Pedometer-determined physical activity and active transport in girls

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is well established that the risk of insufficient physical activity is greater in girls than in boys, especially during the adolescent years. The promotion of active transport (AT) to and from school has been posited as a practical and convenient solution for increasing girls' total daily activity. However, there is limited information describing the associations between AT choices and girls' physical activity across a range of age, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate physical activity patterns in a large multiethnic sample of female children and adolescents, and to (2) estimate the physical activity associated with AT to and from school.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 1,513 girls aged 5–16 years wore sealed multiday memory (MDM) pedometers for three weekdays and two weekend days. The ethnic composition of this sample was 637 European (42.1%), 272 Pacific Island (18.0%), 207 East Asian (13.7%), 179 Maori (11.8%), 142 South Asian (9.4%), and 76 from other ethnic groups (5%). Pedometer compliance and school-related AT were assessed by questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean weekday step counts (12,597 ± 3,630) were higher and less variable than mean weekend steps (9,528 ± 4,407). A consistent decline in daily step counts was observed with age: after adjustment for ethnicity and SES, girls in school years 9–10 achieved 2,469 (weekday) and 4,011 (weekend) fewer steps than girls in years 1–2. Daily step counts also varied by ethnicity, with Maori girls the most active and South Asian girls the least active. Overall, 44.9% of participants used AT for school-related travel. Girls who used AT to and from school averaged 1,052 more weekday steps than those who did not use AT. However, the increases in steps associated with AT were significant only in older girls (school years 5–10) and in those of Maori or European descent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data suggest that adolescent-aged girls and girls of Asian descent are priority groups for future physical activity interventions. While the apparent benefits of school-related AT vary among demographic groups, promoting AT in girls appears to be a worthwhile strategy.</p

Uncertainty in mass-balance trends derived from altimetry: a case study along the EGIG line, central Greenland

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from The International Glaciological Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2015JoG14J123AbstractRepeated measurements of density profiles and surface elevation along a 515 km traverse of the Greenland ice sheet are used to determine elevation change rates and the error in determining mass-balance trends from these rates which arises from short-term fluctuations in mass input, compaction and surface density. Mean values of this error, averaged over 100 km sections of the traverse, decrease with time from the start of observations in 2004, with a half-time of ∼4 years. After 7 years the mean error is less than the ice equivalent mass imbalance.This project is a contribution to the calibration and validation of the European Space Agency (ESA) CryoSat satellite altimeter and is supported by ESA and by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Consortium grant NER/O/S/2003/00620. We are grateful to the NERC Geo- physical Equipment Facility and the University of Edinburgh for the loan of Leica GPS systems. Logistic support for the traverses was provided by CH2M HILL Polar Services, G. Somers, J. Pailthorpe, H. Chamberlain, M. Hignell and J. Sweeny gave invaluable assistance in the field and T. Benham provided Figure 1. Finally, we thank R. Arthern for useful discussions and our Scientific Editor, H. Fricker, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments

Can fundamental movement skill mastery be increased via a six week physical activity intervention to have positive effects on physical activity and physical self-perception?

Previous research has suggested a positive relationship between fundamental movement skills (FMS) mastery and physical activity (PA) level. Research conducted on interventions to improve FMS mastery is equivocal and further research is needed.An intervention group of 82 children (35 boys and 47 girls) and a control group of 83 children (42 boys and 41 girls) were recruited from Years 4 and 5 (mean age ± SD = 8.3 ± 0.4 years) of two schools in Central England. The intervention included a combination of circuits and dancing to music. Pre and post intervention tests were conducted. Tests included: subjective assessment of eight FMS; objective measurement of two FMS; four day pedometer step count recording; height and mass for Body Mass Index (BMI); and the completion of Harter et al.'s (1982) self-perception questionnaire.Following a two (pre to post) by two (intervention and control group) mixed-model ANOVA it was highlighted that the intervention group improved mastery in all eight FMS, and increased both daily steps and physical self-perception.It can be concluded that focussing one Physical Education (PE) lesson per week on the development of FMS has had a positive benefit on FMS, PA level and physical self-perception for the children in this study

Evolutionary origin and genomic organisation of runt-domain containing genes in arthropods

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gene clusters, such as the <it>Hox </it>gene cluster, are known to have critical roles in development. In eukaryotes gene clusters arise primarily by tandem gene duplication and divergence. Genes within a cluster are often co-regulated, providing selective pressure to maintain the genome organisation, and this co-regulation can result in temporal or spatial co-linearity of gene expression. It has been previously noted that in <it>Drosophila melanogaster</it>, three of the four runt-domain (RD) containing genes are found in a relatively tight cluster on chromosome 1, raising the possibility of a putative functional RD gene cluster in <it>D. melanogaster</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To investigate the possibility of such a gene cluster, orthologues of the <it>Drosophila melanogaste</it>r RD genes were identified in several endopterygotan insects, two exopterygotan insects and two non-insect arthropods. In all insect species four RD genes were identified and orthology was assigned to the <it>Drosophila </it>sequences by phylogenetic analyses. Although four RD genes were found in the crustacean <it>D. pulex</it>, orthology could not be assigned to the insect sequences, indicating independent gene duplications from a single ancestor following the split of the hexapod lineage from the crustacean lineage.</p> <p>In insects, two chromosomal arrangements of these genes was observed; the first a semi-dispersed cluster, such as in <it>Drosophila</it>, where <it>lozenge </it>is separated from the core cluster of three RD genes often by megabases of DNA. The second arrangement was a tight cluster of the four RD genes, such as in <it>Apis mellifera</it>.</p> <p>This genomic organisation, particularly of the three core RD genes, raises the possibility of shared regulatory elements. <it>In situ </it>hybridisation of embryonic expression of the four RD genes in <it>Drosophila melanogaster </it>and the honeybee <it>A. mellifera </it>shows no evidence for either spatial or temporal co-linearity of expression during embryogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>All fully sequenced insect genomes contain four RD genes and orthology can be assigned to these genes based on similarity to the <it>D. melanogaster </it>protein sequences. Examination of the genomic organisation of these genes provides evidence for a functional RD gene cluster. RD genes from non-insect arthropods are also clustered, however the lack of orthology between these and insect RD genes suggests this cluster is likely to have resulted from a duplication event independent from that which created the insect RD gene cluster. Analysis of embryonic RD gene expression in two endopterygotan insects, <it>A. mellifera </it>and <it>D. melanogaster</it>, did not show evidence for coordinated gene expression, therefore while the functional significance of this gene cluster remains unknown its maintenance during insect evolution implies some functional significance to the cluster.</p

Susceptibility locus on chromosome 1q23-25 for a schizophrenia subtype resembling deficit schizophrenia identified by latent class analysis

Context: Identifying susceptibility genes for schizophrenia may be complicated by phenotypic heterogeneity, with some evidence suggesting that phenotypic heterogeneity reflects genetic heterogeneity. Objective: To evaluate the heritability and conduct genetic linkage analyses of empirically derived, clinically homogeneous schizophrenia subtypes. Design: Latent class and linkage analysis. Setting: Taiwanese field research centers. Participants: The latent class analysis included 1236 Han Chinese individuals with DSM-IV schizophrenia. These individuals were members of a large affected-sibling-pair sample of schizophrenia (606 ascertained families), original linkage analyses of which detected a maximum logarithm of odds (LOD) of 1.8 (z = 2.88) on chromosome 10q22.3. Main Outcome Measures: Multipoint exponential LOD scores by latent class assignment and parametric heterogeneity LOD scores. Results: Latent class analyses identified 4 classes, with 2 demonstrating familial aggregation. The first (LC2) described a group with severe negative symptoms, disorganization, and pronounced functional impairment, resembling "deficit schizophrenia." The second (LC3) described a group with minimal functional impairment, mild or absent negative symptoms, and low disorganization. Using the negative/deficit subtype, we detected genome-wide significant linkage to 1q23-25 (LOD = 3.78, empiric genome-wide P = .01). This region was not detected using the DSM-IV schizophrenia diagnosis, but has been strongly implicated in schizophrenia pathogenesis by previous linkage and association studies.Variants in the 1q region may specifically increase risk for a negative/deficit schizophrenia subtype. Alternatively, these results may reflect increased familiality/heritability of the negative class, the presence of multiple 1q schizophrenia risk genes, or a pleiotropic 1q risk locus or loci, with stronger genotype-phenotype correlation with negative/deficit symptoms. Using the second familial latent class, we identified nominally significant linkage to the original 10q peak region. Conclusion: Genetic analyses of heritable, homogeneous phenotypes may improve the power of linkage and association studies of schizophrenia and thus have relevance to the design and analysis of genome-wide association studies

Mixed Candida albicans strain populations in colonized and infected mucosal tissues

Multilocus sequence typing of six Candida albicans colonies from primary isolation plates revealed instances of colony-to-colony microvariation and carriage of two strain types in single oropharyngeal and vaginal samples. Higher rates of colony variation in commensal samples suggest selection of types from mixed populations either in the shift to pathogenicity or the response to antifungal treatment

A biophysical model of prokaryotic diversity in geothermal hot springs

Recent field investigations of photosynthetic bacteria living in geothermal hot spring environments have revealed surprisingly complex ecosystems, with an unexpected level of genetic diversity. One case of particular interest involves the distribution along hot spring thermal gradients of genetically distinct bacterial strains that differ in their preferred temperatures for reproduction and photosynthesis. In such systems, a single variable, temperature, defines the relevant environmental variation. In spite of this, each region along the thermal gradient exhibits multiple strains of photosynthetic bacteria adapted to several distinct thermal optima, rather than the expected single thermal strain adapted to the local environmental temperature. Here we analyze microbiology data from several ecological studies to show that the thermal distribution field data exhibit several universal features independent of location and specific bacterial strain. These include the distribution of optimal temperatures of different thermal strains and the functional dependence of the net population density on temperature. Further, we present a simple population dynamics model of these systems that is highly constrained by biophysical data and by physical features of the environment. This model can explain in detail the observed diversity of different strains of the photosynthetic bacteria. It also reproduces the observed thermal population distributions, as well as certain features of population dynamics observed in laboratory studies of the same organisms