▪ Abstract The thesis of this article is that multilevel interventions based on ecological models and targeting individuals, social environments, physical environments, and policies must be implemented to achieve population change in physical activity. A model is proposed that identifies potential environmental and policy influences on four domains of active living: recreation, transport, occupation, and household. Multilevel research and interventions require multiple disciplines to combine concepts and methods to create new transdisciplinary approaches. The contributions being made by a broad range of disciplines are summarized. Research to date supports a conclusion that there are multiple levels of influence on physical activity, and the active living domains are associated with different environmental variables. Continued research is needed to provide detailed findings that can inform improved designs of communities, transportation systems, and recreation facilities. Collaborations with policy researchers may improve the likelihood of translating research findings into changes in environments, policies, and practices.
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of commonly used approaches to stress management, delivered at worksites. Seventy-six volunteer employees were randomized to a relaxation training group, a multicomponent stress management group, or an education/social support group. Measures were collected at baseline, after the eight-week intervention, and at a three-month follow-up. There were significant reductions in anxiety, depression and hostility, which were maintained in all conditions. No group improved significantly on job satisfaction, work stress, resting BP, or BP reactivity to mental arithmetic or cold pressor stresson. There was no evidence that one group was more effective than the others. Psychological benefits may have been due to nonspecific intervention factors. While decreases in hostility may be a health-related benefit for all groups, it may be unrealistic to expect physiological improvements from clinical stress management programs with nonclinical employee populations.
Recommended obesity prevention interventions target multiple levels. Effective advocacy is needed to influence factors at individual, social, environmental, and policy levels. This paper describes the rationale for engaging youth in obesity prevention advocacy efforts targeting environment and policy changes to improve nutrition and physical activity. Advocacy involves education, skill development, and behavior and attitude changes, with the goal of persuading others or taking action. Youth advocacy has been successfully used in substance use prevention, but it is relatively new in obesity prevention. A model is presented to guide intervention and evaluation in youth advocacy for obesity prevention. With youth advocacy as a central construct, the model outlines inputs and outcomes of advocacy at individual, social environment, built environment, and policy levels. The model can be used and refined in youth advocacy evaluation projects. By involving youth in their communities, advocacy can produce ownership, engagement, and future involvement yielding sustainable changes.
Walking for exercise is becoming widely recognized for bestowing health benefits. This study examined the association of walking for exercise and mood in sedentary, ethnic minority women over a five-month period. Ethnic minority women (N = 102) participated in a randomized, controlled trial of a 7-week behaviorally based telephone and mail intervention that promoted the adoption of walking for exercise compared to a non-behavioral minimal intervention. At 2-month post-test and 5-month follow-up, participants reported significant decreases in depressive mood and increases in vigor. Increase in walking over the course of the study was associated with change in vigor. Limited evidence was found to support a relationship between walking for exercise and mood improvement in ethnic-minority women.
Background: Longitudinal patterns in the development of physical activity (PA) and potential causal relationships between parent and child PA are examined. Methods: Autoregressive models were used to examine bidirectional prospective paths between parent and child PA in a longitudinal sample of 351 Anglo and Mexican American families. PA was assessed independently in children and parents over a 13-y period. Results: There was little evidence for a causal path from mother PA to child PA. Conclusions: Modeling does not appear to be the primary mechanism by which parents influence children’s PA behavior. Studies examining relations between parent and child behaviors should not rely on a single respondent for assessing both parent and child PA or on cross-sectional correlational data to make unidirectional causal inferences about determinants of child PA.
Roby, Julia J.; Sallis, James F.; Kulody, Bohdan; Condon, S. Ann; Goggin, Kathleen Author Information
Technological advances provide opportunities for automating direct observations of physical activity, which allow for continuous monitoring and feedback.This pilot study evaluated the initial validity of computer vision algorithms for ecological assessment of physical activity.The sample comprised 6630 seconds per camera (three cameras in total) of video capturing up to nine participants engaged in sitting, standing, walking, and jogging in an open outdoor space while wearing accelerometers.Computer vision algorithms were developed to assess the number and proportion of people in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous activity, and group-based metabolic equivalents of tasks (MET)-minutes.Means and standard deviations (SD) of bias/difference values, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) assessed the criterion validity compared to accelerometry separately for each camera.The number and proportion of participants sedentary and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) had small biases (within 20% of the criterion mean) and the ICCs were excellent (0.82-0.98).Total MET-minutes were slightly underestimated by 9.3-17.1% and the ICCs were good (0.68-0.79).The standard deviations of the bias estimates were moderate-to-large relative to the means.The computer vision algorithms appeared to have acceptable sample-level validity (i.e., across a sample of time intervals) and are promising for automated ecological assessment of activity in open outdoor settings, but further development and testing is needed before such tools can be used in a diverse range of settings.
City planning policies influence urban lifestyles, health, and sustainability. We assessed policy frameworks for city planning for 25 cities across 19 lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries to identify whether these policies supported the creation of healthy and sustainable cities. We systematically collected policy data for evidence-informed indicators related to integrated city planning, air pollution, destination accessibility, distribution of employment, demand management, design, density, distance to public transport, and transport infrastructure investment. Content analysis identified strengths, limitations, and gaps in policies, allowing us to draw comparisons between cities. We found that despite common policy rhetoric endorsing healthy and sustainable cities, there was a paucity of measurable policy targets in place to achieve these aspirations. Some policies were inconsistent with public health evidence, which sets up barriers to achieving healthy and sustainable urban environments. There is an urgent need to build capacity for health-enhancing city planning policy and governance, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries.
A link between chronic inflammation and cancer has been suspected since the nineteenth century, when Rudolf Virchow first noted that malignant tumors arise at regions of chronic inflammation and contain inflammatory infiltrates [1–5]. However, the sources of inflammation in tumors that are not associated with a chronic inflammation remain incompletely understood. Recently, it became apparent that inflammation can be evoked not only by extrinsic mediators but also by intrinsic mediators (endogenous molecules) (Figure 14.1). For instance, it has been established that necrotic cell death results in the release of molecules normally stored within cells, such as high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and interleukin (IL)-1α, that act as potent inflammatory mediators [6, 7]. Such molecules may responsible for the triggering of tumor-associated inflammation [7].
From a cDNA clone bank prepared from cadmium-treated HeLa cells, we isolated clones representing mRNAs whose concentration is increased after cadmium induction. Several metallothionein cDNA clones were isolated by cross-hybridization to mouse metallothionein-I cDNA. The nucleotide sequence of one of these clones, containing a nearly full-length cDNA copy of human metallothionein-II mRNA, was determined. The homology between the human and mouse metallothionein sequences is strictly limited to the coding region of the mRNA. Codon usage in metallothionein mRNA is not random. Seventy-nine percent of the codons have G or C residues at the third position, resulting in a GC-rich sequence.
