Few studies have examined the influence of pre-exercise meals with different glycaemic indices (GIs) on substrate oxidation and non-homeostatic appetite (i.e. food reward) in adults of various ages and ethnicities. We aimed to examine the effects of pre-exercise high and low GI meals on substrate oxidation and food reward in middle-aged Japanese women. This randomised crossover trial included fifteen middle-aged women (aged 40⋅9 ± 6⋅5 years, mean ± sd). The participants consumed a high or low GI breakfast at 09.00 and rested until 11.00. Thereafter, participants performed a 60-min walk at 50 % of their estimated maximum oxygen uptake (11.00–12.00) and rested until 13.00. Expired gas samples were collected every 30 min prior to walking, and samples were collected continuously throughout the walking and post-walking periods. Blood samples and subjective appetite ratings were collected every 30 min, except during walking. The Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire in Japanese (LFPQ-J) was used to assess food reward at 09.00, 10.00, and 13.00 h. The cumulative fat oxidation during exercise was higher in the low GI trial than in the high GI trial (P = 0⋅03). The cumulative carbohydrate oxidation during walking was lower in the low GI trial than in the high GI trial (P = 0⋅01). Trial-by-time interactions were not found for any food-reward parameters between trials. Low GI meals elicited enhanced fat oxidation during a subsequent 60-min walk in middle-aged women. However, meals with different GIs did not affect food reward evaluated over time in the present study.

Modern rehabilitation processes for neurological patients have been widely assisted by robotic structures, with continuous research and improvements. The use of robotic assistance in rehabilitation is a consolidated technique for upper limb training sessions. However, human gait robotic rehabilitation still needs further research and development. Based on that, this paper deals with the development of a novel active body weight support (BWS) system integrated with a serious game for poststroke patients. This paper starts with a brief review of the state of the art of applied technologies for gait rehabilitation. Next, it presents the obtained mathematical model followed by multibody synthesis techniques and meta-heuristic optimization to the proposed device. The control of the structure is designed using proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers tuned with meta-heuristic optimization and associated with a suppression function to perform assist-as-needed actions. Then, the prototype is integrated with a serious game designed specifically for this application. Finally, a pilot study is conducted with the structure and healthy volunteers. The results obtained show that the mobility of the novel BWS is as expected and the proposed system potentially offers a novel tool for gait training.

The purpose of this study was to identify internal and external factors associated with outdoor winter walking in older adults. In this scoping review, 12 databases were searched. Inclusion criteria included English language, focus on adults 65 years of age or older, and evaluation of factors associated with outdoor winter walking. Two authors screened titles/abstracts and full text. Conflicts were resolved by consensus. Data were extracted, organized into tables, and summarized as pertaining to barriers/facilitators and internal/external factors associated with outdoor winter walking. A total of 6,843 articles were identified, 1,898 duplicates were removed, 4,789 were excluded during title/abstract screening, and 148 were excluded during full-text review. Eight studies were included. Four categories of factors affecting outdoor winter walking in older adults were identified: adverse weather conditions, physical environment, physical function, and perceptions relating to winter walking conditions. Rehabilitation and exercise professionals can use the results to educate their clients and implement the facilitators of and alternatives and solutions to barriers to outdoor winter walking.

Being active in later life is key to remaining physically and mentally healthy, and health in turn influences individuals’ ability to remain active. Activity prevalence figures can disguise the existence of clusters of older people who are very active due to regular participation in multiple categories of activity versus those who are sedentary. The aim of this study was to conduct segmentation analyses based on retired seniors’ engagement in various activities (walking, active sport/exercise, gardening and volunteering) to identify groups characterised by varying patterns of participation. The sample comprised 746 Western Australians aged 60+ years (range 60–95 years, average age 71.66 years, standard deviation = 6.57), 61 per cent of whom were female. Using latent profile analysis, four distinct segments emerged. Those respondents classified as belonging to the most active group exhibited moderate to high levels of participation across all four forms of activity, and tended to be older and more educated than other respondents. Those allocated to the least active group had very low levels of participation across most of the assessed activities and the least favourable physical and mental health scores. Overall, the results indicate the existence of highly divergent segments within the older population in terms of participation across various combinations of health-promoting activities. Segment membership appears to be more closely associated with physical and psychological factors than socio-demographic characteristics.

The assemblage of water/watery/watering is a lively cartography of how water may be accounted for when theorising with and through environmental education research. Challenging the universalising claims of Western technoscience and the colonial logic of extraction, the article develops an alternative theoretical mapping of environmental education through engagements with Ingold’s (2007, 2012, 2015) concepts of lines, knots, and knotting. For this article and for the Special Issue in which it is housed, the concepts of such knottings are defined as an assemblage of haecceities, lived events that are looped, tethered and entangled as material and conceptual agencies that inhere within situated encounters. Thus, this article grapples with the need to account for water differently in contemporary posthuman ecologies. To overcome anthropocentric and mastery-oriented approaches, various other ways to account for water in science or environmental education will continue to come to the surface, bubbling and rushing like a waterfall as they have done in this work. Some of these will include thinking with water, which will be central to a theoretical mapping of water that seeks embrace sticky knots. The article explores a (re)turn to artful practices and encounters as spaces in which posthumanist concepts for environmental education might be cultivated.

Both walking abilities and pointing gestures in infants are associated with later language skills. Within this longitudinal study we investigate the relationship between walk onset and first observed index-finger points and their respectively predictive value for later language skills. We assume that pointing as a motor as well as a communicative skill is a stronger predictor of later language development than walk onset. Direct observations, parent questionnaires, and standardized tests were administered in 45 children at ages 1;0, 2;0, 3;0, and 4;0. Results show that both walk onset and early index-finger pointing predict language abilities at age 2;0, but only early index-finger pointing predicts language skills at ages 3;0 and 4;0. Walk onset seems to contribute to an initial increase in language acquisition without a sustained advantage. The predictive value of first observed index-finger points, however, is strong and lasts at least until age 4;0.

In this study, an altered switch for rehabilitation was invented to make home training accessible for the stroke patients, by modifying a computer mouse into a foot switch. This study examined the effects of training with an adaptive foot switch and video games (VG) on walking performance and balance abilities (Centre of Pressure (CoP) sway) in people after stroke.

The intervention was evaluated through a randomised controlled trial. The intervention group received 10 weeks of VG rehabilitation, for approximately 3.5 hours/week, using a pressure-activated electronic foot switch, in addition to standard rehabilitation. The control group received regular rehabilitation only. The experiment included a force platform (measuring CoP sway kinematics) and a 10-Metre Test of Walking (10MWT) to measure the standing balance and walking performance of 56 stroke patients.

There were no differences between the two groups (intervention and control) at baseline in terms of the demographic or dependent variables. Multivariate tests indicated a significant interaction between the Patient Group and the Time-type variables. Subsequent analysis of the main effects revealed significant between-group differences over time in all dependent variables (10MWT, sway area, CoP sway in anterior–posterior direction (AP sway) and CoP sway in medial–lateral direction (ML sway)). Patients in the intervention group demonstrated better performance than those in the control group after the VG rehabilitation according to the post-test.

This study suggests that ankle muscle training using an adaptive foot switch and VG may improve exercise compliance and enhance recovery of balance and mobility following stroke.

The fin-to-limb transition is heralded as one of the most important events in vertebrate evolution. Over the last few decades our understanding of how limbs evolved has significantly increased; but, hypotheses for why limbs evolved are still rather open. Fishes that engage their fins to ‘walk' along substrate may provide some perspective. The charismatic frogfishes are often considered to have the most limb-like fins, yet we still know little about their underlying structure. Here we reconstruct the pectoral fin musculoskeletal anatomy of the scarlet frogfish to identify adaptations that support fin-assisted walking behaviours. The data are compared to three additional anglerfish species: the oval batfish, which represents an independent acquisition of fin-assisted walking; and two pelagic deep-sea swimmers, the triplewart seadevil and ghostly seadevil. Our results clearly show broad musculoskeletal differences between the pectoral fins of swimming and walking anglerfish species. The frogfish and batfish have longer and more robust fins; larger, differentiated muscles; and better developed joints, including a reverse ball-and-socket glenoid joint and mobile ‘wrist'. Further, the frogfish and batfish show finer-scale musculoskeletal differences that align with their specific locomotor ecologies. Within, we discuss the functional significance of these anatomical features in relation to walking, the recurring evolution of similar adaptations in other substrate locomoting fishes, as well as the selective pressures that may underlie the evolution of limbs.

Background: Walking is a good way to meet physical activity guidelines. We examined the effectiveness of walking in groups compared with walking alone or inactive controls in physically healthy adults on physical activity and quality of life. (PROSPERO CRD42016033752).

Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Web of Knowledge Science Citation Index, and Cochrane CENTRAL until March 2016, for any comparative studies, in physically healthy adults, of walking in groups compared with inactive controls or walking alone, reporting any measure of physical activity. We searched references from recent relevant systematic reviews. Two reviewers checked study eligibility and independently extracted data. Disagreements were resolved through discussion. Quality was assessed using likelihood of selection, performance, attrition, and detection biases. Meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager 5.3.

Results: From 1,404 citations, 18 studies were included in qualitative synthesis and 10 in meta-analyses. Fourteen compared group walking to inactive controls and four to walking alone. Eight reported more than one measure of physical activity, none reported according to current guidelines. Group walking compared with inactive controls increased follow-up physical activity (9 randomized controlled trials, standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.58 [95 percent confidence interval {CI}, 0.34–0.82] to SMD 0.43 [95 percent CI, 0.20–0.66]). Compared with walking alone, studies were too few and too heterogeneous to conduct meta-analysis, but the trend was improved physical activity at follow-up for group walking participants. Seven (all inactive control) reported quality-of-life: five showed statistically significantly improved scores.

Discussion: Better evidence may encourage government policy to promote walking in groups. Standardized physical activity outcomes need to be reported in research.