Nutritional practices associated with low energy availability in Division I female soccer players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine macronutrient intake, energy density and energy intake distribution that may be associated with low energy availability (EA) in Division I female soccer players. The energy intake, exercise energy expenditure and EA of 19 participants (18–21 years) was assessed during the pre-, mid- and postseasons. Repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to examine the changes across the season. Chi-square analysis was performed to examine the distribution of participants meeting the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations for carbohydrate and protein consumption. Independent t-tests were used to compare differences between groups. The proportion of athletes who did not meet the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations for carbohydrate intake (6–10 g . kg^–1 BW) was significantly greater in the low (<30 kcal . kg^–1 LBM) than higher (≥30 kcal . kg^–1 LBM) EA group (χ² (1) = 7.5; P = 0.006). Participants with low compared to higher EA consumed a lower energy dense dinner (0.8 ± 0.1 vs. 1.4 ± 0.1 kcal . g^–1; P = 0.004) after a soccer match during midseason. No differences in the percentage (%) of kilocalories from food (84.5 ± 2.0% vs. 84.7 ± 2.6%), sports drinks (7.3 ± 1.4% vs. 6.0 ± 3.2%), other drinks (7.6 ± 1.5 % vs. 6.0 ± 1.5%) or bars/gels/beans (1.7 ± 0.6 vs. 3.0 ± 1.5) were observed in participants with low compared to higher EA (P > 0.05) during the pre- and midseasons. Identifying inadequate carbohydrate intake and the practice of consuming lower energy dense meals may be important in preventing low EA conditions and consequently the Female Athlete Triad.     

Validation of a method for measuring medical students' critical reflections on professionalism in gross anatomy

Improving professional attitudes and behaviors requires critical self reflection. Research on reflection is necessary to understand professionalism among medical students. The aims of this prospective validation study at the Mayo Medical School and Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine were: (1) to develop and validate a new instrument for measuring reflection on professionalism, and (2) determine whether learner variables are associated with reflection on the gross anatomy experience. An instrument for assessing reflections on gross anatomy, which was comprised of 12 items structured on five‐point scales, was developed. Factor analysis revealed a three‐dimensional model including low reflection (four items), moderate reflection (five items), and high reflection (three items). Item mean scores ranged from 3.05 to 4.50. The overall mean for all 12 items was 3.91 (SD = 0.52). Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α) was satisfactory for individual factors and overall (Factor 1 α = 0.78; Factor 2 α = 0.69; Factor 3 α = 0.70; Overall α = 0.75). Simple linear regression analysis indicated that reflection scores were negatively associated with teamwork peer scores (P = 0.018). The authors report the first validated measurement of medical student reflection on professionalism in gross anatomy. Critical reflection is a recognized component of professionalism and may be important for behavior change. This instrument may be used in future research on professionalism among medical students. Anat Sci Educ 6: 232–238. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Library Startup: Reflections on Building a New Community College Library from Scratch

ABSTRACT

The author describes the challenges and rewards of creating and growing a new community college library from the ground up, sharing details about the new college, the state of the library when she arrived as director, and the process of prioritizing the organization's development. She further describes particular lessons gained through this experience, including maintaining perspective, focusing growth in productive directions, and being willing to experiment even if it means there will be failure as well as success. The article will appeal in particular to librarians who have the rare opportunity to launch a new college library as well as those who are working on reinventing small college libraries.     

Prosody and alignment: a sequential perspective

In their analysis of a corpus of classroom interactions in an inner city high school, Roth and Tobin describe how teachers and students accomplish interactional alignment by prosodically matching each other’s turns. Prosodic matching, and specific prosodic patterns are interpreted as signs of, and contributions to successful interactional outcomes and positive emotions. Lack of prosodic matching, and other specific prosodic patterns are interpreted as features of unsuccessful interactions, and negative emotions. This forum focuses on the article’s analysis of the relation between interpersonal alignment, emotion and prosody. It argues that prosodic matching, and other prosodic linking practices, play a primarily sequential role, i.e. one that displays the way in which participants place and design their turns in relation to other participants’ turns. Prosodic matching, rather than being a conversational action in itself, is argued to be an interactional practice (Schegloff 1997), which is not always employed for the accomplishment of ‘positive’, or aligning actions.     

Brokering Community–University Engagement

Although substantial areas of agreement exist regarding the characteristics of effective community–university partnerships for research, there is little empirical research on the relationship between the characteristics of such partnerships and their outcomes. In this study, we explored the relationship between partnership characteristics and partnership outcomes. Analyses of the relationships between partnership dynamics and perceived benefits show that (1) effective partnership management is associated with increased research on a community issue, problem, or need; (2) co-creation of knowledge is associated with improved service outcomes for clients; and (3) shared power and resources are negatively associated with increased funding for community partners’ organizations. Our findings suggest that effective partnership management and opportunities for the co-creation of knowledge are practices that are worthy of deliberate cultivation within community–university partnerships for research. Miles McNall is the Assistant Director of the Community Evaluation and Research Center, University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Minnesota. His research and scholarship focus on program evaluation and the evaluation of university–community partnerships. Celeste Sturdevant Reed is an evaluator with University Outreach and Engagement at Michigan State University. She has an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Social Science/Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University. Her current evaluation projects focus on comprehensive early childhood services and out-of-school time (K-12) programs. Robert E. Brown is the Associate Director of University–Community Partnerships, Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement. He brokers, facilitates, and participates in university-community partnerships that are scholarly, community-based, collaborative, responsive, and capacity-building for the public good. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University. Angela Allen is an ABD Research Associate with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. She is completing her Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University. She holds an M.S.W from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from Michigan State University. Her dissertation research is entitled, “Faculty and Community Collaboration in Sustained Community–University Engagement Partnerships”.     

A comparative study of the impact of mainstream and special school placement on the behaviour of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The current study examined the impact of school placement in mainstream or special settings on the behavioural functioning of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children were assessed at the start of the school year and then again at the end of the school year using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Children with ASD made improvements in both types of placements; however, those children in specialist provisions made greater improvements in areas of conduct and socialisation. These results confirm other recent demonstrations of superior performance in special schools for children with ASD. The need to re‐address specialist school placement as a viable alternative to mainstream education for children with ASD is discussed.     

The mediational role of posttraumatic stress in the relationship between domestic violence exposure and peer victimisation: a Cambodian sample

Research demonstrates that children exposed to domestic violence experience a myriad of internalising and externalising symptoms. The current study examines this pathway within a Cambodian sample, specifically determining if the effect of witnessing domestic violence on the child’s tendency to bully or to be bullied is mediated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version, a revised version of a12-item bullying and victimisation questionnaire, and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale were administered to 206 high school students in Phnom Penh. A significant mediational effect of PTSD symptoms was found for victimisation (being bullied); no such mediational model was supported for bullying as the outcome variable. However, controlling for emotional, physical, and sexual child abuse resulted in the mediation effect being non-significant. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Reading assessments for students with ASD: a survey of summative reading assessments used in special educational schools in the UK

Schools have an obligation to assess the literacy skills of their students, and the provision of reading instruction to students includes the ability to measure progress in this area. However, the design of reading tests includes the ability not only to read words, but also the ability to verbalise them. This presents a particular challenge for practitioners working with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who can be nonverbal in many cases. How this issue is generally overcome is currently unknown. A survey was developed, in the form of an online multiple‐choice questionnaire, in order to determine which tests are currently being used in the UK to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students, and to examine the opinions of the education practitioners who use them, in relation to their suitability. Using the schools web directory, e‐mail invitations were sent to 1,050 special educational needs schools across the UK, and 70 schools responded to the invitation. Respondents suggested that the majority of practitioners hold little faith in the ability of current reading assessments to provide an accurate picture of reading ability for students with ASD, and this holds particularly true for nonverbal pupils with ASD. One purpose of education assessment is to establish a baseline of students’ ability in order to plan for lifelong learning and achievement. If there is an inability on the part of schools accurately to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students with ASD, then it would be fair to assume that this could have a negative impact on the provision of learning opportunities for this population.     

Mapping the literature of occupational therapy.

Occupational therapy, formally organized in the United States in 1917, is considered an allied health field. Mapping occupational therapy literature is part of a bibliometric project of the Medical Library Association's Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project for mapping the literature of allied health. Three core journals were selected from the years 1995 and 1996 and a determination was made of the extent to which the cited journal references were covered by standard indexing sources. Using Bradford's Law of Scattering three zones were created, each containing approximately one-third of the cited journal references. The results showed that three journals made up the first zone, 117 journals the second, and 657 the third. The most cited journal was the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. In the second zone, journals from twelve disciplines were identified. While MEDLINE provided the best overall indexing, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was the only database that indexed the three most cited journals plus nine of the currently active titles in occupational therapy. MEDLINE could improve its coverage of occupational therapy by indexing the journals of the British, Canadian, and Australian national associations.