Louise Mansfield

PINK1 Is Necessary for Long Term Survival and Mitochondrial Function in Human Dopaminergic Neurons

Parkinsons disease (PD) is a common age-related neurodegenerative disease and it is critical to develop models which recapitulate the pathogenic process including the effect of the ageing process. Although the pathogenesis of sporadic PD is unknown, the identification of the mendelian genetic factor PINK1 has provided new mechanistic insights. In order to investigate the role of PINK1 in Parkinsons disease, we studied PINK1 loss of function in human and primary mouse neurons. Using RNAi, we created stable PINK1 knockdown in human dopaminergic neurons differentiated from foetal ventral mesencephalon stem cells, as well as in an immortalised human neuroblastoma cell line. We sought to validate our findings in primary neurons derived from a transgenic PINK1 knockout mouse. For the first time we demonstrate an age dependent neurodegenerative phenotype in human and mouse neurons. PINK1 deficiency leads to reduced long-term viability in human neurons, which die via the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. Human neurons lacking PINK1 demonstrate features of marked oxidative stress with widespread mitochondrial dysfunction and abnormal mitochondrial morphology. We report that PINK1 plays a neuroprotective role in the mitochondria of mammalian neurons, especially against stress such as staurosporine. In addition we provide evidence that cellular compensatory mechanisms such as mitochondrial biogenesis and upregulation of lysosomal degradation pathways occur in PINK1 deficiency. The phenotypic effects of PINK1 loss-of-function described here in mammalian neurons provides mechanistic insight into the age-related degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons seen in PD.

Developing a physical activity legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: a policy-led systematic review

Aims: There is no evidence that previous Olympic Games have raised physical activity levels in adult populations. However, it may be premature to assume that this lack of previous evidence for an inherent effect is an indication that there is no potential to proactively harness the Games to generate a physical activity or sport legacy. Given that the political goal of achieving a physical activity legacy had already been set, the policy-led aim of this systematic review was to examine the processes by which the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games might deliver a physical activity (as opposed to sport) legacy. Methods: Searches were conducted on five databases: SPORTS DISCUS, CINAHL, PsychINFO, MEDLINE and Web of Knowledge. Results: There are two key findings: first, that communities that are not positively engaged with hosting the 2012 Games in London are likely to be beyond the reach of any initiatives seeking to harness the Games to develop legacies in any area; second, major events such as London 2012 can, if promoted in the right way, generate a ‘festival effect’ that may have the potential to be harnessed to promote physical activity among the least active. The ‘festival effect’ derives from the promotion of the 2012 Games as a national festival that is bigger than and beyond sport, but that is also rooted in the lives of local and cultural communities, thus creating a strong desire to participate in some way in an event that is both nationally significant and locally or culturally relevant. Conclusions: Physical activity policy makers and professionals should seek to satisfy this desire to participate through providing physical activity (rather than sport) opportunities presented as fun community events or programmes. The key to generating a physical activity legacy among the least active adults through this process is to de-emphasise the sporting element of the 2012 Games and promote the festival element.

Involved-detachment: a balance of passion and reason in feminisms and gender-related research in sport, tourism and sports tourism.

This paper discusses the contribution of Norbert Eliass theory of involvement-detachment for feminist research and gender-related studies in the fields of sport, tourism and sports tourism. A brief overview of scholarly work on gender in studies of sport, tourism and sports tourism is presented. The paper outlines the key features of feminist criticisms about conventional methods of acquiring and establishing knowledge in the sciences and considers the ways that feminists approach issues of epistemology. The significance of passionate scholarship in feminist theorizing is discussed. The theory of involvement-detachment is introduced as part of Eliass perspective on the advancement of knowledge about social life. Problems and issues of involvement-detachment are explored in terms of some of the gender-related literature about sport, tourism and sports tourism. What I refer to as involved-detachment1 is presented as a way of explaining, understanding and working with ever-changing balances of passion and reason in scholarship about the gendered character of activities in the sporting sphere. This discussion represents a contribution to debates about the nature and assumptions of the knowledge produced by social scientists theorizing about gender and sporting activities. In doing so, it brings perspectives traditionally associated with the sociology of sport to sociological inquires about tourism and sports tourism.

Public health pedagogy, border crossings and physical activity at every size

This paper examines the current weight-centric approach to the promotion and practice of physical activity for health. We argue that examining the assumptions and belief systems that drive physical activity promotion may provide a foundation for considering and pursuing appropriate forms of social change in the policy, prescription and practice fields. Counter perspectives and critical voices offering alternative health paradigms are systematically marginalised or silenced in this discourse. We outline the significance of a public pedagogy approach in developing alternative ways of promoting, representing and experiencing physical activity beyond weight focused perspectives. We advocate that physical activity policy makers and practitioners, including those promoting a non weight-centric approach to health need to undertake ‘border crossing’ and work across ‘artificial’ institutional barriers. The paper discusses the principles of a non-weight based, cross-disciplinary Health at Every Size (HAES) approach. It presents a critical examination of the potentials of harnessing a HAES paradigm as an alternative to a weight-loss focused physical activity intervention. At the same time, it argues that even this approach needs to better address the complexities of weight rather than search for singular, universal responses to the problems of healthism.

'Sexercise': Working out heterosexuality in Jane Fonda’s fitness books

This paper explores the connection between the promotion of heterosexual norms in women’s fitness books written by or in the name of Jane Fonda during the 1980s and the commodification of women’s fitness space in both the public and private spheres. The paper is set in the absence of overt discussions of normative heterosexuality in leisure studies and draws on critical heterosexual scholarship as well as the growing body of work theorising geographies of corporeality and heterosexuality. Using the principles of media discourse analysis, the paper identifies three overlapping characteristics of heterosexuality represented in Jane Fonda’s fitness books, and embodied through the exercise regimes: respectable heterosexual desire, monogamous procreation and domesticity. The paper concludes that the promotion and prescription of exercise for women in the Jane Fonda workout books centred on the reproduction and embodiment of heterosexual corporeality. Set within an emerging commercial landscape of women’s fitness in the 1980s, such exercise practices were significant in the legitimation and institutionalisation of heteronormativity.

A systematic review and meta-analyses of the potential local economic impact of tourism and leisure cycling and the development of an Evidence-Based Market Segmentation

Through a systematic review and meta-analyses of worldwide evidence, this article provides estimates for spend per person per day of overnight (£43.33), non-overnight (£7.95), and all (£13.38) tourism and leisure cyclists. A further meta-analysis to inform local policy, provision, and local economic impact strategies provides evidence for seven tourism and leisure cycling market segments (Near Residents, Far Residents, Near Day Trippers, Far Day Trippers, Near Holidayers, Far Holidayers, Cycle Tourers), and their associated behaviors and spending patterns. Over three quarters of economic activity attributable to tourism and leisure cycling (77%) is shown to be derived from cycling tourism, thus representing additional local economic impact. In conclusion, the use of market segmentation to derive local economic impact estimates is discussed. The importance of considering how far cycling tourism affects trip decisions, rather than whether cycling tourism is the prime trip purpose, is highlighted in deriving robust economic impact estimates. Finally, because the Cycle Tourers market segment contributes less than 2% of market volume and value, future research might usefully focus on less dedicated but more prevalent casual recreationalist cyclists, who are interested in shorter trips, with more stops for refreshments and socializing, and who often travel in family groups.

Leisure and the politics of the environment

1. Leisure and the politics of the environment 2. Politics, research and the natural environment: the lifeworlds of water-based sport and recreation in Wales 3. Leisure, nature and environmental movements in the mass media: comparing Jumbo Pass and the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Canada 4. The politics of the environment, and noisy sports: two totally different outcomes in the Lake District National Park for powerboating and off-road motoring 5. Leisure and sustainable development in Norway: part of the solution and the problem 6. Recreational activism: politics, nature, and the rise of neoliberalism 7. Embodiment and social and environmental action in nature-based sport: spiritual spaces 8. In search of belonging: immigrant experiences of outdoor nature-based settings in New Zealand

Fitness cultures and environmental (in)justice

This article focuses on the environmentalist agenda in fitness cultures. The article is an initial critical exploration and limited to an analysis of the key principles of political ecology and environmentalism and the concept of sustainability in understanding the emergence of an environmentalist agenda in fitness cultures marked by shades and grades of green consumerism. Author involvement in outdoor military fitness regimes and a series of visits to activity holiday centres and health/fitness spas in the UK all of which make some claim to being ‘green’, ‘environmentally friendly’, and/or ‘natural’, provided the empirical context for the discussion in this article. It argues for further research from the political ecological field, exploring human/non-human dynamics of the environment, to advance an understanding about which sports and fitness cultures get developed where, how and in whose interests.

Resourcefulness, reciprocity and reflexivity: the three Rs of partnership in sport for public health research

ABSTRACT This paper explores the dynamics of research–policy–practice (RPP) partnerships in sport. Such partnerships, involving a diverse range of groups, have emerged as a response to: (1) a contemporary political prioritisation in the use of sport for health and wellbeing and (2) a parallel requirement for robust evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. A conceptual framework for understanding such RPP partnerships is proposed and discussed in relation to three overlapping characteristics; resourcefulness, reciprocity and reflexivity. The paper concludes that understanding these three Rs of RPP partnerships is a way to demythologise the role of sport in public health and present theoretically informed analyses about processes of knowledge production, dissemination and use. It is a conceptual framework which might also further an understanding of, and make public, issues concerning the legitimation of some forms of evidence over others, and potentially maximise the impact of the co-production of knowledge about sport for public health and wellbeing.

The health and sport engagement (HASE) intervention and evaluation project: protocol for the design, outcome, process and economic evaluation of a complex community sport intervention to increase levels of physical activity.

Introduction Sport is being promoted to raise population levels of physical activity for health. National sport participation policy focuses on complex community provision tailored to diverse local users. Few quality research studies exist that examine the role of community sport interventions in raising physical activity levels and no research to date has examined the costs and cost-effectiveness of such provision. This study is a protocol for the design, outcome, process and economic evaluation of a complex community sport intervention to increase levels of physical activity, the Health and Sport Engagement (HASE) project part of the national Get Healthy Get Active programme led by Sport England. Methods and analysis The HASE study is a collaborative partnership between local community sport deliverers and sport and public health researchers. It involves designing, delivering and evaluating community sport interventions. The aim is to engage previously inactive people in sustained sporting activity for 1×30 min a week and to examine associated health and well-being outcomes. The study uses mixed methods. Outcomes (physical activity, health, well-being costs to individuals) will be measured by a series of self-report questionnaires and attendance data and evaluated using interrupted time series analysis controlling for a range of sociodemographic factors. Resource use will be identified and measured using diaries, interviews and records and presented alongside effectiveness data as incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. A longitudinal process evaluation (focus groups, structured observations, in-depth interview methods) will examine the efficacy of the project for achieving its aim using the principles of thematic analysis. Ethics and dissemination The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, academic conference presentations, Sport England and national public health organisation policy conferences, and practice-based case studies. Ethical approval was obtained through Brunel University Londons research ethics committee (reference number RE33—12).