The effect of social support and school- and community-based sports on youth physical activity.

Objective: To examine how social support, participation in intramurals, varsity and community sports are associated with physical activity among Ontario secondary school students, and explore gender differences in the prevalence of physical activity and participation in school- and community-based sports.

Methods: Data from 25,416 students (grades 9-12) attending 76 Ontario secondary schools were collected using the School Health Action, Planning, and Evaluation System (SHAPES). Logistic regression analyses examined how social support and school- and community-based sports participation were associated with physical activity.

Visualization techniques and graphical user interfaces in syndromic surveillance systems. Summary from the Disease Surveillance Workshop, Sept. 11-12, 2007; Bangkok, Thailand.

Timeliness is a critical asset to the detection of public health threats when using syndromic surveillance systems. In order for epidemiologists to effectively distinguish which events are indicative of a true outbreak, the ability to utilize specific data streams from generalized data summaries is necessary. Taking advantage of graphical user interfaces and visualization capacities of current surveillance systems makes it easier for users to investigate detected anomalies by generating custom graphs, maps, plots, and temporal-spatial analysis of specific syndromes or data sources.