: Frequency, Intensity and Duration of Muscle Strengthening Activity and Associations with Mental Health

Objectives: Despite growing emphasis on the benefits of physical activity for promoting mental health, inclusion of muscle-strengthening (MS) (e.g., body-weight exercises, resistance machines) activities is limited. Notably, few studies collectively assess MS behavioural frequency, duration, and intensity. To address the gap, the current study examined associations between frequency (days), intensity (rating of perceived exertion in relation to repetitions in reserve [RPE/RIR]), and duration (minutes per typical session) of MS activities on anxiety, depression, and mental well-being.Method: A cross-sectional study of 601 participants (Mean age = 30.92 years [SD =12.70]; 57.7% female) across Ireland was conducted. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire containing MS instruments previously used, or adapted from valid and reliable measures (i.e., International Physical Activity Questionnaire IPAQ, RPE/RIR), alongside, the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) and the Mental Health Continuum- Short Form (MHC-SF). A multivariate regression model was tested in MPLUS, using dummy coding for MS frequency in relation to no activity (i.e., 0-days) non-adherence (i.e., 1-day), adherence (i.e., 2-days) and enhanced adherence (i.e., &gt;3 days) to the MS public health guidelines, with the mental health variables representing the dependent variables. Intensity and duration were specified in the model as continuous variables; gender and age were included as statistical controls. Results: Three or more days engaged in MS activities was associated with fewer anxiety (β = -.12, p Conclusion: Higher frequency and intensity of MS activities may protect against anxiety and depression symptoms. Doing some MS activities (at least 1-day) is likely more beneficial than none for depression. Evidence-based, MS interventions may help curb mental illness rates, and future longitudinal, intervention-based research could consider inclusion of MS frequency, intensity and duration variables to enhance efforts to identify at-risk groups and trends within physical activity and mental illness surveillance.<br/

Who bears the costs of the corporate income tax? Evidence from state tax changes and accounting data

We examine the incidence of the corporate income tax. Tax incidence theory suggests that corporate income taxation affects the supply of capital, resulting in changes to output, demand for supplies and demand for labor (Harberger 1962). Prior studies suggest that shareholders ultimately bear incidence (Gravelle and Smetters 2006). Based on these studies, we first hypothesize that tax changes affect firms’ equity financing, consistent with taxes affecting the supply of capital. Next, we hypothesize that tax changes affect firms’ investment. Third, we hypothesize that consumers, suppliers, employees in addition to shareholders all bear the incidence of the corporate income tax. We also hypothesize that non-state governments bear incidence because firms will avoid more (less) non-state taxes in response to state tax rate increases (decreases). We use difference-in-differences regressions with state corporate income tax changes as plausibly exogenous shocks to test our hypotheses. We find that equity issuances and investment are both responsive to state tax rate increases, but not decreases. Similarly, we find that consumers, suppliers, employees and non-state governments bear incidence following state tax rate increases but not decreases. We also perform several cross-sectional tests and find results consistent with our hypotheses. In an additional test, we find that large tax decreases lead to higher wages, suggesting that labor captures some of the benefits of a tax decrease. Our study contributes to the literature on the incidence of the corporate income tax

Testing Alternative Models and Predictive Utility of the Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised: A COVID-19 Related Longitudinal Population Based Study

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on all aspects of daily life and triggered a swell of anxiety across the world. Some suggest this emotional response to the pandemic can be explained through death anxiety (DA), a transdiagnostic dimension associated with numerous psychological disorders. However, it remains unclear as to whether DA is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. The primary aim of this study was to examine the underlying structure of the Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised (DAI-R; Tomás-Sábado et al., 2005) and assess its associations with mental health and demographic variables during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve these aims, we utilized data from Waves 1 (N = 2205: collected between March 23 and March 28, 2020) and 2 (N = 1406: collected between April 22 and May 1, 2020) of the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC), a multi-wave nationally representative study. Results showed that a 4-factor model provided the best fit to the data compared to a unidimensional and 4-factor second-order model. Further analyses showed that DA at Wave 1 was positively associated with somatic symptoms, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress symptoms at Wave 2, supporting previous research that suggests that the fear of death is predictive of psychopathology. Significantly, the factor labelled ‘Thoughts about Death’ at Wave 1 was the strongest predictor of the five main psychological variables at Wave 2, after statistically controlling for the other latent variables. These findings highlight the transdiagnostic nature of DA and support this important diagnostic construct becoming a measure of mental health more generally within the population. It is hoped that this research will shine a light on those suffering from DA and become a catalyst for increased therapeutic intervention, funding, and research in this area

Predicting school uptake of The Daily Mile in Northern Ireland- a data linkage study with School Census Data and Multiple Deprivation Measures

BACKGROUND: Participating in physical activity benefits health, yet a majority of children remain inactive. The Daily Mile™ (TDM) originated in Scotland in 2012 with the aim of increasing primary school children's physical fitness. Despite being a practically feasible and popular initiative, it remains unclear the extent to which schools implement TDM, and whether TDM core principles are adhered to (i.e., run or jog at least 3-days per week). In Northern Ireland it is unknown how many schools regularly participate in TDM, and whether there is an association between TDM participation with school type, school location, size, total number of children attending the school, school deprivation level, and/or motivation as measured by the COM-B model (Capabilities, Opportunities, Motivation model of behaviour). Therefore, this study aimed to quantify the uptake of TDM in Northern Ireland, assess whether schools are following the core principles, and analyse if there is an association between aforesaid demographic factors and TDM participation.METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was sent to all primary and special education schools in Northern Ireland with the support of the Education Authority for Northern Ireland and the Public Health Agency for Northern Ireland. The survey was completed by the school principal or teacher, and was available from 31st August until 16th December 2022. Survey results were linked with the 2021/2022 Northern Ireland School Census Data and Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017. Quantitative and qualitative questions were included in the survey to assess participation and implementation of TDM.RESULTS: The survey received 609 school responses. After data cleaning, and removal of duplicates from schools a sample of 358 primary schools (45%) and 19 special education schools (47.5%) was analysed. Over half (54.7%) of primary schools and 36.8% of special education schools reported taking part in TDM. More special education needs schools reported taking part in their own version of an 'active mile' rather than TDM formally, and qualitative findings showed TDM was not perceived as appropriate for many children in special educational settings. There was wide variation in adherence to TDM core principles. A multivariate binary logistic regression model was fitted to the data, but it was not statistically significant (χ2(17) = 22.689, p = .160). However, univariate effects showed that increasing levels on COM-B (Capability) was associated with increased likelihood of TDM participation (OR = 2.506), and Catholic Maintained schools were almost twice as likely as Controlled schools to be delivering TDM (OR = 1.919). There was no association found between deprivation and TDM uptake.CONCLUSION: Encouragingly over 50% of schools in Northern Ireland reported taking part in TDM. However, despite being a low-cost and practically feasible physical activity initiative, further intervention work with sound research methodology is needed to promote adherence to TDM core principles to maximise benefits to children's health. Furthermore, concerted efforts are required to adjust TDM so that it is inclusive for all educational settings, and children's abilities.</p

Unique hole-accepting carbon-dots promoting selective carbon dioxide reduction nearly 100% to methanol by pure water

X.L., M.K.B., J.T. acknowledge EPSRC (EP/S018204/2/1), Leverhulme Trust (Grant No: RPG-2017-122) and Newton Advanced Fellowship grant ((NA170422 and NAF\R1\191163).). X.H., Z.X.G. and S.A.S. acknowledge UCL Grace High-Performance Computing Facility (Grace@UCL) and EPSRC (EP/K021192/1, EP/L018330/1). R.G. thanks the FRQNT for postdoctoral funding and NSERC for operational funding. Y.W., J.C. and C.J., acknowledge CSC Scholarship. R.G., J.F.T. and J.R.D. acknowledge ERC AdG Intersolar grant (291482). J.F.T. acknowledges EPSRC CDT (EP/L015277/1). W.Z. thanks EPSRC for Titan Themis S/TEM microscope (EP/L017008/01). We also thank Dr. Jijia Xie for constructive comments on experimental design.Solar-driven CO2 reduction by abundant water to alcohols can supply sustainable liquid fuels and alleviate global warming. However, the sluggish water oxidation reaction has been hardly reported to be efficient and selective in CO2 conversion due to fast charge recombination. Here, using transient absorption spectroscopy, we demonstrate that microwave-synthesised carbon-dots (mCD) possess unique hole-accepting nature, prolonging the electron lifetime (t50%) of carbon nitride (CN) by six folds, favouring a six-electron product. mCD-decorated CN stably produces stoichiometric oxygen and methanol from water and CO2 with nearly 100% selectivity to methanol and internal quantum efficiency of 2.1% in the visible region, further confirmed by isotopic labelling. Such mCD rapidly extracts holes from CN and prevents the surface adsorption of methanol, favourably oxidising water over methanol and enhancing the selective CO2 reduction to alcohols. This work provides a unique strategy for efficient and highly selective CO2 reduction by water to high-value chemicals.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Theory as a driving force to understand reactions on nanoparticles: general discussion

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