Pumping iron in Australia: Prevalence, trends and sociodemographic correlates of muscle strengthening activity participation from a national sample of 195,926 adults

OBJECTIVE:The current Australian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults engage in regular muscle-strengthening activity (e.g. strength or resistance training). However, public health surveillance studies describing the patterns and trends of population-level muscle-strengthening activity participation are sparse. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence, trends and sociodemographic correlates of muscle-strengthening activity participation in a national-representative sample of Australians aged 15 years and over. METHODS:Between 2001 and 2010, quarterly cross-sectional national telephone surveys were conducted as part of the Australian Sports Commission's 'Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey'. Pooled population-weighted proportions were calculated for reporting: [i] no muscle-strengthening activity; [ii] insufficient muscle-strengthening activity, and [iii] sufficient muscle-strengthening activity. Associations with sociodemographic variables were assessed using multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS:Out of 195,926 participants, aged 15-98 years, only 10.4% (95% CI: 10.1-10.7) and 9.3% (95% CI: 9.1-9.5) met the muscle-strengthening activity recommendations in the past two weeks and in the past year, respectively. Older adults (50+ years), and those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged, outer regional/remote areas and with lower education were less likely to report sufficient muscle-strengthening activity (p<0.001). Over the 10-year monitoring period, there was a significant increase in the prevalence of sufficient muscle-strengthening activity (6.4% to 12.0%, p-value for linear trend <0.001). CONCLUSIONS:A vast majority of Australian adults did not engage in sufficient muscle-strengthening activity. There is a need for public health strategies to support participation in muscle-strengthening activity in this population. Such strategies should target older and lower educated adults, and those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged, outer regional/remote and areas

Acute low-volume high-intensity interval exercise and continuous moderate-intensity exercise elicit a similar improvement in 24-h glycemic control in overweight and obese adults

Background: Acute exercise reduces postprandial oxidative stress and glycemia; however, the effects of exercise intensity are unclear. We investigated the effect of acute low-volume high-intensity interval-exercise (LV-HIIE) and continuous moderate-intensity exercise (CMIE) on glycemic control and oxidative stress in overweight and obese, inactive adults.Methods: Twenty-seven adults were randomly allocated to perform a single session of LV-HIIE (9 females, 5 males; age: 30 &plusmn; 1 years; BMI: 29 &plusmn; 1 kg&middot;m&minus;2; mean &plusmn; SEM) or CMIE (8 females, 5 males; age: 30 &plusmn; 2.0; BMI: 30 &plusmn; 2.0) 1 h after consumption of a standard breakfast. Plasma redox status, glucose and insulin were measured. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) was conducted during the 24-h period before (rest day) and after exercise (exercise day).Results: Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS; 29 &plusmn;13%, p &lt; 0.01; mean percent change &plusmn;90% confidence limit), hydrogen peroxide (44 &plusmn; 16%, p &lt; 0.01), catalase activity (50 &plusmn; 16%, p &lt; 0.01), and superoxide dismutase activity (21 &plusmn; 6%, p &lt; 0.01) significantly increased 1 h after breakfast (prior to exercise) compared to baseline. Exercise significantly decreased postprandial glycaemia in whole blood (&minus;6 &plusmn; 5%, p &lt; 0.01), irrespective of the exercise protocol. Only CMIE significantly decreased postprandial TBARS (CMIE: &minus;33 &plusmn; 8%, p &lt; 0.01; LV-HIIE: 11 &plusmn; 22%, p = 0.34) and hydrogen peroxide (CMIE: &minus;25 &plusmn; 15%, p = 0.04; LV-HIIE: 7 &plusmn; 26%; p = 0.37). Acute exercise provided a similar significant improvement in 24-h average glucose levels (&minus;5 &plusmn; 2%, p &lt; 0.01), hyperglycemic excursions (&minus;37 &plusmn; 60%, p &lt; 0.01), peak glucose concentrations (&minus;8 &plusmn; 4%, p &lt; 0.01), and the 2-h postprandial glucose response to dinner (&minus;9 &plusmn; 4%, p &lt; 0.01), irrespective of the exercise protocol.Conclusion: Despite elevated postprandial oxidative stress compared to CMIE, LV-HIIE is an equally effective exercise mode for improving 24-h glycemic control in overweight and obese adults

Caribou, Petroleum, and the Limits of Locality in the Canada–US Borderlands

his article discusses Karsten Heuer’s 2006 book Being Caribou in light of debates in ecocriticism and border studies about how to define the local in the context of environmental problems of vast range and uncertain temporality. It explores how Heuer’s book about following the Porcupine Caribou herd’s migration engages in multiple forms of boundary crossing—between countries, between hemispheric locations, and between species—and shows how insights from Indigenous storytelling complicate the book’s appeal to environmentalist readers by asserting a prior, transnational Indigenous presence in the transboundary landscapes of present-day Alaska and the Yukon

Evidence Use and the Institutions of the State: The Role of Parliament and the Judiciary

This chapter explores the role of parliaments and the judiciary in shaping evidence use in health policy making. Most analyses of the role of scientific evidence focus on the executive, i.e. national governments and ministries of health, as the key state actors in health policy and health system governance. This chapter shifts attention to the other two powers within the state, the legislative and the judiciary. Using the examples analysed in this book the chapter examines how parliaments can use evidence to inform legislative processes and to hold governments to account, although there are substantial differences between countries and political systems. However, there was little suggestion that such approaches were undertaken systematically. In cases in which policies are brought to court, judges may have to deal with scientific evidence within a country’s legal and constitutional framework, again with significant differences between national legal practices

Federalism and decentralization: Impact on International and Brazilian Health Policies

This article discusses the implications of decentralization in the light of international and Brazilian federalism, and its effects on public health policy. In a comparative analysis among countries, the authors find there is no single model; rather, each country has a unique structure of institutions and norms that have important implications for the operation of its health system. Brazil shares some similarities with other countries that have adopted a decentralized system and is assuming features ever closer to U.S. federalism, with a complex web of relationships. The degree of inequality among Brazilian municipalities and states, along with the budgetary imbalances caused by the minimal levels of resource utilization, undermines Brazil's constitutional principles and, consequently, its federalism. To ensure the constitutional mandate in Brazil, it is essential, as in other countries, to create a stable source of funds and increase the volume and efficiency of spending. Also important are investing in the training of managers, improving information systems, strengthening the principles of autonomy and interdependence, and defining patterns of cooperation within the federation