Measuring physical inactivity:do current measures provide an accurate view of "sedentary" video game time?

BACKGROUND: Measures of screen time are often used to assess sedentary behaviour. Participation in activity-based video games (exergames) can contribute to estimates of screen time, as current practices of measuring it do not consider the growing evidence that playing exergames can provide light to moderate levels of physical activity. This study aimed to determine what proportion of time spent playing video games was actually spent playing exergames. METHODS: Data were collected via a cross-sectional telephone survey in South Australia. Participants aged 18 years and above (n = 2026) were asked about their video game habits, as well as demographic and socioeconomic factors. In cases where children were in the household, the video game habits of a randomly selected child were also questioned. RESULTS: Overall, 31.3% of adults and 79.9% of children spend at least some time playing video games. Of these, 24.1% of adults and 42.1% of children play exergames, with these types of games accounting for a third of all time that adults spend playing video games and nearly 20% of children's video game time. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of time that would usually be classified as "sedentary" may actually be spent participating in light to moderate physical activity

Spontaneous and Stimulated Raman Scattering near Metal Nanostructures in the Ultrafast, High-Intensity regime

The inclusion of atomic inversion in Raman scattering can significantly alter field dynamics in plasmonic settings. Our calculations show that large local fields and femtosecond pulses combine to yield: (i) population inversion within hot spots; (ii) gain saturation; and (iii) conversion efficiencies characterized by a switch-like transition to the stimulated regime that spans twelve orders of magnitude. While in Raman scattering atomic inversion is usually neglected, we demonstrate that in some circumstances full accounting of the dynamics of the Bloch vector is required

Phase diagram of silica from computer simulation

We evaluate the phase diagram of the ``BKS'' potential [Van Beest, Kramer and van Santen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 1955 (1990)], a model of silica widely used in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We conduct MD simulations of the liquid, and three crystals (beta-quartz, coesite and stishovite) over wide ranges of temperature and density, and evaluate the total Gibbs free energy of each phase. The phase boundaries are determined by the intersection of these free energy surfaces. Not unexpectedly for a classical pair potential, our results reveal quantitative discrepancies between the locations of the BKS and real silica phase boundaries. At the same time, we find that the topology of the real phase diagram is reproduced, confirming that the BKS model provides a satisfactory qualitative description of a silica-like material. We also compare the phase boundaries with the locations of liquid-state thermodynamic anomalies identified in previous studies of the BKS model.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Too Important to Ignore: Leveraging Digital Technology to Improve Chronic Illness Management Among Black Men

Health disparities associated with chronic illness experiences of black men demonstrate widespread, systematic failures to meet an urgent need. Well-established social and behavioral determinants that have led to health disparities among black men include racism, discrimination, and stress. While advocacy work that includes community-engagement and tailoring health promotion strategies have shown local impact, evidence shows the gaps are increasing. We suspect that failure to reduce current disparities may be due to conventional public health interventions and programs; therefore, we submit that innovative interventions, ones that embrace digital technologies and their ability to harness naturally occurring social networks within groups, like black men, have particular importance and deserve attention. This commentary characterizes the current literature on chronic illness among black men as well as health interventions that use digital technology, to build a case for expanding research in this area to reduce the overwhelming burden of chronic illness among black men

Design definition study of a NASA/Navy lift/cruise fan technology V/STOL airplane: Risk assessment addendum to the final report

An assessment of risk, in terms of delivery delays, cost overrun, and performance achievement, associated with the V/STOL technology airplane is presented. The risk is discussed in terms of weight, structure, aerodynamics, propulsion, mechanical drive, and flight controls. The analysis ensures that risks associated with the design and development of the airplane will be eliminated in the course of the program and a useful technology airplane that meets the predicted cost, schedule, and performance can be produced

Patients Recording Clinical Encounters: A Path to Empowerment? Assessment by Mixed Methods

Objective: To examine the motivations of patients recording clinical encounters, covertly or otherwise, and why some do not wish to record encounters. Design: Mixed-methods analysis of survey data and nested semistructured interviews. Setting: Survey to UK audience, using social media and radio broadcast. Participants: 168 survey respondents, of whom 161 were 18 years of age or older (130 completions). Of the 56 participants who agreed to be contacted, we included data from 17 interviews

The impact of socioeconomic status on arthritis and osteoporosis

Background: Low socioeconomic status has been shown to be associated with both osteoarthri s and rheumatoid arthri s, impac ng on outcomes and even the development of arthri s. However the associa on with osteoporosis has been less clear. The reasons for the associa on may be linked to socioeconomic status through educa onal aspects, income, employment type and even area of residence. Purpose: The purpose of this study was use a monthly surveillance and monitoring system to examine the prevalence of self-reported osteoarthri s, rheumatoid arthri  s and osteoporosis over  me and the associa  on with measures of socioeconomic status

Phylogenetic relationships within the primitive acanthomorph fish genus Polymixia, with changes to species composition and geographic distributions

The genus Polymixia is the only survivor of a Late Cretaceous marine fish radiation and is often said to be the most primitive living acanthomorph (i.e., Polymixia possesses the greatest number of primitive character states for Acanthomorpha). Recent studies, including this one, place Polymixia as the sister to all other Paracanthopterygii. Despite its importance, most species of Polymixia are extremely difficult to discriminate on the basis of morphology. As a result, the number of valid species is uncertain. Moreover, there has never been a phylogenetic analysis of the genus. Thus, a molecular phylogenetic study was needed to clarify species boundaries and to resolve relationships within the genus. Tissue or DNA samples backed by museum vouchers were obtained for most species, with additional samples from new geographic areas representing specimens with distinctively different meristics and uncertain identifications. Seven loci (five nuclear and two mitochondrial) were sequenced, from which Bayesian and maximum-likelihood trees were generated. Results reveal nine species-level clades, of which five represent previously known species (Polymixia berndti, P. japonica, P. longispina, P. lowei, and P. nobilis). Surprisingly, results also reveal four previously unknown species-level clades, one close to P. lowei, one close to P. nobilis, and two new species clades related to P. japonica. The species clades are distinguished by their phylogenetic histories, sequence differences, geographic distributions, and morphologies. The clade containing P. berndti is recovered as the sister to all other species of Polymixia. Its genetic variability suggests that it might contain two or more species and it is referred to here as a “species complex”. Polymixia nobilis, the type species, was previously thought to be restricted to the Atlantic, but is now shown to be widespread in the Pacific and possibly in the Indian Ocean. Specimens from waters off Australia identified as P. busakhini actually belong to P. nobilis. In contrast, P. japonica is confirmed only in the area near Japan and the East China Sea; other more distant records are misidentifications. Wide (antipodal) geographic distributions are seen in several clades, including P. nobilis, the P. berndti species complex, and the P. japonica species group. The new phylogeny helps explain the evolution of some morphological characters previously used to distinguish groups of species, particularly dorsal-fin soft-ray count, shape of rows of scale ctenii, and number of pyloric caec

Developing IntegRATE: A Fast and Frugal Patient-Reported Measure of Integration in Health Care Delivery

Efforts have been made to measure integration in health care delivery, but few existing instruments have adopted a patient perspective, and none is sufficiently generic and brief for administration at scale. We sought to develop a brief and generic patient-reported measure of integration in health care delivery. Drawing on both existing conceptualisations of integrated care and research on patients’ perspectives, we chose to focus on four distinct domains of integration: information sharing, consistent advice, mutual respect and role clarity. We formulated candidate items and conducted cognitive interviews with end users to further develop and refine the items. We then pilot-tested the measure