Cultures of running: characteristics and determinants

Based on the studies of Mauss (1935 Mauss, M. 1935. “Les techniques du corps.” Journal de Psychologie 32: 271–293. [Google Scholar]) and Bourdieu (1980 Bourdieu, P. 1980. Le Sens pratique. Paris: Editions de Minuit. [Google Scholar]) on the determination of body techniques by culture and social background, this study seeks to describe the rules, dispositions and habits specific to different forms of athletic running. It is based on a sample of 732 athletes, all of them are the members of French athletics clubs, comprising 220 sprinters, 213 half-distance runners and 299 long-distance runners. Sports practices are different depending on sub-culture affiliation, sociological characteristics and forms of commitment. This being said, simple links between variables should not be transformed into causal connections. Before drawing such conclusions, it is important to identify the nature of the sport studied. This shows that middle-distance and long-distance enthusiasts, traditionally classified in the same family, have less, in common, than those practising sprint and middle distance. These results potentially question the methodological groups and sociological interpretations made by researchers and sports science.     

RECEPTIVITY TO PEER TEACHING AND PEER LEARNING ABOUT THE SAFE AND APPROPRIATE USE OF MEDICATIONS AMONG OLDER ADULTS

The purpose of this study was to assess receptivity to peer teaching and peer learning about the safe and appropriate use of medications among communitydwelling older adults. The sample was predominately White (88.5%), female (75.9%) older adults with an average age of 80.2 ( - 9.1) years. On average, the participants perceived their health status as good (2.8 - 0.6). In addition, participants reported using an average number of 4.4 ( - 3.3) prescribed medications. The majority (75%) of participants also reported no problems with their medications. With respect to receptivity to peer teaching and peer learning, the participants, on average, were neutral to peer teaching (6.0 - 2.4), but were somewhat receptive to peer learning (6.7 - 2.2). The number of prescribed medications that a participant reported taking and the age of a participant were identified as significant predictors of receptivity to peer teaching and accounted for 14.5% of the total variance ( F = 5.84, df = 2, p = 0.005). For receptivity to peer learning, the number of prescribed medications also was a significant predictor ( F = 7.50, df = 1, p = 0.008). This study provides the initial step to identifying community-dwelling older adults who would be receptive to peer teaching and peer learning about the safe and appropriate use of medications.     

Football and Urban Expansion in São Paulo,Brazil, 1880-1920

Football is central to Brazilian society, its way of imagining itself and its position in the world. Existing accounts of the origins of football in Brazil in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries tend towards mono-causal explanations, highlighting the role of British pioneers and Brazilian enthusiasm for the game. This article argues for a multi-causal explanation, using a mixed methodology of archival research in Brazil and the UK, combined with spatial analysis through the development of GIS maps. Building upon the existing interpretations, it shows how important the historical contexts of dynamics of urban expansion and transport infrastructure development – both with considerable British influence – were to the establishment of football as Brazil's national sport.     

The effect of 14 weeks of vitamin D3 supplementation on antimicrobial peptides and proteins in athletes

Heavy training is associated with increased respiratory infection risk and antimicrobial proteins are important in defence against oral and respiratory tract infections. We examined the effect of 14 weeks of vitamin D₃ supplementation (5000 IU/day) on the resting plasma cathelicidin concentration and the salivary secretion rates of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), cathelicidin, lactoferrin and lysozyme in athletes during a winter training period. Blood and saliva were obtained at the start of the study from 39 healthy men who were randomly allocated to vitamin D₃ supplement or placebo. Blood samples were also collected at the end of the study; saliva samples were collected after 7 and 14 weeks. Plasma total 25(OH)D concentration increased by 130% in the vitamin D₃ group and decreased by 43% in the placebo group (both P = 0.001). The percentage change of plasma cathelicidin concentration in the vitamin D₃ group was higher than in the placebo group (P = 0.025). Only in the vitamin D₃ group, the saliva SIgA and cathelicidin secretion rates increased over time (both P = 0.03). A daily 5000 IU vitamin D₃ supplement has a beneficial effect in up-regulating the expression of SIgA and cathelicidin in athletes during a winter training period, which could improve resistance to respiratory infections.     

Visual body pedagogies: how anti-oppressive education informs the teaching and learning of sporting bodies

In this article, the authors borrow from anti-oppressive education theory for its potential to disrupt how students visually conceive sporting bodies and to problematize the teaching and learning of these bodies within undergraduate physical education (PE) programs. Fourteen photo stories produced by students enrolled in PE programs at two universities were analysed using a semiotic approach to excavate the emergent themes of sporting bodies from the narratives. Relying on Kumashiro's anti-oppressive educational theoretical framework, the authors found that most of stories reified discursive practices that (re)produce gender oppression in sport. Despite these findings, the authors also discovered anti-oppressive pedagogies are useful for teaching against the body oppressions conveyed in the photo stories. How anti-oppressive education informs other areas of PE should be examined in the future.     

Effects of load mass carried in a backpack upon respiratory muscle fatigue

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether loads carried in a backpack, with a load mass ranging from 0 to 20?kg, causes respiratory muscle fatigue. Methods: Eight males performed four randomised load carriage (LC) trials comprising 60?min walking at 6.5?km?h^?1 wearing a backpack of either 0 (LC₀), 10 (LC₁₀), 15 (LC₁₅) or 20?kg (LC₂₀). Inspiratory (P_Imax) and expiratory (P_Emax) mouth pressures were assessed prior to and immediately following each trial. Pulmonary gas exchange, heart rate (HR), blood lactate and glucose concentration and perceptual responses were recorded during the first and final 60?s of each trial. Results: Group mean P_Imax and P_Emax were unchanged following 60-min load carriage in all conditions (p?>?.05). There was an increase over time in pulmonary gas exchange, HR and perceptions of effort relative to baseline measures during each trial (p?p?>?.05). Conclusions: These findings indicate that sub-maximal walking with no load or carrying 10, 15 or 20?kg in a backpack for up to 60?min does not cause respiratory muscle fatigue despite causing an increase in physiological, metabolic and perceptual parameters.     

The role of education in Jewish continuity: a response to Jonathan Sacks

Contrasting explanations of Jewish survival form the backdrop to this article. For Jonathan Sacks (1994 Sacks, J. 1994. Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?, Ilford: Vallentine Mitchell.  [Google Scholar]) the crucial factor has been the role played by Jewish education; indeed, he claims that the demographic threat currently facing Anglo‐Jewry is largely the result of the community having neglected the Jewish education of its children over the past 200 years. He advocates reinstating this communal responsibility as the sovereign Jewish value in order to deal with the threat. In my view, the influence that Sacks attributes to education and particularly to Jewish schools is overstated. It stems from a misreading of modern Anglo‐Jewish history and from a failure to take fully into account the ways in which Jewish schools impact on their pupils’ ethnic and religious identity. These considerations apart, I contend that prioritising education will not necessarily strengthen the commitment to Jewish continuity that is the sine qua non of survival.