Relationship between blood lead concentration and nutritional status among Malay primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the relationship between blood lead concentration and nutritional status among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 225 Malay students, 113 male and 112 female, aged 6.3 to 9.8 were selected through a stratified random sampling method. The random blood samples were collected and blood lead concentration was measured by a Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The nutrient intake was determined by the 24-hour Dietary Recall method and Food Frequency Questionnaire. An anthropometric assessment was reported according to growth indices (z-scores of weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height). The mean blood lead concentration was low (3.4 ± 1.91 ug/dL) and was significantly different between gender. Only 14.7% of the respondents fulfilled the daily energy requirement. The protein and iron intakes were adequate for a majority of the children. However, 34.7% of the total children showed inadequate intake of calcium. The energy, protein, fat and carbohydrate intakes were significantly different by gender, that is, males had better intake than females. Majority of respondents had normal mean z-score of growth indices. Ten percent of the respondents were underweight, 2.8% wasted and 5.4% stunted. Multiple linear regression showed inverse significant relationships between blood lead concentration with children's age (β= -0.647, p<0.001) and per capita income (β=-0.001, p=0.018). There were inverse significant relationships between blood lead concentration with children's age (β=-0.877, p=0.001) and calcium intake (β= -0.011,p=0.014) and positive significant relationship with weight-for-height (β=0.326, p=0.041) among those with inadequate calcium intake. Among children with inadequate energy intake, children's age (β= -0.621, p< 0.001), per capita income (β= -0.001,p=0.025) and protein intake (β= -0.019, p=0.027) were inversely and significantly related with blood lead concentration. In conclusion, nutritional status might affect the children's absorption of lead and further investigation is required for confirmation

Relationship between ventilatory function and age in master athletes and a sedentary reference population

Abstract Ageing is accompanied with a decline in respiratory function. It is hypothesised that this may be attenuated by high physical activity levels. We performed spirometry in master athletes (71 women; 84 men; 35–86 years) and sedentary people (39 women; 45 men; 24–82 years), and calculated the predicted lung age (PLA). The negative associations of age with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1; 34 mL·year−1) and other ventilatory parameters were similar in controls and master athletes. FEV1pred was 9 % higher (P<0.005) and PLA 15 % lower (P00.013) in athletes than controls. There were no significant differences between endurance and power athletes and sedentary people in maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure. Neither age-graded performance nor weekly training hours were significantly related to lung age. Life-long exercise does not appear to attenuate the age-related decrease in ventilatory function. The better respiratory function in master athletes than age-matched sedentary people might be due to self-selection and attrition bias

Sex and age-related differences in performance in a 24-hour ultra-cycling draft-legal event - a cross-sectional data analysis

Background The purpose of this study was to examine the sex and age-related differences in performance in a draft-legal ultra-cycling event. Methods Age-related changes in performance across years were investigated in the 24-hour draft-legal cycling event held in Schotz, Switzerland, between 2000 and 2011 using multi-level regression analyses including age, repeated participation and environmental temperatures as co-variables. Results For all finishers, the age of peak cycling performance decreased significantly (Ss = -0.273, p = 0.036) from 38 +/- 10 to 35 +/- 6 years in females but remained unchanged (Ss = -0.035, p = 0.906) at 41.0 +/- 10.3 years in males. For the annual fastest females and males, the age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged at 37.3 +/- 8.5 and 38.3 +/- 5.4 years, respectively. For all female and male finishers, males improved significantly (Ss = 7.010, p = 0.006) the cycling distance from 497.8 +/- 219.6 km to 546.7 +/- 205.0 km whereas females (Ss = -0.085, p = 0.987) showed an unchanged performance of 593.7 +/- 132.3 km. The mean cycling distance achieved by the male winners of 960.5 +/- 51.9 km was significantly (p 0.05). The sex difference in performance for the annual winners of 19.7 +/- 7.8% remained unchanged across years (p > 0.05). The achieved cycling distance decreased in a curvilinear manner with advancing age. There was a significant age effect (F = 28.4, p < 0.0001) for cycling performance where the fastest cyclists were in age group 35-39 years. Conclusion In this 24-h cycling draft-legal event, performance in females remained unchanged while their age of peak cycling performance decreased and performance in males improved while their age of peak cycling performance remained unchanged. The annual fastest females and males were 37.3 +/- 8.5 and 38.3 +/- 5.4 years old, respectively. The sex difference for the fastest finishers was ~20%. It seems that women were not able to profit from drafting to improve their ultra-cycling performance

Research into Teaching and Learning of Tertiary Mathematics and Statistics

Reviewed in this chapter is the growing depth and variety of research being undertaken in the tertiary mathematics field. In particular, the scope of the research and issues being examined have been highlighted in sections: Tertiary mathematics education. The focus is strategies for teaching and learning in mathematics education and the professional learning of the lecturers and tutors. Mathematical content. Papers reviewed are those that focus on certain content areas in tertiary mathematics, both practical and theoretical. Tertiary statistics education. The authors reviewed the small but growing area of research that examines the teaching and learning of statistics, content areas of statistics education and some of the innovations being used in this area of teaching and learning. Transitions and support. The focus is school to university transition and the support structures being implemented to provide academic support for undergraduate students of mathematics. Service teaching. The authors consider papers that link mathematics into service areas such as engineering and the health sciences

Does muscle mass affect running times in male long-distance master runners?

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between skeletal muscle mass, body fat and training characteristics with running times in master athletes (age > 35 years) in half-marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon. METHODS: We compared skeletal muscle mass, body fat and training characteristics in master half-marathoners (n=103), master marathoners (n=91) and master ultra-marathoners (n=155) and investigated associations between body composition and training characteristics with race times using bi- and multi-variate analyses. RESULTS: After multi-variate analysis, body fat was related to half-marathon (β=0.9, P=0.0003), marathon (β=2.2, P<0.0001), and ultra-marathon (β=10.5, P<0.0001) race times. In master half-marathoners (β=-4.3, P<0.0001) and master marathoners (β=-11.9, P<0.0001), speed during training was related to race times. In master ultra-marathoners, however, weekly running kilometers (β=-1.6, P<0.0001) were related to running times. CONCLUSIONS: To summarize, body fat and training characteristics, not skeletal muscle mass, were associated with running times in master half-marathoners, master marathoners, and master ultra-marathoners. Master half-marathoners and master marathoners rather rely on a high running speed during training whereas master ultra-marathoners rely on a high running volume during training. The common opinion that skeletal muscle mass affects running performance in master runners needs to be questioned

Hostage of the Software: Experiences in Teaching Inferential Statistics to Undergraduate Human-Computer Interaction Students and a Survey of the Literature

Students’ knowledge of inferential statistics is lacking in many computer science study programs. Yet, the needs for inferential statistical skills have emerged with new fields of study such as human-computer interaction involving observation of human activity. This paper presents experiences teaching inferential statistics to undergraduate computer science students with a focus on the actual goals of the investigations and not the mechanisms and mathematics of statistics. The teaching framework involves teaching statistics as a set of systematic black-box tools