Obesity: should there be a law against it? Introduction to a symposium

The rapid rise in rates of overweight and obesity among adults and children in Australia and New Zealand has intensified debate about the most effective policies for obesity prevention. Law has much to contribute to this policy discussion, although its role is often misunderstood. The articles in this symposium follow on from a conference hosted in September 2006 by the Centre for Health Governance, Law & Ethics in the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, titled: Obesity: should there be a law against it? In different ways, these articles provide a variety of perspectives on regulatory responses to obesity, including theoretical justifications for a legal approach, conceptual models that assist in making sense of law's role, as well as specific legal strategies for obesity prevention in various settings

Identifying work ability promoting factors for home care aides and assistant nurses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In workplace health promotion, all potential resources needs to be taken into consideration, not only factors relating to the absence of injury and the physical health of the workers, but also psychological aspects. A dynamic balance between the resources of the individual employees and the demands of work is an important prerequisite. In the home care services, there is a noticeable trend towards increased psychosocial strain on employees at work. There are a high frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, and a low prevalence of sustainable work ability. The aim of this research was to identify factors promoting work ability and self-efficacy in care aides and assistant nurses within home care services.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study is based on cross-sectional data collected in a municipality in northern Sweden. Care aides (n = 58) and assistant nurses (n = 79) replied to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 46%). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of several independent variables on self-efficacy (model 1) and work ability (model 2) for care aides and assistant nurses separately.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Perceptions of personal safety, self-efficacy and musculoskeletal wellbeing contributed to work ability for assistant nurses (R²adj of 0.36, <it>p </it>< 0.001), while for care aides, the safety climate, seniority and age contributed to work ability (R²adj of 0.29, <it>p </it>= 0.001). Self-efficacy was associated with the safety climate and the physical demands of the job in both professions (R²adj of 0.24, <it>p </it>= 0.003 for care aides), and also by sex and age for the assistant nurses (R²adj of 0.31, <it>p </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The intermediate factors contributed differently to work ability in the two professions. Self-efficacy, personal safety and musculoskeletal wellbeing were important for the assistant nurses, while the work ability of the care aides was associated with the safety climate, but also with the non-changeable factors age and seniority. All these factors are important to acknowledge in practice and in further research. Proactive workplace interventions need to focus on potentially modifiable factors such as self-efficacy, safety climate, physical job demands and musculoskeletal wellbeing.</p

Milk line as an indicator of the harvesting time of three hybrid seeds of corn (Zea mays L.)

The experiment was carried out to evaluate the time for harvesting seeds of three hybrids of corn (Zea mays L.) at their best physiological quality and the use of the milk line as an indicator of the physiological seed maturity. Single hybrids CD 1723 and CD 5501 and double hybrid OC 705 seeds were collected for 59 days, every four days, starting 23 days after female flowering. Seed dry weight, moisture content, germination, vigour (cold and accelerated aging tests), black layer formation and seed milk line development were analysed. The harvesting time started 47 days after female flowering with high physiological quality of the seeds identified by a joint analysis of those seven characteristics of them. The milk line at stage 4 proved to be the best indicator of the time to harvest corn seeds for maximum physiological quality, because different stages of milk line development in corn seeds could be easily identified in the filed without any special equipment.<br>O experimento foi conduzido durante o ano agrícola de 1996/97 em área experimental da Cooperativa de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Tecnológico (Coodetec), em Cascavel, Paraná, com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito da época de colheita de três híbridos de milho (Zea mays L.) na qualidade fisiológica das sementes e o uso da linha de solidificação do endosperma como indicativo da maturidade fisiológica das sementes. O plantio foi realizado em 30 de setembro de 1996. Amostras de sementes dos híbridos simples CD 1723 e CD 5501, bem como do híbrido duplo OC 705, foram colhidas em intervalos de quatro dias, durante 59 dias, iniciando-se a colheita no vigésimo terceiro dia após o florescimento feminino. As características avaliadas nas sementes foram o acúmulo de matéria seca, o conteúdo de umidade, a germinação, o vigor (pelos testes de frio e de envelhecimento acelerado), a formação da camada preta e o desenvolvimento da linha de solidificação do endosperma. A colheita dos três híbridos realizada a partir dos 47 dias após o florescimento feminino identificada pela análise conjunta das sete características avaliadas, permitiu obter sementes com elevada qualidade fisiológica. O estádio 4 da linha de solidificação do endosperma demonstrou ser muito útil como indicador da época de colheita mais favorável a obtenção de sementes com elevada qualidade fisiológica, uma vez que diferentes estádios de desenvolvimento da linha de solidificação do endosperma em sementes de milho podem ser facilmente identificados no campo, na ausência de qualquer equipamento especial