David Wilkinson

Background: Evidence-based physical employment standards are vital for recruiting, training and maintaining the operational effectiveness of personnel in physically demanding occupations. Aims: (i) Develop criterion tests for in-service physical assessment, which simulate the role-related physical demands of UK fire and rescue service (UK FRS) p...

This study assessed soldier's physical demands and energy balance during the Section Commanders' Battles Course (SCBC). Forty male soldiers were monitored during the 8-week tactics phase of the SCBC. Energy expenditure was measured using the doubly labeled water method. Cardiovascular strain (heart rate) and physical activity (using triaxial accele...

In the United Kingdom, all branches of the armed forces use 2.4-km run time and/or the 20-m multistage shuttle run test (MSRT) to assess the aerobic fitness of their personnel. This study quantified the relationship between these two tests in 156 army recruits and officer cadets (100 men and 56 women) to ensure equivalence in the required aerobic f...

This study assessed the validity of insulated skin temperature (Tis) to predict rectal temperature (Tre) for use as a non-invasive measurement of thermal strain to reduce the risk of heat illness for emergency service personnel. Volunteers from the Police, Fire and Rescue, and Ambulance Services performed role-related tasks in hot (30 °C) and neutr...

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to quantify the physiological responses of Police Officers wearing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear personal protective equipment (CBRN PPE) during firearms house entry (FE) unarmed house entry (UE) and crowd control (CC) simulations. Participants volunteered from the UK Police Force [FE (n = 6,...

Despite the importance of hydration, limited research on the topic has been undertaken in Arabic populations. Study 1. Five sequential daily midmorning urine samples were provided by 88 adult military cadets and 32 school-based adolescents. Hydration thresholds were produced using percentiles of estimated urine osmolality (Uosm) and urine color (Uc...

This study compared the physical demands and progression of basic training for male and female British Army recruits in single-sex platoons. Thirty male and 30 female recruits were monitored for energy expenditure (EE) (doubly labeled water), physical activity (3-dimensional accelerometry) and cardiovascular strain (percent heart rate reserve) duri...

Description A field study reporting physiological data collected on UK fire-fighters performing urban search and rescue. Applications Contribute to the safety of personnel operating in hostile environments within the oil and gas industry through the use of ‘live’ physiological monitoring Guide future working practices regarding work:rest schedules...

To quantify the health, fitness, and physiological responses to military training of Officer Cadets from a Gulf Cooperation Council country. One hundred and nineteen Officer Cadets volunteered; body composition, core body temperature, aerobic fitness, hydration status (urine osmolality), cardiovascular strain, physical activity (3-dimensional accel...

This prospective cohort study examined injuries and injury risk factors in 660 British Army infantry soldiers during a predeployment training cycle. Soldiers completed a questionnaire concerning physical characteristics, occupational factors, lifestyle characteristics (including physical training time) and previous injury. Direct measurements inclu...

This study examined a low (L; 5 ml/kg per h) and high (H, 10 ml/kg per h) rate of fluid replacement in moderate (18°C) and hot (30°C) conditions on physiological responses while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE included the gas-tight suit (GTS), the powered respirator protective suit (PRPS) and the civil responder 1 (CR1). Relative...

This study examined gender differences in the physical demands of British Army recruit training in 3 platoons with different gender compositions. Subjects wore heart rate monitors to measure cardiovascular strain and accelerometers to measure physical activity during weeks 1, 6, and 9 of the 12-week program. There was no difference in physical acti...

This study investigated the physiological responses and limitations to a simulated search and rescue scenario in a high-rise building under ambient conditions. Sixteen firefighters performed the scenario under four conditions: standard duration breathing apparatus (SDBA) and 45 mm hose; extended duration breathing apparatus (EDBA) and 45 mm hose; S...

Since 2002, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has been working towards developing role-related physical tests for use as an operational fitness test (OFT). The purpose of this study was to establish reliability of the OFT (comprising four tests), investigate gym-based tests as predictors of performance and establish performance standards. Fifty-eight RAF p...

This study assessed the physical demands of the 24-week Combined Infantryman's Course (CIC) for Parachute Regiment (Para) recruits and developed physical selection standards for applicants. Fifty recruits were monitored over five separate periods (35 d in total during weeks 1-2, 5, 9, 15 and 19-20). Energy expenditure (doubly labelled water), physi...

An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as HTML full text and PDF.

The aim of this study was to assess the capability of the 3dNX accelerometer to predict energy expenditure in two separate, free-living cohorts. Twenty-three adolescents and 14 young adults took a single dose of doubly labelled water and wore a 3dNX activity monitor during waking hours for a 10-day period while carrying out their normal routines. M...

Telemetric gastrointestinal (GI) temperature pills are now commonly used to measure core body temperature and could minimize the risk of heat illness while maximizing operational effectiveness in workers subject to high levels of thermal strain. To quantify the effect of repeated cool water ingestion on the accuracy of GI pill temperature. Ten oper...

This study aimed to identify risk factors for training injuries resulting in referral to a remedial instructor (RI) or medical discharge (MD) among British Army recruits undertaking initial training. Physical performance and anthropometric data for 11,937 male and 1,480 female recruits were examined as potential risk factors for RI referral and MD,...

An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as HTML full text and PDF.

The use of phase change cool vests during firefighting and the efficacy of 20min cold water hand immersion following such activity was investigated. Core temperature was unaffected by cool vest wear, as was skin temperature, sweat rate and heart rate, and cannot be recommended for use. There was a trend for core temperature decline to be accelerate...

How do we cope with scientific terms that have two different definitions?

This study investigated the effects of a training taper on muscle damage indices and performance. Two matched groups of seven male runners each performed two self paced half-marathons on a motorised treadmill. After the first half-marathon one group maintained their normal weekly training volume, while the taper group progressively reduced weekly t...

This study tested the hypothesis that the ability to scavenge free radicals in serum was compromised in trained runners. Experimental design: peak VO2, the ability to scavenge free radicals in serum and the plasma concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) were assessed in 18 male runners. Participants: subject characteristics (mean +/- SEM) were heigh...

Guidelines for submitting commentsPolicy: Comments that contribute to the discussion of the article will be posted within approximately three business days. We do not accept anonymous comments. Please include your email address; the address will not be displayed in the posted comment. Cell Press Editors will screen the comments to ensure that they...

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of subject drop-out on a multi-stage shuttle run test and a modified incremental shuttle run test in which speed was increased by 0.014 m x s(-1) every 20-m shuttle to avoid the need for verbal speed cues. Analysis of the multi-stage shuttle run test with 208 elite female netball players and 381...

Indices of antioxidant status, membrane permeability, and lipid peroxidation were investigated in venous blood immediately before and after a simulated half-marathon run. In serum, these included the ability to scavenge free radicals (total antioxidant capacity, TAC), the concentration of uric acid (UA), and the activities of creatine kinase (CK) a...

The present paper is based on a review which was commissioned by the Sports Council (London) on behalf of the Open Section of the British Association of Sports Sciences (BASS). This was one of four such reviews which were collectively designed to provide information pertinent to the formulation of a strategy that would guide fundamental sports scie...

A meta-assembler is a program which can be configured to perform translation from any defined assembly-language form into machine code. This paper describes a meta-disassembler which will perform the reverse translation for a class of instruction and language forms. It has been designed particularly to deal with the problems of disassembling horizo...