British and Iranian parents’ and children’s awareness of the child’s weight status, physical activity, sedentary behaviours and fundamental movement skills: A mixed methods approach

Childhood obesity (CO) is an epidemic issue in developed and developing countries (e.g. UK as developed and Iran as developing country) which needs to be addressed. Parents’/children’s awareness of weight status and health behaviours of the child are considered an initial step to prevent and mange CO. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine and explain parents’ and children’s awareness of the child’s weight status, Physical Activity (PA), Sedentary Behaviour (SB) and Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) among normal weight and overweight children, in two different countries (i.e. Uk and Iran) with high rate of CO through a mixed method approach. Adopting a sequential explanatory design, this research is conducted in two consecutive phases, including three quantitative studies (using questionnaires) in phase one, following by qualitative study (using interview) in phase two to explain findings of quantitative studies. It should be noted that the studies in this thesis were conducted prior to the covid-19 pandemic. The sample in the three quantitative studies (studies 1-3) consisted of 217 children (aged 8-10 years); 98 British and 119 Iranian as well as their parents. To assess actual weight status, Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile was measured and children were categorised as normal weight (N=71 British & 74 Iranian, if BMI <85th percentile) and overweight (N=27 British & 45 Iranian, if BMI ≥85th percentile). PA, SB (GeneActive accelerometers) and Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) (Test of Gross Motor Development–2) of children were objectively measured. Verbal and visual tools were applied to assess weight status perception. Questionnaires were used for assessing PA, SB and FMS perception. Results of quantitative studies found that many overweight children and their parents in both countries underestimated the child’s weight status verbally and visually, while British parents and children had lower accuracy than Iranian. In both weight groups Iranian parents, their children and British children overestimated the child’s PA level while British parents accurately perceived it. Iranian children’s overestimation of PA was more than British children. In addition, British parents and their children as well as Iranian normal weight children underestimated the child’s SB while Iranian overweight children were aware of their SB. Iranian parents overestimated SB of their children. Concerning FMS, in both countries parents of normal weight children were aware of the FMS levels of children whereas parents of overweight children and all children themselves were not aware of that. Comparing the two countries in study 3, British overweight children had higher levels of overestimation than Iranian overweight children. The qualitative study (study 4) used semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 40 parents (20 in each country) who had an 8-10 year old child and were fluent in their respective native languages (English and Farsi). Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Results of the qualitative study showed that in both countries parents felt responsible for CO and un/healthy behaviours of children, however Iranian parents, attributed the responsibility also to school and government as well. British parents placed less responsibility on these organisations. ‘Denial’ was suggested as a parental reaction to CO, and low activity levels and poor FMS of children which may impact parents’ awareness. There were a variety of reasons for denial but denial to avoid the social stigma attached to CO was raised mainly among Iranian parents while denial due to normalisation of obesity as well as to deflecting parental responsibility was raised more by British parents. While denial of high SB leading to underestimation was discussed by British parents, overestimation of SB was also discussed by Iranian parents as a strategy to encourage children to be more active, to avoid labelling their child as ‘hyperactive’ and also to persuade schools and government to promote PA of children. Nonchalant and positive attitudes towards CO and the notion that children will grow out of it was another parental reaction to CO discussed by parents in both countries. These factors were suggested by parents as potential reasons for parents’ misperception of their child’s weight. Time, cost, convenience, parents’ lack of knowledge (on all aspects of obesity, nutrition, PA, SB and FMS) child’s preference and weight as well as peer pressure were proposed by parents as barriers to behaviour change. Overall, the results of the studies in this thesis showed that parents’ lack of awareness of CO, PA, SB and FMS of children is a critical issue for managing and treating CO and promoting healthy behaviours of children. In this regard, it was also found parents face various barriers that they need to be supported to overcome them suggesting that increasing awareness alone might not be sufficient. CO prevention and management is a shared responsibility that needs a multi-disciplinary multisector approach. In addition, the results of the studies in this thesis showed that to improve efficacy of intervention programs they need to be tailored to countries/cultures

Analytic height correlation function of rough surfaces derived from light scattering

We derive an analytic expression for the height correlation function of a rough surface based on the inverse wave scattering method of Kirchhoff theory. The expression directly relates the height correlation function to diffuse scattered intensity along a linear path at fixed polar angle. We test the solution by measuring the angular distribution of light scattered from rough silicon surfaces, and comparing extracted height correlation functions to those derived from atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results agree closely with AFM over a wider range of roughness parameters than previous formulations of the inverse scattering problem, while relying less on large-angle scatter data. Our expression thus provides an accurate analytical equation for the height correlation function of a wide range of surfaces based on measurements using a simple, fast experimental procedure.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Effect of Aloe vera on some indicators of cell damage after a period of aerobic exercise in male athletes

Introduction: Aloe vera is a medicinal plant with antioxidant activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Aloe vera on some indicators of cell damage after a period of aerobic exercise in male athletes of 15-18 years old. Methods: In this clinical trial study, 20 male students with average weight of 64.85 &plusmn; 51 and height of 172.05 &plusmn; 6.4 were randomly assigned to 2 groups of Aloe vera supplement (n = 10) and placebo (n = 10). Then aerobic training was conducted for 4 weeks. The supplemented group took 3 capsules, each capsule contains 2 g of dried Aloe vera and placebo group took 3 capsules/day containing dextran after every meal. To determine the index of cell injury markers creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and reactive protein C (CRP) were determined and blood samples were collected 24 hours before and after each test. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and independent t test. Significance level was considered as P &le; .05. Results: The use of Aloe vera during aerobic exercise significantly reduced LDH (P = .006) in the supplement group (15 reduction) compared to placebo group and CRP with 11 reduction in the supplement group compared to placebo (P = .008). There was no significant reduction in CK. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that Aloe vera reduces cell damage and inflammation indicators. This result may reflect the role of Aloe vera as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent.</p

Physical behaviors and fundamental movement skills in British and Iranian children: an isotemporal substitution analysis

Although the relationship between fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical behaviours has been established; differences between countries are scarcely explored. The impact of the whole physical behaviour composition, in relation to FMS, has yet to be investigated in 9‐11y children. The aims were, to investigate the associations of substitution of physical behaviours with FMS score, to compare traditional linear regression and compositional data analysis and compare between England and Iran. Measures included accelerometer‐derived activity (sleep (SL), sedentary behaviour (SB), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and FMS, using the TGMD‐2, in 119 children (64 boys) from Iran (mean (±SD) age: 9.8±0.3y; BMI of 18.2 ±3.3kg/m2) and 139 (61 boys) children from England (mean (±SD) age: 9.5±0.6y; BMI of 17.7 ±3.1kg/m2). Isometric log‐ratio multiple linear regression models were used to discern the association between FMS and the mean activity composition, and for new compositions where fixed durations of time were reallocated from one behaviour to another, while the remaining behaviours were unchanged. In physical behaviours as a composition, FMS was significantly associated in both ethnicities. English children responded significantly positively to adding 5 or more minutes LPA at the expense of SB (FMS unit change from 0.05 [0.01,0.09] at 5 min to 0.72 [0.01, 1.34] at 60min). Adding 10 minutes or more of SL, at the expense of SB, was associated with a significant, positive change in FMS in all children. Investigation is needed to understand the composition of SB and its potential influence on FMS development

Effect of polymer and irrigation regimes on dry matter yield and several physiological traits of forage sorghum

Drought stress is one of the most serious problems in crops production in the arid and semi-arid regions. Application of some materials such as superab A200 polymers (SAP) in soil can improve soil water reservation. They can also decrease water losses, fertilizer leaching in soils, effects of water deficiency in plants and so can improve the yield in the arid and semi-arid regions. This experiment was conducted on forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) variety ‘Speedfeed’) in Zahedan, Iran during 2010 season. The experimental design was a split-plot with two factors including four irrigation regimes (providing 40, 60, 80 and 100% of the water requirement of sorghum calculated from pan evaporation) as main plots and four amounts of SAP (0, 75, 150 and 225 kg ha-1) as subplots in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Irrigation level and SAP had significant effects on chlorophyll index, leaf area index, leaf area duration, crop growth rate, relative water content and dry matter. The results indicate that irrigation to meet 80% of the water requirement with 75 kg ha-1 SAP which may provide a desirable dry matter.Keywords: Dry matter yield, forage sorghum, growth analysis, irrigation regime, superab A200 polyme

Considering the Role of Health and Environment Course on Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University Students' Attitude toward Health and Environment

One of the factors that can promote health in the society is level of education. Nowadays the number of students and education level of them at tertiary level is increasing. Some of these students' major in teaching and will be dealing with students at elementary and secondary levels. Teachers and students constitute the majority of the society. Teachers play a major role in promoting health awareness of all students and the society. Hence, teachers and students’ health are significant. Then it follows that the role of health education for teacher-trainees are twice as important. Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University is one of the universities which is tiring the future teachers. Our University offers the course of Health and Environment. The present study aims at investigating the role of this course on students' attitude toward health and environment. Then results show that students believe that the content of this course in terms of physical and psychological illness, addiction, nutrition and environmental issues are helpful. Moreover, the respondent agrees with the effectiveness of this course in promoting health beliefs, health behaviors and positive attitude toward observing health norms. The students also agree with the teacher's ability in all the covered teaching contents

The Effect of Estradiol and Progesterone on Toll Like Receptor Gene Expression in A Human Fallopian Tube Epithelial Cell Line

OBJECTIVE: Toll like receptors (TLRs) are one of the main components of the innate im- mune system. It has been reported that expression of these receptors are altered in the female reproductive tract (FRT) during menstrual cycle. Here we used a fallopian tube epithelial cell line (OE-E6/E7) to evaluate the effect of two sex hormones in modulating TLR expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, initially TLR gene expression in OE- E6/E7 cells was evaluated and compared with that of fallopian tube tissue using quanti- tative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunostaining. Thereafter, OE-E6/E7 cells were cultured with different concentrations of estradiol and progesterone, and combination of both. qRT-PCR was performed to reveal any changes in expression of TLR genes as a result of hormonal treatment. RESULTS: TLR1-10 genes were expressed in human fallopian tube tissue. TLR1-6 genes and their respective proteins were expressed in the OE-E6/E7 cell line. Although estradiol and progesterone separately had no significant effect on TLR expression, their combined treatment altered the expression of TLRs in this cell line. Also, the pattern of TLR expres- sion in preovulation (P), mensturation (M) and window of implantation (W) were the same for all TLRs with no significant differences between P, M and W groups. CONCLUSION: These data show the significant involvement of the combination of es- tradiol and progesterone in modulation of TLR gene expression in this human fal- lopian tube cell line. Further experiments may reveal the regulatory mechanism and signalling pathway behind the effect of sex hormones in modulating TLRs in the hu- man FRT

Variable localization of Toll-like receptors in human fallopian tube epithelial cells

Objective: To determine the localization, expression, and function of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in fallopian tube epithelial cells. Methods: The localization of TLRs in fallopian tube epithelial cells was investigated by immunostaining. Surprisingly, the intensity of staining was not equal in the secretory and ciliated cells. After primary cell culture of fallopian tube epithelial cells, ring cloning was used to isolate colonies of ciliated epithelial cells, distinct from non-ciliated epithelial cells. The expression of TLRs 1-10 was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and protein localization was confirmed by immunostaining. The function of the TLRs was determined by interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 production in response to TLR2, TLR3, TLR5, TLR7, and TLR9 ligands. Results: Fallopian tube epithelial cells expressed TLRs 1-10 in a cell-type-specific manner. Exposing fallopian tube epithelial cells to TLR2, TLR3, TLR5, TLR7, and TLR9 agonists induced the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-8. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that TLR expression in the fallopian tubes is cell-type-specific. According to our results, ciliated cells may play more effective role than non-ciliated cells in the innate immune defense of the fallopian tubes, and in interactions with gametes and embryos

Modelling of microstructure evolution in advanced high strength steels

There is currently a significant development of new families of steels, i.e. advanced high strength steels,in response to the demands of the automotive and construction industries for materials with improved propertycharacteristics. The austenite-ferrite transformation is the key metallurgical tool to tailor the propertiesof steels. The design of processing paths that will lead to the desired microstructures is increasingly been aidedby computer simulations. The present paper illustrates state-of-the-art microstructure modelling approachesfor low carbon steels considering three important processing aspects: (i) run-out table cooling of hot-rolledsteels, (ii) intercritical annealing of cold-rolled sheets, (iii) girth welding of linepipe steels.Phenomenological models based on the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) approach incorporatingadditivity are now available to describe phase transformations during run-out table cooling of microalloyedsteels. Strengths and limitations of this approach will be discussed. Process models for intercritical annealingrequire an accurate description of the austenite formation kinetics where morphological complexities can becaptured using the phase field approach. During girth welding the control of the microstructure in the heataffected zone (HAZ) is of paramount importance. The HAZ experiences rapid thermal cycles and steeptemperature gradients. Phase field modelling is an excellent tool to describe the role of these spatialconstraints as will be illustrated for austenite grain growth