United States’ neighborhood park use and physical activity over two years: The National Study of Neighborhood Parks

The United States lacks surveillance to monitor park use and conditions. The purpose of this study was to use the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) as a surveillance tool to describe the conditions, user characteristics, and physical activity of a national sample of neighborhood parks at two time points. Using a stratified multistage sampling strategy, a representative sample of 174 neighborhood parks in 25 major United States’ cities were selected. During 2014 and 2016, park-related use, conditions, and physical activity were assessed using SOPARC in 169 parks. Overall, 74,106 park users were observed at baseline and 69,150 park users were observed two years later (p = 0.37). There were persistent disparities in park use by gender and age, with disproportionately more male than female users in each age group (child, teenager, adult, older adult). Older adults used the park less than other age groups. Almost two-thirds of park users were observed being sedentary (61.9% in 2014, 60.7% in 2016), followed by moderate (30.8%, 32.0%) and vigorous (7.3%, 7.3%) activity. Empty target areas increased over two years (75.3%, 77.6%; p = 0.01) and those that were equipped (2.6%, 1.2%; p = 0.0003), accessible (95.4%, 94.3%; p = 0.01), and organized (2.6%, 1.7%; p = 0.01) decreased. Areas that were usable (97.5%, 97.4%) or provided supervised activities (2.0%, 2.4%) did not change significantly. The findings demonstrate the value of SOPARC as a surveillance tool, identify user groups under represented at parks, and suggest an opportunity to encourage more park-based physical activity among park visitors

Playground features and physical activity in U.S. neighborhood parks

All people need to engage in routine physical activity and children require it daily. Playgrounds are settings designed for children to be physically active, yet there has been little research assessing which play elements and structures are associated with more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among both youth and adults. We conducted a national study of neighborhood parks with the goal of identifying factors that promote more MVPA. We selected a nationally representative sample of 162 parks between 3 and 22 acres in 25 U.S. cities with a population >100,000. We used direct observation to measure MVPA in 147 playgrounds during spring and summer of 2016, documented playground characteristics and assessed hours of use and MVPA by age group and gender. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and generalized linear models. The most common play elements and structures were slides and ladders (92% of parks) and swings (81%); elements supporting balancing, crawling, spinning, sand and water play were in <30% of playgrounds. Each additional play element was associated with about 50% more users and 50% more MVPA. Spinning structures and splash pads were associated with more playground use and more MVPA. Playgrounds with signage advertising park programs and on-site restrooms had more person-hours of use, but only half the parks had restrooms and <30% had signage. To address insufficient physical activity, upgrades to playgrounds should include restrooms, structures that support a wide variety of movements, and elements that also encourage adults to be active

How important is perception of safety to park use? A four-city survey

Our purpose was to determine the relative importance of individual- and park-related characteristics in influencing both local park use and specific engagement in active sports, walking and sedentary pursuits. We surveyed 3815 adults living within 0.80 km of one of 24 study parks in four US metropolitan areas. Chi-square statistics and baseline-category logit models examined how perceived safety and park characteristics were related to park visitation and types of park activities, controlling for city, individual and park characteristics. Survey participants who perceived the parks as safe (88%) had 4.6 times the odds (95% CI 3.5–6.0) of reporting having visited the study park. Men and African Americans were more likely, and older individuals and those who self-reported being in fair or poor health less likely to perceive parks as safe. Parks having low incivilities scores and those with four or more different facilities, such as tennis courts, swimming pools, basketball courts, etc., were more likely than parks with fewer facilities to be perceived as safe. While park facilities had a much smaller odds ratio for predicting park visits (1.8), it affected 70% of the population. The implication is, if these associations are causal, modifying park facilities may have a greater population impact than improving perceptions of park safety. Our findings are consistent with studies suggesting that increasing the variety of park facilities and offering more organised activities may encourage physical activity among specific target groups

Use of neighbourhood parks: does socio-economic status matter? A four-city study

To determine if neighborhood socio-economic status (SES) influences park use and park-based physical activity

Functional diversity of chemokines and chemokine receptors in response to viral infection of the central nervous system.

Encounters with neurotropic viruses result in varied outcomes ranging from encephalitis, paralytic poliomyelitis or other serious consequences to relatively benign infection. One of the principal factors that control the outcome of infection is the localized tissue response and subsequent immune response directed against the invading toxic agent. It is the role of the immune system to contain and control the spread of virus infection in the central nervous system (CNS), and paradoxically, this response may also be pathologic. Chemokines are potent proinflammatory molecules whose expression within virally infected tissues is often associated with protection and/or pathology which correlates with migration and accumulation of immune cells. Indeed, studies with a neurotropic murine coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), have provided important insight into the functional roles of chemokines and chemokine receptors in participating in various aspects of host defense as well as disease development within the CNS. This chapter will highlight recent discoveries that have provided insight into the diverse biologic roles of chemokines and their receptors in coordinating immune responses following viral infection of the CNS

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

A global call for action to include gender in research impact assessment

Global investment in biomedical research has grown significantly over the last decades, reaching approximately a quarter of a trillion US dollars in 2010. However, not all of this investment is distributed evenly by gender. It follows, arguably, that scarce research resources may not be optimally invested (by either not supporting the best science or by failing to investigate topics that benefit women and men equitably). Women across the world tend to be significantly underrepresented in research both as researchers and research participants, receive less research funding, and appear less frequently than men as authors on research publications. There is also some evidence that women are relatively disadvantaged as the beneficiaries of research, in terms of its health, societal, and economic impacts. Historical gender biases may have created a path dependency that means that the research system and the impacts of research are biased towards male researchers and male beneficiaries, making it inherently difficult (though not impossible) to eliminate gender bias. In this commentary, we – a group of scholars and practitioners from Africa, America, Asia, and Europe– argue that gender-sensitive research impact assessment could become a force for good in moving science policy and practice towards gender equity. Research impact assessment is the multidisciplinary field of scientific inquiry that examines the research process to maximise scientific, societal, and economic returns on investment in research. It encompasses many theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used to investigate gender bias and recommend actions for change to maximise research impact. We offer a set of recommendations to research funders, research institutions, and research evaluators who conduct impact assessment on how to include and strengthen analysis of gender equity in research impact assessment and issue a global call for action

On the nitrogen-induced lattice expansion of a non-stainless austenitic steel, Invar 36®, under triode plasma nitriding

Chromium, as a strong nitride-forming element, is widely regarded to be an “essential” ingredient for the formation of a nitrogen-expanded lattice in thermochemical nitrogen diffusion treatments of austenitic (stainless) steels. In this article, a proprietary “chrome-free” austenitic iron-nickel alloy, Invar® 36 (Fe-36Ni, in wt pct), is characterized after triode plasma nitriding (TPN) treatments at 400 °C to 450 °C and compared with a “stainless” austenitic counterpart RA 330® (Fe-19Cr-35Ni, in wt pct) treated under equivalent nitriding conditions. Cr does indeed appear to play a pivotal role in colossal nitrogen supersaturation (and hence anisotropic lattice expansion and superior surface hardening) of austenitic steel under low-temperature (≤ 450 °C) nitrogen diffusion. Nevertheless, this work reveals that nitrogen-induced lattice expansion occurs below the nitride-containing surface layer in Invar 36 alloy after TPN treatment, implying that Cr is not a necessity for the nitrogen-interstitial induced lattice expansion phenomenon to occur, also suggesting another type of γN