1,257 research outputs found
Promoting healthy weight in primary school children through physical activity and nutrition education: a pragmatic evaluation of the CHANGE! randomised intervention study
Background: This pragmatic evaluation investigated the effectiveness of the Childrenβs Health, Activity and Nutrition: Get Educated! (CHANGE!) Project, a cluster randomised intervention to promote healthy weight using an educational focus on physical activity and healthy eating.
Methods: Participants (n = 318, aged 10β11 years) from 6 Intervention and 6 Comparison schools took part in the 20 weeks intervention between November 2010 and March/April 2011. This consisted of a teacher-led curriculum, learning resources, and homework tasks. Primary outcome measures were waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and BMI z-scores. Secondary outcomes were objectively-assessed physical activity and sedentary time, and food intake. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, at post-intervention (20 weeks), and at follow-up (30 weeks). Data were analysed using 2-level multi-level modelling (levels: school, student) and adjusted for baseline values of the outcomes and potential confounders. Differences in intervention effect by subgroup (sex, weight status, socio-economic status) were explored using statistical interaction.
Results: Significant between-group effects were observed for waist circumference at post-intervention (Ξ² for intervention effect =β1.63 (95% CI = β2.20, -1.07) cm, p<0.001) and for BMI z-score at follow-up (Ξ²=β0.24 (95% CI = β0.48, -0.003), p=0.04). At follow-up there was also a significant intervention effect for light intensity physical activity (Ξ²=25.97 (95% CI = 8.04, 43.89) min, p=0.01). Interaction analyses revealed that the intervention was most effective for overweight/obese participants (waist circumference: Ξ²=β2.82 (95% CI = β4.06, -1.58) cm, p<0.001), girls (BMI: Ξ²=β0.39 (95% CI = β0.81, 0.03) kg/m2, p=0.07), and participants with higher family socioeconomic status (breakfast consumption: Ξ²=8.82 (95% CI = 6.47, 11.16), p=0.07).
Conclusions: The CHANGE! intervention positively influenced body size outcomes and light physical activity, and most effectively influenced body size outcomes among overweight and obese children and girls. The findings add support for the effectiveness of combined school-based physical activity and nutrition interventions. Additional work is required to test intervention fidelity and the sustained effectiveness of this intervention in the medium and long term
Exercise therapy in adults with serious mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Individuals with serious mental illness are at a higher risk of physical ill health. Mortality rates are at least twice those of the general population with higher levels of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness. Although genetics may have a role in the physical health problems of these patients, lifestyle and environmental factors such as levels of smoking, obesity, poor diet, and low levels of physical activity also play a prominent part.<p></p>
Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing the effect of exercise interventions on individuals with serious mental illness.<p></p>
Methods: Searches were made in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Biological Abstracts on Ovid, and The Cochrane Library (January 2009, repeated January 2013) through to February 2013.<p></p>
Results: Eight RCTs were identified in the systematic search. Six compared exercise versus usual care. One study assessed the effect of a cycling programme versus muscle strengthening and toning exercises. The final study compared the effect of adding specific exercise advice and motivational skills to a simple walking programme. Exercise programmes were noted by their heterogeneity in terms of the type of exercise intervention, setting, and outcome measures. The review found that exercise improved levels of exercise activity (n=13, standard mean difference [SMD] 1.81, CI 0.44 to 3.18, p = 0.01). No beneficial effect was found on negative (n = 84, SMD = -0.54, CI -1.79 to 0.71, p = 0.40) or positive symptoms of schizophrenia (n = 84, SMD = -1.66, CI -3.78 to 0.45, p = 0.12). No change was found on body mass index compared with usual care (n= 151, SMD = -0.24, CI -0.56 to 0.08, p = 0.14), or body weight (n = 77, SMD = 0.13, CI -0.32 to 0.58, p = 0.57).
No beneficial effect was found on anxiety and depressive symptoms (n = 94, SMD = -0.26, CI -0.91 to 0.39, p = 0.43), or quality of life in respect of physical and mental domains. One RCT measured the effect of exercise on exercise intensity, attendance, and persistence at a programme. No significant effect was found on these measures.<p></p>
Conclusions: This systematic review showed that exercise therapies can lead to a modest increase in levels of exercise activity but overall there was no noticeable change for symptoms of mental health, body mass index, and body weight.<p></p>
Identification of Maize Genes Associated with Host Plant Resistance or Susceptibility to Aspergillus flavus Infection and Aflatoxin Accumulation
infection and aflatoxin accumulation. inoculation were compared in two resistant maize inbred lines (Mp313E and Mp04βΆ86) in contrast to two susceptible maize inbred lines (Va35 and B73) by microarray analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to find genes contributing to the larger variances associated with the resistant or susceptible maize inbred lines. The significance levels of gene expression were determined by using SAS and LIMMA programs. Fifty candidate genes were selected and further investigated by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) in a time-course study on Mp313E and Va35. Sixteen of the candidate genes were found to be highly expressed in Mp313E and fifteen in Va35. Out of the 31 highly expressed genes, eight were mapped to seven previously identified quantitative trait locus (QTL) regions. A gene encoding glycine-rich RNA binding protein 2 was found to be associated with the host hypersensitivity and susceptibility in Va35. A nuclear pore complex protein YUP85-like gene was found to be involved in the host resistance in Mp313E. infection and aflatoxin accumulation. These findings will be important in identification of DNA markers for breeding maize lines resistant to aflatoxin accumulation
The Genomic Signature of Crop-Wild Introgression in Maize
The evolutionary significance of hybridization and subsequent introgression
has long been appreciated, but evaluation of the genome-wide effects of these
phenomena has only recently become possible. Crop-wild study systems represent
ideal opportunities to examine evolution through hybridization. For example,
maize and the conspecific wild teosinte Zea mays ssp. mexicana, (hereafter,
mexicana) are known to hybridize in the fields of highland Mexico. Despite
widespread evidence of gene flow, maize and mexicana maintain distinct
morphologies and have done so in sympatry for thousands of years. Neither the
genomic extent nor the evolutionary importance of introgression between these
taxa is understood. In this study we assessed patterns of genome-wide
introgression based on 39,029 single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in 189
individuals from nine sympatric maize-mexicana populations and reference
allopatric populations. While portions of the maize and mexicana genomes were
particularly resistant to introgression (notably near known
cross-incompatibility and domestication loci), we detected widespread evidence
for introgression in both directions of gene flow. Through further
characterization of these regions and preliminary growth chamber experiments,
we found evidence suggestive of the incorporation of adaptive mexicana alleles
into maize during its expansion to the highlands of central Mexico. In
contrast, very little evidence was found for adaptive introgression from maize
to mexicana. The methods we have applied here can be replicated widely, and
such analyses have the potential to greatly informing our understanding of
evolution through introgressive hybridization. Crop species, due to their
exceptional genomic resources and frequent histories of spread into sympatry
with relatives, should be particularly influential in these studies
Studying the Underlying Event in Drell-Yan and High Transverse Momentum Jet Production at the Tevatron
We study the underlying event in proton-antiproton collisions by examining
the behavior of charged particles (transverse momentum pT > 0.5 GeV/c,
pseudorapidity |\eta| < 1) produced in association with large transverse
momentum jets (~2.2 fb-1) or with Drell-Yan lepton-pairs (~2.7 fb-1) in the
Z-boson mass region (70 < M(pair) < 110 GeV/c2) as measured by CDF at 1.96 TeV
center-of-mass energy. We use the direction of the lepton-pair (in Drell-Yan
production) or the leading jet (in high-pT jet production) in each event to
define three regions of \eta-\phi space; toward, away, and transverse, where
\phi is the azimuthal scattering angle. For Drell-Yan production (excluding the
leptons) both the toward and transverse regions are very sensitive to the
underlying event. In high-pT jet production the transverse region is very
sensitive to the underlying event and is separated into a MAX and MIN
transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and
final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton
interaction components of the scattering. The data are corrected to the
particle level to remove detector effects and are then compared with several
QCD Monte-Carlo models. The goal of this analysis is to provide data that can
be used to test and improve the QCD Monte-Carlo models of the underlying event
that are used to simulate hadron-hadron collisions.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.
Measurement of the Production Cross Section and Search for Anomalous and Couplings in Collisions at TeV
This Letter describes the current most precise measurement of the boson
pair production cross section and most sensitive test of anomalous
and couplings in collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96
TeV. The candidates are reconstructed from decays containing two charged
leptons and two neutrinos, where the charged leptons are either electrons or
muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector from 3.6 fb of
integrated luminosity, a total of 654 candidate events are observed with an
expected background contribution of events. The measured total
cross section is pb, which is in good agreement
with the standard model prediction. The same data sample is used to place
constraints on anomalous and couplings.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of CP-violation asymmetries in D0 to Ks pi+ pi-
We report a measurement of time-integrated CP-violation asymmetries in the
resonant substructure of the three-body decay D0 to Ks pi+ pi- using CDF II
data corresponding to 6.0 invfb of integrated luminosity from Tevatron ppbar
collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The charm mesons used in this analysis come
from D*+(2010) to D0 pi+ and D*-(2010) to D0bar pi-, where the production
flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the accompanying pion.
We apply a Dalitz-amplitude analysis for the description of the dynamic decay
structure and use two complementary approaches, namely a full Dalitz-plot fit
employing the isobar model for the contributing resonances and a
model-independent bin-by-bin comparison of the D0 and D0bar Dalitz plots. We
find no CP-violation effects and measure an asymmetry of ACP = (-0.05 +- 0.57
(stat) +- 0.54 (syst))% for the overall integrated CP-violation asymmetry,
consistent with the standard model prediction.Comment: 15 page
Observation of the Baryonic Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-
We report the first observation of the baryonic flavor-changing neutral
current decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- with 24 signal events and a
statistical significance of 5.8 Gaussian standard deviations. This measurement
uses ppbar collisions data sample corresponding to 6.8fb-1 at sqrt{s}=1.96TeV
collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. The total and
differential branching ratios for Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- are measured. We
find B(Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-) = [1.73+-0.42(stat)+-0.55(syst)] x 10^{-6}.
We also report the first measurement of the differential branching ratio of B_s
-> phi mu+ mu- using 49 signal events. In addition, we report branching ratios
for B+ -> K+ mu+ mu-, B0 -> K0 mu+ mu-, and B -> K*(892) mu+ mu- decays.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay
We reconstruct the rare decays , , and in a data sample
corresponding to collected in collisions at
by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Using and decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report
the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon
forward-backward asymmetry in the and decay modes, and the
longitudinal polarization in the decay mode with respect to the squared
dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the
standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of
comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the {\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to
\phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}27 \pm 6B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV
The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of βs = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pTβ₯20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}Ξ·{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}Ξ·{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60β€pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2β€{pipe}Ξ·{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. Β© 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
- β¦