A 24-Hour Movement Behavior for Young Children in South Korea

PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the 24-h movement behavior of young children in Korea and examine the associations of their physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) with parental cognition and behavior in homes and neighborhood environments. METHODS Participants included 164 young children (4.4±1.2 years; boys 42.1%) and their parents. Young children's sleep, PA, ST, parental cognitions and behaviors, and home and neighborhood environment were measured via parental reports using the Parents’ Role in Establishing Healthy Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Habits Questionnaire. Two-tailed independent sample t-tests or Mann–Whitney U tests, and correlation analyses were performed. RESULTS The average sleep time of toddlers was 9.8±0.8 h/day, the total time of PA was 72.1±40.0 min/day, and the ST was 87.6±70.5 min/day. The adherence rate to the guidelines for sleep, PA, and ST increased with age except for 2-year-olds, and PA was found to be significantly lower than the guidelines at each age. Parental support for their children was positively associated with young children's PA (r=0.195, p<.01), and negative parental outcome expectations for limiting young children's ST were associated with young children's ST (r=0.275, p<.01). CONCLUSIONS Young children in South Korea do not meet PA, ST, and sleep guidelines. Parental cognition may play an essential role in establishing young children's behavior. These findings can inform family-based interventions to increase PA and minimize ST

Retained Free Energy with Enhanced Nucleation during Electrostatic Levitation of Undercooled Fe-Co Alloys

Double recalescence in many ferrous alloy systems involves rapid solidification of metastable ferrite from the undercooled melt with subsequent transformation to stable austenite. Containerless processing is used to monitor the process using pyrometry and high-speed cinematography such that delay behavior can be predicted based on the application of the retained damage model (RDM). When comparing Fe-Cr-Ni alloys to Fe-Co alloys, the cluster attachment rate is enhanced while free energy retention is reduced. These trends are tied to specific alloy properties. A retained free energy criterion is proposed based on the ratio of thermophysical properties used to define the transformation driving force such that the thermodynamic limit for energy retention may be predicted. Surprisingly, at long delay times, healing occurs such that much of the retained free energy is not available to enhance the transition from metastable to stable phases. At delay times less than one second, no healing is observed and the RDM correctly predicts transformation delay behavior over a wide range of alloy compositions

Renormalization by Projection: On the Equivalence of the Bloch-Feshbach Formalism and Wilson's Renormalization

We employ projection operator techniques in Hilbert space to derive a continuous sequence of effective Hamiltonians which describe the dynamics on successively larger length scales. We show for the case of \phi^4 theory that the masses and couplings in these effective Hamiltonians vary in accordance with 1-loop renormalization group equations. This is evidence for an intimate connection between Wilson's renormalization and the venerable Bloch-Feshbach formalism.Comment: 8 pages LaTeX, no figures; revised introduction and discussion, new titl

Diabetes and mortality in patients with prostate cancer: a meta-analysis

Background: There are conflicting results as to the association between pre-existing diabetes and the risk of mortality in patients with prostate cancer. The purpose of this study is to estimate the influence of pre-existing diabetes on prostate cancer-specific mortality and all-cause mortality. Methods: We searched PubMed and Embase to identify studies that investigated the association between pre-existing diabetes and risk of death among men with prostate cancer. Pooled risk estimates and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated using fixed-effects models or random-effects models. Heterogeneity tests were conducted between studies. Publication bias was analyzed by using the Egger’s test, Begg’s test, and the trim and fill method. Results: Of the 733 articles identified, 17 cohort studies that had 274,677 male patients were included in this meta-analysis. Pre-existing diabetes was associated with a 29 % increase in prostate cancer-specific mortality [relative risk (RR) 1.29, 95 % CI 1.22–1.38, I2 = 66.68 %], and with a 37 % increase in all-cause mortality (RR 1.37, 95 % CI 1.29–1.45, p < 0.01, I2 = 90.26 %). Additionally, in a subgroup analysis that was a type specific analysis focusing on type 2 diabetes and was conducted only with three cohort studies, pre-existing type 2 diabetes was associated with all-cause mortality (RR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.37–2.96, I2 = 95.55 %) and no significant association with prostate cancer-specific mortality was detected (RR 1.17, 95 % CI 0.96–1.42, I2 = 75.59 %). There was significant heterogeneity between studies and no publication bias was found. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests diabetes may result in a worse prognosis for men with prostate cancer. Considering heterogeneity between studies, additional studies should be conducted to confirm these findings, and to allow generalization regarding the influence that each type of diabetes has on prostate cancer mortality

Surge of Typhoid Intestinal Perforations as Possible Result of COVID-19-Associated Delays in Seeking Care, Madagascar.

During the coronavirus disease pandemic, we observed a 6.4-fold increase in typhoid intestinal perforation incidence in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Thirteen perforations occurred within 6 months (February 2020-July 2020), compared with 13 perforations during the previous 41 months (August 2016-January 2020). The increase may be attributable to delayed healthcare seeking during the pandemic

Distribution of Abdominal Obesity and Fitness Level in Overweight and Obese Korean Adults

Background. Abdominal obesity and its relative distribution are known to differ in association with metabolic characteristics and cardiorespiratory fitness. This study aimed to determine an association between fitness level and abdominal adiposity in overweight and obese adults. Methods. 228 overweight and obese individuals were classified as either cardiorespiratory unfit or fit based on their recovery heart rate. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), the visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio (VAT/SAT ratio), and cardiometabolic characteristics were analyzed to examine the relationship between recovery heart rate and abdominal adiposity components. Results. After adjustments for age and sex, significant relationships of recovery heart rate and VAT, SAT, and VAT/SAT ratio were found; however, SAT was not significantly associated after further adjustment for body mass index (BMI) (r=0.045, P=0.499), whereas VAT (r=0.232, P<0.001) and VAT/SAT ratio (r=0.214, P=0.001) remained associated. Through stepwise multiple regression analyses after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, lifestyle factors, mean blood pressure, fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, lipid profiles, and hsCRP, recovery heart rate was identified as an independent variable associated with VAT (β=0.204, P<0.001) and VAT/SAT ratio (β=0.163, P=0.008) but not with SAT (β=0.097, P=0.111). Conclusions. Cardiorespiratory fitness level is independently associated with VAT and the VAT/SAT ratio but not with SAT in overweight and obese adults

Validation of Submaximal Step Tests and the 6-Min Walk Test for Predicting Maximal Oxygen Consumption in Young and Healthy Participants.

Background: This study aimed to test the validity of three different submaximal tests (i.e., 3-min step test with 20.3-cm step box height (3MST20), 3-min step test with 30-cm step box height (3MST30), and 6-min walk test (6MWT)) in estimating maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) in young and healthy individuals. Methods: The 3MST20, 3MST30, 6MWT, as well as the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) were performed in 73 participants (37 men and 36 women; mean age: 30.8 ± 9.3 years). All participants visited the clinic three times in a random order for anthropometric measurements, three submaximal tests, and the VO2max test. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to construct the VO2max prediction equations for each submaximal test. Results: The prediction equations developed based on multiple regression analyses for each submaximal tests were as follows: 3MST20: VO2max = 86.0 - 10.9 × sex (male = 1, female = 2) - 0.4 × age - 0.1 × weight - 0.1 × heart rate recovery at 30 s (HRR30s); 3MST30: VO2max = 84.5 - 10.2 × sex (male = 1, female = 2) - 0.4 × age - 0.1 × weight - 0.1 × HRR30s; and 6MWT: VO2max = 61.1 - 11.1 × sex (male = 1, female = 2) - 0.4 × age - 0.2 × weight - 0.2 × (distance walked·10-1). The estimated VO2max values based on formulated equations were 37.0 ± 7.9, 37.3 ± 7.6, and 36.9 ± 7.9 mL∙kg-1∙min-1 derived from the 3MST20, 3MST30, and 6MWT, respectively. These estimated VO2max values were not significantly different from the measured VO2max value, 37.3 mL∙kg-1∙min-1. The estimated VO2max based on the 3MST20, 3MST30, and 6MWT results explained 73.4%, 72.2%, and 74.4% of the variances in the measured VO2max (p < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: The 3MST20, 3MST30, and 6MWT were valid in estimating VO2max in relatively young and healthy Asian individuals

Cardiorespiratory fitness assessment using risk-stratified exercise testing and dose-response relationships with disease outcomes.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with mortality and cardiovascular disease, but assessing CRF in the population is challenging. Here we develop and validate a novel framework to estimate CRF (as maximal oxygen consumption, VO2max) from heart rate response to low-risk personalised exercise tests. We apply the method to examine associations between CRF and health outcomes in the UK Biobank study, one of the world's largest and most inclusive studies of CRF, showing that risk of all-cause mortality is 8% lower (95%CI 5-11%, 2670 deaths among 79,981 participants) and cardiovascular mortality is 9% lower (95%CI 4-14%, 854 deaths) per 1-metabolic equivalent difference in CRF. Associations obtained with the novel validated CRF estimation method are stronger than those obtained using previous methodology, suggesting previous methods may have underestimated the importance of fitness for human health