Classes of Physical Activity: Associations with Sociodemographic Characteristics and Risk Factors for the Metabolic Syndrome

The last several decades have produced a substantial body of literature indicating the health benefits of physical activity, including reduced risk of all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD), and CHD risk factors. Nevertheless, the prevalence of physical activity in the United States (US) continues to be suboptimal for most as work and daily activities become more and more sedentary. Concurrently, in 2004, 32.2% of adults were classified as obese as defined by a body mass index [greater than or equal to] 30 kg/m2. These two factors (obesity and physical inactivity) along with genetic factors are the primary root causes of the metabolic syndrome. Associations are well established between physical activity and hypertension, diabetes, obesity, triglycerides and high-density lipoproteins, all components of the metabolic syndrome. However, many of these associations may be somewhat transient in nature. Given this, those who demonstrate regular activity patterns across a seven day week would be associated cross-sectionally with fewer diagnoses of the metabolic syndrome compared with irregular activity. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis is to employ latent class analysis (LCA) to determine which activity patterns exist in the US, which sociodemographic characteristics are associated with these patterns, and finally whether certain patterns are disproportionately associated with any of the risk factors for the metabolic syndrome. The results indicate that a very large portion of the US population may be classified into patterns of physical activity that represent low levels of physical activity throughout the week. A weekend warrior class emerged for approximately 1% of the population. Both gender and age emerged as significant predictors of class membership. Mexicans, other Hispanics, and blacks all had higher odds of being in the most active class. Accumulating the recommended amount of physical activity for a week was consistently associated with positive profiles of the risk factors related to the metabolic syndrome, and accumulating substantially more physical activity was even better. However, the manner in which you accumulate this activity, either spread over many days of the week or compressed into just a couple, may have similar associations with the risk factors for the metabolic syndrome as well as the syndrome itself

Physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns using accelerometry from a national sample of United States adults

BackgroundThis study described the patterns of accelerometer-determined physical activity and sedentary behavior among adults using a nationally representative sample from the United States.MethodsUsing 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, 7931 adults at least 18years old wore an ActiGraph accelerometer for one week, providing at least 3days of wear for >=8hours/day. Cutpoints defined moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA; >= 2020 and >=760 counts/minute), vigorous physical activity (> = 5999 counts/minute), and sedentary behavior (<100 counts/minute). Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to estimate patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior. All estimates were weighted to reflect the United States population.ResultsFor weighted percent of MVPA out of total wearing time, 5 classes were identified from least to most active: 65.3% of population (weighted mean 9.3minutes/day), 24.9% (32.1minutes/day), 3.2% that was low on the weekdays but much higher on the weekends (52.0minutes/day), 5.9% (59.9minutes/day), and 0.7% in the highest class (113.6minutes/day). Using the lower MVPA threshold, 6 classes emerged with each class ranging in population from 1.2% to 43.6%. A vigorous activity class could not be derived due to low prevalence. For weighted percent of sedentary behavior out of total wearing time, 5 classes were identified from most to least sedentary: 6.3% of population (weighted mean 660.2minutes/day), 25.1% (546.8minutes/day), 37.7% (453.9minutes/day), 24.0% (354.8minutes/day), and 7.0% (256.3minutes/day). Four of the classes showed generally similar results across every day of the week, with the absolute percents differing across classes. In contrast, the least sedentary class showing a marked rise in percent of time spent in sedentary behavior on the weekend (weighted mean 336.7-346.5minutes/day) compared to weekdays (weighted mean 255.2-292.4minutes/day).ConclusionThe LCA models provided a data reduction process to identify patterns using minute-by-minute accelerometry data in order to explore meaningful contrasts. The models supported 5 or 6 distinct patterns for MVPA and sedentary behavior. These physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns can be used as intervention targets and as independent or dependent variables in future studies of correlates, determinants, or outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-015-0183-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Associations between Patterns of Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Risk Factors for the Metabolic Syndrome

Determine whether certain patterns of objectively measured physical activity (PA) are associated with the risk factors for or the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome (MS)

Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events

We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their 2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background. Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25, published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 ( http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables; LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003

Enhancing the relevance of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways for climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability research

This paper discusses the role and relevance of the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and the new scenarios that combine SSPs with representative concentration pathways (RCPs) for climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (IAV) research. It first provides an overview of uses of social–environmental scenarios in IAV studies and identifies the main shortcomings of earlier such scenarios. Second, the paper elaborates on two aspects of the SSPs and new scenarios that would improve their usefulness for IAV studies compared to earlier scenario sets: (i) enhancing their applicability while retaining coherence across spatial scales, and (ii) adding indicators of importance for projecting vulnerability. The paper therefore presents an agenda for future research, recommending that SSPs incorporate not only the standard variables of population and gross domestic product, but also indicators such as income distribution, spatial population, human health and governance

Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST

The mergers of binary compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes are of central interest to several areas of astrophysics, including as the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) 1, sources of high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) 2 and likely production sites for heavy-element nucleosynthesis by means of rapid neutron capture (the r-process) 3. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration GRBs associated with compact object mergers 4–6 and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the GW merger GW170817 (refs. 7–12). We obtained James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy 29 and 61 days after the burst. The spectroscopy shows an emission line at 2.15 microns, which we interpret as tellurium (atomic mass A = 130) and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-infrared owing to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy-element nucleosynthesis across the Universe

A Systems Thinking Approach for Eliciting Mental Models from Visual Boundary Objects in Hydropolitical Contexts: a Case Study from the Pilcomayo River Basin

Transboundary collaborations related to international freshwater are critical for ensuring equitable, efficient, and sustainable shared access to our planet’s most fundamental resources. Visual artifacts, such as knowledge maps, functioning as boundary objects, are used in hydropolitical contexts to convey understandings and facilitate discussion across scales about challenges and opportunities from multiple perspectives. Such focal points for discussion are valuable in creating shared, socially negotiated priorities and integrating diverse and often disparate cultural perspectives that naturally exist in the context of international transboundary water resources. Visual boundary objects can also represent the collective mental models of the actor countries and transboundary institutions and encompass their perspectives on the complex hydro-social cycles within specific “problem-shed” regions of the shared resources. To investigate and synthesize these multiple concepts, we developed a novel method of eliciting mental models from visual boundary objects in social-ecological contexts by combining content analysis with theoretical frameworks for boundary objects and systems thinking. Using this method, we analyzed visual boundary objects represented in publicly available documents formally related to decision making in the Pilcomayo River Basin in South America. The Pilcomayo River Basin is a unique case for investigating decision making in international collaboration among represented states, given the unique social and biophysical challenges that have plagued the region for over a century. Using our framework, we were able to develop insight into the collective mental models of stakeholders, organizations, and decision-making institutions, related to priorities, vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies among the various socioeconomic, cultural, political, and biophysical drivers for different regions and scales of the basin

Agreement Between Self-Report and Medical Record Prevalence of 16 Chronic Conditions in the Alaska EARTH Study

The gold standard for health information is the health record. Hospitalization and outpatient diagnoses provide health systems with data on which to project health costs and plan programmatic changes. Although health record information may be reliable and perceived as accurate, it may not include population-specific information and may exclude care provided outside a specific health care facility. Sole reliance on medical record information may lead to underutilization of health care services and inadequate assessment of population health status. In this study, we analyzed agreement, without assuming a gold standard, between self-reported and recorded chronic conditions in an American Indian/Alaska Native cohort. Self-reported health history was collected from 3821 adult participants of the Alaska EARTH study during 2004-2006. Participant medical records were electronically accessed and reviewed. Self-reported chronic conditions were underreported in relation to the medical record and both information sources reported the absence more reliably than the presence of conditions (across conditions, median positive predictive value = 64%, median negative predictive value = 94%). Agreement was affected by age, gender, and education. Differences between participant- and provider-based prevalence of chronic conditions demonstrate why health care administrators and policy makers should not rely exclusively on medical record–based administrative data for a comprehensive evaluation of population health