Women's Lives Matter-The Critical Need for Women to Prioritize Optimal Physical Activity to Reduce COVID-19 Illness Risk and Severity.

Physical activity (PA) is beneficial for the health and wellness of individuals and societies. During an infectious disease pandemic, such as the one caused by COVID-19, social distancing, quarantines, and lockdowns are used to reduce community spread of the disease. Unfortunately, such nonpharmacological interventions or physical risk mitigation measures also make it challenging to engage in PA.

Frontal alpha asymmetry during prayerful and resting states: An EEG study in Catholic sisters.

Introduction: Life expectancy in the US is 78.6 years, and although people are living longer, they are also living with chronic diseases. As women age, they are more susceptible to chronic disease including mental health conditions and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) dementia.

Building healthy communities: A comprehensive school health program to prevent obesity in elementary schools.

Obesity among children is highly prevalent and can lead to risk factors for chronic disease in adulthood. Key organizations have called on schools to play a larger role by increasing children's physical activity and nutrition by adopting an overall culture of health. This study examined the impact of a socioecological theory driven school-wide nutrition and physical activity intervention on 5th graders' central adiposity and obesity level.

SIgA and Upper Respiratory Syndrome During a College Cross Country Season.

We examined the changes in salivary immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and the incidence of upper respiratory syndrome (URS) throughout a college cross-country season as well as the acute effect of a VO test on SIgA. Subjects were 22 cross country athletes (XC) (20.7±0.

Salivary immunoglobulin A in healthy adolescent females: effects of maximal exercise, physical activity, body composition and diet.

Background: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of acute maximal exercise (VO2max test) on salivary immunoglobulin A (SIgA) responses in adolescent females. A secondary aim was to examine the relationship between resting SIgA levels and VO2max, physical activity, body composition, and diet.

Methods: Fifty healthy female adolescents completed a laboratory-based VO2max test, assessment of body composition via hydrodensitometry, a validated physical activity questionnaire (PAQ-A), and a three-day food diary.

Affective associations as predictors of health behavior in urban minority youth.

Objective: Affective associations are key predictors of health-relevant action that can mediate the relationships between cognitive variables and health behavior. Little data, however, has examined affective associations in high-risk groups, the individuals with the greatest need for intervention. Further, few studies have examined the unique predictive ability of positive and negative affective associations.

The relationship between teacher burnout and student motivation.

Background: Teacher burnout is regarded as a serious problem in school settings. To date, studies on teachers' stress and burnout have largely centred on teachers' own characteristics, socialization, and behaviours, but few have explored the connection between teachers' burnout and students' motivation via their own perceptions of teachers' behaviour and emotional well-being.

Aims: This study adopted Maslach et al.

Urban health educators' perspectives and practices regarding school nutrition education policies.

Although nutrition-related health education policies exist at national, state and local levels, the degree to which those policies affect the everyday practices of health education teachers who are charged with executing them in schools is often unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the nutrition-related health education policy matrix that affected one urban school district, the health education teachers' awareness of those policies, the impact of nutrition policies on teachers' instruction and challenges teachers perceived in executing comprehensive nutrition education. The study used interpretive ethnography to examine the educational contexts and perspectives of 27 health educators from 24 middle schools in one urban district in the Midwestern United States.

Effects of resistance training on functional ability in elderly individuals.

Purpose: Determine the effects of 16 weeks of strength training on measures of functional ability in elderly who are functionally limited.

Design: Quasi-experimental trial in which elderly volunteers were assigned to either an exercise group or a control group.

Participants: Eighty-seven participants (65-93 years) living independently but with some functional limitations.

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in nutrition behaviors: targeted interventions needed.

Objective: To compare dietary knowledge, behaviors and self-efficacy of black middle school students of low socioeconomic status with their white counterparts of higher socioeconomic status.

Design: Cross-sectional, school-based survey.

Setting: Large metropolitan area in the United States.

Effects of teacher autonomy support and students' autonomous motivation on learning in physical education.

This study applied self-determination theory to investigate the effects of students' autonomous motivation and their perceptions of teacher autonomy support on need satisfaction adjustment, learning achievement, and cardiorespiratory fitness over a 4-month personal conditioning unit. Participants were 253 urban adolescents (121 girls and 132 boys, ages = 12-14 years). Based on a series of multiple regression analyses, perceived autonomy support by teachers significantly predicted students'need satisfaction adjustment and led to learning achievement, especially for students who were not autonomously motivated to learn in physical education.

A pilot study to examine the effects of a nutrition intervention on nutrition knowledge, behaviors, and efficacy expectations in middle school children.

Background: This was a pilot study to determine the impact of the Michigan Model (MM) Nutrition Curriculum on nutrition knowledge, efficacy expectations, and eating behaviors in middle school students.

Methods: The study was conducted in a large metropolitan setting and approved by the Institutional Review Board. The participants for this study were divided into an intervention group (n = 407) and a control group (n = 169).

Structured Exercise in Older Adults With Limited Functional Ability: Assessing the Benefits of an Aerobic Plus Resistance Training Program.

The authors of this study examined the effects of a 16-week exercise program designed to increase aerobic capacity, muscular strength, and muscular endurance in older adults who reported and exhibited limited functional ability. Participants were randomly assigned to either an exercise (n=39) or a control (n=34) group. Dependent variables tested included measures of fitness (aerobic exercise capacity and isokinetic strength testing of the legs and arms) and measures of functional capacity (time to and off the floor, stair test, chair stand, and bicep curl).

Combination training and resistance training as effective interventions to improve functioning in elders.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether resistance training (RT) or a combination of resistance and aerobic training (CT) resulted in the most improvement in measures of functional ability in functionally limited elders. Elderly adults who exhibited some limits in functional ability were randomly assigned to either a CT, RT, or control (C) group. Both RT and CT exercised three times per week for 16 weeks.

The impact of exercise training on blood lipids in older adults.

Increasing physical activity is often prescribed to improve blood lipids; however, the efficacy of exercise in improving blood lipids in older adults is not clear. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of different exercise modes on blood lipid levels in previously sedentary older adults engaging in a 16-week exercise intervention. One hundred thirty-one subjects (mean age 74.

Ethnic and socioeconomic comparisons of fitness, activity levels, and barriers to exercise in high school females.

The purpose of this study was to determine if high school females differed in individual measures of health-related physical fitness, barriers to exercise, or activity level based on ethnicity or socioeconomic status. A cross-sectional sample consisting of African American (28%), Hispanic (23%), and white (49%) female high school students, 46% from low socioeconomic groups and 54% from moderate or high socioeconomic groups (n = 1314, age = 16.2 +/- 0.

Exercise and functional tasks among adults who are functionally limited.

This study compared the efficacy of 16 weeks of either resistance training, aerobic walking, or combined resistance training and aerobic walking on the performance of functional tasks among adults age 65 years and older with limited functional ability. One hundred thirty-one older adult individuals were randomized into four groups: resistance training, aerobic walking, combined resistance and aerobic walking groups, or a nonexercise control group. Each of the exercise groups documented 70% compliance with their respective exercise intervention, which included three weekly exercise sessions.

Mucosal IgA and URTI in American college football players: a year longitudinal study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was: (a) to evaluate secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) over a 12-month time period in college football players, and (b) to assess which of the commonly used standard methods of reporting s-IgA, either alone or in combination, serves as the best predictor of incidence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).

Methods: One hundred college-aged males (75 varsity college football athletes, 25 nonfootball controls) were studied at eight points over a 12-month period. Resting mucosal IgA, protein and osmolality levels were determined from saliva using established procedures.

Healthy aging: health promotion and disease prevention.

Successful aging includes the ability to perform functional tasks. This ability to perform functional tasks, or functional ability, is influenced by musculoskeletal and cardiovascular functioning and the presence and severity of symptoms of chronic disease. Empirical evidence indicates that musculoskleletal and cardiovascular functioning and symptoms of chronic disease in later life are strongly related to lifestyle choices involving physical activity and nutritional intake.

Hydration status of community-dwelling seniors.

Background And Aims: Dehydration is the most common fluid or electrolyte disorder among older persons. This study was designed to examine the hydration status of community-dwelling seniors.

Methods: Blood and urine samples were collected from 67 independently living volunteers (65-93 yrs) who had functional limitations but no condition that contraindicated 10 min of moderate exercise.

Rehabilitation of a functionally limited, chronically ill older adult: a case study.

This case study presents MV, a 78-year-old woman who was being treated pharmacologically for several common chronic health problems and who presented with self-reported and observed limitations in her functional ability. After being screened for contraindications to exercise, MV participated in a 16-week rehabilitation program of regular exercise that included aerobic and resistance training. She maintained a high level of compliance with this rehabilitation training and showed improvements in her aerobic capacity, strength, ability to complete functional tasks, blood components, and lipid profile.

Effects of ginseng on secretory IgA, performance, and recovery from interval exercise.

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of ginseng to modulate secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), exercise performance, and recovery from repeated bouts of strenuous physical exertion.

Methods: Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized design, 38 active healthy adults supplemented their diets with a standardized ginseng concentrate (400 mg.d-1 of G115; equivalent to 2 g of Panax ginseng C.

Effects of endurance training and resistance training on plasma lipoprotein profiles in elderly women.

It has been shown that high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol are associated with health maintenance in older women, but the few studies that have examined the relationship between exercise and plasma lipoprotein levels in this elderly population have been equivocal. In addition, there are no studies that examine the plasma lipoprotein response of two different types of exercise in a group of active but nonexercising women. Thus, the effects of exercise training on plasma lipoprotein levels in elderly women remain unclear.