Promotion of physical activity is a priority for health agencies. We searched for reviews of physical activity interventions, published between 2000 and 2011, and identified effective, promising, or ...emerging interventions from around the world. The informational approaches of community-wide and mass media campaigns, and short physical activity messages targeting key community sites are recommended. Behavioural and social approaches are effective, introducing social support for physical activity within communities and worksites, and school-based strategies that encompass physical education, classroom activities, after-school sports, and active transport. Recommended environmental and policy approaches include creation and improvement of access to places for physical activity with informational outreach activities, community-scale and street-scale urban design and land use, active transport policy and practices, and community-wide policies and planning. Thus, many approaches lead to acceptable increases in physical activity among people of various ages, and from different social groups, countries, and communities.
Physical inactivity accounts for more than 3 million deaths per year, most from non-communicable diseases in low-income and middle-income countries. We used reviews of physical activity interventions ...and a simulation model to examine how megatrends in information and communication technology and transportation directly and indirectly affect levels of physical activity across countries of low, middle, and high income. The model suggested that the direct and potentiating effects of information and communication technology, especially mobile phones, are nearly equal in magnitude to the mean effects of planned physical activity interventions. The greatest potential to increase population physical activity might thus be in creation of synergistic policies in sectors outside health including communication and transportation. However, there remains a glaring mismatch between where studies on physical activity interventions are undertaken and where the potential lies in low-income and middle-income countries for population-level effects that will truly affect global health.
While there are many definitions of citizen science, the term usually refers to the participation of the general public in the scientific process in collaboration with professional scientists. ...Citizen scientists have been engaged to promote health equity, especially in the areas of environmental contaminant exposures, physical activity, and healthy eating. Citizen scientists commonly come from communities experiencing health inequities and have collected data using a range of strategies and technologies, such as air sensors, water quality kits, and mobile applications. On the basis of our review, and to advance the field of citizen science to address health equity, we recommend (
a
) expanding the focus on topics important for health equity, (
b
) increasing the diversity of people serving as citizen scientists, (
c
) increasing the integration of citizen scientists in additional research phases, (
d
) continuing to leverage emerging technologies that enable citizen scientists to collect data relevant for health equity, and (
e
) strengthening the rigor of methods to evaluate impacts on health equity.
Biodiesel is conventionally produced by alkaline-catalyzed transesterification, which requires high-purity oils. However, low-quality oils can be used as feedstocks for the production of biodiesel by ...enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The use of enzymes has several advantages, such as the absence of saponification side reactions, production of high-purity glycerol co-product, and low-cost downstream processing. In this work, biodiesel was produced from lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of waste cooking oil (WCO) followed by esterification of the hydrolyzed WCO (HWCO). The hydrolysis of acylglycerols was carried out at 30 °C in salt-free water (WCO/water ratio of 1:4, v/v) and the esterification of HWCO was carried out at 40 °C with ethanol in a solvent-free medium (HWCO/ethanol molar ratio of 1:7). The hydrolysis and esterification steps were carried out using immobilized
Thermomyces lanuginosus
lipase (TLL/WCO ratio of 1:5.6, w/w) and immobilized
Candida antarctica
lipase B (10 wt%, CALB/HWCO) as biocatalysts, respectively. The hydrolysis of acylglycerols was almost complete after 12 h (ca. 94 %), and in the esterification step, the conversion was around 90 % after 6 h. The purified biodiesel had 91.8 wt% of fatty acid ethyl esters, 0.53 wt% of acylglycerols, 0.003 wt% of free glycerol, viscosity of 4.59 cP, and acid value of 10.88 mg KOH/g. Reuse hydrolysis and esterification assays showed that the immobilized enzymes could be recycled five times in 10-h batches, under the conditions described above. TLL was greatly inactivated under the assay conditions, whereas CALB remained fully active. The results showed that WCO is a promising feedstock for use in the production of biodiesel.
Despite a steady decline in adolescent smoking globally, it remains a prevalent risk factor for non-communicable disease. Previous research points to differences in socio-environmental and ...psychosocial risk factors for smoking and how they vary across different settings with disparate social and cultural characteristics. As a result, smoking rates have remained disproportionately higher in some settings while decreasing in others. This study explored the socio-environmental and psychosocial risk factors for smoking susceptibility in a high-income and upper-middle income setting.
Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1,573 male and female adolescents aged 11-15 years who completed self-administered questionnaires in schools in Northern Ireland and Bogotá, Colombia. Using logistic regression analysis, we examined how socio-environmental and psychosocial predictors of smoking susceptibility compared across the two countries.
In Northern Ireland, reduced odds of smoking susceptibility were significantly associated with less family smoking (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.41-1.00); having access to information about smoking in school (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59-0.96); negative attitudes towards smoking (OR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.23-0.51); higher levels of openness (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.50-0.69); and higher levels of self-reported wellbeing (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.44-0.74). Increased odds of smoking susceptibility were associated with reporting less smoking of a mother (OR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.06-1.76); higher levels of extraversion (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.04-1.90); and receiving pocket money (OR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.06-1.37). In Bogotá, reduced odds of smoking susceptibility were significantly associated with reporting less smoking among friends (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.76-0.98); higher levels of self-efficacy (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.40-0.83); greater perceived behavioural control to quit smoking (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56-0.90); and lower levels of truancy (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52-0.92). In Bogotá, no factors were associated with increased odds of smoking susceptibility in the final model.
The findings illustrate that there were differences in predictors of adolescent smoking susceptibility across the two settings. By using a comparative approach we demonstrate that smoking interventions and policies must be sensitive to the cultural and normative context within which they are implemented.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Santa Ana is home to an Afro-descendant rural population of the island of Barú in Cartagena, Colombia. While a popular area for tourism, Santa Ana's population is affected by multidimensional ...poverty, precarious work conditions, homelessness, broken streets and sewer systems, limited quality education, and a lack of recreation and sport spaces. While Santa Ana's Community Action Board aims to unify efforts and resources to solve these problems, the state's capacity to meet the requirements of the Board is limited.
We evaluated the relationship between healthy lifestyles and characteristics of Santa Ana's school using the Our Voice Citizen Science Research Method. This systemic approach combines information and communication technologies with group facilitation to empower adolescents to: 1) collect and discuss data about factors in their local environments that facilitate or hinder well-being within their school community; 2) identify relevant local stakeholders who could help to address the issues identified; and 3) advocate collectively for local improvements to support increased well-being at a community level.
Eleven citizen scientists ages 13 to 17 years from the science club of Institución Educativa Santa Ana were recruited and together conducted 11 walks within the school to collect data about the facilitators and barriers to student well-being. They identified barriers to well-being related to school infrastructure, furniture, bathrooms, and sense of belonging. They then advocated with school stakeholders and reached agreements on concrete actions to address identified barriers, including fostering a culture among students of caring for school property and presenting their findings to the community action board. This methodology allowed the community to realize how students can become agents of change and take collective action when motivated by solution-oriented methodologies such as Our Voice. Project ripple effects, including greater empowerment and participation in collective actions by students, also were observed.
This study underscores the importance of the school's built environment in the well-being of students in rural areas. The Our Voice method provided the opportunity to inform school-based interventions, and promoted ripple effects that expanded productive dialogue to the community level and generated systemic actions involving actors outside of the school community.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We know little about how smoking prevention interventions might leverage social network structures to enhance protective social norms. In this study we combined statistical and network science ...methods to explore how social networks influence social norms related to adolescent smoking in school-specific settings in Northern Ireland and Colombia. Pupils (12-15 years old) participated in two smoking prevention interventions in both countries (n = 1344). A Latent Transition Analysis identified three groups characterized by descriptive and injunctive norms towards smoking. We employed a Separable Temporal Random Graph Model to analyze homophily in social norms and conducted a descriptive analysis of the changes in the students' and their friends' social norms over time to account for social influence. The results showed that students were more likely to be friends with others who had social norms against smoking. However, students with social norms favorable towards smoking had more friends with similar views than the students with perceived norms against smoking, underlining the importance of network thresholds. Our results support the notation that the ASSIST intervention takes advantage of friendship networks to leverage greater change in the students' smoking social norms than the Dead Cool intervention, reiterating that social norms are subject to social influence.
We study the relevance of considering social network analysis in determining soccer results. As a benchmark, we start using a simple regression model based on past performance to try to determine the ...main trends of a soccer match based on probabilities of winning, losing or tying, as home or visiting teams. The success of this simple model, based on historical performance, is improved by the addition of network descriptors of both teams in a game. Therefore, such network measures do offer additional useful information in determining match outcomes. We validate our approach using the data of the Spanish League (La Liga) 2012–2013. We observe that betweenness centrality seems to provide additional relevance information related to the performance of a team during the tournament.
The built environment of cities is complex and influences social and environmental determinants of health. In this study we, 1) identified city profiles based on the built landscape and street design ...characteristics of cities in Latin America and 2) evaluated the associations of city profiles with social determinants of health and air pollution. Landscape and street design profiles of 370 cities were identified using finite mixture modeling. For landscape, we measured fragmentation, isolation, and shape. For street design, we measured street connectivity, street length, and directness. We fitted a two-level linear mixed model to assess the association of social and environmental determinants of health with the profiles. We identified four profiles for landscape and four for the street design domain. The most common landscape profile was the “proximate stones” characterized by moderate fragmentation, isolation and patch size, and irregular shape. The most common street design profile was the “semi-hyperbolic grid” characterized by moderate connectivity, street length, and directness. The “semi-hyperbolic grid”, “spiderweb” and “hyperbolic grid” profiles were positively associated with higher access to piped water and less overcrowding. The “semi-hyperbolic grid” and “spiderweb” profiles were associated with higher air pollution. The “proximate stones” and “proximate inkblots” profiles were associated with higher congestion. In conclusion, there is substantial heterogeneity in the urban landscape and street design profiles of Latin American cities. While we did not find a specific built environment profile that was consistently associated with lower air pollution and better social conditions, the different configurations of the built environments of cities should be considered when planning healthy and sustainable cities in Latin America.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Objectives
Ototoxicity is a common disabling side effect of platinum‐based chemotherapy. This study aimed to assess the evidence on the management of platinum‐induced ototoxicity in adult cancer ...patients.
Methods
Four databases were searched up to 1 November 2022. Original studies were included if they reported on a pharmacologic or non‐pharmacologic intervention to prevent or treat platinum ototoxicity in adults. The articles' quality was assessed via two grading scales.
Results
Nineteen randomised controlled trials and five quasi‐experimental studies with 1673 patients were analysed. Eleven interventions were identified, nine pharmacological and two non‐pharmacological. Six of the interventions (sodium thiosulphate, corticoids, sertraline, statins, multivitamins and D‐methionine) showed mild benefits in preventing cisplatin‐induced ototoxicity. Only one trial assessed corticoids as a potential treatment. Overall, only six trials were deemed with a low risk of bias. The majority of studies inadequately documented intervention‐related adverse effects, thereby limiting safety conclusions.
Conclusions
Current interventions have mild benefits in preventing cisplatin‐induced ototoxicity in adult cancer patients. Sodium thiosulphate is the most promising intervention as a preventive strategy. Rigorous, high‐quality research is warranted, encompassing an evaluation of all potential symptoms and innovative treatment modalities.
PDF
