Examining physical activity among US college students following COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns : the role of race/ethnicity and acculturation

Objective: This study examined physical activity among US college students in the context following COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns, with a focus on racial/ethnic and cultural determinants. Sample: This study used cross-sectional data of the COVID-19 University Research on Education and Sustainability (CURES) project. Participants were college students from 7 public universities in the US (N = 1210; 75% female; 33.5% White, 9.1% Black, 47.6% Hispanic, and 7.1% Asian; Mage = 21.06; 85.6% born in the US, 51.6% had mother born in the US, and 49% had father born in the US). Method: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire - short form (IPAQ-SF) was used to assess physical activity and the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) – the American version was used to assess levels of heritage and US acculturation. Results: White students reported statistically significant higher physical activity than Hispanic (p < .05, Cohen’s d = .19) and Asian (p < .05, Cohen’s d = .36). In sedentary level, White students reported statistically significant lower levels than Asian (p < .05, Cohen’s d = -.45). Asian reported lowest physical activity, highest sedentary level, and highest prevalence of not meeting physical activity recommendation. Small negative correlation was found between heritage cultural level and total weekly physical activity among Hispanic students (r = - .09, p < .05). Conclusion: Race/ethnicity and cultural perception and practices could play a role in determine physical activity and sedentary behaviors among college students. The study calls for more qualitative research, and racial/ethnic and cultural-specific interventions to improve physical activity among Hispanic/Latin and Asian student populations.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Fabrication of Porous Hydroxyapatite Granules as an Effective Adsorbent for the Removal of Aqueous Pb(II) Ions

Porous hydroxyapatite (HAp) granules have been successfully fabricated from a HAp powder precursor and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) additive by a simple sintering process. The composition and microstructures of the HAp were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometer. The effects of sintering temperature and PVA/HAp mass ratios on color, water stability, morphology, and chemical composition of HAp are discussed. Optimum conditions for the fabrication of HAp granules were found to be a PVA/HAp mass ratio of 3/20 and a sintering temperature of 600°C for 4 h. Accordingly, the obtained HAp is white in color, is in the granular form with a size of about 2 × 10 mm, and has a specific surface area of 70.6 m2/g. The adsorption of Pb2+ onto the as-prepared HAp granules was carried out in aqueous solution by varying the pH, the adsorbent dose, the initial concentration of Pb2+, and the contact time. The results of adsorption stoichiometry of Pb2+ on the HAp granule adsorbent were fitted to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model (R2 = 0.99). The adsorption capacity and removal efficiency of the HAp granule adsorbent for Pb2+ under optimal conditions were found to be 7.99 mg/g and 95.92%, respectively. The adsorption process obeyed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model with R2∼1. The porous HAp granules studied in this work showed potential for the removal of Pb2+ from industrial wastewater