Predictors of Employee Involvement in a Worksite Health Promotion Program

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67001/2/10.1177_109019819001700404.pd

Sensory Electrical Stimulation Improves Foot Placement during Targeted Stepping Post-Stroke

Proper foot placement is vital for maintaining balance during walking, requiring the integration of multiple sensory signals with motor commands. Disruption of brain structures post-stroke likely alters the processing of sensory information by motor centers, interfering with precision control of foot placement and walking function for stroke survivors. In this study, we examined whether somatosensory stimulation, which improves functional movements of the paretic hand, could be used to improve foot placement of the paretic limb. Foot placement was evaluated before, during, and after application of somatosensory electrical stimulation to the paretic foot during a targeted stepping task. Starting from standing, twelve chronic stroke participants initiated movement with the non-paretic limb and stepped to one of five target locations projected onto the floor with distances normalized to the paretic stride length. Targeting error and lower extremity kinematics were used to assess changes in foot placement and limb control due to somatosensory stimulation. Significant reductions in placement error in the medial–lateral direction (p = 0.008) were observed during the stimulation and post-stimulation blocks. Seven participants, presenting with a hip circumduction walking pattern, had reductions (p = 0.008) in the magnitude and duration of hip abduction during swing with somatosensory stimulation. Reductions in circumduction correlated with both functional and clinical measures, with larger improvements observed in participants with greater impairment. The results of this study suggest that somatosensory stimulation of the paretic foot applied during movement can improve the precision control of foot placement

Trends over 5 Decades in U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity and Their Associations with Obesity

BACKGROUND: The true causes of the obesity epidemic are not well understood and there are few longitudinal population-based data published examining this issue. The objective of this analysis was to examine trends in occupational physical activity during the past 5 decades and explore how these trends relate to concurrent changes in body weight in the U.S. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Analysis of energy expenditure for occupations in U.S. private industry since 1960 using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mean body weight was derived from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). In the early 1960's almost half the jobs in private industry in the U.S. required at least moderate intensity physical activity whereas now less than 20% demand this level of energy expenditure. Since 1960 the estimated mean daily energy expenditure due to work related physical activity has dropped by more than 100 calories in both women and men. Energy balance model predicted weights based on change in occupation-related daily energy expenditure since 1960 for each NHANES examination period closely matched the actual change in weight for 40-50 year old men and women. For example from 1960-62 to 2003-06 we estimated that the occupation-related daily energy expenditure decreased by 142 calories in men. Given a baseline weight of 76.9 kg in 1960-02, we estimated that a 142 calories reduction would result in an increase in mean weight to 89.7 kg, which closely matched the mean NHANES weight of 91.8 kg in 2003-06. The results were similar for women. CONCLUSION: Over the last 50 years in the U.S. we estimate that daily occupation-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 100 calories, and this reduction in energy expenditure accounts for a significant portion of the increase in mean U.S. body weights for women and men

Influence of family and friend smoking on intentions to smoke and smoking-related attitudes and refusal self-efficacy among 9-10 year old children from deprived neighbourhoods: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Smoking often starts in early adolescence and addiction can occur rapidly. For effective smoking prevention there is a need to identify at risk groups of preadolescent children and whether gender-specific intervention components are necessary. This study aimed to examine associations between mother, father, sibling and friend smoking and cognitive vulnerability to smoking among preadolescent children living in deprived neighbourhoods. METHODS: Cross-sectional data was collected from 9-10 year old children (n =1143; 50.7% girls; 85.6% White British) from 43 primary schools in Merseyside, England. Children completed a questionnaire that assessed their smoking-related behaviour, intentions, attitudes, and refusal self-efficacy, as well as parent, sibling and friend smoking. Data for boys and girls were analysed separately using multilevel linear and logistic regression models, adjusting for individual cognitions and school and deprivation level. RESULTS: Compared to girls, boys had lower non-smoking intentions (P = 0.02), refusal self-efficacy (P = 0.04) and were less likely to agree that smoking is 'definitely' bad for health (P < 0.01). Friend smoking was negatively associated with non-smoking intentions in girls (P < 0.01) and boys (P < 0.01), and with refusal self-efficacy in girls (P < 0.01). Sibling smoking was negatively associated with non-smoking intentions in girls (P < 0.01) but a positive association was found in boys (P = 0.02). Boys who had a smoking friend were less likely to 'definitely' believe that the smoke from other people's cigarettes is harmful (OR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.91, P = 0.02). Further, boys with a smoking friend (OR 0.38, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.69, P < 0.01) or a smoking sibling (OR 0.45, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.98) were less likely to 'definitely' believe that smoking is bad for health. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that sibling and friend smoking may represent important influences on 9-10 year old children's cognitive vulnerability toward smoking. Whilst some differential findings by gender were observed, these may not be sufficient to warrant separate prevention interventions. However, further research is needed

French Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire Compared with an Accelerometer Cut Point to Classify Physical Activity among Pregnant Obese Women

Given the high risk for inactivity during pregnancy in obese women, validated questionnaires for physical activity (PA) assessment in this specific population is required before evaluating the effect of PA on perinatal outcomes. No questionnaire was validated in pregnant obese women. The Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) has been designed based on activities reported during pregnancy and validated in pregnant women. We translated the PPAQ to French and assessed reliability and accuracy of this French version among pregnant obese women. In this cross-sectional study, pregnant obese women were evenly recruited at the end of each trimester of pregnancy. They completed the PPAQ twice, with an interval of 7 days in-between, to recall PA of the last three months. Between PPAQ assessments, participants wore an accelerometer (Actigraph GT1M) during 7 consecutive days. Fourty-nine (49) pregnant obese women (29.8±4.2 yrs, 34.7±5.1 kg.m−2) participated to the study. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between the two PPAQ assessments were 0.90 for total activity, 0.86 for light and for moderate intensity, and 0.81 for vigorous intensity activities. It ranged from 0.59 for “Transportation” to 0.89 for “Household and Caregiving” activities. Spearman correlation coefficients (SCCs) between the PPAQ and the Matthews’ cut point used to classify an activity of moderate and above intensity were 0.50 for total activity, 0.25 for vigorous intensity and 0.40 for moderate intensity. The correlations between the PPAQ and the accelerometer counts were 0.58 for total activity, 0.39 for vigorous intensity and 0.49 for moderate intensity. The highest SCCs were for “Occupation” and “Household and Caregiving” activities. Comparisons with other standard cutpoints were presented in files S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7. The PPAQ is reliable and moderately accurate for the measure of PA of various intensities and types among pregnant obese women

The Effects of Cocaine on Different Redox Forms of Cysteine and Homocysteine, and on Labile, Reduced Sulfur in the Rat Plasma Following Active versus Passive Drug Injections

Received: 28 November 2012 / Revised: 19 April 2013 / Accepted: 6 May 2013 / Published online: 16 May 2013 The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.comThe aim of the present studies was to evaluate cocaine-induced changes in the concentrations of different redox forms of cysteine (Cys) and homocysteine (Hcy), and products of anaerobic Cys metabolism, i.e., labile, reduced sulfur (LS) in the rat plasma. The above-mentioned parameters were determined after i.p. acute and subchronic cocaine treatment as well as following i.v. cocaine self-administration using the yoked procedure. Additionally, Cys, Hcy, and LS levels were measured during the 10-day extinction training in rats that underwent i.v. cocaine administration. Acute i.p. cocaine treatment increased the total and protein-bound Hcy contents, decreased LS, and did not change the concentrations of Cys fractions in the rat plasma. In turn, subchronic i.p. cocaine administration significantly increased free Hcy and lowered the total and protein-bound Cys concentrations while LS level was unchanged. Cocaine self-administration enhanced the total and protein-bound Hcy levels, decreased LS content, and did not affect the Cys fractions. On the other hand, yoked cocaine infusions did not alter the concentration of Hcy fractions while decreased the total and protein-bound Cys and LS content. This extinction training resulted in the lack of changes in the examined parameters in rats with a history of cocaine self-administration while in the yoked cocaine group an increase in the plasma free Cys fraction and LS was seen. Our results demonstrate for the first time that cocaine does evoke significant changes in homeostasis of thiol amino acids Cys and Hcy, and in some products of anaerobic Cys metabolism, which are dependent on the way of cocaine administration

International Delegations and the Values of Federalism

Inland water sediments receive large quantities of terrestrial organic matter(1-5) and are globally important sites for organic carbon preservation(5,6). Sediment organic matter mineralization is positively related to temperature across a wide range of high-latitude ecosystems(6-10), but the situation in the tropics remains unclear. Here we assessed temperature effects on the biological production of CO2 and CH4 in anaerobic sediments of tropical lakes in the Amazon and boreal lakes in Sweden. On the basis of conservative regional warming projections until 2100 (ref. 11), we estimate that sediment CO2 and CH4 production will increase 9-61% above present rates. Combining the CO2 and CH4 as CO2 equivalents (CO(2)eq; ref. 11), the predicted increase is 2.4-4.5 times higher in tropical than boreal sediments. Although the estimated lake area in low latitudes is 3.2 times smaller than that of the boreal zone, we estimate that the increase in gas production from tropical lake sediments would be on average 2.4 times higher for CO2 and 2.8 times higher for CH4. The exponential temperature response of organic matter mineralization, coupled with higher increases in the proportion of CH4 relative to CO2 on warming, suggests that the production of greenhouse gases in tropical sediments will increase substantially. This represents a potential large-scale positive feedback to climate change

Development and validation of a short version of the Partnership Self-Assessment Tool (PSAT) among professionals in Dutch disease-management partnerships

Background: The extent to which partnership synergy is created within quality improvement programmes in the Netherlands is unknown. In this article, we describe the psychometric testing of the Partnership Self-Assessment Tool (PSAT) among professionals in twenty-two disease-management partnerships participating in quality improvement projects focused on chronic care in the Netherlands. Our objectives are to validate the PSAT in the Netherlands and to reduce the number of items of the original PSAT while maintaining validity and reliability. Methods. The Dutch version of the PSAT was tested in twenty-two disease-management partnerships with 218 professionals. We tested the instrument by means of structural equation modelling, and examined its validity and reliability. Results: After eliminating 14 items, the confirmatory factor analyses revealed good indices of fit with the resulting 15-item PSAT-Short version (PSAT-S). Internal consistency as represented by Cronbach's alpha ranged from acceptable (0.75) for the 'efficiency' subscale to excellent for the 'leadership' subscale (0.87). Convergent validity was provided with high correlations of the partnership dimensions and partnership synergy (ranged from 0.512 to 0.609) and high correlations with chronic illness care (ranged from 0.447 to 0.329). Conclusion: The psychometric properties and convergent validity of the PSAT-S were satisfactory rendering it a valid and reliable instrument for assessing partnership syne

Are self-report of disability pension and long-term sickness absence accurate? Comparisons of self-reported interview data with national register data in a Swedish twin cohort

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Self-reported disability pension (DP) and sickness absence are commonly used in epidemiological and other studies as a measure of exposure or even as an outcome. The aims were (1) to compare such self-reports with national register information in order to evaluate the validity of self-reported DP and sickness absence, and (2) to estimate the concordance of reporting behaviour in different twin zygosity groups, also by sex.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All Swedish twins born 1933-1958 who participated in the Screening Across the Lifespan Twin study (SALT) 1998-2003, were included (31,122 individuals). The self-reported DP and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) at the time of interview was compared to the corresponding register information retrieved from the National Social Insurance Agency by calculating the proportions of agreements, kappa, sensitivity, specificity, concordance rates, and chi-square test, to evaluate construct validity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proportions of overall agreement were 96% and specificity 99% for both DP and LTSA, while the sensitivity was 70% for DP and 45% for LTSA. Kappa estimates were 0.76 for DP, and 0.58 for LTSA. The proportions of positive agreement were 64% for DP and 42% for LTSA. No difference in response style was found between zygosity groups among complete twin pairs for DP and LTSA. Results were similar for women and men and across age. Kappa estimates for DP differed somewhat depending on years of education, 0.68 (college/university) vs. 0.77 (less than 13 years in school) but not for LTSA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Self-reported DP data may be very useful in studies when register information is not available, however, register data is preferred especially for LTSA. The same degree of twin similarity was found for truthful self-report of DP and LTSA in both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs. Thus, the response style was not influenced by genetic factors. One consequence of this would be that when estimating the relative importance of genetic and environmental effects from twin models, heritability estimates would not be biased.</p