Barriers and facilitators of physical activity and sport participation among young transgender adults who are medically transitioning

Background: Transgender people (those who feel incongruence between the gender they were assigned at birth and their gender identity) engage in lower levels of physical activity compared to cisgender (non-transgender) people. Several factors have been shown to affect physical activity engagement in the cisgender population; however, the physical activity experiences of young transgender adults have not been explored. It is therefore the aim of the current study to understand what factors are associated with physical activity and sport engagement in young transgender adults who are medically transitioning.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 young transgender adults (18–36 years) who had initiated their medical transition at a transgender health service in the United Kingdom. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: Two main themes were identified: (1) barriers and (2) facilitators to physical activity and sport. Overall, the young transgender adults were insufficiently active due to inadequate changing facilities, body dissatisfaction, fears surrounding “passing” and not being accepted by others. At the same time, participants were motivated to engage in physical activity to increase their body satisfaction and gender congruence. However, participants felt there was a lack of safe and comfortable spaces to engage in physical activity and sport.

Conclusion: Young transgender adults who are medically transitioning experience several barriers to physical activity and sport, despite being motivated to be physically active. Initiatives to facilitate young transgender adults' ability to put their motivations into practice (i.e. to be more physically active) are needed.     

一种特殊的计算机指点装置追踪球的操作活动研究

探讨在指点定位中目标方向、大小和距离对食指和拇指操纵追踪球的运动时间的效应 ,并由此建立了两种追踪球的菲茨模型。用绩效指数比较了不同指点装置的操作绩效 ,对追踪球的优化设计提出了建议。     

Impaired awareness of movement disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Background

This study analyzed the presence of awareness of movement disorders (dyskinesias and hypokinesias) in 25 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and motor fluctuations (dyskinesias, wearing off, on–off fluctuations). Of the few studies that have dealt with this topic, none have analyzed the differences in the awareness of motor deficits by comparing the on and off states using motor scales and an extensive battery of tests to assess cognitive and behavioral functioning.

Methods

PD patients were compared on three different scales that we have devised to measure awareness of movement disorders: Global Awareness of Movement (GAM) Disorders, dyskinesia/hypo-bradykinesia rating scales.

Results

Data showed that PD patients had greater awareness and psychological suffering in the off state than in the on state. In particular, they were troubled by motor disabilities related to hypokinesias and had mood-related symptoms and a perception of disability in activities of daily living. Interestingly, patients only showed a selective reduction of awareness of movement disorders associated with executive functions and related to dyskinesias in the on state, compared to a preserved awareness of hypokinesias in the off state. On the contrary, no association with executive functions was found in the off state.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that the dopaminergic overstimulation of mesocorticolimbic pathways may cause a dysfunction of prefrontal–subcortical connections related to the impaired insight.     

Fitts’ law holds for pointing movements under conditions of restricted visual feedback

Fitts’ law robustly predicts the time required to move rapidly to a target. However, it is unclear whether Fitts’ law holds for visually guided actions under visually restricted conditions. We tested whether Fitts’ law applies under various conditions of visual restriction and compared pointing movements in each condition. Ten healthy participants performed four pointing movement tasks under different visual feedback conditions, including full-vision (FV), no-hand-movement (NM), no-target-location (NT), and no-vision (NV) feedback conditions. The movement times (MTs) for each task exhibited highly linear relationships with the index of difficulty (r² > .96). These findings suggest that pointing movements follow Fitts’ law even when visual feedback is restricted or absent. However, the MTs and accuracy of pointing movements decreased for difficult tasks involving visual restriction.     

The paradox of the disrespected: Disrespected group members’ engagement in group-serving efforts

Previous research has demonstrated that intra-group respect can strengthen people’s group identification, and encourage them to exert themselves on behalf of their group. In the present contribution, we focus on the possibility that those who are not respected by other group members (i.e., the disrespected) can also display group beneficial behavior. Experiment 1 (N = 159) confirms this paradoxical premise and reveals that systematically disrespected group members indeed exert themselves on group-serving tasks. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 110). Additional indicators in Experiment 2 demonstrate that the effort by systematically disrespected group members cannot be attributed to a desire to improve their acceptance in the group, but should be interpreted as attempts to assert the worth of the self separately from the group. Results are discussed in relation to the group-value model and insights on marginal group membership and social exclusion.     

The influence of a long term exercise program on lower limb movement variability and walking performance in patients with peripheral arterial disease

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 12 month exercise program on lower limb movement variability in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Participants (n = 21) with an appropriate history of PAD and intermittent claudication (IC) volunteered for this study and were randomly allocated to either a control group (CPAD–IC) (n = 11), which received normal medical therapy and a treatment group (TPAD–IC) (n = 10), which received normal medical therapy treatment and a 12 month supervised exercise program. All participants underwent 2D joint angular kinematic analysis during normal walking to assess lower limb movement variability and walking speed. Between-group differences were analyzed via mixed measures ANOVA. The 12 month supervised exercise program made no significant impact on the lower limb movement variability or walking speed of the TPAD–IC group as determined by either intralimb joint coordination or single joint analysis techniques. Long term supervised exercise programs do not appear to influence the lower limb movement variability of PAD–IC patients.     

Reaching the Champions of Social Justice

Since the formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948, the ecumenical voice against social injustice in the church and society has been strengthening. As one expression of unity among the fellowship, the WCC embarked in 2013 on a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to work, pray, and walk together for life-affirming economies, climate change, nonviolent peace building, and reconciliation and human dignity. Champions of these issues exist within the ecumenical movement. Yet one also finds that champions of one theme are pushing back on another theme. Sometimes it is due to diversity of contexts and biblical and theological interpretations. At other times it is due to unconscious bias about the holistic nature of God's mission of justice for all God's people and creation. This paper grapples with this question: Why are people who are so alive to economic and ecological injustice sometimes blind to racial and gender injustice? To answer this, I explore the existence of conscious and unconscious bias despite the many powerful ecumenical statements that have been issued on racial justice.     

The Lambeth Appeal and the Appeal of Britain

In 1920, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops issued the “Appeal to All Christian People.” While much has been written on its genesis in 1920 and its impact on the later ecumenical movement and on Anglicanism, much less has been written about the relationship of the sort of ecumenism espoused by the Lambeth Appeal to the international political developments of the time. This article assesses the impact of the First World War and the Versailles Settlement on some of the assumptions underlying the Lambeth Appeal, examining how the appeal was in many ways a by-product of a new form of internationalism, which itself was closely related to the reinterpretation of the British Empire that emerged during the war.     

积极心理学的繁荣与演变——阴阳辩证哲理的回归

积极心理学是研究人类在适应社会生活中的积极特质、积极主观体验以及实现积极自我和成长的适应性认知和行为的科学。由Seligman(1998)兴起的积极心理学运动经过十年繁荣,在三个研究支柱的基础上增加第四个支柱积极的关系。由于积极心理学拒绝消极作为其中的范畴,Wong(2011)掀起积极心理学第二次浪潮,转向研究积极-消极的共生关系。并且,引用中国哲学思想,把阴阳之间的辩证互动原则作为积极心理学第二次浪潮的基础,研究积极和消极之间的动态平衡,以实现人类美好幸福生活和繁荣。     

合理性对汉语阅读中双字词语义预视效益的优势作用：眼动研究

语义预视效益(SPB)对于揭示阅读中读者能否从副中央凹提取高水平信息具有重要意义。关于SPB的产生机制仍然存在争议。本研究通过同时操控预视词的合理性和语义相关性考察了二者对汉语阅读中双字词SPB的影响。结果发现,合理性主效应显著,合理预视下目标词的注视时间显著短于不合理预视;语义相关性主效应不显著,未发现二者的交互作用。研究结果支持了语境匹配假说,进一步说明了汉语阅读中预视词的合理性对SPB的优势作用。