An uphill struggle: effects of a point-of-choice stair climbing intervention in a non-English speaking population.
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BACKGROUND: Increases in lifestyle physical activity are a current public health target. Interventions that encourage pedestrians to choose the stairs rather than the escalator are uniformly successful in English speaking populations. Here we report the first test of a similar intervention in a non-English speaking sample, namely the Hong Kong Chinese. METHODS: Travellers on the Mid-Levels escalator system in Hong Kong were encouraged to take the stairs for their health by a point-of-choice prompt with text in Chinese positioned at the junction between the stairs and the travelator. Gender, age, ethnic origin, and walking on the travelator were coded by observers. A 2 week intervention period followed 2 weeks of baseline monitoring with 57 801 choices coded. Specificity of the intervention was determined by contrasting effects in Asian and non-Asian travellers. RESULTS: There was no effect of the intervention on stair climbing and baseline rates (0.4%) were much lower than previous studies in Western populations (5.4%). Nonetheless, a modest increase in walking up the travelator, confined to the Asian population (OR = 1.12), confirmed that the intervention materials could change behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: It would be unwise to assume that lifestyle physical activity interventions have universal application. The contexts in which the behaviours occur, e.g. climate, may act as a barrier to successful behaviour change. (+info)
Escalator-related injuries among children in the United States, 1990-2002.
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OBJECTIVE: We describe the epidemiology of escalator-related injuries among children 0 to 19 years of age in the United States, with a focus on the pediatric population that is younger than 5 years. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Reported cases were used to project national estimates and rates of escalator-related injuries in the United States. The analysis included all patients who were 0 to 19 years of age in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database and were seen in an emergency department for an escalator-related injury during the 13-year period 1990-2002. RESULTS: There were an estimated 26000 escalator-related injuries among children who were 0 to 19 years of age in the United States during 1990-2002, yielding an average of 2000 of these injuries annually (rate = 2.6 per 100,000 population per year). The mean age was 6.5 years at the time of injury, and 53.4% of the patients were male. When comparing cases by 5-year age groups, children who were younger than 5 years had the highest estimated number of injuries (12000), as well as the highest annual escalator-related injury rate (4.8 per 100000). The most common mechanism of injury for all age groups was a fall, accounting for 13000 (51.0%) injuries. Entrapment accounted for 29.3% of all injuries and 36.5% of injuries among children who were younger than 5 years. Six percent (723) of injuries to children who were younger than 5 years involved a stroller, with most injuries occurring when a child fell out of the stroller while on the escalator. The most common body part injured for all ages was the leg, accounting for 27.7% of all injuries. Among children who were younger than 5 years, the hand was the most common injury site (40.6%), with hand injuries frequently occurring as a result of entrapment (72.4%). A laceration was the most common type of injury, accounting for 47.4% of escalator-related injuries. Amputations and avulsions were uncommon; however, 71.4% (595 of 833) occurred among children who were younger than 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: There was a disproportionate number of escalator-related injuries among children who were younger than 5 years. Entrapment occurred more frequently among children who were younger than 5 years than in any other age group, which may explain the increased number of hand injuries in this age group. Escalator designs that reduce the gap between the steps and sidewall or shield against access to the gap may decrease entrapment risk. Young children should be supervised properly and should not be transported in a stroller while riding on an escalator. All passengers should use caution and remain alert when riding an escalator to avoid injuries related to falls or entrapment. Additional research is needed to determine the relationship among passenger behavior, escalator design, and escalator-related injury. (+info)
Promoting stair climbing in Barcelona: similarities and differences with interventions in English-speaking populations.
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A multi-component stair climbing promotional campaign targeting calorific expenditure for worksites; a quasi-experimental study testing effects on behaviour, attitude and intention.
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Accelerative forces associated with routine inhouse transportation of rodent cages.
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Transportation of rodents has repeatedly been demonstrated to potentially affect research outcomes. In addition, rapid acceleration and deceleration have marked physiologic effects. The current study determined the accelerative forces associated with common types of animal transportation within the institution and means of reducing these effects. A rodent-sized (24 g) accelerometer was placed in a standard polycarbonate mouse cage, which then was hand-carried or loaded onto a plastic, small metal, or large metal cart. The cage then moved along a set path that included several flooring types and obstacles. Accelerative forces within the mouse cage varied by as much as 35 m/s(2) in as little as 1 s, primarily along the vertical axis (Z-axis). Measured acceleration was greatest with the plastic cart and lowest during hand-carrying. The placement of a towel under the cage dampened in-cage acceleration due to cart use by more than 50%, whereas a similarly located underpad had no significant effect. These data document that small rodents typically are exposed to considerable motion during transportation. The resulting physical and physiologic effects could affect study outcomes. (+info)