Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2009
ReviewA systematic review of studies using pedometers to promote physical activity among youth.
While pedometers have an important role to play in the promotion of lifestyle activity among adults, less known is regarding their impact on behavior among youth (i.e. children and adolescents). The primary aim of this review was to identify the effectiveness of pedometers in promoting physical activity among youth. Secondary aims were to assess the quality of existing studies and examine the different ways that pedometers have been used to promote activity. ⋯ Pedometers have been used successfully in a variety of ways to promote activity among youth. Since there are so few studies at this time, there is ample need and opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base.
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2009
Effects of lifestyle on micronuclei frequency in human lymphocytes in Japanese hard-metal workers.
The risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other major causes of mortality are largely attributable to lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol drinking, hours of working and sleeping, physical activity, diet, and stress. Earlier studies have suggested that an unhealthy lifestyle is also associated with increased lymphocyte sensitivity to mutagens, oxidative DNA damage level, and leukocyte DNA damage. In order to explore the genotoxicity of unhealthy lifestyle, we evaluated the effect of overall lifestyle as well as some individual lifestyle factors on micronuclei (MN) frequency in cultured human lymphocytes. ⋯ Taken together, these findings indicate that poor lifestyle habits significantly increase MN frequency in human lymphocytes.