The monitoring of a collegiate hockey player's body composition can reflect fitness characteristics and may help players, coaches, or strength and conditioning specialists optimize physiologic gains ...during an off-season, whereas simultaneously preventing performance decrements in-season. The purpose of the study was to investigate changes in whole-body and regional-body composition of fat and lean tissue. The body composition profiles of 19 elite Canadian collegiate hockey players were assessed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Players completed end-of-season, preseason, and midseason assessments with questionnaires relating to their off-season and in-season training. Statistically significant changes in body composition profiles were observed between the different time points because players showed various tissue gains and losses depending on the region assessed. Overall, players gained (1.38 kg, p ≤ 0.01) and lost (0.79 kg, p ≤ 0.01) fat tissue during the off-season and in-season, respectively. Players also showed a significant gain of leg lean tissue (0.29 kg, p = 0.02) and loss of arm tissue mass (-0.25 kg, p = 0.02) during the first-half of the competitive season. Several correlations emerged that may provide insight into potential trends that could be more pronounced during longer and more demanding schedules. Collegiate hockey players show changes in body composition during the off-season and in-season. The understanding of body composition profiles, body composition fluctuations, and potential variables that may influence the composition of collegiate hockey players can help coaches and athletic programs tailor their team's training, nutrition, lifestyle, and informative resources to further support their athletes.
Disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs) should reach their intra-tissue target sites at optimal doses for clinical efficacy. The dense, negatively charged matrix of cartilage poses a major ...hindrance to the transport of potential therapeutics. In this work, electrostatic interactions were utilised to overcome this challenge and enable higher uptake, full-thickness penetration and enhanced retention of dexamethasone (Dex) inside rabbit cartilage. This was accomplished by using the positively charged glycoprotein avidin as nanocarrier, conjugated to Dex by releasable linkers. Therapeutic effects of a single intra-articular injection of low dose avidin-Dex (0.5 mg Dex) were evaluated in rabbits 3 weeks after anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT). Immunostaining confirmed that avidin penetrated the full cartilage thickness and was retained for at least 3 weeks. Avidin-Dex suppressed injury-induced joint swelling and catabolic gene expression to a greater extent than free Dex. It also significantly improved the histological score of cell infiltration and morphogenesis within the periarticular synovium. Micro-computed tomography confirmed the reduced incidence and volume of osteophytes following avidin-Dex treatment. However, neither treatment restored the loss of cartilage stiffness following ACLT, suggesting the need for a combinational therapy with a pro-anabolic factor for enhancing matrix biosynthesis. The avidin dose used caused significant glycosaminoglycan (GAG) loss, suggesting the use of higher Dex : avidin ratios in future formulations, such that the delivered avidin dose could be much less than that shown to affect GAGs. This charge-based delivery system converted cartilage into a drug depot that could also be employed for delivery to nearby synovium, menisci and ligaments, enabling clinical translation of a variety of DMOADs.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of two family interventions targeting inactive children on their parents’ MVPA. Correlates of MVPA across the trial in the form of theory of ...planned behavior (TPB) and multi-process action control (M-PAC) were examined as exploratory outcomes. Parents (of children aged 6–12 years) were randomized to either a planning + education (n = 52) or an education only condition (n = 50) designed to improve child MVPA. Parental MVPA (accelerometry, self-report) was assessed at baseline, 6-week, 13-week, and 26-week time-periods. Parental MVPA increased from baseline to 26 weeks (
p
< .05), but there were no group differences. The TPB was unable to predict MVPA and application of M-PAC showed this was because nearly all participants possessed the intention to be active. Successful-compared to unsuccessful-intenders had stronger habit in four of the six tests employed (
p
< .05). Parent MVPA may benefit during a family-based intervention but the putative mediators of this increase are unclear.
Registered trial
clinicaltrials.gov #NCT01882192
Regular physical activity (PA) is associated with many health benefits during childhood, and tracks into desirable PA patterns and health profiles in adulthood. Interventions designed to support ...these behaviours among young children are critical. Family-based interventions focusing on parent-child activities together (i.e., co-activity) among preschool-aged children are warranted. Targeting parental support practices can increase the frequency of co-activity, however interventions must move beyond merely building intention and planning skills for successful maintenance. Interventions designed to increase co-activity habit strength may facilitate the sustainability and thus impact child PA. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of three intervention conditions designed to increase child PA through co-activity: a standard education condition (information about benefits), a planning (action planning, coping planning) + education condition and a habit (context-dependent repetition from prompts and cues) + planning +education condition.
A longitudinal three-arm parallel design randomized trial will compare three conditions over six months. Families are eligible if they have at least one child between 3y and 5y that is not meeting 60mins/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The primary outcome (child MVPA) is assessed via accelerometry at baseline, six weeks, three months and six months (primary endpoint). Intervention materials targeting co-activity are delivered post baseline assessment, with booster sessions at six weeks and three months. Parental co-activity habit, parent-child co-activity and other behavioural constructs are also assessed via questionnaire at all measurement occasions. As tertiary outcomes, parental PA is measured via accelerometry and co-activity is measured via a Bluetooth-enabled proximity feature. A total of 106 families have been recruited thus far from the Greater Victoria region. The study is ongoing with a minimum target of 150 families and an anticipated recruitment completion date of August 2022.
This protocol describes the implementation of a randomized trial evaluating the effectiveness of a habit formation group compared with a planning group and an education only group to increase child PA through targeting parent-child co-activity. This information could prove useful in informing public health initiatives to promote PA among families with preschool-aged children.
This trial was prospectively registered on clinicaltrials.gov in February 2016, identifier NCT03055871 .
Objective
This systematic review aims to collect existing literature and summarize the impact of active workstations on the health and work outcomes of participants with overweight or obesity.
...Methods
Five databases were examined (until March 2018), and the keywords “desk,” “workstation,” “work station,” and “work stations” were used with any one of the following terms: “active,” “bik*,” “cycling,” “height adjustable,” “stepping,” “stand up,” “standing,” “treadmill*,” “walk*,” “elliptical,” “bicycl*,” “pedaling,” “stability ball,” “stability balls,” “exercise ball,” “exercise balls,” “swiss ball,” “swiss balls,” “sit‐to‐stand,” and “sit stand.”
Results
Nineteen studies (two with school‐aged children) were included in this review. Nine studies used treadmill, three used cycling, one used stepping, and twelve used standing desks. A decrease in sedentary time and an increase in physical activity level and energy expenditure were observed for most of the active workstations. Both the treadmill and the cycle desk improved glycemic control, but the treadmill desk was the only workstation for which improved work performance and help in body‐weight management (body fat percentage, body weight, waist and hip circumference) were reported.
Conclusions
Active workstations are a promising solution for decreasing occupational sedentariness. Overall, active workstations have a positive impact on energy expenditure and physical activity in individuals with overweight and obesity.
This article is intended to unite the existing research on parental influences on children's physical activity behaviours in order to establish direction for future research and improve existing ...child physical activity intervention programmes. A comprehensive, 34-study review of parental correlates of child physical activity was conducted and six variables were examined. There were significant correlations found between parental support and child physical activity level. Results for an association between parental and child physical activity levels, however, were mixed. There were not enough studies to draw conclusions about single-parent families, family socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Finally, there were some weak inter- and intra-generational sex correlations, but these results were mostly inconclusive. Possible mechanisms, including parental support, modelling, shared activities, societal differences by generation, minority groups and genetics are discussed, and recommendations are made on translating experimental results into tangible intervention efforts essential for disease prevention through increased physical activity.
Background
To measure sedentary behaviors and physical activity using accelerometry in participants who have undergone bariatric surgery 8.87 ± 3.78 years earlier and to compare these results with ...established guidelines.
Methods
Participants’ weight and height were measured, an ActivPAL™3 accelerometer and sleeping journal were used to determine day sedentary time, transitions from sitting to standing, as well as steps/day, and participants were asked to indicate if they felt that they were currently less, the same, or more active than before surgery.
Results
Participants averaged 48 ± 15 transitions/day, 6375 ± 2690 steps/day, and 9.7 ± 2.3 h/day in sedentary positions. There was a negative correlation between steps/day and sedentary time (
r
= −.466,
p
≤ .001), 11.27 % of participants achieved 10,000 steps/day. Participants who reported being more active prior to surgery averaged 6323.4 ± 2634.79 steps/day, which was not different from the other two groups of self-perceived change in level of physical activity (
F
(2, 68) = .941,
p
≤ .05) from pre- to post-surgery.
Conclusions
Participants were inadequately active and overly sedentary compared to established guidelines and norms. Healthcare workers should be taking physical activity and sedentary time into account when creating post-surgical guidelines for this population to ensure the best long-term weight loss maintenance and health outcomes.
A significant fraction of high-harmonic fast-wave (HHFW) power applied to NSTX can be lost to the scrape-off layer (SOL) and deposited in bright and hot spirals on the divertor rather than in the ...core plasma. We show that the HHFW power flows to these spirals along magnetic field lines passing through the SOL in front of the antenna, implying that the HHFW power couples across the entire width of the SOL rather than mostly at the antenna face. This result will help guide future efforts to understand and minimize these edge losses in order to maximize fast-wave heating and current drive.
A global decline in seagrass populations has led to renewed calls for their conservation as important providers of biogenic and foraging habitat, shoreline stabilization and carbon storage. Eelgrass ...(Zostera marina) occupies the largest geographic range among seagrass species spanning a commensurately broad spectrum of environmental conditions. In Canada, eelgrass is managed as a single phylogroup despite occurring across three oceans and a range of ocean temperatures and salinity gradients. Previous research has focused on applying relatively few markers to reveal population structure of eelgrass, whereas a whole‐genome approach is warranted to investigate cryptic structure among populations inhabiting different ocean basins and localized environmental conditions. We used a pooled whole‐genome re‐sequencing approach to characterize population structure, gene flow and environmental associations of 23 eelgrass populations ranging from the Northeast United States to Atlantic, subarctic and Pacific Canada. We identified over 500,000 SNPs, which when mapped to a chromosome‐level genome assembly revealed six broad clades of eelgrass across the study area, with pairwise FST ranging from 0 among neighbouring populations to 0.54 between Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Genetic diversity was highest in the Pacific and lowest in the subarctic, consistent with colonization of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans from the Pacific less than 300 kya. Using redundancy analyses and two climate change projection scenarios, we found that subarctic populations are predicted to be potentially more vulnerable to climate change through genomic offset predictions. Conservation planning in Canada should thus ensure that representative populations from each identified clade are included within a national network so that latent genetic diversity is protected, and gene flow is maintained. Northern populations, in particular, may require additional mitigation measures given their potential susceptibility to a rapidly changing climate.
The demands of parenthood may limit the pursuit of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), establish inactivity patterns into middle age, and lead to long-term poorer health and ...well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a couple-based planning skills intervention to support MVPA from baseline (~2 months after birth) up to 6 months later in first-time parents.
Randomized trial.
264 parents (132 couples) at the 2-month point of parenting their first child.
Couples were randomized to either an education control (n=58 couples) or an education plus planning condition (n=74 couples).
MVPA was assessed via accelerometry and self-report at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Health-related fitness (aerobic fitness, muscular strength, flexibility) and BMI tests were conducted at baseline and 6 months. Rolling recruitment was between 2014 and 2017.
The accelerometry results had large amounts of missing data that were not missing at random, so only self-reported MVPA was analyzed. Dyadic multilevel modeling conducted in 2020 showed that mothers’ MVPA had a significant quadratic pattern over time that was similar for both conditions, and BMI decreased while strength and flexibility increased. Fathers did not have significant outcomes. Participants who were not meeting MVPA guidelines at baseline responded to the education plus planning condition with increased MVPA (father B=1.31, mother B=1.14, p<0.05) compared with those who initially met those guidelines.
Mothers may be more responsive than fathers to MVPA interventions in early parenthood. Already active parents likely have little to be gained from additional intervention. Future research is needed to effectively promote MVPA during fatherhood and identify novel ways to sustain PA past the early response to an intervention.
This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT02290808.
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