A feasibility study of wearable activity monitors for pre-adolescent school-age children.

IntroductionUnderstanding physical activity is key in the fight against childhood obesity. The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of using certain wearable devices to measure physical activity among children.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted with 25 children aged 7 to 10 years to assess acceptability and compliance of wearable activity devices in this age group. During March through August 2012, children participated in a 4-week study of 3 accelerometer models and a heart rate monitor. Children were asked to use a different device each week for 7 consecutive days. Children and their parents completed structured interviews after using each device; they also completed a final exit interview.ResultsThe wrist-worn Polar Active was the device most preferred by children and was associated with the highest level of compliance. Devices that are comfortable to wear, fit properly, have engaging features, and are waterproof increase feasibility and are associated with higher levels of compliance.ConclusionThe wrist-worn device was the most feasible for measuring physical activity among children aged 7 to 10 years. These findings will inform researchers in selecting tools for measuring children's physical activity

Assessing Child Obesity and Physical Activity in a Hard-to-Reach Population in California's Central Valley, 2012-2013.

IntroductionIn California's agricultural Central Valley, the rate of childhood obesity is higher than the national average. Adequate physical activity contributes to obesity prevention and its assessment is useful to evaluate the impact of interventions.MethodsNiños Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family [NSFS]) uses community-based participatory research to implement an intervention program to reduce childhood obesity among people of Mexican origin in the Central Valley. Anthropometric measurements were conducted on more than 650 children enrolled in NSFS. Physical activity data from a subgroup of children aged 4 to 7 years (n = 134) were collected via a wearable accelerometer.ResultsChildren were classified on the basis of age and sex-adjusted body mass index as healthy weight (57.7%); overweight (19.3%), or obese (23%). Logistic regression showed that moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was associated with a child's likelihood of having a healthy BMI (odds ratio: 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05; P = .017).ConclusionNSFS's community-based participatory approach resulted in successful use of a commercial electronic device to measure physical activity quantity and quality in this hard-to-reach population. Promotion of adequate daily MVPA is an appropriate and necessary component of NSFS's childhood obesity prevention strategy

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Dependent inductions of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism act inversely on tumor progression.

The Western diet contains a high ratio of omega-6 (ω6) to omega-3 (ω3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The prototypical aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) ligand, 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), induces CYP1 family enzymes, which can metabolize PUFA to epoxides. Mice fed ω3-rich or ω6-rich diets were treated with TCDD and injected subcutaneously with AHR-competent Hepa1-GFP hepatoma cells or AHR-deficient LLC lung cancer cells. TCDD reduced the growth rates of the resulting tumors in ω3-fed mice and inhibited their metastasis to the liver and/or lung, but had the opposite effects in mice fed ω6 PUFA. These responses were likely attributable to the corresponding PUFA epoxides generated in tumor cells and/or host, since many depended upon co-administration of a soluble epoxide hydrolase (EPHX2) inhibitor in males, and/or were associated with increases in epoxide levels in tumors and sites of metastasis. Equivalent effects occurred in females in the absence of EPHX2 inhibition, probably because this sex expressed reduced levels of EPHX2. The responses elicited by TCDD were associated with effects on tumor vascularity, tumor cell proliferation and/or apoptosis. Thus environmental AHR agonists, and potentially also endogenous, nutritional, and microbiome-derived agonists, may reduce or enhance cancer progression depending on the composition of dietary PUFA, particularly in females

Hemp Flower Nitrogen Fertility Trial

Hemp is a non-psychoactive variety of Cannabis sativa L. The crop is one of historical importance in the U.S. and re-emerging worldwide importance as medical providers and manufacturers seek hemp as a renewable and sustainable resource for a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Hemp grown for all types of end-use (health supplement, fiber, and seed) contains less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Some hemp varieties intended to produce a health supplement contain relatively high concentrations of a compound called cannabidiol (CBD), potentially 10-15%. The compound CBD has purported benefits such as relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, seizures, spasms, and other conditions. The CBD compound is the most concentrated in the female flower buds of the plant, however, it is also in the leaves and other plant parts as well

Influence of mobility and daily activity on low-threshold EMG in older women

Increases in low threshold EMG may occur as a consequence of mobility or daily activity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether mobility (ambulation and life-space movement) or activities of daily living influence low-threshold EMG in older women (\u3e75 years). EMG was examined in upper and lower body muscles for an 8-hour day and compared with assessments of mobility from Global Positioning Systems and pedometers. Although mobility scores did not differ between groups, community-dwelling women reported higher instrumental activities of daily living compared with retirement-dwelling. EMG burst activity was ~25% greater and gap activity ~45% less in retirement-dwellers. Upper extremity muscles had ~45% greater number and rate of bursts and gaps than lower extremity muscles. On and off cycle of low threshold EMG in upper extremities and higher burst and lower gap activity in retirement-dwelling women likely occurs because EMG is sensitive to instrumental activities of daily living

Land loss in the Mississippi River Delta: Role of subsidence, global sea-level rise, and coupled atmospheric and oceanographic processes

The Mississippi River Delta in coastal Louisiana has suffered large-scale land loss during the historic period and is representative of a global phenomenon where low-elevation deltaic coasts are increasingly at risk because of disrupted sediment supply and accelerated global sea-level rise. Land loss is a natural part of deltaic evolution over time, and most of the land loss in the Mississippi River Delta occurred after individual delta-plain headlands were abandoned as active constructional landscapes, but before 1932 when collection of air photos would make repeat land loss measurements possible. A coastwide land loss of ∼5000 km2 is now well documented for the period 1932 to 2016, which corresponds to a mean rate of ∼57 km2 yr−1. We use a LiDAR digital topobathymetric model to hindcast land-area changes through time for 1950–2010 by incrementally restoring elevation lost due to subsidence, global sea-level rise, and annual anomalies in mean sea level. Our results support the view that the magnitude and spatial distribution of 20th century land loss can be explained by an unfortunate convergence of ongoing subsidence, greatly reduced sediment dispersal due to levee construction, and acceleration of global sea-level rise. Other factors have contributed to land loss on local scales, but the magnitude of land loss that has occurred would have occurred anyway due to subsidence, lack of sediment input, and accelerated sea-level rise. Multidecadal accelerations and decelerations in land loss from 1950 to 2010 have been observed, and attributed to accelerations and decelerations in subsidence due to subsurface fluid withdrawals. However, non-linear land loss represents measurements that were made when water levels varied due to annual to multidecadal anomalies in mean sea level. Anomalies in mean sea level are driven by flux of water into and out of the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic, as well as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which produces precipitation anomalies in the Gulf of Mexico drainage area, anomalies in Mississippi River discharge to the Gulf of Mexico, and changes in wind directions that serve to trap water along the coast and elevate coastal sea level, or advect water away from the coast to lower coastal sea level. Sea-level anomalies of the scale described here amplify or suppress the secular trend of global sea-level rise and its impacts on low-elevation delta plains as they respond to ongoing subsidence and anthropogenic disruption of sediment dispersal