Psychological effects of rapid weight loss and attitudes towards eating among professional jockeys

We examined the psychological effects of rapid weight loss among a sample of 41 professional jockeys (mean age 30.9 years, s = 7.0). Participants completed the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) to establish the relationships between rapid weight loss, mood, and attitudes towards eating. These instruments were administered on three occasions: at the jockeys' minimal weight (achieved through rapid weight loss), their optimal riding weight (when they were not excessively restricting their weight and felt healthy), and their relaxed weight (when there were no forthcoming light rides or no rides at all). It was hypothesized that when riding at minimal weight, jockeys would record a more negative mood profile compared with scores recorded at optimal or relaxed weights. The same trend was expected for eating attitudes. These hypotheses were supported as jockeys reported significantly more negative mood profiles and eating attitudes at minimal weight. The EAT-26 scores indicated the presence of disordered attitudes towards eating at this weight. These results suggest that jockeys' endeavours to reach the minimum weight limit stipulated by governing bodies are likely to jeopardize their psychological well-being. Dialogue surrounding the appropriateness of current weight regulations is therefore encouraged.     

The Evidence Regarding Exercise Training in the Management of Cystic Fibrosis: A Systematic Review

Purpose: To conduct a systematic review of the evidence regarding the efficacy of exercise training in the management of cystic fibrosis (CF).Methods: Articles were found by searching PEDRO, MEDLINE, and CINAHL databases. Included articles involved exercise-related interventions for long-term adaptations (ie, not acute effects of exercise). Articles were excluded if the language was other than English or if other non-exercise interventions were used. Date of publication was not a factor for exclusion. Two independent reviewers evaluated the included articles using Sackett''s levels of evidence and select scoring criteria.Results: Twelve articles were eligible for inclusion. Interventions studied included various aspects of exercise training: anaerobic, aerobic, or resistance training. Study end-points included pulmonary function, aerobic capacity, strength, and health-related quality of life (HRQL).Conclusions: Exercise training in individuals with CF is beneficial, with aerobic and resistance training having the greatest support in the literature for improved aerobic capacity and strength, respectively. Exercise training does not appear to have an effect of improving pulmonary function, but may have a preservation effect. Strong conclusions about improvement in HQRL from exercise training cannot be made. However, greater consistency in measuring this outcome is needed in future trials. There is a paucity of evidence regarding the role of exercise training in reducing hospitalization and health care utilization, and questions raised by this review should be considered in the design of future trials.Key Words: cystic fibrosis, aerobic exercise, review     

Short texts to explain problem — Solution structures — and vice versa

Linguistic analysis of short published reports leads to the presentation of an aigorithm that depicts the problem-solving process in terms of a series of evaluative questions. The work shows how reports enable us to define in detail the various stages of problem solving, and it shows that an understanding of these various stages enables us to recognise information structures in written texts; the writing of brief reports of high-priority information on which the whole thinking process is based is thus seen as a vital part of the problem-solving process. One report is analysed in detail to demonstrate the close relationship between information structures in the text and the real-life thought'action process it describes. There is discussion of how paragraphs, sentences and signals within the sentences enable the writer to communicate the information in a conceptual array that represents the actual thought/action process it describes. Educational implications for inter-sentential coherence, discourse analysis, and writing structures, and control of research through written reports are all discussed.     

The development of an innovation: the case of porvair

Economists and management “scientists” tend to adopt a rationalistic, “black box” approach to the treatment of technological innovation, with decisions to invest in innovation being viewed as climactic acts and with the significant impact of risk and uncertainty often being disregarded. This paper examines an alternative analytical perspective: that a least the early development of technological innovation is a process of incremental decision making where managerial responses are affected by the consequences of previous decisions and by alterations in external information. The development of the “poromeric” Porvair discussed here illustrates the considerable risks that have to be borne when undertaking radical innovation, and the nature of the uncertainties, the interdependency between them and the manner in which they persist, in this case even beyond the commercialization of the new product.