Adolescent Participation in Traditional Martial Arts: Effects of Training on Risk Behaviors and Psychological Wellbeing

Adolescence is the period of lifetime development in which many youth begin to make health and lifestyle choices that have a significant impact on overall wellbeing as they transition from childhood into young adulthood. Physical activity appears to be linked to making other healthy lifestyle choices including non-engagement in risk behaviors and improvement in mood and self-concept. The current study sought to examine the effect participation in traditional martial arts training has on overall psychological wellbeing in adolescents. This study administered two widely used and validated scales, the CDC\u27s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and the Piers Harris-2 (PH-2) self-concept scale, to 55 students training in traditional styles of martial arts. It was hypothesized that students who had trained longer would engage in less risk behaviors and have higher overall wellbeing. It was also hypothesized that males would engage in more risk behaviors than female students. Lastly, it was hypothesized that the different styles of martial arts examined in the study will not have an effect on risk behaviors or wellbeing. Length of training did not significantly predict engagement in risk behavior nor did it predict perception of wellbeing. Age did account for some of the variance with younger students being less likely to engage in some risk behaviors and reporting an increased sense of wellbeing on some of the PH-2 scales than older students. As predicted, male students proved to be significantly more likely to engage in some domains of risk that their female counterparts. The style of martial arts discipline did not have an effect on risk behavior but students who trained in one style did report better wellbeing on two domains of self-concept than the other style. A surprise finding of this study occurred when comparing the study\u27s YRBSS results to the national data provided by the CDC. This study\u27s sample engaged in significantly less risk behaviors overall than did a general sample of adolescents the same age. This indicates that adolescents who participate in traditional martial arts may be less likely to engage in risk behaviors than adolescents in the general population

Body Self-Esteem and Sexual Risk-Taking in Caribbean Adolescents

One of the primary tasks of adolescence is the development of body self-esteem as they transition from children to young adults. This is also a time when many adolescents make decisions about risk behaviors that may affect their developing bodies such as drug use, smoking, and engaging in sexual activity. The current study examined the link between body self-esteem and sexual activity with the aim of predicting if high body self-esteem individuals differ from low body self-esteem individuals with regards to sexual risk-taking. This study was part of a larger study whose survey was based on two widely used and validated scales, the National Adolescent Student Health Survey (NASHS) and the CDC\u27s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). The survey was administered to 3,131 students who attended religious secondary schools throughout the Caribbean. It was hypothesized that the plans and beliefs regarding sexual risk-taking of low body self-esteem individuals will be risker than those with high body self-esteem. Further, it was also the hypothesized that while individuals with high body self-esteem will engage in more sexual activity, the sexual behaviors of low body self-esteem individuals engage in will be riskier. Body self-esteem did not significantly predict plans or beliefs nor did it predict risky sexual activity. In all the analyses, gender proved to be the most significant factor in predicting risky sexual behaviors with males engaging in both riskier and more frequent sexual activities

Effects of once-weekly exenatide on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo