Community perceptions of the implementation and impact of an intervention to improve the neighbourhood physical environment to promote walking for transport: a qualitative study.

Background: Using community engagement approaches to develop and deliver interventions targeting small-scale physical environmental improvements in neighbourhoods is a potential strategy for increasing walking for transport. This study aimed to qualitatively assess community perceptions of the implementation and impact of the Fitter for Walking (FFW) intervention, which encouraged communities to work together to improve the street environment on local routes and promote walking for transport.

Methods: From 155 FFW community projects, nineteen were selected to take part in a focus group/interview using specified criteria: geographical area; level of community involvement; intervention activities; and project progress.

Promoting exercise behaviour in a secure mental health setting: Healthcare assistant perspectives.

Individuals with severe mental illness engage in significantly less amounts of physical activity than the general population. A secure mental health setting can exacerbate barriers to exercise, and facilitate physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour. Healthcare assistants are intimately involved in the daily lives of patients and, therefore, should be considered integral to exercise promotion in secure mental health settings.

Marathon Kids UK: study design and protocol for a mixed methods evaluation of a school-based running programme.

Introduction: Schools are promising settings for physical activity promotion; however, they are complex and adaptive systems that can influence the quality of programme implementation. This paper presents an evaluation of a school-based running programme (Marathon Kids). The aims of this study are (1) to identify the processes by which schools implement the programme, (2) identify and explain the contextual factors affecting implementation and explications of effectiveness and (3) examine the relationship between the level of implementation and perceived outcomes.

Using Digital Health Technologies to Understand the Association Between Movement Behaviors and Interstitial Glucose: Exploratory Analysis.

Background: Acute reductions in postprandial glucose excursions because of movement behaviors have been demonstrated in experimental studies but less so in free-living settings.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the nature of the acute stimulus-response model between accelerometer-assessed physical activity, sedentary time, and glucose variability over 13 days in nondiabetic adults.

Methods: This study measured physical activity, sedentary time, and interstitial glucose continuously over 13 days in 29 participants (mean age in years: 44.

Effectiveness of the 'Girls Active' school-based physical activity programme: A cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Globally, adolescent girls' physical activity (PA) levels are low. The 'Girls Active' secondary school-based programme, developed by the Youth Sport Trust, aims to increase PA in adolescent girls. This paper explores the effectiveness of the 'Girls Active' school-based PA programme.

Defensive coping facilitated a smaller cortisol-to-estradiol ratio and a higher hypertension risk: the SABPA study.

Objectives: Taxing psychosocial stress and defensive coping have been associated with hypoactivity in cortisol, a vasoconstrictive agent. Estradiol has vasodilatory properties with cardio- and neuroprotective effects. It can however also induce α-adrenergic vasoconstrictive responsiveness.

Findings of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-Sitting and Exacerbations Trial (COPD-SEAT) in Reducing Sedentary Time Using Wearable and Mobile Technologies With Educational Support: Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.

Background: Targeting sedentary time post exacerbation may be more relevant than targeting structured exercise for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Focusing interventions on sitting less and moving more after an exacerbation may act as a stepping stone to increase uptake to pulmonary rehabilitation.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to conduct a randomized trial examining trial feasibility and the acceptability of an education and self-monitoring intervention using wearable technology to reduce sedentary behavior for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admitted to hospital for an acute exacerbation.

Effects of intradialytic cycling exercise on exercise capacity, quality of life, physical function and cardiovascular measures in adult haemodialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Intradialytic cycling (IDC), delivered during haemodialysis (HD), has the potential to improve many health issues. This systematic review and meta-analysis examine the evidence on the effects of IDC on exercise capacity, quality of life (QoL), physical function and cardiovascular health.

Methods: Twenty-four databases were searched alongside Internet and hand searching, and consultation with experts.

Sport and exercise medicine consultants are reliable in assessing tendon neovascularity using ultrasound Doppler.

Objective: Several lower limb tendinopathy treatment modalities involve identification of pathological paratendinous or intratendinous neovascularisation to target proposed co-location of painful neoneuralisation. The ability to reliably locate and assess the degree of neovascularity is therefore clinically important. The Modified Ohberg Score (MOS) is frequently used to determine degree of neovascularity, but reliability has yet to be established among Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) consultants.

The Importance of Vigorous-Intensity Leisure-Time Physical Activity in Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Risk in the Obese.

Objective: To investigate the role of vigorous-intensity leisure-time physical activity in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in the obese.

Participants And Methods: Trained interviewers assessed physical activity and body mass index (BMI; calculated as the weight in kilograms divided by the height in meters squared) in 59,005 adult participants (mean ± SD age, 57±12 years; 46.5% male) in 2 household-based surveillance studies: Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Survey.

Allergic tendencies are associated with larger gray matter volumes.

Allergic tendencies are associated with important cognitive and physiological factors, such as intelligence and mathematical abilities. Allergies are widely prevalent, especially in modern life, and the reason for its association with important cognitive variables is an intriguing scientific question. However, despite the unique characteristics of cognitive correlates of allergy, the anatomical correlates of allergy remain unknown.

Single leg squat ratings by clinicians are reliable and predict excessive hip internal rotation moment.

Background: Single leg squats are commonly used subjective assessments of general biomechanical function, injury risk, as a predictor for recovery and as an outcome measure of rehabilitation. While 3D motion capture is a useful tool for elite sports performance and research it is impractical for routine clinical use.

Research Question: This cross-sectional study aims to: assess reliability and validity of clinicians' subjective ratings of single leg squats compared to 3D motion capture, and to identify whether performance predicts joint moments.

Physical activity and trajectories in cognitive function: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Background: There are limited data on physical activity in relation to trajectories in cognitive function. The aim was to examine the association of physical activity with trajectories in cognitive function, measured from repeated assessments over 10 years.

Methods: We conducted a 10-year follow-up of 10 652 (aged 65±10.

Validation of the ADAMO Care Watch for step counting in older adults.

Background: Accurate measurement devices are required to objectively quantify physical activity. Wearable activity monitors, such as pedometers, may serve as affordable and feasible instruments for measuring physical activity levels in older adults during their normal activities of daily living. Currently few available accelerometer-based steps counting devices have been shown to be accurate at slow walking speeds, therefore there is still lacking appropriate devices tailored for slow speed ambulation, typical of older adults.

The effect of chronic high insulin exposure upon metabolic and myogenic markers in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells and myotubes.

Skeletal muscle is an insulin sensitive tissue and accounts for approximately 80% of post-prandial glucose disposal. This study describes the effects of insulin, delivered for 72 h, to skeletal muscle myoblasts during differentiation or to skeletal muscle myotubes. After chronic treatment, cultures were acutely stimulated with insulin and analyzed for total and phosphorylated Akt (Ser ), mRNA expression of metabolic and myogenic markers and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake.

Kinetic Asymmetry during Running at Preferred and Nonpreferred Speeds.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of altering preferred running speed by ±20% on kinetic asymmetry.

Methods: Three-dimensional motion analysis and force data were acquired from 15 healthy males (age, 27 ± 4.6 yr; height, 1.

A comparison of static and dynamic cerebral autoregulation during mild whole-body cold stress in individuals with and without cervical spinal cord injury: a pilot study.

Study Design: Experimental study.

Objectives: To characterize static and dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) of individuals with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) compared to able-bodied controls in response to moderate increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) caused by mild whole-body cold stress.

Setting: Japan METHODS: Five men with complete autonomic cervical SCI (sustained > 5 y) and six age-matched able-bodied men participated in hemodynamic, temperature, catecholamine and respiratory measurements for 60 min during three consecutive stages: baseline (10 min; 33 °C water through a thin-tubed whole-body suit), mild cold stress (20 min; 25 °C water), and post-cold recovery (30 min; 33 °C water).

Refractive error is associated with intracranial volume.

Myopia is part of the spectrum of refractive error. Myopia is associated with psychometric intelligence and, the link between brain anatomy and myopia has been hypothesized. Here we aimed to identify the associations between brain structures and refractive error in developed young adults.

Neural and Aneural Regions Generated by the Use of Chemical Surface Coatings.

The disordered environment found in conventional neural cultures impedes various applications where cell directionality is a key process for functionality. Neurons are highly specialized cells known to be greatly dependent on interactions with their surroundings. Therefore, when chemical cues are incorporated on the surface material, a precise control over neuronal behavior can be achieved.

Metadata Correction: Brain Activation in Response to Personalized Behavioral and Physiological Feedback From Self-Monitoring Technology: Pilot Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/jmir.8890.

Harmonising data on the correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in young people: Methods and lessons learnt from the international Children's Accelerometry database (ICAD).

Background: Large, heterogeneous datasets are required to enhance understanding of the multi-level influences on children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour. One route to achieving this is through the pooling and co-analysis of data from multiple studies. Where this approach is used, transparency of the methodology for data collation and harmonisation is essential to enable appropriate analysis and interpretation of the derived data.

Interindividual Responses of Appetite to Acute Exercise: A Replicated Crossover Study.

Purpose: Acute exercise transiently suppresses appetite, which coincides with alterations in appetite-regulatory hormone concentrations. Individual variability in these responses is suspected, but replicated trials are needed to quantify them robustly. We examined the reproducibility of appetite and appetite-regulatory hormone responses to acute exercise and quantified the individual differences in responses.