Physical Activity and Body Composition in Adults

Rates of overweight and obesity have risen significantly since the 1980\u27s, while levels of physical activity have declined. Reductions in physical activity may explain much of the increased body fatness realized over the past several decades, and increases in physical activity may contribute to improved body composition and weight management. PURPOSE: To examine the relationships among markers of energy expenditure and body composition in adults. METHODS: Participants arrived at the laboratory between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m., having fasted for at least 10 hours. Height and body mass (BM) were measured, and 4-compartment body composition (percent body fat [%BF], fat mass [FM] and fat-free mass [FFM]) was determined using data derived from bioelectric impedance analysis and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) was determined via indirect calorimetry. Participants were then provided with accelerometers to allow for measurement of various markers of physical activity (PA), including physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE), sedentary time (SED), time spent in moderate- to vigorous-physical activity (MVPA), and step counts (STEPS). Accelerometers were worn for 21-28 days, and associations between markers of PA and body composition were analyzed. RESULTS: Absolute expressions of PA (e.g., PAEE, STEPS) were not associated with body composition. However, expressions of PA relative to various fractions of BM were significantly correlated with %BF in both men and women. The strongest predictor of %BF was STEPS.kgFM-1.day-1. Power regression analysis yielded the model, 2907.1(STEPS.kgFM-1.day-1)-0.778 in men (R2 = 0.91), and 820.25(STEPS.kgFM-1.day-1)-0.546 in women (R2 = 0.82). CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity expressed per unit of FM strongly predicted %BF. These findings suggest relative expressions of PA (e.g., STEPS.kgBM-1.day-1 or STEPS.kgFM-1.day-1) may be more efficacious than absolute expressions of PA in developing PA prescriptions for weight management

Steps expressed relative to body fat mass predicts body composition and cardiometabolic risk in adults eating ad libitum

BACKGROUND: Excess body fatness is a consequence of a chronic energy surplus (energy intake is greater than energy expenditure). Given the serious health consequences of excess body fatness, factors that influence energy balance and body composition are increasingly important to understand. METHODS: A total of 34 adults between the ages of 19-40 years made a laboratory visit in which height, weight, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors were quantified. Participants wore accelerometers for 21-28 days, then returned to the laboratory for a second body composition assessment. Changes in weight and body composition were used to quantify energy balance, and data derived from accelerometers provided markers of physical activity (PA) and sedentariness. RESULTS: Of the markers of PA that we measured, daily step counts expressed relative to fat mass was most strongly and consistently associated with body fatness and CMR status. CONCLUSIONS: Step counts expressed relative to fat mass were strongly associated with body composition and CMR in adults eating ad libitum. Longitudinal interventional studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of step count prescriptions expressed relative to existing and target body fatness and CMR levels for improving weight management and metabolic outcomes

Steps expressed relative to body fat mass predicts body composition and cardiometabolic risk in adults eating ad libitum

BACKGROUND: Excess body fatness is a consequence of a chronic energy surplus (energy intake is greater than energy expenditure). Given the serious health consequences of excess body fatness, factors that influence energy balance and body composition are increasingly important to understand. METHODS: A total of 34 adults between the ages of 19-40 years made a laboratory visit in which height, weight, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors were quantified. Participants wore accelerometers for 21-28 days, then returned to the laboratory for a second body composition assessment. Changes in weight and body composition were used to quantify energy balance, and data derived from accelerometers provided markers of physical activity (PA) and sedentariness. RESULTS: Of the markers of PA that we measured, daily step counts expressed relative to fat mass was most strongly and consistently associated with body fatness and CMR status. CONCLUSIONS: Step counts expressed relative to fat mass were strongly associated with body composition and CMR in adults eating ad libitum. Longitudinal interventional studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of step count prescriptions expressed relative to existing and target body fatness and CMR levels for improving weight management and metabolic outcomes. KEY WORDS: Obesity; Sedentary behavior; Cardiometabolic risk factor

The emergence of intention attribution in infancy

Perception of the social world in terms of agents and their intentional relations is fundamental to human experience. In this chapter, we review recent investigations into the origins of this fundamental ability that trace its roots to the first year of life. These studies show that infants represent others’ actions not as purely physical motions, but rather as actions directed at goals and objects of attention. Infants are able to recover intentional relations at varying levels of analysis, including concrete action goals, higher-order plans, acts of attention, and collaborative goals. There is mounting evidence that these early competencies are strongly influenced by infants’ own experience as intentional agents. Action experience shapes infants’ action perception

Infants discriminate manners and paths in non-linguistic dynamic events

Do 14- to 17-month-olds notice the paths and manners of motion events? English- and Spanish-learning infants were habituated to an animated motion event including a manner (e.g., spinning) and a path (e.g., over). They were then tested on four types of events that changed either the manner, the path, both, or neither component. Both English- and Spanish-learning infants attended to changes of manner and changes of path. Thus, infants from two different language communities proved sensitive to components of events that undergird relational term learning.Do 14- to 17-month-olds notice the paths and manners of motion events? English- and Spanish-learning infants were habituated to an animated motion event including a manner (e.g., spinning) and a path (e.g., over). They were then tested on four types of events that changed either the manner, the path, both, or neither component. Both English- and Spanish-learning infants attended to changes of manner and changes of path. Thus, infants from two different language communities proved sensitive to components of events that undergird relational term learning. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Ms. Apple is Missing!

Ms. Apple is Missing: The Case of the Chocolate Pudding Catastrophe! When your and the res of the students arrive to school, you find out that your teacher is missing! You, along with the rest of the students, need to try to figure out where Ms. Apple is. Make sure to make the right choices or your teacher will never be found!https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/snc_kids_books/1004/thumbnail.jp