Self-reported sitting time and physical activity: interactive associations with mental well-being and productivity in office employees

Abstract Background: Little is known about how sitting time, alone or in combination with markers of physical activity (PA), influences mental well-being and work productivity. Given the need to develop workplace PA interventions that target employees’ health related efficiency outcomes; this study examined the associations between self-reported sitting time, PA, mental well-being and work productivity in office employees. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Spanish university office employees (n = 557) completed a survey measuring socio-demographics, total and domain specific (work and travel) self-reported sitting time, PA (International Physical Activity Questionnaire short version), mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburg Mental Well-Being Scale) and work productivity (Work Limitations Questionnaire). Multivariate linear regression analyses determined associations between the main variables adjusted for gender, age, body mass index and occupation. PA levels (low, moderate and high) were introduced into the model to examine interactive associations. Results: Higher volumes of PA were related to higher mental well-being, work productivity and spending less time sitting at work, throughout the working day and travelling during the week, including the weekends (p < 0.05). Greater levels of sitting during weekends was associated with lower mental well-being (p < 0.05). Similarly, more sitting while travelling at weekends was linked to lower work productivity (p < 0.05). In highly active employees, higher sitting times on work days and occupational sitting were associated with decreased mental well-being (p < 0.05). Higher sitting times while travelling on weekend days was also linked to lower work productivity in the highly active (p < 0.05). No significant associations were observed in low active employees. Conclusions: Employees’ PA levels exerts different influences on the associations between sitting time, mental well-being and work productivity. The specific associations and the broad sweep of evidence in the current study suggest that workplace PA strategies to improve the mental well-being and productivity of all employees should focus on reducing sitting time alongside efforts to increase PA.

Las habilidades motrices básicas en educación primaria: aspectos de su desarrollo = Key motor skills in primary education: developmental aspects

The physical education curriculum stresses the importance of improving students’ key motor skills. This idea agrees with the contributions of research into motor development concerning the important role these skills play in child development. In order to facilitate this improvement is essential to know the different basic aspects of how these key motor skills evolve as well as the essential factors related to the characteristics and conditions of educational practice

Pierre Bourdieu and medical education

The contemporary discussion about the transformation of the training of health professionals has focused primarily on the change in method. This article discusses this issue in the light of Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical contributions - habitus, field, symbolic capital, symbolic violence and reproduction. The conclusion is drawn that pedagogical change alone is not enough to change the profile of medical graduates.

Detection of renal dysfunction based on serum creatinine levels in a Brazilian community: the Bambuí Health and Ageing Study

There are few population-based studies of renal dysfunction and none conducted in developing countries. In the present study the prevalence and predictors of elevated serum creatinine levels (SCr > or = 1.3 mg/dl for men and 1.1 mg/dl for women) were determined among Brazilian adults (18-59 years) and older adults (>60 years). Participants included all older adults (N = 1742) and a probabilistic sample of adults (N = 818) from Bambuí town, MG, Southeast Brazil. Predictors were investigated using multiple logistic regression. Mean SCr levels were 0.77 ± 0.15 mg/dl for adults, 1.02 ± 0.39 mg/dl for older men, and 0.81 ± 0.17 mg/dl for older women. Because there were only 4 cases (0.48%) with elevated SCr levels among adults, the analysis of elevated SCr levels was restricted to older adults. The overall prevalence of elevated SCr levels among the elderly was 5.09% (76/1494). The prevalence of hypercreatinemia increased significantly with age (chi² = 26.17, P = 0.000), being higher for older men (8.19%) than for older women (5.29%, chi² = 5.00, P = 0.02). Elevated SCr levels were associated with age 70-79 years (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-4.42), hypertension (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: 1.34-6.92), use of antihypertensive drugs (OR = 2.46, 95% CI: 1.26-4.82), chest pain (OR = 3.37, 95% CI: 1.31-8.74), and claudication (OR = 3.43, 95% CI: 1.30-9.09) among men, and with age >80 years (OR = 4.88, 95% CI: 2.24-10.65), use of antihypertensive drugs (OR = 4.06, 95% CI: 1.67-9.86), physical inactivity (OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.11-4.02) and myocardial infarction (OR = 3.89, 95% CI: 1.58-9.62) among women. The prevalence of renal dysfunction observed was much lower than that reported in other population-based studies, but predictors were similar. New investigations are needed to confirm the variability in prevalence and associated factors of renal dysfunction among populations.

Chemical and physical characterization of mume fruit collected from different locations and at different maturity stages in São Paulo State

Prunus mume is widely studied due to its health benefits regarding increase of blood fluidity and consequent improvement of the cardiovascular system and the prevention or even the fight against different types of cancer. However, in Brazil this culture is found only among oriental descendants. The present study aimed to characterize mume fruit collected from three different locations in the State of São Paulo regarding general aspects such as pH, total titratable acidity (TTA), total soluble solids (TTS), pectin content and yield of pulp and chemical characteristics: total phenolic compounds (TPC) and antioxidant capacity. Mume fruit were collected unripe and analyzed until maturation about 88 days after flowering. Fruit collected in Botucatu came from a commercial mume fruit producer and had average weight of 16.9 g, while in fruit from other locations weight varied from 5.7-6.9 g. TSS ranged from 9.5 to 10.0 Brix, total solids was 10.2-12.2% and pH showed values between 2.5 and 2.7 for all locations. TTA expressed in citric acid decreased from 4.0-5.7 g (100g- 1) at unripe stage to 2.0-3.8 g (100g- 1) in mature-stage fruit. Pectin content decreased from 11.2 to 10.8% during fruit maturation, TPC content was 147-226 mg catechin (g- 1) on a dry matter basis and the antioxidant capacity was 96-169 µMol Trolox (g- 1) on a dry matter basis or 21-34 µMol Trolox (g- 1) on a wet matter basis.

Cardiovascular health and fitness after childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

The last few decades have turned childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) from a virtually incurable disease to a disease with 80–90% survival rates. However, this has not come without a cost. Various late effects of the treatment are nowadays well acknowledged, and the survivors have increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. While the treatment of ALL may have direct toxic effects on various organ systems, lifestyle factors affect the CV risk of the survivors as well. Data on CV health and fitness after treatment with common Nordic protocols since 1986 has been scarce. This thesis aimed to study CV health and fitness and the effects of a 3-month exercise intervention in 16–30-year-old long-term survivors of childhood ALL. Fitness was poor especially in female survivors. One third reported ≤1h of moderate physical activity (PA) weekly. While the levels of other CV risk factors were similar in survivors and controls, attenuations in vascular endothelium and cardiac function were found when using advanced echocardiographic methods. The exercise programme improved fitness, insulin resistance, endothelial function as well as measures of cardiac function. While the results do not allow definite conclusions on whether the subclinical signs of cardiac and vascular endothelial dysfunction are due to the treatment of ALL or sedentary lifestyle/poor fitness after treatment, the results are interesting and emphasize the effects of PA in this population. The results indicate beneficial effects of PA on the heart health in ALL survivors and suggest that they should be encouraged to physically active lifestyle.

University students’ regulation of learning and text processing – examples from medical and teacher education

The general aim of the thesis was to study university students’ learning from the perspective of regulation of learning and text processing. The data were collected from the two academic disciplines of medical and teacher education, which share the features of highly scheduled study, a multidisciplinary character, a complex relationship between theory and practice and a professional nature. Contemporary information society poses new challenges for learning, as it is not possible to learn all the information needed in a profession during a study programme. Therefore, it is increasingly important to learn how to think and learn independently, how to recognise gaps in and update one’s knowledge and how to deal with the huge amount of constantly changing information. In other words, it is critical to regulate one’s learning and to process text effectively. The thesis comprises five sub-studies that employed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental designs and multiple methods, from surveys to eye tracking. Study I examined the connections between students’ study orientations and the ways they regulate their learning. In total, 410 second-, fourth- and sixth-year medical students from two Finnish medical schools participated in the study by completing a questionnaire measuring both general study orientations and regulation strategies. The students were generally deeply oriented towards their studies. However, they regulated their studying externally. Several interesting and theoretically reasonable connections between the variables were found. For instance, self-regulation was positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation and was negatively correlated with non-commitment. However, external regulation was likewise positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation but also with surface orientation and systematic orientation. It is argued that external regulation might function as an effective coping strategy in the cognitively loaded medical curriculum. Study II focused on medical students’ regulation of learning and their conceptions of the learning environment in an innovative medical course where traditional lectures were combined wth problem-based learning (PBL) group work. First-year medical and dental students (N = 153) completed a questionnaire assessing their regulation strategies of learning and views about the PBL group work. The results indicated that external regulation and self-regulation of the learning content were the most typical regulation strategies among the participants. In line with previous studies, self-regulation wasconnected with study success. Strictly organised PBL sessions were not considered as useful as lectures, although the students’ views of the teacher/tutor and the group were mainly positive. Therefore, developers of teaching methods are challenged to think of new solutions that facilitate reflection of one’s learning and that improve the development of self-regulation. In Study III, a person-centred approach to studying regulation strategies was employed, in contrast to the traditional variable-centred approach used in Study I and Study II. The aim of Study III was to identify different regulation strategy profiles among medical students (N = 162) across time and to examine to what extent these profiles predict study success in preclinical studies. Four regulation strategy profiles were identified, and connections with study success were found. Students with the lowest self-regulation and with an increasing lack of regulation performed worse than the other groups. As the person-centred approach enables us to individualise students with diverse regulation patterns, it could be used in supporting student learning and in facilitating the early diagnosis of learning difficulties. In Study IV, 91 student teachers participated in a pre-test/post-test design where they answered open-ended questions about a complex science concept both before and after reading either a traditional, expository science text or a refutational text that prompted the reader to change his/her beliefs according to scientific beliefs about the phenomenon. The student teachers completed a questionnaire concerning their regulation and processing strategies. The results showed that the students’ understanding improved after text reading intervention and that refutational text promoted understanding better than the traditional text. Additionally, regulation and processing strategies were found to be connected with understanding the science phenomenon. A weak trend showed that weaker learners would benefit more from the refutational text. It seems that learners with effective learning strategies are able to pick out the relevant content regardless of the text type, whereas weaker learners might benefit from refutational parts that contrast the most typical misconceptions with scientific views. The purpose of Study V was to use eye tracking to determine how third-year medical studets (n = 39) and internal medicine residents (n = 13) read and solve patient case texts. The results revealed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts; compared to the students, the residents were more accurate in their diagnoses and processed the texts significantly faster and with a lower number of fixations. Different reading patterns were also found. The observed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts could be used in medical education to model expert reasoning and to teach how a good medical text should be constructed. The main findings of the thesis indicate that even among very selected student populations, such as high-achieving medical students or student teachers, there seems to be a lot of variation in regulation strategies of learning and text processing. As these learning strategies are related to successful studying, students enter educational programmes with rather different chances of managing and achieving success. Further, the ways of engaging in learning seldom centre on a single strategy or approach; rather, students seem to combine several strategies to a certain degree. Sometimes, it can be a matter of perspective of which way of learning can be considered best; therefore, the reality of studying in higher education is often more complicated than the simplistic view of self-regulation as a good quality and external regulation as a harmful quality. The beginning of university studies may be stressful for many, as the gap between high school and university studies is huge and those strategies that were adequate during high school might not work as well in higher education. Therefore, it is important to map students’ learning strategies and to encourage them to engage in using high-quality learning strategies from the beginning. Instead of separate courses on learning skills, the integration of these skills into course contents should be considered. Furthermore, learning complex scientific phenomena could be facilitated by paying attention to high-quality learning materials and texts and other support from the learning environment also in the university. Eye tracking seems to have great potential in evaluating performance and growing diagnostic expertise in text processing, although more research using texts as stimulus is needed. Both medical and teacher education programmes and the professions themselves are challenging in terms of their multidisciplinary nature and increasing amounts of information and therefore require good lifelong learning skills during the study period and later in work life.

Physical Education Centre Plans

Site Plan for the Physical Educaiton Centre and future athletic sites. Note the proposed ice rink, track and tennis courts. This site plan would have been made c. 1969.

Physical Education Centre Layout

Site Plan for the Physical Education centre and surrounding landscapes.

Physical Education Complex

Exterior view of the Phys. Ed. Complex after the 1980 Aquatic Centre Addition. The Eleanor Misener Aquatic Centre, which contains Brock's Olympic size swimming pool, is the large structure in the foreground. The remaining buildings in the background house the gymnasiums and other facilities.

Overcoming victim behaviour through physical education

This study presents infonnation gathered during personal interviews in which participants were asked how they, as physical educators, might possibly assist the victim of bullying through their programs. The research is a qualitative study, using an inductive approach. Five participants were chosen, based on convenience sampling, with semi-structured interviews which were audio recorded. The theoretical research found that the most stable characteristics of victimized boys were lack of strength and lack of physical fitness. This suggested that Physical Education class might be the best place in which to empower victimized students to reduce their own victimization by addressing these areas of strength and fitness. From the interviews it became clear that, while these educators showed a willingness to help bullying victims through their programs, their adherence to a Physical Education model based primarily on elitism, as opposed to individual fitness, would make it difficult for them to do so effectively.

Stress, social support, and health risk behaviours as mediators of the forgiveness-health relation /

The mediating roles of stress, social support, and health risk behaviours in the relationships between dispositional forgiveness and mental and physical health were examined. Participants were 748 undergraduate students (554 women, 194 men) entering their first year of studies at Brock University. Participants, ranging in age from 17 to 25 years, completed the Brock University First Year Health Study and were provided monetary compensation. Dispositional forgiveness, stress, social support, health risk behaviours, mental health, and physical health were measured using self-report methods. The data were analyzed separately for women and men because there were significant mean differences on many of the study'S variables. Analyses revealed that the mediated relationships between dispositional forgiveness and health were generally stronger for women than men. Stress was the most robust mediator of the forgiveness-health relation for both women and men. The only health risk behaviour that mediated the forgivenesshealth relation was physical fitness and this result was found for women only. Social support mediated several of the relationships between forgiveness and health but not others. Results were discussed with reference to the literature on forgiveness and health. Several directions for future research were offered, such as conducting longitudinal research designs to assess the direction of causality better, investigating moderator variables of the forgiveness-health relation, and building models, which incorporate multiple mediators using structural equation modelling techniques.

The capillary supply of human skeletal muscle in health and disease

BACKGROUND: Capillaries function to provide a surface area for nutrient and waste exchange with cells. The capillary supply of skeletal muscle is highly organized, and therefore, represents an excellent choice to study factors regulating diffusion. Muscle is comprised of three specific fibre types, each with specific contractile and metabolic characteristics, which influence the capillary supply of a given muscle; in addition, both environmental and genetic factors influence the capillary supply, including aging, physical training, and various disease processes. OBJECTIVE: The present study was undertaken to develop and assess the functionality of a data base, from which virtual experiments can be conducted on the capillary supply of human muscle, and the adaptations of the capillary bed in muscle to various perturbations. METHODS: To create the database, an extensive search of the literature was conducted using various search engines, and the three key words - "capillary, muscle, and human". This search yielded 169 papers from which the data for the 46 variables on the capillary supply and fibre characteristics of muscle were extracted for inclusion in the database. A series of statistical analyses (ANOVA) were done on the capillary database to examine differences in skeletal muscle capillarization and fibre characteristics between young and old individuals, between healthy and diseased individuals, and between untrained, endurance trained, endurance welltrained, and resistance trained individuals, using SAS. RESULTS: There was a significantly higher capillarization in the young compared to the old individuals, in the healthy compared to the diseased individuals, and in the endurance-trained and endurance well-trained compared to the untrained individuals. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study support the conclusion that the capillary supply of skeletal muscle is closely regulated by factors aimed at optimizing oxygen and nutrient supply and/or waste removal in response to changes in muscle mass and/or metabolic activity.

Evaluating the Norfolk physical education program with respect to fitness-level improvement

The grades seven and eight physical education program of the Norfolk Board of Education was evaluated with respect to fitnesslevel improvement, an objective of the Ministry of Education for the province of Ontario. The Canada Fitness Award battery of fitness tests was used to measure fitness levels. It was established that in September the students were unfit, and in May they were fit. This indicated that the Norfolk physical education program was effective, with respect to the criterion used for this research. In addition, it was discovered that fitness-level improvement was significantly related to certain variables: teacher qualifications, teaching experience, school, and participation in extracurricular physical activity. Considering the results of the research, it was recommended that the Norfolk Board of Education hire young, qualified physical education teachers; create the position of Physical Education Consultant; and strive to create equitable resources for physical education instruction, in order that the school to which a student belongs no longer will be a determinant of fitness improvement.

Relationships among adolescent substance use, leisure boredom, and physical activity

This study was a secondary analysis of data drawn from the Youth Leisure Study. The purpose of the study was to: a) explore the relationships among physical activity, leisure boredom, and various substance use variables; b) determine if leisure boredom moderated the relationship among physical activity and substance use variables; and c) create a foundation of knowledge with which to educate adolescents and educators of the importance of adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle early in life (i.e., free from unhealthy behaviours such as substance use and physical inactivity). Studies examining relationships among physical activity and substance are limited and, in the past, have yielded inconsistent results. The interaction of leisure boredom with physical activity intensity variables, including both team and individual pursuits were tested using moderated hierarchical regression procedures. Six measures of physical activity were used as independent variables, including, frequency of high, medium, and low intensity individual and team physical activities. Various types of substance use, including, tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use, binge drinking, and drunkenness were used as dependent variables. The results for this study indicated that frequency of physical activity intensity was a consistent, positive predictor of alcohol use and binge drinking, but not tobacco use, marijuana use, or drunkenness. Leisure boredom was found to be a highly significant predictor of tobacco use, however, it was not a moderator of relationships among physical activity intensity and substance use variables. The implications for the study findings, are discussed further, and suggestions for future research are presented.