'Guilting' teens into exercise won't increase activity

Adults who try to guilt middle-schoolers into exercising won’t get them to be any more active. The study found students who don't feel in control of their exercise choices or who feel pressured by adults to be more active typically aren't. Middle-schoolers who feel they can make their own decisions about exercising are more likely to see themselves as a person who exercises, which in turn makes them more likely to exercise. 

The study, which appears in the September issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, found students who don't feel in control of their exercise choices or who feel pressured by adults to be more active typically aren't. Middle-schoolers who feel they can make their own decisions about exercising are more likely to see themselves as a person who exercises, which in turn makes them more likely to exercise.
This age is a critical juncture in a child's life, as kids typically decrease their activity levels by 50 percent between fifth and sixth grades, said Rod Dishman, the study's lead author and a professor of kinesiology in the UGA College of Education.
"Our results confirm that the beliefs these kids hold are related to physical activity levels," Dishman said. "But can we put these children in situations where they come to value and enjoy the act of being physically active?"
Dishman and colleagues at the University of South Carolina are now looking at ways to help kids identify with exercise at a younger age, so that by the time they reach middle school they are more likely to identify as someone who exercises. This might mean teaching more structured games in elementary school, integrating physical activities into classroom lessons or expanding community recreational leagues to give kids more opportunities to improve on a particular sport.
"Just like there are kids who are drawn to music and art, there are kids who are drawn to physical activity," he said. "But what you want is to draw those kids who otherwise might not be drawn to an activity."
What parents and teachers don't want to create, Dishman cautioned, is a sense of guilt for not exercising. The research overwhelmingly found that students who felt obligated to be more active were less likely to embrace activity overall.
"The best thing is to do it because it's fun," Dishman said. "It's the kids who say they are intrinsically motivated who are more active than the kids who aren't."

Journal Reference:

1. ROD K. DISHMAN, KERRY L. MCIVER, MARSHA DOWDA, RUTH P. SAUNDERS, RUSSELL R. PATE. Motivation and Behavioral Regulation of Physical Activity in Middle School Students. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2015; 47 (9): 1913 DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000616 

Courtesy: ScienceDaily

Alirocumab dramatically lowers cholesterol in familial hypercholesterolemia patients

Alirocumab lowers cholesterol in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia to levels unreachable with statins alone, according to new results. This analysis in more than 1 250 patients showed that alirocumab rapidly lowered low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) to unprecedented levels and the reductions were maintained long term. 

"Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is an inherited disease associated with very high levels of LDL-C that can put patients at risk for cardiovascular disease," said principal investigator Professor John JP Kastelein, professor of medicine in the Department of Vascular Medicine, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. "Approximately 80% of these patients are unable to reach their LDL-C goals."

The study included 1,257 patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia from four 18-month ODYSSEY trials (FH I, FH II, HIGH FH, LONG TERM). It assessed the benefits of adding the PCSK9 monoclonal antibody alirocumab to statins and other standard of care therapy, compared to standard of care therapy (including statins) and placebo. In FH I and FH II patients initially received alirocumab 75 mg (n=490) compared to placebo (n=245) while in HIGH FH and LONG TERM they initially received alirocumab 150 mg (n=348) compared to placebo (n=174). In addition, patients who initially received alirocumab 75 mg had their dose adjusted to 150 mg at week 12 if they did not achieve their pre-specified LDL-C goal by week eight.

The primary endpoint of all four trials was the percentage change in LDL-C from baseline to week 24, analysed by intention to treat. The researchers found that patients who initially received alirocumab 75 mg had an average 55.8% greater reduction in LDL-C from baseline versus placebo, and those who initially received alirocumab 150 mg had an average 56.4% greater reduction (p<0 .0001="" both="" comparisons="" for="" p=""> Using measures that were collected while patients were still receiving treatment (on-treatment analyses), LDL-C reductions were maintained over 78 weeks with an average 56.1% greater reduction versus placebo in the group initially treated with alirocumab 75 mg and potentially uptitrated to 150 mg and 63.2% greater reduction versus placebo in the patients treated only with alirocumab 150 mg group (p<0 .0001="" both="" comparisons="" for="" p="">
The average LDL-C level at baseline was 3.7 mmol/L (141.2 mg/dL) in the pool of FH I and FH II patients and 4.3 mmol/L (166.1 mg/dL) in the pool of HIGH FH and LONG TERM patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. In on-treatment analyses, alirocumab reduced average LDL-C levels to less than 2.2 mmol/L (85 mg/dl) by week 12 and reductions were maintained to week 78. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in a similar proportion of patients on alirocumab (80.5%) and placebo (83%) leading to study discontinuation in 3.9% and 3.6% patients, respectively.

"This is the largest Phase 3 analysis of patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia," said Professor Kastelein. "Despite high baseline levels, alirocumab reduced LDL-C concentrations to less than 1.8 mmol/L (70 mg/dL) at week 24 in 63% of patients in FH I and II and in 56% of patients in the pool of HIGH FH and LONG TERM patients. Studies with other lipid lowering therapies have only reached LDL-C levels of less than 2.5 mmol/L (97 mg/dL) in around 20% of patients."

"The results show that adding alirocumab to statins in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia rapidly lowers LDL-C to unprecedented levels that are unreachable with statins alone, and that these reductions are maintained in the long term," he continued. "Alirocumab is a PCSK9 inhibitor and belongs to a new class of cholesterol-lowering monoclonal antibodies. It works by preventing action of the PCSK9 protein, which in turn increases the number of LDL receptors and thus increases uptake of LDL-C from the circulation."

Professor Kastelein concluded: "Adding alirocumab to statins may be an important treatment strategy for patients not able to reach their LDL-C goals with statins alone."
 

Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
 

Courtesy: ScienceDaily

 

 

Current school start times damaging learning and health of students

Scientists have found that current school and university start times are damaging the learning and health of students. Drawing on the latest sleep research, the authors conclude students start times should be 8:30 or later at age 10; 10:00 or later at 16; and 11:00 or later at 18. Implementing these start times should protect students from short sleep duration and chronic sleep deprivation, which are linked to poor learning and health problems.

A study by researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School and the University of Nevada has found that current school and university start times are damaging the learning and health of students.

Drawing on the latest sleep research, the authors conclude students start times should be 08:30 or later at age 10; 10:00 or later at 16; and 11:00 or later at 18. Implementing these start times should protect students from short sleep duration and chronic sleep deprivation, which are linked to poor learning and health problems.
These findings arise from a deeper understanding of circadian rhythms, better known as the body clock, and the genes associated with regulating this daily cycle every 24 hours.
It is during adolescence when the disparity between inherent circadian rhythms and the typical working day come about. Circadian rhythms determine our optimum hours of work and concentration, and in adolescence these shift almost 3 hours later. These genetic changes in sleeping patterns were used to determine start times that are designed to optimize learning and health.
The US Department of Health has also recently published an article in favor of changing the start times for Middle and High Schools.
Corresponding author Paul Kelley (Honorary Clinical Research Associate, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford) will be presenting Time: the key to really understanding our lives at the British Science Festival on Tuesday 8 September.

Journal Reference:

1. Paul Kelley, Steven W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster, Jonathan Kelley. Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’. Learning, Media and Technology, 2014; 40 (2): 210 DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2014.942666 

Courtesy: ScienceDaily