How Flexible Should Bus Service Be? Frequent Networks As a Tool For Permanent Change

Buses are often hailed for their "flexibility" as a transport mode, compared to rail-based technologies. Many cities, though, need certainty about where high-quality services will be in the long term, so that they can guide both land use and road design in harmony with them. Bus Rapid Transit is an obvious example of "bus service made permanent." The infrastructure of BRT represents a fixed government investment in service in a certain place, which in turn provides the certainty that other city actors need as they decide how to grow the city, and whether they can rely on the permanence of the service as they do so. This paper asks: Can we seek similar permanence for frequent local-stop bus lines? A generation of North American land use planners and urbanists has decided that when it comes to local-stop services, trams matter and buses do not. But people make location decisions based on the mobility offered by public transport, so there is at least theoretical reason to believe that we would get better long-term patronage (and urbanist) outcomes if we fixed our best local bus services far in advance. The paper reviews current practice in “Frequent Network” strategies and branding to this end.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein profiles in active and sedentary men with tetraplegia

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Saving money on the PBS: Ranibizumab or Bevacizumab for Neovascular Macular Degeneration?

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon recently met with an alliance of consumer, industry and other stakeholders to justify the government’s plan to indefinitely delay the listing of seven new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). She argued that, after considering the advice of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), it was the government’s responsibility to decide whether or not to list a new drug, taking into account other priorities across the health portfolio and current fiscal circumstances. 1 Clearly, the cost of the PBS must be sustainable. However, there are other ways of reducing its cost apart from delaying the listing of drugs recommended by PBAC as cost-effective. The treatment of macular degeneration provides an illustrative example

Altered contractile properties of the quadricepts muscle in people with spinal cord injury following functional electrical stimulated cycle training

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Rapid and extensive arterial adaptations after spinal cord injury

Contains fulltext : 50350.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)OBJECTIVE: To assess the time course of adaptations in leg vascular dimension and function within the first 6 weeks after a spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Longitudinal study design. SETTING: University medical center and rehabilitation clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Six men were studied serially at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 weeks after SCI. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Diameter, blood flow, and shear rate levels of the common femoral artery (CFA), superficial femoral artery (SFA), brachial artery, and carotid artery were measured with echo Doppler ultrasound (diameter, blood flow, shear rate). Endothelial function in the SFA was measured with flow-mediated dilation (FMD). In addition, leg volume and blood pressure measurements were performed. RESULTS: Femoral artery diameter (CFA, 25%; SFA, 16%; P<.01) and leg volume (22%, P<.01) decreased simultaneously, and these reductions were largely accomplished within 3 weeks postinjury. Significant increases were observed for basal shear rate levels (64% increase at week 3; 117% increase at week 6; P<.01), absolute FMD responses (8% increase at week 3, 23% increase at week 6; P<.05) and relative FMD responses (26% increase at week 3, 44% increase at week 6; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show a rapid onset of adaptations in arterial dimension and function to extreme inactivity in humans. Vascular adaptations include extensive reductions in femoral diameter and leg volume, as well as increased basal shear rate levels and FMD responses, which all appear to be largely accomplished within 3 weeks after an SCI

Respiratory muscle strength and endurance in individuals with tetraplegia

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Contractile properties of the quadriceps muscle in individuals with spinal cord injury

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Association between Lifelong Physical Activity and Disease Characteristics in HCM

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Non-Invasive Monitoring of Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients during Prolonged Exercise via Exhaled Breath Volatile Organic Compounds

The aim of this study was to investigate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath as possible non-invasive markers to monitor the inflammatory response in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients as a result of repeated and prolonged moderate-intensity exercise. We included 18 IBD patients and 19 non-IBD individuals who each completed a 30, 40, or 50 km walking exercise over three consecutive days. Breath and blood samples were taken before the start of the exercise event and every day post-exercise to assess changes in the VOC profiles and cytokine concentrations. Proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to measure exhaled breath VOCs. Multivariate analysis, particularly ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA), was employed to extract relevant ions related to exercise and IBD. Prolonged exercise induces a similar response in breath butanoic acid and plasma cytokines for participants with or without IBD. Butanoic acid showed a significant correlation with the cytokine IL-6, indicating that butanoic acid could be a potential non-invasive marker for exercise-induced inflammation. The findings are relevant in monitoring personalized IBD management

Exhaled breath reflects prolonged exercise and statin use during a field campaign

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath provide insights into various metabolic processes and can be used to monitor physiological response to exercise and medication. We integrated and validated in situ a sampling and analysis protocol using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) for exhaled breath research. The approach was demonstrated on a participant cohort comprising users of the cholesterol-lowering drug statins and non-statin users during a field campaign of three days of prolonged and repeated exercise, with no restrictions on food or drink consumption. The effect of prolonged exercise was reflected in the exhaled breath of participants, and relevant VOCs were identified. Most of the VOCs, such as acetone, showed an increase in concentration after the first day of walking and subsequent decrease towards baseline levels prior to walking on the second day. A cluster of short-chain fatty acids including acetic acid, butanoic acid, and propionic acid were identified in exhaled breath as potential indicators of gut microbiota activity relating to exercise and drug use. We have provided novel information regarding the use of breathomics for non-invasive monitoring of changes in human metabolism and especially for the gut microbiome activity in relation to exercise and the use of medication, such as statin