No abstract is provided for this article.
The associations of physical activity and cardiovascular fitness with cardiovascular disease risk factors were studied in 88 male adults, 180 female adults, 148 male children, and 142 female children. Subjects were families recruited from elementary schools in San Diego, California. Fitness (VO2 max) was measured by a submaximal cycle ergometer test. Physical activity was assessed by seven-day recall interview, yielding caloric expenditure, and by a simple self-rating of activity level. Risk factors included blood pressure, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the ratio of high density lipoproteins to low density lipoproteins (LDL), and body mass index. For all subgroups, fitness was strongly and significantly correlated with virtually all risk factors. After adjustment for body mass index, most fitness-risk factor associations were no longer significant. Seven-day caloric expenditure was significantly correlated with HDL/LDL only in female adults and children. The activity rating was significantly correlated with body mass index in all subgroups and with HDL/LDL in female adults and male adults. The simple activity rating tended to be correlated with fitness. The pattern of association was similar for adults and children.
Background: Physical activity (PA) is important to adolescents’ health. Parent transportation to activity locations is a practical strategy for increasing youth PA that has rarely been examined. Design: Cross-sectional surveys of students and parents. Setting/ Participants: Ethnically diverse students (N=1678; 712 boys, 966 girls; M age=13.0 years) from 24 middle schools (grades six to eight) and their parents completed surveys (response rate=72%). Main Outcome Measures: Frequency of parents transporting adolescents to PA locations was studied in relation to adolescents’ reported participation in PA during the previous week and their involvement in sports and activity lessons during the past year. Results: Parents transported adolescents to PA locations 2.13 times per week, with boys being transported more often than girls (p=0.03). Ethnic/racial differences in frequency of transport were evidenced (p=0.002). Parent transportation for PA significantly contributed to girls’ total PA (p=0.001) and their participation in sports/activity lessons (p=0.001). Transportation contributed marginally (p=0.06) to boys’ total PA, but significantly to their participation in sports/activity lessons (p=0.001). Conclusions: Parent provision of transportation to activity locations is associated with out-of-school PA in a diverse adolescent population. This variable should be targeted for intervention.
Purpose To investigate the relation of factors from multiple levels of ecological models (ie, individual, interpersonal and environmental) to active travel to/from school in an observational study of young adolescents. Methods Participants were 294 12–15-year olds living within two miles of their school. Demographic, psychosocial and perceived built environment characteristics around the home were measured by survey, and objective built environment factors around home and school were assessed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Mixed effects multinomial regression models tested correlates of engaging in 1–4 (vs 0) and 5–10 (vs 0) active trips/week to/from school, adjusted for distance and other covariates. Results 64% of participants reported ≥1 active trip/week to/from school. Significant correlates of occasional and/or habitual active travel to/from school included barriers (ORs=0.27 and 0.15), parent modelling of active travel (OR=3.27 for habitual), perceived street connectivity (OR=1.78 for occasional), perceived pedestrian safety around home (OR=2.04 for habitual), objective street connectivity around home (OR=0.97 for occasional), objective residential density around home (ORs=1.10 and 1.11) and objective residential density around school (OR=1.14 for habitual). Parent modelling interacted with pedestrian safety in explaining active travel to/from school. Conclusions Results supported multilevel correlates of adolescents’ active travel to school, consistent with ecological models. Correlates of occasional and habitual active travel to/from school were similar. Built environment attributes around schools, particularly residential density, should be considered when siting new schools and redeveloping neighbourhoods around existing schools.
Cell shape changes exert specific effects on gene expression. It has been speculated that the cytoskeleton is responsible for converting changes in the cytoarchitecture to effects on gene transcription. However, the signal transduction pathways responsible for cytoskeletal-nuclear communication remained unknown. We now provide evidence that a variety of agents and conditions that depolymerize microtubules activate the sequence-specific transcription factor NF-kappa B and induce NF kappa B-dependent gene expression. These effects are caused by depolymerization of microtubule because they are blocked by the microtubule-stabilizing agent taxol. In nonstimulated cells, the majority of NF-kappa B resides in the cytosplasm as a complex with its inhibitor I kappa B. Upon cell stimulation, NF-kappa B translocates to the nucleus with concomitant degradation of I kappa B. We show that cold-induced depolymerization of microtubules also leads to I kappa B degradation and activation of NF-kappa B. However, the activated factor remains in the cytoplasm and translocates to the nucleus only upon warming to 37 degrees C, thus revealing two distinct steps in NF-kappa B activation. These findings establish a new role for NF-kappa B in sensing changes in the state of the cytoskeleton and converting them to changes in gene activity.
Physical activity (PA) has strong relevance for limiting the harms to human health and well-being due to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.1 Active muscles produce chemicals that improve immune functioning, which in turn reduces the extent of infections, and decreases inflammation, and these are the main causes of the lung damage from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. PA is a powerful preventive and therapeutic intervention for the most common pre-existing chronic conditions that increase risk of severe COVID-19 infections and mortality.2,3 PA's effectiveness in preventing and treating anxiety and depression could have worldwide benefits during this stressful global crisis.2 PA enhances the efficacy of vaccines,4 so active lifestyles will continue to be relevant through every phase of the pandemic. Worldwide, about 23% of men and 32% of women are at risk for the underlying conditions of COVID-19, severe COVID-19 infections, and stress-related psychological symptoms, because they do not meet PA guidelines, based on self-report measures.5,6 It is likely that prolonged shelter-at-home measures will lead to reduced PA and increased sedentary behaviors that adversely affect immune function and enhance risk for chronic health conditions.7,8 Many people, especially with low incomes, do not have equipment, Internet access, or indoor space to make at-home PA realistic. Thus, the current pandemic is almost certain to exacerbate socioeconomic inequities in PA.9, 10, 11 The pandemic is changing the places where people can be physically active because many jurisdictions closed or restricted access to common indoor and outdoor places for PA.12, 13, 14 Though some jurisdictions allowed people to exercise outdoors on the streets, others did not, so for millions of people, being active at home was the only option. As limitations are eased, policies related to indoor and outdoor PA places vary across jurisdictions.15,16 If spikes occur in COVID-19 cases and deaths, movement restrictions may be put back in place. It is unknown how long this dynamic ebb and flow of limits on people's ability to be physically active will last and what the impact will be on PA. There are many unanswered questions about how pandemic-related policies in each jurisdiction are affecting PA. Therefore, it is important to identify the most pressing scientific questions that could be translated to policy and practice aimed at favorably impacting population health outcomes. There is ample evidence to justify making PA promotion a global public health priority during the coronavirus pandemic.1,17 One pathway to increasing the prominence of PA as a solution is to set a public health research agenda for promoting scientific studies to document any health and societal benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to evaluate public health strategies for effectively promoting PA under crisis conditions. We consider research on PA and COVID-19 to be an urgent global public health need. Within this context, relevant PA research can span a broad range from basic science covering in vitro laboratory studies and human studies, to clinical studies with diagnosed patients, to public health studies focusing on prevention. Among the many research needs, the present paper focuses on studies with the potential to guide public health policy and practice, with a secondary focus on studies that could guide clinical practice. Our international author team has proposed priority areas for PA and public health research relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the current literature provides strong scientific premise for the public health relevance of PA for COVID-19,1,4,8 no research has specifically examined the impact of PA on SARS-CoV-2 infections or produced data directly related to the evaluation of infection control strategies that might impact PA. Evidence on these and other emergent topics is needed in a timely manner to inform PA policy and practice locally and internationally. The author team includes a senior researcher who has studied PA for decades (JFS) and 3 early-career investigators who bring research skills related to PA, the creativity of youth, and diverse geographic and cultural experience, having grown up in India (DA), Nigeria (AO), and Mexico (DS). We have interdisciplinary expertise in behavioral science, spatial epidemiology, urban health, physiotherapy, and health promotion. Our goal is to stimulate research studies that should be started now in multiple countries, especially among those countries most affected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, to inform effective PA promotion strategies to be applied during the current pandemic, as well as to improve preparedness for future pandemics. Each author nominated study ideas, and consensus was reached on the highest priorities based on the need to conduct the study during the pandemic, direct relevance to practice or policy, and feasibility. The 7 research topics selected for inclusion in the present paper are just a few of those initially nominated by the authors. We encourage investigators to plan studies on the topics suggested here and identify additional questions related to PA and COVID-19 that deserve to be investigated. For each research topic below, we briefly explain the purpose of the study, though few methodological details are provided, on the assumption investigators will bring their own skills and creativity to each study. We provide a rationale for the importance of each topic and summarize the significance for policy or practice. We also highlight a few challenges likely to be encountered in conducting each type of study.
Parents and 531 students (46% males, 78% white) completed equivalent questionnaires. Agreement between student and parent responses to questions about hypothesized physical activity (PA) correlates was assessed. Relationships between hypothesized correlates and an objective measure of student's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a subset of 177 students were also investigated. Agreement between student and parent ranged from r = .34 to .64 for PA correlates. Spearman correlations between MVPA and PA correlates ranged from--.04 to .21 for student report and--.14 to .32 for parent report, and there were no statistical differences for 8 out of 9 correlations between parent and student. Parents can provide useful data on PA correlates for students in Grades 7-12.
