Influence of the Built Environment on Pedestrian Route Choices of Adolescent Girls

We examined the influence of the built environment on pedestrian route selection among adolescent girls. Portable global positioning system units, accelerometers, and travel diaries were used to identify the origin, destination, and walking routes of girls in San Diego, CA and Minneapolis, MN. We completed an inventory of the built environment on every street segment to measure the characteristics of routes taken and not taken. Route-level variables covering four key conceptual built environment domains (Aesthetics, Destinations, Functionality, and Safety) were used in the analysis of route choice. Shorter distance had the strongest positive association with route choice, while the presence of a greenway or trail, higher safety, presence of sidewalks, and availability of destinations along a route were also consistently positively associated with route choice at both sites. The results suggest that it may be possible to encourage pedestrians to walk farther by providing high quality and stimulating routes

The genomic landscape of balanced cytogenetic abnormalities associated with human congenital anomalies

Despite the clinical significance of balanced chromosomal abnormalities (BCAs), their characterization has largely been restricted to cytogenetic resolution. We explored the landscape of BCAs at nucleotide resolution in 273 subjects with a spectrum of congenital anomalies. Whole-genome sequencing revised 93% of karyotypes and demonstrated complexity that was cryptic to karyotyping in 21% of BCAs, highlighting the limitations of conventional cytogenetic approaches. At least 33.9% of BCAs resulted in gene disruption that likely contributed to the developmental phenotype, 5.2% were associated with pathogenic genomic imbalances, and 7.3% disrupted topologically associated domains (TADs) encompassing known syndromic loci. Remarkably, BCA breakpoints in eight subjects altered a single TAD encompassing MEF2C, a known driver of 5q14.3 microdeletion syndrome, resulting in decreased MEF2C expression. We propose that sequence-level resolution dramatically improves prediction of clinical outcomes for balanced rearrangements and provides insight into new pathogenic mechanisms, such as altered regulation due to changes in chromosome topology

Influence of the built environment on pedestrian route choices of adolescent girls.

We examined the influence of the built environment on pedestrian route selection among adolescent girls. Portable global positioning system units, accelerometers, and travel diaries were used to identify the origin, destination, and walking routes of girls in San Diego, CA and Minneapolis, MN. We completed an inventory of the built environment on every street segment to measure the characteristics of routes taken and not taken. Route-level variables covering four key conceptual built environment domains (Aesthetics, Destinations, Functionality, and Safety) were used in the analysis of route choice. Shorter distance had the strongest positive association with route choice, while the presence of a greenway or trail, higher safety, presence of sidewalks, and availability of destinations along a route were also consistently positively associated with route choice at both sites. The results suggest that it may be possible to encourage pedestrians to walk farther by providing high quality and stimulating routes

Identifying walking trips from GPS and accelerometer data in adolescent females

Background: Studies that have combined accelerometers and global positioning systems (GPS) to identify walking have done so in carefully controlled conditions. This study tested algorithms for identifying walking trips from accelerometer and GPS data in free-living conditions. The study also assessed the accuracy of the locations where walking occurred compared with what participants reported in a diary. Methods: A convenience sample of high school females was recruited (N = 42) in 2007. Participants wore a GPS unit and an accelerometer, and recorded their out-of-school travel for 6 days. Split-sample validation was used to examine agreement in the daily and total number of walking trips with Kappa statistics and count regression models, while agreement in locations visited by walking was examined with geographic information systems. Results: Agreement varied based on the parameters of the algorithm, with algorithms exhibiting moderate to substantial agreement with self-reported daily (Kappa = 0.33-0.48) and weekly (Kappa = 0.41-0.64) walking trips. Comparison of reported locations reached by walking and GPS data suggest that reported locations are accurate. Conclusions: The use of GPS and accelerometers is promising for assessing the number of walking trips and the walking locations of adolescent females.open1

Influence of the Built Environment on Pedestrian Route Choices of Adolescent Girls

We examined the influence of the built environment on pedestrian route selection among adolescent girls. Portable global positioning system units, accelerometers, and travel diaries were used to identify the origin, destination, and walking routes of girls in San Diego, CA and Minneapolis, MN. We completed an inventory of the built environment on every street segment to measure the characteristics of routes taken and not taken. Route-level variables covering four key conceptual built environment domains (Aesthetics, Destinations, Functionality, and Safety) were used in the analysis of route choice. Shorter distance had the strongest positive association with route choice, while the presence of a greenway or trail, higher safety, presence of sidewalks, and availability of destinations along a route were also consistently positively associated with route choice at both sites. The results suggest that it may be possible to encourage pedestrians to walk farther by providing high quality and stimulating routes