endosulfatases: discrete in vivo activities and functional co-operativity

Lamanna WC, Baldwin RJ, Padva M, et al. Heparan sulfate 6-O-endosulfatases: discrete in vivo activities and functional co-operativity. BIOCHEMICAL JOURNAL. 2006;400(1):63-73.HS (heparan sulfate) is essential for normal embryonic development. This requirement is due to the obligatory role for HS in the signalling pathways of many growth factors and morphogens that bind to sulfated domains in the HS polymer chain. The sulfation patterning of HS is determined by a complex interplay of Golgi-located N- and O-sulfotransferases which sulfate the heparan precursor and cell surface endosulfatases that selectively remove 6-O-sulfates from mature HS chains. In the present study we generated single or double knock-out mice for the two murine endosulfatases mSulf1 and mSulf2. Detailed structural analysis of HS from mSulf1(-/-) fibroblasts showed a striking increase in 6-O-sulfation. which was not seen in mSulf2(-/-) HS. Intriguingly, the level of 6-O-suffation in the double mSulf1(-/-)/2(-/-) HS was significantly higher than that observed in the mSulf1(-/-) counterpart. These data imply that mSulf1 and mSulf2 are functionally co-operative. Unlike their avian orthologues, mammalian Sulf activities are not restricted to the highly sulfated S-domains of HS. Mitogenesis assays with FGF2 (fibroblast growth factor 2) revealed that Sulf activity decreases the activating potential of newly-synthesized HS, suggesting an important role for these enzymes in cell growth regulation in embryonic and adult tissues