Physical Activity as a Vital Sign: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) is strongly endorsed for managing chronic conditions, and a vital sign tool (indicator of general physical condition) could alert providers of inadequate PA to prompt counseling or referral. This systematic review examined the use, definitions, psychometric properties, and outcomes of brief PA instruments as vital sign measures, with attention primarily to studies focused on arthritis.METHODS: Electronic databases were searched for English-language literature from 1985 through 2016 using the terms PA, exercise, vital sign, exercise referral scheme, and exercise counseling. Of the 838 articles identified for title and abstract review, 9 articles qualified for full text review and data extraction.RESULTS: Five brief PA measures were identified: Exercise Vital Sign (EVS), Physical Activity Vital Sign (PAVS), Speedy Nutrition and Physical Activity Assessment (SNAP), General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPPAQ), and Stanford Brief Activity Survey (SBAS). Studies focusing on arthritis were not found. Over 1.5 years of using EVS in a large hospital system, improvements occurred in relative weight loss among overweight patients and reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin among diabetic patients. On PAVS, moderate physical activity of 5 or more days per week versus fewer than 5 days per week was associated with a lower body mass index (-2.90 kg/m2). Compared with accelerometer-defined physical activity, EVS was weakly correlated (r = 0.27), had low sensitivity (27%-59%), and high specificity (74%-89%); SNAP showed weak agreement (κ = 0.12); GPPAQ had moderate sensitivity (46%) and specificity (50%), and SBAS was weakly correlated (r = 0.10-0.28), had poor to moderate sensitivity (18%-67%), and had moderate specificity (58%-79%).CONCLUSION: Few studies have examined a brief physical activity tool as a vital sign measure. Initial investigations suggest the promise of these simple and quick assessment tools, and research is needed to test the effects of their use on chronic disease outcomes

Public Health Interventions for Osteoarthritis - updates on the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance's efforts to address the 2010 OA Public Health Agenda Recommendations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful joint disease affecting more than 32.5 million adults in the US and over 350 million adults worldwide. The prevalence is expected to rise continually over the next several decades with significant impacts to societal health and economic costs as well as individuals' daily activities and quality of life. In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Arthritis Foundation (AF) led a collaborative effort to address approaches to reduce the burden of OA via public health interventions, policies (systems and environmental), and communication strategies. This collaboration resulted in the National Public Health Agenda for OA (OA Agenda), which was vetted by more than 75 stakeholder organisations and released in 2010. The OA Agenda listed ten recommendations focused on public health interventions for OA including weight management, physical activity, self-management education, and injury prevention, and policies, systems, communication, research and evaluation. In 2011, the CDC and AF mobilised the OA Action Alliance (OAAA), a national coalition of organisations concerned with mitigating the public health impact of OA, to operationalise the recommendations set forth in the OA Agenda. Since then, the OAAA has grown to include more than 110 organisations that work collectively to increase awareness about the prevention and management of OA, provide educational resources, and expand access to evidence-based programmes for target audiences including individuals with OA, community-based organisations, healthcare systems and providers, and policymakers. This review highlights the OAAA's progress to date in addressing the OA Agenda recommendations; successes and challenges in delivery of effective communication, programmes, and resources; and future implications

Barriers and facilitators to the adoption and implementation of evidence-based injury prevention training programmes: a narrative review

While there is a multitude of evidence supporting the efficacy of injury prevention training programmes, the literature investigating the implementation of these programmes is, in contrast, rather limited. This narrative review sought to describe the commonly reported barriers and facilitators of the implementation of injury prevention training programmes among athletes in organised sport. We also aimed to identify necessary steps to promote the uptake and sustainable use of these programmes in non-elite athletic communities. We identified 24 publications that discussed implementing evidence-based injury prevention training programmes. Frequently reported barriers to implementation include the perceived time and financial cost of the programme, coaches lacking confidence in their ability to implement it, and the programme including exercises that were difficult or confusing to follow. Frequently reported facilitators to implementation include the coach being aware of programme efficacy, shared motivation to complete the programme from both coaches and athletes, and the ability to easily integrate the programme into practice schedules. The current literature is focused on high-income, high-resource settings. We recommend that future studies focus on understanding the best practices of programme dissemination in culturally and economically diverse regions. Programmes ought to be of no financial burden to the user, be simply adaptable to different sports and individual athletes and be available for use in easily accessible forms, such as in a mobile smartphone application

Diversity of hard-bottom fauna relative to environmental gradients in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

A baseline study of hard-bottom zoobenthos in relation to environmental gradients in Kongsfjorden, a glacial fjord in Svalbard, is presented, based on collections from 1996 to 1998. The total species richness in 62 samples from 0 to 30 m depth along five transects was 403 species. Because 32 taxa could not be identified to species level and because 11 species are probably new to science, the total number of identified species was 360. Of these, 47 species are new for Svalbard waters. Bryozoa was the most diverse group. Biogeographic composition revealed features of both Arctic and sub-Arctic properties of the fauna. Species richness, frequency of species occurrence, mean abundance and biomass generally decreased towards the tidal glaciers in inner Kongsfjorden. Among eight environmental factors, depth was most important for explaining variance in the composition of the zoobenthos. The diversity was consistently low at shallow depths, whereas the non-linear patterns of species composition of deeper samples indicated a transitional zone between surface and deeper water masses at 15–20 m depth. Groups of “colonial” and “non-colonial” species differed in diversity, biogeographic composition and distribution by location and depth as well as in relation to other environmental factors. “Non-colonial” species made a greater contribution than “colonial” species to total species richness, total occurrence and biomass in samples, and were more influenced by the depth gradient. Biogeographic composition was sensitive to variation of zoobenthic characteristics over the studied depth range. A list of recorded species and a description of sampling sites are presented

Pharmacological inhibition of TBK1/IKKε blunts immunopathology in a murine model of SARS-CoV-2 infection

TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) is a key signalling component in the production of type-I interferons, which have essential antiviral activities, including against SARS-CoV-2. TBK1, and its homologue IκB kinase-ε (IKKε), can also induce pro-inflammatory responses that contribute to pathogen clearance. While initially protective, sustained engagement of type-I interferons is associated with damaging hyper-inflammation found in severe COVID-19 patients. The contribution of TBK1/IKKε signalling to these responses is unknown. Here we find that the small molecule idronoxil inhibits TBK1/IKKε signalling through destabilisation of TBK1/IKKε protein complexes. Treatment with idronoxil, or the small molecule inhibitor MRT67307, suppresses TBK1/IKKε signalling and attenuates cellular and molecular lung inflammation in SARS-CoV-2-challenged mice. Our findings additionally demonstrate that engagement of STING is not the major driver of these inflammatory responses and establish a critical role for TBK1/IKKε signalling in SARS-CoV-2 hyper-inflammation.Tomalika R. Ullah ... Benjamin T. Kile ... et al

Track A Basic Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138319/1/jia218438.pd

Fibromyalgia dyscognition: concepts and issues

Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain and tenderness; however, comorbid cognitive difficulties are a common complaint among patients. Known as <em>fibro fog</em> or dyscognition, this symptom comprises difficulties with complex cognitive processes including memory, executive function, concentration and attention. While the mechanisms that initiate and maintain these cognitive deficits are still largely unknown, recent research has increased the understanding of subjective symptoms and objectively-determined deficits in cognitive performance. Treatments have also improved to include complementary cognitive and physical strategies. This review focuses on issues of dyscognition in fibromyalgia. Details of objective testing methods are not within the scope of this paper

Detection of polyaromatic compounds using antibody-based fiberoptics fluoroimmunosensors

In this work we have investigated the performance of an antibody-based fiberoptics sensor for the detection of the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene and its DNA-adduct product BP-tetrol. The excellent sensitivity of this device - femtomole limits of detection for BP - illustrates that it has considerable potential to perform analyses of chemical and biological samples at trace levels in complex matrices. The results indicate that fiberoptics-based fluoroimmunosensors can be useful in a wide spectrum of biochemical and clinical analyses. 17 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab