Exploring the Relationship Between Daily Steps, Body Mass Index and Physical Self-Esteem in Female Australian Adolescents

Current research suggests that a decline in physical activity occurs some time during the adolescent years, but at what specific age is unknown. Determination of the age at which physical activity levels decline and possible contributors to this phenomenon, are needed to increase Australian healthcare knowledge. The participants involved in the study were female adolescents (n = 297) aged 13-15 years from a high school in Southeast Queensland, Australia. The purpose of this study was to: (a) determine mean steps per day, using pedometers, for grade 8 through 10 girls, (b) determine body mass index (BMI) by measuring height (cm) and weight (kg), and (c), using the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) questionnaire, identify determinants of physical self-worth in Australian female adolescents and their relationship to activity level and BMI. The study revealed that a significant drop-off in pedometer-determined mean daily steps occurred at grade ten, or approximately 15 years of age. A significant inverse relationship between mean daily steps and BMI was found (r = ¯.251, p<.0001). The study also revealed negative correlations between BMI and all self-perceptions (p<.05), except strength, which showed a positive correlation (p<0.05). A positive correlation was found between level of physical activity and all self-perceptions, except Global Self-Worth, which showed no significant difference

Directions for Industry Policy in Western Australia within the Global Knowledge Economy: Sustainable Prosperity through Global Integration

The starting point for this study is the fact that globalisation and the transition to a knowledge-based economy are driving a transformation of the nature and structure of the world economy. The rise in the knowledge intensity of economic activities and the increasing globalisation of economic affairs are driving pervasive change affecting every industry, firm, individual and region. This transformation is not a matter of one or two technologies or industries. Nor is it just another way of emphasising the ICT revolution or any particular new technology, such as biotechnology. These are all important, but they are not the whole story. Knowledge generated on a global basis is being applied to all industries, and many existing industries are very advanced. For example, the Australian mining industry is a global leader in innovation and development. The response of existing industries will be as important as the creation of new industries, and will give rise to many new business opportunities. In seeking to understand emerging trends, much of the contemporary literature emphasises the systemic nature of relationships and activities in the economy. The systemic approach recognises a whole range of non-market linkages that are central to the economic system (such as organisational and institutional persistence, cooperation, alliances, information exchange and mutual dependency), as well as the role of organisations other than firms. This systemic character is of three main forms. One is the persisting influence of past events on present and future outcomes (path dependence). The second is the complex linkages between many different institutions and organisations at a given point of time, such as those that determine the level of innovation (the innovation system). The third is the linkages between the various aspects of a complex system involved in the creation, production and distribution of a product, or a set of products (the product system). Recognition of this systemic character has many important implications for policy. They include the need to focus on a region’s innovation system and on the positioning of its firms within global product systems. This systemic character also implies that, however urgent and transformative it is, change must be evolutionary, with a progressive strengthening of the organisations, institutions and systems supporting regional growth. The major elements in the global knowledge economy all impact on the choices made by firms about where to locate their activities. These impacts may weaken the position of many economies. Indeed, the new technologies have made possible the consolidation of particular aspects of the product system in preferred locations on a global basis. This has led to the ‘hollowing out’ of peripheral regions in many important respects. Thus a central challenge facing many economies is to use the increased access to global markets and information sources that the new economy makes possible to offset the impact of global consolidation on the structure of their economies

Strandings of harbor seals in the Cape Cod and Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Fisher’s Island, New York regions, and bycatch for the Northeast Sink Gillnet Fishery.

<p>Yearly values indicated by open circles, pre-breakpoint linear model fits indicated by green lines, post breakpoint linear model fits indicated by red lines. Overall regression indicated by dashed gray lines.</p

Sex-Based Differences in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reservoir Activity and Residual Immune Activation.

Plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA levels in women are lower early in untreated HIV-1 infection compared with those in men, but women have higher T-cell activation and faster disease progression when adjusted for viral load. It is not known whether these sex differences persist during effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), or whether they would be relevant for the evaluation and implementation of HIV-1 cure strategies. We prospectively enrolled a cohort of reproductive-aged women and matched men on suppressive ART and measured markers of HIV-1 persistence, residual virus activity, and immune activation. The frequency of CD4+ T cells harboring HIV-1 DNA was comparable between the sexes, but there was higher cell-associated HIV-1 RNA, higher plasma HIV-1 (single copy assay), and higher T-cell activation and PD-1 expression in men compared with women. These sex-related differences in immune phenotype and HIV-1 persistence on ART have significant implications for the design and measurement of curative interventions

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

The MEC-4 DEG/ENaC channel of Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons transduces mechanical signals

Transformation of mechanical energy into ionic currents is essential for touch, hearing and nociception. Although DEG/ENaC proteins are believed to form sensory mechanotransduction channels, the evidence for this role remains indirect. By recording from C. elegans touch receptor neurons in vivo, we found that external force evokes rapidly activating mechanoreceptor currents (MRCs) carried mostly by Na+ and blocked by amiloride-characteristics consistent with direct mechanical gating of a DEG/ENaC channel. Like mammalian Pacinian corpuscles, these neurons depolarized with both positive and negative changes in external force but not with sustained force. Null mutations in the DEG/ENaC gene mec-4 and in the accessory ion channel subunit genes mec-2 and mec-6 eliminated MRCs. In contrast, the genetic elimination of touch neuron-specific microtubules reduced, but did not abolish, MRCs. Our findings link the application of external force to the activation of a molecularly defined metazoan sensory transduction channel