ClinicalTrials.gov: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01359878. Published protocol: http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/pdf/1745-6215-13-110.pdf.

The purpose of this study is to explore how top-level soccer coaches identify talent. I draw on Bourdieu’s work to challenge a commonly held assumption that talent identification is a rational or objective process. Analysis of in-depth interviews with eight coaches of national youth soccer teams indicated these coaches identified talent in three ways. First, coaches use their practical sense and their visual experience to recognize patterns of movement among the players. Second, the coaches’ classificatory schemes are characterized by their preference for so-called “autotelic” players, that is, players that, from the coaches’ perspective, exhibit a potential to learn, practice, and improve. Third, the study shows that talent, of which the coaches act as arbiters of taste, is socially configured in top-level soccer.

Abstract-We wanted to investigate the relationship of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (Nt-proBNP) The metabolic syndrome was associated with lower Nt-proBNP (35 pg/mL versus 48 pg/mL; PϽ0.001) and shifted the positive relationship between pulse pressure and Nt-proBNP to the right (ie, higher blood pressure for a given level of Nt-proBNP). The metabolic syndrome was associated with lower Nt-proBNP levels and shifted the positive relationship between Nt-proBNP and pulse pressure to the right, creating a possible link between the metabolic syndrome and hypertension. Key Words: risk factors Ⅲ albuminuria Ⅲ hypertrophy Ⅲ natriuretic peptides Ⅲ obesity B rain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is synthesized in myocardial cells as a response to increased wall stress 1 in relation to heart failure 2 or acute myocardial ischemia 3 as a prohormone that is cleaved into BNP and N-terminal proBNP (Nt-proBNP). High BNP as well as high NtproBNP are new promising cardiovascular (CV) risk markers 4 and have been associated with high blood pressure (BP), 5 left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, 6 and albuminuria. 7,8 Because Nt-proBNP as well as BP, LV mass, and albuminuria increase with aging, it is unclear whether these associations merely rely on aging. Wang et al 9 demonstrated recently an inverse relationship between serum BNP and body mass index that could be a potential link between obesity and hypertension if obese patients have lower BNP levels at given levels of wall stress. However, others have not found this association, 10 and it has been suggested recently that the inverse relationship between BNP and body mass index may only reflect an increase in BNP and a decrease in body mass index with aging. 11 No studies of the effect of obesity or other elements of the metabolic syndrome on Nt-proBNP are available.Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the association of Nt-proBNP to metabolic and hemodynamic CV risk factors, including the metabolic syndrome, 24-hour ambulatory BP, LV hypertrophy, pulse wave velocity (PWV), and urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) in 4 different age groups to control for age.