A systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials on the curative effects of aquatic exercise

Hiroharu Kamioka1, Kiichiro Tsutani2, Yoshiteru Mutoh3, Hiroyasu Okuizum4, Miho Ohta5, Shuichi Handa4, Shinpei Okada6, Jun Kitayuguchi7, Masamitsu Kamada7, Nobuyoshi Shiozawa8, Sang-Jun Park4, Takuya Honda4, Shoko Moriyama41Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Drug Policy and Management, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 4Mimaki Onsen (Spa) Clinic, Tomi City, Japan; 5Laboratory of Aqua, Health, and Sports Medicine, 6Physical Education and Medicine Research Foundation, Nagano, Japan; 7Physical Education and Medicine Research Center Unnan, Unnan City, Japan; 8Department of Longevity and Social Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, JapanBackground: The objectives of this review were to integrate the evidence of curative effects through aquatic exercise and assess the quality of studies based on a review of nonrandomized controlled trials (nRCTs).Methods: Study design was a systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials. Trials were eligible if they were nonrandomized clinical trials. Studies included one treatment group in which aquatic exercise was applied. We searched the following databases from 2000 up to July 20, 2009: MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, and Ichushi-Web.Results: Twenty-one trials met all inclusion criteria. Languages included were English (N = 9), Japanese (N = 11), and Korean (N = 1). Target diseases were knee and/or hip osteoarthritis, poliomyelitis, chronic kidney disease, discomforts of pregnancy, cardiovascular diseases, and rotator cuff tears. Many studies on nonspecific disease (healthy participants) were included. All studies reported significant effectiveness in at least one or more outcomes. However results of evaluations with the TREND and CLEAR-NPT checklists generally showed a remarkable lack of description in the studies. Furthermore, there was the problem of heterogeneity, and we were therefore not able to perform a meta-analysis.Conclusion: Because there was insufficient evidence on aquatic exercise due to poor methodological and reporting quality and heterogeneity of nRCTs, we were unable to offer any conclusions about the effects of this intervention. However, we were able to identify problems with current nRCTs of aquatic exercise, and propose a strategy of strengthening study quality, stressing the importance of study feasibility as a future research agenda objective.Keywords: aquatic exercise, systematic review, nonrandomized controlled trials&nbsp

Chemical Compositions of Kinematically Selected Outer Halo Stars

Chemical abundances of 26 metal-poor dwarfs and giants are determined from high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra obtained with Subaru/HDS. The sample is selected so that most of the objects have outer-halo kinematics. Self-consistent atmospheric parameters were determined by an iterative procedure based on spectroscopic analysis. Abundances of 13 elements, including $\alpha$-elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), odd-Z light elements (Na, Sc), iron-peak elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn) and neutron-capture elements (Y, Ba), are determined by two independent data reduction and LTE analysis procedures, confirming the consistency of the stellar parameters and abundances results. We find a decreasing trend of [$\alpha$/Fe] with increasing [Fe/H] for the range of $-3.5 <$ [Fe/H]$< -1$, as found by Stephens and Boesgaard (2002). [Zn/Fe] values of most objects in our sample are slightly lower than the bulk of halo stars previously studied. These results are discussed as possible chemical properties of the outer halo in the Galaxy.Comment: 50 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication by Ap

Four-hundred Very Metal-poor Stars Studied with LAMOST and Subaru. I. Survey Design, Follow-up Program, and Binary Frequency

The chemical abundances of very metal-poor stars provide important constraints on the nucleosynthesis of the first generation of stars and early chemical evolution of the Galaxy. We have obtained high-resolution spectra with the Subaru Telescope for candidates of very metal-poor stars selected with a large survey of Galactic stars carried out with LAMOST. In this series of papers, we report on the elemental abundances of about 400 very metal-poor stars and discuss the kinematics of the sample obtained by combining the radial velocities measured in this study and recent astrometry obtained with Gaia. This paper provides an overview of our survey and follow-up program, and reports radial velocities for the whole sample. We identify seven double-lined spectroscopic binaries from our high-resolution spectra, for which radial velocities of the components are reported. We discuss the frequency of such relatively short-period binaries at very low metallicity.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, to appear in Ap

Assessment of physical activity and its facilitators and barriers among Syrian refugees living in Amman City, Jordan: a cross-sectional study

Background: Physical inactivity is one of the major risk factors for non‑communicable diseases. Few studies about physical activity have been conducted among refugees from neighbouring countries. Given changes in the situation of Syrians, assessment of physical activity among Syrian refugees is required to understand their situation. This study aimed to evaluate the degree of self‑reported physical activity and to identify perceived facilitators of and barriers to physical activity among Syrian refugees living in Amman, Jordan, in 2017. Methods: This community‑based cross‑sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Participants were eligible for the study if they were Syrian refugees aged 18–64 years, living in Amman city, and were either registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, waiting for their registration, or had a service card issued by the Jordanian Ministry of Interior. The relationship between physical activity level and sex was assessed using the chi‑square test and Cochran–Armitage tests. The Mann–Whitney U test was performed to assess the relationship between the median metabolic equivalent scores of physical activity and gender. Backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the association between predictors of physical inactivity and physical activity level.Results: Among the 173 participants, the majority (91.9%) reported moderate to a high level of physical activity, and 8.1% were physically inactive. The metabolic equivalent scores for the walking activity of males (median: 1039.5, IQR: 0, 2772) was significantly higher than that of females (median: 396, IQR: 0, 1188) (p < 0.01). “Perceived change in the amount of physical activity” was a significant predictor of physical inactivity (adjusted OR = 3.00; 95%CI: 1.27–7.26). Common facilitators of physical activity were “psychological wellbeing”(49.7%) and “prevent diseases”(46.8%). The greatest barriers to physical activity were “time limitation”(43.4%) and “high cost”(57.8%).Conclusion: This study revealed the physical activity level among Syrian refugees in Amman. The perceived facili‑tators and barriers to physical activity identified among Syrian refugees were similar to those in previous studies conducted among non‑refugees. These results provide a valuable baseline for future examinations of physical activity level and to verify its possible facilitators and barriers