The Influence of Chronotype and Grit on Lifestyle and Physical Activity

Background:  The chronotype of a person refers to an individual's natural sleep-wake cycle and whether that individual prefers morning or evening activities, and grit is an individual's perseverance and passion for long-term goals.Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between grit, chronotype, physical activity, and leading a healthy lifestyle in college-age students.Methods:  Health and fitness data (i.e., chronotype, grit, lifestyle assessment score, and daily steps) from 431 first-semester university students at a private college were collected and analyzed. Results: This study found that grit and chronotype both have significant correlations with living a healthy lifestyle and with physical activity. Grit more accurately predicts a person's lifestyle (β = -13.712, r = 0.39, p < 0.0001) while chronotype more accurately predicts the physical activity, or steps, of a person (β = 66.48, r = .19, p = .0001). Chronotype can also accurately predict the grit of a person (r = .25, p < .0001), and it was found that morning people tend to have more grit.Conclusions:  This study concluded that grit, chronotype, steps, and a healthy lifestyle are all significantly correlated with each other. Knowing the relationship between endogenous chronotype, grit, and living a physically active and healthy lifestyle can help inform policy decisions related to the goal of strengthening an institution's inclusive and healthy academic community

The prevalence, incidence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among pregnant Zimbabwean women followed up nine months after childbirth

Background Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital ulcer disease worldwide. The virus can be transmitted to neonates and there are scarce data regarding incidence of HSV-2 among women in pregnancy and after childbirth. The aim of this study is to measure the incidence and risk factors for HSV-2 infection in women followed for 9 months after childbirth. Methods Pregnant women were consecutively enrolled late in pregnancy and followed at six weeks, four and nine months after childbirth. Stored samples were tested for HSV-2 at baseline and again at nine months after childbirth and HSV-2 seropositive samples at nine months after childbirth (seroconverters) were tested retrospectively to identify the seroconversion point. Results One hundred and seventy-three (50.9%) of the 340 consecutively enrolled pregnant women were HSV-2 seronegative at baseline. HSV-2 incidence rate during the 10 months follow up was 9.7 (95% CI 5.4-14.4)/100 and 18.8 (95% CI 13.9-26.1)/100 person years at risk (PYAR) at four months and nine months after childbirth respectively. Analysis restricted to women reporting sexual activity yielded higher incidence rates. The prevalence of HSV-2 amongst the HIV-1 seropositive was 89.3%. Risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositivity were having other sexual partners in past 12 months (Prevalence Risk Ratio (PRR) 1.8 (95% CI 1.4-2.4) and presence of Trichomonas vaginalis (PRR 1.7 95% CI 1.4-2.1). Polygamy (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 4.4, 95% CI 1.9-10.6) and young age at sexual debut (IRR 3.6, 95% CI 1.6-8.3) were associated with primary HSV-2 infection during the 10 months follow up. Conclusions Incidence of HSV-2 after childbirth is high and the period between late pregnancy and six weeks after childbirth needs to be targeted for prevention of primary HSV-2 infection to avert possible neonatal infections