The demand for sports and exercise: Results from an illustrative survey

Funding from the Department of Health policy research programme was used in this study.There is a paucity of empirical evidence on the extent to which price and perceived benefits affect the level of participation in sports and exercise. Using an illustrative sample of 60 adults at Brunel University, West London, we investigate the determinants of demand for sports and exercise. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews that covered indicators of sports and exercise behaviour; money/time price and perceived benefits of participation; and socio- economic/demographic details. Count, linear and probit regression models were fitted as appropriate. Seventy eight per cent of the sample participated in sports and exercise and spent an average of £27 per month and an average of 20 min travelling per occasion of sports and exercise. The demand for sport and exercise was negatively associated with time (travel or access time) and ‘variable’ price and positively correlated with ‘fixed’ price. Demand was price inelastic, except in the case of meeting the UK government’s recommended level of participation, which is time price elastic (elasticity = −2.2). The implications of data from a larger nationally representative sample as well as the role of economic incentives in influencing uptake of sports and exercise are discussed.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Physical activity and self-rerceived health among people aged 50 and over

El propósito del estudio es analizar los posibles efectos de la actividad física sobre la salud autopercibida. Para ello, se encuestó a 765 personas entre 50-70 años durante 2012 en España. Se utilizó el cuestionario internacional de actividad física (IPAQ) para estimar el equivalente metabólico de la tarea (MET) total y en cuatro ámbitos: trabajo, ocio, hogar y desplazamientos. La salud autopercibida se obtuvo de la escala visual analógica del EQ-5D-5L. Los resultados muestran que únicamente el gasto energético de actividad física en el tiempo de ocio incide positivamente en el nivel de salud percibido, el resto de ámbitos no tienen influencia significativa. Asimismo, la autopercepción de la salud es más negativa con mayor edad, menor nivel educativo y mayor frecuencia de uso de servicios sanitarios. En conclusión, la actividad física desarrollada en el tiempo libre podría plantearse como alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de los mayoresThe purpose of the study was to analyse possible related effects between exercise and self-perceived health among people over 50 years old. A survey was conducted in 2012 to 765 community-living subjects from Spain aged between 50 and 70 years. The survey includes the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to estimate total physical activity/week in METS (Measure Activity in Metabolic Equivalents) and in four different domains: work, leisure, transport and domestic/gardening. Selfperceived health was measured using the Visual Analogic Scale of the EQ-5D- 5L. The results of the study show that only the level of physical activity developed in leisure time has a positive and statistically significant effect on self-perceived health, whilst the other domains of physical activity are non-significant. Additionally, age, lower educational level and a higher use of health-care services are negatively associated with self-perceived health. To sum up, leisure time physical activity could be an alternative to increase the quality of life of older peopl

TDR pressure cell for monitoring water content retention and bulk electrical conductivity curves in undisturbed soil samples

30 Pags., 4 Tabls., 5 Figs.-- The .pdf file is the last author version.-- The definitive version is avalaible at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1085The water retention curve (θ(ψ)), which defines the relationship between soil volumetric water content (θ) and matric potential (ψ), is of paramount importance in characterizing the hydraulic behaviour of soils. However, few methods are so far available for estimating θ(ψ) in undisturbed soil samples. We present a new design of TDR-pressure cell (TDR-Cell) for estimating θ(ψ) in undisturbed soil samples. The TDR-Cell consists of a 50-mm-long and 50-mm internal diameter stainless steel cylinder (which constitutes the outer frame of a coaxial line) attached to a porous ceramic disc and closed at the ends with two aluminium lids. A 49-mm-long and 3-mm-diameter stainless steel rod, which runs longitudinally through the centre of the cylinder, constitutes the inner rod of a coaxial TDR probe. The TDR-Cell was used to determine the θ(ψ) curves of a packed sand and seven undisturbed soil samples from three profiles of agricultural soils. These θ(ψ) curves were subsequently compared to those obtained from the corresponding 2-mm sieved soils using the pressure plate method. Measurements of bulk electrical conductivity, σa, as a function of the water content, σa(θ), of the undisturbed soil samples were also performed. An excellent correlation (R2 = 0·988) was found between the θ values measured by TDR on the different undisturbed soils and the corresponding θ obtained from the soil gravimetric water content. A typical bimodal θ(ψ) function was found for most of the undisturbed soil samples. Comparison between the θ(ψ) curves measured with the TDR-Cell and those obtained from the 2-mm sieved soils showed that the pressure plate method overestimates θ at low ψ values. The σa(θ) relationship was well described by a simple power expression (R2 > 0·95), in which the power factor, defined as tortuosity, ranged between 1·18 and 3·75.This research was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación (Grants: AGL2007-66320-CO2-02/AGR), CSIC (Grants: PIE-200840I214 and 2008401246) and DGA-Obra social La Caixa (Grants: GA-LC-010/2008; GA-LC-006-2008).Peer reviewe

TDR-LAB 2.0: Improved TDR software for soil water content and electrical conductivity measurements

Trabajo presentado en las XI Jornadas de Investigación en la Zona No Saturada del Suelo celebradas en Lugo del 6 al 8 de noviembre de 2013.[ES]: La técnica de Reflectometría de Dominio Temporal (TDR) permite estimar la humedad (θ) y la conductividad eléctrica aparente del suelo (σa). Esta comunicación presenta una nueva versión del programa TDR-Lab para la medida de θ y σa. El TDR-Lab 2.0 es compatible con tres ecómetros TDR diferentes y puede conectarse a multiplexores SDMX50 (Campbell Sci). Puede estimar θ y σa por métodos gráficos y numéricos y incluye nuevas aplicaciones para la medida de niveles de agua, potencial mátrico o conductividad eléctrica de la solución del suelo. Está disponible en una versión ligera que trabaja con ficheros XML y una versión completa que centraliza los datos en una base SQL. Una robusta interface de importación-exportación de datos permite comunicar ambas versiones.[EN]: Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is a widely used technique that allows real time estimation of soil volumetric water content (θ), and bulk electrical conductivity (σa). This work presents an enhanced release of TDR-Lab, software which controls instrumentation for measurements of θ and σa. TDR-Lab 2.0 supports three different TDR equipments and can be connected to a multiplexing system (SDMX50, Campbell Sci). Graphical or numerical methods can be used for the estimation of θ and σa. Additional features to carry out water-surface-level measurements such as matric potential and soil solution electrical conductivity are also available. A little and a full release, for field and laboratory applications have been developed. The light version works with XML-files instead of the SQL database engine of the extended TDRLab. A robust import/export graphical user interface facilitates transferring projects between the centralized SQL database and XML files.This research was supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain (grant AGL2010-22050-C03-02) and DGA- Obra social La Caixa (Grants: 2012/ GA LC 074).Peer reviewe

Stroke etiologies in patients with COVID-19: the SVIN COVID-19 multinational registry

Background and purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with a small but clinically significant risk of stroke, the cause of which is frequently cryptogenic. In a large multinational cohort of consecutive COVID-19 patients with stroke, we evaluated clinical predictors of cryptogenic stroke, short-term functional outcomes and inhospital mortality among patients according to stroke etiology. Methods: We explored clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes of consecutively evaluated patients 18 years of age or older with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from 31 hospitals in 4 countries (3/1/20–6/16/20). Results:Of the 14.483 laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19, 156 (1.1%) were diagnosed with AIS. Sixty-one (39.4%) were female, 84 (67.2%) white, and 88 (61.5%) were between 60 and 79 years of age. The most frequently reported etiology of AIS was cryptogenic (55/129, 42.6%), which was associated with significantly higher white blood cell count, c-reactive protein, and D-dimer levels than non-cryptogenic AIS patients (p Conclusions: Our findings suggest that cryptogenic stroke among COVID-19 patients carries a significant risk of early mortality

DNA polymerase lambda (Pol λ), a novel eukaryotic DNA polymerase with a potential role in meiosis

A new gene (POLL) encoding a novel DNA polymerase (Pol λ) has been identified at mouse chromosome 19. Murine Pol λ, consisting of 573 amino acid residues, has a 32 % identity to Pol β, involved in nuclear DNA repair in eukaryotic cells. It is interesting that Pol λ contains all the critical residues involved in DNA binding, nucleotide binding and selection, and catalysis of DNA polymerization, that are conserved in Pol β and other DNA polymerases belonging to family X. Murine Pol λ, overproduced in Escherichia coli, displayed intrinsic DNA polymerase activity when assessed by in situ gel analysis. Pol λ also conserves the critical residues of Pol β required for its intrinsic deoxyribose phosphate lyase (dRPase) activity. The first 230 amino acid residues of Pol λ, that have no counterpart in Pol β, contain a BRCT domain, present in a variety of cell-cycle check-point control proteins responsive to DNA damage and proteins involved in DNA repair. Northern blotting, in situ hybridization analysis and immunostaining showed high levels of Pol λ specifically expressed in testis, being developmentally regulated and mainly associated to pachytene spermatocytes. These first evidences, although indirect, suggest a potential role of Pol λ in DNA repair synthesis associated with meiosis.This work has been granted by DGES (PB97-1192) and CAM (08.1/0044/98) to LB; CAM(08.1/0044.2/98) to AB; DGICYT (PB 95-0119), EC PL96-0183 and CAM (07/0022) to JM, and by an institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces

Intracranial atherosclerotic plaque enhancement and long-term risk of future strokes: A prospective, longitudinal study

Background and Purpose The prognostic significance of postcontrast enhancement of intracranial atheromatous plaque is uncertain. Prospective, long-term follow-up studies in Caucasians, using a multicenter design, are lacking. We aimed to evaluate whether this radiological sign predicts long-term new stroke in symptomatic and asymptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) patients. Methods This was a prospective, observational, longitudinal, multicenter study. We included a symptomatic and an asymptomatic cohort of ICAD patients that underwent 3T MRI including high-resolution sequences focused on the atheromatous plaque. We evaluated grade of stenosis, plaque characteristics, and gadolinium enhancement ratio (postcontrast plaque signal/postcontrast corpus callosum signal). The occurrence of new events was evaluated at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and annually thereafter. The association between plaque characteristics and new stroke was studied using Cox multiple regression survival analysis and Kaplan-Meier curves. Results Forty-eight symptomatic and 13 asymptomatic patients were included. During 56.3 ± 16.9 months, 11 patients (18%) suffered a new event (seven ischemic, two hemorrhagic, and two transient ischemic attacks). A receiver operating characteristic curve identified an enhancement ratio of >1.77 to predict a new event. In a multivariable Cox regression, postcontrast enhancement ratio >1.77 (hazard ratio [HR]= 3.632; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.082-12.101) and cerebral microbleeds (HR = 5.244; 95% CI, 1.476-18.629) were independent predictors of future strokes. Patients with a plaque enhancement ratio >1.77 had a lower survival free of events (p < .05). Conclusions High intracranial postcontrast enhancement is a long-term predictor of new stroke in ICAD patients. Further studies are needed to elucidate whether postcontrast enhancement reflects inflammatory activity of intracranial atheromatous plaque.This study has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, via FIS project PI13/02544, PI16/01396, and PI19/01398 and through the INVICTUS PLUS research network RD16/0019. Beatriz Gómez-Vicente received a research contract from the Junta de Castilla y León and European Social Fund, Spain. María Hernandez-Perez was funded by The Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (JR17/00006)

Economic analysis of participation in physical activity in England: implications for health policy.

BACKGROUND: Changing the relative price of (in) activity is an important tool for health policies. Nonetheless, to date, analyses of correlates of physical activity (PA) have excluded the notion of price. Using the first nationwide dataset on prices of PA for England, we explore for the first time how money and time prices are associated with PA (in general) and specific activities. METHODS: A nationally representative telephone follow-up survey to Health Survey for England (HSE) 2008 was undertaken in 2010. The sample covered individuals who reported to have undertaken some PA in the HSE 2008. Questions focussed on: ex-post money and time prices; type and quantity of PA; perceived benefits of PA and socio-economic details. Count regression models (all activities together, and swimming, workout, walking separately) were fitted to investigate the variation in quantity of PA. RESULTS: Of 1683 respondents, 83% participated in PA (one or more activities), and spent an average of £2.40 per occasion of participation in PA and 23 minutes travelling. Participation in PA was negatively associated with money prices per occasion (i.e. family member/child care fees, parking fees, and facility charges) and travel time price. Participation in PA was more sensitive to travel time price than money price. Among the specific activities, the money price effect was highest for swimming with a 10% higher price associated with 29% fewer occasions of swimming; followed by workout (3% fewer occasions) and walking (2% fewer occasions). Only swimming and workout were sensitive to travel time price. People who felt doing PA could help them 'get outdoors', 'have fun', or 'lose weight' were likely to do more PA. CONCLUSIONS: Two main policy implications emerge from the findings. First, the results support the notion that positive financial incentives, e.g. subsidising price of participation, could generally lead to an increase in quantity of PA among those already exercising. Second, such policies could lead to desired policy goals if implemented at an individual activity level (e.g. 50% subsidy on swimming entrance charges) rather than a blanket implementation (e.g. subsidising average entrance charges across all activities by 50%).Department of Health’s Policy Research Programm