Walk well:a randomised controlled trial of a walking intervention for adults with intellectual disabilities: study protocol

Background - Walking interventions have been shown to have a positive impact on physical activity (PA) levels, health and wellbeing for adult and older adult populations. There has been very little work carried out to explore the effectiveness of walking interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities. This paper will provide details of the Walk Well intervention, designed for adults with intellectual disabilities, and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test its effectiveness. Methods/design - This study will adopt a RCT design, with participants allocated to the walking intervention group or a waiting list control group. The intervention consists of three PA consultations (baseline, six weeks and 12 weeks) and an individualised 12 week walking programme. A range of measures will be completed by participants at baseline, post intervention (three months from baseline) and at follow up (three months post intervention and six months from baseline). All outcome measures will be collected by a researcher who will be blinded to the study groups. The primary outcome will be steps walked per day, measured using accelerometers. Secondary outcome measures will include time spent in PA per day (across various intensity levels), time spent in sedentary behaviour per day, quality of life, self-efficacy and anthropometric measures to monitor weight change. Discussion - Since there are currently no published RCTs of walking interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities, this RCT will examine if a walking intervention can successfully increase PA, health and wellbeing of adults with intellectual disabilities

Effect of Carnitine and herbal mixture extract on obesity induced by high fat diet in rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity-associated type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing throughout the world. It is generally recognized that natural products with a long history of safety can modulate obesity.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To investigate the development of obesity in response to a high fat diet (HFD) and to estimate the effect of L-carnitine and an Egyptian Herbal mixture formulation (HMF) (consisting of T. chebula, Senae, rhubarb, black cumin, aniseed, fennel and licorice) on bodyweight, food intake, lipid profiles, renal, hepatic, cardiac function markers, lipid Peroxidation, and the glucose and insulin levels in blood and liver tissue in rats.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>White male albino rats weighing 80-90 gm, 60 days old. 10 rats were fed a normal basal diet (Cr), 30 rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks during the entire study. Rats of the HFD group were equally divided into 3 subgroups each one include 10 rats. The first group received HFD with no supplement (HFD), the 2^ndgroup HFD+L-carnitine and the third group received HFD+HMF. Carnitine and HMF were administered at 10^thweek (start time for treatments) for 4 weeks.</p> <p>Body weight, lipid profile & renal function (urea, uric acid creatinine) ALT & AST activities, cardiac markers, (LDH, C.K-NAC and MB) the oxidative stress marker reduced glutathione (GSH), and Malondialdehyde (MDA) catalase activity, in addition to glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance in serum & tissues were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Data showed that feeding HFD diet significantly increased final body weight, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, & LDL concentration compared with controls, while significantly decreasing HDL; meanwhile treatment with L-carnitine, or HMF significantly normalized the lipid profile.</p> <p>Serum ALT, urea, uric acid, creatinine, LDH, CK-NAC, CK-MB were significantly higher in the high fat group compared with normal controls; and administration of L-carnitine or herbal extract significantly lessened the effect of the HFD. Hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and high insulin resistance (IR) significantly increased in HFD in comparison with the control group. The treatment with L-carnitine or HMF improved the condition. HFD elevated hepatic MDA and lipid peroxidation associated with reduction in hepatic GSH and catalase activity; whereas administration of L-carnitine or herbal extract significantly ameliorated these hepatic alterations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HFD induced obesity associated with a disturbed lipid profile, defective antioxidant stability, and high values of IR parameters; this may have implications for the progress of obesity related problems. Treatment with L-carnitine, or HMF extract improved obesity and its associated metabolic problems in different degrees. Also HMF has antioxidant, hypolipidaemic insulin sensitizing effects. Moreover HMF might be a safe combination on the organs whose functions were examined, as a way to surmount the obesity state; and it has a distinct anti-obesity effect.</p

Characterization of room temperature metal microbolometers near the metal-insulator transition regime for scanning thermal microscopy

Metal microbolometers, used in scanning thermal microscopy, were microfabricated from <20?nm titanium thin films on SiO2/Si3N4/SiO2 cantilevers. These thin films are near the metal-insulator transition regime such that as the film thickness decreases—the resistance increases and the current-voltage characteristics cross over from sublinear to superlinear. In addition, the temperature coefficient of resistance transitions from positive to negative before it plateaus at a negative value. Thin titanium films exhibit negative temperature coefficient of resistance as high as ?0.0067/K which is higher than that of bulk titanium films.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc