Population Health Research Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategy for Patient Oriented Research through the Ontario SPOR Support Unit, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, pharmaceutical companies (with major contributions from AstraZeneca [Canada], Sanofi Aventis [France and Canada], Boehringer Ingelheim [Germany amd Canada], Servier, and GlaxoSmithKline), Novartis and King Pharma, and national or local organisations in participating countries.

Objective: To develop gender-specific predictive equations to measure the amount of deep-abdominal-adipose-tissue (DAAT) accumulation from simple anthropometric measurements. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: A total of 120 healthy men and women (40-79 years). Measurements: Body weights, circumferences, skinfolds, computed-Tomography (CT)-derived sagittal-diameters and the DAAT areas. Results: High significant correlations are seen between the indices of waist-circumferences, sagittal diameters and body weights to DAAT areas in both the sexes. Stepwise multiple regression analysis with all anthropometric measures gave 84% (SEE 38.7 cm 2 ) of the variance in men and 72% (SEE 29 cm 2 ) in women. Body weights, waist-circumferences and sagittal-diameters had more predictive power in men, and in women, the arm-circumferences replaced the sagittal diameters. Five models with categorical measures of circumferences, skinfolds, and sagittal diameters explained 74.8-82% of the variance in men and 62-70% in women. The simplest equation with least measurement indices, that is, body-weight, waist-circumference and body mass index explained 74% (SEE 27.7 cm 2 ) of the variance in men: DAAT (cm 2 ) ¼ À382.9 þ (1.09 Â weightÀ(kg)) þ (6.04 Â waistÀ(cm)) þ (À2.29 Â BMI). For women, body-weight and waist-circumference explained 63% (SEE 31.79 cm 2 ) of the variance: DAAT (cm 2 ) ¼ À278 þ (À0.86 Â weightÀ(kg)) þ (5.19 Â waistÀ(cm)). Conclusion: Body weight emerged as the outstanding index to measure the DAAT areas. Following anthropometric measures are the waist circumferences, sagittal diameters and BMI. Although the ability to estimate the amount of DAAT from anthropometry is limited, practical predictive models have been developed.

OBJECTIVES:Within the global context of the nutrition and physical activity transition it is important to determine the relationship between adiposity and active school transport (AST) across different environmental and socio-cultural settings. The present study assessed the association between adiposity (that is, body mass index z-score (BMIz), obesity, percentage body fat (PBF), waist circumference) and AST in 12 country sites, in the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE). METHODS: The analytical sample included 6797 children aged 9-11 years. Adiposity indicators included, BMIz calculated using reference data from the World Health Organization, obesity (BMIz ⩾ +2 s.d.), PBF measured using bioelectrical impedance and waist circumference. School travel mode was assessed by questionnaire and categorized as active travel versus motorized travel. Multilevel linear and non-linear models were used to estimate the magnitude of the associations between adiposity indicators and AST by country site and sex. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex, parental education and motorized vehicle availability, children who reported AST were less likely to be obese (odds ratio = 0.72, 95% confidence interval (0.60-0.87), P o0.001) and had a lower BMIz (−0.09, s.e.m. = 0.04, P = 0.013), PBF (least square means (LSM) 20.57 versus 21.23% difference − 0.66, s.e.m. = 0.22, P = 0.002) and waist circumference (LSM 63.73 cm versus 64.63 cm difference − 0.90, s.e.m. = 0.26, P = 0.001) compared with those who reported motorized travel. Overall, associations between obesity and AST did not differ by country (P = 0.279) or by sex (P = 0.571). CONCLUSIONS: AST was associated with lower measures of adiposity in this multinational sample of children. Such findings could inform global efforts to prevent obesity among school-age children.

OBJECTIVES: Focused on the accelerometer-determined physical activity and sedentary time metrics in 9-11-year-old children, we sought to determine the following: (i) number of days that are necessary to achieve reliable estimates (G ⩾ 0.8); (ii) proportion of variance attributed to different facets (participants and days) of reliability estimates; and (iii) actual reliability of data as collected in The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and Environment (ISCOLE). METHODS: The analytical sample consisted of 6025 children (55% girls) from sites in 12 countries. Physical activity and sedentary time metrics measures were assessed for up to 7 consecutive days for 24 h per day with a waist-worn ActiGraph GT3X+. Generalizability theory using R software was used to investigate the objectives i and ii. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were computed using SAS PROC GLM to inform objective iii. RESULTS:The estimated minimum number of days required to achieve a reliability estimate of G ⩾ 0.8 ranged from 5 to 9 for boys and 3 to 11 for girls for light physical activity (LPA); 5 to 9 and 3 to 10, for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA); 5 to 10 and 4 to 10 for total activity counts; and 7 to 11 and 6 to 11 for sedentary time, respectively. For all variables investigated, the 'participant' facet accounted for 30-50% of the variability, whereas the 'days' facet accounted for ⩽ 5%, and the interaction (P × D) accounted for 50-70% of the variability. The actual reliability for boys in ISCOLE ranged from ICCs of 0.78 to 0.86, 0.73 to 0.85 and 0.72 to 0.86 for LPA, MVPA and total activity counts, respectively, and 0.67 to 0.79 for sedentary time. The corresponding values for girls were 0.80-0.88, 0.70-0.89, 0.74-0.86 and 0.64-0.80. CONCLUSIONS: It was rare that only 4 days from all participants would be enough to achieve desirable reliability estimates. However, asking participants to wear the device for 7 days and requiring ⩾ 4 days of data to include the participant in the analysis might be an appropriate approach to achieve reliable estimates for most accelerometer-derived metrics.International Journal of Obesity Supplements (2015) 5, S29-S35; doi:10.1038/ijosup.2015.16 INTRODUCTIONIt is imperative that measurements used in research are both reliable and valid. The degree of reliability represents the stability of the measured value and this will influence the strength of relationships observed between variables and the ability to detect changes in a measured outcome.1 Accelerometers are now widely used and becoming the standard objective measure of physical activity and sedentary behavior.2,3 For this reason, it is important for physical activity and sedentary behavior researchers to evaluate both the reliability (that is, repeatability) of the instrument per se and the reliability (that is, stability) of the measured behavior (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and so on).4-6 When tested in mechanical shakers, it has been demonstrated that accelerometers can output repeatable and reliab...

BackgroundDifferent procedures practiced in yoga have stimulatory or inhibitory effects on the basal metabolic rate when studied acutely. In daily life however, these procedures are usually practiced in combination. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the net change in the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of individuals actively engaging in a combination of yoga practices (asana or yogic postures, meditation and pranayama or breathing exercises) for a minimum period of six months, at a residential yoga education and research center at Bangalore.MethodsThe measured BMR of individuals practicing yoga through a combination of practices was compared with that of control subjects who did not practice yoga but led similar lifestyles.ResultsThe BMR of the yoga practitioners was significantly lower than that of the non-yoga group, and was lower by about 13 % when adjusted for body weight (P < 0.001). This difference persisted when the groups were stratified by gender; however, the difference in BMR adjusted for body weight was greater in women than men (about 8 and 18% respectively). In addition, the mean BMR of the yoga group was significantly lower than their predicted values, while the mean BMR of non-yoga group was comparable with their predicted values derived from 1985 WHO/FAO/UNU predictive equations.ConclusionThis study shows that there is a significantly reduced BMR, probably linked to reduced arousal, with the long term practice of yoga using a combination of stimulatory and inhibitory yogic practices.