Inspiratory muscle fatigue in swimmers after a single 200 m swim

Inspiratory muscle fatigue may occur in as little as 6 min during high-intensity spontaneously breathing exercise. The aims of this study were to determine whether inspiratory muscle fatigue occurs during swimming exercise and whether inspiratory muscle strength differs between the supine and standing body positions. Seven competitive swimmers were recruited to perform a single 200 m front-crawl swim, corresponding to 90-95% of race pace. Inspiratory muscle strength was measured at residual volume using a hand-held mouth pressure meter that measured maximal inspiratory pressure in the upright and supine positions. At baseline, maximal inspiratory pressure in the supine position was significantly lower than maximal inspiratory pressure in the upright position (112 +/- 20.4 and 133 +/- 16.7 cmH2O, respectively; P < or = 0.01). Post-exercise maximal inspiratory pressure in the supine position (80 +/- 15.7 cmH2O) was significantly lower than baseline maximal inspiratory pressure in the supine position (P < or = 0.01). The results indicate that a single 200 m front-crawl swim corresponding to 90-95% of race pace was sufficient to induce inspiratory muscle fatigue in less than 2.7 min. Furthermore, although diaphragm muscle length is optimized when supine, our results indicate that the force output of the diaphragm and inspiratory accessory muscles is greater when upright than when supine.     

The Perceptions of New Orleans Educators on the Process of Rebuilding the New Orleans School System after Katrina

This exploratory study seeks to understand the perceptions of New Orleans educators on the process of rebuilding the school system destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005. Interviews with 10 educators and extensive document analysis allowed for an exploration of the phenomenology of this unique case of school reform in response to a natural disaster. Using the theoretical framework of chaos theory, the data reveal that this instance of school reform is influenced heavily by the uncertainties of life in post-Katrina New Orleans and that the presence of both hope and pessimism for positive change indicate a slower, less dramatic change in the New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) than some had predicted.     

Shared Power,Risk-taking,and Innovation: Participatory Action Research in Jewish Education

ABSTRACT

In this article, the authors describe and discuss applications of the Group-Level Assessment/Understanding (GLA/GLU) process, an innovative participatory action research methodology. The authors first describe the GLA/GLU application in the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute (MTEI) and the creation of an MTEI interpretive community to deeply analyze the collected data. The authors then describe adaptations of the process in their home communities to address community-identified dilemmas, tensions, and problems. The article concludes with reflections on common themes that emerged in the GLA/GLU applications–shared power, risk-taking, and methodological innovation.     

Obesity‐Related Hormones in Low‐Income Preschool‐Age Children: Implications for School Readiness

Mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities in school readiness and health outcomes, particularly obesity, among preschool‐aged children are complex and poorly understood. Obesity can induce changes in proteins in the circulation that contribute to the negative impact of obesity on health; such changes may relate to cognitive and emotion regulation skills important for school readiness. We investigated obesity‐related hormones, body mass index (BMI), and school readiness in a pilot study of low‐income preschoolers attending Head Start (participating in a larger parent study). We found that the adipokine leptin was related to preschoolers' BMI z‐score, the appetite‐regulating hormones ghrelin and glucagon‐like peptide 1 (GLP‐1), and pro‐inflammatory cytokines typically associated with early life stress; and that some of these obesity‐related biomarkers were in turn related to emotion regulation. Future work should evaluate how obesity may affect multiple domains of development, and consider modeling common physiological pathways related to stress, health, and school readiness.