Body circumference parameters predict body mass index in children aged 2-5 years

Body circumference parameters have become simple screening measurements that can be used as an indicator of body fat distribution to detect pediatric obesity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships that exist between body circumference parameters of head, neck, arm, forearm, waist, hip, mid-thigh, front-thigh and body mass index (BMI). A total of forty randomly selected children with the mean age of 2.97 years participated in this study. Stature, body mass, and body circumferences were measured according to the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropmetry (ISAK). All the participants’ parents completed informed consent forms before their children could be allowed to participate in the study. There was a significant correlation between the hip and neck circumferences and BMI. Regression analyses revealed that BMI was best predicted by the combined effect of neck and hi neck circumferences. Combined effects of hip and neck circumferences were significant predictors of BMI in children.IS

The development of a policy brief on physical activity and health in Africa for children and adolescents with disabilities: COVID-19 and beyond

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. To curtail the spread of the virus, governments implemented national lockdowns, restricting the movement of individuals. As the pandemic evolved and vaccine roll-out was implemented the lockdown measures were eased. However, even with the lowering of lockdown measures in South Africa, access to public places was limited: beaches, gyms and recreational facilities were inaccessible to the public. This resulted in an immediate and general reduction in physical activity and participation in sport, both social and competitive, and a subsequent increase in anxiety and depression (Taquet, Holmes & Harrison 2021)

A systematic review of recreation patterns and preferences of students with physical disabilities

Students with physical disabilities at higher education institutions are often excluded from recreational activities due to lack of appropriate inclusive integration programmes. This study systematically reviewed literature that identified recreational patterns and preferences of students with physical disabilities to provide recommendations for their recreational programmes. Articles were reviewed using Ebscohost (Medline, CINAHL, PsyArticles, Academic Search Complete), LANCET, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Project Muse, BioMed Central Journal, JSTOR, Google Scholar and Sports Discus databases for the period 1997 to 2014. Articles extracted comprised qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies that met level three on the JBI level of evidence scale. Articles that were favourably rated for methodological quality by two reviewers were included. The articles were methodologically appraised using a modified CASP instrument. A total number of 426 821 articles were identified, of which 90 were selected for further investigation whilst 69 were excluded after the first review and a further three following evaluation of methodological quality. Thus, 18 articles were included. There was a lack of recreational programmes available for students with physical disabilities. Opportunities for recreation for disabled students should be provided. There was a need for suitable holistic campus recreational programmes at universities.DHE

Participation in sport and the perceptions of quality of life of high school learners in the Theewaterskloof Municipality, South Africa

In South Africa, sport unites the country because it transcends race, gender, politics and language groups. Majority of South African youth are in the developmental phase where critical decisions are being taken on key life transitions, including education, work, lifestyle, participation in society, and other psycho-sociological areas. Learners in high school in the previously disadvantaged communities form a crucial part of South Africa’s future. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine how high school learners in the Theewaterskloof Municipality in South Africa perceived the influence of sport participation on their quality of life. The perceptions of the learners were specified according to six domains: drugs, alcohol and crime; mental health; social contact, culture and safety; happiness and wellbeing; physical health and diseases; and academic achievement. The research was conducted at three high schools located in the Theewaterskloof Municipality, Western Cape Province. A questionnaire was used to collect information from 484 learners aged 13 to 18 years. A significant relationship was noted for variables of each domain, except drugs, alcohol and crime and academic achievement. Learners perceived that increasing sport participation resulted in a significantly positive response of at least one variable for the domains social contact, culture and safety; physical health and diseases; mental health; and happiness and wellbeing.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Appropriate disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia : identifying the key behaviours of 'best practice'

Background: Despite growing evidence that many people with dementia want to know their diagnosis, there is wide variation in attitudes of professionals towards disclosure. The disclosure of the diagnosis of dementia is increasingly recognised as being a process rather than a one-off behaviour. However, the different behaviours that contribute to this process have not been comprehensively defined. No intervention studies to improve diagnostic disclosure in dementia have been reported to date. As part of a larger study to develop an intervention to promote appropriate disclosure, we sought to identify important disclosure behaviours and explore whether supplementing a literature review with other methods would result in the identification of new behaviours. Methods: To identify a comprehensive list of behaviours in disclosure we conducted a literature review, interviewed people with dementia and informal carers, and used a consensus process involving health and social care professionals. Content analysis of the full list of behaviours was carried out. Results: Interviews were conducted with four people with dementia and six informal carers. Eight health and social care professionals took part in the consensus panel. From the interviews, consensus panel and literature review 220 behaviours were elicited, with 109 behaviours over-lapping. The interviews and consensus panel elicited 27 behaviours supplementary to the review. Those from the interviews appeared to be self-evident but highlighted deficiencies in current practice and from the panel focused largely on balancing the needs of people with dementia and family members. Behaviours were grouped into eight categories: preparing for disclosure; integrating family members; exploring the patient's perspective; disclosing the diagnosis; responding to patient reactions; focusing on quality of life and well-being; planning for the future; and communicating effectively. Conclusion: This exercise has highlighted the complexity of the process of disclosing a diagnosis of dementia in an appropriate manner. It confirms that many of the behaviours identified in the literature (often based on professional opinion rather than empirical evidence) also resonate with people with dementia and informal carers. The presence of contradictory behaviours emphasises the need to tailor the process of disclosure to individual patients and carers. Our combined methods may be relevant to other efforts to identify and define complex clinical practices for further study.This project is funded by UK Medical Research Council, Grant reference number G0300999

A systematic variation of the stellar initial mass function in early-type galaxies

Much of our knowledge of galaxies comes from analysing the radiation emitted by their stars. It depends on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) describing the distribution of stellar masses when the population formed. Consequently knowledge of the IMF is critical to virtually every aspect of galaxy evolution. More than half a century after the first IMF determination, no consensus has emerged on whether it is universal in different galaxies. Previous studies indicated that the IMF and the dark matter fraction in galaxy centres cannot be both universal, but they could not break the degeneracy between the two effects. Only recently indications were found that massive elliptical galaxies may not have the same IMF as our Milky Way. Here we report unambiguous evidence for a strong systematic variation of the IMF in early-type galaxies as a function of their stellar mass-to-light ratio, producing differences up to a factor of three in mass. This was inferred from detailed dynamical models of the two-dimensional stellar kinematics for the large Atlas3D representative sample of nearby early-type galaxies spanning two orders of magnitude in stellar mass. Our finding indicates that the IMF depends intimately on a galaxy's formation history.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. Accepted for publication as a Nature Letter. More information about our Atlas3D project is available at http://purl.org/atlas3

Symmetry, complexity and multicritical point of the two-dimensional spin glass

We analyze models of spin glasses on the two-dimensional square lattice by exploiting symmetry arguments. The replicated partition functions of the Ising and related spin glasses are shown to have many remarkable symmetry properties as functions of the edge Boltzmann factors. It is shown that the applications of homogeneous and Hadamard inverses to the edge Boltzmann matrix indicate reduced complexities when the elements of the matrix satisfy certain conditions, suggesting that the system has special simplicities under such conditions. Using these duality and symmetry arguments we present a conjecture on the exact location of the multicritical point in the phase diagram.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures; a few typos corrected. To be published in J. Phys.

Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership

This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary associationmembership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands

Developing a National Implementation Strategy to accelerate Uptake of Evidence-Based Family Caregiver Support in Us Cancer Centers

OBJECTIVE: Characterize key factors and training needs of U.S. cancer centers in implementing family caregiver support services. METHODS: Sequential explanatory mixed methods design consisting of: (1) a national survey of clinicians and administrators from Commission-on-Cancer-accredited cancer centers (N = 238) on factors and training needed for establishing new caregiver programs and (2) qualitative interviews with a subsample of survey respondents (N = 30) to elicit feedback on survey findings and the outline of an implementation strategy to facilitate implementation of evidence-based family caregiver support (the Caregiver Support Accelerator). Survey data was tabulated using descriptive statistics and transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: top factors for developing new caregiver programs were that the program be: consistent with the cancer center\u27s mission and strategic plan (87%), supported by clinic leadership (86.5%) and providers and staff (85.7%), and low cost or cost effective (84.9%). top training needs were how to: train staff to implement programs (72.3%), obtain program materials (63.0%), and evaluate program outcomes (62.6%). Only 3.8% reported that no training was needed. Qualitative interviews yielded four main themes: (1) gaining leadership, clinician, and staff buy-in and support is essential; (2) cost and clinician burden are major factors to program implementation; (3) training should help with adapting and marketing programs to local context and culture; and (4) the Accelerator strategy is comprehensive and would benefit from key organizational partnerships and policy standards. CONCLUSION: Findings will be used to inform and refine the Accelerator implementation strategy to facilitate the adoption and growth of evidence-based cancer caregiver support in U.S. cancer centers

Azimuthal Angle Correlations for Rapidity Separated Hadron Pairs in d+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We report on two-particle azimuthal angle correlations between charged hadrons at forward/backward (deuteron/gold going direction) rapidity and charged hadrons at mid-rapidity in deuteron-gold (d+Au) and proton-proton (p+p) collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Jet structures are observed in the correlations which we quantify in terms of the conditional yield and angular width of away side partners. The kinematic region studied here samples partons in the gold nucleus carrying nucleon momentum fraction x~0.1 to x~0.01. Within this range, we find no x dependence of the jet structure in d+Au collisions.Comment: 330 authors, 6 pages text, 4 figures, no tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm