1,721,128 research outputs found
Effect of an individually tailored one-year energy balance programme on body weight, body composition and lifestyle in recent retirees: a cluster randomised controlled trial
Get PDFAbstract Background The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity warrants preventive actions, particularly among people in transitional stages associated with lifestyle changes, such as occupational retirement. The purpose is to investigate the effect of a one year low-intensity computer-tailored energy balance programme among recent retirees on waist circumference, body weight and body composition, blood pressure, physical activity and dietary intake. Methods A randomised controlled trial was conducted among recent retirees (N = 413; mean age 59.5 years). Outcome measures were assessed using anthropometry, bio-impedance, blood pressure measurement and questionnaires. Results Waist circumference, body weight and blood pressure decreased significantly in men of the intervention and control group, but no significant between-group-differences were observed at 12 or at 24-months follow-up. A significant effect of the programme was only observed on waist circumference (-1.56 cm (95%CI: -2.91 to -0.21)) at 12 month follow up among men with low education (n = 85). Physical activity and dietary behaviours improved in both the intervention and control group during the intervention period. Although, these behaviours changed more favourably in the intervention group, these between-group-differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions The multifaceted computer-tailored programme for recent retirees did not appear to be effective. Apparently the transition to occupational retirement and/or participation in the study had a greater impact than the intervention programme. Trial registration Clinical Trials NCT00122213.</p
Varying sensitivity of waist action levels to identify subjects with overweight or obesity in 19 populations of the WHO MONICA project
No full textIt has been suggested in the literature that cut-off points based on waist circumference (waist action levels) should replace cut-off points based on body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio in identifying subjects with overweight or obesity. In this article, we examine the sensitivity and specificity of the cut-off points when applied to 19 populations with widely different prevalences of overweight. Our design was a cross-sectional study based on random population samples. A total of 32,978 subjects aged 25-64 years from 19 male and 18 female populations participating in the second MONICA survey from 1987 to 1992 were included in this study. We found that at waist action level 1 (waist circumference > or =94 cm in men and > or =80 cm in women), sensitivity varied between 40% and 80% in men and between 51% and 86% in women between populations when compared with the cut-off points based on BMI (> or =25 kg/m2) and waist-to-hip ratio (> or =0.95 for men, > or =0.80 for women). Specificity was high (> or =90%) in all populations. At waist action level 2 (waist circumference > or =102 cm and > or =88 cm in men and women, respectively, BMI > or =30 kg/m2), sensitivity varied from 22% to 64% in men and from 26% to 67% in women, whereas specificity was >95% in all populations. Sensitivity was in general lowest in populations in which overweight was relatively uncommon, whereas it was highest in populations with relatively high prevalence of overweight. We propose that cut-off points based on waist circumference as a replacement for cut-off points based on BMI and waist-to-hip ratio should be viewed with caution. Based on the proposed waist action levels, very few people would unnecessarily be advised to have weight management, but a varying proportion of those who would need it might be missed. The optimal screening cut-off points for waist circumference may be population specific
J Pediatr
Get PDFde Ruyter JC, Olthof MR, Seidell JC, Katan MB. A trial of sugar-free or sugar-sweetened beverages and body weight in children. | 2012;367:1397-406.CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States
The public health impact of obesity
No full textThe prevalence of obesity (severe overweight) has been increasing in western societies during the last decades. Epidemiological studies to the public health impact of obesity are therefore warranted. This thesis aimed at describing the long-term and recent time trends of obesity in the Netherlands, and to explore the relations between obesity, mortality, morbidity, and disability.The prevalence of obesity, body mass index (BMI)≥30.0 kg/m 2, increased steadily in Dutch adults between 1974 and 1997. Between 1993 and 1997, the prevalence of obesity was estimated at 9% among men and at 10% among men aged 20-59 years, based on data from the Dutch MORGEN-project. Levels of waist circumference increased more over time and showed even greater seasonal variation than BMI.Obesity measured by BMI was related to increased all-cause mortality in men who never smoked, although relative risks seemed to decrease somewhat with ageing in European men from the Seven Countries Study. Levels of waist circumference identified more men over 55 years of age who never smoked with increased risk of mortality than levels of BMI in the Rotterdam Study.Obesity was related to hospitalisation for coronary heart disease and to medication for chronic conditions in Finnish men and women from the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic study. In the Mini-Finland Health Survey, obesity was associated with the presence of osteoarthritis, low back pain, shoulder joint impairment and neck pain. In addition, obesity was associated with work disability during a 15 years follow-up and to the presence of difficulties in daily life activities. Relative risks of obesity for morbidity and disability were highest in the youngest Finnish adults studied, and exceeded the relative risk for mortality.Prevention of weight gain (Although obesity was related to increased mortality, obese Finns had more unhealthy life years than Finns with normal weight. During a maximal follow-up period of 15 years until age 65 years, obese men had 0.5, 0.4 and 1.7 extra years of work disability, coronary heart disease and morbidity leading to chronic medication, respectively. Obese women suffered respectively 0.5, 0.4 and 1.3 extra years from these conditions.This thesis provides new evidence based on large epidemiological studies that weight gain prevention programs should get high priority on both the scientific and the political agenda.</font
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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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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