Changing Sides: The Failure of the Wrestling Community’s Challenges to Title IX and New Strategies for Saving NCAA Sport Teams

The relationship of intercollegiate athletics and the federal Title IX statute has been the subject of significant concern and academic inquiry. This article explores the legal and legislative history of Title IX and the statute’s impact on intercollegiate athletic programs and practical solutions for compliance. The article is broken into three distinct parts. Part I details a brief history of Title IX congressional, judicial, and regulatory involvement/enforcement over the past 36 years. Part II examines Title IX’s application in practice with regard to public institutions and athletics. In Part III, the researchers present recommendations to wrestling programs and other men’s teams concerning the economic realities of intercollegiate athletics. Specifically the researchers examine the wrestling community’s legal and legislative challenges and explain how colleges’ economic decisions and zeal for competitive teams at the “revenue sports” level are at the core of wrestling’s dilemma rather than the law itself. The researchers also suggest more constructive solutions for preserving and expanding athletic opportunities for all without cutting men’s sports programs. In particular, they argue that instead of attacking Title IX and women’s sports, the wrestling community should form alliances with women’s teams and their advocates to reverse the reallocation of resources in the college athletics arms race

When public action undermines public health: A critical examination of antifluoridationist literature

Background: The addition of the chemical fluorine to the water supply, called water fluoridation, reduces dental caries by making teeth more resistant to demineralisation and more likely to remineralise when initially decayed. This process has been implemented in more than 30 countries around the world, is cost-effective and has been shown to be efficacious in preventing decay across a person's lifespan. However, attempts to expand this major public health achievement in line with Australia's National Oral Health Plan 2004–2013 are almost universally met with considerable resistance from opponents of water fluoridation, who engage in coordinated campaigns to portray water fluoridation as ineffective and highly dangerous. Discussion: Water fluoridation opponents employ multiple techniques to try and undermine the scientifically established effectiveness of water fluoridation. The materials they use are often based on Internet resources or published books that present a highly misleading picture of water fluoridation. These materials are used to sway public and political opinion to the detriment of public health. Despite an extensive body of literature, both studies and results within studies are often selectively reported, giving a biased portrayal of water fluoridation effectiveness. Positive findings are downplayed or trivialised and the population implications of these findings misinterpreted. Ecological comparisons are sometimes used to support spurious conclusions. Opponents of water fluoridation frequently repeat that water fluoridation is associated with adverse health effects and studies are selectively picked from the extensive literature to convey only claimed adverse findings related to water fluoridation. Techniques such as "the big lie" and innuendo are used to associate water fluoridation with health and environmental disasters, without factual support. Half-truths are presented, fallacious statements reiterated, and attempts are made to bamboozle the public with a large list of claims and quotes often with little scientific basis. Ultimately, attempts are made to discredit and slander scientists and various health organisations that support water fluoridation. Summary: Water fluoridation is an important public health initiative that has been found to be safe and effective. Nonetheless, the implementation of water fluoridation is still regularly interrupted by a relatively small group of individuals who use misinformation and rhetoric to induce doubts in the minds of the public and government officials. It is important that public health officials are aware of these tactics so that they can better counter their negative effectJason M Armfiel

Toward a philosophy of interpersonal self and self-esteem

This dissertation starts with a conceptual analysis of traditional conceptions of self and self-esteem as derived from a range of literature (self-esteem tests, curricula, research, and essays). Two main competing conceptions emerge, dominance and empathetic. Rather than take sides, the author delves into some of the strengths and weaknesses of both conceptions to reveal that they actually share weak metaphysical assumptions. The author targets these assumptions and draws upon what he terms resistance notions of self and self-esteem (post-modern discursive and radical feminist equi-relational ), in addition to the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer, to form a philosophical alternative--the interpersonal conception of self and self-esteem. Conversation is used as a guiding metaphor in drawing the interpersonal conception into the larger media of classroom and society

Addressing Gender Inequities in Collegiate Sport

The purpose of this study was to examine issues related to female representation within the governance structure of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A descriptive statistics approach through the lens of feminism was taken in collecting and analyzing data related to the gender representation of staff leadership positions within the NCAA national office and gender representation within the NCAA Division I, II, and III governance structure. This was coupled with a review of NCAA programming initiatives related to leadership opportunities. Although a number of strategies are being implemented by the NCAA to provide greater access and leadership opportunities for women (e.g., diversity initiatives, Senior Woman Administrator legislation, and guaranteed representation on committees), women continue to be underrepresented within NCAA governance substructures and upper leadership levels within the NCAA national office. In addition, nongender neutral sport governance policies still exist that impede the progress of achieving gender equality

Addressing Gender Inequities in Collegiate Sport: Examining Female Leadership Representation Within NCAA Sport Governance

En: SAGE Open, April-June, pp. 1–13The purpose of this study was to examine issues related to female representation within the governance structure of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A descriptive statistics approach through the lens of feminism was taken in collecting and analyzing data related to the gender representation of staff leadership positions within the NCAA national office and gender representation within the NCAA Division I, II, and III governance structure. This was coupled with a review of NCAA programming initiatives related to leadership opportunities. Although a number of strategies are being implemented by the NCAA to provide greater access and leadership opportunities for women (e.g., diversity initiatives, Senior Woman Administrator legislation, and guaranteed representation on committees), women continue to be underrepresented within NCAA governance substructures and upper leadership levels within the NCAA national office. In addition, nongender neutral sport governance policies still exist that impede the progress of achieving gender equality

An Examination of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Championship Subdivision Department Revenues and Expenditures and Their Effect on Athletic Success in a Mid-Major Athletic Conference

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/9979/8869-thumbnail.jpgAthletic department expenditures within National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletics are in many cases growing faster than the general university budget. Universities are spending millions on athletics, specifically in the sports of men‘s basketball and football, to achieve athletic success and to generate marketing exposure for the university. Typical spending comes in upgrading facilities and luxuries oftentimes justified to enhance winning, revenue generation, overall university exposure, enrollment, and fundraising. For this study, athletic and university success is defined as significant gains in these five aforementioned areas. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect increased expenditures have had on ―mid-major‖ athletic programs (specifically those who are not affiliated with the College Football Bowl Championship Series) such as the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to see if those increases influence a positive or negative outcome on athletic and/or university success. The researchers found, in the case of the Mid-American Conference, that increased expenditures do not significantly increase athletic and or university success and often results in reductions in other sports programs and increases in institutional subsidies to cover increasing expenses. In addition, the researchers present potential areas of savings which might enable intercollegiate athletic programs to keep athletic programs rather than eliminating or reducing them to meet Title IX gender equity requirements or financial contingencies.</p

Tolerance induced by inhaled antigen involves CD4(+) T cells expressing membrane-bound TGF-β and FOXP3

Under normal circumstances, the respiratory tract maintains immune tolerance in the face of constant antigen provocation. Using a murine model of tolerance induced by repeated exposure to a low dose of aerosolized antigen, we show an important contribution by CD4(+) T cells in the establishment and maintenance of tolerance. The CD4(+) T cells expressed both cell surface and soluble TGF-β and inhibited the development of an allergic phenotype when adoptively transferred to naive recipient mice. While cells expressing cell surface TGF-β were detectable in mice with inflammation, albeit at a lower frequency compared with that in tolerized mice, only those from tolerized mice expressed FOXP3. Blockade of TGF-β in vitro and in vivo interfered with immunosuppression. Although cells that expressed TGF-β on the cell surface (TGF-β(+)), as well as the ones that did not (TGF-β(–)), secreted equivalent levels of soluble TGF-β, only the former were able to blunt the development of an allergic phenotype in mice. Strikingly, separation of the TGF-β(+) cells from the rest of the cells allowed the TGF-β(–) cells to proliferate in response to antigen. We propose a model of antigen-induced tolerance that involves cell-cell contact with regulatory CD4(+) T cells that coexpress membrane-bound TGF-β and FOXP3

Assessment of airway distribution of transnasal solutions in mice by PET/CT imaging.

PURPOSE: Transnasal administration is one of the most common routes for allergen challenge in mouse models of airway diseases. Although this technique is widely used, neither the amount of allergen that reaches the lung nor its airway distribution has been well established. We used positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) to examine the anatomical distribution of a solution containing a tracer immediately after transnasal delivery and to determine the possible influence of age and administered volume. PROCEDURES: Forty-six female BALB/c mice were divided into three groups according to instillation volume and age: (A) 15 microl, 8-10 weeks old (N = 10), (B) 30 microl, 8-10 weeks old (N = 20), and (C) 30 microl, 32 weeks old (N = 16). Anesthetized animals underwent a dynamic scan in a dedicated small-animal PET scanner immediately after transnasal administration of a solution containing (18)FDG. Regions of interest were used to obtain quantitative data. Animals were also imaged with a small-animal CT scanner to obtain complementary anatomical information. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD (5.69 +/- 4.51%) of the solution administered reached the lungs in group A, 41.84 +/- 8.03% in group B, and 36.65 +/- 16.15% in group C. A comparable percentage was delivered to the left and right lungs in all the groups. Analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between the groups in the proportion of the solution that reached the lungs depending on the injection volume (P < 0.001), but not depending on animal age. CONCLUSIONS: In this first report on quantitative imaging by PET and CT in small animals, we confirmed the suitability of the transnasal route with an instilled volume of 30 microl delivering fluids into the lower airways, although only about 40% of the dose reaches the lungs