No abstract is provided for this article.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB)/Rel proteins are dimeric, sequence-specific transcription factors involved in the activation of an exceptionally large number of genes in response to inflammation, viral and bacterial infections, and other stressful situations requiring rapid reprogramming of gene expression. In unstimulated cells, NF-kappaB is sequestered in an inactive form in the cytoplasm bound to inhibitory IkappaB proteins. Stimulation leads to the rapid phosphorylation, ubiquitinylation, and ultimately proteolytic degradation of IkappaB, which frees NF-kappaB to translocate to the nucleus and activate the transcription of its target genes. The multisubunit IkappaB kinase (IKK) responsible for the inducible phosphorylation of IkappaB appears to be the initial point of convergence for most stimuli that activate NF-kappaB. IKK contains two catalytic subunits, IKKalpha and IKKbeta, both of which phosphorylate IkappaB at sites phosphorylated in vivo. Gene knockout studies indicate that IKKbeta is primarily responsible for the activation of NF-kappaB in response to proinflammatory stimuli, whereas IKKalpha is essential for keratinocyte differentiation. The activity of IKK is regulated by phosphorylation. IKK contains a regulatory subunit, IKKgamma, which is critical for activation of IKK and is postulated to serve as a recognition site for upstream activators. When phosphorylated, the IKK recognition site on IkappaBalpha serves as a specific recognition site for the kappa-TrCP-like component of a Skp1-Cullin-F-box-type E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase. A variety of other signaling events, including phosphorylation of NF-kappaB, phosphorylation of IKK, new synthesis of IkappaBs, and the processing of NF-kappaB precursors provide mechanisms of modulating the amount and duration of NF-kappaB activity.
Background. Physical activity and nutrition are related to multiple health problems during youth and to chronic diseases in adulthood. Health care providers have many opportunities to counsel young people about health behaviors. Method. Policy documents and descriptive data on nutrition and physical activity interventions for youth in primary care were reviewed. Results. U.S. children and adolescents made 29.5 million office visits in 1995, and 6.5 million were for well visits. About 80% of young people have seen a physician during the past year. Many organizations recommend that health care providers counsel children and adolescents about nutrition and physical activity. Many pediatricians counsel patients about physical activity and nutrition, but they have low confidence in the success of these efforts. Bright Futures and Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services are two national programs with specific guidelines for counseling. No studies could be located that evaluated youth physical activity or nutrition interventions in primary care. Programs for adults in primary care are sometimes effective, but they must target behavior change and be of sufficient intensity and duration. School programs can be effective, but they are much more intensive than is feasible for primary care. It is likely that effective programs for youth in primary care will require interactions with patients and families beyond the clinic encounter. Barriers to effective counseling include lack of financial incentives, provider knowledge and skills, and tested interventions. Conclusion. There is sufficient promise of public health benefit to justify development and evaluation of youth nutrition and physical activity interventions in primary care. The design of programs should be in formed by behavior change theories, knowledge of opportunities within health care settings, research on determinants of health behaviors, and lessons learned from research on similar types of interventions.
Background. Knowledge about the prevalence, co-occurrence, and correlates of lifestyle related behaviors of overweight women is needed to inform the design of health promotion interventions for weight loss. Methods. Cross-sectional study involves 394 overweight and obese women, aged 18 to 55 (mean age=41.26), 39% from minority backgrounds, recruited through primary care clinics for a weight loss trial. Dependent variables were the proportion meeting recommended levels of physical activity (measured with an Actigraph), percent calories from fat, and servings of fruits and vegetables (assessed with a Food Frequency Questionnaire, FFQ) and accumulating less than 8 h/day of sedentary time for sedentary behavior (Actigraph). Covariates included socio-demographics, psychosocial variables, diet behaviors, and depression. Results. Seventy-five percent of the sample did not engage in at least 30 min/day of physical activity, and 56% spent less than 8 h/day in sedentary activities. About 76% and 79% of the sample did not meet the dietary fat, and fruits and vegetable consumption guidelines, respectively. Two-thirds of the sample had three or more risk factors. Being employed full-time, lower education level, less use of physical activity change strategies, and low levels of social support were associated with higher likelihood of having a greater total number of health risk behaviors. Conclusion. Nearly 80% of the sample had multiple lifestyle risk behaviors. Poor dietary behaviors were present in all of the most prevalent risk behavior combinations. Lower socioeconomic and educational status and family and employment obligations characterize overweight and obese women with unhealthy activity and dietary behaviors in need of health promotion interventions.
No abstract is provided for this article.
No abstract is provided for this article.
`Timely and will be of special interest to health service managers and members of primary care groups because the successful promotion of regular physical activity is a challenge contained in the strategy of Our Healthier Nation and is a candidate for incorporation into health improvement programmes and the service framework for coronary heart disease' - Health Service Journal This crisply written and thought-provoking book integrates theories and studies from several disciplines to examine what is known about physical activity and health. The authors use a behavioural epidemiology framework to organize the book and explore such topics as: physical activity and the health of children, adults and the elderly; the impact of physical activity on mental health; health risks of physical activity; how to measure it; how to promote physical activity to individuals; and community-based physical activity interventions. Highlighting some of the best and most important research in physical activity, the book offers studies of diverse populations, including different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, age and gender groups and socioeconomic levels. Although the health benefits of physical activity are fairly well-known, this book furthers our understanding of how to help people become active enough to enjoy these benefits.
OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated a health-related physical education program for fourth- and fifth-grade students designed to increase physical activity during physical education classes and outside of school. METHODS: Seven schools were assigned to three conditions in a quasi-experimental design. Health-related physical education was taught by physical education specialists or trained classroom teachers. Students from these classes were compared with those in control classes. Analyses were conducted on 955 students with complete data. RESULTS: Students spent more minutes per week being physically active in specialist-led (40 min) and teacher-led (33 min) physical education classes than in control classes (18 min; P < .001). After 2 years, girls in the specialist-led condition were superior to girls in the control condition on abdominal strength and endurance (P < .001) and cardiorespiratory endurance (P < .001). There were no effects on physical activity outside of school. CONCLUSIONS: A health-related physical education curriculum can provide students with substantially more physical activity during physical education classes. Improved physical education classes can potentially benefit 97% of elementary school students.
Physical inactivity is an important contributor to non-communicable diseases in countries of high income, and increasingly so in those of low and middle income. Understanding why people are physically active or inactive contributes to evidence-based planning of public health interventions, because effective programmes will target factors known to cause inactivity. Research into correlates (factors associated with activity) or determinants (those with a causal relationship) has burgeoned in the past two decades, but has mostly focused on individual-level factors in high-income countries. It has shown that age, sex, health status, self-efficacy, and motivation are associated with physical activity. Ecological models take a broad view of health behaviour causation, with the social and physical environment included as contributors to physical inactivity, particularly those outside the health sector, such as urban planning, transportation systems, and parks and trails. New areas of determinants research have identified genetic factors contributing to the propensity to be physically active, and evolutionary factors and obesity that might predispose to inactivity, and have explored the longitudinal tracking of physical activity throughout life. An understanding of correlates and determinants, especially in countries of low and middle income, could reduce the effect of future epidemics of inactivity and contribute to effective global prevention of non-communicable diseases.
