1,720,957 research outputs found
Sedentary behaviour in a sample of south african office-based workers
No full textA thesis is submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Therapeutics Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2024Background
Sedentary behaviour is associated with cardiometabolic diseases amongst office- bound workers, primarily through extended sitting and engaging in low-energy- demanding activities during work hours. Similar to developed countries, South African workplaces are experiencing an increasing prevalence of obesity and related cardiovascular diseases, with sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity being the main contributors. However, there is limited data on the effectiveness of sedentary behaviour strategies in improving South African office-based workers' cardiometabolic risk markers.
Objectives
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the height-adjustable sit-to-stand work on cardiovascular parameters in a cohort of office-based workers and to explore the perceptions of these workers about the feasibility and suitability of this intervention to reduce occupational sitting time.
Methods
A mixed-methods study design was used on office workers from the University of the Witwatersrand and a credit bureau company in South Africa. The qualitative papers used in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore office-based workers' perceptions and experiences using sit-to-stand workstations. The interview audio was recorded audio using Microsoft Teams (version 11, Microsoft Way, United States) and Phillips (DVT4010 Voice Tracer, Vienna, Austria). All transcripts were checked against the recordings to verify accuracy and credibility, and grammatical editing was adopted where necessary. For quantitative measures, participants were randomised into an intervention or control group to collect measures at baseline and 12 weeks in a cohort of South African desk-based workers. These biomarkers include anthropometry, sedentary behaviour and physical activity, sleep duration, blood pressure, glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and lipid profile. The cross- sectional paper quantified sedentary behaviour, overall physical activity, and the association with select cardiometabolic risk factors. The randomised control trial evaluated the short-term effects of height-adjustable sit-to-stand workstations on cardiometabolic risk markers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe and compare baseline and follow-up changes in the intervention.
Results
The height-adjustable sit-to-stand workstation was deemed feasible and well-accepted by our participants. Participants expressed that it motivated them to stand
up and work and effectively alleviated discomfort associated with prolonged sitting. Most (68.0%) of the study participants were women, with a mean age of 40.2 ± 9.3 years. Our participants spend an average of 8 to 10 hours in sedentary behaviour. Both systolic (β: -0.234, p = 0.037 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (β: -0.250, p <0.001 mmHg) were inversely associated with accelerometery-measured light physical activity. However, there was no relationship between accelerometery- measured sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic risk factors after analysis. The 12-week randomised control trial showed small improvements with blood pressure - 0.26 (d =1.10 mmHg) and Light physical activity -0.26 (d=3.57 min/day). We observed trivial effects, with most of our cardiometabolic outcomes including body mass index (BMI) -0.11 (d=1.07 kg.m2). Most participants withdrew early from workplace intervention due to the design and functionality of the height-adjustable sit-to-stand workstation.
Conclusions
This study adds to the limited evidence on environmental workstation modifications for reducing sedentary behaviour. Our findings show that South African office
workers spend a substantial amount of time sitting during work hours and support the need for public health workplace interventions to mitigate the potential health risks associated with such sedentary behaviour. This study confirms that short-term height-adjustable sit-stand interventions effectively reduce workplace sitting time and promise to improve cardiometabolic health outcomes, suggesting that clinically significant effects might be noticed in long-term interventions. Therefore, future studies should consider individual preferences, workstation design, functionality, education, and motivation to ensure successful implementation, utilization, and compliance with sit-to-stand workstationsMM202
Association of lifestyle and sleep behaviours with blood pressure and body composition: a cross-sectional study of rural black South African women living in Tshino Nesengani
No full textA research dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MSc (Med) Sport and Exercise Science (dissertation)
Johannesburg, 2019Background: The prevalence of hypertension and obesity is predicted to increase in developing countries particularly in South Africa. Recent literature indicates that rural dwelling South African black women have the higher prevalence of obesity in subSaharan Africa. The determinants of obesity and hypertension in rural black South African women are still not yet determined. Therefore the purpose of this study was to determine whether behavioural factors and covariates such as socioeconomic status (SES) were associated with body composition and blood pressure in a cohort of women living in the Tshino Nesengani rural village, Limpopo province. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 200 African women aged ≥18 years living in the Tshino Nesengani (Mukondeleli) village was conducted. Data Collection included, anthropometry (weight, height, waist circumference, and hip circumference); systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure and standardized self-reported questionnaires: Global physical activity questionnaire was used for physical activity and sitting time, Beverage intake Questionaire-15 was used to determine sugar-sweetened beverage intake, Pittsburgh sleep questionnaire index was used to determine sleeping index, and socioeconomic status was determined using SES household questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the correlation between body composition and blood pressure with lifestyle behaviours. Multivariable linear regression models were used to determine the association of lifestyle behaviours with body composition and blood pressure. Results: The prevalence of overweight was 25%, obesity 40%, and the prevalence of hypertension was 26%. The prevalence of cigarette smokers was 3%, snuff use was 5%, and alcohol consumption was 14.5%. Age showed a positive correlation with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure. Body mass index was positively associated with waist circumference (r=0.75, p<0.0001). Total work physical activity was positively correlated with diastolic blood pressure (r=0.14, p<0.05) and total leisure moderate to vigorous physical activity, total moderate physical activity and total moderate to vigorous physical activity were positively correlated with waist circumference. In a multivariable linear regression model, body mass index was positively associated with age (β: 0.20, p<0.001), socioeconomic status (β: 0.16, p<0.02) and hypertension (β: 0.21, p<0.0001). Waist circumference was positively associated with body mass index (β: 0.67, p<0.0001), and negatively
associated with completion of high school education (β:-0.14, p<0.001). Systolic blood pressure showed a positive of association with age (β: 0.40, p<0.0001) while, diastolic blood pressure was positively related to age (β: 0.21, p<0.0001) and body mass index (β: 0.24, p<0.0001), and negatively associated with hours of sleep/night (β: -0.16, p<0.02). Conclusion: The findings show that the majority of the study population were obese and hypertensive, and this confirms the urgency of these diseases to be addressed in rural-dwelling black South African women. Our findings also indicate that longer sleep may protect against hypertension. However, this finding needs to be confirmed with objective measurement of sleeping patterns.MT 201
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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