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The Effects Of Physical Activity On Physical Fitness Of Northern Mississippi Middle School Students, Jerry Wayne Floate

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effects of physical activity scheduling of middle school students on their overall physical fitness. This quantitative causal comparative design was utilized to determine if significant differences existed in the FITNESSGRAM® subtests performances of 529 middle school students based on their enrollment in show choir, marching band, athletics, or physical education? Archival data was pulled from the school's physical education department. The results concluded that significant differences existed among the four physical activity classes on the seven FITNESSGRAM® subtests (1-mile run, push-ups, curl-ups, BMI, Trunk Lift, Left-Side Sit and reach, and …

Natural Selection On Body Size Is Mediated By Multiple Interacting Factors: A Comparison Of Beetle Populations Varying Naturally And Experimentally In Body Size, Angela R. Amarillo-Suárez, R Craig Stillwell, Charles W. Fox

Entomology Faculty Publications

Body size varies considerably among species and among populations within species, exhibiting many repeatable patterns. However, which sources of selection generate geographic patterns, and which components of fitness mediate evolution of body size, are not well understood. For many animals, resource quality and intraspecific competition may mediate selection on body size producing large-scale geographic patterns. In two sequential experiments, we examine how variation in larval competition and resource quality (seed size) affects the fitness consequences of variation in body size in a scramble-competing seed-feeding beetle, Stator limbatus. Specifically, we compared fitness components among three natural populations of S. limbatus …

Sp714 Healthy Steps: Food And Physical Activity For Preschoolers, Janie Burney, Carrie Barker

Food, Nutrition and Food Safety

Version 2.0

Adaptive Significance Of Natural Variations In Maternal Care In Rats: A Translational Perspective, Annaliese K. Beery, Darlene D. Francis

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

A wealth of data from the last fifty years documents the potency of early life experiences including maternal care on developing offspring. A majority of this research has focused on the developing stress axis and stress-sensitive behaviors in hopes of identifying factors impacting resilience and risk-sensitivity. The power of early life experience to shape later development is profound and has the potential to increase fitness of individuals for their environments. Current findings in a rat maternal care paradigm highlight the complex and dynamic relation between early experiences and a variety of outcomes. In this review we propose adaptive hypotheses for …

Whole-Genome Sequencing Of Staphylococcus Aureus Strain Rn4220, A Key Laboratory Strain Used In Virulence Research, Identifies Mutations That Affect Not Only Virulence Factors But Also The Fitness Of The Strain, Dhanalakshmi Nair, Guido Memmi, David Hernandez, Jonathan Bard, Marie Beaume, Steven Gill, Patrice Francois, Ambrose L. Cheung

Dartmouth Scholarship

Staphylococcus aureus RN4220, a cloning intermediate, is sometimes used in virulence, resistance, and metabolic studies. Using whole-genome sequencing, we showed that RN4220 differs from NCTC8325 and contains a number of genetic polymorphisms that affect both virulence and general fitness, implying a need for caution in using this strain for such studies.

Sp633 Move More! Make Physical Activity A Routine Part Of Your Day!, Bobbi P. Clarke

Health, and Fitness

Version 3.0

Changes In Cvd Risk Factors In The Activity Counseling Trial, Meghan Baruth, Sarah Wilcox, James F. Sallis, Abby C. King, Bess H. Marcus, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

Primary care facilities may be a natural setting for delivering interventions that focus on behaviors that improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the 24-month effects of the Activity Counseling Trial (ACT) on CVD risk factors, to examine whether changes in CVD risk factors differed according to baseline risk factor status, and to examine whether changes in fitness were associated with changes in CVD risk factors. ACT was a 24-month multicenter randomized controlled trial to increase physical activity. Participants were 874 inactive men and women aged 35-74 years. Participants were randomly assigned to …

Psychosocial Aspects Of Physical Activity And Fitness In Special-Population, Minority Middle School Children, Jeffrey J. Martin, Nate Mccaughtry, Anne S. Murphy, Sara Flory, Kimberlydawn Wisdom

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

Special-population research predicting physical activity (PA) and fitness with minority middle school children from at-risk environments is rare. Hence, the purpose of our investigation was to evaluate the ability of important social cognitive and environment-based measures to predict PA and fitness with children with developmental delay, cognitive, and emotional impairments. Children (N = 89, ages 11-15) completed questionnaires assessing social cognitive and environment-based constructs, self report PA, and completed fitness testing. Correlational results supported some hypotheses. The descriptive and correlational results also indicated commonalities with similar research on non special-population minority middle school children from at-risk environments.

The Alpha Health-Related Physical Fitness Test Battery For Children And Adolescents, Rute Santos, Jorge Mota

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this issue of Nutricion Hospitalaria, Ruiz and colleagues present the new health-related fitness test battery for youth based upon the work developed by the ALPHA (Assessing Levels of Physical Activity) study. The ALPHA was a study funded by the European Union aimed "to provide a set of instruments for assessing levels of physical activity, its underlying factors (e.g. build environment, transport, and workplace), as well as, fitness in a comparable way within the European Union". The work presented in this issue by Ruiz and colleagues relates to the working package 6 of the ALPHA project -Assessing Healthrelated Physical Fitness- …

Metabolic Risk Factors, Physical Activity And Physical Fitness In Azorean Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study, Carla Moreira, Rute Santos, Jose Cazuza De Farias Junior, Susana Vale, Paula Clara Santos, Luisa Soares-Miranda, Ana I. Marques, Jorge Mota

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome has increased over the last few decades in adolescents and has become an important health challenge worldwide. This study analyzed the relationships between metabolic risk factors (MRF) and physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF) in a sample of Azorean adolescents.

Methods

A cross-sectional school-based study was conducted on 417 adolescents (243 girls) aged 15-18 from the Azorean Islands, Portugal. Height, weight, waist circumference, fasting glucose, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure were measured. A sum of MRF was computed, and adolescents were classified into three groups: no MRF, one MRF and two or more …

Mixed-Source Reintroductions Lead To Outbreeding Depression In Second-Generation Descendents Of A Native North American Fish, David D. Huff, Loren M. Miller, Christopher J. Chizinski, Bruce Vondracek

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Reintroductions are commonly employed to preserve intraspecific biodiversity in fragmented landscapes. However, reintroduced populations are frequently smaller and more geographically isolated than native populations. Mixing genetically, divergent sources are often proposed to attenuate potentially low genetic diversity in reintroduced populations that may result from small effective population sizes. However, a possible negative tradeoff for mixing sources is outbreeding depression in hybrid offspring. We examined the consequences of mixed-source reintroductions on several fitness surrogates at nine slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) reintroduction sites in south-east Minnesota. We inferred the relative fitness of each crosstype in the reintroduced populations by comparing …

Trait Variation In An Everglades Invasive Species: Life Histories, Boldness, And Dispersal In The African Jewelfish, Diana P. Lopez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Invasive range expansion is correlated to life- history variation, boldness and dispersal behavior. The invasion of the African Jewelfish in Everglades National Park provides an opportunity to test life-history trait variation, boldness and dispersal behavior in the invasion success of this species.

My study examined variation in somatic traits, boldness, and dispersal of jewelfish across their invaded range. Life histories were examined on wild individuals. Boldness and dispersal were tested in outdoor experimental tanks. Tested populations from the invasion front have higher somatic traits, but they were not bolder than longer established populations.

Understanding the underlying mechanisms of invasions are …