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Enhancement of Change of Direction Performance in Professional Female Soccer Players
Get PDFThe ability to rapidly change direction is believed to be a key physical quality for soccer players and commonly forms part of testing batteries performed by soccer teams. While whole match analysis shows that numerous changes of direction are performed during the game, there is limited research assessing the impact of these on key moments such as goal-scoring actions. Moreover, while numerous researchers have investigated the different methods to enhance change of direction (COD) performance, there is yet no clear evidence of the most effective practice for the improvement of COD ability. This gap in research is particularly concerning in elite female soccer players. Therefore, the understanding of which CODs are more common in key moments of the game and training interventions that can improve this physical ability would be of great interest to practitioners working in soccer. The primary aims of this thesis are: 1. To identify the movements and combination of them that occur before a goal in male and female professional elite soccer. 2. Determine which of these are considered as COD actions and how often they are involved in goal-scoring situations. 3. Investigate which speed, jump and strength tests correlate with relevant COD tests. 4. Examine the effects of a specific training intervention to improve COD performance in elite soccer players.The aim of study 1 (Chapter 4) was to analyse the most common movements prior to a goal in the English Premier League (EPL) and Women’s Super league (WSL) through video analysis. Linear advancing motion followed by deceleration and turn showed to be the most common movements preceding a goal, with these three movements commonly following a certain cycle. Although players followed similar trends, there were dissimilarities based on their role. Finally, COD actions showed to be highly frequent in goal-scoring situations.The aim of study 2 (Chapter 5) was to assess within-session reliability of different tests measuring speed, COD, jump [countermovement jump (CMJ), single leg (SL) CMJ, drop jump (DJ), SL DJ and SL broad jump (BJ)] and strength tests [flywheel squat concentric strength (FSCS), flywheel squat eccentric strength (FSES), Nordic hamstring eccentric strength (NHES) and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP)] in 11 elite female soccer players (age 26.6 ±4.8 years, height 166 ±6.8 cm, body mass 61.6 ±5.2 kg). Results revealed moderate to excellent intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and low coefficient of variation (CVs) in all tests except for the 5-m split and 505 test to the right (ICC = 0.47 and 0.49, respectively) as well as FSCS (CV = 24.1%) and FSES (CV = 18.8%).The aim of study 3 (Chapter 6) was to assess whether speed, jump and strength tests had a relation with COD performance in 26 female elite soccer players (age 25.1 ±5.7 years, height 166 ±5.5 cm, body mass 62.8 ±5 kg). Speed showed low to moderate correlations with COD tests (r= 0.14 - 0.49). SL CMJ, CMJ and SL BJ showed moderate to large correlations with 505 COD test (-0.3 to -0.6) and low to moderate correlations with 75-90° COD test (r= -0.15 to -0.49). DJ and SL DJ showed trivial to very large and trivial to large correlations with 505 COD (r= -0.05 to -0.71) and 75-90° COD (r= -0.07 to 0,67), respectively. IMTP and FSES showed large (r= -0.53 to -0.68) and moderate correlations (r= -0.31 to -0.46) with 505 COD test, respectively, while only showing moderate (r= -0.36 to -0.44) and low correlations (r= -0.1 to -0.27) with 75-90° COD test, respectively.The aim of study 4 (Chapter 7) was to compare two distinct training programs designed for attackers and defenders to improve position-specific COD performance (COD 505 test and COD 75-90°). Elite female soccer players were divided into a control group (CG), a defender group (DG) and an attacker group (AG). Only DG improved pre- to post-test performance on the 505 COD tests. Fast performers in DF and AG showed no improvements in all COD tests, while slow performers in DG showed large to very large improvements in the COD 505 test, with slow performers in AG showing moderate to large improvements in the COD 75-90° test.Overall, these studies help to provide further insight into the most common COD actions performed in goal-scoring situations and how these vary based on the player’s role. In addition, it assists in appropriate test selection and in the development of COD-specific programs (pitch and gym) based on the player’s role
Minimalist Footwear in the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Lower Limb Impairments Across the Life Course: AScoping Review
Get PDFBackground: Minimalist footwear has emerged as an alternative to traditional footwear styles and advocated for the management of several foot and lower limb pathologies. Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to map the clinical potential of minimalist footwear (concept) in the treatment and/or rehabilitation of lower limb impairments (context) across the life course (population). Data Sources: Systematic searches were undertaken across MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from 2000 to 2024. Study Selection or Eligibility Criteria: Studies evaluating minimalist footwear as an intervention or adjunct to an intervention in clinical populations, or where a clinical need has been defined, across all age groups, were included. Eligible studies were primary research published in English from the year 2000 onwards. Data Synthesis: A narrative analysis was undertaken and our findings were reported in accordance with the PRISMA‐ScR guidelines. Results: Sixteen studies were identified in clinical populations ranging from adolescents with patello‐femoral pain (14.3; SD: 1.7 years) to older adults with balance ability (73.4; SD: 3.9 years); studies focussing on knee pathology were the most common (n = 9). The influence of minimalist footwear on outcome measures varied across the studies and reported mechanisms of action included somatosensory, biomechanical and neuromuscular factors. Conclusion and Implications: Our review has mapped the clinical populations where minimalist footwear has been tested and most focus on knee pathology, specifically knee osteoarthritis. Our review has identified the biomechanical, functional, and clinical variables reported in studies and future work testing the clinical benefits of minimalist footwear interventions is recommended
Mini-capstone projects to develop active laboratory collaboration in first-year biomedicine students
No full textStudies have shown an increase in loneliness within the student population, causing an increase in mental health conditions on commencing higher education (Diehl et al., 2018, McIntyre et al., 2018). Increased psychological distress is associated with poor student outcomes and ultimately withdrawal from degree programmes. Therefore, interventions at the beginning of university life may be able to combat loneliness and potentially mitigate increased mental distress. This can have a profound impact on student wellbeing and give students a feeling of belonging within the university community. This is important not only for student welfare, but also for the development of key transferable skills desired by employers such as teamwork and communication. Active approaches to learning may offer an opportunity to allow students to develop these skills whilst also facilitating effective knowledge transfer and recall (Morgan & Jones, 2025). This is particularly important in healthcare subjects such as biomedical science, where teamwork and communication are paramount to ensuring patient safety and quality assurance (Hussain et al., 2023).In practical-based subjects, such as biomedicine, many students form natural groups within laboratory classes based on people they already know, resulting in increased comfort, which they maintain for the length of the module and even their full degree program. However, this does not mirror real world employment, where individuals will work with a variety of people rather than their friends. As a result, laboratory education may establish unrealistic expectations for students when they graduate and not prepare them for a successful transition from higher education to employment (Crebert et al, 2004). Therefore, embedding more opportunities for students to work in randomly mixed groups enables students to work with peers they may not know, expanding their professional and social networks, whilst also preparing them for employment. This ultimately aims to combat student loneliness whilst supporting the development of key practical and transferable competencies sought by employers.We also observe that students are unable to conceptualize how different practical skills are used in conjunction with one another, as they are often taught as separate entities. This is beneficial to allow students to appreciate and understand the underlying principles of assays or methodologies, however, they are often used in conjunction with one another or as a part of a series, such is the case in diagnostic laboratories. This is where students silo their knowledge, with the realization of how methodologies relate potentially occurring later in higher education or upon completion of professional experience. However, this may not occur at all, further detrimentally impacting student attainment and their ability to successfully transition to becoming independent professionals upon graduation.This project sought to design a mini-capstone project within the first-year laboratory skills module, to enable students to expand their social networks and understand how practical elements are used in conjunction in professional environments
Identifying interventions to optimise advanced kidney care services: scoping review protocol
Get PDFIntroduction: Multidisciplinary advanced kidney care (AKC) services provide care to patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) (typically estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≤20 mls/min/1.73m2), as symptoms and complications become more common, also in preparation for kidney failure treatments. Despite their prominence in UK renal services, there is no consensus around the best practice for AKC services in terms of care delivery models or interventions to optimise patient care, and there is widespread geographical variation in practice. The UK Kidney Association Kidney Quality Improvement Partnership has launched a 3-year ‘Transform AKC’ quality improvement project to address unmet needs in AKC services and work towards improvement. This scoping review is part of the Transform AKC project and aims to identify existing evidence for the current and best practice in AKC. The aim of this review is to establish any evidence that demonstrates best practice models of care and interventions to optimise care for adult patients with advanced CKD. Methods and analysis: We will undertake a scoping review seeking to identify and evaluate evidence that demonstrated best practice for care of adults with advanced CKD. Databases (Medline and Embase) will be searched systematically (search dates from 1 January 2014 to 8 August 2024), and a final list of included studies will be analysed and synthesised. Ethics and dissemination: We will use robust methodology to identify the existing literature describing the best practices in care of adults with advanced CKD. These findings will directly inform the ‘Transform AKC’ national quality improvement project, in which this scoping review is embedded. Findings will also be disseminated through national conferences and will be published in a relevant journal
Invisible and Labelled: Poetic Voices of Belonging, Resistance, and Becoming
No full text“Invisible and Labelled” is a collection of five poems that weave personal narrative, memory, and critical reflection into a tapestry of belonging, exclusion, and resistance within nursing education and beyond.Drawing on lived experiences as a Black African British woman, of migrant origin, educator, and researcher in the UK, these poems amplify silenced voices and challenge systemic erasure.Through themes of identity, marginalisation, and cultural reclamation, the collection uses poetic inquiry as a method of knowledge-making, positioning creativity as both personal healing and collective resistance.The poems are also a form of critical autoethnography, connecting individual experiences of racialisation to broader structural inequities, while invoking Sankofa, the act of looking back to reclaim lost narratives and reimagine more inclusive futures.This collection stands as both art and data, a reflective archive of lived experiences for nursing, decolonisation, and social justice scholarship
Library, Information and Knowledge (LIK) practitioners’ experiences, skills and confidence of taking part in research as part of professional practice: a baseline report
Get PDFThis report presents an overview of the findings of a survey to provide a baseline of skills and confidence of UK Library Information and Knowledge (LIK) professionals engaging in research. The survey covers all sectors and will underpin and provide recommendations for the Library & Information Research Group (LIRG) and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professional’s (CILIP’s) work in this area going forwar
Rewriting the Irish Mother Figure: Dismantling Stereotypes of Motherhood and Maternity in Contemporary Irish Literature
No full textThis thesis will argue that contemporary Irish women’s literature challengestraditional tropes of motherhood and reframes the Irish mother as a multidimensionalfigure who is separate from both the church and state. Drawing upon a range oftheoretical perspectives but with a focus on feminism, the thesis will argue that themultifaceted representations of motherhood found in contemporary literature arerepresentative of a broader, more inclusive attitude towards motherhood in modernIrish society. It will contend that traditional ideals of ‘good mothering’ found inliterature are challenged by political progressions in feminism such as the Repeal theEighth movement and the Creasy-McGinn Amendment, which have led to significantchanges in how motherhood and maternity are addressed and represented withinthe contemporary literary canon. It will build upon critical work by Gerardine Meaney,Patricia Kennedy, and Mary Ryan to assert that, in some representations, the figureof the suffering mother has been developed in twenty-first-century literature into afigure who is also capable of inflicting suffering onto others. It will interrogate thedisjuncture between the veneration of the mother figure and the lived experiences ofmaternity, which has a shameful place in Ireland’s recent history by analysing abroad range of motherhood experiences and their representations within literature. Itwill analyse novels, short stories, memoir, and experimental hybrid writing toestablish how motherhood is theorised and represented as a challenge to thetraditional figure of the Irish mother who remains a stalwart of Irish culture andsociety. This thesis will clearly demonstrate that representations of motherhood andmaternity found in contemporary Irish literature are more nuanced than previouslytheorised and offer innovative readings of this new canon of complex text
A product of skin microbiota improves hallmarks of wound healing in diabetes mellitus: an in vitro investigation
Get PDFDiabetes mellitus is a critical global health disease characterised by persistent hyperglycaemia, which leads to various complications. Poor wound healing and diabetic foot ulcers are the two main complications of this disease. Lysates and cellfree supernatants prepared from some Lactobacillus spp. were found to improve the hallmarks of wound healing under healthy conditions in vitro. Dysbiosis in the skin microbiota is widely reported in the skin of diabetic patients, and the presence of some members of the skin microbiota was correlated with a positive prognosis of diabetic foot ulcers. Thus, the present study aimed to test the effects of lysates or cell-free supernatants prepared from some members of the skin microbiota on wound healing in diabetes mellitus in vitro. Bacterial lysates and cell-free supernatants were prepared from three main commensal skin bacteria: Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Corynebacterium jeikeium. Human skin cells, particularly human skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes, were co-cultured with the skin commensal lysate and cell-free supernatant in euglycemic and hyperglycaemic glucose concentrations. Various in vitro experiments were performed: proliferation assay (MTS assay), migration assay (scratch assay), and transcriptomic analysis (whole mRNA sequencing). Only one bacterial product, Staphylococcus epidermidis lysate, significantly induced the proliferation and migration of human skin fibroblasts at hyperglycaemic glucose concentrations. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the main effect of Staphylococcus epidermidis lysate on fibroblasts was through the significant enrichment of the IL-17 signalling pathway. Moreover, CXCL6 was the main chemokine that was significantly upregulated and secreted by fibroblasts when exposed to Staphylococcus epidermidis lysate at hyperglycaemic glucose concentrations. These results indicate that the Staphylococcus epidermidis lysate improves the hallmarks of wound healing under hyperglycaemic conditions in vitro. Moreover, these findings encourage further ex vivo, in vivo, and clinical studies to investigate the efficacy and safety of Staphylococcus epidermidis lysate as a novel therapeutic for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) evidence submission to the Public Bill Committee, Crime and Policing Bill
No full textSummary• This evidence submission from RCPCH relates to Part 5, Chapter 2 (Duty to ReportChild Sexual Abuse).• The goal of any child protection policy is to ensure that children are protected fromharm. An evidence review by the RCPCH has shown that mandatory reporting ofchild abuse increases the instances of reported abuse; however, there is limitedevidence to show that an increase in reports leads to an increase in protection of, orbetter outcomes for, children.• Outcomes for children depend, at least in part, on the capacity of the system intowhich reports are made. It is essential that the Government ensures that systems arein place to be sure that every single case of reported abuse will be investigated andacted upon, and that potential unintended consequences of mandatory reporting donot occur.• The RCPCH (“the College”) has concerns with the measures set out in Part 5,Chapter 2 on mandatory reporting and whether these measures are best for childrenin England and Wales.• The College is asking the government and members of the bill committee to considerfive key points before agreeing to these measures:1. All types of child abuse must fall under any mandatory reporting duty.2. A children’s rights-based approach must be followed, and a children’srights impact assessment must be carried out.3. A government systems impact assessment must be carried out.4. Measurable outcomes for children must be built into any plans.5. Clearer definitions must be provided before further consultation.• The College cannot recommend a blanket introduction of mandatory reporting, asthis Bill would allow for, until these recommendations are addressed.• Instead, the College believes strengthening measures can be applied to existingmechanisms, such as better use of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) system,increased registration (by regulators) of professionals, standardisation andstrengthening of the LADO system, and an alignment of standards across the UKregulators in relation to mandatory reporting
Analysis of centre of pressure trajectories and plantar pressure distribution to map development of foot-ground interactions from new to confident walking infants
Get PDFIndependent walking is a crucial milestone, allowing infants to explore their environment efficiently. This phase introduces complex foot-ground interactions. However, previous studies have focused on either center of pressure (CoP) or plantar pressure distribution alone, often losing critical information. The impact of variables like body weight, height, and foot size on pressure distribution in infants remains also underexplored. Our study uses continuous statistical approaches to comprehensively analyze anterior-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) trajectories of CoP and plantar pressure distribution in infancy, mapping foot-ground interactions from new to confident walking stages. Thirty-nine infants walked across an EMED xl platform as new and then confident walkers. Frames of pressure steps were exported and processed in Matlab 2019b. Upon data normality assessment, AP and ML trajectories of new and confident walking steps were compared with parametric two-sample paired SPM1d t-test. Plantar pressure distribution between new and confident walking were compared using the nonparametric two-sample paired SPM1d t-test. Nonparametric linear regression analysis at pixel-level considered variables like body weight, height, foot dimensions, and walking experience, ensuring only non-correlated items were included. Our analyses revealed significant changes in CoP and plantar pressure distribution from new to confident walkers. New walkers initially contact the ground with the central part of their foot, while confident walkers show a more posterior initial contact. Confident walkers also exhibit more medial heel contact and a progression of CoP trajectories closer to the foot’s longitudinal axis. Regression analysis indicated that increasing walking experience significantly predicts higher pressure in the lateral and central forefoot. These findings underscore the importance of combining multi-segment joint analysis with plantar pressure data to fully understand foot development during infancy. This project highlighted key aspects of the unique biomechanics of infants’ foot development, emphasizing the need for further research to enhance understanding and inform clinical practices
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