The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of acute high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) vs. continuous moderate-intensity exercise (CME) on serum CTRP9 and brachial FMD responses in obese and normal-weight subjects. Sixteen participants (9 obese and 7 normal-weight) completed HIIE and CME in a randomized fashion. Our results showed a significant time effect for CTRP9 immediately following acute HIIE and CME in both groups. Furthermore, both significant treatment by time and group by time interactions for FMD were observed following both exercise protocols, with greater CME-induced FMD response in obese subjects than normal-weight subjects. Additionally, a positive correlation in percent change (baseline to peak) between CTRP9 and FMD was observed following acute CME. These findings support acute CME for improvement of endothelial function in obesity. Furthermore, the novel results from this study provide a foundation for additional examination of the mechanisms of exercise-mediated CTRP9 on endothelial function. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Yang Zheyu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-52). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.3 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- Conceptual foundations and empirical implications --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Evidence of the direct casual effect of schooling on health --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Explanations of the schooling-health correlation --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4 --- Literature review on twins data --- p.25 / Chapter 3 --- Empirical Specification --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1 --- Omitted Variable Bias (Selection Effect) --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Model --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Fixed-Effect (FE) Model --- p.30 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Generalized Least Squares (GLS) Model --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2 --- Measurement Error --- p.32 / Chapter 4 --- Data --- p.34 / Chapter 5 --- Empirical Results --- p.37 / Chapter 5.1 --- Allocative Efficiency Hypothesis Test --- p.37 / Chapter 5.2 --- Productive Efficiency Hypothesis Test --- p.39 / Chapter 5.3 --- Returns to health --- p.44 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusions --- p.45 / Chapter 7 --- Bibliography --- p.46 / Table 1: Summary of the evidence for correlation between education and SRH amongst different groups of individuals --- p.53 / Table 2: Descriptive Statistics --- p.54 / Table 3: Correlation between Health Indicators --- p.55 / Table 4.1: The Impact of Education on Physical Exercise Participation --- p.56 / Table 4.2: The Impact of Education on Smoking Consumption --- p.57 / Table 4.3: The Impact of Education on Alcohol Consumption --- p.58 / Table 5.1: OLS and FE Estimation of the Impact of Education on SRH --- p.59 / Table 5.2: IV Estimation of the Impact of Education on SRH --- p.60 / Table 5.3: GLS Estimation of the Impact of Education on SRH --- p.61 / Table 6.1: OLS and FE Estimation of the Impact of Education on BMI. --- p.62 / Table 6.2: IV Estimation of the Impact of Education on BMI --- p.63 / Table 7.1: OLS and FE Estimation of the Impact of Education on Symptom Occurrence --- p.64 / Table 7.2: IV Estimation of the Impact of Education on Symptom Occurrence --- p.65 / Table 8: Probit Estimation of the Impact of Education on Symptom Occurrence --- p.66 / Table 9: Ordered Logit Estimation of the Impact of Education on SRH. --- p.67 / Table 10.1: OLS and FE Estimation of the Impact of Education Level on SRH --- p.68 / Table 10.2: IV Estimation of the Impact of Education Level on SRH --- p.69 / Table 11.1: OLS and FE Estimation of the Impact of Education Level on Symptom Occurrence --- p.70 / Table 11.2: IV Estimation of the Impact of Education Level on Symptom Occurrence --- p.71 / Table 12: OLS and FE Estimation of the Returns to SRH --- p.72

Hong Wai Lin. / "July 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-211) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

University attendance includes various activities and experiences that can have a unique impact on psychosocial development and adult health behaviors, and can influence life course outcomes such as short- and long-term health and quality of life. College attendance and health are cyclical and reinforcing factors. Healthier students do better while at college, which allows them to effectively progress through university. College graduation is closely associated with improved health status in later life. In addition, students' personal development as part of their transition to adulthood during college, which includes psychosocial and interpersonal growth, is associated with greater gains in health and personal success in later life. Identifying the factors associated with enhanced health status while in college would ensure that a greater number of the overall population has access to the potential health benefits of progressing through and graduating from an institution of higher education. Because health behaviors can have a significant impact on how well a student progresses through college, as well as future quality of life, colleges and universities should recognize the role health is playing in the student experience. This study explored the connection of how factors such as student sub-group participation, health behaviors, and particular negative experiences affect the health status of college students attending a large, urban, top-tier university. It investigated which students were at an increased risk for negative mental health symptoms and overall lower general health and how students' participation in various groups (student athletes, students who are members of sororities and fraternities, and students who volunteer) is associated with health behavior (alcohol and other drug use, sexual behavior, and sleep), negative experiences (bias/discrimination and interpersonal violence), and health outcomes. In addition, the study analyzed how personal development at college mediates those relationships. This study is based on non-experimental cross-sectional survey data from the National College Health Assessment that was collected in collaboration with the American College Health Association at Columbia University (CU). All enrolled undergraduate students at CU in Columbia College or the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the spring semester of 2009 (n=5708) were invited to participate in the survey, and 31.8% of the sample responded. This research used the Baron and Kenny model to examine the mediation effects of personal development on general health and mental health via a series of bivariate and regression analyses. While the overall general and mental health of respondents was good, particular groups were less likely to report overall excellent or very good general health and more likely to report mental health symptoms. Negative experiences and health behaviors varied significantly between student sub-groups. Health behaviors and negative experiences were predictive of overall general health and mental health symptoms. Sleep, drug use, and experiences of bias/discrimination and interpersonal violence (IPV) were most predictive of health. Personal development was found to partially mediate the relationship between IPV, sleep and overall general health. In addition, personal development was found to partially mediate the relationship between IPV, drug use other than or in addition to marijuana, and sleep and mental health symptoms. The findings from this study suggest that college and university administrators should consider directing resources into targeting particular groups of students for focused health promotion interventions related to specific topics as a method for improving overall general health and reducing mental health symptoms of students. College and university administrators are encouraged to consider the role of personal development as a unique factor in improving student health.

Graduation date: 1993

The removal of microbial populations from potable water has been a practice with great importance towards public health, as it has resulted in the reduction of literally millions of cases of infectious disease. In the United States, pathogenic organisms are most commonly removed from drinking water through the application of chlorine. Ninety-nine per cent of all U.S. potable water treatment facilities that disinfect, rely on chlorine as their sole or primary disinfectant, and over 175,000,000 Americans regularly consume chlorinated water. In 1974, Rook and Bellar et al. published studies which indicated that chlorine reacted with organic matter in water during treatment to produce a wide-range of halogenated by-products. Since that time, numerous analyses have been performed to isolate and identify the by-products of chlorination. Toxicologic and epidemiologic studies have been performed, some of which suggest that the use of chlorine as a disinfectant may be contributing to the incidence of chronic disease in the United States. Because of the concern that the use of chlorine for potable water disinfection may be contributing to chronic disease, Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) have been promulgated which strictly regulate disinfectants and disinfection by-products. Future disinfectant and disinfectant by-product regulations (1992) will have a major impact on the purveyors of potable water in the U.S.. Probably the largest challenge U.S. water treatment utilities now face is in the attempt to control for disinfectants and disinfectant by-products while maintaining the microbiological integrity of the water supply. The SDWA Amendments and their supporting regulations will result in major changes in the way water quality parameters are measured, and the way disinfection and treatment strategies are practiced. This thesis looks closely at the role of chlorine as a disinfectant, the by-products arising from chlorine reacting with organic matter, as well as the rationale behind the disinfectant and disinfectant by-product regulations. After examining the chemical, toxicologic and epidemiologic evidence which fueled the new SDWA regulations, available treatment strategies for meeting the new regulations will be detailed and examined. A water treatment strategy which best appears to maximize the reduction of waterborne disease and minimize the risk of chronic disease will then be offered. / Graduation date: 1992

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Schoolbag carriage represents a considerable daily occupational load for children (Negrini et al., 1999). Whittfield et al., (2001) and Puckree et al., (2004) have reported that the carriage of heavy schoolbags is a suspected aetiological factor of the daily physical stress of school pupils. Methods: One hundred and eighty-seven pupils voluntarily participated in a controlled, descriptive, epidemiological retrospective study. Subjects’ biographical, epidemiological, exercise history and lifestyle information was gathered by a self-report questionnaire (adapted from Puckree et al., 2004). Subjects’ body mass, stature and mass of their schoolbags were measured using a Detecto stadiometer scale. Digital images, electromyographical muscular activity and a posture profile assessments were captured in the frontal and sagittal planes whilst the pupils were in the loaded (carrying a schoolbag) and the unloaded phases (not carrying schoolbags). These images were analyzed using biomechanical software, Dartfish. The study being retrospective in nature recorded the prevalence of schoolbag carriage musculoskeletal pain over the last 12 months. Descriptive statistical tests such as mean, mode, frequency, percentages and inferential chi-square statistical test (set at a probability of 0.05) were employed to analyze the data. Results: The result indicated that 78.99% of the cohort experience musculoskeletal pain due to schoolbag carriage (p<0.0001). The most prevalent anatomical sites of pain were the shoulders (37.04%), neck (20.37%), lumbar (11.73%) and thorax (10.49%) (p<0.0001). The mean mass of the schoolbag carried by the cohort was 5.45kg which was approximately 11.5% of their body mass. The predisposing factors of the musculoskeletal pain were the methods employed to carry the schoolbag (single strap (20.21%) versus double straps (76.6%), altered posture due to excessive schoolbag mass together with a reduced craniovertebral angle (p<0.05). Discussion & Conclusion: The excessive schoolbag mass carried by the pupils placed strain on the immature vertebral column of these pupils thus causing postural deviations which induced musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. / Thesis (M.Sport Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

[Truncated abstract] BACKGROUND This thesis explored the relationship between social capital, sense of community and mental health and wellbeing; and factors that may influence these within the environments in which people live. Area variations in health are well documented and are mirrored in emerging evidence of geographic and neighbourhood variations in social capital. Little is known, however, about the specific facets of the impact of local physical environment on social capital; or about the mechanisms by which these are linked with each other, and with health determinants and outcomes. Despite the recent proliferation of social capital literature and growing research interest within the public health realm, its relationship to mental health and protective factors for mental health have also been relatively unexplored. AIMS The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the potential associations between social capital, health and mental health, and neighbourhood environments. In particular, the thesis considered whether the physical attributes and street network design of neighbourhoods are associated with social capital or particular dimensions of the social capital construct. It also examined the relationship between social capital and demographic and residency factors and pet ownership ... CONCLUSION The combined use of qualitative and quantitative research is a distinguishing feature of this study, and the triangulation of these data has a unique contribution to make to the social capital literature. Studies concerned with the measurement of social capital to date have tended to focus on dimensions pertaining to people’s involvement, perceptions and relationship with others and their community. While these constructs provide insight into what comprises social capital, it is clear that each is in turn influenced by a range of other factors. Elucidating what fosters trust and neighbourly interactions in one community and not in another, and by what mechanisms, is one of many research questions unanswered in the published literature to date. The consideration of measures of social capital that relate to the physical environment is therefore of relevance to the growing research and public policy interest in identifying what might build or restore social capital in communities.

Transport systems are essential to trade, globalisation, communication and other forms of interaction between people and societies (Banister, 2013). Yet they can also have negative impacts including decreased quality of life or health impacts arising from pollutants, environmental damage including climate change and a range of wider socio-economic effects (Glanz et al., 1990). Given that most car journeys are short however (57% of UK trips are under five miles), there is particular potential for active travel (i.e. walking and cycling) to both reduce the environmental externalities of modern transport systems and stimulate improved quality of life and societal wellbeing (Banister, 2013; Martin et al., 2014). Unfortunately, there is a paucity of robust evidence that examines how infrastructural interventions (i.e. those aimed at making the physical environment more conducive to active travel) actually impact on active travel levels in specific communities. In addition, there is very limited evidence of the wider effects that such interventions have on wellbeing and levels of happiness overtime. This thesis details mixed-method research undertaken in Cardiff, UK, during 2011/2012, which examined the impacts of a new piece of infrastructure - the Pont-y-Werin walking and cycling bridge - on the local community's levels of active travel and subjective wellbeing. It provides insights into the nature of constraints preventing travel behaviour change from taking place, and - through the use of the novel, 'Day Reconstruction Method' - into the consequences that different modes of travel can have for travel and wellbeing, including on moment-to-moment moods and emotions. Overall by contextualising and measuring and evaluating wellbeing, the research suggests that people experience less pleasant emotions during travel than when undertaking everyday activities, and also that for certain modes there is a decrease in happiness before and after travel compared to everyday activities. Additionally greater monitoring, evaluation and promotion of combined hard and soft measures - focusing on travel behaviour change - is needed alongside providing travellers with accessible information on the wellbeing impacts of different modes (Elvik, 2009).