The Incremental Shuttle Walk Test in Older Brazilian Adults

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A Simple Approach to Assess VT During a Field Walk Test

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Different frequencies of acupuncture for treatment for chronic low back pain: an-assessor blinded pilot randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES:
To examine the feasibility of a main RCT to compare the effectiveness of two frequencies (2 versus 5 times/week) of acupuncture treatment for chronic low back pain (LBP).
METHODS:
Participants (n=30) with chronic LBP were randomised into two groups to receive 10 acupuncture treatments: Low Frequency Group, 2 times/week for five weeks (n=15); High Frequency Group, 5 times/week for two weeks (n=15). The following outcomes were measured blindly at baseline, 2 weeks, 5 weeks, 3 months and 1 year: pain on a VAS, functional disability using the RMDQ, quality of life using the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile (MYMOP-2), psychological impact with the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) and Pain Locus of Control (PLC) questionnaire. Two objective outcomes, the Shuttle Walk Test (SWT) and Lateral Trunk Flexibility (LTF), were also measured.
RESULTS:
The compliance rate was 100% for each group. Some of the measurements were shown to be sensitive (VAS, RMDQ, MYMOP-2 Wellbeing). 66-330 participants would be required for a fully powered non-inferiority trial. The groups were balanced at baseline for LBP and demographic characteristics. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of any of the outcomes, at each follow-up time point. It was notable however that the clinically important improvement in terms of pain, functional disability, quality of life, and SWT in both groups was achieved within the first two weeks, which was maintained at one year follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS:
It is feasible to conduct a main RCT, to compare different frequencies of acupuncture for LBP, using sensitive measurements. Also the trend for early clinically important improvement within a minimum of four measurements is worthy of further study.

Valores de referência para o teste de caminhada com carga progressiva em indivíduos saudáveis: da distância percorrida às respostas fisiológicas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fundamental solution and discrete random walk model for time-space fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, we consider a time-space fractional diffusion equation of distributed order (TSFDEDO). The TSFDEDO is obtained from the standard advection-dispersion equation by replacing the first-order time derivative by the Caputo fractional derivative of order α∈(0,1], the first-order and second-order space derivatives by the Riesz fractional derivatives of orders β 1∈(0,1) and β 2∈(1,2], respectively. We derive the fundamental solution for the TSFDEDO with an initial condition (TSFDEDO-IC). The fundamental solution can be interpreted as a spatial probability density function evolving in time. We also investigate a discrete random walk model based on an explicit finite difference approximation for the TSFDEDO-IC.

Teaching crabs to walk straight : is there a place for ethics education in Malaysian accountancy courses?

Recent releases from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) highlight the importance of ethics education. Academic institutions employ varying methods of teaching ethics and place varying levels of emphasis on ethics teaching during a business/accounting degree. This paper attempts to evaluate whether teaching ethics to final year accountancy students is beneficial. At the commencement of a semester 85 final year accounting students were given five ethical scenarios on which to make an ethical decision. During the semester they were subject to two different methods of teaching ethics, a traditional lecture/tutorial process and a group assignment. ----- After a significant gap, students were re-presented with the ethical scenarios and asked what action they now considered appropriate. In all five instances students offered a more ethical response the second time. When asked to evaluate the methodologies the students considered both training methods to have a positive effect on their ethical thinking. The results suggest it is beneficial to include ethics teaching in accountancy courses, if the profession’s goal of ethical practitioners is to be achieved.

Social interactions in Chinese parks : a walk in Lu Xun Park

What can we learn from Chinese parks and Chinese people? We took a walk through Lu Xun Park, one of Shanghai’s most popular parks. Here hundreds of people participate in dozens of physical and mental exercises that are considered to be essential for good health and fitness. We found that the most successful spaces for social interaction and inclusiveness were not just coded for ‘doing’ a diverse range of activities but also for ‘showing’ those activities. This dual role of park spaces could be given greater design consideration in encouraging occupants of small households in Australia to make greater use of public parks in the future.

Talking the talk and walking the walk : how managers can influence the quality of work-life balance in a construction project

Purpose – The construction industry in Australia is characterised by a long work-hours culture, with conditions that make it difficult for staff to balance their work and non-work lives. The objective of this paper is to measure the success of a work-place intervention designed to improve work-life balance (WLB) in an alliance project in the construction industry, and the role the project manager plays in this success. Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on an alliance case study. Interviews were conducted at two points in time, several months apart, after the interventions were implemented. Findings – Results showed that staff on the whole were more satisfied with their work experience after the interventions, and indicated the important role that managers' attitudes and behaviours played. Originality/value – Managerial support for work-life initiatives is a critical element in achieving WLB and satisfaction with working arrangements. The fact that the manager “talked the talk and walked the walk” was a major contributing success factor, which has not previously been demonstrated.

The influence of conformity and group identity on drink walking intentions : comparing intentions to drink walk across risky pedestrian crossing scenarios

Despite the dangers associated with drink walking, limited research is currently available regarding the factors which influence individuals to engage in this risky behaviour. This study examined the influence of psychosocial factors upon individuals’ intentions to drink walk across four experimental scenarios (and a control condition). Specifically, a 2 × 2 repeated measures design was utilised in which all of the scenarios incorporated a risky pedestrian crossing situation (i.e., a pedestrian crossing against a red man signal) but differed according to the level of group identity (i.e., low/strangers and high/friends) and conformity (low and high). Individuals were assessed for their intentions to drink walk within each of these different scenarios. Undergraduate students (N = 151), aged 17–30 years, completed a questionnaire. Overall, most of the study's hypotheses were supported with individuals reporting the highest intentions to drink walk when in the presence of friends (i.e., high group identity) and their friends were said to be also crossing against the red man signal (i.e., high conformity). The findings may have significant implications for the design of countermeasures to reduce drink walking. For instance, the current findings would suggest that potentially effective strategies may be to promote resilience to peer influence as well as highlight the negative consequences associated with following the behaviour of other intoxicated pedestrians who are crossing against a red signal.

High level protein expression in plants through the use of a novel autonomously replicating geminivirus shuttle vector

We constructed a novel autonomously replicating gene expression shuttle vector, with the aim of developing a system for transiently expressing proteins at levels useful for commercial production of vaccines and other proteins in plants. The vector, pRIC, is based on the mild strain of the geminivirus Bean yellow dwarf virus (BeYDV-m) and is replicationally released into plant cells from a recombinant Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti plasmid. pRIC differs from most other geminivirus-based vectors in that the BeYDV replication-associated elements were included in cis rather than from a co-transfected plasmid, while the BeYDV capsid protein (CP) and movement protein (MP) genes were replaced by an antigen encoding transgene expression cassette derived from the non-replicating A. tumefaciens vector, pTRAc. We tested vector efficacy in Nicotiana benthamiana by comparing transient cytoplasmic expression between pRIC and pTRAc constructs encoding either enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) or the subunit vaccine antigens, human papillomavirus subtype 16 (HPV-16) major CP L1 and human immunodeficiency virus subtype C p24 antigen. The pRIC constructs were amplified in planta by up to two orders of magnitude by replication, while 50% more HPV-16 L1 and three- to seven-fold more EGFP and HIV-1 p24 were expressed from pRIC than from pTRAc. Vector replication was shown to be correlated with increased protein expression. We anticipate that this new high-yielding plant expression vector will contribute towards the development of a viable plant production platform for vaccine candidates and other pharmaceuticals. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Effect of Australia's walk to work day campaign on adults' active commuting and physical activity behavior

Purpose. To determine whether Australia's Walk to Work Day media campaign resulted in behavioural change among targeted groups. Methods. Pre- and postcampaign telephone surveys of a cohort of adults aged 18 to 65 years (n = 1100, 55% response rate) were randomly sampled from Australian major melropolitan areas. Tests for dependent samples were applied (McNemax chi(2) or paired t-test). Results. Among participants who did not usually actively commute to work was a significant decrease in car only use an increase in walking combined with public transport. Among those who were employed was a significant increase in total time walking (+16 min/wk; t [780] = 2.04, p < .05) and in other moderate physical activity (+120 min/wk; t [1087] = 4.76, p < .005), resulting in a significant decrease in the proportion who were inactive (chi(2) (1) = 6.1, p < .05). Conclusion. Although nonexperimental, the Walk to Work Day initiative elicited short-term changes in targeted behaviors among target groups. Reinforcement by integrating worksite health promotion strategies may be required for sustained effects.