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AIM: To describe patterns in training, racing, and general health in a population of Thoroughbred racehorses in New Zealand. METHODS: A longitudinal study was designed to collect data on horses training under the care of 20 selected trainers from 20 different stables and five regional training venues in the mid to lower regions of the North Island. Data were collected from trainers at approximately monthly intervals between October 1997 and July 2000, and electronic data containing race and trial results for all starts in New Zealand for the same time period were obtained from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR). Summary statistics were used to describe patterns present in the data. Horse training days and study days were used as the denominator horse-time-at-risk for incidence rate estimations, and counts of horses and events used to derive proportions and cumulative incidence estimates. Simple statistical comparisons were completed using parametric and non-parametric procedures. RESULTS: Twenty trainers provided information on 1,571 horses, 554,745 horse study days, and 9,963 starts in official trials or races. Males comprised 50.2% of all horses. Although females contributed more study days for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, males contributed more study days in horses aged > or =5 years. Horses spent an average of 71% of their time in training and the remaining 29% in spell periods. Duration of training preparations and spell periods was associated with horse age and the reason for a spell. Most horses began a training preparation doing slow work and then progressively advanced to a first start by 68 days after the start of a training preparation. Incidence rate estimates for starts, training days to first start, and training days between successive starts in the same preparation, are presented. Horses completed 2.5 starts per 100 training days with a median of 17 days between successive starts for the same horse. CONCLUSION: This study provides summary information on training, racing and general health patterns in Thoroughbred racehorses in the North Island of New Zealand. Although limited to simple comparisons and descriptive statistics, these results may contribute to the identification and prioritization of issues facing the racing industry in New Zealand.
BACKGROUND: It has been previously shown that professional jockeys suffer high rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries in the pursuit of their occupation. Little is known, however, about differences in injury rates between countries. AIM: To determine the rate of fatal and non-fatal injuries in flat and jump jockeys in France and to compare the injury rates with those in Great Britain and Ireland Method: Prospectively collected injury data on professional jockeys were used as the basis of the analysis. RESULTS: Limb fractures occur four times more often in both flat and jump racing in France than in Great Britain. Similarly dislocations are diagnosed 20 times more often in flat and three times more often in jump racing. This difference is surprising given that French jockeys have fewer falls per ride than their British counterparts in flat racing, although they do have more falls than the British in jump racing. Similarly concussion rates seem to be higher in French jockeys, although there may be a difference in the diagnostic methods used in the different countries. By contrast, soft tissue injuries account for a far smaller percentage of injuries than in Great Britain. CONCLUSION: There are striking differences in injury rates between countries which may be explained in part by a difference in track conditions-for example, harder tracks in France-or different styles of racing--for example, larger fields of horses per race in France.
OBJECTIVES: To provide a breakdown of injury incidence from amateur jump racing (also known as point to point racing) in Great Britain and Ireland during 1993-2006 and to compare the injury epidemiology with professional horse racing in Great Britain, Ireland and France. DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: Great Britain and Ireland. PARTICIPANTS: Amateur jockeys. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Injury rates. RESULTS: Injury data suggest that point to point racing is more dangerous from an injury point of view than professional jump racing, which has previously been shown to be more dangerous than flat racing. Amateur jockeys have more falls than their professional counterparts, and this in turn puts them at greater risk of sustaining more serious injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Amateur (point to point) jockeys represent a sporting population that previously has been little studied. They represent a group at high risk of injury, and hence formal injury surveillance tracking and counter measures for injury prevention are recommended.
Recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the first drug with a race-specific indication has fueled the controversy over the meaning of race and ethnicity and raised questions over whether this move should be seen as an advance or a setback in the struggle to address disparities in health status associated with race. The drug, BiDil, combines two generics long recognized as benefiting patients with heart failure, irrespective of race or ethnicity. The push to bring these drugs to market as a race-specific treatment was motivated by the culiarities of U.S. patent law and willingness exploit race to gain commercial and regulatory advantage.
Configural and holistic coding are hallmarks of face perception. Although recent studies have shown that own-race faces are coded more holistically than other-race faces, the evidence for better configural coding of own-race faces is equivocal. We directly measured configural and component coding of own- and other-race male faces in Caucasian and Chinese participants. We manipulated individual features (components) or their spatial relations (configurations) using a novel morphing method to vary difficulty parametrically and tested sensitivity to these changes in a sequential matching task. Both configural and component coding were better for upright own-race than for upright other-race faces. Inversion impaired detection of configural changes more than it did detection of component changes, but also impaired performance more for easier discriminations, independent of type of change. These results challenge explanations of face expertise that rely solely on configural and holistic processing, and also call into question the widespread interpretation of large inversion decrements as diagnostic of configural coding.
OBJECTIVE: To illustrate methods for comparing race data collected under the 1977 Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive, known as OMB-15, with race data collected under the revised 1997 OMB standard. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Secondary data from the 1993-95 National Health Interview Surveys. Multiple-race responses, available on in-house files, were analyzed. STUDY DESIGN: Race-specific estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance were calculated using proposed allocation methods from the OMB. Estimates were calculated overall and for three population subgroups: children, those in households below poverty, and Hispanics. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Although race distributions varied between the different methods, estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance were similar. Health insurance estimates for the American Indian/Alaska Native group varied the most. CONCLUSIONS: Employer-sponsored health insurance estimates for American Indian/Alaska Natives from data collected under the 1977 OMB directive will not be comparable with estimates from data collected under the 1997 standard. The selection of a method to distribute to the race categories used prior to the 1997 revision will likely have little impact on estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance for other groups. Additional research is needed to determine the effects of these methods for other health service measures.
The effects of defendant race, victim race, and juror gender on sentencing and information processing were examined within the context of a murder trial. A sample consisting of 96, jury eligible White Australians read one of four versions of a real trial transcript, in which the race of a male defendant and female victim were varied. The participants imposed the severest sentences on the Indigenous (Black) defendant. Jurors were most lenient with White defendants who killed a White victim. Female jurors were more punitive than the males toward the Indigenous defendant. Jurors processed evidence systematically in same-race trials, but used both systematic and heuristic processing in mixed-race trials. In these instances, female jurors employed significantly more emotive responses, especially when the victim was Black. The effects of subtle racism and the black processing effect when the victim was non-White are considered.
Most anthropologists have abandoned the concept of race as a research tool and as a valid representation of human biological diversity. Yet, race identification continues to be one of the central foci of forensic anthropological casework and research. It is maintained in this paper that the successful assignment of race to a skeletal specimen is not a vindication of the race concept, but rather a prediction that an individual, while alive was assigned to a particular socially constructed 'racial' category. A specimen may display features that point to African ancestry. In this country that person is likely to have been labeled Black regardless of whether or not such a race actually exists in nature.
Glucose, free fatty acid (FFA), triglyceride (TG) and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) concentrations in plasma and activities of enzymes related to energy metabolism in some types of peripheral leukocytes were measured in thoroughbred race horses before and after racing. Glucose, FFA, TG and IRI concentrations and enzyme activities did not change significantly in plasma. However, the activities of cytosolic hexokinase, malate dehydrogenase (MDH), mitochondrial MDH and aspartate aminotransferase decreased significantly in leukocytes of the horses after the races. The cytosolic ratio of MDH/LDH activity (ML ratio) in leukocytes decreased significantly after racing, and the ratio may be a useful indicator to evaluate energy metabolism in race horses.
The Supplement to the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health documents that race, ethnicity, and culture are linked to the use of mental health services and the receipt of quality mental health care. The Supplement provides an elaborate discussion on how culture affects mental health care without a corresponding level of discourse on race. How race is handled in the Supplement suggests that it is still a sensitive topic and one that is difficult to address in a public report. This sensitivity parallels the difficulties that the social sciences have had in investigating issues of race. In this paper, we highlight some perspectives that have influenced the way race has been studied in the past and how these views reflect the general political climates of the eras that produced them.
The primary reason for developing the ARCI Uniform Classification of Foreign Substances was to give stewards and other racing regulators guidelines to assist them in understanding the relative performance effects and general offensiveness to the Rules of Racing of various drugs and medications. As such, these guidelines have been very useful in the world of racing regulation--officially or unofficially--because this classification system, for the first time, places a relative number on the inappropriateness of any one of more than 750 agents appearing in forensic samples taken from racing horses. The guidelines set up by this system established the first framework for dialogue among veterinary pharmacologists reviewing these drugs. Prior to development of the guidelines, pharmacologists had their own opinions about these agents and their effects on performance. The guidelines, however, established a framework for discussion, and there has been surprising unanimity about the classification of each of these agents. Not only does this classification system provide a useful basis for dialogue among experts, it is also useful for regulators, horsemen and other laymen, most of whom have little training or experience with drugs and their effects on horses. The system is easily understandable and communicates the relative possibility of any classified substance to affect the performance of a horse. Consequently, the system has made it possible for laymen to understand the degree of impropriety of all drugs and medicines with which they may have contact. Grouping a large number of drugs into specific classes has greatly facilitated discussion about regulations and penalties, and the classification system is related to proposed penalty guidelines which were developed in parallel. With regard to penalties for Class 1 agents, it is easy to assign and defend substantial penalties after examining the guideline statement describing the possible performance effects of this group of agents as well as the fact that they have no well recognized therapeutic role. Similarly, the relatively modest effects of class 4 and 5 agents, combined with the fact that these groups encompass a large number of well recognized therapeutic agents, helps in understanding the possible presence of trace levels of these agents in post-race samples. In summary, the ARCI Uniform Classification of Foreign Substances Guidelines condenses data on drugs and medications and places them into a simple five class system. This system has made it possible to confidently discuss the regulatory implications of the identification of any one of the approximately 750 classified substances potentially found in forensic samples from a performance horse. As such it facilitates both the development and implementation of more understandable and equitable regulatory processes.
Debates are occurring about the relative contribution of genetic versus social factors to racial health disparities. An ideology of race is manifested in genetic arguments for the etiology of racial health disparities. There is also growing attention to people of mixed race since the 2000 US Census enabled them to be counted. Consideration of the complex issues raised by the existence of people of mixed race may bring clarity to the debates about racial health disparities, offer a challenge to the ideology of race, and afford important insights for the practice of research involving race.
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between race pace on a 5 km walking performance and velocity at the lactate threshold (V-LT), VO2 at the lactate threshold (VO2-LT), velocity at which blood lactate corresponded to 4 mM level (V-OBLA), VO2 at which blood lactate corresponded to 4 mM level (VO2-OBLA), walking economy (steady state VO2 at a standard velocity) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in eight female race walkers. A multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was employed to predict the race pace on a 5 km walking performance as dependent variable. Since V-OBLA was highly correlated to 5 km race walking performance (r = 0.94, P less than 0.001), it was selected as the first predictor. When VO2max was added to V-OBLA as the second predictor the predictive accuracy increased significantly, but multiple R did not increase significantly by adding variables of walking economy or other parameters as independent variance. As a result, the combination of V-OBLA and VO2max as independent variables accounted for the greatest amount of total variance (97 per cent). It is suggested that blood lactate variable such as V-OBLA can account for a large portion of the variance in race pace on a 5 km walking performance.
Venous blood samples were taken from eight competitors in mid-evening after a racing day, and in the early morning before the next day's race, three times during the course of the Milk Race, 1992. These were used to gather information about the changes in circulating leucocyte levels in response to the exceptionally high sustained daily workload required during a major multi-stage race. The primary objective was to provide knowledge of 'normal' values against which future clinical judgements of abnormality might be made in these unusual circumstances. During the race, estimated energy output was about 25 MJ (6000 kCal)/day. The mean total circulating leucocyte numbers (per litre of blood), and those of individual leucocyte classes (neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, eosinophil and basophil) were all inside the normal range both in the morning and in the evening. Evening counts were, however, 30-50% higher than morning counts, for all classes except eosinophils. We conclude that individual clinical decisions about leucocyte levels can best be made using normal (sedentary man) values if a morning sample is taken.
Although racial stereotyping and prejudice research have received considerable attention, the important element of social class has been largely excluded from social psychological research. Using the Statement Recognition Procedure, two experiments investigated social categorization along race and social class dimensions, the influence of racial and social class prejudice on these categorizations, and differences between White and Black perceivers. Analyses conducted at the subtype of race and social class memberships demonstrated differing patterns of categorization based on subtype membership. For example, lowerclass Black targets were primarily categorized by race, whereas middle-class Black targets were primarily categorized by social class. The results demonstrate the importance of considering social class membership independent of and in conjunction with race. Theoretical and methodological implications regarding the study for race and social class categorizations are discussed.
BACKGROUND: The gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for race-county combinations in the United States is over 35 y. We divided the race-county combinations of the US population into eight distinct groups, referred to as the "eight Americas," to explore the causes of the disparities that can inform specific public health intervention policies and programs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The eight Americas were defined based on race, location of the county of residence, population density, race-specific county-level per capita income, and cumulative homicide rate. Data sources for population and mortality figures were the Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics. We estimated life expectancy, the risk of mortality from specific diseases, health insurance, and health-care utilization for the eight Americas. The life expectancy gap between the 3.4 million high-risk urban black males and the 5.6 million Asian females was 20.7 y in 2001. Within the sexes, the life expectancy gap between the best-off and the worst-off groups was 15.4 y for males (Asians versus high-risk urban blacks) and 12.8 y for females (Asians versus low-income southern rural blacks). Mortality disparities among the eight Americas were largest for young (15-44 y) and middle-aged (45-59 y) adults, especially for men. The disparities were caused primarily by a number of chronic diseases and injuries with well-established risk factors. Between 1982 and 2001, the ordering of life expectancy among the eight Americas and the absolute difference between the advantaged and disadvantaged groups remained largely unchanged. Self-reported health plan coverage was lowest for western Native Americans and low-income southern rural blacks. Crude self-reported health-care utilization, however, was slightly higher for the more disadvantaged populations. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in mortality across the eight Americas, each consisting of millions or tens of millions of Americans, are enormous by all international standards. The observed disparities in life expectancy cannot be explained by race, income, or basic health-care access and utilization alone. Because policies aimed at reducing fundamental socioeconomic inequalities are currently practically absent in the US, health disparities will have to be at least partly addressed through public health strategies that reduce risk factors for chronic diseases and injuries.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes over time in echocardiographic measurements in young Standardbred racehorses undergoing training and racing and determine whether there was any relationship between cardiac dimensions and racing performance. DESIGN: Longitudinal observational study. ANIMALS: 103 horses. PROCEDURE: 2-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography was performed 4 times at 6-month intervals. RESULTS: Significant cardiac enlargement took place during the study period as indicated by increases in left ventricular internal diameter in diastole (LVIDd), estimated left ventricular muscle mass (LV mass), and mean wall thickness attributable to eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy. Estimated body weight was positively correlated with left ventricular size, and males had significantly larger LVIDd and LV mass than did females. Horses that were racing regularly had larger LVIDd and LV mass than did unraced horses. A significant relationship between left ventricular size and racing performance was observed. The relationship was strongest at the time of the fourth examination. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that age must be taken into account when interpreting results of echocardiography in young Standardbred racehorses because significant cardiac enlargement takes place with age and training. A larger heart was found in horses that were racing, and size of the heart was correlated with athletic performance of the horse.