Using African Cultural and Liberating Concepts

Abstract The purpose of this autoethnography is to explore the impact on learning for a delineated cultural and ethnographic student population when the instructional process is interwoven with a plethora of student-reflective cultural and ethnic information and knowledge gained through the process of in plethora of knowledge and valuable information of retelling rich stories of students, parents, teachers, and stakeholders conveyed from an emancipatory perspective. I believe that these stories can assist in improving the educational conditions of children of African descent in the United States and the diaspora. Throughout my life, I have wondered about the absence of my history and culture in textbooks, media, economics, the medical industry, the military, and the educational system. As a young male child of African descent growing up in the state of Mississippi, I can recall my mother telling me that I would always ask questions about society because the educational system never seemed right to me. In this autoethnographic journey, I explored my life experience by becoming conscious about my history and culture, which changed my entire vision as a college graduate and motivated me to become an educational liberator teaching African people about their history and culture. This autoethnography integrates Africology and the culturally responsive pedagogical framework to capture the rich cultural experiences of parents, students, teachers, and community from my personal viewpoint. These exciting stories intend to support the powerful benefits of sending children of African descent to an African-centered institution

Highly prevalent but not always persistent: undergraduate and graduate student's misconceptions about psychology.

Although past research has documented the prevalence of misconceptions in introductory psychology classes, few studies have assessed how readily upper-level undergraduate and graduate students endorse erroneous beliefs about the discipline. In Study 1, we administered a 30-item misconception test to an international sample of 670 undergraduate, Master’s and doctoral students. Analyses indicated that participants identified and rejected the majority of misconceptions, with doctoral students performing better than their Master’s or undergraduate peers. In Study 2, we administered a revised version of our questionnaire to a novel sample of 557 students while controlling for number of years spent at university, psychology courses completed and need for cognition. Once again, we found that graduate students rejected more, affirmed less and reported lower levels of uncertainty than their undergraduate counterparts. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed

Does heat or cold work better for acute muscle strain?

Cryotherapy is better than heat for treating acute muscle strain (strength of recommendation [SOR]: C, consensus, usual practice, and expert opinion). Insufficient patient-oriented evidence exists regarding use of heat to treat acute soft-tissue injuries

Influence of appendicular skeletal muscle mass on resting metabolic equivalents in patients with cardiovascular disease: Implications for exercise training and prescription

The metabolic equivalent (MET) is a widely used physiological concept for quantifying levels of habitual physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). The MET conveys the oxygen consumption requirements of physical activities as multiples of the resting or basal metabolic rate (RMR). It may also be used to prescribe workloads for exercise training in patient groups, including those attending cardiac rehabilitation. One MET is considered to be equivalent to the oxygen consumed per kilogram of body mass at rest (while sitting) and, due to practical issues with direct metabolic cart measurements, it is conventionally approximated as 3.5 ml/kg–1/min–1. This expression of resting energy expenditure has been incorporated within physical activity position statements and guidelines. However, a number of factors – including age, sex, body mass (fat-free mass), cardiometabolic health and CRF – influence the RMR, which might limit the broad applicability of the conventional 1 MET at a population level. Widely prescribed cardiac drugs (i.e. beta blockers) have also been cited to influence the RMR, with some inconsistent findings in men. We aimed to evaluate the potential limitations of using the estimated MET in a cohort of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), in whom we recently reported a positive association between skeletal muscle mass and peak oxygen uptake (O2peak). We hypothesized that patients with a lower skeletal muscle mass would also have a lower RMR, determined by resting respiratory gas analysis, and this would affect the accuracy of the aerobic exercise prescription based on METs

Insufficient exercise intensity for clinical benefit? Monitoring and quantification of a community-based Phase III cardiac rehabilitation programme: A United Kingdom perspective.

Background: In recent years, criticism of the percentage range approach for individualised exercise prescription has intensified and we were concerned that sub-optimal exercise dose (especially intensity) may be in part responsible for the variability in the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes in the United Kingdom (UK). The aim was to investigate the fidelity of a structured Phase III CR programme, by monitoring and quantifying exercise training intensity. Design: Observational study. Methods: The programme comprised 16 sessions over 8 weeks, where patients undertook an interval, circuit training approach within national guidelines for exercise prescription (40-70% heart rate reserve [HRR]). All patients wore an Apple Watch (Series 0 or 2, Watch OS2.0.1, Apple Inc., California, USA). We compared the mean % heart rate reserve (%HRR) achieved during the cardiovascular training component (%HRR-CV) of a circuit-based programme, with the %HRR during the active recovery phases (%HRR-AR) in a randomly selected cohort of patients attending standard CR. We then compared the mean %HRR-CV achieved with the minimal exercise intensity threshold during supervised exercise (40% HRR) recommended by national governing bodies. Results: Thirty cardiac patients (83% male; mean age [SD] 67 [10] years; BMI 28.3 [4.6] kg∙m-2 ) were recruited. We captured 332 individual training sessions. The mean %HRR-CV and %HRR-AR were 37 (10) %, and 31 (13) %, respectively. There was weak evidence to support the alternative hypothesis of a difference between the %HRR-CV and 40% HRR. There was very strong evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis that the mean %HRR-AR was lower than the mean %HRR-CV (median standardised effect size 1.1 (95%CI: 0.563 to 1.669) with a moderate to large effect. Conclusion: Mean exercise training intensity was below the lower limit of the minimal training intensity guidelines for a Phase III CR programme. These findings may be in part responsible for previous reports highlighting the significant variability in effectiveness of UK CR services and poor CRF improvements observed from several prior investigations

CARE CR - Cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory Adaptations to Routine Exercise-based Cardiac Rehabilitation; A study protocol for a community-based control study with criterion methods

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Much of the improvement has been attributed to the beneficial effects of structured exercise training. However, UK-based studies have not confirmed this. Improvements in survival and cardiovascular health are associated with concurrent improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). It is therefore concerning that estimated CRF improvements resulting from UK-based CR are approximately one third of those reported in international literature. Modest improvements in CRF suggest that UK CR exercise training programmes may require optimisation if long-term survival is to be improved. However, contemporary UK studies lack control data or, use estimates of CRF change. CARE-CR is a longitudinal, observational, controlled study designed to assess the short and longer-term effect of CR on CRF, as well cardiovascular and cardiometabolic health. Methods and Analysis: Patients will be recruited following referral to their local CR programme and will either participate in a routine, low to moderate intensity, eight-week (16 sessions) exercise-based CR programme or freely abstain from supervised exercise. Initial assessment will be conducted prior to exercise training, or approximately two weeks after referral to CR if exercise training is declined. Reassessment will coincide with completion of exercise training, or 10 weeks after initial assessment for control participants. Participants will receive a final follow-up 12 months after recruitment. The primary outcome will be peak oxygen consumption determined using maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Secondary outcomes will include changes in subclinical atherosclerosis (carotid intima-media thickness and plaque characteristics), body composition (dual Xray absorptiometry) and cardiometabolic biomarkers. Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval for this non-randomised controlled study has been obtained from the Humber Bridge NHS Research Ethics Committee - Yorkshire and the Humber on the 27th September 2013, (12/YH/0278). Results will be presented at national conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals

Serum Transthyretin and Aminotransferases are associated with 2 Lean Mass in People with Coronary Heart Disease. Further 3 Insights from the CARE-CR study

BackgroundLow muscle mass disproportionately affects people with coronary heart disease compared to healthy controls but is under-researched and insufficiently treated. Inflammation, poor nutrition, and neural decline might contribute to low muscle mass. This study aimed to assess circulatory biomarkers related to these mechanisms (albumin, transthyretin, alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST]) and C-terminal agrin fragment) and their relationship with muscle mass in people with coronary heart disease. Our findings could be beneficial to indicate mechanisms of sarcopenia, detect sarcopenia, and evaluate treatment. MethodsSerum blood samples from people with coronary heart disease were analysed for biomarker concentrations using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Skeletal muscle mass was estimated using dual X-ray absorptiometry derived appendicular lean mass and reported as skeletal muscle index (SMI; kg.m−2), and as a proportion of total body mass (appendicular skeletal mass [ASM%]). Low muscle mass was defined as a SMI <7.0 and <6.0 kg.m-2, or ASM% <25.72% and <19.43% for men and women, respectively. Associations between biomarkers and lean mass were adjusted for age and inflammation.ResultsSixty-four people were assessed; fourteen (21.9%) had low muscle mass. People with low muscle mass had lower transthyretin (effect size 0.34, P = 0.007), ALT (effect size 0.34, P = 0.008) and AST (effect size 0.26, P = 0.037) concentrations, compared to those with normal muscle mass. SMI was associated with inflammation-corrected ALT (r = 0.261, P = 0.039) and with inflammation- and age-adjusted AST/ALT ratio (r = −0.257, P = 0.044). Albumin and C-terminal agrin fragment were not associated with muscle mass indices.ConclusionCirculatory transthyretin, ALT and AST were associated with low muscle mass in people with coronary heart disease. Low concentrations of these biomarkers might indicate that low muscle mass is partially explained by poor nutrition and high inflammation in this cohort. Targeted treatments to address these factors could be considered for people with coronary heart disease

Does exercise training prescription based on estimated heart rate training zones exceed the ventilatory anaerobic threshold in patients with coronary heart disease undergoing usual-care cardiovascular rehabilitation?: A United Kingdom perspective

Background: In the United Kingdom (UK), exercise intensity is prescribed from a fixed percentage range (% heart rate reserve; %HRR) in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes. We aimed to determine the accuracy of this approach by comparing it with an objective, threshold-based approach incorporating the accurate determination of ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VAT). We also aimed to investigate the role of baseline cardiorespiratory fitness status, and exercise testing mode dependency (cycle v treadmill ergometer) on these relationships. Design/Methods: A maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test was conducted on a cycle ergometer or a treadmill before and following usual-care circuit training from two separate CR programmes from a single region in the UK. The heart rate corresponding to VAT was compared to current heart rate-based exercise prescription guidelines. Results: We included 112 referred patients (61 years [59-63]; body mass index 29 kg∙m-2 [29-30]; 88% male). There was a significant but relatively weak correlation (r=0.32; P=0.001) between measured and predicted %HRR, and values were significantly different from each other (P=0.005). Within this cohort, we found that 54% of patients had their VAT identified outside of the 40-70% predicted HRR exercise training zone. In the majority of participants (45%), the VAT occurred at an exercise intensity 70% HRR. VAT was significantly higher on the treadmill than the cycle ergometer (P<0.001). Conclusion: In the UK, current guidelines for prescribing exercise intensity are based on a fixed percentage range. Our findings indicate that this approach may be inaccurate in a large proportion of patients undertaking CR