1,720,993 research outputs found

    Associations Between Perceived Parental Physical Activity and Aerobic Fitness in Schoolchildren

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    Background:Parental behavior is an important correlate of child health. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between perceived parental physical activity (PA) and schoolchildren’s aerobic fitness.Methods:English schoolchildren’s (n = 4029, 54% boys, 10.0−15.9 yrs) fitness was assessed by 20 m shuttle run test and categorized using criterion-referenced standards. Parental PA was reported by the child.Results:Boys and girls were more likely to be fit (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1−1.8; OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1−2.0; respectively) if at least 1 parent was perceived as active compared with when neither parents were. Girls were even more likely to be fit (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2−2.8) if both parents were active. Associations between parental PA and child fitness were generally stronger when parent and child were of the same gender, although girls with active fathers were more likely (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.7−3.7) to be fit compared with inactive fathers.Conclusion:Schoolchildren perceiving at least 1 parent as active are more likely to meet health-related fitness standards. Underlying mechanisms remain elusive, but same-gender associations suggest that social rather than genetic factors are of greater importance. Targeting parental PA or at least perceptions of parental PA should be given consideration in interventions aiming to improve child health.</jats:sec

    Incremental shuttle walking test to assess functional capacity in cardiac rehabilitation: a narrative review

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    Background/Aims Low functional capacity has been recognised to be the most important predictor of overall mortality compared to all other cardiovascular risk factors in patients with cardiovascular disease. Walk tests, such as the incremental shuttle walking test and the 6-Minute Walk Test, are used to assess functional capacity in patients, the effectiveness of a cardiac rehabilitation programme and the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this review was to provide a narrative review of the literature and identify the key features of the incremental shuttle walking test as a measure of functional capacity testing in cardiac rehabilitation patients. Methods The PubMed, MEDLINE, Elsevier and Google Scholar databases were searched for relevant scientific articles published up to March 2021 with no restriction on start day. The key words defined by researchers were ‘incremental shuttle walking test’, ‘exercise test’, ‘functional capacity’, ‘cardiovascular disease’, ‘cardiac rehabilitation’, ‘reliability’ ‘prediction; ‘walk tests’. A final set of 31 articles was included in this narrative review. Results Evidence-based findings suggest that the incremental shuttle walking test is a valid, reliable, sensitive, useful tool for detecting and predict cardiorespiratory capacity. Conclusions Clinicians can be confident that they can use the incremental shuttle walking test to monitor changes in functional capacity in patients with cardiovascular disease

    Screen time and passive school travel as independent predictors of cardiorespiratory fitness in youth

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    Objective: The most prevalent sedentary behaviours in children and adolescents are engagement with small screen media (screen-time) and passive travel (by motorised vehicle). The objective of this research was to assess the independence of these behaviours from one another and from physical activity as predictors of cardiorespiratory fitness in youth. Methods: We measured cardiorespiratory fitness in n = 6819 10-16. year olds (53% male) who self-reported their physical activity (7-day recall) school travel and screen time habits. Travel was classified as active (walking, cycling) or passive; screen time as 4 h. Results: The multivariate odds of being fit were higher in active travel (Boys: OR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.09-1.59; Girls: OR 1.46, 1.15-1.84) than in passive travel groups. Boys reporting low screen time were more likely to be fit than those reporting > 4 h (OR 2.11, 95% CI: 1.68-2.63) as were girls (OR 1.66, 95% CI: 1.24-2.20). These odds remained significant after additionally controlling for physical activity. Conclusion: Passive travel and high screen time are independently associated with poor cardiorespiratory fitness in youth, and this relationship is independent of physical activity levels. A lifestyle involving high screen time and habitual passive school travel appears incompatible with healthful levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in youth. © 2012 Elsevier Inc

    Screen Time and Physical Activity in Youth: Thief of Time or Lifestyle Choice?

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    Background:This study aimed to examine the relationship between screen time and physical activity (PA) in children and adolescents but also to determine specific elements of PA that were most closely associated with screen time.Methods:We studied a cross-sectional sample of 6176 10.0–15.9 year olds (53% boys, 12.9 ± 1.5 years) who completed the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children/Adolescents and reported daily screen time. Differences in total PA and specific elements of PA were examined between groups reporting: &lt; 2 h, 2–4 h, and &gt; 4 h daily screen time.Results:There were significant differences between screen time groups in: total PA, number of bouts of PA reported, after school PA, evening PA and weekend PA (P &lt; .0001). There was a graded, negative association between higher screen time and lower free-time PA. Participants reporting &lt; 2 h screen time were also significantly more active during school lunch breaks than those reporting &gt; 2 h. Boys reporting &gt; 4 h screen time were less active during physical education lessons.Conclusions:Screen time is significantly and negatively associated with PA in British youth. Screen time may displace active pursuits out of school but is also associated with lower PA during school. Daily screen time should be limited to &lt; 2 h in line with current recommendations.</jats:sec

    Associations between showering behaviours following physical education, physical activity and fitness in English schoolchildren

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    AbstractWe aimed to describe the frequency of showering after physical education (PE) in English high‐school pupils. We examined differences in physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness according to showering behaviours and examined predictors of showering. We measured PA and cardiorespiratory fitness of n = 3921 pupils (11–16 years, 53.5% males) from eight high schools. Pupils self‐reported showering behaviour and parental PA levels. We calculated deprivation and distance travelled to school from their home postcode. Overall, 53% of boys and 68% of girls said they never shower after PE. Pupils who did not shower after PE were less physically active and engaged in fewer team sports. Girls who did not shower also had lower cardiorespiratory fitness than those who did. Showering behaviour varied greatly by school, so we adjusted for clustering at the school level. Pupils were more likely to shower if they were active with their parents [odds ratio (OR) = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.43, 2.07] and less likely to shower if they were from deprived areas (OR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.88). Showering after PE is relatively rare in English schoolchildren, particularly girls. While we cannot infer causality regarding the relationships found here, the low rates of showering and the lower PA and cardiorespiratory fitness (in girls) observed in schoolchildren who do not shower suggest research is needed to determine whether showering is a barrier to being physically active during PE.</jats:p

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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
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