The fitness levels of Canadian adults declined substantially between 1981 and the years 2007 to 2009, suggesting a reduction in population health. This paper updates the fitness trends of Canadians ...aged 20 to 69 years by extending the time period to 2017.
The Canadian Health Measures Survey is a repeated cross-sectional survey that is conducted to produce nationally representative health estimates. Descriptive statistics are presented for fitness measures in 2016 and 2017 by age and sex, and trends in fitness were calculated spanning a period of 10 years (2007 to 2017). The associations between fitness measures and meeting the 2020 Canadian physical activity recommendations were also assessed.
From 2007 to 2017, there were few statistically significant changes in the fitness levels of Canadian adults. When all ages were combined, there were declining trends in predicted cardiorespiratory fitness, from 39.5 to 36.7 mL•kg⁻¹•min⁻¹ among men and 34.0 to 32.2 mL•kg⁻¹•min⁻¹ among women. Trends indicated declining flexibility among men. In general, meeting the current Canadian moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommendation was associated with better fitness, particularly in the categories of predicted cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition.
The periodic assessment of fitness in Canadians provides valuable insight into population health. The present update provides evidence that fitness levels among adults have generally stabilized over the past 10 years. Taken with the reported declines in fitness that occurred from 1981 to the 2007-to-2009 period, this study shows that the fitness of Canadian adults remained low between 2007 to 2009 and 2016 to 2017. It is necessary to explore new ways to help improve the fitness levels of the Canadian population.
Quillen et al. and O'Dea et al. carried out a Spitzer study of a sample of 62 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) from the ROSAT brightest cluster sample, which were chosen based on their elevated ...H{alpha} flux. We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys far-ultraviolet (FUV) images of the Ly{alpha} and continuum emission of the luminous emission-line nebulae in seven BCGs found to have an infrared (IR) excess. We confirm that the BCGs are actively forming stars which suggests that the IR excess seen in these BCGs is indeed associated with star formation. Our observations are consistent with a scenario in which gas that cools from the intracluster medium fuels the star formation. The FUV continuum emission extends over a region {approx}7-28 kpc (largest linear size) and even larger in Ly{alpha}. The young stellar population required by the FUV observations would produce a significant fraction of the ionizing photons required to power the emission-line nebulae. Star formation rates estimated from the FUV continuum range from {approx}3 to {approx}14 times lower than those estimated from the IR, however, both the Balmer decrements in the central few arcseconds and detection of CO in most of these galaxies imply that there are regions of high extinction that could have absorbed much of the FUV continuum. Analysis of archival Very Large Array observations reveals compact radio sources in all seven BCGs and kpc scale jets in A-1835 and RXJ 2129+00. The four galaxies with archival deep Chandra observations exhibit asymmetric X-ray emission, the peaks of which are offset from the center of the BCG by {approx}10 kpc on average. A low feedback state for the active galactic nucleus could allow increased condensation of the hot gas into the center of the galaxy and the feeding of star formation.
•20mSRT performance is favourably associated with aspects of physiological, physical, psychosocial and cognitive health in children and youth.•The 20mSRT could be used as a holistic health indicator ...to help identify children and youth at risk of poor health.•20mSRT performance could be used as a population health indicator to compare the health of children and youth worldwide.
This systematic review aimed to summarize research that assessed the associations between 20m shuttle run test (20mSRT) performance and indicators of physiological, psychosocial and cognitive health among school-aged children and youth.
Systematic review.
Five online databases were used to identify peer-reviewed studies published from 1980 to 2016. Studies were included if they matched these criteria: population (children and youth with a mean age of 5–17 years and/or in Grades 1–12), intervention/exposure (performance on the 20mSRT), and outcomes (health indicators: adiposity, cardiometabolic biomarkers, cognition, mental health, psychosocial health, self-esteem and physical self-perception, quality of life and wellbeing, bone health, musculoskeletal fitness, motor skill development, and injuries and/or harm). Narrative syntheses were applied to describe the results. A lack of homogeneity precluded a meta-analysis approach.
Overall, 142 studies that determined an association between 20mSRT performance and a health indicator were identified, representing 319,311 children and youth from 32 countries. 20mSRT performance was favourably associated with indicators of adiposity, and some indicators of cardiometabolic, cognitive, and psychosocial health in boys and girls. Fewer studies examined the relationship between 20mSRT performance and measures of quality of life/wellbeing, mental health and motor skill development, and associations were generally inconsistent. The quality of the evidence ranged from very low to moderate across health indicators.
These findings support the use of the 20mSRT as a holistic indicator of population health in children and youth.
Abstract
The Astropy Project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly developed
Python
packages that provide commonly needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key ...element of the Astropy Project is the core package
astropy
, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 5.0, and provide major updates on the Project. We then discuss supporting a broader ecosystem of interoperable packages, including connections with several astronomical observatories and missions. We also revisit the future outlook of the Astropy Project and the current status of Learn Astropy. We conclude by raising and discussing the current and future challenges facing the Project.
We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys and STIS FUV/NUV/optical imaging of the radio galaxy 3C 236, whose relic {approx}4 Mpc radio jet lobes and inner 2 kpc compact steep ...spectrum (CSS) radio source are evidence of multiple epochs of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity. Consistent with previous results, our data confirm the presence of four bright knots of FUV emission in an arc along the edge of the inner circumnuclear dust disk in the galaxy's nucleus, as well as FUV emission cospatial with the nucleus itself. We interpret these to be sites of recent or ongoing star formation. We present photometry of these knots, as well as an estimate for the internal extinction in the source using line ratios from archival ground-based spectroscopy. We estimate the ages of the knots by comparing our extinction-corrected photometry with stellar population synthesis models. We find the four knots cospatial with the dusty disk to be young, of order {approx}10{sup 7} yr old. The FUV emission in the nucleus, to which we do not expect scattered light from the AGN to contribute significantly, is likely due to an episode of star formation triggered {approx}10{sup 9} yr ago. We argue that the young {approx}10{sup 7} yr old knots stem from an episode of star formation that was roughly coeval with the event resulting in reignition of radio activity, creating the CSS source. The {approx}10{sup 9} yr old stars in the nucleus may be associated with the previous epoch of radio activity that generated the 4 Mpc relic source, before being cut off by exhaustion or interruption. The ages of the knots, considered in the context of both the disturbed morphology of the nuclear dust and the double-double morphology of the 'old' and 'young' radio sources, present evidence for an AGN/starburst connection that is possibly episodic in nature. We suggest that the AGN fuel supply was interrupted for {approx}10{sup 7} yr due to a minor merger event and has now been restored. The resultant nonsteady flow of gas in the disk is likely responsible for both the new episode of infall-induced star formation and also the multiple epochs of radio activity.
New Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet and optical imaging of the strong-lensing galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 (z = 0.335) reveals two centrally dominant elliptical galaxies participating in an ...ongoing major merger. The interaction is at least somewhat rich in cool gas, as the merger is associated with a complex network of 19 massive superclusters of young stars (or small tidal dwarf galaxies) separated by ~1 kpc in projection from one another, combining to an estimated total star formation rate of ~5 Mmiddot in circle yr super(-1). The resolved young stellar superclusters are threaded by narrow H alpha , OII, and blue excess filaments arranged in a network spanning ~27 kpc across the two merging galaxies. This morphology is strongly reminiscent of the well-known "beads on a string" mode of star formation observed on kiloparsec scales in the arms of spiral galaxies, resonance rings, and in tidal tails between interacting galaxies. Nevertheless, the arrangement of this star formation relative to the nuclei of the two galaxies is difficult to interpret in a dynamical sense, as no known "beads on a string" systems associated with kiloparsec-scale tidal interactions exhibit such lopsided morphology relative to the merger participants. In this Letter, we present the images and follow-up spectroscopy and discuss possible physical interpretations for the unique arrangement of the young stellar clusters. While we suggest that this morphology is likely to be dynamically short-lived, a more quantitative understanding awaits necessary multiwavelength follow-up, including optical integral field spectroscopy, ALMA submillimeter interferometry, and Chandra X-ray imaging.
We report ALMA Early Science CO(1-0) and CO(3-2) observations of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in A1664. The BCG contains 1.1 x 10 super(10) M sub(middot in circle) of molecular gas divided ...roughly equally between two distinct velocity systems: one from -250 to +250 km s super(-1) centered on the BCG's systemic velocity and a high-velocity system blueshifted by 570 km s super(-1) with respect to the systemic velocity. The BCG's systemic component shows a smooth velocity gradient across the BCG center, suggestive of rotation about the nucleus. However, the mass and velocity structure are highly asymmetric and there is little star formation coincident with a putative disk. It may be an inflow of gas that will settle into a disk over several 10 super(8) yr. The high-velocity system consists of two gas clumps, each ~2kpc across, located to the north and southeast of the nucleus. Each has a line of sight velocity spread of 250-300 km s super(-1). The velocity of the gas in the high-velocity system increases toward the BCG center and may be a massive flow into the nucleus. However, the velocity gradient is not smooth. These structures are also coincident with low optical-ultraviolet surface brightness regions, which could indicate dust extinction associated with each clump. The structure is complex, making a clear interpretation difficult, but if the dusty, molecular gas lies predominantly in front of the BCG, the blueshifted velocities would indicate an outflow. Based on the energy requirements, such a massive outflow would most likely be driven by the active galactic nucleus. A merger origin is unlikely but cannot be ruled out.
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