Exercise duration for cognitive health in breast cancer survivors

Many breast cancer survivors report deficits in cognitive functioning. Physical activity (PA) has been associated with better processing speed and memory and may prove a useful behavioral modality for improving cognition in breast cancer survivors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the differential duration effects of acute bouts of PA on executive function and processing speed in breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer survivors (N=48, M age=56.02) completed two sessions in counterbalanced order: moderate-intensity treadmill walking and seated rest. Participants were also randomized to one of three time groups: 10 (n=15), 20 (n=16), or 30 (n=17) minutes, signifying the length of time spent walking and resting. Immediately before and after each session, women completed a battery of cognitive tasks. Within- and between-subjects repeated measures analyses of variance revealed several moderately-sized and meaningful three-way (e.g., time by activity by group) interactions. On the flanker task, women were significantly less accurate over time in the resting activity compared with the exercise activity in the 20-minute group (d = .75). On single task blocks of the task switching paradigm, women performed significant slower after resting compared with after exercising in both the 10- (d = -.96) and 30-minute (d = -.52) groups. On the processing speed task, women performed significantly faster after exercising compared with after resting in the 20-minute group (d = -.24). Upon collapsing the sample for nonsignificant three-way interactions, two significant time by activity interactions emerged. Specifically, women performed significantly faster on the 2-item Spatial Working Memory task (d = -.21) and more accurately on the 3-item Spatial Working Memory task (d = .18) after exercise compared with after rest. Notably, these effects were irrespective of time spent exercising and resting. While the optimal length of exercise for providing short-lived cognitive benefits remains unclear, this study offers some initial preliminary evidence for maintained and improved cognitive function after a bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise compared with seated rest in breast cancer survivors

A Qualitative Literature Review on Linkage Techniques for Data Integration

The data linkage techniques ”entity linking” and ”record linkage” get rising attention as they enable the integration of multiple data sources for data, web, and text mining approaches. This has resulted in the development of numerous algorithms and systems for these techniques in recent years. The goal of this publication is to provide an overview of these numerous data linkage techniques. Most papers deal with record linkage and structured data. Processing unstructured data through entity linking is rising attention with the trend Big Data. Currently, deep learning algorithms are being explored for both linkage techniques. Most publications focus their research on a single process step or the entire process of ”entity linking” or ”record linkage”. However, the papers have the limitation that the used approaches and techniques have always been optimized for only a few data sources

Experiences and strategies influencing older adults to continue playing walking football

Adults aged 55+ are most likely to be inactive, despite research suggesting older adults experience multiple benefits when participating in physical activity and sport. Limited research focuses on long-term continuation of sport participation in this population, especially in 'adapted sports' like walking football. This study explored experiences of walking football maintenance in 55- to 75- year-old players. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 older adults maintaining walking football play over six months. Inductive analysis revealed five higher-order themes representing maintenance influences, and two higher-order themes relating to maintenance mechanisms (i.e., the conscious process by which players maintain). Influences when maintaining walking football included individual-level and culture-level influences (e.g. perceived benefits of maintenance and ability acceptance). Maintenance mechanisms included cognitions and behaviours (e.g., scheduling sessions and redefining physical activity expectations). Findings highlight novel implications for policy and practice, which are important to consider when delivering walking football to older adults. Keywords: older adults, football, soccer, behaviour change, maintenance, qualitative methods, interview

Contamination by an Active Control Condition in a Randomized Exercise Trial

<div><p>Contamination is commonly overlooked in randomized trials. The present study examined contamination (minutes of aerobic activity outside of exercise sessions) within an active control condition in a 6-month randomized exercise trial for older adults. We hypothesized that outside aerobic activity would be greater in the control condition compared to the intervention conditions. Participants (mean age = 65.06 years, 66.2% female) were randomly assigned to: Dance (n = 50), Walking, (n = 108), or Strength/Stretching/Stability (SSS; n = 48). Dance and Walking represented the experimental conditions and SSS the control condition. Participants attended exercise sessions three times weekly for 24 weeks. Participants recorded their physical activity outside of class on a weekly home log. Group assignment and covariates (age, gender, body mass index, exercise session intensity and enjoyment, and program adherence) were examined as predictors of weekly aerobic activity outside of exercise sessions. Participants who returned zero home logs were removed from the dataset (final N = 195). Out-of-class aerobic activity was lowest in the Walking group. Significant effects of gender, group, enjoyment, and intensity on out-of-class weekly aerobic activity were observed, all <i>p</i><0.003. Higher perceived enjoyment of exercise sessions was associated with more out-of-class aerobic activity, while higher perceived intensity was associated with less out-of-class aerobic activity. A group x intensity interaction, <i>p</i> = 0.002, indicated that group differences in out-of-class aerobic activity were evident only among those with lower intensity perceptions. Walkers may have perceived exercise sessions as sufficient weekly exercise, while the Dance and SSS groups may have perceived the sessions as necessary, but insufficient. The lower aerobic intensity Dancers attributed to exercise sessions and non-aerobic nature of SSS may partially explain contamination observed in this study. Further examination of contamination in randomized controlled exercise trials is critically needed.</p><p>Trial Registration</p><p>ClinicalTrials.gov <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01472744?term=NCT01472744&rank=1" target="_blank">NCT01472744</a></p></div

Sample Characteristics (N = 195).

<p>Sample Characteristics (N = 195).</p

Weekly Aerobic Activity Outside of Program Sessions.

<p>Weekly Aerobic Activity Outside of Program Sessions.</p

Group differences in out-of-class aerobic activity overall and by perceived intensity of exercise sessions.

<p>*Mean unstandardized predicted values (adjusted for gender).</p

CONSORT Diagram.

<p>CONSORT Diagram.</p

Regional Brain Volumes Moderate, but Do Not Mediate, the Effects of Group-Based Exercise Training on Reductions in Loneliness in Older Adults

Introduction: Despite the prevalence of and negative health consequences associated with perceived loneliness in older adults, few studies have examined interactions among behavioral, psychosocial, and neural mechanisms. Research suggests that physical activity and improvements in perceived social support and stress are related to reductions in loneliness. Yet, the influence of brain structure on these changes is unknown. The present study examined whether change in regional brain volume mediated the effects of changes in social support and stress on change in perceived loneliness after an exercise intervention. We also examined the extent to which baseline brain volumes moderated the relationship between changes in social support, stress, and loneliness.Methods: Participants were 247 older adults (65.4 ± 4.6 years-old) enrolled in a 6-month randomized controlled trial comprised of four exercise conditions: Dance (n = 69), Strength/Stretching/Stability (n = 70), Walk (n = 54), and Walk Plus (n = 54). All groups met for 1 h, three times weekly. Participants completed questionnaires assessing perceived social support, stress, and loneliness at baseline and post-intervention. Regional brain volumes (amygdala, prefrontal cortex [PFC], hippocampus) before and after intervention were measured with automatic segmentation of each participant's T1-weighted structural MRI. Data were analyzed in a latent modeling framework.Results: Perceived social support increased (p = 0.003), while stress (p &lt; 0.001), and loneliness (p = 0.001) decreased over the intervention. Increased social support directly (−0.63, p &lt; 0.01) and indirectly, through decreased stress (−0.10, p = 0.02), predicted decreased loneliness. Changes in amygdala, PFC, and hippocampus volumes were unrelated to change in psychosocial variables (all p ≥ 0.44). However, individuals with larger baseline amygdalae experienced greater decreases in loneliness due to greater reductions in stress (0.35, p = 0.02). Further, individuals with larger baseline PFC volumes experienced greater reductions in stress due to greater increases in social support (−0.47, p = 0.02). No group differences in these pathways were observed.Conclusions: The social support environment and resulting reductions in stress, as opposed to exercise mode, may represent important features of exercise programs for improving older adults' perceived loneliness. As amygdala volume has been linked to anxiety, depression and impaired cognitive control processes in the PFC, moderation findings suggest further investigation in this area is warranted.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01472744 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01472744?term=NCT01472744&amp;rank=1)