Indonesian Anthropometry Update Through Drillis & Contini Revisited and Structural Equation Modeling Incorporating Children, Adult and Elderly Populations

Research on anthropometry deals with human physical measurement, capability and limitation. Due to various body measures of user of different cultures, gender, and geographical factors, then an understanding of anthropometry characteristics is a must. This study adopts Drillis and Contini ratio scaling method and complements the previous research by incorporating Indonesian adults [150 subjects], children [200 subjects] and elderly [120 subjects] groups. By employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), it was shown that limb and girth & width segments were significantly correlated with stature and weight, respectively to all population groups, both for male and female subjects. Moreover, it was confirmed that the ratio scale method has been sufficiently applied to all anthropometric groups, so that the body segments measures can be predicted. Practically, the finding can be utilized to support product design and development phases, especially in the use of more appropriate anthropometric data

A 3D image-based measurement approach for analysing dynamic foot posture and mobility

The original contribution achieved from this research was the development of a low-cost 3D high-accuracy photogrammetric technique for measuring dynamic changes in foot anthropometry during gait. In clinical settings, the approach of determining foot mobility is achieved through measuring changes in bone landmarks between the static unloaded foot and the static loaded foot. From previous reliability assessment tests, it was found that static clinical foot mobility assessments based on the dorsum bone as a point of landmark reference provides high levels of measurement reliability. However, the relationships between these static dorsum measurement techniques have not been assessed against dynamic dorsum measurements collected during foot mobility. In this thesis, two assessment techniques based on the dorsum as a point of reference; namely the Foot Mobility Magnitude (FMM) and Arch Height Index (AHI) were compared statically and dynamically. The purpose for this was to validate these static measurements against the actual foot mobility during dynamic activities. An imaging platform was developed which consisted of 12 video cameras synchronised with force plate data to continuously capture the foot during gait while simultaneously obtaining ground reaction force information. The developed system achieved measurement accuracies within 0.3 mm with high levels of measurement precisions and insignificant random and systematic errors. From the research study, it was found that the correlation between the static and dynamic FMM measurements was insignificant, whereas significant correlations were found between the static and dynamic AHI measurements. Agreements between the static and dynamic AHI measurements were higher when the dorsum measurements were normalised to the truncated foot length (AHI 1) than normalising the dorsum measurements to the total foot length (AHI 2). Another major finding from the research was the higher measurement correlations achieved when the dynamic FMM and AHI were assessed between heel-strike and mid-stance compared to between heel-strike and active propulsion. This indicates that measuring the static FMM and AHI between 10% WB and 50% WB instead of between 10% WB and 90% WB might lend better insight in determining the behaviour of the foot dynamically. The Foot Posture Index (FPI) was used to classify foot postures and the relationship between the FPI scores and the dynamic FMM and AHI were assessed. It was found that the FPI was significantly correlated to the AHI measures but no correlation was found between the FPI and the FMM. The highest correlation was found for AHI 1 at active propulsion where the FPI predicted 48.9% of the variation of the AHI 1. The only FPI classification criteria to have a significant influence on the AHI at heel-strike, mid-stance and active-propulsion was the congruence of the MLA with the highest prediction of 66.7% of the variation in the AHI 1 at heelstrike

The Effect of Ergonomic Aspects on Customers Convenience at Restaurant in Surabaya

This research aims to reveal whether ergonomic aspects possess any influence toward restaurant customers convenience. These ergonomic aspects comprise visual display, anthropometric, and environmental ergonomic which indicators were identified from an extensive literature review. The research employed both subjective and objective method measurement. Data from the subjective method were collected by using questionnaire from 100 customers in a restaurant in Surabaya, then Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were performed to investigate the effect of ergonomic aspects toward restaurant customers convenience. Data from the objective method were collected from direct observation or measurement. The results revealed that both anthropometric and environmental ergonomic possessed a positive significant effect on the customers convenience, despite being not applicable to the visual display aspect. Meanwhile, the conformity between direct measurement and ergonomic standards showed that 52.38% of the ergonomic standards of this restaurant had already been fulfilled. The implications of this present study are also concluded in this paper

Physical activity and health assessment in children and adolescents: application and usefulness of Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ)

Physical activity (PA) has been identified as an important agent in the prevention of chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic syndrome. In order to know more precisely the levels of PA during childhood and adolescence, it is necessary to develop and validate instruments able to adequately and widely assess PA to identify the impact on health in primary and secondary school populations. Quantifying PA will be helpful in order to focus school and community interventions on those groups with unhealthy lifestyles. The Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ) is a self-report instrument developed specifically for Children (PAQ-C) and later adapted for Adolescents (PAQ-A), which has been widely used to assess PA in healthy school populations. However, there is a lack of uniformity and information about the meaning of final score, which would differentiate sedentary behaviors in youth. The overall purpose of this dissertation research was, on the one hand, to validate PAQ psychometric characteristics in Spanish children and to determine cut-off points that would improve the utility of the PAQ-C and PAQ-A for future research applications; and, on the other hand, to study longitudinal changes of body composition and PA behaviors in adolescence using this tool. The main variables of different studies included in this dissertation were evaluated as follows: PA level was evaluated using the Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ-C or PAQ-A) and/or accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X); body composition was assessed by anthropometric measurements; sexual maturity was estimated by predicted percentage of adult stature; and dietary intake was assessed by a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire. The most important results show: a) In the first study, test-retest reliability showed an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.96 for the final score of PAQ-C, which obtained a consistency of Cronbach's α of 0.76. Moreover, few and low correlations (rho=0.228-0.278, all P<0.05) were observed between PAQ-C and triaxial accelerometry and the accuracy analysis performed with the concordance coefficient correlation reported a low accuracy of PAQ-C compared with accelerometry (r=0.192, P=0.092). To sum up, the results suggest that PAQ-C had a high reliability but a questionable validity for assessing PA in our sample of Spanish children. b) The main finding of the second study was to determine a PAQ-C and PAQ-A score cut-off point of 2.75 to discriminate 60 minutes of MVPA, which is associated within a total volume of 10664 steps/day for children and 9701 steps/day for adolescents. However, area under the curve (AUC) values of PAQ-C score were no significant (P>0.05) and only weak (AUC<0.7) discriminators between “active” and “non-active” children. So, according with the ROC analysis, only the PAQ-A can be a useful tool to classify adolescents as active or inactive following international recommendations as criteria. c) In the longitudinal study, significant differences for FMP were found among S1, S2 and S3 (23.41±8.24 vs. 21.89±7.82 vs. 22.05±8.06, P<0.05; respectively); a significant interaction with sex was observed (P<0.05), but not for maturation. Regarding PA, S2 was significantly higher than S3 (2.58±0.72 vs. 2.29±0.73, P<0.001). An interaction between PA and maturation was statically significant (P<0.05). Our results suggest that body composition changes observed during adolescence are not driven by changes in PA. Moreover, the interaction analysis suggests that sex affects PA behavior, but not maturation or nutritional variables. These overall results suggest that the PAQ appears to be a more appropriate tool to measure PA in adolescents than in children, and it may discriminate active and inactive students in adolescence according to international guidelines. In addition, assessments conducted longitudinally in this dissertation show the problems of progressive decline of PA among adolescents, which seems to be influenced by the gender, regardless of maturation

Are Wrist-Worn Activity Trackers and Mobile Applications Valid for Assessing Physical Activity in High School Students? Wearfit Study

The purpose was to examine the validity of three wrist-worn commercial activity trackers (Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, Apple Watch Series 5, and Xiaomi Mi Band 5) and six mobile apps (Pedometer and Pacer for android and iPhone mobiles, Google Fit for android, and Apple Health for iPhone mobiles) for estimating high school students’ steps and physical activity (PA) under freeliving conditions. A sample of 56 (27 females; mean age = 14.7 years) and 51 (25 females; mean age = 14.0 years) high school students participated in Study 1 and 2, respectively. Study 1: Students performed a 200-meter course in four different conditions while wearing the wearables. Step counting through a video record was used as the golden standard. Study 2: Students wore the three wrist-worn commercial activity trackers during the waking time of one day, considering ActiGraph model wGT3X-BT accelerometers as a standard of reference. Afterward, the agreement between the PA scores measured by the commercial activity trackers and the video (study 1) or accelerometers (study 2) were calculated as follows: Equivalence test, Limits of Agreement (LOA); Mean Absolute Error (MAE); Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE); and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results showed that all the wearables presented excellent validity for assessing steps in structured free-living conditions (study 1; MAPE < 5%), although their validity was between poor-excellent based on ICC (95% confidence interval) values (ICC = 0.56- 1.00). Regarding Study 2, the Xiaomi wristband and the Samsung Watch presented acceptable-excellent (MAPE = 9.4-11.4%; ICC = 0.91-0.97) validity for assessing steps under unstructured freeliving conditions (study 2). However, the Apple Watch presented questionable-excellent validity (MAPE = 18.0%; ICC = 0.69- 0.95). Regarding moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and total PA, only the Apple Watch showed low-acceptable validity for MAPE value and questionable-excellent validity for the ICC values for MVPA assessment (MAPE = 22.6; ICC = 0.67-0.93). All wearables checked in this study have shown adequate validity results in order to assess steps in both structured and unstructured free-living conditions for both continuous and dichotomous variables. Moreover, for assessing MVPA, only the Apple Watch reported valid results for compliance or non-compliance with the daily PA recommendations. However, the results showed low validity for total PA and MVPA as continuous variables. In conclusion, depending on the user’s/researcher’s aim and context, one or another wearable activity tracker could be more adequate, mainly because of its valid measurements and its costs.FEDER/Regional Government of Andalusia-Ministry of Economy and Knowledge B-SEJ-029-UGR1

Validation of the comprehensive feeding practices questionnaire in parents of preschool children in Brazil

Background: Recent national surveys in Brazil have demonstrated a decrease in the consumption of traditional food and a parallel increase in the consumption of ultra-processed food, which has contributed to a rise in obesity prevalence in all age groups. Environmental factors, especially familial factors, have a strong influence on the food intake of preschool children, and this has led to the development of psychometric scales to measure parents' feeding practices. The aim of this study was to test the validity of a translated and adapted Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire in a sample of Brazilian preschool-aged children enrolled in private schools. Methods: A transcultural adaptation process was performed in order to develop a modified questionnaire (43 items). After piloting, the questionnaire was sent to parents, along with additional questions about family characteristics. Test-retest reliability was assessed in one of the schools. Factor analysis with oblique rotation was performed. Internal reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha and correlations between factors, discriminant validity using marker variables of child's food intake, and convergent validity via correlations with parental perceptions of perceived responsibility for feeding and concern about the child's weight were also performed. Results: The final sample consisted of 402 preschool children. Factor analysis resulted in a final questionnaire of 43 items distributed over 6 factors. Cronbach alpha values were adequate (0.74 to 0.88), between-factor correlations were low, and discriminant validity and convergent validity were acceptable. Conclusions: The modified CFPQ demonstrated significant internal reliability in this urban Brazilian sample. Scale validation within different cultures is essential for a more comprehensive understanding of parental feeding practices for preschoolers.Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES), Brasilia (DF), BrazilNational Institute of Health (NIH)Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq)Fed Univ Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Discipline Nutrol, Dept Pediat, Rua Loefgreen 1647, BR-04040032 Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidemiol, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilJohns Hopkins Univ, Sch Med, Dept Psychiat & Behav Sci, Div Child & Adolescent Psychiat, Baltimore, MD 21205 USAFed Univ Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Discipline Nutrol, Dept Pediat, Rua Loefgreen 1647, BR-04040032 Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Development and validation of the School Clinical Rugby Measure (SCRuM) test battery: understanding the qualities or skills defining good male adolescent rugby union players

Background: Globally, the number of schoolboy adolescents playing highly competitive rugby is increasing even in countries such as Zimbabwe hardly known for dominating international rugby events. Given the increased participation rates, burgeoning talent identification and recruitment programs and the reportedly high injury risk associated with competitive youth rugby in Zimbabwe and globally, the minimal qualities or skills defining good male adolescent rugby players need further clarification. This study assembled a testing battery and compared the anthropometric variables, physiological characteristics and rugby-specific game skills of Zimbabwean schoolboys to identify qualities and/or skills discriminating elite from sub-elite male adolescent rugby players and non-rugby players within and between Under 16 (U16) and U19 age categories. Methods: This study was structured in three phases. Phase I developed the School Clinical Rugby Measure (SCRuM) test battery based on amalgamated information derived from narrative literature review, qualitative study and two systematic reviews. Using mixed methods sequential explanatory study designs, Phase II refined the test battery through the evaluation of face and logical validity using key informants (n=5) and rugby experts (n=20), respectively. Subsequently, rugby coaches (n=30) assessed the practical feasibility of implementing each SCRuM test item in the local context considering test equipment, procedural and acceptability issues. Phase III evaluated the test-retest reliability of each SCRuM test item among a sample of elite U16s (n=41) and U19s (n=41). The final study in Phase III compared cross-sectional test performances of 208 athletes from different playing standards and age category to identify SCRuM test items discriminating (i) older (U19) players from younger (U16) players regardless of playing standards, and (ii) elite from both sub-elite and nonrugby players regardless of age. Results: Phase I produced the first version of the SCRuM test battery with 23 variables. Phase II reduced the constituent components to 15 variables. The test-retest reliability study showed high intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC>0.70) for all SCRuM test items except for the 5-m, 10-m speed tests and passing-for-accuracy test. Age category had a significant main effect on all SCRuM test items except for sum of seven skinfolds (p=0.45, η2 p=0.003). Playing standard had a significant main effect ii on all variables except for height (p=0.40, η2 p=0.01) and sum of seven skinfolds (p=0.11, η2 p =0.02). Upper-and-lower body muscular strength and power, prolonged high-intensity intermittent running ability, repeated high-intensity exercise performance ability, tackling, passing and catching significantly improved with increasing playing standards. However, the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 test, vertical jump test, tackling proficiency test and running-and-catching ability skills test demonstrated greater discriminative ability across playing standards among U16s. The 40-m speed test, 2-kg medicine ball chest throw test, repeated high-intensity exercise test, one-repetition maximum bench press and back squat tests, and passing ability skills test showed better discriminative validity for differentiating U19s by playing standards. Conclusion: Irrespective of playing standard and consistent with previous studies, all SCRuM test items significantly increased with age except for skinfolds measures. These results highlight the sensitivity of component SCRuM test items in discriminating younger (U16s) from older (U19s) athletes. U16 coaches should consider these differences when designing training interventions to assist with the development of prospective U19 players. However, prolonged high-intensity intermittent running ability, lower-body muscular power, tackling proficiency and running-andcatching ability demonstrated greater discriminative ability among U16s only, indicating a possible link to higher playing standards for that age category. Upper-body muscular power, upper-and-lowerbody muscular strength, 40-m sprinting ability, repeated high-intensity exercise performance ability, and passing ability significantly improved with playing standards among U19s, highlighting the physiological characteristics and game skills capable of differentiating elite male adolescent rugby players from both sub-elite or non-rugby players at that age category. Collectively, these findings provide insight to the high school rugby coaches into the qualities and skills contextually relevant for training for the attainment of higher playing standards in schoolboy rugby at distinct age categories

Can 3D Camera Imaging Provide Improved Information to Assess and Manage Lymphoedema in Clinical Practice?

Background Accurate diagnosis and measurement of limb volume in people with lymphoedema is important in order to provide best information for treatment, management and self-management. Current assessment methods lack detail and accuracy. Three-dimensional camera imaging (3DCI) holds the potential to be cheap, accurate, and provide additional material about limb shape not provided by current methods. However, there is a need to ensure that this assessment method is valid and reliable. Methodology This prospective, observational, longitudinal study utilised a diagnostic test study framework to determine the validity, reliability and accuracy of 3DCI compared to circumferential tape measurement (CTM) and perometry and to explore whether shape is a feasible alternative to measure upper limb lymphoedema. Twenty women with breast cancer-related lymphoedema were recruited. Phase one assessed criterion validity, intra-rater reliability, and accuracy of 3DCI by measuring limb volume of each participant with CTM, perometry and 3DCI four times over six months. Phase two investigated the use of limb shape as a method of lymphoedema assessment using oedema maps and calculations of shape redundancy derived from the 3DCI images in phase one. These data sets were matched against limb volume to determine criterion validity, intra-rater reliability and accuracy. Results 3DCI had high intra-rater correlation (ICC=0.87; p<0.00). Concurrent validity ranged from 0.82 to 0.86 against perometry and CTM, with good sensitivity (91.7% to 100%) and moderate specificity (50% to 66.7%). Limb shape calculation (shape redundancy) had moderate intra-rater correlation (ICC=0.71; p=0.01); but correlated poorly with limb volume (r=0.19 to 0.39). Coloured oedema maps were sensitive to change over time with colours clearly identifying problem areas and fluctuations within the affected limb. Conclusion Our study shows that 3DCI is a reliable, valid and accurate method of limb volume measurement, and that it could provide supportive information in clinical assessment. In addition, limb shape provides insight into localised areas of swelling, which other methods of lymphoedema measurement do not. However, shape redundancy requires further refinement

The design of an intervention programme to address the prevalence of obesity and physical fitness of adolescents attending high school

Background: South Africa has the highest prevalence rate (8.3%) of childhood obesity in sub-Saharan Africa. Obesity is a complex condition to control as it has environmental, as well as genetic factors that influence its prevalence. Childhood obesity, a rising problem worldwide and within South Africa, has been negatively linked with both physical fitness and physical activity. PA and school-based nutrition intervention programmes have been shown to have positive effects on diet and PA behaviours in children. However, there is minimal literature reporting on the effectiveness of school-based interventions in a South African setting. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity, levels of physical fitness and physical activity in adolescents attending school in an urban setting. Together with the literature, an intervention programme was designed addressing key outcome measures identified from the sample. Methodology: The study was conducted in two phases. Ten schools were randomly selected from the school education district in KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZNDoE) for phase one. A total of 400 eligible students were identified by the respective school teachers and parental consent was obtained, with assent obtained from the participants. A sample of 278 (girls n = 150, boys n = 128) participants with a mean age of 15yrs 1 month (CI 95% 12,1 – 17.1 and SD 1.14), was measured for height, weight, hip circumference, waist circumference and physical fitness (standing broad jump, sit-ups in 30s, hand grip strength, sit-and-reach and 20m shuttle run). BMI and WHR were calculated using anthropometric measurements. Physical activity (PA) was self-reported using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A) and the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) demographic form were completed by the participants' guardians/parents. Phase two involved the design of a PA intervention programme using evidence-based outcome measures from previous studies and problem areas identified in this study. Results: The mean BMI z-score was 0.30 (CI 95% 0.12 to 0.49) with boys displaying a mean of 0.19 (CI 95% -0.89 to 0.46) and girls 0.39 (CI 95% 0.15 to 0.65). There was a 16.2% prevalence of overweight (1 < BMI-z score ≤ 2), 13.3% prevalence of obesity (2 < BMI-z score ≤ 3) and 2.9% prevalence of morbid obesity (3 < BMI-z score ≤ 4). Mean WHR for the sample was 0.82 (CI 95% 0.81 – 0.83). Low levels of PA were reported by 45% (girls n = 83, boys n = 42) of the sample and 53.6% (girls n = 66, boys n = 83) reported moderate levels of PA. Girls in the sample had a higher mean sit-and-reach (t = 4.68, p < 0.05) and hand grip strength (t = 5.49, p < 0.05) than the normative values. Boys in the sample had higher mean (t = 13.2, p < 0.05) sit-and-reach than normative values. Multiple regression models were applied and BMI was found to be an inverse predictor for sit-ups ß = -0.07 (p < 0.05, CI 95% -1.0 to -0.03) and broad jump ß = -0.01 (p < 0.05, CI 95% -0.01 to -0.005). BMI was also a direct predictor for hand grip strength ß = -0.07 (p < 0.05, CI 95% 0.05 to 0.09). Discussion: The 16.2% prevalence of obesity was higher than the reported 8.5% in another South African study on adolescent scholars and the national reported level of 5.5%. The waist-hip ratio (WHR) was lower than the national reference level of 0.84 and higher compared to values obtained from adolescents in Europe (comparisons were made to age and gender specific normative values obtained in Europe, as there are no national reference physical fitness values for adolescents). Girls displayed lower values in three of the five physical tests (standing broad jump, sit-ups and 20m shuttle run), while boys displayed lower values for four (standing broad jump, hand grip strength, sit-ups and 20m shuttle run) of the five physical fitness tests. PA is indirectly correlated with BMI, and with BMI being a predictor for physical fitness, the promotion of PA amongst adolescents is imperative and urgent to curb the growing prevalence of obesity. Using evidence from previous research an intervention programme was designed to address the problems areas identified. These were high prevalence of obesity and overweight, low PA levels, poor cardiovascular function , low muscular power and poor muscular endurance across the sample. Boys also exhibited low levels of muscular strength than the normal population mean. PA programmes must be 60 minutes of duration implemented at least three times per week over 12 weeks minimum in order to have a reduction in BMI. Programmes should incorporate aerobic and anaerobic training as concurrent training has shown best results for decreasing BMI. The aerobic component of the programme must include a high intensity interval training (HIIT) as this has positive benefits on cardiovascular markers. The anaerobic component must include free weights as this showed better improvements than using resisted exercise devices in body composition, increases in upper and lower limb muscle strength in boys and improved lower limb muscle power especially in girls. Programmes should be implemented in schools with trained instructors and incorporate the family as a combination of these showed favourable compliance and overall better outcome measures. PA programmes that have a circuit formation and that incorporate a fun element has also shown to have better outcome measures and compliance. Conclusion: Physical activity levels are on the decline and obesity prevalence is on a rapid upward trajectory amongst South African adolescents. These trends could be ominous for the next workforce generation as these have been linked to numerous non-communicable diseases where the already constrained health system is placed under added pressure. PA programmes should be incorporated into schools' curricula as this may be a viable way to implement successful interventions to address obesity, physical fitness and physical activity