Anabolic-steroid use, strength training, and multiple drug use among adolescents in the United States.

Objective: This study examined the relationships between anabolic-steroid use and the use of other drugs, sports participation, strength training, and school performance among a nationally representative sample of US high school students.

Design: Randomized survey data from the 1991 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Setting: Public and private schools in the 50 United States and District of Columbia.

The epidemiology of walking for exercise: implications for promoting activity among sedentary groups.

The relative contribution of walking to overall leisure-time physical activity participation rates was studied among respondents from the 45 states that participated in the 1990 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 81,557). The percentages of low income, unemployed, and obese persons who engaged in leisure-time physical activity (range = 51.1% to 57.

Changes in blood cholesterol awareness: final results from the South Carolina Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Project.

We examined changes in five indicators of blood cholesterol awareness in two comparable biracial communities in South Carolina. One community received three years of cholesterol education and intervention activities implemented by a state health department and the other served as a comparison. Cross-sectional, interviewer-administered, random digit-dialed telephone surveys of 11,070 adults 18 years and older were conducted in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1991.

The association between leisure-time physical activity and dietary fat in American adults.

Relations between leisure-time physical activity and dietary fat were examined in a population-based probability sample of 29,672 adults in the 1990 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Consumption of 13 high-fat food items and participation in physical activities were measured, and fat and activity scores were calculated. Dietary fat and physical activity were strongly and inversely associated.

Physical activity and public health. A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine.

Objective: To encourage increased participation in physical activity among Americans of all ages by issuing a public health recommendation on the types and amounts of physical activity needed for health promotion and disease prevention.

Participants: A planning committee of five scientists was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine to organize a workshop. This committee selected 15 other workshop discussants on the basis of their research expertise in issues related to the health implications of physical activity.

A New Tool for Encouraging Activity.

In brief Promoting physical activity among patients is an essential role for physicians. Project PACE (Physician-based Assessment and Counseling for Exercise) is a practical system of matching physician counseling with patient readiness for physical activity. The PACE counseling approach will help physicians attain national goals for health promotion for the year 2000.

Community intervention and trends in dietary fat consumption among black and white adults.

Objective: This study assessed whether a state public health department could effectively implement an affordable nutrition intervention program at the community level.

Design: Cross-sectional data were collected via telephone surveys of 9,839 adults, aged 18 years or older, in 1987, 1989, and 1991 in two South Carolina communities. Nutrition education programs began in 1988 in one community.

Physical activity patterns in American high school students. Results from the 1990 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Objective: To assess by self-reported participation in vigorous physical activity, the quantity and quality of school physical education, team sports, and television watching among 11,631 American high school students.

Results: Of all students in grades 9 through 12, 37% reported engaging in 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity three or more times per week. Participation in vigorous physical activity was higher among boys than girls (P < .

Endurance exercise training improves body composition and plasma insulin responses in 70- to 79-year-old men and women.

Forty-two men and women aged 70 to 79 years were studied to assess the effects of 6 months of endurance or resistance training and subsequent cessation of training on glucose tolerance, plasma insulin responses, serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels. The endurance training group (n = 16) exercised at 75% to 85% heart rate reserve for 35 to 45 minutes three times per week; the resistance training group (n = 17) completed one set of eight to 12 repetitions on 10 Nautilus machines three times per week. No significant changes in any variables occurred in a control group (n = 9).

Physical activity patterns among adults in Georgia: results from the 1990 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Regular physical activity increases a person's ability to perform daily activities more efficiently, reduces the risk of specific chronic diseases, including coronary artery disease, and lowers death rates in general. The Healthy People 2000 Physical Activity and Fitness Objectives underscored the importance of monitoring and tracking the prevalence of physical activity and fitness in the United States population for the purpose of planning, implementing, and evaluating efforts to improve the public's physical activity habits. This report examines the prevalence of self-reported leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among southeastern adults aged 18 years and older living in the state of Georgia.

Correlates of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in black and white women.

The relationships of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol with body composition, leisure-time physical activity, cigarette smoking, and education were examined in a community-based sample of 480 Black and 1337 White women. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated inverse associations of HDL with body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio in both groups, and with cigarette smoking and low educational attainment among White women only. Since correlates of HDL cholesterol differ for Black and White women, further investigation of the differences in these correlates is warranted.

Cadmium in vivo causes disruption of tight junction-associated microfilaments in rat Sertoli cells.

Ten-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected i.p. with cadmium chloride solution in a single dose of 0 or 1.

Self-reported frequency of serum cholesterol testing, awareness of test results, and laboratory cholesterol values in two South Carolina communities.

Self-reported frequency of cholesterol testing and awareness of test results were collected from 5,246 adults 18 years and older in two semirural communities in South Carolina. Serum cholesterol was also measured for about 60 percent of this group. More than half of these persons had serum cholesterol values greater than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg per dL) and 21 percent had values greater than 240 mg per dL.

Physical activity of public housing residents in Birmingham, Alabama.

Objectives: Because few data are available concerning physical activity among minority and low-income persons, we characterized physical activity patterns among public housing residents.

Methods: Two separate cross-sectional surveys were conducted 1 year apart of randomly selected residents of eight rental communities administered by the housing authority of Birmingham, Ala. Indigenous interviewers completed 687 interviews in survey 1 and 599 in survey 2.

Leisure-time physical activity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in a biracial community sample.

The purpose of this analysis was to describe the association of leisure-time physical activity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels among a large community sample of African-American and white men and women. Physical assessment of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, weight, height, waist, and hip measurements were obtained for 3121 randomly selected community participants (969 white men, 1409 white women, 205 African-American men, and 538 African-American women). Leisure-time physical activity was assessed from responses to a standard series of questions about participation in various leisure-time activities.

Promoting physical activity in low-income African-American communities: the PARR project.

Data suggest that low-income and minority individuals are less physically active than the general population. We conducted a constituency-based physical activity promotion program, the Physical Activity for Risk Reduction (PARR) project, from 1988 to 1991, with residents of rental communities administered by the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District in Birmingham, Alabama. Data collected through focus groups and by survey of randomly selected residents' exercise practices, beliefs, barriers to and facilitators of physical activity were used to develop specific intervention programs that were implemented and evaluated in six intervention and two control communities through surveys and process evaluations.

Realistic outcomes: lessons from community-based research and demonstration programs for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Public health departments nation-wide are implementing community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programs. Many such programs are turning for guidance to three research and demonstration projects: the Stanford Five City Project, the Pawtucket Heart Health Program, and the Minnesota Heart Health Program. This article summarizes some of the lessons learned in these projects and recommends strategies for the new generation of CVD prevention programs.

Hypertension and blood pressure awareness among American Indians of the northern plains.

This study compared self-reported and measured blood pressure among American Indians of the northern plains. In 1986, a group of American Indians from the northern plains was administered the Centers for Disease Control Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (which included a question about previous blood pressure measurements) and a health risk appraisal (which included blood pressure measurement). Approximately 18% of the respondents reported being told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional that they had high blood pressure, and 11% actually had measured blood pressures of at least 140/90 mm Hg.

Perceived morbidity as a determinant of health behavior.

It is hypothesized that perceived morbidity, a concept closely related to perceived vulnerability, is an important determinant of health behaviors. In this cross-sectional study (N = 2740), perceived morbidity was conceptualized as a categorical variable defining six distinct morbidity groups: the hypertension, high cholesterol, angina pectoris, heart attack, stroke and 'morbidity-free' groups. We used analyses of covariance to identify differences in health behaviors between the six groups; the analyses were done separately for middle-aged (40-60 years old) and older ( greater than 60 years old) respondents.

Reliability and validity of videokeratoscopic measurements.

When a test surface or a cornea is carefully and properly positioned with respect to the Corneal Modeling System (CMS) videokeratoscope, measurements are highly repeatable, but the accuracy of the measurements is dependent on the shape of the surface. For spherical and toroidal surfaces, the CMS provides suitably accurate descriptions of the topography of the surface. For aspheric surfaces the CMS renders less accurate, but still clinically acceptable, topographic descriptions.

The management of keratoconus using the corneal modeling system and a piggyback system of contact lenses.

The purpose of this report is to describe the use of the Corneal Modeling System (CMS) in the quantitative evaluation of the front surface of a soft contact lens on a keratoconic cornea. The management of one eye of a single case is presented as an example. A keratoconic patient fitted with an RGP lens presented with the signs and symptoms of discomfort, reduced wearing time and recurrent corneal erosions.