CAN THE SPLIT-STEP CUTTING TECHNIQUE REDUCE LOADING AND MAINTAIN PERFORMANCE?

INTRODUCTION: Cutting (evasive running) movements are integral to performance in many field- and court-based sports but have been associated with lower limb injuries. This injury risk is attributed to a combination of lower limb geometry and high forces acting together to stress anatomical structures, particularly at the ankle and knee joint. Alternative positioning of the stance foot and adjusted orientation of the lower limbs through changes to the cutting technique may reduce loading (e.g. Besier et al., 2001) but technique interventions for cutting have not been explicitly investigated in-depth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the biomechanical characteristics of unplanned side-step (single foot contact) and split-step (double foot contact) cutting techniques, particularly relating to lower limb loading and ground reaction impulses generated during the primary cutting step. It was expected that the split-step would reduce joint loading and maintain performance requirements

Habitat partitioning in sympatric delphinids around the Falkland Islands : predicting distributions based on a limited data set

Funding: The field work was funded by the Darwin Initiative UK Overseas Territories Challenge Fund Project “Inshore Cetaceans of the Falkland Islands” (Project Ref: EIDCF019, administered jointly by Falklands Conservation & Mr Grant Munro), and Darwin Plus: Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund Project “Dolphins of the kelp: Data priorities for Falkland’s inshore cetaceans” (Project Ref: DPLUS042, administered by SAERI).Spatial modelling based on line transect data is a standard method for characterising marine mammal distributions and habitat preference. However, collecting the data required is costly and may be difficult in remote areas. Models based on habitat variables offer the potential to predict where the species will occur in areas outside the area of a localised survey. This has important implications for spatial management where decisions have to be made that affect wide areas over which comprehensive survey efforts may not be feasible. This study demonstrates that it is possible, using a spatially limited data set, to characterise habitat use and predict the distribution of two poorly known sympatric delphinids around the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands (FI), Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) and Peale’s dolphins (Lagenorhynchus australis). We used a Hurdle model approach to investigate the relationship between dolphin sightings (from a spatially restricted boat-based line transect survey) and environmental covariates. We then used the modelled relationships to predict the distribution and relative abundance of Commerson’s and Peale’s dolphins over the entire FI inshore waters. We compared the predicted distribution maps to independent sightings from a subsequent island-wide aerial line transect survey, and found a close match between predicted and observed distributions. Commerson’s dolphins preferred nearshore waters with strong tidal mixing and were most numerous close to river mouths and in upper inlets or channels. In contrast, Peale’s dolphins preferred deeper, well-stratified areas further from shore as well as nearshore waters with extensive kelp beds. While the two dolphin species are often considered sympatric, our results indicate fine-scale habitat partitioning based on specific habitat preferences, which is important to consider in further studies and marine spatial planning. We provide several methodological refinements to prepare transect sighting data for spatial analysis and implement Hurdle models more easily using the new “dshm” R-package. We also show the usefulness of such refinements applied to a carefully chosen spatially limited dataset as a cost-effective approach to elucidating species distribution patterns. Our methodology and software implementations can be easily applied to transect survey data of other marine and terrestrial taxa.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Carers’ responses to shifting identity in dementia in Iris and Away From Her: cultivating stability or embracing change?

An emphasis on supporting and maintaining self-identity in people who have dementia for as long as possible has gone hand in hand with the revitalisation of dementia interventions, services and empowerment. However, recognition of the need for change, adaptation and personal growth is as necessary when living with dementia as at any other time in people's lives. Those who care for people with dementia must constantly navigate this tension between continuity and change within the context of memory loss, knowing when to respond by reinforcing the ‘self’ they have known over time, and when it may be better to respond by acknowledging the changes that have taken place in that ‘self’. The creative arts are avenues for the exploration of the caring relationship under these conditions, conveying the challenges and stimulating audiences to ask how they themselves might choose to respond in a similar situation. This article considers how the scenarios of two noted films, Iris (dir. Richard Eyre, 2001 UK)) and Away From Her (dir. Sarah Polley, 2006 Can), present the dilemmas of identity and caring. In both, a husband cares for a wife experiencing cognitive decline, but responds differently in each to her shifting needs and experience of identity. We argue that the two films reveal complementary and provocative perspectives on this situation. They offer no easy answers, but provide insights into the everyday decisions characteristic of caring for someone who has dementia

Catalytic Determinants of Alkene Production by the Cytochrome P450 Peroxygenase OleTJE.

The Jeotgalicoccus sp. peroxygenase cytochrome P450 OleTJE (CYP152L1) is a hydrogen peroxide-driven oxidase that catalyzes oxidative decarboxylation of fatty acids, producing terminal alkenes with applications as fine chemicals and biofuels. Understanding mechanisms that favor decarboxylation over fatty acid hydroxylation in OleTJE could enable protein engineering to improve catalysis or to introduce decarboxylation activity into P450s with different substrate preferences. In this manuscript, we have focused on OleTJE active site residues Phe79, His85 and Arg245 to interrogate their roles in substrate binding and catalytic activity. His85 is a potential proton donor to reactive iron-oxo species during substrate decarboxylation. The H85Q mutant substitutes a glutamine found in several peroxygenases that favor fatty acid hydroxylation. H85Q OleTJE still favors alkene production, suggesting alternative protonation mechanisms. However, the mutant undergoes only minor substrate binding-induced heme iron spin-state shift towards high-spin by comparison with WT OleTJE, indicating His85's key role in this process. Phe79 interacts with His85, and Phe79 mutants showed diminished affinity for shorter chain (C10-C16) fatty acids and weak substrate-induced high-spin conversion. F79A OleTJE is least affected in substrate oxidation, while the F79W/Y mutants exhibit lower stability and cysteine thiolate protonation on reduction. Finally, Arg245 is crucial for binding the substrate carboxylate, and R245E/L mutations severely compromise activity and heme content, although alkene products are formed from some substrates, including stearic acid (C18:0). The results identify crucial roles for the active site amino acid trio in determining OleTJE catalytic efficiency in alkene production, and in regulating protein stability, heme iron coordination and spin-state

Rendering an Account: An Open-State Archive in Postgraduate Supervision

The paper begins with a brief account of the transformation of research degree studies under the pressures of global capitalism and neo-liberal governmentality. A parallel transformation is occurring in the conduct of research through the use of information and communication technologies. Yet the potential of ICTs to shape practices of surveillance or to produce new student-supervisor relations and enhance the processes of developing the dissertation has received almost no critical attention. As doctoral supervisor and student, we then describe the features and uses of a web-based open state archive of the student's work-in-progress, developed by the student and accessible to his supervisor. Our intention was to encourage more open conversations between data and theorising, student and supervisor, and ultimately between the student and professional community. However, we recognise that relations of accountability, as these have developed within a contemporary "audit revolution" (Power, 1994, 1997) in universities, create particular "lines of visibility" (Munro, 1996). Thus while the open-state archive may help to redefine in less managerial terms notions of quality, transparency, flexibility and accountability, it might also make possible greater supervisory surveillance. How should we think about the panoptical potential of this archive? We argue that the diverse kinds of interactional patterns and pedagogical intervention it encourages help to create shifting subjectivities. Moreover, the archive itself is multiple, in bringing together an array of diverse materials that can be read in various ways, by following multiple paths. It therefore constitutes a collage, which we identify as a mode of cognition and of accounting distinct from but related to argument and narrative. As a more "open" text (Iser, 1978) it has an indeterminacy which may render it less open to abuse for the technologies of managerial accountability

Systematic review of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and economic modelling of minimal incision total hip replacement approaches in the management of arthritic disease of the hip

Objectives: To assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of minimal incision approaches to total hip replacement (THR) for arthritis of the hip. Data sources: Major electronic databases were searched from 1966 to 2007. Relevant websites were also examined and experts in the field were consulted. Review methods: Studies of minimal (one or two) incision THR compared with standard THR were assessed for inclusion in the review of clinical effectiveness. A systematic review of economic evaluations comparing a minimal incision approach to standard THR was also performed and the estimates from the systematic review of clinical effectiveness were incorporated into an economic model. Utilities data were sourced to estimate quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Due to lack of data, no economic analysis was conducted for the two mini-incision surgical method. Results: Nine randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 17 non-randomised comparative studies, six case series and one registry were found to be useful for the comparison of single mini-incision THR with standard THR. One RCT compared two mini-incision THR with standard THR, and two RCTs, five non-randomised comparative studies and two case series compared two mini-incision with single mini-incision THR. The RCTs were of moderate quality. Most had fewer than 200 patients and had a follow-up period of less than 1 year. The single mini-incision THR may have some perioperative advantages, e.g. blood loss [weighted mean difference (WMD) –57.71 ml, p £30,000) if recovery was 1.5 weeks faster. A threshold analysis around risk of revision showed, using the same cost per QALY threshold, mini-incision THR would have to have no more than a 7.5% increase in revisions compared with standard THR for it to be no longer considered cost-effective (one more revision for every 200 procedures performed). Further sensitivity analysis involved relaxing assumptions of equal long-term outcomes where possible. and broadly similar results to the base-case analysis were found in this and further sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: Compared with standard THR, minimal incision THR has small perioperative advantages in terms of blood loss and operation time. It may offer a shorter hospital stay and quicker recovery. It appears to have a similar procedure cost to standard THR, but evidence on its longer term performance is very limited. Further long-term follow-up data on costs and outcomes including analysis of subgroups of interest to the NHS would strengthen the current economic evaluation.The Health Services Research Unit and the Health Economics Research Unit are both core funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Development of the Arabic Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale

Aims and objectives: This study develops a new instrument, the Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale, and assesses its psychometric properties in an Arab Muslim nurse sample. The Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale was developed to measure the frequency with which nurses provided aspects of spiritual care. Background: Most of the available spiritual care instruments were developed in the West and reflect a predominantly Christian tradition. A review of the literature on spiritual care in nursing revealed that no instrument exists for measuring spiritual care interventions provided by nurses to Arab Muslim patients. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive and correlational design. Methods: Following an extensive literature search, review by an expert panel and a pilot study which included patients' views regarding aspects of spiritual care provided by nurses, the final version of the Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale was tested in a convenience sample of 360 Jordanian Arab Muslim nurses. Correlational and factor analysis were used. Results: The internal consistency of the Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale was high, with α coefficient of 0·85. The exploratory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure for the Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale as hypothesised. A significant positive correlation between the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale and religiosity was in the expected direction though small in magnitude. Conclusions: This study initiates the development of an instrument for the provision of spiritual care intervention by nurses that balances the religious and existential dimensions of spirituality. The Spiritual Care Intervention-Provision Scale exhibited acceptable evidence of internal consistency and validity among Jordanian Arab Muslim nurses. Further work was suggested to firmly establish all aspects of this new scale. Relevance to clinical practice: This culturally specific instrument contributes to the evaluation of the provision of spiritual care by Jordanian Muslim nurses to their patients, to guide them in providing a comprehensive and appropriate spiritual care interventions and to examine the effect of spiritual care on various aspects of patient's quality of life