Vitamin D and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in athletes with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to determine the combined effect of vitamin D and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on airway function and inflammation in recreational athletes with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). METHODS: Ten recreational athletes with EIB participated in a single-blind, placebo-controlled trial over six consecutive weeks. All subjects attended the laboratory on three occasions. Each visit was separated by a period of 3 weeks: visit 1 (usual diet), visit 2 (placebo) and visit 3 (SMARTFISH(®) NutriFriend 2000; 30 µg vitamin D3-3000 mg eicosapentaenoic acid, 3000 mg docosahexaenoic acid) consumed once daily for a period of 3 weeks. Venous blood was collected at the beginning of each trial to determine vitamin D status. Spirometry was performed pre- and post-eucapnic voluntary hyperpnoea (EVH). RESULTS: The Maximum fall in FEV1 (ΔFEV1max) post-EVH was not different between visits (usual diet: -15.9 ± 3.6%, placebo: -16.1 ± 6.1%, vitamin D + omega-3 PUFA: -17.8 ± 7.2%). Serum vitamin D remained unchanged between visits. CONCLUSION: Vitamin D and omega-3 PUFA supplementation does not attenuate the reduction in lung function post-EVH. This finding should be viewed as preliminary until the results of randomised controlled trials are made available

Bronchoprovocation testing for diagnosis of EIB in Athletes: Is one test enough?

Background: Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is highly prevalent in athletes and impacts on their health and performance. The gold-standard means for diagnosing EIB is indirect bronchoprovocation testing, however the repeatability of this methodology is not established. Aims and objectives: To evaluate the short-term test-retest repeatability of eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea (EVH). Methods: Twenty-five recreationally active men (n=21) and women (n=4) were recruited. Participants were required to attend on two separate occasions separated by a period of fourteen days. Participants performed spirometry before and following (at 3,5,10 and 15 mins) an EVH challenge (6 minutes at 85% maximum voluntary ventilation). Difference in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) between visits was analysed using Bland-Altman methodology. Results: 22 subjects completed both visits (n=3 excluded - unwell), mean (SD) age 25 (±4) yrs, FEV1 102 (±8.6) % predicted. There was no significant difference in maximum fall in FEV1 post EVH between visits (P>0.05), however Bland-Altman analysis revealed wide limits of agreement (-10.36-7.9%) for the difference in fall in FEV1 between visits. A diagnosis of EIB (>10% fall in FEV1) was established in two athletes at visit one whereas this increased to five athletes at visit 2. Importantly, only one athlete had a diagnosis of EIB confirmed at both visits. Conclusion: In this cohort of athletes EVH demonstrated poor repeatability over a fixed two-week period. The findings highlight the need for caution when considering confirming or refuting a diagnosis of EIB based on a solitary indirect bronchoprovocation test and a cut-off value of 10% fall in FEV1

Eucapnic Voluntary Hyperpnea Testing in Asymptomatic Athletes.

Letter to the Edito

German enemy aliens and the decine of British liberalism in World War I

After the start of World War I in 1914, the British government began internment of enemy alien men, disrupting the large German population settled in the country. This move seemed to be in complete contrast in comparison to the lax immigration laws during the long nineteenth century, when Great Britain had one of the most liberal immigration laws of any country in Europe. The British public was proud of this tradition and Britain’s image as an open haven for refugees and individuals seeking a better life. Foreigners were attracted to Britain by its liberal traditions, most clearly exemplified by the Liberal Party’s espousal of limited government intervention and the protection of civil liberties. This thesis will examine the decades of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the Liberal Party experienced a crisis of ideals and a split and Britain experienced an economic depression which coincided with an increase in immigration. During these decades, foreigners became a convenient “other” for Britons to blame for economic problems, and pressure from the angry public forced governments to pass new legislation which contradicted previous open-door policies. The Aliens Act of 1905, one of the first pieces of legislation which provided officials with more power to turn away undesirable aliens and limit their movement around the country, was followed by the Defence of the Realm Act and the Aliens Restriction Act, which H.H. Asquith’s Liberal government passed immediately following the declaration of war on Germany in 1914. For the duration of the war Germans in Britain faced blatant discrimination and infringement upon their civil liberties, as dictated by the new wartime legislation. Most men were interned in large camps located on the Isle of Man, while women faced repatriation at the discretion of the government. At the conclusion of World War I, David Lloyd George’s coalition government decided to extend the new restrictions regarding immigration legislation, conveying how British liberal traditions were forever changed

Cooling interventions for athletes: An overview of effectiveness, physiological mechanisms, and practical considerations.

Exercise-induced increases in core body temperature could negative impact performance and may lead to development of heat-related illnesses. The use of cooling techniques prior (pre-cooling), during (per-cooling) or directly after (post-cooling) exercise may limit the increase in core body temperature and therefore improve exercise performance. The aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge in the field of pre-cooling, per-cooling and post-cooling. Based on existing studies, we will discuss 1) the effectiveness of cooling interventions, 2) the underlying physiological mechanisms and 3) practical considerations regarding the use of different cooling techniques. Furthermore, we tried to identify the optimal cooling technique and compared whether cooling-induced performance benefits are different between cool, moderate and hot ambient conditions. This article provides researchers, physicians, athletes and coaches with important information regarding the implementation of cooling techniques to maintain exercise performance and to successfully compete in thermally stressful conditions

Optimization viewpoint on Kalman smoothing, with applications to robust and sparse estimation

In this paper, we present the optimization formulation of the Kalman filtering and smoothing problems, and use this perspective to develop a variety of extensions and applications. We first formulate classic Kalman smoothing as a least squares problem, highlight special structure, and show that the classic filtering and smoothing algorithms are equivalent to a particular algorithm for solving this problem. Once this equivalence is established, we present extensions of Kalman smoothing to systems with nonlinear process and measurement models, systems with linear and nonlinear inequality constraints, systems with outliers in the measurements or sudden changes in the state, and systems where the sparsity of the state sequence must be accounted for. All extensions preserve the computational efficiency of the classic algorithms, and most of the extensions are illustrated with numerical examples, which are part of an open source Kalman smoothing Matlab/Octave package.Comment: 46 pages, 11 figure

Even Between-Lap Pacing Despite High Within-Lap Variation During Mountain Biking

Purpose: Given the paucity of research on pacing strategies during competitive events, this study examined changes in dynamic high-resolution performance parameters to analyze pacing profiles during a multiple-lap mountain-bike race over variable terrain. Methods: A global-positioning-system (GPS) unit (Garmin, Edge 305, USA) recorded velocity (m/s), distance (m), elevation (m), and heart rate at 1 Hz from 6 mountain-bike riders (mean ± SD age = 27.2 ± 5.0 y, stature = 176.8 ± 8.1 cm, mass = 76.3 ± 11.7 kg, VO2max = 55.1 ± 6.0 mL · kg–1 . min–1) competing in a multilap race. Lap-by-lap (interlap) pacing was analyzed using a 1-way ANOVA for mean time and mean velocity. Velocity data were averaged every 100 m and plotted against race distance and elevation to observe the presence of intralap variation. Results: There was no significant difference in lap times (P = .99) or lap velocity (P = .65) across the 5 laps. Within each lap, a high degree of oscillation in velocity was observed, which broadly reflected changes in terrain, but high-resolution data demonstrated additional nonmonotonic variation not related to terrain. Conclusion: Participants adopted an even pace strategy across the 5 laps despite rapid adjustments in velocity during each lap. While topographical and technical variations of the course accounted for some of the variability in velocity, the additional rapid adjustments in velocity may be associated with dynamic regulation of self-paced exercise

Causes of extreme fatigue in underperforming athletes - a synthesis of recent hypotheses and reviews

The underperformance syndrome (UPS), previously known as the overtraining syndrome (OTS), has been defined as a persistent decrement in athletic performance capacity despite 2 weeks of relative rest. Clinical research has suggested that cytokines play a key role in fatigue in disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. Furthermore, it has recently been demonstrated that exogenous administration of interleukin-6 (IL-6) increases the sensation of fatigue during exercise. In light of current cytokine and chronic fatigue syndrome research, this article reviews and updates the cytokine theories that attempt to explain the aetiology of the debilitating fatigue experienced in OTS/UPS. Initially, it was proposed that UPS may be caused by excessive cytokine release during and following exercise, causing a chronic inflammatory state and ‘cytokine sickness'. More recently, the hypothesis was extended and it was proposed that time-dependent sensitisation could provide a model through which the aetiology of UPS may be explained. According to this model, the principal abnormal factor in UPS is an intolerance/heightened sensitivity to IL-6 during exercise. South African Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 18 (4) 2006: pp. 108-11

Education policy as an act of white supremacy: whiteness, critical race theory and education reform

The paper presents an empirical analysis of education policy in England that is informed by recent developments in US critical theory. In particular, I draw on ‘whiteness studies’ and the application of Critical Race Theory (CRT). These perspectives offer a new and radical way of conceptualising the role of racism in education. Although the US literature has paid little or no regard to issues outside North America, I argue that a similar understanding of racism (as a multifaceted, deeply embedded, often taken-for-granted aspect of power relations) lies at the heart of recent attempts to understand institutional racism in the UK. Having set out the conceptual terrain in the first half of the paper, I then apply this approach to recent changes in the English education system to reveal the central role accorded the defence (and extension) of race inequity. Finally, the paper touches on the question of racism and intentionality: although race inequity may not be a planned and deliberate goal of education policy neither is it accidental. The patterning of racial advantage and inequity is structured in domination and its continuation represents a form of tacit intentionality on the part of white powerholders and policy makers. It is in this sense that education policy is an act of white supremacy. Following others in the CRT tradition, therefore, the paper’s analysis concludes that the most dangerous form of ‘white supremacy’ is not the obvious and extreme fascistic posturing of small neonazi groups, but rather the taken-for-granted routine privileging of white interests that goes unremarked in the political mainstream