Recreational destinations and leisure-time physical activity in Chinese urban elders

Conference Theme: Promoting Healthy Eating and Activity WorldwideSession - S36 The relationships between the physical environment and physical activity in older adults: results from four different continents: abstract S36.4PURPOSE: The built environment may impact on elders’ ability to engage in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). Environmental correlates of LTPA in Chinese older residents of ultra-dense cities are unknown. The main aim of this study was to examine associations of objectively-measured recreational facilities in the neighborhood with LTPA (walking and other forms of activity) in Chinese elders residing in an ultra-dense city. We also examined whether these associations depend on other environmental factors. METHOD: This study was conducted in Hong Kong in …postprin

Rehabilitation needs for older adults with stroke living at home: perceptions of four populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many people who have suffered a stroke require rehabilitation to help them resume their previous activities and roles in their own environment, but only some of them receive inpatient or even outpatient rehabilitation services. Partial and unmet rehabilitation needs may ultimately lead to a loss of functional autonomy, which increases utilization of health services, number of hospitalizations and early institutionalization, leading to a significant psychological and financial burden on the patients, their families and the health care system. The aim of this study was to explore partially met and unmet rehabilitation needs of older adults who had suffered a stroke and who live in the community. The emphasis was put on needs that act as obstacles to social participation in terms of personal factors, environmental factors and life habits, from the point of view of four target populations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using the focus group technique, we met four types of experts living in three geographic areas of the province of Québec (Canada): older people with stroke, caregivers, health professionals and health care managers, for a total of 12 groups and 72 participants. The audio recordings of the meetings were transcribed and NVivo software was used to manage the data. The process of reducing, categorizing and analyzing the data was conducted using themes from the Disability Creation Process model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rehabilitation needs persist for nine capabilities (e.g. related to behaviour or motor activities), nine factors related to the environment (e.g. type of teaching, adaptation and rehabilitation) and 11 life habits (e.g. nutrition, interpersonal relationships). The caregivers and health professionals identified more unmet needs and insisted on an individualized rehabilitation. Older people with stroke and the health care managers had a more global view of rehabilitation needs and emphasized the availability of resources.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Better knowledge of partially met or unmet rehabilitation needs expressed by the different types of people involved should lead to increased attention being paid to education for caregivers, orientation of caregivers towards resources in the community, and follow-up of patients' needs in terms of adjustment and rehabilitation, whether for improving their skills or for carrying out their activities of daily living.</p

Age and gender differences in associations of perceived environmental attributes with walking for transport in an Asian densely-populated setting

The 3rd International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health, Toronto, Canada, 5-8 May 2010. In Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 2010, v.7 suppl. 3, p. S281-S38

Associations of perceived neighborhood attributes with self-report and objective measures of walking in Hong Kong adults

Background: Walking for different purposes can help accrue health-enhancing levels of physical activity. There is evidence that the neighborhood environment impacts on residents’ walking. Most research on environmental correlates of walking has been conducted in low-density urbanized areas of Western countries. The public transport networks and built and socio-cultural environments of Asian densely-populated urban areas differ from their Western counterparts. An analysis of the levels of walking and environment-walking associations in areas at the high end of the walkability spectrum (commonly defined as high residential density, street connectivity, and access to diverse destinations) can help determine the magnitude of the effects of environmental attributes on residents’ walking. As part of the International Physical Activity and the Environment Network initiative, a cross-sectional study exploring environment-physical activity associations in Chinese-speaking adult residents of Hong Kong is currently being conducted. We report on preliminary findings of the study. Objectives: To examine the relationships of perceived neighborhood characteristics with self-reported walking for different purposes within the neighborhood of residence, accelerometer-based daily minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) and step counts. Methods: A stratified two-stage cluster sampling design was used to recruit 195 Chinese-speaking adults, aged 20-65, residents of private dwellings and able to walk without assistance. The study sample was drawn from residential addresses within 16 Tertiary Planning Units (TPU) and classified based on their objective walkability and socio-economic status (SES) into four strata: high walkable/ high SES; low walkable/ high SES; high walkable/ low SES; and low walkable/ low SES. Area SES was operationalized as the median weekly household income for a TPU. Walkability was defined using Geographic Information Systems data on dwelling density and street connectivity. Participants provided information on socio-demographics, transportation- and recreation-related walking within the neighborhood, and perceived attributes of the neighborhood environment (Chinese version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale). Accelerometry-based (Actigraph GT1M) objective data on weekly patterns of physical activity was collected on 106 participants. For the purpose of this study, average daily minutes of MPA and step counts (markers of walking) were examined. Generalized linear models with appropriate variance and link functions and with standard errors adjusted for clustering effects were used to determine the associations of interest. All models were adjusted for socio-demographic confounders. Models of objective measures of walking were also adjusted for total time of accelerometer wearing and number of weekend/holidays days during which accelerometer data were collected. Results: Participants reported an average of 246 (SD=238) weekly minutes of walking for transport and 114 (SD=195) weekly minutes of walking for recreation. The average daily minutes of MPA were 45 (SD=25), while the average step counts were 10,039 (SD=3,681). Residents of objectively high-walkable areas reported 87 more weekly minutes of transport-related walking within the neighborhood than did those from low-walkable areas (p<.01). No significant differences between residents of areas differing in walkability were found in walking for recreation, step counts, and accelerometry-based MPA. Significant positive associations were found between transport-related walking within the neighborhood and household density (p<.05), street connectivity (p<.001), indoor places for walking (p<.05), traffic safety (p<.01), land use mix - diversity (p<.05), social environment (presence of people; p<.001) and crime (p<.05). Walking for recreation was positively related with indirect access to services (p<.01), building aesthetics (p<.05), green areas (p<.05), and land use mix - diversity (p<.05). Negative associations were observed for crime (p<.05) and household density (p<.05). MPA were positively related to perceived traffic hazards (p<.001), places for pedestrians (p<.05), social environment (p<.05), and fences separating traffic from pedestrians (p<.05). With the exception of social environment, these neighborhood attributes were also positively related with step counts. Perceived indirect access to services (p<.05) and traffic safety (p<.05) were also positive correlates of step counts. Conclusions: Adult residents of Hong Kong reported high levels of walking. However, it appears that some of the walking they undertook was at low intensity. Recent studies indicate that low-intensity physical activity may also be health enhancing, as it replaces sedentary time. As expected, walking for different purposes was associated with different environmental attributes. These findings mirror those observed in Western countries. The sets of environmental predictors varied between objective and self-report measures of walking, which may be due to measurement bias, and different measures capturing different aspects of walking behavior (i.e., any walking, walking at a moderate pace, and walking within the neighborhood). The observed between-area differences in within-neighborhood self-report but not objective measures of overall walking indicate that, unlike residents of many Western countries, Hong Kong residents may be able to overcome deficiencies in their local environment walkability by walking in areas outside of their neighborhood of residence, easily accessible thanks to an efficient public transport network. Support: Research Grants Council - CERG - Hong Kong SAR; US Department of Agriculture, Current Research Information System

Walking for transportation in Hong Kong Chinese urban elders: A cross-sectional study on what destinations matter and when

Symposia: S07Purpose: Identifying destinations and environmental conditions that facilitate walking for transport has public health significance. We investigated relationships of within-neighborhood objectively-measured destinations and environmental attributes with transport-related walking in elders from an ultra-dense metropolis (Hong Kong). Methods: We estimated relationships of diversity and prevalence of destination categories (environmental audits of 400m buffers surrounding residential addresses) with transport-related walking in 484 Chinese-speaking elders able to walk unassisted and living in neighborhoods varying in socio-economic status and transport-related walkability. We examined the moderating effects of safety and pedestrian infrastructure-related neighborhood attributes on destination-walking associations. Results: The prevalence of public transit points and diversity of recreational destinations were positively related to overall transport-related walking. The presence of a health clinic/service and place of worship, recreational destinations diversity, and greater prevalence of non-food retails and services, food/grocery stores, and restaurants in the neighborhood were predictive of more within-neighborhood transport-related walking. Neighborhood safety-related aspects moderated the relationship of overall transport-related walking with the prevalence of public transit points. Moderating effects of safety-related attributes were observed for the relationships of within-neighborhood transport-related walking with recreational and entertainment destinations. Pedestrian-infrastructure attributes acted as moderators of associations of within-neighborhood transport-related walking with prevalence of commercial destination categories. Conclusions: The availability of both non-commercial and commercial destinations may promote within-neighborhood transportrelated walking, while recreational facilities and public transit points may facilitate overall transport-related walking. However, destination-rich areas need to also provide adequate levels of personal safety and a physically-unchallenging pedestrian network

Prokineticin-1 modulates proliferation and differentiation of enteric neural crest cells

Prokineticins (Prok-1 and Prok-2) belong to a newly identified AVIT protein family. They are involved in variety of activities in various tissues, including smooth muscle contraction of the gastrointestinal tract and promoting proliferation of endothelial cells derived from adrenal gland. Importantly, they also act as the survival factors to modulate growth and survival of neurons and hematopoietic stem cells. In this study we demonstrated that Prok-1 (but not Prok-2) protein is expressed in the mucosa and mesenchyme of the mouse embryonic gut during enteric nervous system development. Its receptor, PK-R1 is expressed in the enteric neural crest cells (NCCs). To elucidate the physiological role(s) of Prok-1 in NCCs, we isolated the NCCs from the mouse embryonic gut (E11.5) and cultured them in the form of neurospheres. In an in vitro NCC culture, Prok-1 was able to activate both Akt and MAPK pathways and induce the proliferation and differentiation (but not migration) of NCCs via PK-R1. Knock-down of PK-R1 using siRNA resulted in a complete abolishment of Prok-1 induced proliferation. Taken together, it is the first report demonstrating that Prok-1 acts as a gut mucosa/mesenchyme-derived factor and maintains proliferation and differentiation of enteric NCCs. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Ecoepidemiology of Laribacter hongkongensis, a novel bacterium associated with gastroenteritis

In a territory-wide surveillance study, Laribacter hongkongensis was isolated solely from freshwater fish (60% of grass carps, 53% of bighead carps, and 25% of mud carps). Comparing the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns of fish and patient isolates revealed that most patient isolates were clustered together, suggesting that some clones could be more virulent.published_or_final_versio