Low levels of activity in hospital inpatients contribute to functional decline. Previous studies have shown low levels of activity in older inpatients, but few have investigated younger inpatients (aged <65 years). This observational study measured activity in older (aged ≥65 years) and younger hospital inpatients on 3 wards (medical, surgical, oncology) in a major teaching hospital in Brisbane, Australia, as part of a quality‐improvement intervention to enhance mobility. Using structured behavioral mapping protocols, participants were observed for 2‐minute intervals throughout 4, 4‐hour daytime observation periods. The proportion of time spent at different activity levels was calculated for each participant, and time spent standing, walking or wheeling was compared between age group and wards. There were 3272 observations collected on 132 participants (median, 30 per patient; range, 9–35). The most time was spent lying in bed (mean 57%), with 9% standing or walking. There were significant differences among wards, but no difference between older and younger subgroups. Low mobility is common in adult inpatients of all ages. Behavioral mapping provided measures suitable for use in quality improvement. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:289–291. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine

Introduction The COVID‐19 pandemic has led to a major shift in workspace from office to home. This report examined how telecommuting is related to smoking behavior of wage and salary workers. Methods Self‐reported smoking behavior of 1,390 U.S. wage and salary workers aged 16–64 years from the Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey 2018/19 were linked to the 2018 American Time Use Survey. Weighted multivariate logistic regression predicting smoking probability and generalized linear regression predicting smoking intensity were used for analysis. Results Almost a fifth (19%) of wage and salary workers reported working from home and over a half (52%) reported working in telecommuting amenable occupations. Nearly 12% were current smokers, smoking 14.7 cigarettes daily on average. Compared to their counterparts, smoking prevalence (percentage points) was lower among those employed in telecommuting amenable occupations (−0.52, p < .001 for all; 0.01, p = .862 for men; −2.40, p < .001 for women) and who worked more frequently from home (−0.21, p < .001 for all; −0.76, p < .001 for men; −0.03, p = .045 for women). Smoking intensity (cigarettes per day) was lower among those employed in telecommuting amenable occupations (−3.39, p = .03 for all; −0.36, p = .90 for men; −4.30, p = .21 for women). We found no statistically significant association between smoking intensity and telecommuting frequency. Conclusions The lower likelihood of smoking and lower level of smoking intensity among telecommuting wage and salary workers suggests the need for proactive efforts to address the potential exacerbation in occupation‐related smoking disparities between occupations that are and are not amenable to telecommuting.

Olive leaves are an abundant but under-exploited by-product of the olive oil industry, comprising 10 % of the total mass processed for olive oil. They are a rich source of oleuropein, the most abundant polyphenol in olive leaves, whose bioactive properties are widely documented. If olive leaves are to be seriously considered as a readily-available source of oleuropein, simple analytical methods are needed to identify varieties and growing conditions conducive to its formation. HPLC-fluorescence detection and UPLC-UV-MS methods on different instruments were developed and cross-validated using blank (oleuropein-free) leaves produced in-house to establish matrix standards in the concentration range 0.4 to 4.8 mg/g. For the HPLC-FLD method, mean repeatability and intermediate precision were respectively 3.64% and 4.76% relative standard deviation; the coefficient of determination was generally >0.9999 and linearity was demonstrated by the Fischer test. There was a close linear relationship (R2 > 0.999) between back-calculated concentrations of both spiked placebos and authentic standards. Analysis of the same spiked placebos by the three chromatographic methods showed no significant differences in the validation results as confirmed by ANOVA. Cross-validation of the three methods indicate that selective quantification can equally be carried out on standard HPLC equipment available to most laboratories or by more sophisticated UPLC-MS techniques in larger structures. The determination of oleuropein in “Olivière” olive variety is reported here for the first time, and leaves collected in 2022 contained about 40 mg/g oleuropein, almost twice the amount found in Picholine and three times more than in other varieties.

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