Evaluation of a final year work-shadowing attachment.

The transition from medical student to junior doctor is well recognised to be a difficult and stressful period. To ease this transition, most UK universities have a work-shadowing period (WSP), during which students can learn practical skills needed for forthcoming employment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the WSP at Queen's University Belfast, and gain the views of both students and Foundation Programme Supervisors and Directors (FPSDs).

Tracking of physical activity, fitness, body composition and diet from adolescence to young adulthood: The Young Hearts Project, Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND: The assumption that lifestyles formed early in life track into adulthood has been used to justify the targeting of health promotion programmes towards children and adolescents. The aim of the current study was to use data from the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project to ascertain the extent of tracking, between adolescence and young adulthood, of physical activity, aerobic fitness, selected anthropometric variables, and diet. METHODS: Males (n 245) and females (n 231) were assessed at age 15 y, and again in young adulthood [mean (SD) age 22 (1.

Cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, and arterial stiffness: the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project.

Poor cardiorespiratory fitness and low physical activity have been identified as determinants of greater arterial stiffness, a mechanism that can partially explain the association of both variables with increased cardiovascular disease. However, the nature of these associations are not clear because cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity can both mediate and confound the associations of one another with arterial stiffness. This issue was therefore examined in a population-based cohort of young adults.

Fruit and vegetable consumption and bone mineral density: the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project.

Background: Studies examining the relation between bone mineral density (BMD) and fruit and vegetable consumption during adolescence are rare.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether usual fruit and vegetable intakes reported by adolescents have any influence on BMD.

Design: BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the nondominant forearm and dominant heel in a random sample of 12-y-old boys (n = 324), 12-y-old girls (n = 378), 15-y-old boys (n = 274), and 15-y-old girls (n = 369).

Trends in blood pressure over 10 years in adolescents: analyses of cross sectional surveys in the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project.

Objective: To examine secular trends in blood pressure over a 10 year period between two representative cohorts of adolescents from Northern Ireland.

Design: Repeat cross sectional study.

Setting: Randomly selected post-primary schools from Northern Ireland.

Paraoxonase polymorphisms PON1 192 and 55 and longevity in Italian centenarians and Irish nonagenarians. A pooled analysis.

Background: PON1, an arylesterase, associated with high density lipoprotein (HDL), protects low density lipoprotein (LDL) against oxidative modification. Common polymorphisms PON1 55 (L/M) and 192 (Q/R) in the PON1 gene associate with atherosclerosis and heart disease. Because long-lived people seem protected from premature vascular death, we conducted a pooled statistical analysis to assess any association between these polymorphisms and longevity in a large combined group of Italian centenarians and octo/nonagenarians from Northern Ireland (NI).