Handgrip strength and health outcomes: Umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to assess both the credibility and strength of evidence arising from systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies on handgrip strength and health outcomes.MethodsAn umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies was conducted. We assessed meta-analyses of observational studies based on random-effect summary effect sizes and their p values, 95% prediction intervals, heterogeneity, small-study effects, and excess significance. We graded the evidence from convincing (Class I) to weak (Class IV).ResultsFrom 504 articles returned in a search of the literature, 8 systematic reviews were included in our review, with a total of 11 outcomes. Overall, nine of the 11 of the outcomes reported nominally significant summary results (p < 0.05), with 4 associations surviving the application of the more stringent p value (p < 10⁻⁶). No outcome presented convincing evidence. Three associations showed Class II evidence (i.e., highly suggestive): (1) higher handgrip values at baseline were associated with a minor reduction in mortality risk in the general population (n = 34 studies; sample size = 1,855,817; relative risk = 0.72, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 0.67–0.78), (2) cardiovascular death risk in mixed populations (n = 15 studies; relative risk = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.78–0.91), and (3) incidence of disability (n = 7 studies; relative risk = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.66–0.87).ConclusionThe present results show that handgrip strength is a useful indicator for general health status and specifically for early all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as disability. To further inform intervention strategies, future research is now required to fully understand mechanisms linking handgrip strength scores to these health outcomes.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Developmental Milestones and Movement: Results From the Gemini Cohort Study

Purpose: Variability in the timing of infant developmental milestones is poorly understood. We used a twin analysis to estimate genetic and environmental influences on motor development and activity levels in infancy. Method: Data were from the Gemini Study, a twin birth cohort of 2,402 families with twins born in the United Kingdom in 2007. Parents reported motor activity level for each of the twins at age 3 months using the Revised Infant Behavior Rating Scale and reported the ages at which they first sat unsupported, crawled, and walked unaided. Results: Activity level at 3 months and ages when first sitting and crawling were about equally influenced by the shared family environment (45%–54%) and genes (45%–48%). Genetic influences dominated for age when children took their first independent steps (84%). Conclusion: Aspects of the shared family environment appear to be important influences on motor activity levels and early milestones, although the timing of walking may have a stronger genetic influence. Further research to identify the specific environmental and genetic factors that promote early activity may be important for longer-term health outcomes.     

Pollution monitoring by dosimetry and passive diffusion sampling for evaluation of environmental conditions for paintings in microclimate frames

Pollutants and their potential degradation of paintings have been measured for the first time in microclimate frames (mc-frames), which are used to protect paintings. The pollutants that were measured include both inorganic pollutants, which originate mainly from external sources, and organic pollutants from mainly internal sources. Those originating from the outdoors enter rooms and subsequently mc-frames at a rate depending on the ventilation rates (air exchange rates) of the mc-frames. The concentration of gaseous pollutants emitted within the mc-frames will depend on net emission rates of the materials used to make the mc-frames, their design, and their ventilation rates. In the EU PROPAINT project measurements of gaseous air pollutants and climatic conditions were performed at various locations both inside and outside different state-of-the-art mc-frames. Diffusive passive pollution gas samplers were used together with different types of dosimeters. Results show that the dosimeters respond to either the photo-oxidizing conditions or the level of volatile organic acids in the environments both in the museums and within the mc-frames. Two dosimeters, the Early Warning Organic (EWO) made from a synthetic polymer and the Resin Mastic coated Piezo electric Quartz Crystals (RM-PQC) respond to photo-oxidation and showed higher values outside than inside the mc-frames. Two other dosimeters, the Glass Slide Dosimeter (GSD) and the Lead coated Piezo electric Quartz Crystals (L-PQC) respond to volatile organic acids and yielded higher values inside than outside the mc-frames. This study emphasizes the need for further work to determine environmental damage functions for paintings, in particular for the effects of organic acids. Such information is essential for the evaluation of the protective effects of mc-frames for paintings. The use of mc-frames is increasing and it is very important to know that this protective measure does not introduce new risks.     

Promoting Gypsy children's behavioural engagement and school success: Evidence from a four‐wave longitudinal study

Low schooling, high non‐attendance and school dropout rates are critical phenomena within disadvantaged groups, especially among the Gypsy community. For example, in the UK, 10%–25% of Gypsy children do not attend school regularly and have significantly higher levels of overall absence from school (percentage of half‐day sessions missed) than pupils from other ethnic groups. In Portugal, available data on Gypsy children is sparse, yet data from one geographic region of the country reports high school failure (45%) and dropout rates (15%) among this population. The present study assessed the efficacy of a four‐year intervention to promote Gypsy children's behavioural engagement and school success. Gypsy communities were contacted and 30 children participating in the four waves were randomly distributed into control and experimental groups. Every school day throughout four years, 16 children in the experimental group were called at home and invited to go to school. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated in four waves (at the end of each of the four school years), assessing behavioural engagement (i.e. school non‐attendance, classroom behaviour) and school achievement (i.e. mathematics achievement, student progression). Findings show the efficacy of the intervention on promoting behaviour engagement and academic success without devaluing Gypsy people's culture.     

On the cultural validity of science assessments

We propose the concept of cultural validity as a form of test validity in science assessment. The conceptual relevance of cultural validity is supported by evidence that culture and society shape an individual's mind and thinking. To attain cultural validity, the process of assessment development must consider how the sociocultural context in which students live influences the ways in which they make sense of science items and the ways in which they solve them. These sociocultural influences include the values, beliefs, experiences, communication patterns, teaching and learning styles, and epistemologies inherent in the students' cultural backgrounds, as well as the socioeconomic conditions prevailing in their cultural groups. We contend that current approaches to handling student diversity in assessment (e.g., adapting or translating tests, providing assessment accommodations, estimating test cultural bias) are limited and lack sociocultural perspective. We find that attaining cultural validity may conflict with current basic principles and assumptions in testing, such as item independence and standardization. We discuss the ways in which adopting cultural validity as a criterion for test validity makes it necessary to shift assessment paradigms and adopt new procedures for assessment development. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 553–573, 2001     

Music Education at Hospital Schools in Spain and Sweden: Paths Between Governing and Knowledge

This paper focuses on some debates regarding music education within hospital schooling, an educational track that has developed in the course of the 20th century within Western education systems. Analysis and proposals are made with respect to the music education curriculum content in primary education, within hospital education tracks, in Spain and Sweden. In order to critically approach the changing definition of what is considered significant knowledge, we discuss how music education curriculum content is included in hospital schools located in the capitals Madrid and Stockholm.     

Using HyperCard to make architecture education more learner-centred

The authors are developing a communication strategy to promote the potential contribution of students in the design of learner-centred material for architecture education. They start by drawing an analogy with practising architects' strategies for communicating with collective clients and the way in which such experience can increase understanding among teachers, students, and designers of pedagogic material. In support of feasibility, the authors describe experiences and observations of students producing prototypes of pedagogic material within HyperCard on a Macintosh. They discuss the benefits of this approach.     

The serendipity of principalship: meaning-making of a filipino secondary school principal

Meaning-making is vital in the realm of principalship. It serves as the fulcrum of one’s practice which eventually leads to seeing the light and appreciating the serendipity of principalship. While explicit knowledge abounds in the literature and is communicated in professional development programs, the role of the principals’ tacit knowledge derived from their experiences, day-to-day dealings with the school’s stakeholders, observations, insights, and reflections are vital inputs in understanding the dynamics of school principalship. This narrative inquiry is an attempt to capture the tacit knowledge of a Filipino secondary school principal whose experiences were limited by the absence of a formal academic preparation in school management but illumined by herleadership reflective space (LRS) which enabled her to surface the serendipitous language of principalship.     

The structure of collaboration networks: Findings from three decades of co-invention patents in Chile

Collaboration networks have primarily been studied in developed economies. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of co-inventor networks in a small but thriving OECD economy in Latin America: Chile. Using a dataset for patents granted in the country between 1989 and 2018, we study a variety of statistical properties for five different co-inventor networks. We show that these networks exhibit power-law, small-world, and preferential attachment properties, all of which have been used to describe networks in more advanced economies. We also highlight some apparent differences in collaboration patterns between networks (and inventors) and we reveal the precarious nature of the network of local inventors by confirming the community structure property. Evidence for strong positive autocorrelation between highly and lowly productive inventors is presented via methods used in spatial econometrics. Our results show that the inventor system in Chile is highly fragmented, which emphasizes the need for strong government intervention in steering research funding, and for more collaboration between inventors, especially local ones.