Relay Race Research Articles

NSAID and other analgesic use by endurance runners during training, competition and recovery

Background. An increasing popularity of ultra-endurance events coupled with excessive or inappropriate non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use during such events could pose considerable potential risks to runners’ health.Objective. To evaluate the incidence of NSAID and other analgesic use in distance runners during training, competition and recovery.Methods. We performed an observational cross-sectional study at the Desert Race Across the Sand race (Colorado to Utah, USA) in June 2011 and the Empire State Marathon half-marathon, and relay races in Syracuse, NY, October 2011. A total of 27 ultramarathon runners and 46 marathon, half-marathon and marathon relay runners participated in the study. Surveys were distributed to runners during race registration. Self-reported use of common analgesic medications during training, racing and recovery was assessed.Results. Among all runners at all stages, NSAIDs were the most commonly used analgesic medication. NSAID use by ultramarathon runners compared with all other runners was similar during training (59% and 63%, respectively; χ2=0.008; p=0.93) and recovery (59% and 61%, respectively; χ2=0.007; p=0.93). However, ultramarathon runners were more likely than all other runners to use NSAIDs during the race (70% and 26%, respectively; χ2=11.76; p=0.0006).Conclusion. Despite undesirable side-effects associated with the use of NSAIDs, there was a high prevalence of use in all runners, particularly during training and recovery. NSAID use during the race was significantly greater in ultramarathon runners. Medical staff at endurance events need to be aware of, and prepared for potential complications related to the high use of NSAIDs in runners. Future efforts should focus on teaching runners about the undesirable effects of medication and emphasising alternatives to pain medication.

NSAID and other analgesic use by endurance runners during training, competition and recovery

Background. An increasing popularity of ultra-endurance events coupled with excessive or inappropriate non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use during such events could pose considerable potential risks to runners’ health.Objective. To evaluate the incidence of NSAID and other analgesic use in distance runners during training, competition and recovery.Methods. We performed an observational cross-sectional study at the Desert Race Across the Sand race (Colorado to Utah, USA) in June 2011 and the Empire State Marathon half-marathon, and relay races in Syracuse, NY, October 2011. A total of 27 ultramarathon runners and 46 marathon, half-marathon and marathon relay runners participated in the study. Surveys were distributed to runners during race registration. Self-reported use of common analgesic medications during training, racing and recovery was assessed.Results. Among all runners at all stages, NSAIDs were the most commonly used analgesic medication. NSAID use by ultramarathon runners compared with all other runners was similar during training (59% and 63%, respectively; χ2=0.008; p=0.93) and recovery (59% and 61%, respectively; χ2=0.007; p=0.93). However, ultramarathon runners were more likely than all other runners to use NSAIDs during the race (70% and 26%, respectively; χ2=11.76; p=0.0006).Conclusion. Despite undesirable side-effects associated with the use of NSAIDs, there was a high prevalence of use in all runners, particularly during training and recovery. NSAID use during the race was significantly greater in ultramarathon runners. Medical staff at endurance events need to be aware of, and prepared for potential complications related to the high use of NSAIDs in runners. Future efforts should focus on teaching runners about the undesirable effects of medication and emphasising alternatives to pain medication.

Direct Four‐Electron Reduction of O2 to H2O on TiO2 Surfaces by Pendant Proton Relay

Relay race: By using polyprotic-acid-based pendant proton relays (phosphate, L-glutamic acid, and malonic acid), the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on a TiO2 surface is switched from a single-electron process to a concerted 4 e−/4 H+ reduction to H2O. In contrast, monocarboxylic acids (PA and AA) without pendant proton relays only enhance the ORR reduction rate but barely change the reaction pathway.

Designing Out Medical Error (DOME)

Designing Out Medical Error (DOME)

Emerging Profiles of Female Marketing Managers in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Winning and Losing Competitive Laps in a Relay Race against Male Counterparts

In Western economies the theories and paradigms of marketing management are developed on the basis ofprevailing resources and environments with little, if any, consideration of the personal characteristics of theimplementers. In many non-Western cultures, however, personalities of the implementers affect the design andexecution of marketing strategies and tactics. This paper views the emerging roles of theyoung and inspiringfemale executives in shaping the marketing practices of the state-owned and private enterprises in the IslamicRepublic of Iran. It examines the deep-rooted constraints that the female marketing managers have beensubjected to at various stages of their employment process, including preparation, employment access, retention,and promotion to the position of marketing executives in organizations which have been traditionally governedby men. As the women have recently succeeded in occupying more university seats than their counterparts, arace has begun to capture key positions in the marketing organizations and break the glass ceiling in competitionwith their male counterparts. Using the metaphor of a relay race, the author has studied the performance of theIranian women at each lap under the prevailing constraints and opportunities. A longitudinal study of Iranianwomen entering Tehran University during the period of 1999-2012, encompassing admission data, scientificpreparation, job application, organizational culture, and external communications has been made in a series offield research. A model is developed to portray success and failure of the women at each lap (stage) of theirmarketing management functions.

Green and Scalable Aldehyde‐Catalyzed Transition Metal‐Free Dehydrative N‐Alkylation of Amides and Amines with Alcohols

AbstractIn contrast to the borrowing hydrogen‐type N‐alkylation reactions, in which alcohols were activated by transition metal‐catalyzed anaerobic dehydrogenation, the addition of external aldehydes was accidentally found to be a simple and effective protocol for alcohol activation. This interesting finding subsequently led to an efficient and green, practical and scalable aldehyde‐catalyzed transition metal‐free dehydrative N‐alkylation method for a variety of amides, amines, and alcohols. Mechanistic studies revealed that this reaction most possibly proceeds via a simple but interesting transition metal‐free relay race mechanism.

Effect of yoga or physical exercise on physical, cognitive and emotional measures in children: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundPrevious studies have separately reported the effects of physical exercise and yoga in children, showing physical, cognitive and emotional benefits.ObjectivesThe present randomized controlled trial assessed the effects of yoga or physical exercise on physical fitness, cognitive performance, self-esteem, and teacher-rated behavior and performance, in school children.Methods98 school children between 8 to 13 years were randomized as yoga and physical exercise groups {n = 49 each; (yoga: 15 girls, group mean age 10.4 ± 1.2 years), (physical exercise: 23 girls, group mean age 10.5 ± 1.3 years)}. Both groups were blind assessed after allocation, using: (i) the Eurofit physical fitness test battery, (ii) Stroop color-word task for children, (iii) Battle’s self-esteem inventory and (iv) the teachers’ rating of the children’s obedience, academic performance, attention, punctuality, and behavior with friends and teachers. After assessments the yoga group practiced yoga (breathing techniques, postures, guided relaxation and chanting), 45 minutes each day, 5 days a week. During this time the physical exercise group had jogging-in-place, rapid repetitive movements and relay races or games. Both groups were assessed at the end of 3 months. Data were analyzed with RM ANOVA and post-hoc tests were Bonferroni adjusted.ResultsThere was one significant difference between groups. This was in social self-esteem which was higher after physical exercise compared to yoga (p < 0.05). All the changes reported below are based on after-before comparisons, within each group. Both groups showed an increase in BMI, and number of sit-ups (p < 0.001). Balance worsened in the physical exercise group, while plate tapping improved in the yoga group (p < 0.001). In the Stroop task both groups showed improved color, word- and color-word naming (p < 0.01), while the physical exercise group showed higher interference scores. Total, general and parental self-esteem improved in the yoga group (p < 0.05).ConclusionYoga and physical exercise are useful additions to the school routine, with physical exercise improving social self-esteem.Trial registrationThe study was registered in the Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI/2012/11/003112).

Breathe has a new Chief Editor

2012 has been the year of the Games of the XXX Olympiad with more than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries competing in London. One of the highlights of the memorable summer was the men's 4×100 metre relay competition in which Usain Bolt powered Jamaica to a world-record time of 36.84 seconds, winning his third gold medal of the games. Most journals run their own slower version of a relay race, with the Editors changing every few years. The September issue of Breathe was Prof. Leif Bjermer's last before he passed on the Editorial baton. He leaves Breathe very well placed. At present, each edition of Breathe goes out to ∼15,000 subscribers with two-thirds of the readership in Europe and one-third in the USA and the rest of the world. Testament to Breathe 's wide reach, the website has had visits from 162 countries. So the journal has a truly global …

Embracing risk in urban education: curiosity, creativity, and courage in the era of "no excuses" and relay race reform

Embracing risk in urban education: curiosity, creativity, and courage in the era of "no excuses" and relay race reform

ChemInform Abstract: Copper‐Catalyzed C‐Alkylation of Secondary Alcohols and Methyl Ketones with Alcohols Employing the Aerobic Relay Race Methodology.

AbstractA practical and advantageous ligand‐free method for the title reaction is developed by using simple alcohols and green alkylating substrates.

Palladium‐Catalyzed N‐Alkylation of Amides and Amines with Alcohols Employing the Aerobic Relay Race Methodology

AbstractPossibly because homogeneous palladium catalysts are not typical borrowing hydrogen catalysts and ligands are thus ineffective in catalyst activation under conventional anaerobic conditions, they had not been used in the N‐alkylation reactions of amines/amides with alcohols in the past. By employing the aerobic relay race methodology with Pd‐catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation being a more effective protocol for alcohol activation, ligand‐free homogeneous palladiums are successfully used as active catalysts in the dehydrative N‐alkylation reactions, giving high yields and selectivities of the alkylated amides and amines. Mechanistic studies implied that the reaction most probably proceeds via the novel relay race mechanism we recently discovered and proposed.

ChemInform Abstract: Copper‐Catalyzed N‐Alkylation of Amides and Amines with Alcohols Employing the Aerobic Relay Race Methodology.

AbstractA greener and more advantageous method for the title reaction is developed.

The greening of European electricity industry: A battle of modernities

Europe has played the role of a green hegemon on the global arena for several decades. By exploring its green transition in the electricity industry, the article discusses whether Europe is on track with regard to delivering sustainable development in a core sector at home.The article finds that the greening of European electricity industry has been highly dynamic and can best be represented in terms of competing modernities; where carbon, nuclear, renewables and demand side management challenge each other in the race for sustainable energy solutions.The article describes Greening European electricity industry as a complex institutional game which resembles a relay race where various factors have driven innovation at different stages. Change may be initially have been politically driven, while the baton is later taken by markets, technology or civic mobilization. The article shows how strong greening policies may lead to blockage, whereas softer and less confrontational policies with triggering effects may have a better chance of success.The article also argues that a central factor in the apparent European success in greening electricity has been an advantageous blend of technology push and market pull approaches, which has merged out of national rivalry rather than coordinated planning.

Profile of Marc R. Montminy

At any given moment in the human body, a typical cell encounters a barrage of environmental cues—hormones, nutrients, growth factors, and other chemicals—surging through the bloodstream, ready to influence the pattern of genes expressed in the cell by tickling receptors on the cell’s surface. How an extracellular signal makes its way inside the cell to the nucleus, where it alters gene expression, is no simple task. But this molecular process is precisely what fascinates Marc Montminy, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and a recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Three decades ago, few might have guessed that his basic research findings would have major implications for the diagnosis and treatment of some of the most vexing health problems of our time, including diabetes and obesity. Yet he has tackled these and more. Marc R. Montminy. Many extracellular signals do not enter the cell but, like runners in a relay race, pass their batons to so-called “second messengers,” which are produced inside cells in response to specific environmental cues and are tasked with relaying messages carried by the extracellular signals. One industrious second messenger, cAMP, acts in response to a variety of hormones and growth factors in a way that regulates a striking number of biological processes, including metabolism, neurotransmission, and cell proliferation. Early in his career, Montminy cloned the founding member of a family of cAMP-regulated transcription factors, known as cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) (1). Since then, he has provided fundamental insights into how CREB works at the molecular level; elucidated CREB’s role as a nutrient sensor and regulator of energy metabolism; and revealed potential drug targets for insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. Montminy was born and raised in the textile mill town of Lewiston, Maine. His mother, a school nurse, …

Nutritional behavior of cyclists during a 24-hour team relay race: a field study report

BackgroundInformation about behavior of energy intake in ultra-endurance cyclists during a 24-hour team relay race is scarce. The nutritional strategy during such an event is an important factor which athletes should plan carefully before the race. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the nutritional intake of ultra-endurance cyclists during a 24-hour team relay race with the current nutritional guidelines for endurance events. Additionally, we analyzed the relationship among the nutritional and performance variables.MethodsUsing a observational design, nutritional intake of eight males (mean ± SD: 36.7 ± 4.7 years; 71.6 ± 4.9 kg; 174.6 ± 7.3 cm; BMI 23.5 ± 0.5 kg/m2) participating in a 24-hour team relay cycling race was assessed. All food and fluid intake by athletes were weighed and recorded. Additionally, distance and speed performed by each rider were also recorded. Furthermore, before to the race, all subjects carried out an incremental exercise test to determine two heart rate-VO2 regression equations which were used to estimate the energy expenditure.ResultsThe mean ingestion of macronutrients during the event was 943 ± 245 g (13.1 ± 4.0 g/kg) of carbohydrates, 174 ± 146 g (2.4 ± 1.9 g/kg) of proteins and 107 ± 56 g (1.5 ± 0.7 g/kg) of lipids, respectively. This amount of nutrients reported an average nutrient intake of 22.8 ± 8.9 MJ which were significantly lower compared with energy expenditure 42.9 ± 6.8 MJ (P = 0.012). Average fluid consumption corresponded to 10497 ± 2654 mL. Mean caffeine ingestion was 142 ± 76 mg. Additionally, there was no relationship between the main nutritional variables (i.e. energy intake, carbohydrates, proteins, fluids and caffeine ingestion) and the main performance variables (i.e. distance and speed).ConclusionsA 24-hour hours cycling competition in a team relay format elicited high energy demands which were not compensated by energy intake of the athletes despite that dietary consumption of macronutrients did not differ to the nutritional guidelines for longer events.

Copper-catalyzed N-alkylation of amides and amines with alcohols employing the aerobic relay race methodology

By employing aerobic oxidation to aldehydes as a more effective alcohol activation strategy, we developed a green Cu-catalyzed N-alkylation method for various amides and amines with alcohols. This reaction is more advantageous than the literature methods for it uses a ligand-free copper catalyst, can be readily carried out under milder aerobic conditions and generates water as the only byproduct. More importantly, based on our mechanistic studies and also supported by the literature, rather than following the previously-proposed mechanisms, we deduce that the newly-proposed relay race process should be the most possible and a more rational mechanism for the reactions, especially under aerobic conditions.

Physiological Demands of Cyclists during an Ultra-Endurance Relay Race: A Field Study Report

This study was to describe and compare the physiological demands of ultra-endurance cyclists during a 24 h cycling relay race. Eleven male athletes (means +/- SD: 34.8 +/- 5.6 years; 71.6 +/- 4.9 kg; 174.6 +/- 7.3 cm; BMI 23.5 +/- 0.5 kg/m2; VO2 max: 66.0 +/- 6.4 ml/kg/min) participated in the study; eight in teams with a format of four riders (4C) and three in teams with six riders (6C). To investigate exercise intensity, heart rate (HR) was recorded while cycling using portable telemetric monitors. Three different exercise intensities were defined according to the reference HR values obtained during a pre race laboratory incremental VO2 max test: Zone I (< anaerobic threshold [AT]), Zone II (between AT and the respiratory compensation point [RCP]), Zone III (> RCP). Total volume and intensity were integrated as a single variable (training impulse: TRIMP). The score for TRIMP in each zone was computed by multiplying the accumulated duration in this zone by a multiplier for this particular zone of exercise intensity. The average intensity did not differ between cyclists in 4C (means +/- SD; 4C: 87 +/- 3 HRmax) and 6C (87 +/- 1% of HRmax), despite the higher volume performed by 4C (means +/- SD; 4C: 361 +/- 65; 6C: 242 +/- 25 per min; P = 0.012). These differences in total exercise volume significantly affected the values TRIMP accumulated (means +/- SD; 4C: 801 +/- 98, confidence interval [CI] 95%: 719 - 884; 6C: 513 +/- 25, CI 95%: 451 - 575; P = 0.012). The ultra-endurance threshold of 4C and 6C athletes lies at about 87% of HRmax for both. Although the intensity profile was similar, the TRIMP values differed significantly as a consequence of the higher volume performed by the 4C cyclists.

Copper-catalyzed C-alkylation of secondary alcohols and methyl ketones with alcohols employing the aerobic relay race methodology

By employing aerobic oxidation to aldehydes as a more effective alcohol activation strategy, ligand-free copper catalysts were found to be superior catalysts than other metals in aerobic dehydrative β-alkylation of secondary alcohols and α-alkylation of methyl ketones using alcohols as the green alkylating reagents. Based on our mechanistic studies and also supported by the literature, we deduce that the newly-proposed relay race process rather than the conventional borrowing hydrogen-type mechanisms should be the most possible and a more rational mechanism for the aerobic C-alkylation reactions.

Piling Up, or Floating Away

PILING UP, OR FLOATING AWAY Vivian L. Huang The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy by David L. Eng. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. Pp. 198. $84.95 cloth, $23 .95 paper.David L. Eng's latest book project urges readers to ask what it means to be accounted for. In the company of Eng's previous publications, including Racial Castration: Managing in Asian America (2001) and the anthology Loss: The Politics Mourning (2003), the latter coedited with David Kazanjian, The of Kinship curates a space in which the shared and perhaps disavowed investments of disciplines such as Asian American studies, psychoanalysis, diaspora studies, and queer theory meet in provocative tension. For Eng, psychic, historical, and political arrangements condition the affective terms of belonging. And so it is that The of Kinship lingers on the effects of a repressed national psyche with renewed concern for affective responsibility.Eng's book critiques the costly legacies of historical amnesia operative in the United States. The of Kinship engages with the remaining uses of the nation by reinvesting in the transnational foundations and buttresses of the United States as we know it. Moreover, what Eng argues so astutely is that how we know informs notions of self and nation. Eng reads queer migrant labor, transnational adoption, Japanese and Japanese American internment, and sexual regulation to demonstrate how reiterated acts of forgetting cannot fiilly negate or account for psyches resplendent with intensities of feeling. Eng argues that membership too often requires forgetting and disavowal, resulting in the affective and psychic haunting of the nation. Throughout The Feeling of Kinship, Eng demonstrates how holding on to one's losses is critical to an ethical historiography. In these terms, Eng's is an investigation into which and whose histories count, and which are neglected, lost by being made lost. Eng's prose, both sharp and patient, grounds his analysis in the political salience of everyday life. An early anecdote of students coming out to Eng as adoptees, for example, grounds Eng's pedagogical need to account for transnational adoption.Eng theorizes the national haunting of and racism as endemic to the racialization of intimacy, a phrase he uses to describe the purchase of bourgeois intimacy and privacy under the rubric of multiculturalism and color blindness. In the spirit of scholars like Jose Esteban Munoz and Jasbir K. Puar, Eng casts suspicion on the disappearing act of alongside the assimilation of gays and lesbians (11). Eng remarks upon the desirable enfolding of lesbian and gay individuals into a dominant United States and terms this phenomenon queer liberalism. Queer liberalism reinforces the neoliberal mythos that queer politics is the next leg of the freedom relay race, with sexual minorities picking up where racial minorities leave off. For Eng, to subscribe to such a telos is to risk denying the continued currency of and racism in the American political arena, not to mention the historical entanglements between and sexuality in the United States throughout time. Eng argues that, under queer liberalism, and racism appear only as always already disappearing. This spectrality of in public discourse renders and racism as obsolete concerns uncomplicatedly retired to the dustbin of history (11, 40). Instead, and racism are everywhere felt but no longer publicly grappled with. Eng proposes queer diaspora as a critical methodology and reading practice that challenges queer liberalism and the racialization of intimacy by shifting the frames of race (14). As Eng writes, the doing of queer diaspora allows an exploration of contemporary Asian movements and migrations in the global system not through a conventional focus on racial descent, filiation, and biological traceability, but through the lens of queerness, affiliation, and social contingency (13). …

Discovery and Mechanistic Studies of a General Air-Promoted Metal-Catalyzed Aerobic N-Alkylation Reaction of Amides and Amines with Alcohols

The thermodynamically unfavorable anaerobic dehydrogenative alcohol activation to aldehydes and hydridometal species is found to be the bottleneck in metal-catalyzed N-alkylations due to a general and unnoticed catalyst deactivation by amines/amides. Thus, different from the anaerobic dehydrogenation process in borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen autotransfer reactions that require noble metal complexes or addition of capricious ligands for catalyst activation, the water-producing, exothermic, metal-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation is thermodynamically more favorable and the most effective and advantageous aldehyde generation protocol. This leads to a general and advantageous air-promoted metal-catalyzed aerobic N-alkylation methodology that effectively uses many simpler, less expensive, more available, and ligand-free metal catalysts that were inactive under typical anaerobic borrowing hydrogen conditions, avoiding the use of preformed metal complexes and activating ligands and the exclusive requirement of inert atmosphere protection. This aerobic method is quite general in substrate scope and tolerates various amides, amines, and alcohols, revealing its potentially broad utilities and interests in academy and industry. In contrast to the commonly accepted borrowing hydrogen mechanism, based on a thorough mechanistic study and supported by the related literature background, a new mechanism analogous to the relay race game that has never been proposed in metal-catalyzed N-alkylation reactions is presented.