Homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Movement Sciences students: Implications for physical education teachers and coaches

Gender and sexual stereotypes and prejudices are pervasive in sport contexts and used to preserve male superiority, relegating what is not masculine to a lower status. These stereotypes and biases are firmly rooted in sport also because they are constantly renewed and reinforced by athletic trainers, who may teach, along with sports practice, the underpinning heteronormative ideologies and values as well. The current study was aimed at exploring knowledge, opinions, and attitudes on gender and sexual diversity in sport among 181 Movement Sciences university students compared to 169 university students attending Psychology, Medicine, and Sociology. Participants answered questions related to gender and sexual diversity, homophobia, and transphobia and data were analyzed through student’s t-tests and linear regressions. Results indicated that Movement Sciences university students had a lower level of knowledge about sexual and gender diversity, and this was associated with higher levels of homophobic and transphobic attitudes. The results suggest the need to introduce specific training in degree courses to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices around sexual and gender diversity

The analysis of bridging constructs with hierarchical clustering methods: An application to identity

When analyzing psychometric surveys, some design and sample size limitations challenge existing approaches. Hierarchical clustering, with its graphics (heat maps, dendrograms, means plots), provides a nonparametric method for analyzing factorially-designed survey data, and small samples data. In the present study, we demonstrated the advantages of using hierarchical clustering (HC) for the analysis of non-higher-order measures, comparing the results of HC against those of exploratory factor analysis. As a factorially-designed survey, we used the Identity Labels and Life Contexts Questionnaire (ILLCQ), a novel measure to assess identity as a bridging construct for the intersection of identity domains and life contexts. Results suggest that, when used to validate factorially-designed measures, HC and its graphics are more stable and consistent compared to EFA

Peanut digestome: Identification of digestion resistant IgE binding peptides

Stability to proteolytic degradation in the digestive tract is considered a general feature shared by most food allergens. Current digestibility models exclusively utilize purified allergen proteins, neglecting the relevant effects of matrix that occur for foodstuff systems. In the present study, we investigated digestion stability of the major peanut allergens directly in the natural matrix using an in vitro static model that simulates the gastrointestinal digestion including the oral, gastric, duodenal and intestinal (brush border membrane enzymes) phases. Immunogenicity was evaluated by Western Blot using N=8 pooled sera of peanut allergic pediatric subjects. Immunoreactive, large-sized and fragments of Ara h 2, Ara h 6 and Ara h 3 survived hydrolysis as assessed by SDS-PAGE. Smaller resistant peptides mainly arising from Ara h 3 and also Ara h 1 were detected and further identified by LC-high resolution-MS/MS. RP-HPLC purification followed by dot-blot analysis and MS/MS-based identification demonstrated that stable IgE-binding peptides derived from Ara h 3. These results provide a more realistic picture of the potentially allergenic determinants of peanuts that survived the human digestion, taking into account the role of the food matrix, which may significantly affect gastrointestinal breakdown of peanut allergens

Identity centrality and psychosocial functioning : a person-centered approach

There has been increased recognition that identity operates within several “components” and that not every component is likely to be equally central to one’s sense of self. The aim of the current study was to determine the extent to which identity components (i.e., personal, relational, collective, and public) are differentially central to emerging adults’ identity. We used a two-step cluster analytic procedure to identify distinct clusters and determine how these configurations might differ in relation to psychosocial functioning (i.e., well-being, externalizing and internalizing symptoms, illicit drug use, risky sex, and impaired driving). The sample consisted of 8,309 college students (72.8% female; M age = 19.94 years, 18–29, SD = 2.01) from 30 U.S. colleges and universities. Analyses identified six unique clusters based on the centrality of the four identity components. The findings indicated that a more well-rounded identity was associated with the most favorable psychosocial functioning. Results are discussed in terms of important directions for identity research and practical implications

Auditory cortex hypoperfusion: a metabolic hallmark in Beta Thalassemia

Abstract Background Sensorineural hearing loss in beta-thalassemia is common and it is generally associated with iron chelation therapy. However, data are scarce, especially on adult populations, and a possible involvement of the central auditory areas has not been investigated yet. We performed a multicenter cross-sectional audiological and single-center 3Tesla brain perfusion MRI study enrolling 77 transfusion-dependent/non transfusion-dependent adult patients and 56 healthy controls. Pure tone audiometry, demographics, clinical/laboratory and cognitive functioning data were recorded. Results Half of patients (52%) presented with high-frequency hearing deficit, with overt hypoacusia (Pure Tone Average (PTA) > 25 dB) in 35%, irrespective of iron chelation or clinical phenotype. Bilateral voxel clusters of significant relative hypoperfusion were found in the auditory cortex of beta-thalassemia patients, regardless of clinical phenotype. In controls and transfusion-dependent (but not in non-transfusion-dependent) patients, the relative auditory cortex perfusion values increased linearly with age (p < 0.04). Relative auditory cortex perfusion values showed a significant U-shaped correlation with PTA values among hearing loss patients, and a linear correlation with the full scale intelligence quotient (right side p = 0.01, left side p = 0.02) with its domain related to communication skills (right side p = 0.04, left side p = 0.07) in controls but not in beta-thalassemia patients. Audiometric test results did not correlate to cognitive test scores in any subgroup. Conclusions In conclusion, primary auditory cortex perfusion changes are a metabolic hallmark of adult beta-thalassemia, thus suggesting complex remodeling of the hearing function, that occurs regardless of chelation therapy and before clinically manifest hearing loss. The cognitive impact of perfusion changes is intriguing but requires further investigations

Characterization of Carbonic Anhydrase IX Interactome Reveals Proteins Assisting Its Nuclear Localization in Hypoxic Cells

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Assessing identity intersectionality in adolescents and emerging adults. A theoretical and methodological model

Current identity literature is extremely fragmented, where subfields of identity often "talk past" each other and pay little or no attention to one another (Schwartz, 2001; Schwartz, Luyckx, & Vignoles, 2011). As a result, the concept of "identity" has been assigned multiple meanings across literatures, and integrating these various meanings has rarely been attempted (Vignoles, Schwartz, & Luyckx, 2011). To a certain extent, the presence of different identity literatures focusing on disparate aspects of the identity construct (e.g., personal goals, life stories, interpersonal relationships, group memberships, et cetera) might be considered as an advantage. Indeed, integrating aspects of the various perspectives would create a whole that is larger and more inclusive than any of the individual perspectives. The present research was designed as an attempt to integrate aspects of various theoretical and empirical perspectives on identity construction in adolescence and emerging adulthood, since the development of identity is considered as consisting of a process of integration across the various relational contexts in which one functions, through adaptive mechanisms activated by the individual (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001). Such a theoretical model, also inspired by the intersectionality paradigm, has been defined in this work as "cross-contexts-domains model", and it constitutes the basis on which a novel identity measure has been developed: the Identity Labels and Life Contexts Questionnaire (ILLCQ). Indeed, the ILLCQ was constructed to answer some core questions: "How can we assess the complex interplay between identity dimensions and life contexts?", "What would be the best analytical method to study this kind of data?", and "How can we use results obtained?". The complexity of these questions is reflected in the complexity of the ILLCQ structure, which could not be analyzed through classical analysis strategies used in scale development. The measure was constructed through a pilot study, then underwent to a trial paper-and-pencil administration, and finally it was administrated online to 646 Italian and US adolescents and emerging adults. Results demonstrated that the ILLCQ is adequate to assess the cross-contexts-domains model, providing interesting information about how much and how individuals manage the balance between keeping an internal coherence in their identity, and adjusting to external requests coming from relational contexts (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001; Erikson, 1950)

I valori e le contraddizioni dello sport

Per la maggior parte delle persone lo sport rappresenta un’attività ricreativa, da vivere in prima persona nel tempo libero o in qualità di spettatori, ma per un gruppo ristretto di partecipanti è una professione ed una fonte di reddito. Le tematiche relative all’omofobia nello sport rivestono un particolare interesse per la forte influenza mediatica che lo sport esercita nella nostra società. Per milioni di persone molti atleti rappresentano dei modelli di vita da imitare e, quando atleti famosi esprimono idee omofobiche, possono inculcare sentimenti omofobici ai loro fan, con una risonanza che supera i confini geografici. Inoltre, molti bambini ed adolescenti che praticano sport ricreativo o agonistico, come il calcio, la pallacanestro o il rugby, possono essere influenzati dalle attitudini omofobiche dei loro allenatori, in un momento particolare della loro crescita personale. Infine, omofobia e discriminazione hanno un impatto negativo su atleti ed allenatori omosessuali, che vivono nel timore di essere “scoperti”, rischiando l’esclusione dalle attività ricreative o, ancor peggio, lavorative

I valori e le contraddizioni dello sport

1. Premessa Secondo la definizione adottata dalla Conferenza dei Ministri Europei dello Sport nella Carta Europea dello Sport del 1992 si intende per sport «qualsiasi forma di attività fisica che, mediante una partecipazione organizzata o meno, abbia come obiettivo il miglioramento delle condizioni fisiche e psichiche, lo sviluppo delle relazioni sociali o il conseguimento di risultati nel corso di competizioni a tutti i livelli». L’attività sportiva rappresenta infatti una parte rilevante ne..