Lumbopelvic motor control and low back pain in elite soccer players: a cross-sectional study

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the history of low back pain and quality of lumbopelvic motor control in soccer players. Forty-three male elite soccer players (mean age, 18.2 ± 1.4 years) filled in questionnaires related to low back pain and attended a session to assess lumbopelvic motor control by means of five tests (the bent knee fall out test, the knee lift abdominal test, the sitting knee extension test, the waiter’s bow and the transversus abdominis test). A physiotherapist, blinded to the medical history of the participants, scored (0 = failed, 1 = correct) the performance of the players for each of the tests resulting in a lumbopelvic motor control score ranging from 0 to 5. Forty-seven per cent of the soccer players reported a disabling low back pain episode lasting at least two consecutive days in the previous year. These players scored worse lumbopelvic motor control than players without a history of low back pain (lumbopelvic motor control score of 1.8 vs. 3.3, P < 0.01). The between-groups difference was particularly marked for the bent knee fall out test, the knee lift abdominal test and the transversus abdominis test (P < 0.01). In conclusion, most soccer players with a history of low back pain had an altered lumbopelvic motor control. Further research should examine whether lumbopelvic motor control is etiologically involved in low back pain episodes in soccer players.     

Revealing the decision-making of dribbling in the sport of futsal

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate why futsal players decide to dribble. For this purpose, we analysed 396 trials comprising the dribbles (n = 132), passes (n = 131) or shots (n = 133), performed by 70 male futsal players. Passing and shooting angles, and interpersonal distance, including their rates of change (velocity and variability), were regarded as measures of interpersonal coordination tendency and a comparison was made among dribbling, passing and shooting situations. In addition, the variables identified as constraints on deciding to dribble were analysed in relation to age categories, dribbling outcomes and futsal court zone. Results revealed that passing and shooting angles, and interpersonal distance showed higher variability in dribbling than in passing and shooting situations. The findings allowed us to conclude that decision-making on dribbling was influenced by the variabilities of passing angles as well as shooting and interpersonal distance, and that success in dribbling was affected by the variability of interpersonal distance. Such variabilities were interpreted concerning their meaning of risk and/or uncertainty in the execution of motor skills.     

Stichwort: Globalisierung und Erziehungswissenschaft

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Non-linear resistance training reduces inflammatory biomarkers in persons living with HIV: A randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of 12 weeks of non-linear resistance training (NLRT) on anthropometry, muscle strength and inflammatory biomarkers in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (PIHIV). Thirty previously sedentary PIHIVs were randomized into the NLRT (n?=?15) and control (CON, n?=?15) groups. NLRT group were submitted to 12 weeks of training, whereas the CON group maintained their daily habits. At baseline and after 12 weeks, both groups underwent anthropometric evaluations and blood sampling for the analysis of inflammatory biomarkers. Analysis of covariance using preintervention values as covariate was performed to determine the effects of exercise on anthropometry, muscle strength, cytokines levels and T cells. Significance was set at p?p?p p?=?.009), blood levels of interleukin (IL)-1β (p?=?.029), IL-6 (p?=?.005), IL-8 (p?=?.010), and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α (p?=?.001) and an increase in muscle strength (p?p?=?.030) and CD4⁺ (p?=?.004) and CD8⁺ (p?相似文献   

The development of a system for supporting the lifelong learner

Given the rapidly changing skills needs of ‘post‐industrial economies’, lifelong learning forms an integral part of government policy within the UK and abroad. However, like the UK, most economies are faced with the problem of how to reach those sections of the community that have traditionally not embraced learning and educational opportunities. In this paper, the development and evaluation of a system designed to address this problem is described. The Lifelong Learning in London for All (L4All) project has investigated the concept of ‘trails’ as a way of organising lifelong learning opportunities. The L4All pilot system combines a set of web services to provide the functionality needed to support this central idea. The development process was outlined, and the findings of an empirical study were used to confirm proof of concept.     

“I Have Seen the Opportunities That Science Brings”: Encouraging Girls to Persist in Science

Women are underrepresented in science careers. To overcome this, it is important to explore how to encourage girls to continue to study science. This intervention involved girls aged 12–14 attending interactive science sessions at a university. Girls completed questionnaires before and after the session. Through the intervention, girls became more likely to believe they could succeed in science and saw it as both more useful and interesting. However, the timing of this intervention appeared to be too late. Many girls had already decided on a career and stated that they would be unlikely to continue to study science if it was not needed in their chosen career.     

Gender norms and STEM: the importance of friends for stopping leakage from the STEM pipeline

More women are now entering male-dominated fields, yet, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remain dominated by men. We examined the association between boys’ and girls’ STEM choices after secondary education and friends’ gender norms, and whether pressure to conform to traditional gender norms differs depending on the gender composition of the friend group. Drawing on 3 waves of longitudinal data (N?=?744) from the Netherlands, our sample consists of adolescents in STEM trajectories in secondary education. Their retention in STEM after secondary education gives us a better understanding of gender-specific “leakage” from the STEM pipeline. We found that girls’ likelihood of choosing STEM decreased drastically when friends had more traditional gender norms. Friends with traditional gender norms had less effect on boys. Nonetheless, boys with only same-sex friends were more likely to enter STEM. Our findings indicate that an environment with gender-normative ideas pushes girls out of the STEM pipeline.     

Femininity,science, and the denigration of the girly girl

Hyper-femininity and the construction of the ‘girly girl’ label have been documented widely, but there has been less attention to their content (or any distinctions between these constructs). Indeed, it can be argued that the content of femininity remains a controversial and somewhat under-researched topic in feminist scholarship. This is also the case in relation to science, which has been widely characterised as a masculine terrain, but there has been less attention to why femininity is excluded from/by science. This article attempts to unpick some of these issues, with a particular focus on the construct of the ‘girly girl’, in relation to access to science. Drawing on qualitative data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ASPIRES 2 project, we analyse the discourses used by young people and parents in discussion of ‘girly girls’ and physics. We show the misogynist and excluding discourses projected onto the ‘girly girl’, and indeed that are used to interpolate femininity more broadly. We found that in discussions of science and (hyper-)femininity, even potentially positive feminine attributes were denigrated. Hyper-femininity was produced as ‘more than lack’: vacuous, but also a risible presence. In reflecting on our findings we consider whether femininity may be more derided in some discursive contexts (e.g. science discourse) than others, and whether femininity can or should be conceived as more than lack.     

The status games they play: unpacking the dynamics of organisational status competition in higher education

The article uses the concept of organisational status to explore how universities respond to intensifying competition. Although status is not a novel phenomenon in higher education, recent insights show that the concerns with vertical positioning, both nationally and internationally, are gaining prominence with a growing number of universities worldwide. As global competition becomes as fierce as ever, universities’ efforts to maintain or advance their position vis-à-vis each other are becoming more salient. The paper draws from extant literature to identify three mechanisms of organisational status construction—categories, intermediaries and affiliations—and offers a set of propositions as to how universities of different status rank are expected to act when seeking to maintain or advance their status. Such activities, it is argued, shape status hierarchies, which, in turn, affect the scope of organisational action. The article contributes to the discussions on competition in higher-education literature and, more broadly, to the theory of organisational action in the tradition of sociological institutionalism.