Co-Benefits of Physical Activity in LMIC

Copyright The Authors © 2021. Introduction: Nana Anokye, Brunel University London; ISPAH LMIC Research Chair of Council. Title: Setting the scene and introducing the speakers Speaker 1: Andrea Ramírez Varela, Universidad de los Andes in Colombia; Coordinator, Global Observatory for Physical Activity – GoPA! Title: COVID and Physical Activity in LMIC. Description: Andrea will reflect on data in the past year on the correlations between physical inactivity and COVID-19 outcomes and vice versa, the effects of COVID-19 on physical activity, and the wider impacts of the pandemic on physical activity. Speaker 2: Deborah Salvo, Washington University and Prarthna Mukerjee, Public Health Foundation India Title: Roll call on Sustainable Development Goals and Physical Activity. Description: This session will provide up to date evidence on the linkages, supported by science, between SDGs and PA; focussing on the portions relevant to LMICs. This will include findings on simulated gains to SDGs due to different PA promotion strategies in cities of LMIC. Presenter 3: Prarthna Mukerjee, Public Health Foundation of India, Centre for Chronic Disease Control Title: Urban Forests, Parks in Delhi enhance Physical Activity, SDGs 3, 5, 10 Presenter 4: Alejandra Jauregui, Jefa del Departamento de Actividad Física y Estilos de Vida Saludable; Centro de Invesitgación en Nurtición y Salud Title: Nexus between Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet in LMIC: The experiences in Mexico Speaker 5: Kingsley Agyemang, Brunel University London and Alejandra Jauregui, National Institute of Public Health of Mexico Title: Nexus between Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet in LMIC. Description: The speakers will present findings of recent empirical analyses using data from West Africa and Latin America. This will include an overview of the findings from the 2021 Ghana Obesity Survey, the first comprehensive survey on lifestyle behaviour in Ghana. Purpose: This symposium is organised by the LMIC Research council. The aim is to highlight the co-benefits of physical activity using evidence base in LMIC settings. The symposium will comprise three main parts; featuring research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Americas

The demand for sports and exercise: Results from an illustrative survey

Funding from the Department of Health policy research programme was used in this study.There is a paucity of empirical evidence on the extent to which price and perceived benefits affect the level of participation in sports and exercise. Using an illustrative sample of 60 adults at Brunel University, West London, we investigate the determinants of demand for sports and exercise. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews that covered indicators of sports and exercise behaviour; money/time price and perceived benefits of participation; and socio- economic/demographic details. Count, linear and probit regression models were fitted as appropriate. Seventy eight per cent of the sample participated in sports and exercise and spent an average of £27 per month and an average of 20 min travelling per occasion of sports and exercise. The demand for sport and exercise was negatively associated with time (travel or access time) and ‘variable’ price and positively correlated with ‘fixed’ price. Demand was price inelastic, except in the case of meeting the UK government’s recommended level of participation, which is time price elastic (elasticity = −2.2). The implications of data from a larger nationally representative sample as well as the role of economic incentives in influencing uptake of sports and exercise are discussed.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Physical activity and health related quality of life

Copyright @ 2012 Anokye et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.BACKGROUND: Research on the relationship between Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and physical activity (PA), to date, have rarely investigated how this relationship differ across objective and subjective measures of PA. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between HRQoL and PA, and examine how this relationship differs across objective and subjective measures of PA, within the context of a large representative national survey from England. METHODS: Using a sample of 5,537 adults (40–60 years) from a representative national survey in England (Health Survey for England 2008), Tobit regressions with upper censoring was employed to model the association between HRQoL and objective, and subjective measures of PA controlling for potential confounders. We tested the robustness of this relationship across specific types of PA. HRQoL was assessed using the summary measure of health state utility value derived from the EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) whilst PA was assessed via subjective measure (questionnaire) and objective measure (accelerometer- actigraph model GT1M). The actigraph was worn (at the waist) for 7 days (during waking hours) by a randomly selected sub-sample of the HSE 2008 respondents (4,507 adults – 16 plus years), with a valid day constituting 10 hours. Analysis was conducted in 2010. RESULTS: Findings suggest that higher levels of PA are associated with better HRQoL (regression coefficient: 0.026 to 0.072). This relationship is consistent across different measures and types of PA although differences in the magnitude of HRQoL benefit associated with objective and subjective (regression coefficient: 0.047) measures of PA are noticeable, with the former measure being associated with a relatively better HRQoL (regression coefficient: 0.072). CONCLUSION: Higher levels of PA are associated with better HRQoL. Using an objective measure of PA compared with subjective shows a relatively better HRQoL.This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme (project number 08/72/01)

MAPPING FIRE SEVERITY FROM RECENT CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES USING SATELLITE IMAGERY

Urban sprawl has become a huge concern for cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago in recent years. As urban sprawl pushes urbanization into city suburbs and outskirts, forest fragmentation becomes evidently prevalent and exposes forests to high temperatures, pollution, pests, and fires that threaten forest health. A 2021 report titled Rebuilding for a Resilient Recovery affirmed that the frequency and damage potential of wildfires have been exacerbated by climate change and urban sprawl especially in California. Globally, these fires can be attributed to both natural and anthropogenic drivers such as deforestation, agriculture, mining, and industrialization. Future projections predict that these incidences of fires will only worsen as the planet continues to warm further, with emphasis on the spread and intensities of the annual California wildfires over the decade. Quantifying the consequences of these fires on global climate change has become crucial and with the emergence of advanced GIS mapping tools, focus, visualization, and interpretation of fire and burn severity has become easier. However, knowledge and understanding of wildfire dynamics is limited especially in terms of fuel load, impacts on vegetation health, aerosol release and associated movement in the atmosphere. It is therefore important to address these gaps to make better and informed actions towards forest use, protection, management, and policies and broadly towards ambitious climate goals such as the UN’s Carbon Neutral goal by 2050. This study uses Sentinel 2A data from the Copernicus fleet between 2018 and 2022 to identify and assess the burn severity of affected areas in Sonoma County, California. The aim of the study is to understand the impacts of fires of fire on vegetation health and the post-fire recovery process. The Normalized Burn Ration Index (NBRI) was used to identify and measure the extent of the burnt areas within the county and their severity and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used as a measure of forest heath. The results show that Sonoma County has become a high burn severity area with a major decrease in unburned areas between 2018 and 2022. NDVI values recorded all decrease from January to December for all the years because of pre-fire season drought. The wildfire season begins in May and before then there are seasonal droughts that occur hence accounting for the initial decline in NDVI. The least values recorded were between 0.5 and 0.57 for September, indicating sparse and unhealthy vegetation because of sharp declines during the fire season

ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF SEA LEVEL RISE ON COASTAL FLOODING AND SHORELINE CHANGES ALONG THE COAST OF LOUISIANA USING REMOTE SENSORY IMAGERY

Sea level rise poses risks to coastal areas which is increasingly rendering such areas susceptible to flood and shoreline retreat. Notably, coastal areas like Southern Louisiana located along the Gulf of Mexico has experienced endangering events of land subsidence due to flood inundations resulting from incessant distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms. This research therefore employed remote sensing data to analyze the impacts of sea level rise on coastal flooding and shoreline retreat along the coast of Louisiana. That is, by assessing Sentinel-2 imagery data to evaluate flood prone and flood extent areas particularly during the Louisiana floods and Hurricane Harvey. Based on this, the results show most of the inland parishes in coastal Louisiana such as Assumption, St. James, Livingston, Lafourche and Terrebonne were within high flood risk zones of about 9.3. These parishes also suffered severe damage in terms of affected croplands, potentially flooded areas and affected urban areas. On the other hand, most of the parishes in close proximity to the waterbodies such as the Gulf of Mexico were interestingly within low flood risk zones of about 6.1 suggesting proximity to waterbodies not being the only indicating factor of a flood prone area. This research also highlights that Louisiana's shorelines are rapidly receding at a rate that could result in the loss of one million acres of the state’s land in the next four decades. Hence, the results from this research are anticipated to contribute to sustainable shoreline setback plans and mitigative strategies to protect Louisiana's coast

THE INTEGRATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) IN MANAGING URBAN ECOSYSTEMS

Urban ecosystems face numerous challenges due to rapid urbanization and population growth. Effective management of these ecosystems is crucial to ensure their sustainability and the well-being of urban residents. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as valuable tools for understanding and managing urban ecosystems. The integration of remote sensing and GIS technologies facilitate the monitoring and assessment of urban biodiversity, aiding in the conservation and restoration of ecological habitats. With this mind, the objective of this study was to investigate the integration of remote sensing and GIS technologies for real-time monitoring and assessment of environmental parameters in urban ecosystems, and their role in supporting sustainable urban ecosystem conservation efforts. Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images were acquired between January 2nd and April 5th 2020 to assess and monitor the dynamics in urban ecosystems in Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos. The Normalized Difference Built-up index was used to detect areas covered with concrete structures and impervious surfaces, while the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Normalized Difference Water Index were used to detect areas covered with vegetation and water bodies, respectively. Results of the study show that Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos experienced increased built-up areas at the expense of other land uses such as forests. Remote Sensing and GIS technologies provide valuable insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of urban environments, supporting evidence-based decision-making and sustainable urban planning and development

ASSESSING LAND COVER CHANGE AROUND BAYOU PEROT-LITTLE LAKE, NEW ORLEANS USING SENTINEL 2 SATELLITE IMAGERY

Global climate change has affected the rate of rising sea level, the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms which threatens coastal ecosystems such as Bayou Perot, Little Lake in New Orleans along the Gulf of Mexico. The impact of hurricanes could include wetland and coastal land loss. This paper compared the land cover changes around Bayou-Perot- Little Lake, New Orleans, USA following Hurricanes Ida (August 26, 2021 to August 28, 2021). Two high-resolution Sentinel 2 imagery dated before and after Hurricane Ida was compared to assess the impacts of the hurricane on the land cover around Bayou Perot. A Random Forest classification (RF) algorithm in Google Earth Engine was used to produce maps and identify areas that have experienced conversions in land use or land cover change after the hurricane. This method of classification has the advantages of high classification accuracy and the ability to measure variable importance in land-cover mapping. In addition to random classification algorithm, other analysis such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was be used to gain a better perspective of the overall changes in vegetation across the landscape. Five main classes were considered after the classification which included water, vegetation, bare soil, built up and marsh area. The results of the land cover change showed exposed old coastal marsh, valuable dune habitat providing storm protection to estuaries, wetlands, and the coastal population destroyed

The cost of changing physical activity behaviour: Evidence from a "physical activity pathway" in the primary care setting

Copyright @ 2011 Boehler et al.BACKGROUND: The ‘Physical Activity Care Pathway’ (a Pilot for the ‘Let’s Get Moving’ policy) is a systematic approach to integrating physical activity promotion into the primary care setting. It combines several methods reported to support behavioural change, including brief interventions, motivational interviewing, goal setting, providing written resources, and follow-up support. This paper compares costs falling on the UK National Health Service (NHS) of implementing the care pathway using two different recruitment strategies and provides initial insights into the cost of changing physical activity behaviour. METHODS: A combination of a time driven variant of activity based costing, audit data through EMIS and a survey of practice managers provided patient-level cost data for 411 screened individuals. Self reported physical activity data of 70 people completing the care pathway at three month was compared with baseline using a regression based ‘difference in differences’ approach. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses in combination with hypothesis testing were used to judge how robust findings are to key assumptions and to assess the uncertainty around estimates of the cost of changing physical activity behaviour. RESULTS: It cost £53 (SD 7.8) per patient completing the PACP in opportunistic centres and £191 (SD 39) at disease register sites. The completer rate was higher in disease register centres (27.3% vs. 16.2%) and the difference in differences in time spent on physical activity was 81.32 (SE 17.16) minutes/week in patients completing the PACP; so that the incremental cost of converting one sedentary adult to an ‘active state’ of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week amounts to £ 886.50 in disease register practices, compared to opportunistic screening. CONCLUSIONS: Disease register screening is more costly than opportunistic patient recruitment. However, additional costs come with a higher completion rate and better outcomes in terms of behavioural change in patients completing the care pathway. Further research is needed to rigorously evaluate intervention efficiency and to assess the link between behavioural change and changes in quality adjusted life years (QALYs).This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

USING REMOTE SENSING TO DETECT FOREST COVER CHANGE IN SAM HOUSTON NATIONAL FOREST, TEXAS

The Sam Houston National Forest is a large, forested area in Texas that has experienced significant land-use changes over the past few decades. The study area replicates plentiful climatic, physiographic, and edaphic differences in the country and this forest faces a serious problem of degradation and disturbance of different nature. In this study, we utilized remote sensing technology specifically Landsat 4 ETM and Landsat 8 from USGS Earth Explorer with spatial resolution 30 m, to analyze forest cover change in Sam Houston National Forest from 2001 to 2020. We also employed the Hansen Global Forest Cover Data from the Google Earth Engine Catalogue to assess the forest cover loss and gain within the study period. Also, the i-Tree software was used to estimate carbon sequestration in the forest and assess the potential benefits of forest management practices. Results of the study showed that the Sam Houston National Forest has experienced a net loss of forest cover over the past few decades, primarily due to agricultural expansion and urbanization. However, the forest has also shown signs of regrowth and recovery in certain areas, highlighting the potential for effective forest management practices to promote carbon sequestration and conservation. Overall, our study highlights the importance of remote sensing technology for understanding forest cover change and its implications for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation

APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING IN MONITORING FOREST COVER CHANGE AND CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS AT KISATCHIE NATIONAL FOREST OF LOUISIANA

It is estimated that the globe’s forest has shrunk by 3% since 1990, an area equivalence to the geographical boundaries of South Africa. The Kisatchie National Forest of Louisiana replicates plentiful climatic, physiographic and edaphic differences in the country and this forest faces a serious problem of degradation and disturbance of different nature. Remote sensing from satellites offers the best way to observe these changes over time. This study will employ Landsat-8 satellite imagery to analyze forest cover change in Kisatchie National Forest from 2010 to 2020. The objectives of the study are to (i) identify the trend, nature, and the magnitude of forest cover change, (ii) prepare image maps delineating forest cover change for the duration of the study (iii) establish the trend of CO2 levels within Kisatchie environs. Results showed a gain of forest cover within the Kisatchie National Forest which correlated to the rate of CO2 sequestration by sinks. NDVI of 2010 was 0.65 compared to 0.86 for 2020 indicating a gain of 32% of forest cover since 2010. This showed how effective Protected areas are in conserving forest cover and restricting land uses that may disturb forest structure