Effects of medium- and long-distance running on cardiac damage markers in amateur runners: a systematic review,meta-analysis,and metaregression

BackgroundTo finish an endurance race, athletes perform a vigorous effort that induces the release of cardiac damage markers. There are several factors that can affect the total number of these markers, so the aim of this review was to analyze the effect of endurance running races on cardiac damage markers and to identify the factors that modify the levels of segregation of these cardiac damage markers.MethodsA systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library databases was performed. This analysis included studies where the acute effects of running races on cardiac damage markers (troponin I and troponin T) were analyzed, assessing the levels of these markers before and after the races.ResultsThe effects of running races on troponin I (mean difference = 0.0381 ng/mL) and troponin T (mean difference = 0.0256 ng/mL) levels were significant. The ages (R² = 14.4%, p = 0.033) and body mass indexes (R² = 14.5%, p = 0.045) of the athletes had a significant interaction with troponin I. In addition, gender, mean speed, time to finish the race, and type of race can affect the level of cardiac damage markers.ConclusionEndurance running races induce the release of cardiac-damage markers that remain elevated for at least 24 h after the races. In addition, young male athletes with high body mass indexes who perform races combining long duration and moderate intensity (i.e., marathons) release the highest levels of cardiac damage markers. Physicians should take into consideration these results in the diagnosis and treatment of patients admitted to the hospital days after finishing endurance running races.     

Analysing the literature on university social responsibility: A review of selected higher education journals

In the last 30 years, different economic, political and social changes have taken place in the university sector and this has led to an extensive reform to meet the new societal challenges that these institutions are facing today. This emphasises the social dimension of universities and their important role in society as educators of future leaders and policy makers. This reveals the need to integrate social responsibility principles into the mainstream functions of universities. In view of these comments, this paper offers a review of the literature about university social responsibility during the period from 2000 to 2015. The objectives of the review are to: explore patterns in publication outlets; collect, scrutinise and critically analyse the current literature on this field; to identify gaps in the literature and make recommendations for further research in this field. To accomplish this task, data were collected from 15 specialist academic journals that focus on higher education.     

Transparency and its determinants at Colombian universities

Over the past decade, one of the demands upon public institutions, among which we find universities, has been for transparency and improvement of accountability. In this context, Colombian universities are introducing different methods of management and governance aimed at addressing the demands of society generally in relation to transparency and quality in the activities that they carry out. The objective of the present study is to analyze and evaluate factors which affect the level of transparency at Colombian universities based on the rectors’ perception of these universities. The results obtained indicate that the level of transparency depends on the type of governance which is adopted, the level of prestige and the level of delimitation of its identity. Other questions such as size, budget or the public or private nature of the university have not proved to be significant explanatory factors of the degree of transparency.     

Action learning: cultural differences

The article describes the experience of forming a set in a higher education institution and offers some observations and insights gained from the perspectives of the role of the set adviser, cultural differences and the challenges of attempting to align theory, practice and experience.     

Equality in Higher Education in Spain and the UK: Mismatch between Rhetoric and Policy?

Making use of Grisay's typology of educational equality, the paper analyses rhetoric and policy on equality in higher education (HE) in Spain and the UK in the period 1996–2004, using electoral manifestos, policy papers, legislation and academic literature. We find that in both countries, and in spite of similar pressures and levels of access to HE, the prevailing notions of educational equality vary. We also find evidence of a good match between policy rhetoric and policy practice in terms of areas of intervention, but not in the strength of these interventions.     

Adult participation in higher education and the ‘knowledge economy’: a cross-national analysis of patterns of delayed participation in higher education across 15 European countries

‘Delayed participation’ in higher education (HE) is an increasingly important feature of modern HE systems in many countries. Despite this, surprisingly little empirical research has been undertaken seeking to better understand levels of delayed adult participation in HE across Europe. The present article responds to this gap by analysing country-level data on delayed adult participation in HE across 15 European countries and by modelling associations between participation levels and a range of theoretically derived economic, social, demographic and systemic factors. The findings suggest that there is considerably more cross-national variation in levels of adult delayed participation and that prevalent typologies of HE, such as Trow’s, fail to give recognition to the importance of delayed participation. The modelling work finds that social and demographic factors exhibit relatively strong associations with delayed participation in HE. This questions the pre-eminence of economic factors within much of the academic literature, policy discourse and policy activity.     

Educators in non-formal vocational education and training in Mozambique: a plea for recognition and professionalisation

Interest in vocational education and training (VET) is growing. This can be attributed to global socio-economic developments requiring continuously changing knowledge and skills. Adult education and training, particularly in non-formal education (NFE) contributes to provide these skills and knowledge for youth and adults. This puts pressure not only on programmes and facilities, but also on the educators. How do they cope with the changing demands? This paper focuses on educators in non-formal vocational education and training (NFVET) in Mozambique. It explores the perceptions, experiences and reflections of educators in NFVET working in training centres on the outskirts of Maputo. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to get insight into the educators’ understandings and into the conditions in which their educational activities took place. The findings point to the need for the professionalisation of NFVET educators. This would contribute to the quality of their activities and to their status as professionals.     

The Heterogeneous Non-resident Student Body: Measuring the Effect of Out-Of-State Students’ Home-State Wealth on Tuition and Fee Price Variations

More than 40 years of research has found a positive relationship between increases in the proportion of non-resident students enrolling in an institution and increases in the tuition prices this institution charges to these same students. Notably, this line of research has consistently treated this non-resident student body as if they constitute a homogeneous group in terms of their socioeconomic well-being, when in reality these students come from states with differing levels of socioeconomic prosperity. Notably, given that tuition and fee charges to non-resident students are market-based, institutions charge what out-of-state students are willing to pay. Under this rationale, it follows that the wealthier the student body of an institution is, the more institutions will be able to charge them in terms of tuition and fees for their education. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it offers a method to measure the level of wealth of the non-resident student body enrolling at an institution considering the level of wealth of these students’ home states, therefore creating a measure of heterogeneity of the non-resident student body. The second purpose is to evaluate whether this measure of heterogeneity is associated with larger increases in the net tuition and fee prices charged to these students compared to the increases related to the homogeneous structure that ignores these students’ home-state wealth. This twofold purpose was addressed utilizing a dataset built from regional, state, and institutional information of 1743 public and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions across the contiguous United States. Since all the outcome variables were found to be spatially dependent, spatial econometrics techniques were employed for model estimation. Results corroborated that treating non-resident students as a homogeneous structure rendered downwardly biased estimates of institutions’ abilities and/or decisions to set higher or lower tuition and fee prices compared to the estimates obtained using the heterogeneous structure. Considering current general disinvestment of states in higher education, the analysis of factors driving non-resident tuition and fee price-setting has become especially relevant for public policy officials and decision-makers at both the institution- and state-levels. Accordingly, this study examines a critical issue in the finance of higher education—the setting of institutional tuition and fees for non-resident students.     

Voting for Change: an International Study of Students’ Willingness to Support Measures to Ameliorate Climate Change

Research in Science Education - Voting for various pro-environmental governmental policies is an indirect, but potentially effective, action that citizens can take to reduce global warming (GW) and...     

Perceived legitimacy of decision making and academic governance patterns in higher education: A comparative analysis

This report relates the findings of two parallel studies of campus governance in Pennsylvania institutions. Patterns of decision making were described at six institutions in one study and perceived legitimacy of governance on the part of faculty was assessed on the same campuses. The findings of the studies are related for the purpose of exploring effects of decision issue, institution, and type of institution upon each pattern as well as upon ways in which governance patterns and perceived legitimacy covary. The conclusions suggest modifications in theory and research strategies for future work on the dynamics of campus governance.The authors appreciate helpful comments offered by Professor Marvin Peterson on a draft of this paper.