Kinematic differences between front crawl sprint and distance swimmers at sprint pace

The purpose of this study was to use three-dimensional methods to determine whether there are distinct kinematic differences between sprint and distance front crawl swimmers when swimming at a sprint pace. Seven sprint and eight distance specialists performed four 25-m sprints through a 6.75-m(3) calibrated space recorded by six gen-locked cameras. The variables of interest were: average swim velocity, stroke length, stroke frequency, upper limb and foot displacement, elbow angle, shoulder and hip roll angles, duration of stroke phases, and the time corresponding to particular events within the stroke cycle relative to hand entry. Differences between sprint and distance swimmers were assessed with an independent t-test for each variable, in addition to effect size calculations. Differences between sprint and distance front crawl swimmers were generally small and not significant when swimming at a sprint pace. Differences were limited to temporal aspects of the stroke cycle. These findings suggest that coaches should not train sprint and distance specialists differently in terms of technique development.     

Associations between retirement reasons,chronic pain,athletic identity,and depressive symptoms among former professional footballers

Background: Retirement from professional sport has been recognised as a major psychological stressor, and there is a need to identify factors that increase the risk of mental health problems after career termination. The current study examined associations between career-ending injury, chronic pain, athletic identity, and depressive symptomology in retired professional footballers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 307 retired male footballers who had played within a professional United Kingdom league. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms (Short Depression-Happiness Scale), chronic pain (Pain Intensity Numerical Rating Scale), and athletic identity (Athletic Identity Measurement Scale), and reported their reasons for retirement. Results: A total of 48 participants (16%) met the cut-off score for possible cases of clinically relevant depression. These participants were more recently retired, and had higher athletic identity than those without depressive symptoms. Former players with depressive symptoms were more likely to cite injury as a retirement reason, and report higher levels of ongoing injury-related pain. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that the presence of depressive symptoms was independently associated with retirement through injury (OR?=?3.44; 95% CI?=?1.39, 8.51), higher pain levels (OR?=?1.38; 95% CI?=?1.02, 1.86), and increased athletic identity (OR?=?1.28; 95% CI?=?1.14, 1.44). Conclusions: Career-ending injury is strongly associated with higher odds of depressive symptomology during retirement, while experiencing chronic pain, and maintaining a high sense of athletic identity, are additional potential contributors.     

Global blue carbon accumulation in tidal wetlands increases with climate change

Coastal tidal wetlands produce and accumulate significant amounts of organic carbon (C) that help to mitigate climate change. However, previous data limitations have prevented a robust evaluation of the global rates and mechanisms driving C accumulation. Here, we go beyond recent soil C stock estimates to reveal global tidal wetland C accumulation and predict changes under relative sea level rise, temperature and precipitation. We use data from literature study sites and our new observations spanning wide latitudinal gradients and 20 countries. Globally, tidal wetlands accumulate 53.65 (95%CI: 48.52–59.01) Tg C yr⁻¹, which is ∼30% of the organic C buried on the ocean floor. Modeling based on current climatic drivers and under projected emissions scenarios revealed a net increase in the global C accumulation by 2100. This rapid increase is driven by sea level rise in tidal marshes, and higher temperature and precipitation in mangroves. Countries with large areas of coastal wetlands, like Indonesia and Mexico, are more susceptible to tidal wetland C losses under climate change, while regions such as Australia, Brazil, the USA and China will experience a significant C accumulation increase under all projected scenarios.     

Multiple Service Use: The impact of consistency in service quality for vulnerable youth

Little is known about the way in which variations in service quality influence outcomes when youth are clients of more than one service system. This article reports on a study of 1,210 adolescents (aged 13–17 years), half were concurrent clients of two or more services and half were not involved in two or more services. Youth completed a self-report questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer. It was hypothesized that youth reporting two positive service experiences would report lower risks, higher resilience, and better outcomes than youth reporting inconsistent or two negative service experiences and that their resilience, risks, and outcomes would be similar to those of youth not involved in two or more services. MANCOVA was used to determine the relationship among service quality and resilience, risk, and outcomes with four covariates that assessed family and neighborhood environments, history of abuse and neglect, and chronic need. Results indicate that service quality had an effect on resilience, risks, and outcomes. These relationships were mediated quite strongly by the influence of the risks youth faced in their neighborhoods and to a lesser extent by the other three covariates. Of the three dependent variables, risk appeared to be the most consistently influenced by all the covariates, and it also differentiated service experience groups. Results point to the importance of services developing strategies to effectively address risks confronted by youth and also to ensure that when more than one service is involved with youth, consistency in service delivery is achieved.     

Operation of the phoneme-to-grapheme conversion mechanism in a brain injured patient

We report the performance of a dysgraphic patient who exhibited impaired ability to spell some words in the face of spared ability to spell nonwords. Word errors generally were phonologically plausible responses. Extensive testing supported the conclusion that the patient used non-lexical processes to spell many words. An examination of the phonologically plausible errors showed that there was a significant correlation between the relative frequency of the patient's choice of phoneme-grapheme mapping options and the relative frequency of use of the same options in the written language. Furthermore, the selection of a specific grapheme option for a given phoneme was determined by the within-syllable position of the phoneme. This result indicates that syllable structure is involved in the process of converting phonology to orthography in non-lexical spelling.The research reported here was supported by NIH grant NS22201 and by a grant from the Seaver Institute. This support is gratefully acknowledged.     

Child maltreatment prevalence and mental disorders outcomes among American Indian women in primary care

OBJECTIVE: To examine (1) the prevalence, types, and severity of child abuse and neglect (CAN) and (2) the relationship between CAN and lifetime psychiatric disorders among American Indian women using primary care services. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 234 American Indian women, age 18-45 who presented for outpatient ambulatory services at a community-based Indian Health Service Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dependent measures included mood, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. CAN was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. RESULTS: Approximately three-quarters of respondents (76.5%; 95% CI = 70.4, 81.7) reported some type of childhood abuse or neglect; over 40% reported exposure to severe maltreatment. Severity of child maltreatment was associated in a dose response manner with lifetime diagnosis of mental disorders. After adjusting for social and demographic correlates, severe child maltreatment was strongly associated with lifetime PTSD (prevalence ratio [PR] 3.9; 95% CI = 1.9, 8.0); and was moderately associated with lifetime substance use disorders (PR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.3); mood disorders (PR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.4, 3.2); and with two or more disorders (PR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.4). CONCLUSION: CAN was common in our sample of American Indian women in primary care and was positively associated with lifetime psychiatric disorders outcomes. Screening for CAN and psychiatric disorders would enhance the treatment of patients seeking primary care services. Primary prevention of child maltreatment might reduce the high prevalence of mental disorders among American Indian women.     

From retention to satisfaction: New outcomes for assessing the freshman experience

To meet higher education's challenge of accountability from a customer-satisfaction perspective, one urban institution has developed an integrated approach to studying the freshman-year experience in order to develop comprehensive outcome measures for assessing freshman success. Multiple sources of data (freshman satisfaction survey data, enrollment data, and academic performance data) are integrated into a database that provides the institution with a comprehensive set of outcome indicators and a model of the freshman experience. This institution used the integrated data set to develop models of freshman retention. In order to focus more clearly on customer satisfaction, models of student satisfaction were developed to determine critical components in freshman satisfaction.     

Biomechanics teachers can be animals

The aim of this study was to determine whether a constructivist approach, in particular a visit to a zoo, could be effective in consolidating mechanical concepts and applying those concepts to coaching and teaching. Ten students in their final year of their Bachelor of Physical Education at the University of Edinburgh participated in a visit to Edinburgh Zoo. During the visit students completed a worksheet of questions and engaged interactively in discussing how various animals are adapted mechanically to survive in their environments. Immediately after the visit they completed a questionnaire with four sections. The first section assessed whether they could apply the mechanical concepts discussed during the visit to human sports performance. The second canvassed their opinions on whether the visit was effective in reinforcing mechanical concepts, in developing ‘lateral thinking’ about mechanical concepts, and in improving their ability to apply mechanical concepts to coaching and teaching. The third canvassed their opinions on whether the visit would be effective for senior high school Physical Education and Sports Science students for developing mechanical concepts and applying them to coaching. The fourth section canvassed their opinions on when the visit should be conducted for Physical Education and Sports Science students in universities and in senior high schools. The results indicated that the visit was effective in reinforcing mechanical concepts and in applying them laterally to improve understanding of human sports performance. Participants believed that the visit would also be effective for senior high school students. All participants believed that the visit would be most beneficial after at least one course in biomechanics that covers the basic biomechanical principles.     

Documentary Filmmaking and Ethics: Concepts,Responsibilities, and the Need for Empirical Research

In the discourse on documentary filmmaking and ethics, scholars focus on the filmmaker–filmed relationship and relate many concepts to morality in documentary filmmaking. They additionally mention circumstances that may be relevant and they identify insufficiently meaningful solutions to such moral issues. However, they fail to reflect on ethical theories and how these inform filmmakers’ ideas about the right thing to do. In this article I discuss the discourse and how it can serve to further develop the debate on the ethics of documentary filmmaking. I propose to include empirical data about filmmakers’ experiences and opinions to help us understand what ethics truly inform documentary filmmaking.