Low-Cost, Scalable Classroom-Based Approach to Promoting Physical Activity in Preschool Children.

Background: This study examined the impact of short activity breaks in preschool children. The hypotheses were that preschool children receiving three five-minute activity breaks per day would increase (a) school time physical activity and (b) education scores compared to a control group not receiving the intervention.

Methods: For 8 weeks, the Intervention Group (n = 13) incorporated three 5-minute activity breaks into their classroom time while the Control Group (n = 12) did not incorporate the activity breaks.

Low-cost and Scalable Classroom Equipment to Promote Physical Activity and Improve Education.

Background: We tested a low-cost and scalable set of classroom equipment, called Active Classroom Equipment, which was designed to promote physical activity while children learn. We hypothesized the Active Classroom Equipment would be associated with increased physical activity without impairing learning.

Methods: Fourteen first-grade students in a public elementary school (7 females, 7 males, aged 6.

Internal medicine residents' computer use in the inpatient setting.

Background: Studies have suggested that patient contact time for internal medicine residents is decreasing and being replaced with computer-related activities, yet objective data regarding computer use by residents are lacking.

Objective: The aim of this study was to objectively measure time use by internal medicine residents while on duty in the hospital setting using real-time, voice-capture technology.

Methods: First- and third-year categoric internal medicine residents participated (n  =  25) during a 3-month period in 2010 while rotating on general internal medicine rotations.

Treadmill desks: A 1-year prospective trial.

Objective: Sedentariness is associated with weight gain and obesity. A treadmill desk is the combination of a standing desk and a treadmill that allow employees to work while walking at low speed.

Design And Methods: The hypothesis was that a 1-year intervention with treadmill desks is associated with an increase in employee daily physical activity (summation of all activity per minute) and a decrease in daily sedentary time (zero activity).

Scalable office-based health care.

The goal of health care is to provide high-quality care at an affordable cost for its patients. However, the population it serves has changed dramatically since the popularization of hospital-based health care. With available new technology, alternative health care delivery methods can be designed and tested.

Changing the school environment to increase physical activity in children.

We examined the hypothesis that elementary school-age children will be more physically active while attending school in a novel, activity-permissive school environment compared to their traditional school environment. Twenty-four children were monitored with a single-triaxial accelerometer worn on the thigh. The students attended school in three different environments: traditional school with chairs and desks, an activity-permissive environment, and finally their traditional school with desks which encouraged standing.

Measurement of daily activity in restrictive type anorexia nervosa.

Objective: The assessment of daily activity in patients with restrictive type anorexia nervosa is limited by an absence of accurate and precise technology. We wanted to test a daily activity detecting device named, the physical activity monitoring system (PAMS).

Method: Women participants with restrictive type anorexia nervosa (n = 8, 36 +/- 11 years, 17 +/- 2 kg/m(2)) and healthy women participants (n = 8, 30 +/- 11 years, 27 +/- 7 kg/m(2)) were asked to lie, sit, and stand motionless, and walk at 0.

The role of free-living daily walking in human weight gain and obesity.

Objective: Diminished daily physical activity explains, in part, why obesity and diabetes have become worldwide epidemics. In particular, chair use has replaced ambulation, so that obese individuals tend to sit for approximately 2.5 h/day more than lean counterparts.

An office-place stepping device to promote workplace physical activity.

Objective: It was proposed that an office-place stepping device is associated with significant and substantial increases in energy expenditure compared to sitting energy expenditure. The objective was to assess the effect of using an office-place stepping device on the energy expenditure of lean and obese office workers.

Methods: The office-place stepping device is an inexpensive, near-silent, low-impact device that can be housed under a standard desk and plugged into an office PC for self-monitoring.