Exploring the Effectiveness of an Integrated Physical Activity and Psychosocial Program Targeting At-Risk Adolescent Girls: Protocol for the Girls United and on the Move (GUM) Intervention Study.

BACKGROUND:Adolescents are highly susceptible to negative self-perceptions, likely due to their social cues and environment. The presence of these negative self-perceptions has been shown to adversely impact levels of physical activity (PA). Although PA has the ability to foster improved self-perceptions, the rates of PA among adolescents continue to descend, with girls appearing to be most susceptible to these declines. At-risk adolescent girls, who may experience a number of negative preceding lifestyle conditions, may be exceptionally vulnerable to declines in PA. There are a high number of adolescent girls from low-income and abusive households in British Columbia, Canada, thus indicating a need for a program to relay the importance of PA and healthy lifestyle behaviors. OBJECTIVE:This paper aims to describe the protocol of the Girls United and on the Move (GUM) pragmatic intervention, an integrated PA and psychosocial program aimed at improving self-compassion, social connectedness, and overall self-perceptions among at-risk adolescent girls. METHODS:Using a quasi-experimental mixed methods approach, the GUM intervention was conducted in 5 schools in British Columbia, Canada. Adolescent girls aged 11 to 15 years who were identified as at risk were included in the study. The 9-week intervention, co-delivered by a PA/health promotion-trained researcher and a registered social worker, involved a PA component and a psychosocial component with evidence-based topics addressing the concerns of the adolescent girls. The following outcomes were evaluated: PA, self-compassion, social support, leader supportiveness, and sport enjoyment and commitment. Program acceptability and satisfaction was also examined. Outcome measures were assessed at baseline (week 1), week 6, and postintervention (week 9), and interview data concerning program acceptability and satisfaction were collected at postintervention from a subsample of participants. RESULTS:A total of 101 participants were invited to participate in the GUM intervention. Reporting of the results is projected for the fall of 2020. CONCLUSIONS:It is anticipated that the GUM intervention will enhance PA while also improving self-compassion, social connectedness, and overall self-perceptions among at-risk adolescent girls. The findings of this research will contribute to the literature concerning PA and various psychosocial factors that impact the physical and mental health of at-risk adolescent girls. TRIAL REGISTRATION:Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03567200; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03567200. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID):DERR1-10.2196/15302

Translation and Community in the work of Elizabeth Cary

Explores the role of female community within Elizabeth Cary\u27s translations and her play, The Tragedy of Mariam

Discrete physiological effects of beetroot juice and potassium nitrate supplementation following 4-wk sprint interval training

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Physiological Society via the DOI in this record.The physiological and exercise performance adaptations to sprint interval training (SIT) may be modified by dietary nitrate (NO3) supplementation. However, it is possible that different types of NO3 supplementation evoke divergent physiological and performance adaptations to SIT. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 4-wk SIT with and without concurrent dietary NO3 supplementation administered as either NO3-rich beetroot juice (BR) or potassium NO3 (KNO3). Thirty recreationally active subjects completed a battery of exercise tests before and after a 4-wk intervention in which they were allocated to one of three groups: 1) SIT undertaken without dietary NO3 supplementation (SIT); 2) SIT accompanied by concurrent BR supplementation (SIT BR); or 3) SIT accompanied by concurrent KNO3 supplementation (SIT KNO3). During severe-intensity exercise, V O2peak and time to task failure were improved to a greater extent with SIT +BR than SIT and SIT KNO3 (P 0.05). There was also a greater reduction in the accumulation of muscle lactate at 3 min of severe-intensity exercise in SIT BR compared with SIT KNO3 (P <0.05). Plasma NO2 concentration fell to a greater extent during severe-intensity exercise in SIT BR compared with SIT and SIT KNO3 (P <0.05). There were no differences between groups in the reduction in the muscle phosphocreatine recovery time constant from pre- to postintervention (P <0.05). These findings indicate that 4-wk SIT with concurrent BR supplementation results in greater exercise capacity adaptations compared with SIT alone and SIT with concurrent KNO3 supplementation. This may be the result of greater NO-mediated signaling in SIT +BR compared with SIT+ KNO3. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We compared the influence of different forms of dietary nitrate supplementation on the physiological and performance adaptations to sprint interval training (SIT). Compared with SIT alone, supplementation with nitrate-rich beetroot juice, but not potassium NO3, enhanced some physiological adaptations to training

Application of the speed-duration relationship to normalize the intensity of high-intensity interval training

The tolerable duration of continuous high-intensity exercise is determined by the hyperbolic Speed-tolerable duration (S-tLIM) relationship. However, application of the S-tLIM relationship to normalize the intensity of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has yet to be considered, with this the aim of present study. Subjects completed a ramp-incremental test, and series of 4 constant-speed tests to determine the S-tLIM relationship. A sub-group of subjects (n = 8) then repeated 4 min bouts of exercise at the speeds predicted to induce intolerance at 4 min (WR4), 6 min (WR6) and 8 min (WR8), interspersed with bouts of 4 min recovery, to the point of exercise intolerance (fixed WR HIIT) on different days, with the aim of establishing the work rate that could be sustained for 960 s (i.e. 4×4 min). A sub-group of subjects (n = 6) also completed 4 bouts of exercise interspersed with 4 min recovery, with each bout continued to the point of exercise intolerance (maximal HIIT) to determine the appropriate protocol for maximizing the amount of high-intensity work that can be completed during 4×4 min HIIT. For fixed WR HIIT tLIM of HIIT sessions was 399±81 s for WR4, 892±181 s for WR6 and 1517±346 s for WR8, with total exercise durations all significantly different from each other (P&#60;0.050). For maximal HIIT, there was no difference in tLIM of each of the 4 bouts (Bout 1: 229±27 s; Bout 2: 262±37 s; Bout 3: 235±49 s; Bout 4: 235±53 s; P&#62;0.050). However, there was significantly less high-intensity work completed during bouts 2 (153.5±40. 9 m), 3 (136.9±38.9 m), and 4 (136.7±39.3 m), compared with bout 1 (264.9±58.7 m; P&#62;0.050). These data establish that WR6 provides the appropriate work rate to normalize the intensity of HIIT between subjects. Maximal HIIT provides a protocol which allows the relative contribution of the work rate profile to physiological adaptations to be considered during alternative intensity-matched HIIT protocols

Periodic trends and easy estimation of relative stabilities in 11-vertex nido-p-block-heteroboranes and -borates

Density functional theory computations were carried out for 11-vertex nido-p-block-hetero(carba)boranes and -borates containing silicon, germanium, tin, arsenic, antimony, sulfur, selenium and tellurium heteroatoms. A set of quantitative values called “estimated energy penalties” was derived by comparing the energies of two reference structures that differ with respect to one structural feature only. These energy penalties behave additively, i.e., they allow us to reproduce the DFT-computed relative stabilities of 11-vertex nido-heteroboranes in general with good accuracy and to predict the thermodynamic stabilities of unknown structures easily. Energy penalties for neighboring heteroatoms (HetHet and HetHet′) decrease down the group and increase along the period (indirectly proportional to covalent radii). Energy penalties for a five- rather than four-coordinate heteroatom, [Het5k(1) and Het5k(2)], generally, increase down group 14 but decrease down group 16, while there are mixed trends for group 15 heteroatoms. The sum of HetHet′ energy penalties results in different but easily predictable open-face heteroatom positions in the thermodynamically most stable mixed heterocarbaboranes and -borates with more than two heteroatoms

Inter-sectoral and multilevel coordination alone do not reduce deforestation and advance environmental justice:Why bold contestation works when collaboration fails

Policy makers, academics, and conservationists often posit that poor coordination between different land use sectors, and between levels of governance, as an underlying challenge for reducing deforestation and forest degradation. This paper analyzes this argument using data from interviews with over 500 respondents from government, nongovernmental organizations, private companies, local and indigenous communities, activists, and individuals involved in 35 diverse land use initiatives in three countries: Peru, Indonesia, and Mexico. We find that while there is strong evidence of widespread coordination failures between sectors and levels, more fundamental political issues preclude effective coordination. We argue that political coalitions act to oppose environmental objectives and to impede their opponents from participating in land use governance. Moreover, we find that where coordination between actors does occur, it does not necessarily produce environmentally sustainable and socially just land use outcomes. Where we do find successful initiatives to reduce deforestation and benefit local people, effective coordination between well-informed actors is often present, but it does not occur spontaneously, and is instead driven by political organizing over time by activists, local people, nongovernmental organizations, and international donors. We suggest that the global environmental community must recognize explicitly these political dimensions of land use governance in order to successfully collaborate with local people to reduce deforestation

Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms: an 8-year longitudinal study

Childhood loneliness is characterised by children’s perceived dissatisfaction with aspects of their social relationships. This 8-year prospective study investigates whether loneliness in childhood predicts depressive symptoms in adolescence, controlling for early childhood indicators of emotional problems and a sociometric measure of peer social preference. 296 children were tested in the infant years of primary school (T1 5 years of age), in the upper primary school (T2 9 years of age) and in secondary school (T3 13 years of age). At T1, children completed the loneliness assessment and sociometric interview. Their teachers completed externalisation and internalisation rating scales for each child. At T2, children completed a loneliness assessment, a measure of depressive symptoms, and the sociometric interview. At T3, children completed the depressive symptom assessment. An SEM analysis showed that depressive symptoms in early adolescence (age 13) were predicted by reports of depressive symptoms at age 8, which were themselves predicted by internalisation in the infant school (5 years). The interactive effect of loneliness at 5 and 9, indicative of prolonged loneliness in childhood, also predicted depressive symptoms at age 13. Parent and peer-related loneliness at age 5 and 9, peer acceptance variables, and duration of parent loneliness did not predict depression. Our results suggest that enduring peer-related loneliness during childhood constitutes an interpersonal stressor that predisposes children to adolescent depressive symptoms. Possible mediators are discussed

Femtosecond X-ray-induced fragmentation of fullerenes

A new class of femtosecond, intense, short – wavelength lasers – the free-electron laser – has opened up new opportunities to investigate the structure and dynamics in many scientific areas. These new lasers, whose performance keeps increasing, enable the understanding of physical and chemical changes at an atomic spatial scale and on the time scale of atomic motion which is essential for a broad range of scientific fields. We describe here the interaction of fullerenes in the multiphoton regime with the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser at SLAC National Laboratory. In particular, we report on new data regarding the ionization of Ho3N@C80 molecules and compare the results with our prior C60 investigation of radiation damage induced by the LCLS pulses. We also discuss briefly the potential impact of newly available instrumentation to physical and chemical sciences when they are coupled with FELs as well as theoretical calculations and modeling