EXPLORING COMMUNITY-BASED WEIGHT LOSS INITIATIVES, RETENTION, AND MOTIVATION

Obesity puts individuals at risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Traditionally obesity was primarily perceived as a personal disorder requiring treatment at the individual level. Strategies to prevent obesity have shifted to an ecological approach. Organizations such as the World Health Organization recommend population based community approaches that connect people, families, schools, and municipalities. Community programs to facilitate weight loss are an effective strategy to reach large populations. The overall goal of this study is to assess community programs, factors associated with retention, and motivation for completing a community weight-loss initiative. A systematic review was conducted to characterize and evaluate community-based weight loss programs for adults. Electronic academic databases were searched for studies published between January 2004 and December 2018. The systematic literature search retrieved 1,180 records, with a final synthesis of 11 publications describing eight unique programs. A variety of community strategies were implemented in the selected studies, including changes to the built environment to facilitate active living and healthy eating, and family components All the identified programs described resulted in some percentage of participants losing 5% of their body weight, a decreased BMI, or at least a 1.7 kg average weight loss; this suggests that the diversity in programs and their components is a necessary strategy to meet diverse individual needs across US communities. Understanding what factors help individuals complete weight-loss programs may improve participant retention, thus improving health outcomes. Factors associated with the completion of a community weight-loss challenge were examined. Sample participants included overweight and obese adults (n=6,225) participating in The Challenge. Multivariable regressions showed that the following increased the odds of program completion: increased age, being female, non-Hispanic, receiving text message support, a lower baseline BMI and participating in a group. It is essential to continue to work on increasing completion rates to enhance the effectiveness of community weight loss programs. Research on the effect of motivation as a factor in behavioral interventions to reduce overweight or obesity is lacking. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants who completed a community weight-loss intervention to assess motivation for participating and the role of social support and self-efficacy. Participants mentioned external sources of motivation, such as preventing adverse health outcomes, wanting to improve their physical appearance, and being motivated by financial incentives. Fewer participants mentioned intrinsic motivators, which are more likely to create lasting change and improved health behaviors. Understanding the motivation for behavior change and completion of weight loss programs is essential to help participants reach their goals effectively. A greater emphasis on the motives for individuals to lose weight may help improve outcomes in weight-loss interventions

Probing SUSY effects in KS0→μ+μ−K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-

We explore supersymmetric contributions to the decay $K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$, in light of current experimental data. The Standard Model (SM) predicts $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)\approx5\times 10^{-12}$. We find that contributions arising from flavour violating Higgs penguins can enhance the branching fraction up to $\approx 35\times 10^{-12}$ within different scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), as well as suppress it down to $\approx 0.78\times 10^{-12}$. Regions with fine-tuned parameters can bring the branching fraction up to the current experimental upper bound, $8\times 10^{-10}$. The mass degeneracy of the heavy Higgs bosons in MSSM induces correlations between $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$ and $\mathcal{B}(K_L^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$. Predictions for the $CP$ asymmetry in $K^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ decays in the context of MSSM are also given, and can be up to eight times bigger than in the SM.Comment: 36 pages, 31 fig

Is Quantitative Ultrasound a Valid Technique for Assessing Bone Quality in Deceased Infants?

There is no quantitative method for evaluating infant bone quality that is non-invasive, portable, brief in scan duration, and does not use ionizing radiation. This study investigates the relationship between components of infant bone quality and a measure of quantitative ultrasound (QUS), speed of sound (SOS), to provide insight into the validity of QUS as a diagnostic tool for evaluating infant bone quality. The study sample was comprised of 78 infants between the age of 30 weeks estimated gestational age and 12 postnatal months receiving an autopsy at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences and Texas Children’s Hospital. Bone SOS measurements, costochondral rib and iliac crest samples, and radiographs of the forearm and leg were prospectively collected over a 9-month period. Demographic information, medical history, autopsy findings, and investigator reports were collected and used to identify chronic illness. Qualitative radiographic evaluation, bone mineral density (BMD), and tibial measurements were obtained from radiographs. Results indicated that SOS measures aspects of bone quality related to bone macrostructure. Prematurity and chronic illness were significantly associated in the current study sample and their detrimental effects could not be separated. Prematurity and, possibly, chronic illness significantly influenced SOS through their adverse effects on growth and bone health. BMD was not significantly associated with tibial or body size measurements, but this may have been due to the small area of bone used to estimate BMD. Although SOS and BMD were not significantly correlated, both showed a postnatal decline and subsequent increase at greater ages. Chronically ill infants had significantly lower BMD and greater qualitative radiographic evaluation scores than infants without chronic illness. Assessing bone quality is complex due to the multitude of factors which compose it. QUS remains a highly promising technology for evaluating infant bone quality, but it cannot be definitively concluded that QUS is a valid technique for evaluating infant bone quality based on this research alone. Research comparing SOS to finer-grained measurements of aspects of bone quality are necessary before the validity of QUS as a diagnostic tool for evaluating infant bone quality and strength can be determined

Unraveling La Causa: The Chicano/a Movement

Do you want to know more about the social movements of the Latinx community? If you answer is yes, this is your zine. Please continue reading.https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/so_racial_relations_zines/1003/thumbnail.jp

Emission line objects in NGC 6822. New Planetary Nebula candidates

Images obtained with the CTIO 4-m telescope and the MOSAIC-2 wide field camera in [O III] 5007 and H\alpha on-band and off-band filters are analyzed to search for emission lines objects in the galaxy NGC 6822. In particular we search for PN candidates. In addition, data of a sub-sample of objects obtained with ESO VLT-FORS2 are used to calibrate the MOSAIC imaging. A large number of line emission regions were detected, for which we measured instrumental magnitudes in all the filters. Based on some criteria to distinguish between PNe and compact HII regions, we found 26 PN candidates, increasing the known sample in 8 objects. Also we detected a number of compact HII regions and 20 stellar objects emitting in Halpha. For all the objects we present coordinates, instrumental magnitudes and nebular [O III] and Halpha+[N II] fluxes. The observed PNLF for the PN [O III] 5007 magnitudes and the cumulative PNLF were calculated. We confirm that the PNLF presents a dip similar to the one detected for the SMC at 2.5 mag down the maximum. The cumulative PNLF returns a value M^\star_{5007}=-3.71^{+0.21}_{-0.42} for the peak absolute magnitude of the PNLF which is faint compared to the value expected for galaxies with metallicity similar to the one of NGC 6822 but similar within uncertainties. From our best fit to the observed PNLF we obtained a rough distance modulus m-M = 23.64 ^{+0.23}_{-0.43} mag, which agrees within uncertainties with recent values reported in the literature. The number of PN in the brightest 0.5 mag normalized to the galactic bolometric luminosity, alpha_{0.5} was estimated to be (3.8^{+0.90}_{-0.71}) E-9, which is similar to the values derived for galaxies with recent star formation and small galaxies (M_B fainter than - 18 mag).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 long table, A&A Accepted Nov 6, 200

Violencia simbólica. Las mujeres en el rock mexicano. Una aproximación desde el análisis del discurso

Discurso sobre feminismo desde el rock nacional en MéxicoLa tesis analiza el papel de la mujer desde la perspectiva del rock nacional en un modo diacrónico y de acuerdo con la perspectiva de Michel Foucault

Second Graders’ Interpretation of Character in Picturebook Illustrations

This qualitative research study explored second graders’ use of visual information to understand characters in picturebooks. Students participated in whole class read-alouds of three picturebooks. Immediately following each read-aloud, students were individually interviewed and invited to talk about the visual text in pre-selected illustrations. Findings revealed that the children used pictorial information, including character actions, body posture, and facial expressions, to support their inferences about characters. They also attended to color and line in justifying their insights. However, the children did not tend to some critical pictorial information in interpreting character including pictorial symbols, the position and size of characters in illustrations, and the pictorial device of breaking the frame

Breaking the H2 chemical bond in a crystalline environment

Through density functional theory and molecular dynamics calculations, we have analysed various metal polyhydrides to understand whether hydrogen is present in its molecular or atomic form - tetrahydrides of Ba,Sr,Ra, Cs and La; Ba$_8$H$_{46}$ and BaH$_{12}$. We show that, in experimentally reported binary barium hydrides (BaH$_x$), molecular H$_2$ and atomic H$^-$ can coexist with the metallic cations. In this thorough study of differences between BaH$_4$, higher barium hydrides, and other binary tetrahydrides we find the number of atomic hydrogens is equal to the formal charge of the cations. The remaining hydrogen forms molecules in proportions yielding, e.g. BaH$_2$(H$_2)_x$, at pressures as high as 200 GPa. At room temperature these are highly dynamic structures with the hydrogens switching between H$^-$ and H$_2$ while retaining the 2:x ratio. We find some qualitative differences between our static DFT calculations and previously reported structural and spectroscopic experimental results. Two factors allow us to resolve such discrepancies: Firstly, in static relaxation H$_2$ must be regarded as a non-spherical object, which breaks symmetry in a way invisible to X-rays; Secondly the required number of molecules $x$ may be incompatible with the experimental space group (e.g. $BaH_2(H_2)_5$). In molecular dynamics, bond-breaking transitions between various structural symmetry configurations happen on a picosecond timescale via an H$_3^-$ intermediate. Rebonding is slow enough to allow a spectroscopic signal but frequent enough to average out over the lengthscale involved in diffraction

Difficulties students have in using Grammar in the 3th year in the afternoon shift in high school Camino Del Rio

The present work deals with grammar problems in students of the third year at Camino Del Rio School. We pretend with this investigation firstly to find out the difficulties students have in using grammar in the 3th year to provide some suggestions to solve these problems. Learning to write a second language is very difficult lack has to be surmounted in order to meat social demands and the entire requirement in the vocational or technical field in the future. To achieve it is important to start from the beginning of the language leaning course to use any suitable technique. According to the results of the survey and interviews we identify some of the problems students have in grammar and we also expect to give to teachers, students, parents in order to improve students learning