Genome-wide association study of self-reported walking pace suggests beneficial effects of brisk walking on health and survival

Walking is a simple form of exercise, widely promoted for its health benefits. Self-reported walking pace has been associated with a range of cardiorespiratory and cancer outcomes, and is a strong predictor of mortality. Here we perform a genome-wide association study of self-reported walking pace in 450,967 European ancestry UK Biobank participants. We identify 70 independent associated loci (P < 5 × 10−8), 11 of which are novel. We estimate the SNP-based heritability as 13.2% (s.e. = 0.21%), reducing to 8.9% (s.e. = 0.17%) with adjustment for body mass index. Significant genetic correlations are observed with cardiometabolic, respiratory and psychiatric traits, educational attainment and all-cause mortality. Mendelian randomization analyses suggest a potential causal link of increasing walking pace with a lower cardiometabolic risk profile. Given its low heritability and simple measurement, these findings suggest that self-reported walking pace is a pragmatic target for interventions aiming for general benefits on health

Il futuro del personalismo fra etica e politica

Il personalismo rappresenta nella storia del pensiero politico una posizione che intende superare sia l'individualismo sia il collettivismo. Caratteristica fondamentale delle diverse concezioni del personalismo è la sua disposizione a difendere la sfera dell'uomo dalle invadenze di poteri assoluti e dispotici, che nel mondo contemporaneo assumono il volto del totalitarismo .Con la fine delle ideologie e la caduta delle utopie, il personalismo ha anche la funzione di criticare la tendenza delle società liberaldemocratiche e consumiste verso nuove forme di anomie e di controllo sociale della persona con la potenza dei nuovi media.Personality represents in the history of political thought a position that goes beyond both individualism and collectivism. The fundamental feature of the different conceptions of personalism is its disposition to defend the sphere of man from the invasions of absolute and despotic powers that in the contemporary world assume the face of totalitarianism. With the end of ideologies and the fall of utopias, personalism has It is also the function of criticizing the tendency of liberaldemocratic and consumer societies towards new forms of anomie and social control of the person with the power of the new media