The effect of software and hardware version on Apple Watch activity measurement: A secondary analysis of the COVFIT retrospective cohort study.

The objective of this study was to estimate the impact of software and hardware version on Apple Watch activity measurement using data from the COVFIT retrospective cohort study. We estimated the impact of software and hardware versions on activity measurement by comparing daily active calories and daily exercise minutes in the 7 days before and 7 days after upgrading from watchOS 5 to 6, 6 to 7, 7 to 8, 8 to 9 or between two hardware versions. For each transition, we fit mixed effect negative binomial regression models to estimate the effect of the upgrade on daily (a) exercise minutes and (b) active calories, overall and stratified by sex, with and without adjusting for weekday.

The promises and perils of a free rural inter-city transportation scheme: A mixed-methods study from Northern Saskatchewan.

Objective: Transportation is a critical health determinant, yet the last decade has witnessed rapid disinvestment across Canada (particularly in rural contexts) with negative health consequences. We sought to explore and describe the benefits and challenges faced in operating the first community-driven free-transportation scheme in Saskatchewan that emerged in response to widespread unavailability of public transportation due to budget cuts (austerity).

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods community-based participatory research study involving 22 interviews with bus riders and service administrators.

Perspective on strategies for matching across age and sex in physiology research: "recreationally active" is not good enough.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular fitness are powerful confounders in age and sex-related comparisons. This paper provides a perspective on the benefits and limitations of matching participants by physical activity behaviour, objectively measured fitness and normative fitness percentiles. Data presented herein are a subset of a larger study, and highlight that matching by physical activity, does not necessarily match on other metrics like physical fitness, especially when age-related comparisons are being made.

Identification of Potent, Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Main Protease Inhibitors for Pandemic Preparedness.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ongoing risk of zoonotic transmission of coronaviruses to global health. To prepare for future pandemics, it is essential to develop effective antivirals targeting a broad range of coronaviruses. Targeting the essential and clinically validated coronavirus main protease (M), we constructed a structurally diverse M panel by clustering all known coronavirus sequences by M active site sequence similarity.

Changes in physical activity among Canadian adults more than 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic: a secondary analysis of the INTERACT cohort study.

Objective: To estimate the effect of (a) the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) COVID-19 restriction stringency on daily minutes of device-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Design: Physical activity data were collected from the INTerventions, Equity, Research and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT) cohorts in Montreal, Saskatoon and Vancouver before (May 2018 to February 2019, 'phase 1') and during the pandemic (October 2020 to February 2021, 'phase 2'). We estimated the effect of the two exposures by comparing daily MVPA measured (a) before vs during the pandemic (phase 1 vs phase 2) and (b) at different levels of COVID-19 restriction stringency during phase 2.

Silicone hydrogel versus hydrogel soft contact lenses for differences in patient-reported eye comfort and safety: A Cochrane systematic review summary.

Significance: This work is significant because it is the first Cochrane systemic review that compares the comfort and safety of hydrogel and silicone hydrogel soft contact lenses (SCL).

Purpose: This study aimed to conduct a systemic review of randomized trials comparing the comfort and safety of silicone hydrogel and hydrogel SCLs.

Methods: CENTRAL, MEDLINE Ovid, EMBASE.

Imagining and implementing healthy city interventions: Combined results from parallel concept mapping exercises in Montreal with community members and stakeholders.

Objective: Built environment interventions provide structural solutions to complex urban challenges. Though community voices are part of municipal decision-making, planners and public health professionals need tools to better integrate their perspectives for desired changes (what) when implementing built environment interventions (how). We present two simultaneous concept mapping exercises conducted in Montréal, Canada, to facilitate the consideration of these dimensions.

The current landscape of exercise and female fertility research: a narrative review.

In Brief: Females with obesity may experience infertility and can improve their fertility through exercise. This review found that most exercise interventions improve fertility outcomes regardless of technique, intensity, or duration. More detailed reporting through the lens of exercise prescription should be included in future studies.

Incorporating equity, diversity, and inclusion into the epidemiology and biostatistics curriculum: A workshop report and implementation strategies recommendations.

There is an obligation among those teaching epidemiology to incorporate principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into the curriculum. While there is a well-established literature related to teaching epidemiology, this literature rarely addresses critical aspects of EDI. To our knowledge, there is no working group or central point of discussion and learning for incorporating EDI into epidemiology teaching in Canada.

Actívatexto: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Intervention That Promotes Smoking Cessation and Physical Activity among Latinos.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile intervention that promotes smoking cessation and physical activity among Latinos living in the United States. Twenty Latino adults who smoked and did not meet recommended levels of physical activity were recruited using community-based recruitment strategies. Participants received Actívatexto, a theory-based, culturally accommodated, 12-week text messaging intervention (available in English and Spanish) that promotes smoking cessation and physical activity.

A stronger association of depression with rheumatoid arthritis in presence of obesity and hypertriglyceridemia.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic and systemic inflammation. Recent research underscores the role of chronic inflammation in multiple common RA comorbidities such as depression, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), suggesting a potential overlap of the pathogenic mechanisms for RA. However, it is not well understood how the coexistence of these comorbid conditions impacts the risk of RA and whether any such association relates to body's inflammatory state.

Associations between gentrification, census tract-level socioeconomic status, and cycling infrastructure expansions in Montreal, Canada.

Background: Cycling infrastructure investments support active transportation, improve population health, and reduce health inequities. This study examines the relationship between changes in cycling infrastructure (2011-2016) and census tract (CT)-level measures of material deprivation, visible minorities, and gentrification in Montreal.

Methods: Our outcomes are the length of protected bike lanes, cyclist-only paths, multi-use paths, and on-street bike lanes in 2011, and change in total length of bike lanes between 2011 and 2016 at the CT level.

The effectiveness of simple heuristic features in sensor orientation and placement problems in human activity recognition using a single smartphone accelerometer.

Background: Human activity Recognition (HAR) using smartphone sensors suffers from two major problems: sensor orientation and placement. Sensor orientation and sensor placement problems refer to the variation in sensor signal for a particular activity due to sensors' altering orientation and placement. Extracting orientation and position invariant features from raw sensor signals is a simple solution for tackling these problems.

Highly active fish in low oxygen environments: vertical movements and behavioural responses of bigeye and yellowfin tunas to oxygen minimum zones in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Unlabelled: Oxygen minimum zones in the open ocean are predicted to significantly increase in volume over the coming decades as a result of anthropogenic climatic warming. The resulting reduction in dissolved oxygen (DO) in the pelagic realm is likely to have detrimental impacts on water-breathing organisms, particularly those with higher metabolic rates, such as billfish, tunas, and sharks. However, little is known about how free-living fish respond to low DO environments, and therefore, the effect increasing OMZs will have cannot be predicted reliably.

Prioritizing a research agenda on built environments and physical activity: a twin panel Delphi consensus process with researchers and knowledge users.

Background: The growth of urban dwelling populations globally has led to rapid increases of research and policy initiatives addressing associations between the built environment and physical activity (PA). Given this rapid proliferation, it is important to identify priority areas and research questions for moving the field forward. The objective of this study was to identify and compare research priorities on the built environment and PA among researchers and knowledge users (e.

Multidimensional school features associated with physical activity among youth at risk of obesity: an exploratory principal component and generalized estimating equation analysis.

Background: Schools may be high-leverage points for the promotion of physical activity (PA), yet little is known about school built and social environments among youth at high risk of obesity.

Purpose: To characterise school built and social environments that may be salient for PA and to examine associations between school PA environments and PA in youth at risk of obesity.

Methods: Data from youth attending 206 schools (314 youth in 2005-2008, and 129 youth in 2008-2010) within the QUALITY cohort study, a longitudinal investigation of youth at high risk of obesity were used.

Identifying the sociodemographic and work-related factors related to workers' daily physical activity using a decision tree approach.

Background: The social and behavioural factors related to physical activity among adults are well known. Despite the overlapping nature of these factors, few studies have examined how multiple predictors of physical activity interact. This study aimed to identify the relative importance of multiple interacting sociodemographic and work-related factors associated with the daily physical activity patterns of a population-based sample of workers.

Silicone hydrogel versus hydrogel soft contact lenses for differences in patient-reported eye comfort and safety.

Background: Ocular discomfort is the leading cause of permanent discontinuation of soft contact lens (SCL) wear. Silicone hydrogel and hydrogel materials are the two major categories of SCLs, with silicone hydrogel materials being newer and more breathable than hydrogel materials. Whether comfort is associated with SCL material is controversial despite numerous studies.

Comparing Location Data From Smartphone and Dedicated Global Positioning System Devices: Implications for Epidemiologic Research.

In this study, we compared location data from a dedicated Global Positioning System (GPS) device with location data from smartphones. Data from the Interventions, Equity, and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT) Study, a study examining the impact of urban-form changes on health in 4 Canadian cities (Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, and Montreal), were used. A total of 337 participants contributed data collected for about 6 months from the Ethica Data smartphone application (Ethica Data Inc.

Gentrification, perceptions of neighborhood change, and mental health in Montréal, Québec.

While census-defined measures of gentrification are often used in research on gentrification and health, surveys can be used to better understand how residents perceive neighborhood change, and the implications for mental health. Whether or not gentrification affects mental health may depend on the extent to which an individual perceives changes in their neighborhood. Using health and map-based survey data, collected from 2020 to 2021, from the Interventions, Research, and Action in Cities Team, we examined links between perceptions of neighborhood change, census-defined neighborhood gentrification at participant residential addresses, and mental health among 505 adults living in Montréal.

Discovery of Potent Pyrazoline-Based Covalent SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors.

While vaccines and antivirals are now being deployed for the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we require additional antiviral therapeutics to not only effectively combat SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, but also future coronaviruses. All coronaviruses have relatively similar genomes that provide a potential exploitable opening to develop antiviral therapies that will be effective against all coronaviruses. Among the various genes and proteins encoded by all coronaviruses, one particularly "druggable" or relatively easy-to-drug target is the coronavirus Main Protease (3CL or Mpro), an enzyme that is involved in cleaving a long peptide translated by the viral genome into its individual protein components that are then assembled into the virus to enable viral replication in the cell.

WalkRollMap.org: Crowdsourcing barriers to mobility.

Walking is a simple way to improve health through physical activity. Yet many people experience barriers to walking from a variety of physical, social, and psychological factors that impact their mobility. A challenge for managing and studying pedestrian environments is that barriers often occur at local scales (e.