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Intermittent-sprint performance is reduced in hot environments and the impairment occurs without significant difference in metabolic responses to exercise. Reductions in cerebral blood flow and voluntary activation occur with hyperthermia and neuromuscular impairment has been posited to explain decreased performance in the heat. Heat acclimation is used to minimise heat mediated performance impairment, yet traditional protocols may limit adaptation. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the efficacy of a novel progressive heat acclimation model for games players performing intermittent-sprint exercise in the heat and to examine if this method can ameliorate neuromuscular fatigue following exercise of this type.

The Interleukin (IL)-17 cytokine family, expressed by T helper (Th)17 cells and γδ T cells, plays pivotal roles in adaptive immune responses. They have been implicated in autoimmune and allergic diseases as well having roles in bacterial and fungal clearance. Importantly, IL-17 producing γδ T cells have been shown to be critical for the development of adaptive Th17 responses in the murine model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Interestingly, natural ligands of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) are known to influence the development of Th17 cells. It has been shown previously that prolonged topical exposure of mice to the contact allergen 2-4 dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) or to the respiratory sensitiser trimellitic anhydride (TMA) causes the preferential development of a preferential T helper (Th)1 or Th2 response, respectively. The presence of the novel IL-17 family cytokines and their cellular source was investigated following both single and prolonged exposure to allergen. Exposure only to the contact allergen DNCB resulted in up-regulation of the expression of IL-17 by dermal γδ T cells. It was shown also that topical application of a range of contact allergens and of the respiratory allergen TMA resulted in IL-17 expression by γδ T cells in the lymph node draining the site of exposure. However, differential kinetics were observed between the two classes of allergens. Exposure to the contact allergens resulted in rapid expression of IL-17 within 6-16 h, whereas the respiratory allergen displayed considerably delayed kinetics, with maximal levels detected 48 h post exposure. Treatment with DNCB only was shown to be associated with the development of Th17 cells following prolonged exposure to chemical allergen. Thus DNCB provoked a Tc1/Th1/Th17 profile, in contrast prolonged exposure to TMA resulted in a very selective Th2 cytokine pattern. The influence of γδ T cells on polarised responses to chemical allergens was investigated also using γδ T cell knockout mice; here the adaptive Th17 response induced by DNCB was completely abrogated. These data demonstrate that the absence of IL-17 production by γδ T cells during the early innate immune response affects the subsequent adaptive Th17 response stimulated by chemical contact allergens. Finally, the importance of the affinity of the AhR for endogenous ligands during in vitro Th17 polarisation was assessed. Using three strains of mice with differential AhR affinities the contribution of ligation of these receptors in Th17 cell development was investigated. In all three strains AhR ligation was required for optimal polarisation of Th17 cells, even in strains that are reported to express a low affinity receptor. These data suggest that across a range of receptor affinities, including low affinity receptors analogous to that of humans, endogenous AhR ligands may play a major role in driving Th17 cell differentiation, regardless of receptor phenotype.

The objective of my thesis is to provide a critical appraisal of the radical right in contemporary British politics. This task involves an analysis of the so-called New Right, Thatcherism, and the Extreme Right. The New Right is assessed in both its neo-liberal and neo-conservative manifestations. After a relatively detailed critical examination of the ideological components of the New Right, Thatcherism is analysed as a practical political synthesis which embodies many of the ideas and precepts of the New Right. An attempt is made to place Thatcherism in its appropriate material context, and competing interpretations of Thatcherism are subsequently evaluated. Together Thatcherism and the New Right constitute what might be termed the 'respectable' radical right, which has managed to achieve a position of political/theoretical supremacy in recent years. This appraisal of the 'respectable' radical right is accompanied by an assessment of the more esoteric fringes of the Extreme right - what might perhaps be termed the 'non-respectable' radical right. The Extreme Right in fact embodies the British fascist tradition, which in sharp contrast to the New Right/Thatcherism has endured almost perpetual political impotence in Britain. In order to successfully determine the nature of the British Extreme Right it is necessary to adopt a historical perspective: firstly with regard to the history of the 'non-respectable' right in this country, in order to confirm that those on the contemporary Extreme Right are actually the inheritors of the British fascist tradition; and secondly with regard to fascist practice on the continent (1922-45), since much of the Extreme Right owes its inspiration to Italian and German experience, and because in order to ascertain the precise nature of fascism as an ideology it is essential to assess facism in practice. My thesis, therefore, is essentially descriptive in character. However, I do believe that the attempt to describe and elucidate the radical right is of acedemic utility per se, given the lack of unanimity amongst political analysts in this area. In this sense my thesis is primarily an essay in clarification. An attempt has also been made,however, to draw tentative conclusions about the nature of the relationship between the 'respectable and 'non-respectable' right.