Active video games for youth : a systematic review

Background: A population level increase in physical activity (PA) is critical to reduce obesity in youth. Video games are highly popular and active video games (AVGs) have the potential to play a role in promoting youth PA.

Method: Studies on AVG play energy expenditure (EE) and maintenance of play in youth were systematically identified in the published literature and assessed for quality and informational value.

Results: Nine studies measuring AVG play EE were identified. The meta-analytic estimates of average METs across these studies were 3.1 (95% CI: 2.6, 3.6) to 3.2 (95% CI: 2.7, 3.7). No games elicited an average EE above the 6 MET threshold for vigorous EE. Observed differences between studies were likely due to the different types of games used, rather than age or gender. Four studies related to maintenance of play were identified. Most studies reported AVG use declined over time. Studies were of low-to-medium quality.

Conclusion: AVGs are capable of generating EE in youth to attain PA guidelines. Few studies have assessed sustainability of AVG play, which appears to diminish after a short period of time for most players. Better-quality future research must address how AVG play could be maintained over longer periods of time.

Evidence-based chronic heart-failure management programs : myth or reality?

Background Chronic heart-failure management programmes (CHF-MPs) have become part of standard care for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Objective To investigate whether programmes had applied evidence-based expert clinical guidelines to optimise patient outcomes. Design A prospective cross-sectional survey was used to conduct a national audit. Setting Community setting of CHF-MPs for patients postdischarge. Sample All CHF-MPs operating during 2005–2006 (n=55). Also 10–50 consecutive patients from 48 programmes were recruited (n=1157). Main outcome measures (1) Characteristics and interventions used within each CHF-MP; and (2) characteristics of patients enrolled into these programmes. Results Overall, there was a disproportionate distribution of CHF-MPs across Australia. Only 6.3% of hospitals nationally provided a CHF-MP. A total of 8000 postdischarge CHF patients (median: 126; IQR: 26–260) were managed via CHF-MPs, representing only 20% of the potential national case load. Significantly, 16% of the caseload comprised patients in functional New York Heart Association Class I with no evidence of these patients having had previous echocardiography to confirm a diagnosis of CHF. Heterogeneity of CHF-MPs in applied models of care was evident, with 70% of CHF-MPs offering a hybrid model (a combination of heart-failure outpatient clinics and home visits), 20% conducting home visits and 16% conducting an extended rehabilitation model of care. Less than half (44%) allowed heart-failure nurses to titrate medications. The main medications that were titrated in these programmes were diuretics (n=23, 96%), β-blockers (n=17, 71%), ACE inhibitors (ACEIs) (n=14, 58%) and spironolactone (n=9, 38%). Conclusion CHF-MPs are being implemented rapidly throughout Australia. However, many of these programmes do not adhere to expert clinical guidelines for the management of patients with CHF. This poor translation of evidence into practice highlights the inconsistency and questions the quality of health-related outcomes for these patients.

The dynamics of women’s network relationships: the good, bad and reality

The lack of women in leadership positions remains a persistent social phenomenon. The aim of the paper is to investigate how networking is connected to leadership aspirations and examine women’s understanding and practice of networking as a career developmental skill.

Theoretical explanations around women’s lack of leadership has focused on women’s organisational constraints, their outsider status and the conditions of women within the broader community; however, what is mostly absent from research is how women’s relationships with each other influence opportunities for leadership. Women often experience the ‘glass ceiling’ at the mid-career level, therefore the research focussed on networking at the mid-career level in order to better understand how women draw on networking to help achieve their career goals.

This paper responds to the persistent challenges that women face in networking by examining how networks are created, understood, and enacted by women. This paper reports on recent research that investigated how a select group of mid-career women understood and practiced networking. The paper discusses survey and interview data to analyse how women’s way of networking may influence career aspirations and identifies ways that women can strengthen their networking in order to build capacity and mobility for leadership.

Optometry training simulation with augmented reality and haptics

Optometry is an essential health care profession that has existed for many centuries and is still evolving. However, the training approaches for optometrists are not yet on par with the latest technological evolution. The traditional supervisor-student training mode could not provide good immersion and repeatability, while most existing vision-based computer-assisted simulations provide even worse immersion on screens. In this paper, we propose an effective system for optometry training simulation with two major components: augmented reality and haptics. These components are integrated with the actual slit lamp and are able to greatly enhance the immersion for typical optometry training tasks such as foreign body removal. Medical doctors are also involved in suggesting configurations and validating visual and haptic rendering results. Preliminary user studies show very positive feedbacks from optometry students.

Vascular occlusion training as an alternate method of gaining muscle

Training whilst under the effects of vascular occlusion has become increasingly popular due to the resultant muscle gain associated with this training technique. However, when exercising with the use of a tourniquet type device, it is possible for the pressure being applied to be inconsistent, due the constantly changing cross sectional area of the limb being occluded. This Paper describes the design of a device capable of causing vascular occlusion, but also being able to maintain a stable pressure required to create the blood flow restriction, this being able to be utilized in a sports science environment

Lying idiots: reality television & lie to me

This article addresses perhaps the key question for Television Studies: Who does television think you are? It argues that Reality Television answers this question by producing its viewers as, in the Classical Greek sense, idiots (meaning private and ignorant persons). Idiots are the perfect target for the advertising dollar that supports commercial television production. As Reg Grundy observes, Reality Television is anything but reality. With its tight framings of reality, it paradoxically operates to sever the viewing self from reality—from the “truth” of life. Lie to Me is the type of television we are left with after the demise of Reality Television. Lie to Me makes us self-conscious, in the strongest sense, and thus sustains the mission of Reality Television. By dragging the notion of reality into its self-serving fictions, it puts the viewer into the dangerous position of being unable to lie to television. If Reality Television constrained reality to falsity, Lie to Me implicates the viewer in the zone where falsity transforms into reality. Lastly, this article enquires into the possibilities, in today’s television ecology, for a mode of TV citizenship that would counter the abject viewing position of the consumerist idiot.

Proving a negative in history: the non-appearance of the Hungarian football team at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956

In this article we examine why Hungary, despite having the best football team in the world, did not enter the competition at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. We examine several explanations and find them to be based on errors and misconceptions. Given the significance of sport in socialist societies, we believe that the most likely explanation lies in the relationship between the Hungarian communist regime and that of the Soviet Union. Ongoing archival research suggests that the Hungarian regime did not enter a football team because it wanted to assist the Soviet Union in winning the gold medal, which it was thought would demonstrate the moral superiority of communism. This proposition is supported by a 2012 interview with Jenö Buzánszky, one of the two survivors of the Hungarian team.

Effectiveness and feasibility of virtual reality and gaming system use at home by older adults for enabling physical activity to improve health-related domains: a systematic review

Background
use of virtual reality and commercial gaming systems (VR/gaming) at home by older adults is receiving attention as a means of enabling physical activity.

Objective
to summarise evidence for the effectiveness and feasibility of VR/gaming system utilisation by older adults at home for enabling physical activity to improve impairments, activity limitations or participation.

Methods
a systematic review searching 12 electronic databases from 1 January 2000–10 July 2012 using key search terms. Two independent reviewers screened yield articles using pre-determined selection criteria, extracted data using customised forms and applied the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool and the Downs and Black Checklist to rate study quality.

Results
fourteen studies investigating the effects of VR/gaming system use by healthy older adults and people with neurological conditions on activity limitations, body functions and physical impairments and cognitive and emotional well-being met the selection criteria. Study quality ratings were low and, therefore, evidence was not strong enough to conclude that interventions were effective. Feasibility was inconsistently reported in studies. Where feasibility was discussed, strong retention (≥70%) and adherence (≥64%) was reported. Initial assistance to use the technologies, and the need for monitoring exertion, aggravation of musculoskeletal symptoms and falls risk were reported.

Conclusions
existing evidence to support the feasibility and effectiveness VR/gaming systems use by older adults at home to enable physical activity to address impairments, activity limitations and participation is weak with a high risk of bias. The findings of this review may inform future, more rigorous research.