A Review of Controlling Motivational Strategies from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective: Implications for Sports Coaches

The aim of this paper is to present a preliminary taxonomy of six controlling strategies, primarily based on the parental and educational literatures, which we believe are employed by coaches in sport contexts. Research in the sport and physical education literature has primarily focused on coaches’ autonomysupportive behaviours. Surprisingly, there has been very little research on the use of controlling strategies. A brief overview of the research which delineates each proposed strategy is presented, as are examples of the potential manifestation of the behaviours associated with each strategy in the context of sports coaching. In line with self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2002), we propose that coach behaviours employed to pressure or control athletes have the potential to thwart athletes’ feelings of autonomy, competence,and relatedness, which, in turn, undermine athletes’ self-determined motivation and contribute to the development of controlled motives. When athletes feel pressured to behave in a certain way, a variety of negative consequences are expected to ensue which are to the detriment of the athletes’ well-being. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness and interest in the darker side of sport participation and to offer suggestions for future research in this area

Mycocerosic acid biomarkers for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in the Coimbra skeletal collection

Tuberculosis has been a scourge of humans over many millennia, but questions remain regarding its evolution and epidemiology. Fossil biomarkers, such as DNA and long-chain mycolic acids, can be detected in ancient skeletal and other materials. The phthiocerol dimycocerosate waxes are also robust biomarkers for tuberculosis and sensitive methods are available for the detection of their mycocerosic acid components. The presence of mycocerosic acids was investigated in 49 individuals from the 1837–1936 Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection (Portugal), half with documentary data indicating tuberculosis as a cause of death. Samples were hydrolysed, acidic components converted to pentafluorobenzyl esters, the non-hydroxylated long-chain esters isolated, and this fraction separated into multimethyl-branched and other esters by normal phase high performance liquid chromatography. Negative ion chemical ionisation gas chromatography mass spectrometry was used to detect diagnostic C29, C30 and C32 mycocerosic acids. Mycocerosic acids were detected in archaeological material for the first time, illustrating that they are valuable biomarkers for the diagnosis of ancient tuberculosis. A 72% correlation with the Coimbra burial record supported TB as the major cause of death. In addition, 30% of the skeletons, positive for mycocerosates, showed the presence of related long-chain mycolipenic acids

Retrospective Cross-Evaluation of an Histological and Deformable 3D Atlas of the Basal Ganglia on Series of Parkinsonian Patients Treated by Deep Brain Stimulation

In functional neurosurgery, there is a growing need for accurate localization of the functional targets. Since deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the Vim thalamic nucleus has been proposed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, the target has evolved toward the globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the therapeutic indications have enlarged to include psychiatric disorders such as Tourette syndrome or obsessive compulsive disorders. In these pathologies, the target has been restrained to smaller functional subterritories of the basal ganglia, requiring more refined techniques to localize smaller and smaller brain regions, often invisible in routine clinical MRI. Different strategies have been developed to identify such deep brain targets. Direct methods can identify structures in the MRI itself, but only the larger ones. Indirect methods are based on the use of anatomical atlases. The present strategy comprised a 3D histological atlas and the MRI of the same brain specimen, and deformation methodology developped to fit the atlas toward the brain of any given patient. In this paper, this method is evaluated in the aim of being applied to further studies of anatomo-clinical correlation. The accuracy of the method is first discussed, followed by the study of short series of Parkinsonian patients treated by DBS, allowing to compare the deformed atlas with various per- and post-operative data

Retrospective cross-evaluation of an histological and deformable 3D atlas of the basal ganglia on series of Parkinsonian patients treated by deep brain stimulation (DBS)

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