2,276 research outputs found
Role of physical activity in the occurrence of falls and fall-related injuries in community-dwelling adults over 50 years old
Purpose: This study examined the effect of the type, level and amount of physical activity in falls
and fall-related injuries. Method: Participants were 506 community-dwelling adults aged450
years (390 women: 67.7 6.8 years and 116 men: 69.6 6.6 years). Falls, fall-related injuries
(slight and severe), and physical activity (type, level and energy expenditure) were evaluated by
questionnaires. Confounders included co-morbidities, fear of falling, environmental hazards and
physical fitness. Results: After adjustment for confounders, logistic analysis revealed that the
likelihood of falling decreased by 2% for each 100 metabolic expenditure (MET-min/week) of
total physical activity and increased by 5% for each 100 MET-min/week of vigorous-intensity
physical activity; total physical activity 41125 MET-min/week and vigorous physical activity
5500 MET-min/week were identified as cut-off values discriminating non-fallers from fallers.
Compared to the low physical activity level, increased physical activity levels diminished the
likelihood of the occurrence of severe fall-related injuries by 76% (moderate) and 58% (high;
p50.05) in fallers. Conclusions: Being active, especially sufficiently active, reduces fall-related
injuries by decreasing falls and by safeguarding against severe injuries when falls occur. At least
1125 MET-min/week of total physical activity including 4500 MET-min/week of vigorous
intensity seems to prevent falls and, therefore, fall-related injuries
Artificial diet sandwich reveals subsocial behavior in the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)
An artificial diet sandwich, consisting of coffee berry borer artificial diet within two glass plates, has been developed to elucidate the behaviour of the coffee berry borer, an insect that in nature spends most of its life cycle inside the coffee berry. Various types of behaviour have been observed for the first time, including gallery construction, oviposition, gallery blocking, mating and most remarkably, subsocial tasks such as maternal sanitation and tending of eggs and larvae. This observational technique is a breakthrough for studies and manipulations of the coffee berry borer's social behaviour and could be applicable to other bark beetles, consequently yielding important insights into the origin of parental care in scolytine beetles
Strain-driven elastic and orbital-ordering effects on thickness-dependent properties of manganite thin films
We report on the structural and magnetic characterization of (110) and (001)
La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 (LCMO) epitaxial thin films simultaneously grown on (110) and
(001)SrTiO3 substrates, with thicknesses t varying between 8 nm and 150 nm. It
is found that while the in-plane interplanar distances of the (001) films are
strongly clamped to those of the substrate and the films remain strained up to
well above t=100 nm, the (110) films relax much earlier. Accurate determination
of the in-plane and out-of-plane interplanar distances has allowed concluding
that in all cases the unit cell volume of the manganite reduces gradually when
increasing thickness, approaching the bulk value. It is observed that the
magnetic properties (Curie temperature and saturation magnetization) of the
(110) films are significantly improved compared to those of (001) films. These
observations, combined with 55Mn-nuclear magnetic resonance data and X-ray
photoemission spectroscopy, signal that the depression of the magnetic
properties of the more strained (001)LCMO films is not caused by an elastic
deformation of the perovskite lattice but rather due to the electronic and
chemical phase separation caused by the substrate-induced strain. On the
contrary, the thickness dependence of the magnetic properties of the less
strained (110)LCMO films are simply described by the elastic deformation of the
manganite lattice. We will argue that the different behavior of (001) and
(110)LCMO films is a consequence of the dissimilar electronic structure of
these interfaces.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure
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