Weight management for overweight and obese men delivered through professional football clubs : a pilot randomized trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Preventing unintentional injuries to children under 15 years in the outdoors: a systematic review of the effectiveness of educational programs.

This is a freely-available open access publication. Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.Unintentional injuries to children in the outdoors have a significant impact on child mortality, development and healthcare costs. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review about the effectiveness of programs that provided information, advice or education about the prevention of unintentional injuries to children under 15 years during outdoor play and leisure.Centre for Public Health Excellence, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (UK

The SDSS-2MASS-WISE Ten Dimensional Stellar Color Locus

We present the fiducial main sequence stellar locus traced by 10 photometric colors observed by SDSS, 2MASS, and WISE. Median colors are determined using 1,052,793 stars with r-band extinction less than 0.125. We use this locus to measure the dust extinction curve relative to the r-band, which is consistent with previous measurements in the SDSS and 2MASS bands. The WISE band extinction coefficients are larger than predicted by standard extinction models. Using 13 lines of sight, we find variations in the extinction curve in H, Ks, and WISE bandpasses. Relative extinction decreases towards Galactic anti-center, in agreement with prior studies. Relative extinction increases with Galactic latitude, in contrast to previous observations. This indicates a universal mid-IR extinction law does not exist due to variations in dust grain size and chemistry with Galactocentric position. A preliminary search for outliers due to warm circumstellar dust is also presented, using stars with high signal-to-noise in the W3-band. We find 199 such outliers, identified by excess emission in Ks-W3. Inspection of SDSS images for these outliers reveals a large number of contaminants due to nearby galaxies. Six sources appear to be genuine dust candidates, yielding a fraction of systems with infrared excess of 0.12$\pm$0.05%.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS Accepted. Tables 1 and 2 available online: https://github.com/jradavenport/wise_locu

Words matter: A qualitative investigation of which weight status terms are acceptable and motivate weight loss when used by health professionals

Background: Health professionals have an important role to play in the management of obesity, but may be unsure how to raise weight issues with patients. The societal stigma associated with excess weight means that weight status terms may be misunderstood, cause offence and risk upsetting patient-professional relationships. This study investigated the views of people who were overweight or obese on the acceptability of weight status terms and their potential to motivate weight loss when used by health professionals. Methods. A qualitative study comprising 34 semi-structured interviews with men and women in their mid-to-late 30s and 50s who were overweight or obese and had recently been informed of their weight status. Thematic framework analysis was conducted to allow the systematic comparison of views by age, gender and apparent motivation to lose weight. Results: Although many people favoured 'Overweight' to describe their weight status, there were doubts about its effectiveness to motivate weight loss. Terms including 'BMI' ('Body Mass Index') or referring to the unhealthy nature of their weight were generally considered acceptable and motivational, although a number of men questioned the validity of BMI as an indicator of excess weight. Participants, particularly women, felt that health professionals should avoid using 'Fat'. Whilst response to 'Obese' was largely negative, people recognised that it could be appropriate in a health consultation. Some younger people, particularly those who appeared motivated to lose weight, felt 'Obese' could encourage weight loss, but it was also clear the term could provoke negative emotions if used insensitively. Conclusions: Although most people who are overweight or obese accept that it is appropriate for health professionals to discuss weight issues with patients, there is great variation in response to the terms commonly used to describe excess weight. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to discussing weight status: some men and younger people may appreciate a direct approach, whilst others need to be treated more sensitively. It is therefore important that health professionals use their knowledge and understanding to select the terms that are most likely to be acceptable, but at the same time have most potential to motivate each individual patient

Citizens without nations

To broach the question of whether citizenship could exist without (or beyond) community, this paper discusses genealogies of citizenship as membership that binds an individual to the community of birth (of the self or a parent). It is birthright as fraternity that blurs the boundary between citizenship and nationality. After briefly discussing recent critical studies on birthright citizenship (whether it is civic or ethnic or blood or soil) by Ayelet Shachar and Jacqueline Stevens, the paper discusses three critical genealogies of the relationship between birthright and citizenship by Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault. Although each provides a critical perspective into the question, Weber reduces citizenship to fraternity with nation and Arendt reduces citizenship to fraternity with the state. It is Foucault who illustrates racialization of fraternity as the connection between citizenship and nationality. Yet, since Foucault limits his genealogical investigations to the 18th and 19th centuries, a genealogy of fraternity of what he calls an immense biblical and Greek tradition remains for Derrida to articulate as a question of citizenship

The Principle of Valence Bond Amplitude Maximization in Cuprates: How it breeds Superconductivity, Spin and Charge Orders

A simple microscopic principle of `Valence bond (nearest neighbor singlet) amplitude maximization '(VBAM) is shown to be present in undoped and optimally doped cuprates and unify the very different orderings such as antiferromagnetism in the Mott insulator and the robust superconductivity accompanied by an enhanced charge and stripe correlations in the optimally doped cuprates. VBAM is nearly synonymous with the energy minimization principle. It is implicit in the RVB theory and thereby makes the predictions of RVB mean field theory of superconductivity qualitatively correct.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe

Breast cancer risk reduction:is it feasible to initiate a randomised controlled trial of a lifestyle intervention programme (ActWell) within a national breast screening programme?

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second cause of cancer deaths amongst women in the UK. The incidence of the disease is increasing and is highest in women from least deprived areas. It is estimated that around 42% of the disease in post-menopausal women could be prevented by increased physical activity and reductions in alcohol intake and body fatness. Breast cancer control endeavours focus on national screening programmes but these do not include communications or interventions for risk reductionThis study aimed to assess the feasibility of delivery, indicative effects and acceptability of a lifestyle intervention programme initiated within the NHS Scottish Breast Screening Programme (NHSSBSP).MethodsA 1:1 randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the 3 month ActWell programme (focussing on body weight, physical activity and alcohol) versus usual care conducted in two NHSSBSP sites between June 2013 and January 2014. Feasibility assessments included recruitment, retention, and fidelity to protocol. Indicative outcomes were measured at baseline and 3 month follow-up (body weight, waist circumference, eating and alcohol habits and physical activity. At study end, a questionnaire assessed participant satisfaction and qualitative interviews elicited women¿s, coaches and radiographers¿ experiences. Statistical analysis used Chi squared tests for comparisons in proportions and paired t tests for comparisons of means. Linear regression analyses were performed, adjusted for baseline values, with group allocation as a fixed effectResultsA pre-set recruitment target of 80 women was achieved within 12 weeks and 65 (81%) participants (29 intervention, 36 control) completed 3 month assessments. Mean age was 58¿±¿5.6 years, mean BMI was 29.2¿±¿7.0 kg/m2 and many (44%) reported a family history of breast cancer.The primary analysis (baseline body weight adjusted) showed a significant between group difference favouring the intervention group of 2.04 kg (95%CI ¿3.24 kg to ¿0.85 kg). Significant, favourable between group differences were also detected for BMI, waist circumference, physical activity and sitting time. Women rated the programme highly and 70% said they would recommend it to others.ConclusionsRecruitment, retention, indicative results and participant acceptability support the development of a definitive RCT to measure long term effects.Trial registrationThe trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials (ISRCTN56223933)