1,258 research outputs found

    UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

    Combined Nutrition and Exercise Interventions in Community Groups

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    Diet and physical activity are two key modifiable lifestyle factors that influence health across the lifespan (prevention and management of chronic diseases and reduction of the risk of premature death through several biological mechanisms). Community-based interventions contribute to public health, as they have the potential to reach high population-level impact, through the focus on groups that share a common culture or identity in their natural living environment. While the health benefits of a balanced diet and regular physical activity are commonly studied separately, interventions that combine these two lifestyle factors have the potential to induce greater benefits in community groups rather than strategies focusing only on one or the other. Thus, this Special Issue entitled “Combined Nutrition and Exercise Interventions in Community Groups” is comprised of manuscripts that highlight this combined approach (balanced diet and regular physical activity) in community settings. The contributors to this Special Issue are well-recognized professionals in complementary fields such as education, public health, nutrition, and exercise. This Special Issue highlights the latest research regarding combined nutrition and exercise interventions among different community groups and includes research articles developed through five continents (Africa, Asia, America, Europe and Oceania), as well as reviews and systematic reviews

    UMSL Bulletin 2022-2023

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    The 2022-2023 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp

    Differences in well-being:the biological and environmental causes, related phenotypes, and real-time assessment

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    Well-being is a complex, and multifaceted construct that includes feeling good and functioning well. There is a growing global recognition of well-being as an important research topic and public policy goal. Well-being is related to less behavioral and emotional problems, and is associated with many positive aspects of daily life, including longevity, higher educational achievement, happier marriage, and more productivity at work. People differ in their levels of well-being, i.e., some people are in general happier or more satisfied with their lives than others. These individual differences in well-being can arise from many different factors, including biological (genetic) influences and environmental influences. To enhance the development of future mental health prevention and intervention strategies to increase well-being, more knowledge about these determinants and factors underlying well-being is needed. In this dissertation, I aimed to increase the understanding of the etiology in a series of studies using different methods, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, twin designs, and molecular genetic designs. In part I, we brought together all published studies on the neural and physiological factors underlying well-being. This overview allowed us to critically investigate the claims made about the biology involved in well-being. The number of studies on the neural and physiological factors underlying well-being is increasing and the results point towards potential correlates of well-being. However, samples are often still small, and studies focus mostly on a single biomarker. Therefore, more well-powered, data-driven, and integrative studies across biological categories are needed to better understand the neural and physiological pathways that play a role in well-being. In part II, we investigated the overlap between well-being and a range of other phenotypes to learn more about the etiology of well-being. We report a large overlap with phenotypes including optimism, resilience, and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, when removing the genetic overlap between well-being and depressive symptoms, we showed that well-being has unique genetic associations with a range of phenotypes, independently from depressive symptoms. These results can be helpful in designing more effective interventions to increase well-being, taking into account the overlap and possible causality with other phenotypes. In part III, we used the extreme environmental change during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate individual differences in the effects of such environmental changes on well-being. On average, we found a negative effect of the pandemic on different aspects of well-being, especially further into the pandemic. Whereas most previous studies only looked at this average negative effect of the pandemic on well-being, we focused on the individual differences as well. We reported large individual differences in the effects of the pandemic on well-being in both chapters. This indicates that one-size-fits-all preventions or interventions to maintain or increase well-being during the pandemic or lockdowns will not be successful for the whole population. Further research is needed for the identification of protective factors and resilience mechanisms to prevent further inequality during extreme environmental situations. In part IV, we looked at the real-time assessment of well-being, investigating the feasibility and results of previous studies. The real-time assessment of well-being, related variables, and the environment can lead to new insights about well-being, i.e., results that we cannot capture with traditional survey research. The real-time assessment of well-being is therefore a promising area for future research to unravel the dynamic nature of well-being fluctuations and the interaction with the environment in daily life. Integrating all results in this dissertation confirmed that well-being is a complex human trait that is influenced by many interrelated and interacting factors. Future directions to understand individual differences in well-being will be a data-driven approach to investigate the complex interplay of neural, physiological, genetic, and environmental factors in well-being

    Introduction to Psychology

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    Introduction to Psychology is a modified version of Psychology 2e - OpenStax

    30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023)

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    This is the abstract book of 30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023

    The Chironian 2023

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    The Chironian is distributed to a readership of 16,000 faculty, alumni and employees of New York Medical College, government and community leaders, affiliated hospitals and selected media. Each issue is carefully crafted to provide a balance of articles on cutting-edge research, personality profiles, student accomplishments and alumni news from all five schools on the NYMC campus. Inquiries can be sent to [email protected]://touroscholar.touro.edu/nymc_arch_journals/1185/thumbnail.jp

    Motivational support intervention to reduce smoking and increase physical activity in smokers not ready to quit: the TARS RCT.

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    BACKGROUND: Physical activity can support smoking cessation for smokers wanting to quit, but there have been no studies on supporting smokers wanting only to reduce. More broadly, the effect of motivational support for such smokers is unclear. OBJECTIVES: The objectives were to determine if motivational support to increase physical activity and reduce smoking for smokers not wanting to immediately quit helps reduce smoking and increase abstinence and physical activity, and to determine if this intervention is cost-effective. DESIGN: This was a multicentred, two-arm, parallel-group, randomised (1 : 1) controlled superiority trial with accompanying trial-based and model-based economic evaluations, and a process evaluation. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants from health and other community settings in four English cities received either the intervention (n = 457) or usual support (n = 458). INTERVENTION: The intervention consisted of up to eight face-to-face or telephone behavioural support sessions to reduce smoking and increase physical activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were carbon monoxide-verified 6- and 12-month floating prolonged abstinence (primary outcome), self-reported number of cigarettes smoked per day, number of quit attempts and carbon monoxide-verified abstinence at 3 and 9 months. Furthermore, self-reported (3 and 9 months) and accelerometer-recorded (3 months) physical activity data were gathered. Process items, intervention costs and cost-effectiveness were also assessed. RESULTS: The average age of the sample was 49.8 years, and participants were predominantly from areas with socioeconomic deprivation and were moderately heavy smokers. The intervention was delivered with good fidelity. Few participants achieved carbon monoxide-verified 6-month prolonged abstinence [nine (2.0%) in the intervention group and four (0.9%) in the control group; adjusted odds ratio 2.30 (95% confidence interval 0.70 to 7.56)] or 12-month prolonged abstinence [six (1.3%) in the intervention group and one (0.2%) in the control group; adjusted odds ratio 6.33 (95% confidence interval 0.76 to 53.10)]. At 3 months, the intervention participants smoked fewer cigarettes than the control participants (21.1 vs. 26.8 per day). Intervention participants were more likely to reduce cigarettes by ≥ 50% by 3 months [18.9% vs. 10.5%; adjusted odds ratio 1.98 (95% confidence interval 1.35 to 2.90] and 9 months [14.4% vs. 10.0%; adjusted odds ratio 1.52 (95% confidence interval 1.01 to 2.29)], and reported more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at 3 months [adjusted weekly mean difference of 81.61 minutes (95% confidence interval 28.75 to 134.47 minutes)], but not at 9 months. Increased physical activity did not mediate intervention effects on smoking. The intervention positively influenced most smoking and physical activity beliefs, with some intervention effects mediating changes in smoking and physical activity outcomes. The average intervention cost was estimated to be £239.18 per person, with an overall additional cost of £173.50 (95% confidence interval -£353.82 to £513.77) when considering intervention and health-care costs. The 1.1% absolute between-group difference in carbon monoxide-verified 6-month prolonged abstinence provided a small gain in lifetime quality-adjusted life-years (0.006), and a minimal saving in lifetime health-care costs (net saving £236). CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that behavioural support for smoking reduction and increased physical activity led to meaningful increases in prolonged abstinence among smokers with no immediate plans to quit smoking. The intervention is not cost-effective. LIMITATIONS: Prolonged abstinence rates were much lower than expected, meaning that the trial was underpowered to provide confidence that the intervention doubled prolonged abstinence. FUTURE WORK: Further research should explore the effects of the present intervention to support smokers who want to reduce prior to quitting, and/or extend the support available for prolonged reduction and abstinence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial is registered as ISRCTN47776579. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 27, No. 4. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information
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