Manchester Metropolitan University

About: Manchester Metropolitan University is a education organization based out in Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5435 authors who have published 16202 publications receiving 442561 citations. The organization is also known as: Manchester Polytechnic & MMU.

No influence of age, gender, weight, height, and impact profile in achilles tendinopathy in masters track and field athletes.

Abstract: BackgroundAchilles tendinopathy is commonly reported by athletes involved in activities that include running and jumping. Despite the prevalence of the problem, causative factors in Achilles tendinopathy remain poorly understood.HypothesisIn Masters track and field athletes, there is no influence of age, gender, weight, height, and impact profile in developing Achilles tendinopathy.Study DesignCross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.MethodsDuring the European Veterans Athletics Championships in Poznan, Poland, in July 2006, 178 athletes (110 men and 68 women; mean age, 54.1 years; range, 35-94 years) were evaluated with the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment—Achilles (VISA-A) questionnaire. A fully trained orthopaedic surgeon made a diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy according to clinical criteria.ResultsThere was no effect of gender on the presence of Achilles tendinopathy (P = .14). No significant track and field specialty effect upon the frequency of Achilles tendinopathy was found on the VISA...

Phosphocreatine and ATP content in human single muscle fibres before and after maximum dynamic exercise

Abstract: The recovery of high-energy phosphate levels in single human skeletal muscle fibres following short-term maximal (all-out) exercise was investigated. Three male volunteers exercised maximally for 25 s on an isokinetic cycling ergometer. Muscle biopsy samples from the vastus lateralis were collected at rest, immediately post-exercise and at 1.5 min of recovery. The subjects also performed a second exercise bout 1.5 min after the first, on a separate occasion. Single muscle fibres were dissected, characterized and assigned to one of four groups according to their myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform content; namely, type I, IIA, IIAx and IIXa (the latter two groups containing either less or more than 50% IIX MyHC). Fibres were analysed for adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), inosine-5'-monophosphate (IMP), phosphocreatine (PCr) and creatine (Cr) levels. Type I fibres had a lower Cr content than type II fibres (P<0.01). Within type II fibres resting [PCr] increased with increasing MyHC IIX isoform content (r=0.59, P<0.01). Post-exercise [PCr] was very low in all fibre groups (P<0.01 versus rest) while great reductions in ATP were also observed (P<0.01 versus rest), especially in the type II fibre groups. [PCr] at 1.5 min of recovery was still lower compared to rest for all fibre groups (P<0.01) especially in the IIAx and IIXa fibres.

A new modernity?: The arrival of ‘creative industries’ in China

Abstract: This article looks at the arrival of ‘creative industries’ within mainstream policy discourse in China. It attempts to situate this ‘modernising’ discourse within the wider historical conflicts around modernity and modernization in China, suggesting that the progressive function of the ‘creative industries’ discourse frequently claimed by its supporters cannot be taken for granted. The article ends by asking some pointed questions about the immediate future of this agenda in China, with particular reference to the large eastern cities.

High-Resolution Facies Analyses of Mudstones: Implications for Paleoenvironmental and Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretations of Offshore Ancient Mud-Dominated Successions

Abstract: The extent of lithofacies variability in fine-grained sedimentary rocks is very poorly known in comparison to that present in coarser grained clastic and carbonate successions. The absence of this information means that sediments present on continental shelves are rarely considered as integrated systems because fine-grained facies (such as shales) are mostly excluded from sophisticated, regional facies models. To shed light upon lithofacies and grain size in shale-dominated successions, so that they can be incorporated into shelf-wide depositional models, the Blackhawk Formation of the Mancos Shale (Campanian age), exposed in the Book Cliffs, Utah was investigated using combined field, whole-rock geochemical, optical, and electron optical methods. These sediments show systematic grain-size variations, are intensely bioturbated, and composed predominantly of detrital clays (mainly dioctahedral micas), quartz, and feldspar with minor pyrite and organic matter. They are organized into very thin (< 10 mm), upward-fining, genetic beds; they exhibit both systematic lateral (103 m scale), and vertical (10−2 to 100 m scales) lithofacies variability. Preferentially cemented units occur close to sequence boundaries (unconformities). These cemented units typically contain a very different detrital assemblage (including significant quantities of chlorite) from the rest of the succession and are located close to levels where there are marked stacking-pattern discontinuities. Overall, lithofacies variability is interpreted in terms of deposition occurring on an oxic continental shelf, with the coarser-grained facies being deposited in proximal settings (offshore-transition zone), in contrast to the finer-grained units that were deposited in more distal environments (offshore zone). Storms are interpreted to have been the dominant mechanism dispersing the sediment. Once deposited, the surface layers of the sediment were intensely reworked by burrowing organisms. Preferential preservation of ichnogenera from mid- and lower tiers suggest that the depositional environment was energetic and erosion commonly removed the surface sediment layers, prior to deposition of thin (10−2 m) storm beds. The larger scale (100 m) upward-coarsening units that are composed of stacked beds, are interpreted to be parasequences. Preferential cementation, at levels where large-scale stacking patterns change, is interpreted to occur at horizons where there were breaks in sediment accumulation, and bacterial metabolic processes were able to supply sufficient solutes to fill uncompacted pore space with cement. The presence of a very different detrital assemblage in these units suggests that winnowing occurred. Despite their relatively innocuous appearance in the field, these surfaces are likely to be significant bypass surfaces, over which sediment was delivered to the deeper parts of the basin during times of relative lowstand of sea level.