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To test the total consumption model claiming that alcohol-related ill health can best be diminished by a policy of severe restrictions and high price. Library Services do not currently have access to this journal, but you can request a copy of the article online and we will try to get a copy to you: http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
'The results of this study are interesting, but should be treated with caution. The study only compared 13 healthy weight men with 10 overweight or obese men in the first part of the study, and just six men having weight loss surgery. These are very small numbers.
Similarly, we don't yet know whether the genetic changes identified in the overweight men will make their children more or less likely to be obese themselves, as this was not investigated in the study.'
Open access. Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) are often used to make judgements about the relative cost-effectiveness of competing interventions and require an understanding of the relationship between health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) when measured in utility terms. There is a dearth of information in the literature concerning how childhood overweight is associated with quality of life when this is measured using utilities. This study explores how weight is associated with utility-based HRQOL in 5–6 year olds and examines the psychometric properties of a newly developed pediatric utility measure – the CHU9D instrument.
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of neck and shoulder stretching exercises for relief neck pain among office workers. Conclusion: A regular stretching exercise program performed for four weeks can decrease neck and shoulder pain and improve neck function and quality of life for office workers who have chronic moderate-to-severe neck or shoulder pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens
BPS Blog post. Generally speaking, being in a bad mood isn't just no fun, it also isn't good for you – people who feel negative emotions like anger, anxiety and sadness a lot of the time tend to have poorer social lives and suffer worse physical health in the long run, suggesting that dark moods take a toll. But a new study published in Emotion shows how this isn't a uniform truth. Bad moods don't have an adverse effect on everyone to the same degree. The crucial difference seems to be how much people see that there can be value, meaning and even satisfaction in bad moods – those who appreciate this tend to suffer fewer ill effects from the supposedly darker sides of their psyche.
Commentary on:
Yang HJ, Chen KM, Chen MD, et al. Applying the transtheoretical model to promote functional fitness of community older adults participating in elastic band exercises. J Adv Nurs 2015;71:2338–49.
Implications for practice and research
Elastic band exercises are effective in enhancing physical performance of elderly.
Considering the individual stage of readiness to change fitness behaviour might be an important factor of success during exercise interventions.
More tightly controlled studies are needed to verify whether the inclusion of stage-specific strategies is superior to a traditional exercise programme. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens
Background
Electronic cigarettes (EC) are electronic devices that produce a smoke-like aerosol (commonly referred to as vapour) that the user inhales. This vapour typically contains nicotine without most of the toxins smokers inhale with cigarette smoke. ECs have become popular with smokers who want to reduce the risks of smoking. This review aimed to find out whether ECs help smokers stop or cut down on their smoking, and whether it is safe to use ECs to do this.
Key results
Combined results from two studies, involving over 600 people, showed that using an EC containing nicotine increased the chances of stopping smoking long-term compared to using an EC without nicotine. Using an EC with nicotine also helped more smokers reduce the amount they smoked by at least half compared to using an EC without nicotine. We could not determine if EC was better than a nicotine patch in helping people stop smoking because the number of participants in the study was low. More studies are needed to evaluate this effect. This study showed that people who used EC were more likely to cut down the amount they smoked by at least half than people using a patch. The other studies were of lower quality, but they supported these findings. There was no evidence that using EC at the same time as using regular cigarettes made people less likely to quit smoking. None of the studies found that smokers who used EC short-term (for 2 years or less) had an increased health risk compared to smokers who did not use EC.
Quality of the evidence
The quality of the evidence overall is low because it is based on only a small number of studies. More studies of EC are needed. Some are already underway.
Many people with obesity eat because of emotional triggers, say researchers, and understanding the reasons could enhance Login using your SSSFT NHS Athens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library http://www.sssft.nhs.uk/library behavioural weight loss treatments.
This was a large prospective cohort study from Sweden, which was carried out in young adult males who were then followed for a period of around 29 years.
The study found that lower levels of aerobic fitness were associated with risk of early death, but that this risk of death was greater for those with a high BMI, even if they had a high level of aerobic fitness.
This study has a number of strengths and limitations. The limitations are that a large number of participants had missing smoking data and therefore it was not possible to control for the confounding effect of smoking.
The lower fitness level group with a BMI of 35 or more had a much smaller population than the other groups in the analysis. As the confidence interval is very wide, we cannot be completely certain that they are at increased risk of death.
The study population on the whole is not generalisable, as the study included only young men, meaning that the findings cannot be applied to women or older adults.
Highlights of this bulletin include:
Health Matters – tackling antimicrobial resistance
scientists use DNA technology to diagnose cases of TB faster
London deal paves way to transform healthcare across the capital
PHE urges students to get the MenACWY vaccination
adult heroin user recovery remains a challenge in England
more healthcare professionals urged to take up flu vaccine
screening reports launched at stakeholder conference
scarlet fever: beginning of a new season
Health experts react angrily as it emerges that ministerial intervention was behind removal of a NICE recommendation to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol. Jonathan Gornall reports. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens