PURPOSE: This study was designed to determine whether endurance or endurance + resistance training would influence circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and if these changes are related to alterations in aerobic fitness and/or body composition. METHODS: Fifty eight healthy young adults aged 18-24 yrs (78% female) were assigned to one of three groups: 1) endurance training (E) (n=18), 2) endurance + resistance training (ER) (n=11), or 3) active control (AC) (n=29). The E group completed 15 weeks of endurance training for either a half marathon (n=6) or full marathon (n=12). The ER group performed 15 weeks of periodized resistance training in addition to the half marathon (n=3) or full marathon (n=8) training. The AC group continued the same exercise routine that they had used prior to becoming a study participant. Pre and post measures included: a 1.5 mile run, 8 rep max (8 RMs; ER group only) on the bench and leg presses, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, DXA, and plasma CRP (ELISA). RESULTS: At baseline, no significant differences were observed between groups. In the E group only, estimated VO2 max significantly increased 12.45% from 38.9 ± 3.8 ml/min/kg to 43.8 ± 7.5 ml/min/kg (mean ± SD) (P < 0.05) and total percent body fat decreased significantly 1.7% from 29.4% ± 8.3 to 27.7 ± 8.8 (mean ± SD) (P < 0.05). In the ER group only, plasma CRP concentrations decreased, but not significantly from 1.59 ± 1.2 mg/L to 0.99 ± 0.5 mg/L (mean ± SD) (P = 0.16). All other measures for the ER group did not change significantly. In addition, while the E and AC groups remained in the average risk category for CRP levels (1-3 mg/L) at the post intervention time point, the ER group entered the low risk category (< 1 mg/L) with an average CRP concentration of 0.99 mg/L. CONCLUSIONS: Combined endurance and resistance training may be an effective modality for reducing plasma CRP in young adults. However, improvements in aerobic capacity and total percent body fat do not appear to affect changes in CRP. FUNDING: Louisiana State University

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the effects of sun-dried raisins versus sports jellybeans on endurance performance in trained cyclists/triathletes. METHODS: Ten healthy males (18-33 y) completed one water-only acclimatization (WAT) exercise trial and two randomized exercise trials. Each trial consisted of a 120-minute constant intensity glycogen depletion period followed by a 10-km time trial (TT). During each experimental trial, participants consumed isocaloric amounts of sun-dried raisins (SDR) or Sports Jelly Beans(SJB) in 20-minute intervals. Measurements included: time to complete 10-km TT, power output during 10-km TT, blood glucose levels and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during glycogen depletion period, RPE, flow questionnaire responses, and sensory acceptance. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in endurance performance between any of the trials. Resting blood glucose levels were not significantly different between any of the trials and both CHO supplements were equally effective in maintaining blood glucose levels during the 120-min exercise bout compared to the WAT acclimatization trial (4.3 ± 0.3 mmol/L for WAT, 5.8 ± 0.4 mmol/L for SDR, and 5.4 ± 0.2 mmol/L for SJB). There were no significant differences in RPE or flow experiences between trials. Mean sensory acceptance scores were significantly higher for the SDR compared to the SJB (50.7 ± 1.7 for SDR and 44.3 ± 2.7 for SJB). CONCLUSIONS: Consuming SDR or SJB during 120 min of intense cycling result in similar time-trial performances and are equally effective in maintaining blood glucose levels during exercise.

The health benefits associated with appropriate levels of physical activity are well documented, but a large percentage of the population is not sufficiently active to attain those health benefits. Children are also not as active as they should be, and their activity levels decline during adolescence. Given that childhood activity patterns are likely to persist into adulthood, it is important to investigate ways to encourage children and adolescents to be physically active. Since virtually all school students participate in physical education programs, one way to do that is to explore ways that physical education programs can motivate children to be physically active. This study examined adolescents motivation in middle school physical education and in physically interactive video games within an expectancy-value model developed by Eccles and her colleagues (1983). One hundred and one eighth grade physical education students completed questionnaires assessing their expectancy-related beliefs, subjective task values, and intention for future participation in both the domains of physical education and physically interactive video games. Participants activity level was also assessed using the Godin and Shephard (1985) Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire. Results indicated that expectancy-related beliefs and subjective task values are domain specific. Expectancy-related beliefs and task values are positively related and both constructs are related to intention to participate in the future for both the domains of physical education and physically interactive video games. Expectancy-related beliefs, task values, and intentions across domains, however, were not related supporting the hypothesis that physically interactive video games represent a distinct domain from traditional physical education activities. Physical education was perceived as more important and more useful than physically interactive video games, but findings suggest that girls and less active students found physically interactive video games to be more interesting than traditional physical education activities. Taken together, the findings suggest that physically interactive video games could be a useful tool in physical education programs to increase physical activity levels for students who are at risk for low levels of physical activity.

<p>Inflammatory cytokines play a significant role in the pathogenesis of obesity-related diseases and have been implicated as integral factors in both early and late phases of atherosclerosis. Lifestyle modifications such as increasing physical activity and making dietary changes to induce weight loss are part of the primary prescription for the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Additionally, physical activity has been implicated as a potentially effective regimen for the control of inflammation, yet little is known about the anti-inflammatory mechanistic alterations induced by physical activity.</p> <p>Exercise training causes acute changes in inflammation immediately post exercise, evidenced by upregulation of inflammatory cytokines and increased activity of leukocytes. Production of inflammatory cytokines leads to increased circulating levels of monocytes and macrophages as well as other immune cells. Additionally, chronic changes in inflammation occur after recurring bouts of exercise, evidenced by upregulation and production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and increased sensitivity of macrophages to stimuli. Previous publications from our laboratory have found that whole blood samples from exercise trained individuals possess significantly increased sensitivity to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimuli, resulting in lower levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1&#946), and tumor necrosis alpha (TNF&#945). Others have also noted the decrease in circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines chronically with exercise training.</p> <p>The research presented in this dissertation is novel in that it explores the expression of the melanocortin receptors (MCR) on the plasma membranes of systemic monocytes, indicating a novel role for the MCRs as anti-inflammatory receptors that are regulated by chronic exercise training. The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) and melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) are expressed on immune cell populations. Several lines of in vitro research have shown that activation of the MC3R on cultured macrophages leads to pregulation of the anti-inflammatory pathways, suggesting a novel role for MCRs in mediating exercise-induced inflammation. Here, I show that 12 weeks of resistance training in a young, healthy population decreases both MC1R and MC3R receptor density on systemic monocytes in conjunction with decreases in C-reactive protein (CRP). Furthermore, the percentage of circulating monocytes expressing MC1R increases whiles those expressing MC3R decreases in response to resistance training.</p>

This purpose of this dissertation is to explore changes in the acromiohumeral interval during dynamic motion in the scapular plane. All of the experiments were completed in the Football Operations Athletic Training Room at Louisiana State University. The first experiment which investigated dynamic acromiohumeral interval changes in baseball players during a loaded and unloaded scaption exercise from 0°-75°, has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (in press, 2010). The mean acromiohumeral interval (AHI) for unloaded and loaded scaption decreased significantly (p<.001) from the arm at the side until 45° and loaded scaption narrowed AHI at 60° (p=.005) and 75° (p=.003). The second experiment investigates AHI and scapular upward rotation (SUR) changes in baseball and softball players during scaption exercises from 0°-75°. Significant load related narrowing of the AHI at 45°(p=.005), 60°(p=.001), and 75°(p<.001) and a significant load-position interaction (p=.001) at 0° and 75°was observed for all subjects. No gender differences in SUR or AHI were found. AHI and SUR displayed moderate positive correlations at 30° for both the unloaded scaption (r=.648, p=.001) and the loaded scaption (r=.445, p=.038) however, no significant relationships were present at 0°, 45°, 60° or 75°. The third experiment compared dynamic acromiohumeral interval and scapulohumeral rhythm changes in trained and untrained females during scaption exercises from 0°-90°. In general, AHI was maximal with the arm at the side and declined significantly (p<.001) during arm elevation until 60°, but increased significantly (p<.001) between 60° and 90°. Significant load related narrowing of the AHI at all positions (p<.05), a more negative SUR at 0° (p<.001) and a more positive SUR at 90° (p=.009) was observed for all subjects. Female athletes had significantly stronger external rotators (p<.001), larger overall AHI (p=.003) and more SUR (p=.008) than untrained females. Significant positive correlations (p<.05) between AHI and SUR were observed at 0°, 30°, and 60° during both loaded and unloaded scaption.

Defensive actions involving goal-directed responses to visual stimuli presented in different parts of the viewing field commonly include movements either toward (TOWARD) or away from (AWAY) the actual stimulus. One can categorize the type of defensive movements by outcome or the level of stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility, where a congruent response corresponds to a response in the TOWARD condition and an incongruent response corresponds to a response in the AWAY condition. In an effort to better understand defensive responses, which have received less attention in the literature than offensive movements regardless of their importance in combative situations, we studied the responses of quick yaw head rotations in the TOWARD and AWAY conditions to visual stimuli presented in different parts of the viewing field. In the first experiment (chapter 2) we examined the test-retest reliability of the primary and secondary measures associated with the quick yaw head rotations. After achieving an acceptable level of reliability for most measures, we investigated the effects of S-R compatibility and target eccentricity on the primary measures of reaction time of head rotation (RT) and activity of the sternocleidomastoid muscles of the neck (premotor RT) and the secondary measures of movement time, peak velocity, head excursion and the electromechanical delay for yaw head rotations (chapter 3). We found an increase in RT and premotor RT for yaw head rotations with large increases in visual field target eccentricity and involving incongruent responses observed in the AWAY condition. In chapter 4 we examined the effects of practice in the TOWARD or AWAY condition on performances in both conditions. We observed a shorter RT and premotor RT after 6 days of practice (over 2 weeks), regardless of condition practiced or of performance. Most subjects who practiced in the TOWARD condition produced greater decreases in RT and premotor RT for the TOWARD condition and most subjects who practiced in the AWAY condition produced greater decreases in RT and premotor RT for the AWAY condition. These data also suggest faster reactions in response to stimuli in the central visual field occur with practice. These results suggest reactions will be slowest for responses to objects in the far peripheral visual field and when trying to avoid object contact. RT and premotor RT at each eccentricity and for each condition can definitely improve with practice. The present results also provide small but potential added benefits for specificity of condition training. The parallel findings for RT and premotor RT suggest that outcomes observed for quick yaw head rotation RTs were primarily due to changes in neural processing time.

Research has found dealing with student misbehavior as the most prominent source associated with teachers negative behavioral outcomes at work. One approach for understanding teachers behavioral responses to student misbehavior is through the efficacy beliefs of teachers. This line of inquiry has lead to the advancement of the concept of teacher efficacy in handling student misbehavior or TEHSM. TEHSM was found to significantly and negatively mediate the relationship between teachers perception of student misbehavior, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions respectively. To date, limited information is available regarding the makeup of TEHSM which gives emphasis to the significance of this dissertation. The purpose of this dissertation was to (a) identify factors that influence TEHSM beliefs and (b) describe and contrast TEHSM in classroom and physical education settings. The first (quantitative) study investigated personal and school cultural factors associated with TEHSM beliefs. Together, personal (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, teaching experience) and school cultural (i.e., professional development, student socioeconomic status) factors contributed significantly in explaining the amount of variance in TEHSM with the greatest proportion of variance explained by professional development and low student SES. The second (qualitative) study investigated TEHSM beliefs and teaching experience in classroom and physical education settings. Common sources of misbehavior were reported in classroom and physical education settings. Further, low TEHSM related to inadequate skills/knowledge, inconsistent actions (i.e. proactive, reactive) to gain control, and debilitating feelings. High TEHSM related to strategizing, being the authoritative figure, and building trusting relationships. Low and high TEHSM teachers reported improving TEHSM by taking personal charge of professional growth. The third (qualitative) study contrasted physical education teachers actions towards student misbehavior based on TEHSM beliefs. Findings depicted how teachers with different TEHSM beliefs used teaching and coping strategies; student behavior management (i.e. proactive) strategies, and disciplinary actions (i.e. reactive) to deal with misbehavior. High TEHSM related to authoritative teaching; approach/problem focused coping style; and proactive management. Knowledge gained from this dissertation provides a vital step towards understanding the role of TEHSM, informs teacher training programs on how to improve TEHSM, and provides a foundation for future studies.

Self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) asserts that people will be more likely to engage in behaviors that they believe they can successfully perform and avoid behaviors in which they feel that they will be unsuccessful. Researchers have concluded that individuals with high levels of self-efficacy are more likely to pursue challenging goals, cope with pain, and persevere through setbacks, while those with low self-efficacy avoid challenges and tend to give up when confronted with obstacles (Llewellyn, Sanchez, Asghar, & Jones, 2008). Endurance sport, particularly distance running, is a domain in which being able to cope with pain and persevere through setbacks is especially important; therefore the purpose of this dissertation was to increase our understanding of self-efficacy in the physical activity domain by exploring the sources of self-efficacy for distance runners. The first study utilized a quantitative approach to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy, affect and training volume during marathon training. The results revealed that self-efficacy fluctuated over the training period and was only minmally related to affect. Study two was an extension of the first and utilized a qualitative approach to investigate the sources of self-efficacy information used by runners. Physiological states emerged as the most influential source of efficacy information throughout the program and past performance experiences increased in their influence as participants gained more running experience. The third study was a qualitative investigation of the sources of self-efficacy for running using a sample of African American distance runners. Past performance was cited as the most salient source of efficacy information for these runners and, for the majority of participants, race/ethnicity did not emerge as a significant factor in their efficacy for running.

Core stability is a concept in the health and fitness professions which became popular in the early 1990s. Despite its popularity, core stability remains a generalized term, which is poorly understood and lacks a universal definition and gold standard assessment. This makes it difficult to identify the role of core stability in athletic injury prevention and performance. To better assess core stability, the objective for this dissertation was to construct a reliable core stability index using measurements which best define and evaluate core stability. The purpose of our first experiment was to introduce and determine the intra-tester reliability of clinical measurements which may relate to core stability. Thirty-five tests which may assess core stability were identified and grouped in five catagories: strength, endurance, flexibility, motor control, and function. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to establish intra-rater reliability. There were highly reliable tests in each of the five groups. Overall, core endurance tests were the most reliable measurements, followed by the flexibility, strength, motor control, and functional tests. Experiment 2 was divided into two parts. The objective of the first part was to determine the relationships between the Star Excursion Test and the Frontal Plane Projection Angel (FPPA) of the knee during a single leg squat and drop, and the 35 tests which may relate to core stability introduced in Experiment 1. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was performed to determine the relationships between the assessments and the core stability related tests. Overall the relationship between the clinical assessments and core stability related tests had low correlations. Therefore, the three clinical assessments we selected may not thoroughly assess core stability. In the second part of Experiment 2 an index was developed that thoroughly evaluates core stability. The results in this study are beneficial to the practice of assessing core stability as well as the fields of sports medicine, occupational medicine, and fitness. Core stability is a complex concept that is composed of different components including strength, endurance, flexibility, and motor control. In the present study, a core stability index was but more work is needed to validate the model.

The purpose of this study was to categorize aberrant metabolic function in diabetic offspring (FH+). This study examined metabolic flexibility (MF), and changes in fasting blood-glucose concentrations and markers of lipotoxicity with resistance training in college age FH+ and FH-. Results are significant at p = 0.05. MF testing indicate no baseline differences in RMR, VO2, REE, fat or CHO use were noted between T2D, FH+, or FH-. Passive stretching caused increased metabolism overall, however the T2D group temporarily displayed increased CHO use during passive stretching, which quickly returned to pre-stretched levels during recovery as compared with FH-. Both T2D and FH+ display impaired MF as compared with FH- via indirect calorimetry as noted by the change in RER. With training, changes in glucose: lactate ratios were no different between groups, but increased immediately after exercise with training, and decreased at five and ten minutes post-exercise with training. Lastly, there were no differences between FH- and FH+ in pre-training strength, BMI, or in markers measured in plasma before or after exercise. Strength increased from pre to post training similarly. However, changes in NEFA and insulin were noted in weight loss subjects vs non-weight loss. Negative correlations exist between weight loss and: TG, NEFA, insulin and HOMA, and strength, and positive correlations with blood glucose AUC. Though there are differences metabolic flexibility and recovery kinetics between groups with and without a family history of diabetes, this study does not reveal any such differences in glucoregulatory function, or markers of lipotoxicity. Resistance training did not affect FH+ differently than FH-, however there were differences in these markers when groups were re-categorized by weight loss. We were unable to isolate specific factors likely to contribute to the development of IR or T2D within the confines of the current study. However, further research, such as lipid tracers and MRI studies are needed to determine factors leading to more aberrant metabolic function in order to better understand what factors lead to the development of IR and T2D.