The impact of unsupervised regular walking on health: a sample of Turkish middle-aged and older adults

Regular walking is one of the most recommended and popular physical activity worldwide. This study (1) detected the effects of unsupervised regular walking on physical and cognitive functioning, emotional status, and quality of life in middle-aged and older adults and (2) compared the results with inactive controls. Forty middle-aged and older adults with a mean age of 56.30 ± 4.85 years (range 40-70) walking for at least 1 year, at least three times a week, and at least 45 min a day and 40 inactive participants with a mean age of 55.15 ± 5.64 years (range 40-70) participated. Before testing, sociodemographics of the participants were recorded. Body mass index and waist-hip ratio were calculated. The two groups were evaluated and compared in terms of physical functioning (handgrip strength, balance performance, cardio-vascular endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance and coordination), cognitive functioning (Mini Mental Test), emotional status (Beck Depression Inventory), and health related quality of life (CDC HRQOL- 4). The results obtained from this study showed that there were significant differences in terms of all outcome measurements between the groups (p < 0.05). The regular walking group had better scores in most parameters than the inactive controls. The results indicate that unsupervised regular walking improves health and is also a safe, cheap, and can easily be adapted into daily life. Therefore, it can be recommended to improve physical and cognitive functioning, emotional status, and quality of life of middle-aged and older adults. © 2011 European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA)

From Admission to Graduation: The Impact of Gender on Student Academic Success in Respiratory Therapy Education

Despite research in other allied health professions and medicine, the influence of gender on student performance in respiratory therapy (RT) academic programs and on the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) examinations is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the impact of gender on student academic performance from admission to graduation and to determine whether gender differences affected student success on the NBRC examinations. This study consisted of a retrospective analysis of 91 female and 22 male graduates at a southeastern U.S. university between 2003 and 2007. The variables of academic success included the students\u27 entering GPA, exit GPA, and first-attempt performance on the Certified Respiratory Therapy (CRT) examination and on the Written Registry for Respiratory Therapy (WRRT) examination. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test analyses at a level of significance of α = 0.05 were utilized. No significant gender differences were observed in the measures of students\u27 entering GPA, exit GPA, or performance on scaled CRT and WRRT examinations (p \u3e 0.05). When we compared entering GPAs and exit GPAs, a statistically significant difference was found (p \u3c 0.05). Both male and female RT students had significantly higher exit GPAs than entering GPAs. The results of the study showed that gender plays no role in the academic success of RT students. When looking at the changes on academic success, we conclude that RT students work hard, as the graduation scores are higher than admission scores