Book reviews

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Effects of heat stress and dehydration on cognitive function in elite female field hockey players

Background: It has previously been suggested that heat exposure and hypohydration have negative effects on cognitive performance, which may impact upon sporting performance. The aim of the present study was to examine the independent effects of heat stress and hypohydration on cognitive performance in elite female field hockey players. Methods: Eight unacclimatised elite field hockey players (age: 22 ± 3 y; height: 1.68 ± 0.05 m; body mass: 63.1 ± 6.0 kg) completed a cognitive test battery before and after 50 min of field hockey specific exercise on a treadmill in four experimental trials; two in hot conditions (33.3 ± 0.1 °C), and two in moderate (16.0 ± 3.0 °C), both with and without ad libitum water intake. Results: On the visual search test, participants were faster overall in the heat (1941 vs. 2104 ms, p = 0.001). Response times were quicker in the heat on the Sternberg paradigm (463 vs. 473 ms, p = 0.024) and accuracy was improved (by 1.9%, p = 0.004). There was no effect of hydration status on any of the markers of cognitive function. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that in elite field hockey players exposure to heat enhances response times and/or accuracy on a battery of cognitive function tests. However, hypohydration does not appear to affect cognitive performance in elite field hockey players

Gender and language in sub-Saharan African contexts: Issues and challenges

In this paper, we examine a range of issues associated with the study of gender and language in sub-Saharan African contexts. These include whether (and in what sense) such contexts may constitute a ‘special case’, the relevance of feminism, and what might be encompassed by ‘context’, ‘African contexts’ and ‘African topics’ – and a substantial amount of what we write is relevant to Applied Linguistics in Africa more broadly (see Makoni and Meinhof 2004 for a discussion). We argue that while all the gender issues are of interest and importance to language and gender study in general, it is possible to see some of these issues as ‘characteristic’ of African contexts (albeit with ‘echoes’ elsewhere). It will be evident from this first paper (and those which follow) that along with taking on board commonalities in terms of the theoretical notions used in our field in African and non-African contexts, there is also a need to recognise a range of situated understandings of gender identities, gender relations, understandings of gender more broadly, and feminism

Soot nucleation and growth in weakly-buoyant laminar jet diffusion flames

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76524/1/AIAA-1994-428-986.pd

Rural and Remote Pharmacy Workforce Development Program

Executive SummaryMany authors have commented upon the potential of pharmacies as a health promotion setting due to their ease of accessibility for the public, high level of use, and respected position of pharmacists.Research has demonstrated that pharmacist led health promotion can be successful in assisting people to make lifestyle changes around smoking, diet, and more specifically, lipid management. There is also preliminary evidence to suggest that pharmacists can provide physical activity and alcohol consumption recommendations to their customers.Presently pharmacists have mainly been involved in information provision and screening activities. This forms one component of a health promotion approach and particularly in rural regions, community pharmacies could be performing a greater role in community health promotion activities.A model was piloted in four rural pharmacies with each pharmacy provided with a small grant to cover community activities and in store health promotion advice provision. The primary researcher on the project offered consultation support to the pharmacies as well as conducting the literature review and project evaluation.Needs analyses were conducted in the pharmacies and feedback revealed a low level of interest in health behaviour topics although some customers mentioned an interest in receiving dietary advice. This reflected the lower use of the in-store component of the project with few customers utilising the free dietary checks. Falls prevention screening and diabetes screening were more popular.The pharmacies were able to organise and sponsor a wide range of health promotion community activities. These included workshops on health topics, physical activity programs, home reviews for falls prevention, and early years and school health promotion programs. These programs reached over 500 people across the four communities.The results showed the considerable potential for community pharmacies in rural areas to organise community health promotion activities. As well as the direct benefit to the people involved in these activities, having the pharmacy sponsor and organise the events contributes to changing the perceptions of the general public to realise the broad health expertise of pharmacies roles.Based on the literature review and findings of the project a model has been developed in the recommendations section to imbed health promotion within rural community pharmacies. Important aspects of this model are health promotion training for pharmacists and pharmacy assistants, provision of grant money support, consultation support from a health promotion worker and promotional material to advertise using the pharmacy for health promotion advice