Investigating the effect of sex, maturity, training status, and physical activity on performance and health-related parameters in children, adolescents, and adults

In 2018, 48% of young people in Wales engaged in sport ≥3 times a week. However, questions remain regarding the influence of sex and maturation on aerobic and anaerobic trainability. Indeed, many earlier studies failed to appropriately account for physical activity (PA), confounding the interpretation of training per se. Moreover, there is a paucity of literature examining the long-term effects of training. Chapter 4 revealed that, irrespective of maturity, trained youth had a higher maximal oxygen uptake (V̇ O2max) than their untrained counterparts but, importantly, the magnitude of training-related difference was higher in girls than boys. Given the well-established sex-differences in the decline of PA levels with age, Chapter 5 explored the role of PA on V̇ O2max using compositional analyses. This demonstrated that, for the same change in PA, girls had a greater predicted change in absolute, and scaled, ̇ O2max. As the trainability, and kinetic determinants, of sprint performance have received little attention compared to aerobic fitness in youth, this was explored in Chapters 6 and 7. In Chapter 6, training was associated with a greater peak power and force, depending on maturity, with only post-pubertal participants demonstrating significant increases in performance. Using a repeated sprint protocol, mechanical efficiency was found to be more important than absolute force production for performance in Chapter 7, highlighting key training targets. Finally, using a narrative review and meta-analytical approach, Chapter 8 found significant inter-sport differences in all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality in former elite athletes, suggesting that sport type influences the long-term effects of training. Overall, this thesis highlights the distinct determinants of aerobic and anaerobic performance, with sex and maturity exerting different, and independent, effects. Moreover, the paucity of data available in girls was highlighted, with conclusions regarding the long-term effects of training in females largely precluded

Relocated tigers and relocated villagers: Ferality and human–animal entanglement in Indian conservation

This article will examine state intervention in the lives of tigers and people living in and around Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. It explores how, over a decade after a reintroduction project rebuilt the tiger population from extinction and the central government launched a new compensation scheme to relocate villagers away from the national park, relocated tigers and not-yet relocated villagers resist and challenge conservation interventions to eradicate human life in Panna Tiger Reserve and (re)construct it as a wild tiger landscape. It will show how discourses of conservation and development that motivate state intervention seek to depoliticize and obfuscate programmes of control over human and tiger lives through their separation and purported ‘care’, contiguous with colonial policies and discursive practices that have intertwined the fate of wild animals and forest-dependent villagers in this part of India. In their feral subversions against these interventions, relocated tigers and not-yet relocated villagers expose the problematic contradictions and tensions that plague animal management, wildlife conservation, and rural development in India today. Based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork, the article draws on case studies and accounts from communities living around Panna Tiger Reserve to present alternatives to colonial and post-colonial discursive legitimizations of state intervention and control, revealing alternate understandings of the entanglement of humans and animals and the categories of ‘wild’ and ‘tame’

The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth?

This article discusses the modern interpretation that Bologna produced a distinctive regional martial tradition, based on the existence of similar treatises. It examines the assumption that a series of fencing masters formed a distinct lineage and that their martial practices formed a tradition separate to martial forms outside of Bologna. As a case study, it also considers the 'Viridario' of Giovanni Filoteo Achillini, a poem that contains instructions on the use of sword an buckler, written in 1504 and asks why this apparently unknown treatise was not used by its author to promote a Bolognese tradition

Engaging Conservation: Village-Forest Relations around Panna Tiger Reserve in Central India

This thesis explores the relationships between the Forest Department and local villagers around Panna Tiger Reserve, in Madhya Pradesh, Central India, where a successful reintroduction project has rebuilt the local tiger population following its extinction in 2009. Through an anthropological analysis of ‘village-forest relations’ the thesis asks what might be gained by focusing on ‘engagement’ alongside and beyond predominant narratives of exclusion and conflict between foresters and villagers in the literature on Indian conservation. Based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork spent living around the reserve, it explores the different ways in which the Forest Department and local people ‘engage’ with one another in public outreach, the enforcement of forest regulations, local employment and village relocation. I argue that village-forest relations, as a form of environmental politics, articulates the antagonistic vulnerabilities of ‘village’ and jungle and the state’s prioritisation of the latter. In each form of ‘engagement’, discourses of vulnerable, threatening villagers and vulnerable, threatened jungles legitimise state intervention to reify, separate and control both. At the same time, villagers assert and express their own vulnerability in livelihood, labour and citizenship to work around, negotiate and draw benefits from ‘village-forest relations’ and from relationships with other stakeholders in the landscape. I draw on a range of disciplines, including anthropology, environmental history, geography and political ecology, to interrogate and situate key concepts like vulnerability and engagement, speaking to broader discussions about politics, livelihoods, labour, development, bureaucracy and government in Indian conservation contexts. The thesis demonstrates the potential contribution of anthropologies of Indian politics and government to discussions about the impact of conservation on local populations. Finally, the thesis argues for approaches to conservation intervention that make use of the interdependent and locally situated character of village-forest relations towards more equitable outcomes for local people

Response to Comment on “Health Consequences of an Elite Sporting Career: Long-Term Detriment or Long-Term Gain? A Meta-Analysis of 165,000 Former Athletes”

IntroductionExercise is widely accepted to improve health, reducing the risk of premature mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. However, several epidemiological studies suggest that the exercise-longevity relationship may be ‘J’ shaped; with elite athlete’s likely training above these intensity and volume thresholds. Therefore, the aim of this meta-analysis was to examine this relationship in former elite athletes.Methods38,047 English language articles were retrieved from Web of Science, PubMed and SportDiscus databases published after 1970, of which 44 and 24 were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. Athletes were split into three groups depending on primary sport: Endurance (END), Mixed/Team, or power (POW). Standard mortality ratio’s (SMR) and standard proportionate mortality ratio (SPMR) were obtained, or calculated, and combined for the meta-analysis.ResultsAthletes lived significantly longer than the general population (male SMR 0.69 [95% CI 0.61–0.78]; female SMR 0.51 [95% CI 0.40–0.65]; both p < 0.01). There was no survival benefit for male POW athletes compared to the general population (SMR 1.04 [95% CI 0.91–1.12]). Although male athlete’s CVD (SMR 0.73 [95% CI 0.62–0.85]) and cancer mortality (SMR 0.75 [95% CI 0.63–0.89]), were significantly reduced compared to the general population, there was no risk-reduction for POW athletes CVD mortality (SMR 1.10 [0.86–1.40]) or END athletes cancer mortality (SMR 0.73 [0.50–1.07]). There was insufficient data to calculate female sport-specific SMR’s.DiscussionOverall, athletes live longer and have a reduced incidence of both CVD and cancer mortality compared to the general population, refuting the ‘J’ shape hypothesis. However, different health risks may be apparent according to sports classification, and between sexes, warranting further investigation

Social Prescribing in Practice: A Critical Examination of Service Data and Stakeholder Perspectives

A current priority within UK policy is to promote partnership working between healthcare and the community sector to support the delivery of integrated and person-centred care, and to tackle the wider determinants of health. This represents a shift in focus from a curative to a preventative system. Social prescribing has been put forward to address this. Definitions, models, and understanding of social prescribing vary which leads to differences in the implementation of the concept. However, at its core, it enables healthcare professionals to refer patients with non-medical needs to non-medical sources of support, to improve their health and wellbeing. In some models of social prescribing a link worker is employed to facilitate this process. Social prescribing is increasingly present in policy and the media. However, much research reports barriers to the implementation of services in practice, and, despite some evidence of the effectiveness of individual services, there is insufficient evidence to support the wide-scale implementation of the concept. As social prescribing is gradually implemented across the UK, it is paramount that the concept is understood, including the roles of stakeholders and the barriers that services face. A scoping review of the current literature was first conducted. Following this, the aim of the research was determined: to examine social prescribing in practice with a view to producing a framework of knowledge to progress understanding and implementation. A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was adopted which was underpinned by a critical realist perspective and guided by the Rainbow Model of Integrated Care as the theoretical foundation. In study I secondary data from a social prescribing service were obtained for analysis to explore the underlying contributing factors to requiring a non-medical health intervention. Due to the poor quality of the data obtained, the planned quantitative analysis was not possible. However, the data highlighted the need for proper data collection and management. In study II three stakeholder groups took part in semi-structured interviews: GPs (n = 18), link workers (n = 15), and service users (n= 18). Inductive thematic analysis was adopted to analyse interview data, after which themes were deductively mapped against the domains of the Rainbow Model of Integrated Care. Non-thematic data present in interviews were analysed categorically. Study II identified a range of barriers to social prescribing. However, when the findings of study I and II were combined it was apparent that, instead of a fixed list of barriers, there are a set of factors that influence social prescribing in practice which turn into barriers when not present. These were identified from the research findings, but it was noted that there are complex interrelationships between all factors and, therefore, they could not be considered individually. Instead, they were summarised as the following five mechanisms: a clear definition and shared understanding, supportive context, sufficient and secure funding, IT infrastructure, and stakeholder ‘buy-in’. When considered at a broad level, these mechanisms suggest that social prescribing needs to be established as a reputable intervention with formal links to healthcare. In the discussion, a new definition of social prescribing, developed through the research, was also introduced. This research contributes to the advancement of the evidence base and provides support to facilitate the implementation and delivery of social prescribing. Additionally, the limitations of this research, and the identified gaps in the evidence base, can inform future research into this area

X-ray spectral diagnostics of activity in massive stars

X-rays give direct evidence of instabilities, time-variable structure, and shock heating in the winds of O stars. The observed broad X-ray emission lines provide information about the kinematics of shock-heated wind plasma, enabling us to test wind-shock models. And their shapes provide information about wind absorption, and thus about the wind mass-loss rates. Mass-loss rates determined from X-ray line profiles are not sensitive to density-squared clumping effects, and indicate mass-loss rate reductions of factors of 3 to 6 over traditional diagnostics that suffer from density-squared effects. Broad-band X-ray spectral energy distributions also provide mass-loss rate information via soft X-ray absorption signatures. In some cases, the degree of wind absorption is so high that the hardening of the X-ray SED can be quite significant. We discuss these results as applied to the early O stars zeta Pup (O4 If), 9 Sgr (O4 V((f))), and HD 93129A (O2 If*).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of IAU 272: Active OB Star

Exploring the Experience of Healthcare-Related Epistemic Injustice among People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic, disabling yet clinically “contested” condition, previously theorised through a lens of epistemic injustice. Phenomena conceptually close to epistemic injustice, including stigma, are known to have deleterious consequences on a person’s health and life-world. Yet, no known primary studies have explored how people with ME/CFS experience healthcare through a lens of epistemic injustice, whilst a dearth of research explicitly exploring healthcare-related injustice from a patient perspective has been noted. This qualitative study seeks to address this gap. Semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) were used to explore the experiences of five people with ME/CFS in the UK, vis-à-vis healthcare-related epistemic injustice. One superordinate theme is presented, “Being de-centred in patient-centred care,” alongside two sub-themes: “Struggling for epistemic-existential validation” and “Negotiating socio-epistemic hierarchies, politics and ‘power’.” Findings suggest that healthcare-related epistemic injustice may differentially impact according to the patient’s social positionality (here, notably gender), and that a potential pathway of existential harm operates through threats to identity and personhood. Findings also indicate that cultural and political factors may further epistemic injustice in healthcare. Finally, epistemic injustice impacting as a chronic stressor cannot be ruled out and is worthy of further research. The experience of healthcare-related epistemic injustice can carry far-reaching yet varied consequences for patients. Future research should consider drawing upon more socio-demographically diverse samples and an intersectional approach is recommended. Further exploration of structural drivers of epistemic injustice may highlight a need for politically and socio-culturally cognisant clinical approaches