THE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND SPORTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

The economic conditions and sports participation in developed countries has been studied extensively. For a number of countries in the developed world, it has been reported that economic conditions have a direct impact on participation and performance in various sports (Black et al., 2002). However, there has been no significant study conducted to assess the effects of economic conditions on sports participation in the developing world. The aim of this study was to fill that void and ascertain the impact of economic conditions on high performance sports in Pakistan, and the underlying reasons for the decline of sports in the country.Pakistan's participation & performance at the Asian games have been used as a basis for the study. Moreover, studies that have assessed the teaching of physical education in Pakistan have also been reviewed to identify issues with sports participation (Sarwar et al., 2010). Decline of sports participation of children in Secondary Schools, utilization of Sports Funds & availability of Sports Facilities was also considered to identify reasons for decline in performance. Data relating to available resources such as physical education teachers employed and utilization of funds for sports was taken from National Sports Policy of Pakistan 2005, and used to test and validate various hypotheses under consideration.The results show significant decline in the performance of Pakistan at the Asian games from 1950 to 2000 (p <0.05) along with negative relationship with economic conditions of Pakistan. It was noted that only 48 % schools had access to physical education teachers. Out of these schools it was found that 40% schools were not utilizing the funds fully, for physical education and 50% school did not have facilities for indoor / outdoor games / sports. The analysis of economic conditions in Pakistan and participation in sports showed that there was no significant relationship between the economic conditions and performance in sports. These results suggest that in order to stem the decline in sports performance,  focus should be on grass roots level activities in schools, implementation of systematic and scientific coaching, long term planning and upgrading our competition and monitoring system in addition to provisioning of sports facilities at all levels.

The effect of a daytime 60-min nap opportunity on postural control in highly active individuals

Although napping is commonly used as a strategy to improve numerous physical and cognitive performances, the efficacy of this strategy for improving postural balance has not yet been elucidated. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive examination of the effect of a 60 min nap opportunity (N60) on different components of postural control. Ten highly active individuals (age = 27 ± 3.5 y, height = 1.75 ± 0.52 m, weight = 66.02 ± 8.63 kg) performed, in a randomized order, two afternoon test sessions following no nap (NN) and N60. Postural balance was assessed using the sensory organisation test (SOT), the unilateral stance test (UST), and the limits of Stability Test performed on NeuroCom(®) Smart Balance Master. The subjective rating of sleepiness before and after the nap conditions was also assessed. Compared to NN, N60 improved the composite balance score (p 0.05). Overall, a 60 min post lunch nap opportunity may be viable for improving static balance, although further work, involving larger samples and more complex motor activities, is warranted

Multimodal measurement approach to identify individuals with mild cognitive impairment: study protocol for a cross-sectional trial

Introduction The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), that is, the transitory phase between normal age-related cognitive decline and dementia, remains a challenging task. It was observed that a multimodal approach (simultaneous analysis of several complementary modalities) can improve the classification accuracy. We will combine three noninvasive measurement modalities: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalography and heart rate variability via ECG. Our aim is to explore neurophysiological correlates of cognitive performance and whether our multimodal approach can aid in early identification of individuals with MCI.Methods and analysis This study will be a cross-sectional with patients with MCI and healthy controls (HC). The neurophysiological signals will be measured during rest and while performing cognitive tasks: (1) Stroop, (2) N-back and (3) verbal fluency test (VFT). Main aims of statistical analysis are to (1) determine the differences in neurophysiological responses of HC and MCI, (2) investigate relationships between measures of cognitive performance and neurophysiological responses and (3) investigate whether the classification accuracy can be improved by using our multimodal approach. To meet these targets, statistical analysis will include machine learning approaches.This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study that applies simultaneously these three modalities in MCI and HC. We hypothesise that the multimodal approach improves the classification accuracy between HC and MCI as compared with a unimodal approach. If our hypothesis is verified, this study paves the way for additional research on multimodal approaches for dementia research and fosters the exploration of new biomarkers for an early detection of nonphysiological age-related cognitive decline.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was obtained from the local Ethics Committee (reference: 83/19). Data will be shared with the scientific community no more than 1 year following completion of study and data assembly.Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04427436, registered on 10 June 2020, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04427436

Influence of the Intention to Lean the Body Forward on Kinematics and Kinetics of Sprinting for Active Adults

This study investigated the influence of the intention to lean the body forward on spatiotemporal and ground reaction force variables during the acceleration phase of a sprint. Fourteen active adults performed two 50 m sprints (with and without the intention to lean), during which spatiotemporal variables and impulses were obtained using a long force platform system. Effect size (Cohen&rsquo;s d) was used to examine the differences between the two trials. We found that running speed and net anteroposterior impulse did not change by the intention for all steps. However, step frequency increased in the initial two steps through decreases in support time and flight time by the intention. Moreover, these shorter support and flight times were caused by a decrease in the vertical impulse. The propulsive impulse did not change during the initial part of acceleration phase, but the braking impulse decreased at the first step. This study demonstrates that an intention to lean the body forward leads to a smaller braking impulse and a higher step frequency through shorter support and flight times and a smaller vertical impulse during the initial part of the acceleration phase of a sprint

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field