Prevalence and stability of active play, restricted movement and television viewing in infants

This study describes engagement in and stability of physical activity and sedentary behaviours in early life, and assesses associations with sex, maternal education and developmental stage. Maternal-report data at child age 4, 9 and 20 months were collected from 542 families in the Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial Program. Parents estimated average time per day their child spent in active pursuits or pursuits that restricted movement. With increasing age, children generally spent more time in active pursuits and watching television, and less time in situations that restrict movement. Associations were found with age of developmental milestone attainment but not sex or maternal education. Stability over time was strongest for television viewing (β = 0.34–0.38) and time spent outdoors (β = 0.27–0.33). Contrary to guidelines, television viewing increased and showed stability, suggesting a need to target this behaviour very early in life to achieve optimal longer term outcomes.

Tracking of maternal self-efficacy for limiting young children's television viewing and associations with children's television viewing time: a longitudinal analysis over 15-months

BACKGROUND: Mothers' self-efficacy for limiting their children's television viewing is an important correlate of this behaviour in young children. However, no studies have examined how maternal self-efficacy changes over time, which is potentially important during periods of rapid child development. This study examined tracking of maternal self-efficacy for limiting young children's television viewing over 15-months and associations with children's television viewing time. METHODS: In 2008 and 2010, mothers (n = 404) from the Melbourne InFANT Program self-reported their self-efficacy for limiting their child's television viewing at 4- and 19-months of age. Tertiles of self-efficacy were created at each time and categorised into: persistently high, persistently low, increasing or decreasing self-efficacy. Weighted kappa and multinomial logistic regression examined tracking and demographic and behavioural predictors of change in self-efficacy. A linear regression model examined associations between tracking categories and children's television viewing time. RESULTS: Tracking of maternal self-efficacy for limiting children's television viewing was low (kappa = 0.23, p < 0.001). Mothers who had persistently high or increasing self-efficacy had children with lower television viewing time at 19-months (β = -35.5; 95 % CI = -54.4,-16.6 and β = 37.0; 95 % CI = -54.4,-19.7, respectively). Mothers of children with difficult temperaments were less likely to have persistently high self-efficacy. Mothers who met adult physical activity guidelines had 2.5 greater odds of increasing self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to increase and maintain maternal self-efficacy for limiting children's television viewing time may result in lower rates of this behaviour amongst toddlers. Maternal and child characteristics may need to be considered when tailoring interventions.

Evolutionary perspective of cancer: myth, metaphors, and reality

The evolutionary perspective of cancer (which origins and dynamics result from evolutionary processes) has gained significant international recognition over the past decade and generated a wave of enthusiasm among researchers. In this context, several authors proposed that insights into evolutionary and adaptation dynamics of cancers can be gained by studying the evolutionary strategies of organisms. Although this reasoning is fundamentally correct, in our opinion, it contains a potential risk of excessive adaptationism, potentially leading to the suggestion of complex adaptations that are unlikely to evolve among cancerous cells. For example, the ability of recognizing related conspecifics and adjusting accordingly behaviors as in certain free-living species appears unlikely in cancer. Indeed, despite their rapid evolutionary rate, malignant cells are under selective pressures for their altered lifestyle for only few decades. In addition, even though cancer cells can theoretically display highly sophisticated adaptive responses, it would be crucial to determine the frequency of their occurrence in patients with cancer, before therapeutic applications can be considered. Scientists who try to explain oncogenesis will need in the future to critically evaluate the metaphorical comparison of selective processes affecting cancerous cells with those affecting organisms. This approach seems essential for the applications of evolutionary biology to understand the origin of cancers, with prophylactic and therapeutic applications.

1915 in Australia: the reality of total war sinks in

1915 was a critical year for Australians, and not just because of the pride and myth-making associated with Gallipoli. Today we struggle to capture a sense of the profound shock and anxiety the landing at Anzac Cove brought to Australia. But it was this, together with a wider understanding that the war was not going well, that defined 1915 and drew Australians ever deeper into the vortex of total war.

‘I felt like I was watching porn’: the reality of preparing pre-service teachers to teach about sexual pleasure

Overwhelmingly, school-based sexuality education programmes focus on the prevention of infection, pregnancy and abuse, with little if any attention given to positive views of sexuality and rarely the inclusion of sex positive issues such as pleasure, intimacy and desire. This paper explores the experience of teaching about pleasure to pre-service health and physical education teachers as part of compulsory studies in a unit on sexuality education designed to prepare them to teach sexuality education in secondary schools. Drawing on the aims, theoretical framework, content and pedagogical structure of the unit, and data collected from 42, third-year pre-service teachers (PST) in Australia via surveys and student assessment, the paper provides some practical examples of what teaching about pleasure might look like in practice. It argues that with adequate preparation, a framework to celebrate sex and sexuality, a gender lens to examine normative discourses, and the opportunity for reflection, PST can develop the confidence, skill and willingness to include pedagogies of pleasure in their school-based work.

Haptic virtual reality training environment for micro-robotic cell injection

Micro-robotic cell injection is typically performed manually by a trainedbio-operator, and success rates are often low. To enhance bio-operator performance during real-time cell injection, our earlier work introduced a haptically-enabled micro-robotic cell injection system. The system employed haptic virtual fixtures to provide haptic guidance according to articular performance metrics. This paper extends the work by replicating the system within a virtual reality (VR) environment for bio-operator training. Using the virtual environment, the bio-operator is able to control the virtual injection process in the same way they would with the physical haptic micro-robotic cell injection system, while benefiting from the enhanced visualisation capabilities offered by the 3D VR environment. The system is achieved using cost-effective components offering training at much lower cost than using the physical system.

Physical activity, television viewing time and 12 year changes in waist circumference

PURPOSE: Both moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior can be associated with adult adiposity. Much of the relevant evidence is from cross-sectional studies or from prospective studies with relevant exposure measures at a single time point prior to weight gain or incident obesity. This study examined whether changes in MVPA and television (TV) viewing time are associated with subsequent changes in waist circumference, using data from three separate observation points in a large population-based prospective study of Australian adults. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study collected in 1999-2000 (baseline), 2004-05 (Wave 2), and 2011-12 (Wave 3). The study sample consisted of adults aged 25 to 74 years at baseline who also attended site measurement at three time points (n=3261). Multilevel linear regression analysis examined associations of initial five-year changes in MVPA and TV viewing time (from baseline to Wave 2) with 12-year change in waist circumference (from baseline to Wave 3), adjusting for well-known confounders. RESULTS: As categorical predictors, increases in MVPA significantly attenuated increases in waist circumference (p for trend< 0.001). TV viewing time change was not significantly associated with changes in waist circumference (p for trend =0.06). Combined categories of MVPA and TV viewing time changes were predictive of waist circumference increases; compared to those who increased MVPA and reduced TV viewing time, those who reduced MVPA and increased TV viewing time had a 2cm greater increase in waist circumference (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Decreasing MVPA emerged as a significant predictor of increases in waist circumference. Increasing TV viewing time was also influential, but its impact was much weaker than MVPA.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially.

Extraordinary television time travel and the wonderful end to the working day

In this article I will present two arguments. First, the argument that the time travel television series historically provided viewers with a spectacular temporal and spatial alternative to the routine of everyday life, the regulation of television scheduling, and the small-world confines of domestic subjectivity. Taking the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, predominantly in a UK viewing environment, I will suggest that the special effect rendering of the time travel sequence expanded the viewer’s material universe, and affectively wrenched the television set free from the strictures of scheduling and realist programming. Further, the time travel series readily and regularly took the domestic space, the ordinary day and the everyman/ person into awesome environments and situations that suggested alternative lifestyles and behaviours, with a different existential tempo and rhythm. At a narrative, thematic, meta- textual, and aesthetically spectacular level, television time travel saw to the wonderful end of the working day. Case studies include Sapphire and Steal, Dr Who, and Quantum Leap. Second, the article will argue that rather than the contemporary time travel television series being an extraordinary alternative to ordinary life, they instead articulate convergence culture, deregulation, multiple channel viewing, and time-shift culture where there is no such thing as an ordinary working day or domestic viewing context.