Genetic studies of osteoporosis: A rethink required

It has been 10 years since the seminal paper by Morrison and colleagues reporting the association of alleles of the vitamin D receptor and bone density [1], a paper which arguably kick-started the study of osteoporosis genetics. Since that report there have been literally thousands of osteoporosis genetic studies published, and large numbers of genes have been reported to be associated with the condition [2]. Although some of these reported associations are undoubtedly true, this snow-storm of papers and abstracts has clouded the field to such a great extent that it is very difficult to be certain of the veracity of most genetic associations reported hereto. The field needs to take stock and reconsider the best way forward, taking into account the biology of skeletal development and technological and statistical advances in human genetics, before more effort and money is wasted on continuing a process in which the primary achievement could be said to be a massive paper mountain. I propose in this review that the primary reasons for the paucity of success in osteoporosis genetics has been: •the absence of a major gene effect on bone mineral density (BMD), the most commonly studied bone phenotype; •failure to consider issues such as genetic heterogeneity, gene–environment interaction, and gene–gene interaction; •small sample sizes and over-optimistic data interpretation; and •incomplete assessment of the genetic variation in candidate genes studied.

International survey of bicycling exposure, crash involvement, behaviors, and attitudes: Preliminary results

This paper presents some results from preliminary analyses of the data of an international online survey of bicycle riders, who reported riding at least once a month. On 4 July 2015, data from 7528 participants from 17 countries was available in the survey, and were subsequently cleaned and checked for consistency. The median distance ridden ranged from 30 km/week in Israel to 150 km/week in Greece (overall median 54 km/week). City/hybrid bicycles were the most common type of bicycle ridden (44%), followed by mountain (20%) and road bikes (15%). Almost half (47%) of the respondents rode “nearly daily”. About a quarter rode daily to work or study (27%). Overall, 40% of respondents reported wearing a helmet ‘always’, varying from 2% in the Netherlands to 80% in Norway, while 25% reported ‘never’ wearing a helmet. Thus, individuals appeared to consistently either use or not use helmets. Helmet wearing rates were generally higher when riding for health/fitness than other purposes and appeared to be little affected by the type of riding location, but some divergences in these patterns were found among countries. Almost 29% of respondents reported being involved in at least one bicycle crash in the last year (ranging from 12% in Israel to 53% in Turkey). Among the most severe crashes for each respondent, about half of the crashes involved falling off a bicycle. Just under 10% of the most severe crashes for each respondent were reported to police. Among the bicycle-motor vehicle crashes, only a third were reported to police. Further analyses will address questions regarding the influence of factors such as demographic characteristics, type of bicycle ridden, and attitudes on both bi-cycle use and helmet wearing rates.

Equilibrium studies of ammonium exchange with Australian natural zeolites

This paper is concerned with the study of the equilibrium exchange of ammonium ions with two natural zeolite samples sourced in Australia from Castle Mountain Zeolites and Zeolite Australia. A range of sorption models including Langmuir Vageler, Competitive Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin Astakhov and Brouers–Sotolongo were applied in order to gain an insight as to the exchange process. In contrast to most previous studies, non-linear regression was used in all instances to determine the best fit of the experimental data. Castle Mountain natural zeolite was found to exhibit higher ammonium capacity than Zeolite Australia material when in the freshly received state, and this behavior was related to the greater amount of sodium ions present relative to calcium ions on the zeolite exchange sites. The zeolite capacity for ammonium ions was also found to be dependent on the solution normality, with 35–60% increase inuptake noted when increasing the ammonium concentration from 250 to 1000 mg/L. The optimal fit ofthe equilibrium data was achieved by the Freundlich expression as confirmed by use of Akaikes Information Criteria. It was emphasized that the bottle-point method chosen influenced the isotherm profile in several ways, and could lead to misleading interpretation of experiments, especially if the constant zeolite mass approach was followed. Pre-treatment of natural zeolite with acid and subsequently sodium hydroxide promoted the uptake of ammonium species by at least 90%. This paper highlighted the factors which should be taken into account when investigating ammonium ion exchange with natural zeolites.

Promoting and maintaining physical activity in the transition to retirement: A systematic review of interventions for adults around retirement age

It has been argued that transition points in life, such as the approach towards, and early years of retirement present key opportunities for interventions to improve the health of the population. Research has also highlighted inequalities in health status in the retired population and in response to interventions which should be addressed. We aimed to conduct a systematic review to synthesise international evidence on the types and effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among people around the time of retirement. A systematic review of literature was carried out between February 2014 and April 2015. Searches were not limited by language or location, but were restricted by date to studies published from 1990 onwards. Methods for identification of relevant studies included electronic database searching, reference list checking, and citation searching. Systematic search of the literature identified 104 papers which described study populations as being older adults. However, we found only one paper which specifically referred to their participants as being around the time of retirement. The intervention approaches for older adults encompassed: training of health care professionals; counselling and advice giving; group sessions; individual training sessions; in-home exercise programmes; in-home computer-delivered programmes; in-home telephone support; in-home diet and exercise programmes; and community-wide initiatives. The majority of papers reported some intervention effect, with evidence of positive outcomes for all types of programmes. A wide range of different measures were used to evaluate effectiveness, many were self-reported and few studies included evaluation of sedentary time. While the retirement transition is considered a significant point of life change, little research has been conducted to assess whether physical activity interventions at this time may be effective in promoting or maintaining activity, or reducing health inequalities. We were unable to find any evidence that the transition to retirement period was, or was not a significant point for intervention. Studies in older adults more generally indicated that a range of interventions might be effective for people around retirement age.

Designing against boredom in automated driving

I draw on four years of experience in mobility and transport research. I was part of a research project with Siemens, for which we identified global trends in urban mobility and explored future business opportunities through scenario planning methods. Some of the proposed solutions for personal and public transport included driverless vehicles. In collaboration with BMW Design I explored the potential of new materials for automotive user interfaces...