5,896 research outputs found

    Objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time in south Asian women: a cross-sectional study

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    BACKGROUND: South Asian (SA) women in the United Kingdom (UK) are known to be at high risk for developing chronic diseases, and to have low levels of physical activity (PA). Increasing levels of PA and reducing sedentary time (ST) are recognized as factors to target in an effort to curb chronic disease morbidity and mortality. There is limited evidence documenting objectively measured PA/ST and their correlates in SA women. Therefore the purpose of this cross-sectional study was to objectively measure and report patterns of PA/ST among SA women in the UK and examine potential socio-demographic correlates of PA/ST. METHODS: 140 UK SA women (Pakistani and Bangladeshi) wore an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. Anthropometric measurements and self-reported socio-demographic information were taken. RESULTS: Mean daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) was 34.66 ± 21.52 minutes and mean daily ST was 530.20 ± 81.76 minutes, with an inverse correlation (r = -.270, N = 140, p < .001) showing that higher ST was associated with lower MVPA. The same was seen for light intensity PA (LPA) (r = -.610, N = 140, p < .001). MVPA was significantly higher for younger women (18–64.5 yrs), with 64.7% of older women (≥65 yrs) failing to meet PA guidelines (t = 3.101, p < 0.05). Overweight/obese women had lower levels of LPA, MVPA and higher ST (p < .001). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated 14.9% of the variance in MVPA was explained by age and waist circumference (F(2,138) = 6.41, p < 0.002). LPA and ST were significantly higher on weekend days than weekdays (p < .001), and MVPA was significantly higher on weekdays than weekend days. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate higher levels of PA in this sample than previously assumed. High levels of LPA in this sample indicate the need for health promotion interventions to target not only duration, but also intensity of activity in this population to achieve PA recommendations

    Decreased influence of Antarctic intermediate water in the tropical Atlantic during North Atlantic cold events

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    © The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 389 (2014): 200-208, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.12.037.Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is a key player in the global ocean circulation, contributing to the upper limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and influencing interhemispheric heat exchange and the distribution of salinity, nutrients and carbon. However, the deglacial history of AAIW flow into the North Atlantic is controversial. Here we present a multicore-top neodymium isotope calibration, which confirms the ability of unclean foraminifera to faithfully record bottom water neodymium isotopic composition (εNdεNd) values in their authigenic coatings. We then present the first foraminifera-based reconstruction of εNdεNd from three sediment cores retrieved from within modern AAIW, in the western tropical North Atlantic. Our records reveal similar glacial and interglacial contributions of AAIW, and a pronounced decrease in the AAIW fraction during North Atlantic deglacial cold episodes, Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) and Younger Dryas (YD). Our results suggest two separate phases of reduced fraction of AAIW in the tropical Atlantic during HS1, with a greater reduction during early HS1. If a reduction in AAIW fraction also reflects reduced AMOC strength, this finding may explain why, in many regions, there are two phases of hydrologic change within HS1, and why atmospheric CO2 rose more rapidly during early than late HS1. Our result suggesting less flow of AAIW into the Atlantic during North Atlantic cold events contrasts with evidence from the Pacific, where intermediate-depth εNdεNd records may indicate increased flow of AAIW into the Pacific during the these same events. Antiphased εNdεNd behavior between intermediate depths of the North Atlantic and Pacific implies that the flow of AAIW into Atlantic and Pacific seesawed during the last deglaciation.This work was supported by US NSF grants and a Lawrence J. Pratt and Melinda M. Hall Endowed Fund for Interdisciplinary Research Award to D.W.O. and W.B.C. and by a Taiwan NSC Postdoctoral Fellowship (NSC98-2917-I-564-132) to K.F.H

    Grown organic matter as a fuel raw material resource

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    An extensive search was made on biomass production from the standpoint of climatic zones, water, nutrients, costs and energy requirements for many species. No exotic species were uncovered that gave hope for a bonanza of biomass production under culture, location, and management markedly different from those of existing agricultural concepts. A simulation analysis of biomass production was carried out for six species using conventional production methods, including their production costs and energy requirements. These estimates were compared with data on food, fiber, and feed production. The alternative possibility of using residues from food, feed, or lumber was evaluated. It was concluded that great doubt must be cast on the feasibility of producing grown organic matter for fuel, in competition with food, feed, or fiber. The feasibility of collecting residues may be nearer, but the competition for the residues for return to the soil or cellulosic production is formidable

    What do benthic δ13C and δ18O data tell us about Atlantic circulation during Heinrich Stadial 1?

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    Approximately synchronous with the onset of Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), δ13C decreased throughout most of the upper (~1000–2500 m) Atlantic, and at some deeper North Atlantic sites. This early deglacial δ13C decrease has been alternatively attributed to a reduced fraction of high-δ13C North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) or to a decrease in the NADW δ13C source value. Here we present new benthic δ18O and δ13C records from three relatively shallow (~1450–1650 m) subpolar Northeast Atlantic cores. With published data from other cores, these data form a depth transect (~1200–3900 m) in the subpolar Northeast Atlantic. We compare Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and HS1 data from this transect with data from a depth transect of cores from the Brazil Margin. The largest LGM-to-HS1 decreases in both benthic δ13C and δ18O occurred in upper waters containing the highest NADW fraction during the LGM. We show that the δ13C decrease can be explained entirely by a lower NADW δ13C source value, entirely by a decrease in the proportion of NADW relative to Southern Ocean Water, or by a combination of these mechanisms. However, building on insights from model simulations, we hypothesize that reduced ventilation due to a weakened but still active Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation also contributed to the low δ13C values in the upper North Atlantic. We suggest that the benthic δ18O gradients above ~2300 m at both core transects indicate the depth to which heat and North Atlantic deglacial freshwater had mixed into the subsurface ocean by early HS1

    The availability of the soil potash in clay and clay loam soils, Bulletin, no. 142

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    The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

    Analyses of feeding -stuffs, Bulletin, no. 147

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    The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

    Glacial water mass geometry and the distribution of δ13C of ΣCO2 in the western Atlantic Ocean

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    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 20 (2005): PA1017, doi:10.1029/2004PA001021.Oxygen and carbon isotopic data were produced on the benthic foraminiferal taxa Cibicidoides and Planulina from 25 new piston cores, gravity cores, and multicores from the Brazil margin. The cores span water depths from about 400 to 3000 m and intersect the major water masses in this region. These new data fill a critical gap in the South Atlantic Ocean and provide the motivation for updating the classic glacial western Atlantic δ13C transect of Duplessy et al. (1988). The distribution of δ13C of ΣCO2 requires the presence of three distinct water masses in the glacial Atlantic Ocean: a shallow (∼1000 m), southern source water mass with an end-member δ13C value of about 0.3–0.5‰ VPDB, a middepth (∼1500 m), northern source water mass with an end-member value of about 1.5‰, and a deep (>2000 m), southern source water with an end-member value of less than −0.2‰, and perhaps as low as the −0.9‰ values observed in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (Ninnemann and Charles, 2002). The origins of the water masses are supported by the meridional gradients in benthic foraminiferal δ18O. A revised glacial section of deep water δ13C documents the positions and gradients among these end-member intermediate and deep water masses. The large property gradients in the presence of strong vertical mixing can only be maintained by a vigorous overturning circulation.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation by grants OCE-9986748 and OCE-9905605

    Deglacial variability in the surface return flow of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

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    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 23 (2008): PA1217, doi:10.1029/2007PA001450.Benthic foraminiferal Cd/Ca from a Florida Current sediment core documents the history of the northward penetration of southern source waters within the surface return flow of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Cd seawater estimates (CdW) indicate that intermediate-depth southern source waters crossed the equator and contributed to the Florida Current during the Bølling-Allerød warm period of the last deglaciation, consistent with evidence of only a modest AMOC reduction compared to today. The CdW estimates also provide the first paleoceanographic evidence of a reduction in the influence of intermediate-depth southern source waters within the Florida Current during the Younger Dryas, a deglacial cold event characterized by a weak North Atlantic AMOC. Our results reveal a close correspondence between the northward penetration of intermediate-depth southern source waters and the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water, suggesting a possible link between intermediate-depth southern source waters and the strength of the Atlantic AMOC.This work was funded by the NSF and the WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute
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