1,720,977 research outputs found
Factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome in ageing black South African women
No full textBackground: The incidence of obesity and related metabolic diseases is high and increasing in sub-Saharan African women. Evidence on the determinants of these diseases is limited, particularly in black South African women. Objective: This PhD review attempts to understand the determinants of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a population of ageing urban-dwelling black South African women. Methods: Drawing on the longitudinal Birth-to-Twenty-Plus cohort, data were collected in 2002/03 and 2012/13, including information on behavioural factors (smoking, sitting time, physical activity, smokeless tobacco, and alcohol consumption), body-size perception, body composition (measures of adiposity and lean mass), blood pressure, and cardiometabolic biomarkers (lipid profile, fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance, leptin, and adiponectin). Results: The prevalence of obesity and related cardiovascular disease risk was high and increased significantly over the 10 year period. Despite most of the study population being physically active, sitting time was high and associated with elevated blood pressure and hypertriglyceridaemia. Two groups of people were observed, those who were happy and those who were unhappy with their body size. In logistic regression analysis, the risk of MetS was lowered by abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and adiponectin, and increased by age, smoking, truncal lean mass, and insulin resistance. Conclusions: Obesity was confirmed to be increasing in black South African women, despite most women being sufficiently active according to guidelines of ≥150 min activity/week. Nevertheless, the contribution of sitting time to poor health outcomes is evident in this study population and must be addressed, particularly in women who are content with being obese. The novel finding of the effects of abdominal subcutaneous tissue and truncal lean mass with MetS requires further investigation. The protective effect of adiponectin against MetS is an important finding which highlights the novel interaction between adiposity and cardiometabolic diseases in black South African women
A comparative study on the cardiac morphology and vertical jump height of adolescent black South African male and female amateur competitive footballers
No full textUkumela impilo randomised trial: preliminary findings of height-adjustable sit-to-stand workstations on health outcomes of South African office workers
No full textAbstract Background The prevalence of sedentary behaviour has concurrently risen with multiple cardiometabolic risk markers independent of physical activity levels. Office-based workers accumulate the highest levels of sitting time during occupational times. This study aims to investigate the short-term effects of using height-adjustable sit-to-stand workstations on cardiometabolic risk markers of office-based workers in South Africa. Results Sixty-two office-based workers were randomized into intervention (n = 44), and the control group (n = 18). Small improvements were observed in BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels in this cohort. Conclusion This preliminary investigation confirms that short-term height-adjustable sit-stand interventions are effective in reducing workplace sitting time and selected health outcomes. South Africa has been attributed with the highest burden of obesity in Sub-Saharan Africa, as a result, there is a need to implement long-term workplace intervention to reverse these implications. Trial registration Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, PACTR201911656014962 on the 12th of November 2019
Body mass index and associated lifestyle and eating behaviours of female students at a South African university
No full textBody mass index and associated lifestyle and eating behaviours of female students at a South African university
No full textObjective: To determine the prevalence of obesity and the physical activity, sitting time, and eating behaviours associated with BMI in a group of undergraduate female students at a South African university. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 110 female undergraduate students, registered at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Validated self-reported questionnaires were used for physical activity and eating behaviours; and body mass index (BMI) was collected using standardised methods. Results: The presence of obesity in the sample was 17.3%, with a mean BMI of 25.4 ± 4.63 kg/m2. Those with BMIs ≥ 25 kg/m2 were less likely to be physically active and purchase fruits than those with normal BMIs. Close proximity to food vendors (≤500m) (β: 0.25), peer influence (β: 0.26), sitting time (β: 0.20) and purchasing fried foods ≥ 4 times/week (β: 0.87) were positively associated with BMI (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Given the period of susceptibility and potential for shaping healthy behaviour, public health initiatives addressing obesity should target the high sitting times of students and eating behaviour, particularly during the period of transition from adolescence to adulthood
Review: Metabolic Syndrome in Black South African Women
No full text<p class="Pa7">The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing in African populations, and is particularly high in Black South African women (42%) vs women in the United Kingdom (23%) and the United States of America (36%). This population group is also known to have the highest prevalence of obesity in the sub-Saharan African region (42%), and consequently, a high risk of non-communicable diseases. In this article, we discuss factors (abdominal subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, lean mass, adiponectin, leptin, vitamin D, smoking and menopausal status) that have been investigated for their possible association with metabolic syndrome in African women, and discuss some recommendations for management of the syndrome. In particular, the infrastructural development of HIV/AIDS clinics in South Africa provides an ideal integrated platform to cater to the treatment needs of patients with multiple chronic morbidities. <em></em></p><p class="Pa7"><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2017(27):189-200; doi:10.18865/ed.27.2.189</p><p><br /><strong> </strong></p></jats:p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
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