Improving moral competence in adolescents through non-linear pedagogy in the context of physical education and sport.

BACKGROUND: The development of moral competence seems to be an important factor in the context of youth development. The problem with lack of moral competence among youth has often been observed. Physical education (PE) as a subject in school seems to provide space in the curriculum where moral development can and should be experienced and practiced. METHODS: The participants were high school students (N.=235), divided into 4 groups: two experimental and two control groups. The difference between the experimental groups was the frequency of the experiment. The first group carried out two units a week for one semester, and the second group one lesson unit throughout the school year. As a research tool the Moral Competence Test was used. RESULTS: The results indicate statistically significant positive changes between the score of Community Index (C-Index) in pretest and post-test for both experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.04), and between pretest and follow-up in second experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.05). Whereas in the control groups, there were no significant changes in the comparison of terms (pretest, post-test, follow-up) (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the study, it can be determined that the curriculum of physical education, based on the model of non-linear pedagogy, can increase the level of moral competence among young people.

The logic of categorisation in sport.

The aim of this paper is to examine the basis of eligibility rules in sport by exhibiting the logic of categorisation, with its associated ethical problems. We shall be concerned mainly with pre-competition categories - age, sex, weight and dis/ability - because they are directly relevant to sports performance and are relatively stable inequalities. We shall prefer to use the term "categorisation", although we mean by it just what others might mean by classification, to refer to divisions, classes, groups, etc. The paper argues that we have categories only because we consider it desirable to offer some groups protected status in order to enable and promote inclusion and fairness. This desirability condition determines eligibility. Only then do issues arise of which sub-categories we should have, and how they are to be policed. There will always be categories in sport, as a minimum to protect athletes based on age groupings, from children to veterans. But since every categorisation brings its own problems, we need to ensure that we keep them balanced, so that sport can strive for maximum inclusion of different kinds of athletes, and maximum fairness. This requires us to step back from the many particular debates in order to rethink the logic of the whole categorisation process.

Reprimo 824 G>C and p53R2 4696 C>G single nucleotide polymorphisms and colorectal cancer: a case-control disease association study.

BACKGROUND: Improved survival from colorectal cancer (CRC) may result from screening for inherited genetic risk factors. Reprimo and p53R2 are p53-inducible genes involved in cell cycle surveillance and DNA repair. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of these genes have been discovered, but their effects on the genes' function and association with CRC is not known. METHODS: Ninety healthy controls, 52 diverticular disease controls and 96 CRC cases were genotyped. DNA was extracted from buccal brush biopsies. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP) methods. Tests for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and allelic- and genotype-disease association were performed online using the Finetti program. RESULTS: All three populations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to p53R2 4696C>G SNP, and no CRC associations were demonstrated with this SNP. The healthy and CRC populations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to the Reprimo 824G>C SNP, but the diverticular disease population was not (P=0.03). No CRC were demonstrated with Reprimo 824G>C. CONCLUSION: No association between p53R2 4696C>G and Reprimo 824G>C with CRC was shown by this study. An association between the Reprimo 824G>C heterozygote and diverticular disease may exist on the basis of deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Exposure of mouse oocytes to bisphenol A causes meiotic arrest but not aneuploidy.

Mouse oocytes isolated from large antral follicles were exposed to a wide range of concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA) during maturation in vitro (50 ng/ml to 10 microg/ml BPA in medium). Exposure to high concentrations of BPA (10 microg/ml) affected spindle formation, distribution of pericentriolar material and chromosome alignment on the spindle (termed congression failure), and caused a significant meiotic arrest. However, BPA did not increase hyperploidy at meiosis II at any tested concentration. Some but not all meiosis I arrested oocytes had MAD2-positive foci at centromeres of chromosomes in bivalents, suggesting that they had failed to pass the spindle checkpoint control. In a second set of experiments prepubertal mice were exposed sub-chronically for 7 days to low BPA by daily oral administration, followed by in vitro maturation of the denuded oocytes to metaphase II in the absence of BPA, as this treatment protocol was previously reported to induce chromosome congression failure and therefore suspected to cause aneuploidy in oocytes. The sub-chronic exposure subtly affected spindle morphology and oocyte maturation. However, as with the exposure in vitro, there was no evidence that low BPA doses increased hyperploidy at meiosis II. In conclusion, the data suggest that mouse oocytes from mice respond to BPA-induced disturbances in spindle formation by induction of meiotic arrest. This response might result from an effective checkpoint mechanism preventing the occurrence of chromosome malsegregation and aneuploidy. Low chronic BPA exposure in vivo as such does not appear to pose a risk for induction of errors in chromosome segregation at first meiosis in mouse oocytes. Additional factors besides BPA may have caused the high rate of congression failure and the temporary increase in hyperploidy in mouse metaphase II oocytes reported previously.