Evidence of sub-optimal sleep in adolescent Middle Eastern academy soccer players which is exacerbated by sleep intermission proximal to dawn†

The purpose was to assess sleep patterns, quantity and quality in adolescent (16.2?±?1.2 yr) Middle Eastern academy soccer players (n?=?20) and the influence of an intermission upon these characteristics. On a 17-day training camp (located one time zone west of home) including three discrete matches, sleep was assessed pre- (PRE) and post-match (POST) via wrist actigraphy. Retrospective actigraphy analysis identified sleep characteristics, including if players experienced a sleep intermission (YES) or not (NO) proximal to dawn, and bedtime (hh:mm), get-up time (hh:mm), time in bed (h), sleep duration (h) and sleep efficiency (%). Within YES two bouts were identified (BOUT1 and BOUT2). No differences were seen between PRE and POST, nor between BOUT1 and BOUT2 (p?>?.05). Overall players did not meet National Sleep Foundation (NSF) guidelines (7:04?±?1:16?h vs. recommended 8–10?h for 14–17 yr). Sleep duration was significantly reduced (～ ?13% or ?1:06) in YES compared to NO (6:33?±?1:05 vs. 7:29?±?1:17, p?<?.01). Despite players in YES waking earlier due to an intermission, they did not compensate for this with a later wake time, rising significantly earlier compared to NO (09:40?±?00:38 vs. 10:13?±?00:40, p?<?.05). These players on average do not obtain sufficient sleep durations relative to NSF guidelines, with decrements increased by an intermission proximal to dawn. High inter- and intra-individual variance in the players sleep characteristics indicates the need for individualized sleep education strategies and interventions to promote appropriate sleep.     

Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess Students’ Attitude towards Animal Welfare

This work presents the development of a scale of attitudes of secondary-school and university students towards animal welfare. A questionnaire was drawn up following a Likert-type scale attitude assessment model. Four components or factors, which globally measure animal welfare, are proposed to define the object of the attitude. The components are animal abuse for pleasure or due to ignorance (C1), leisure with animals (C2), farm animals (C3) and animal abandonment (C4). The final version of the questionnaire contains 29 items that are evenly distributed among the four components indicated, guaranteeing that each component is one-dimensional. A sample of 329 students was used to validate the scale. These students were aged between 11 and 25, and were from secondary schools in Aragon and the University in Zaragoza (Aragon's main and largest city, located in NE Spain). The scale shows good internal reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.74. The questionnaire was later given to 1,007 students of similar levels and ages to the sample used in the validation, the results of which are presented in this study. The most relevant results show significant differences in gender and level of education in some of the components of the scale, observing that women and university students rate animal welfare more highly.     

The Freirean factor

ABSTRACT

Why bother thinking about Freire today? Who cares about the accuracy or lack of it in the translation of his books? In 2018 after 50 years of the original publication of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, there is a large industry of people profiting from translating and repeating Freire’s ideas – we are well aware that this text is another small contribution to such industry – but we firmly believe that contemporary social scientists could greatly benefit from reflecting about Freire’s long-term powerful conceptual, pedagogical, and political impact, and in particular about the role of translations in the social sciences.     

Criterion-related validity of the 20-m shuttle run test in youths aged 13–19 years

Abstract

We assessed the agreement between maximal oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O_2max) measured directly when performing the 20-m shuttle run test and estimated [Vdot]O_2max from five different equations (i.e. Barnett, equations a and b; Léger; Matsuzaka; and Ruiz) in youths. The 20-m shuttle run test was performed by 26 girls (mean age 14.6 years, s = 1.5; body mass 57.2 kg, s = 8.9; height 1.60 m, s = 0.06) and 22 boys (age 15.0 years, s = 1.6; body mass 63.5 kg, s = 11.5; height 1.70 m, s = 0.01). The participants wore a portable gas analyser (K4b2, Cosmed) to measure [Vdot]O₂ during the test. All the equations significantly underestimated directly measured [Vdot]O_2max, except Barnett's (b) equation. The mean difference ranged from 1.3 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Barnett (b)) to 5.5 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Léger). The standard error of the estimate ranged from 5.3 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Ruiz) to 6.5 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1 (Léger), and the percentage error ranged from 21.2% (Ruiz) to 38.3% (Léger). The accuracy of the equations available to estimate [Vdot]O_2max from the 20-m shuttle run test is questionable at the individual level. Furthermore, special attention should be paid when comparisons are made between studies (e.g. population-based studies) using different equations. The results of the present study suggest that Barnett's (b) equation provides the closest agreement with directly measured [Vdot]O_2max (cardiorespiratory fitness) in youth.     

Protective effects of therapeutic cold and heat against the oxidative damage induced by a muscle strain injury in rats

Abstract

The mechanisms of action of physical agents commonly used to treat skeletal muscle lesions are not well understood. In this study, we examined whether the modulation of oxidative stress is involved in the beneficial effects of cold and heat on gastrocnemius muscle strain injury. Adult male Wistar rats were submitted to a strain injury and treated with therapeutic agents in an isolated or combined form. Strain damage caused an increase in muscle and blood oxidative damage. We suggest that this oxidative damage might be related to the impairment of the muscle cell structure, since we observed a significant positive correlation between increased plasma creatine kinase activity and both oxidized dichlorofluoresceine and lipid peroxidation levels in muscle and blood. The intensity of the inflammatory response appears also to be an important factor in the genesis of oxidative damage immediately following a muscle strain injury. Therapeutic cold seems to be more effective in preventing the damage induced by a strain injury, possibly due to its capacity to control the impairment of muscle cell structure and to modulate the intensity of the inflammatory response that follows a muscle strain injury.     

Do Over 200 Million Healthy Altitude Residents Really Suffer from Chronic Acid–Base Disorders?

As the oxygen tension of inspired air falls with increasing altitude in normal subjects, hyperventilation ensues. This acute respiratory alkalosis, induces increased renal excretion of bicarbonate, returning the pH back to normal, giving rise to compensated respiratory alkalosis or chronic hypocapnia. It seems a contradiction that so many normal people at high altitude should permanently live as chronic acid–base patients. Blood gas analyses of 1,865 subjects at 3,510 m, reported a P _aCO₂ (arterial carbon dioxide tension ± SEM) = 29.4 ± 0.16 mmHg and pH = 7.40 ± 0.005. Base excess, calculated with the Van Slyke sea level equation, is −5 mM (milliMolar or mmol/l) as an average, suggesting chronic hypocapnia. THID, a new term replacing “Base Excess” is determined by titration to a pH of 7.40 at a P _aCO₂ of 5.33 kPa (40 mmHg) at sea level, oxygen saturated and at 37°C blood temperature. Since our new modified Van Slyke equations operate with normal values for P _aCO₂ at the actual altitude, a calculation of THID will always result in normal values—that is, zero.     

Social media use in local government: Linkage of technology,task, and organizational context

Social media technologies have begun to enter the governmental workplace as tools to accomplish improved public service and engagement. Widespread recognition of the potential of social media technology for achieving public outcomes does not match our understanding about how and why specific tools are being used for specific purposes. This paper makes use of newly collected national survey data from local government managers in five different agencies to address the questions: which social media tools are being used, for which tasks or purposes; and what organizational characteristics influence the coupling of task and technology. Findings reveal patterns of social media tool application for particular purposes, although organizations do not all use social media tools in the same way. Moreover, regression analysis shows that different organizational factors – work characteristics, innovativeness, technology and management capacity and stakeholder influence – predict each of the four technology–task couplings — social media for dissemination, social media for feedback on service quality, social media for participation, and social media for internal work collaboration. This study demonstrates that social media tools are not a monolithic group and calls for greater research attention to the complex interactions among social media technology, task and organizational context.     

Does Helping Keep Teens Protected? Longitudinal Bidirectional Relations Between Prosocial Behavior and Problem Behavior

The current study examined bidirectional, longitudinal links between prosocial and problem behavior. Participants (N = 500) were recruited from a Northwestern city in the United States and assessed for 3 consecutive years from 2009 to 2011 (M_age of youth at Time 1 = 13.32, SD = 1.05; 52% girls; 67% European American, 33% single‐parent families). Results suggested that effects of earlier prosocial behavior toward family and strangers were predictive of fewer problem behaviors 2 years later, while results for prosocial behavior toward friends were more mixed. Results also suggested depression predicted lower prosocial behavior toward family members and anxiety predicted higher prosocial behavior toward friends. Findings show a complex pattern of relations that demonstrate the need to consider targets of helping.     

Switched systems with changing derivation order: Stability and applications

This paper deals with systems that can switch their structure, including the differentiation order. It is shown that there are several non-equivalent cases for them, which all coincide when the derivation order is not switched but fixed at 1. For each of these cases, (asymptotic) stability results are obtained in this paper. This is accomplished by generalizing Common Lyapunov Functions (CLF) and Multiple Lyapunov Functions (MLF) methods, the latter when applied to fractional switching systems (FSS) in the resetting. Several examples are presented to illustrate that such Lyapunov functions exist for linear and nonlinear switched order systems. It is shown that the resetting fractional switching can be easily implemented by standard software. Finally, applications in adaptive integer-order problems are made by exploiting features of both fractional and integer-order systems.