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The social psychological concept of identity has been recognized as an important approach to the study of role-related behavior, including sports behavior. Identity has been linked theoretically to the self-concept via the notion of a salience hierarchy, and the salience of an identity in turn has been shown to be associated with time spent in role and other measures of role performance. In this article we present some measurement procedures for the study of the sport identity, and we demonstrate the utility of these procedures by testing hypotheses derived from Stryker and Serpe's (1982) research on religious role behavior. The sample used to test these hypotheses is a purposive sample of 220 male college students and athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photo-elicitation is a technique of interviewing in which photographs are used to stimulate and guide a discussion between the interviewer and the respondent. While much of the previous research done with the method has been conducted by anthropologists in foreign cultures, the technique is also well suited for the study of sports in America. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this method in comparison to standard interviewing, participant observation, and survey methods of studying sports. An illustrative portion is presented of a photo-elicitation interview conducted with an elite college wrestler about the violence, pain, and injury inherent in his sport, and the article concludes with a brief description of other sociology of sport topics currently being researched with the photo-elicitation interview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart failure (HF) patients demonstrate impaired pulmonary, circulatory, and nervous system responses to exercise. While HF demonstrates prolonged [time constant (τ)] pulmonary O2 uptake (VO2) on-kinetics, contributing to exercise intolerance, it is unknown whether abnormal VO2 kinetics couple with ventilatory and circulatory dysfunction secondary to impaired group III/IV afferents in HF. Because lower lumbar intrathecal fentanyl inhibits locomotor muscle afferents, resulting in improved exercise ventilation and hemodynamics, we tested these hypotheses: HF will demonstrate 1) rapidVO2 on-kinetics and 2) attenuated steady-state VO2 amplitude and O2 deficit (O2def) during exercise with fentanyl versus placebo. On separate visits (randomized), breath-by-breath VO2 was measured in HF (ejection fraction: 27 ± 6%, New York Heart Association class I-III) and age- and sex-matched controls (both n = 9, ages: 60 ± 6 vs. 63 ± 8 yr, P = 0.37) during cycling transitions at 65% peak workload (78 ± 24 vs. 115 ± 39 W, P = 0.01) with intrathecal fentanyl or placebo. Regardless of group or condition, optimal phase II (primary component) curve fits reflected a phase I period equal to 35 s (limb-to-lung timing) via single-exponential functions. Condition did not affect steady-state VO2, the phase II of VO2, or O2def within controls (P > 0.05). Without differences in steady-state VO2, reduced O2def in fentanyl versus placebo within HF (13 ± 4 vs. 22 ± 15 ml/W, P = 0.04) was accounted for by a rapid phase II τ of VO2 in fentanyl versus placebo within HF (45 ± 11 vs. 57 ± 14 s, P = 0.04), respectively. In an integrative manner, these data demonstrate important effects of abnormal locomotor muscle afferents coupled to pulmonary and circulatory dysfunction in determining impaired exercise VO2 in HF. Effects of abnormal muscle afferents on impaired exercise VO2 and hence exercise intolerance may not be discernable by independently assessing steady-state VO2 in HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The blood pressure 'error signal' represents the difference between an individual's mean diastolic blood pressure and the diastolic blood pressure at which 50% of cardiac cycles are associated with a muscle sympathetic nerve activity burst (the 'T50'). In this study we evaluated whether T50 and the error signal related to the extent of change in blood pressure during autonomic blockade in young and older women, to study potential differences in sympathetic neural mechanisms regulating blood pressure before and after menopause. Methods: We measured muscle sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure in 12 premenopausal (25 ± 1 years) and 12 postmenopausal women (61 ± 2 years) before and during complete autonomic blockade with trimethaphan camsylate. Results: At baseline, young women had a negative error signal (−8 ± 1 versus 2 ± 1 mmHg, p < 0.001; respectively) and lower muscle sympathetic nerve activity (15 ± 1 versus 33 ± 3 bursts/min, p < 0.001; respectively) than older women. The change in diastolic blood pressure after autonomic blockade was associated with baseline T50 in older women ( r = −0.725, p = 0.008) but not in young women ( r = −0.337, p = 0.29). Women with the most negative error signal had the lowest muscle sympathetic nerve activity in both groups (young: r = 0.886, p < 0.001; older: r = 0.870, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that there are differences in baroreflex control of muscle sympathetic nerve activity between young and older women, using the T50 and error signal analysis. This approach provides further information on autonomic control of blood pressure in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that interaction ritual ( IR) theory provides a temporal and interactional point of origin from which to trace an influential IR chain that became a deciding factor in the unification of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove under federal control within present-day Yosemite National Park. The emotions generated by the rituals of Roosevelt's and Muir's camping trip in May, 1903 in the short term, however, failed to result in a lasting consensus on ideology. This is a point that Roosevelt's lack of support for Muir in the subsequent controversy over the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley clearly documents. A video abstract is available at [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous surgical quality metrics focus on prevention of unintentional perioperative hypothermia due, in part, to the association between hypothermia and surgical site infections (SSI). However, few studies have comprehensively evaluated the relationship between these metrics and SSI. In this study, we evaluated individual components of 1 set of hypothermia metrics to determine their association with SSI.Study Design: Patients with clean (class I) wounds who developed an SSI within 30 days after surgery, from January 2003 to December 2012, in 1 of 5 surgical specialties, were matched to specialty-specific controls without SSI. Stratified logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between (1) compliance with the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Performance Measure, Surgery Patients with Perioperative Temperature Management (SCIP-Inf-10), overall and its components (maintenance of minimum body temperature and use of an active warming device) and SSI and (2) intraoperative hypothermia.Results: In both univariate and adjusted analyses using adjusted odds ratios (OR), SCIP-Inf-10 compliance was not associated with SSI (composite compliance OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.24; temperature compliance OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.09; forced-air warming device compliance OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.19). Higher intraoperative nadir temperature (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.35) was associated with SSI. Percent of time exposed to a temperature < 36°C (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.01), and cumulative hypothermic exposure (°C*h <36°C) (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.05) were not associated with SSI.Conclusions: Intraoperative hypothermia was not significantly associated with SSI. These results suggest that development of compliance metrics may not be an effective strategy for SSI reduction in class I surgical wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Obese adults exhibit increased levels of inflammation, which may negatively affect blood pressure regulation. Based on existing literature, we hypothesized: (1) baroreflex sensitivity would be lower in obese adults when compared to lean adults; (2) acute ibuprofen (IBU, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agent) administration would increase baroreflex sensitivity in obese adults, with no effect in lean adults. Methods: Seven lean (4 male, 3 female) and six obese (5 M, 1 F) adults completed two visits randomized to control (CON) or IBU (800 mg oral). On each visit, blood pressure (intra-arterial catheter), heart rate (ECG), and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, microneurography) were measured continuously. Sympathetic and cardiac baroreflex sensitivities were assessed using the modified Oxford technique. Results: Measures of systemic inflammation [C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)] were higher in obese adults when compared to lean adults and tended to decrease with IBU (IL-6: p < 0.05; CRP: p = 0.14). Cardiac baroreflex sensitivity was lower in obese adults (14 ± 2 vs. 24 ± 2 ms/mmHg, p = 0.02), whereas sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity was higher in obese adults (−3.6 ± 0.5 vs. −2.1 ± 0.5 bursts/100 beats/mmHg, p = 0.03) when compared to lean. There was no effect of IBU on cardiac or sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity in either group ( p value range 0.20-0.71). Conclusion: Despite obese individuals exhibiting higher levels of systemic inflammation and lower cardiac baroreflex sensitivity when compared to lean adults, an acute dose of IBU has no effect on cardiac or sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]