Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Time during Childhood, Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Cohort Study

Background: To know how moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time change across lifespan periods is needed for designing successful lifestyle interventions. We aimed to study changes in objectively measured (accelerometry) MVPA and sedentary time from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to young adulthood. Methods: Estonian and Swedish participants from the European Youth Heart Study aged 9 and 15 years at baseline (N = 2312) were asked to participate in a second examination 6 (Sweden) to 9/10 (Estonia) years later. 1800 participants with valid accelerometer data were analyzed. Results: MVPA decreased from childhood to adolescence (21 to 22.5 min/d per year of follow-up, P = 0.01 and ,0.001, for girls and boys respectively) and also from adolescence to young adulthood (20.8 to 22.2 min/d per year, P = 0.02 and ,0.001 for girls and boys, respectively). Sedentary time increased from childhood to adolescence (+15 and +20 min/d per year, for girls and boys respectively, P,0.001), with no substantial change from adolescence to young adulthood. Changes in both MVPA and sedentary time were greater in Swedish than in Estonian participants and in boys than in girls. The magnitude of the change observed in sedentary time was 3–6 time larger than the change observed in MVPA. Conclusions: The decline in MVPA (overall change = 30 min/d) and increase sedentary time (overall change = 2:45 h/d)observed from childhood to adolescence are of concern and might increase the risk of developing obesity and other chronic diseases later in life. These findings substantially contribute to understand how key health-related behaviors (physical activity and sedentary) change across important periods of life.

Physical Modeling And Parametric Study On Two-Degree-Of-Freedom Viv Of A Cylinder Near Rigid Wall

Unlike most previous studies on the transverse vortex-induced vibration(VIV) of a cylinder mainly under the wallfree condition (Williamson & Govardhan,2004),this paper experimentally investigates the vortex-induced vibration of a cylinder with two degrees of freedom near a rigid wall exposed to steady flow.The amplitude and frequency responses of the cylinder are discussed.The lee wake flow patterns of the cylinder undergoing VIV were visualized by employing the hydrogen bubble technique.The effects of the gap-to-diameter ratio (e0/D) and the mass ratio on the vibration amplitude and frequency are analyzed.Comparisons of VIV response of the cylinder are made between one degree (only transverse) and two degrees of freedom (streamwise and transverse) and those between the present study and previous ones.The experimental observation indicates that there are two types of streamwise vibration,i.e.the first streamwise vibration (FSV) with small amplitude and the second streamwise vibration (SSV) which coexists with transverse vibration.The vortex shedding pattem for the FSV is approximately symmetric and that for the SSV is alternate.The first streamwise vibration tends to disappear with the decrease of e0/D.For the case of large gap-to-diameter ratios (e.g.e0/D = 0.54～1.58),the maximum amplitudes of the second streamwise vibration and transverse one increase with the increasing gapto-diameter ratio.But for the case of small gap-to-diameter ratios (e.g.e0/D = 0.16,0.23),the vibration amplitude of the cylinder increases slowly at the initial stage (i.e.at small reduced velocity V,),and across the maximum amplitude it decreases quickly at the last stage (i.e.at large Vr).Within the range ofthe examined small mass ratio (m＜4),both streamwise and transverse vibration amplitude of the cylinder decrease with the increase of mass ratio for the fixed value of V,.The vibration range (in terms of Vr ) tends to widen with the decrease of the mass ratio.In the second streamwise vibration region,the vibration frequency of the cylinder with a small mass ratio (e.g.mx = 1.44) undergoes a jump at a certain Vr,.The maximum amplitudes of the transverse vibration for two-degree-of-freedom case is larger than that for one-degree-of-freedom case,but the transverse vibration frequency of the cylinder with two degrees of freedom is lower than that with one degree of freedom (transverse).

The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region

Tedd, L.A. (2003). The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Information Science, 29(1), 79-86.

The lung cancer exercise training study: a randomized trial of aerobic training, resistance training, or both in postsurgical lung cancer patients: rationale and design.

BACKGROUND: The Lung Cancer Exercise Training Study (LUNGEVITY) is a randomized trial to investigate the efficacy of different types of exercise training on cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2peak), patient-reported outcomes, and the organ components that govern VO2peak in post-operative non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. METHODS/DESIGN: Using a single-center, randomized design, 160 subjects (40 patients/study arm) with histologically confirmed stage I-IIIA NSCLC following curative-intent complete surgical resection at Duke University Medical Center (DUMC) will be potentially eligible for this trial. Following baseline assessments, eligible participants will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) aerobic training alone, (2) resistance training alone, (3) the combination of aerobic and resistance training, or (4) attention-control (progressive stretching). The ultimate goal for all exercise training groups will be 3 supervised exercise sessions per week an intensity above 70% of the individually determined VO2peak for aerobic training and an intensity between 60 and 80% of one-repetition maximum for resistance training, for 30-45 minutes/session. Progressive stretching will be matched to the exercise groups in terms of program length (i.e., 16 weeks), social interaction (participants will receive one-on-one instruction), and duration (30-45 mins/session). The primary study endpoint is VO2peak. Secondary endpoints include: patient-reported outcomes (PROs) (e.g., quality of life, fatigue, depression, etc.) and organ components of the oxygen cascade (i.e., pulmonary function, cardiac function, skeletal muscle function). All endpoints will be assessed at baseline and postintervention (16 weeks). Substudies will include genetic studies regarding individual responses to an exercise stimulus, theoretical determinants of exercise adherence, examination of the psychological mediators of the exercise - PRO relationship, and exercise-induced changes in gene expression. DISCUSSION: VO2peak is becoming increasingly recognized as an outcome of major importance in NSCLC. LUNGEVITY will identify the optimal form of exercise training for NSCLC survivors as well as provide insight into the physiological mechanisms underlying this effect. Overall, this study will contribute to the establishment of clinical exercise therapy rehabilitation guidelines for patients across the entire NSCLC continuum. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00018255.

Innovations in learning and teaching approaches using game technologies - can "The Movies" teach how to make a movie?

The use of games technology in education is not a new phenomenon. Even back in the days of 286 processors, PCs were used in some schools along with (what looks like now) primitive simulation software to teach a range of different skills and techniques – from basic programming using Logo (the turtle style car with a pen at the back that could be used to draw on the floor – always a good way of attracting the attention of school kids!) up to quite sophisticated replications of physical problems, such as working out the trajectory of a missile to blow up an enemies’ tank. So why are games not more widely used in education (especially in FE and HE)? Can they help to support learners even at this advanced stage in their education? We aim to provide in this article an overview of the use of game technologies in education (almost as a small literature review for interested parties) and then go more in depth into one particular example we aim to introduce from this coming academic year (Sept. 2006) to help with teaching and assessment of one area of our Multimedia curriculum. Of course, we will not be able to fully provide the reader with data on how successful this is but we will be running a blog (http://themoviesineducation.blogspot.com/) to keep interested parties up to date with the progress of the project and to hopefully help others to set up similar solutions themselves. We will also only consider a small element of the implementation here and cover how the use of such assessment processes could be used in a broader context. The use of a game to aid learning and improve achievement is suggested because traditional methods of engagement are currently failing on some levels. By this it is meant that various parts of the production process we normally cover in our Multimedia degree are becoming difficult to monitor and continually assess.

South East London Palliative and End of Life Care Education and Training Strategy: Meeting the Education and Training Needs of the Health & Social Care Workforce Involved in the Care of Patients and Carers at the End of Life.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Aims 1. The aims of this strategy are • to ensure that a full range of education and training related to the adult end of life care pathway is available across South East London to meet the needs of our health and social care workforce • to enable those responsible for end of life care education and training commissioning to procure comprehensively from a full range of education providers in a systematic and strategic manner. Background 2. The work that underpins this strategy was begun by the South East London Cancer Network via its Palliative and End of Life Care Coordinating Group and then developed by way of the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme’s Education and Training work stream.

Learners' emotional and psychic responses to encounters with learning support in further education and training

This article investigates the experience of individual learners who have been allocated learning support in the further education system in England. The particular focus is on interviewees' constructions of their emotional and psychic experiences. Through the adoption of a psycho-social perspective, learners' tendency to 'idealise' their learning support workers is understood as a strategy for coping with the anxiety generated by a range of previous experiences. The implications for policy-makers are discussed.