Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jul 1986
Predictors of adoption and maintenance of physical activity in a community sample.
Predictors of changes in three measures of physical activity over 1 year were examined in a community sample of 1,411 California adults. Five percent of women and 11% of men adopted vigorous activities (e.g., running), and 26% of men and 34% of women adopted regular moderate activity (e.g., walking). About 50% of vigorous exercisers and 25-35% of moderate exercisers dropped out in 1 year. ⋯ In multivariate analyses, adoption of vigorous activity was predicted by young age, male gender, and self-efficacy. Maintenance of vigorous activity was predicted by attitudes toward physical activity. Adoption of moderate activity was predicted by health knowledge, and maintenance was predicted by specific exercise knowledge, female gender, and self-efficacy.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 1986
Sex differences in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and subfractions among young black adults.
The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein subfraction (HDL2 and HDL3) concentrations were examined in 170 young black adults. The women examined had significantly higher total high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations than the men, i.e., 57.0 mg/dl vs 51.2 mg/dl, P less than 0.002. ⋯ The sex differential could not be explained by body mass index, alcohol consumption, or physical activity. The determinants of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol for men appeared to be different than those for women.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 1986
Comparative StudyEstimates of maximum or average cigarette tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields can be obtained from yields under standard conditions.
Average yields of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide per liter of smoke and per cigarette were determined for 10 brands of cigarettes smoked under 27 different conditions (one standard and 26 nonstandard). Per cigarette yields were highly variable across smoking conditions due to differences in the total volume of smoke taken for analysis. The results of a simple linear regression analysis indicated that up to 95% of the variation in tar yield per cigarette could be explained by variations in the total volume of smoke produced per cigarette. ⋯ Consequently, values on one scale can be converted to the other, at least for the 10 brands investigated. The average conversion factor for tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide is 2.5 when proceeding from milligrams per king-size cigarette under standard conditions to milligrams per liter. This relationship is true for both vented and nonvented cigarettes when ventilation holes are not blocked.
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Motivation for smoking cessation benefits from physician counseling. To further improve this educational process, spirometry can demonstrate ventilatory impairment to the smoker. In addition to comparing a person's spirometric results with predicted reference values for normal subjects, estimation of "lung age" can be used to demonstrate the effects of cigarette smoking. ⋯ Normal and abnormal groups determined by a respiratory health questionnaire and pulmonary function testing were used to compare the value of single and combination spirometric tests. The forced expiratory volume at 1 sec proved superior to any other single test or combination for best separation of the two groups and had the lowest standard error for estimated lung age. Both spirometry and estimated lung age calculation may be useful for motivating cessation of cigarette smoking.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 1985
Comparative StudyStudies of serum lipoproteins of adolescent Japanese and U.S. (Bogalusa) children using a common laboratory.
A cross-cultural comparison of serum lipoprotein profiles was made between adolescent children ages 12, 15, 16, and 17 years from the United States (Bogalusa) and Japan using a common laboratory. Characteristically, adolescent white children have relatively low total and alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol levels and high pre-beta-lipoprotein cholesterol, while black children have high total and alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol levels and low triglycerides; Japanese children, in contrast, have high total and beta-lipoprotein cholesterol and disproportionately high triglyceride levels in relation to low levels of pre-beta-lipoprotein cholesterol. The sex-related differences were similar among Japanese and white children, with boys showing lower alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol and higher triglyceride levels than girls. ⋯ There was no inverse relationship between alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides or pre-beta-lipoprotein cholesterol in Japanese children. These observations suggest intrinsic metabolic differences among these race-sex groups. Such information should help elucidate environmental factors that influence cardiovascular risk among varied cultures.