Training distress and performance readiness: laboratory and field validation of a brief self-report measure.

Three studies were conducted to validate the Training Distress Scale (TDS), a 19-item measure of training-related distress and performance readiness. Study 1 was a randomized, controlled laboratory experiment in which a treatment group undertook daily interval training until a 25% decrement occurred in time-to-fatigue performance. Comparisons with a control group showed that TDS scores increased over time within the treatment group but not in the control group. Study 2 was a randomized, controlled field investigation in which performance capabilities and TDS responses were compared across a high-intensity interval training group and a control group that continued normal training. Running performance decreased significantly in the training group but not in the control group, and scores on the TDS mirrored those changes in performance capabilities. Study 3 examined the relationship between TDS scores obtained over a 2-week period before major swimming competitions and subsequent performance in those competitions. Significantly, better performance was observed for swimmers with low TDS scores compared with those with moderate or high TDS scores. These findings provide both laboratory and field evidence for the validity of the TDS as a measure of short-term training distress and performance readiness.

Training patterns and negative health outcomes in triathlon: longitudinal observations across a full competitive season.

AIM: Despite heavy training requirements, triathlon is a sport that is rapidly increasing in popularity. Yet, there is limited research detailing the relationship between training, the incidence of injuries and illness, psychological stress, overtraining and athlete burnout amongst triathletes. Six hypotheses relating inter-individual differences to training factors were generated to evaluate change in self-reported measures of these negative health outcomes over a training year. METHODS: Thirty, well-trained, triathletes (males n=20: age=27.1±9.1 years and females n=10: age=27.4±6.6 years) from a local triathlon club participated in this study. The study commenced during pre-season training, and involved weekly monitoring of each athlete until the end of the competitive season 45 weeks later. Linear Mixed Modelling was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of injury and illness (SAS) were significantly associated with increases in training factors (P≤0.05); however, greatest impact on SAS was produced by psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Common symptoms of overtraining were significantly affected by increases in exposure to both training and psychological stressors (P≤0.05). Mood disturbance was not significantly affected by training factors (P>0.05) but rather increases in psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Finally, each of the three athlete burnout subscales were significantly affected by both psychological (P≤0.001) stressors as well as varying combinations of training factors (P≤0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to stressors (either training or psychological) had significant effects on all negative health outcomes assessed.

Characterisation and protein expression profiling of annexins in colorectal cancer.

The annexins are family of calcium-regulated phospholipid-binding proteins with diverse roles in cell biology. Individual annexins have been implicated in tumour development and progression, and in this investigation a range of annexins have been studied in colorectal cancer. Annexins A1, A2, A4 and A11 were identified by comparative proteomic analysis to be overexpressed in colorectal cancer. Annexins A1, A2, A4 and A11 were further studied by immunohistochemistry with a colorectal cancer tissue microarray containing primary and metastatic colorectal cancer and also normal colon. There was significant increase in expression in annexins A1 (P=0.01), A2 (P<0.001), A4 (P<0.001) and A11 (P<0.001) in primary tumours compared with normal colon. There was increasing expression of annexins A2 (P=0.001), A4 (P=0.03) and A11 (P=0.006) with increasing tumour stage. An annexin expression profile was identified by k-means cluster analysis, and the annexin profile was associated with tumour stage (P=0.01) and also patient survival. Patients in annexin cluster group 1 (low annexin expression) had a better survival (log rank=5.33, P=0.02) than patients in cluster group 2 (high annexins A4 and A11 expression). In conclusion, this study has shown that individual annexins are present in colorectal cancer, specific annexins are overexpressed in colorectal cancer and the annexin expression profile is associated with survival.