An Investigation of the Pedagogic and Motivational Climate in UK Based Pilates Classes

Pilates has become one of the popular exercises these days. As its popularity grows, many research studies also have looked at how Pilates exercise can affect people’s psychological and physical health in a positive way. However, there are not many studies which address the exercise adherents’ issues of Pilates exercise. Therefore, this study is designed to investigate the motivation factors and the relationship between Pilates teachers teaching style and the participants’ motivation based on the premise of self-determination theory. There are three main purposes for the current investigation: (1) To critically evaluate the factors relating to motivation among Pilates participants in the UK Pilates class, (2) To investigate the relationship between participants’ motivation and instructional style/ pedagogy and (3) To analyse the level of participants’ competence to impact upon Pilates’ teachers/ instructors’ pedagogy and the participants’ motivation. Interpretative Phenomelogical Analysis (IPA) was applied for collecting the data by conducting a focus group interviews and individual semi-structured interviews. Both Pilates teachers/ instructors (n=5) and different levels of Pilates participants (n=30) were included in this survey. The results indicated that the satisfaction of the psychological needs of competence (i.e. sense of improvement) was the key factor in enhancing the participants’ self-determined form of motivation among all levels of Pilates participants. Relatedness was also identified as the source of participants’ exercise adherence. However, autonomy (i.e. given choice to select exercises) was a distal need. Teachers teaching style and teachers supportive behaviour played an important role in participants’ motivation. Moreover, environmental factors such as class environment, and other participants can affect participants’ motivation to some extent, either in a positive or a negative way. These findings revealed that there is a close relationship between teachers teaching style and participants’ exercise motivation and basic psychological needs fulfilment such as competence and relatedness. Results suggest that Pilates’ teachers should be encouraged to apply non-linear teaching approaches such as CLA and guided discovery, which was identified as an effective way of meeting participants’ competence. Moreover, teachers are required to create a learning environment where participants are encouraged, supported and where they are able to focus on learning Pilates

The Effects of Game Players’ Social Intelligence on Social Support and Psychosocial Problem Factors in a 2-Wave Longitudinal Study

Although digital gaming may be considered a social medium, no prior study has investigated how young players’ social intelligence affects their psychosocial problems (aggression, depression, loneliness, and stress) and social functioning (relationships with parents and peers). The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relations between social intelligence and psychosocial outcomes. Using data from 1364 online game players in Korea, we conducted a 2-wave longitudinal study at 6-month intervals for tracking the same person. The findings indicated that level of social intelligence was negatively related with all measures of adverse emotions and positively related with relationships with parents and peers over time. The findings and implications are discussed

Propose with a Rose? Signaling in Internet Dating Markets

The large literature on costly signaling and the somewhat scant literature on preference signaling had varying success in showing the effectiveness of signals. We use a field experiment to show that even when everyone can send a signal, signals are free and the only costs are opportunity costs, sending a signal increases the chances of success. In an online dating experiment, participants can attach “virtual roses” to a proposal to signal special interest in another participant. We find that attaching a rose to an offer substantially increases the chance of acceptance. This effect is driven by an increase in the acceptance rate when the offer is made to a participant who is less desirable than the proposer. Furthermore, participants endowed with more roses have more of their offers accepted than their counterparts.

Seroprevalence of Tissue Invading Parasitic Infections Diagnosed by ELISA in Korea

Seroprevalence of the IgG antibodies for Clonorchis sinensis, Paragonimus westermani, Taenia solium metacestode (cysticercus), and Spirometra erinacei plerocercoid (sparganum) was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in sera of patients in Korea from 1993 to 2006. A total of 74,448 specimens referred nationwide from 121 hospitals revealed an IgG positive rate of 7.6% for the 4 parasites. The IgG positive rate (18.7%) for the 4 parasites in 1993 decreased gradually to 6.6% in 2006. Individual positive rate decreased from 5.2% (1993) to 1.6% (2006) for C. sinensis, from 2.8% (1993) to 1.1% (2006) for P. westermani, from 8.3% (1993) to 2.2% (2006) for cysticercus, and from 2.6% (1993) to 1.6% (2006) for sparganum. The positive rate was highest (21.2%) in the group of patients who ranged in age from 50-59 yr old, and in the group that was referred from the Seoul area (55.9%). In conclusion, our results suggest that tissue invading parasitic infections should always be included in differential diagnosis for patients with eosinophilia associated lesions of the central nervous system, liver, and lungs in Korea

Evaluation of Left Atrial Volumes Using Multidetector Computed Tomography: Comparison with Echocardiography

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively assess the relationship between the two different measurement methods for the evaluation of left atrial (LA) volume using cardiac multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and to compare the results between cardiac MDCT and echocardiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five patients (20 men, 15 women; mean age, 60 years) underwent cardiac MDCT angiography for coronary artery disease. The LA volumes were measured using two different methods: the two dimensional (2D) length-based (LB) method measured along the three-orthogonal planes of the LA and the 3D volumetric threshold-based (VTB) method measured according to the threshold 3D segmentation of the LA. The results obtained by cardiac MDCT were compared with those obtained by echocardiography. RESULTS: The LA end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes (LAESV and LAEDV) measured by the 2D-LB method correlated well with those measured by the 3D-VTB method using cardiac MDCT (r = 0.763, r = 0.786, p = 0.001). However, there was a significant difference in the LAESVs between the two measurement methods using cardiac MDCT (p < 0.05). The LAESV measured by cardiac MDCT correlated well with measurements by echocardiography (r = 0.864, p = 0.001), however with a significant difference (p < 0.01) in their volumes. The cardiac MDCT overestimated the LAESV by 22% compared to measurements by echocardiography. CONCLUSION: A significant correlation was found between the two different measurement methods for evaluating LA volumes by cardiac MDCT. Further, cardiac MDCT correlates well with echocardiography in evaluating the LA volume. However, there are significant differences in the LAESV between the two measurement methods using cardiac MDCT and between cardiac MDCT and echocardiographyope

In vitro and in vivo assessments of an optimal polyblend composition of polycaprolactone/gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds for Achilles tendon tissue engineering

In this study, we manufactured various ratios of polycaprolactone (PCL)/gelatin (GE) highly aligned electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds (ENs) to investigate the effects of polymer ratio on tenogenic differentiation activity. For biological assessments, the cell proliferation rate was optimal in the PCL/GE (9:1) group. Interestingly, however, the tenogenic differentiation rate was best for the PCL/GE (7:3) group. From our outcomes, we established that a poly-blending mix of PCL/GE (7:3) is a promising ratio for tenogenic differentiation. Thus, our findings may provide for an effective mesh to promote tenogenic differentiation of ENs in future tendon tissue engineering applications.This work was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) & funded by the Korean government (MSIP&MOHW) (No. 2017M3A9E4048170)

Hemeoxygenase-1 Mediates an Adaptive Response to Spermidine-Induced Cell Death in Human Endothelial Cells

Spermidine (SPD) is a ubiquitous polycation that is commonly distributed in living organisms. Intracellular levels of SPD are tightly regulated, and SPD controls cell proliferation and death. However, SPD undergoes oxidation in the presence of serum, producing aldehydes, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonia, which exert cytotoxic effect on cells. Hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) is thought to have a protective effect against oxidative stress. Upregulation of HO-1 in endothelial cells is considered to be beneficial in the cardiovascular disease. In the present study, we demonstrate that the ubiquitous polyamine, SPD, induces HO-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). SPD-induced HO-1 expression was examined by Western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Involvement of reactive oxygen species, serum amine oxidase, PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and transcription factor Nrf2 in the induction of HO-1 by SPD was also investigated. Furthermore, small interfering RNA knockdown of Nrf2 or HO-1 and treatment with the specific HO-1 inhibitor ZnPP exhibited a noteworthy increase of death of SPD-stimulated HUVECs. In conclusion, these results suggest that SPD induces PI3K/Akt-Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression in human endothelial cells, which may have a role in cytoprotection of the cells against oxidative stress-induced death