Australian Catholic University

About: Australian Catholic University is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 2721 authors who have published 10013 publications receiving 215248 citations. The organization is also known as: ACU & ACU National.

Is the COVID-19 lockdown nudging people to be more active: a big data analysis.

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unparalleled destruction to global health, social and economic systems. To control the spread of COVID-19, most countries have enforced a societal-level lockdown. This mass disruption of civil life provides opportunities for observational ‘natural experiments’, mandating lifestyle changes overnight. Big data, such as Google Trends (GT), have been used to identify outbreaks1 and monitor risk communication strategies,2 public awareness3 and misinformation4 during COVID-19. The real-time nature of data, together with ubiquitous internet access and Google’s dominance of online search traffic, has uniquely positioned GT as a useful tool for ‘nowcasting’ social trends and lifestyle changes.5 An area of life significantly impacted by COVID-19 lockdown is physical activity. Closure of gyms and restrictions on ‘non-essential’ travel may lead to declines in overall physical activity. Conversely, changing circumstances may interrupt ‘automatic’ behavioural patterns through ‘habit discontinuity’6 leading to formation of new health habits, as demonstrated by previous research on residential relocation.7 Here, we used GT data to explore community interest in physical activity before and during COVID-19 outbreaks in Australia, the UK and the USA. We extracted GT data of nation-level online queries for the topic ‘exercise’, which included all related search terms sharing the same concept, such as ‘workouts’ and ‘fitness training’ (online supplementary file). GT normalises search data within a defined time frame and geography on a scale of …

Australian Vietnamese Students Learning Mathematics: High Ability Bilinguals and Their Use of Their Languages

Abstract: Bilingual students have, at times, been thought to be at a disadvantage in learning mathematics because of an assumed interference between their two languages. Earlier research, confirmed again in this study, shows that this is a naive view to take. Although some bilingual students do have a harder time, others seem to be at an advantage. This study explores the use that bilingual students who are succeeding in mathematics make of their two languages. These students seem to have better metalinguistics skills that allow them to self-correct when solving problems, and are perhaps more confident in their approach to solving difficult problems. It also appears that students in this study switched between languages in early years of schooling, but only used English by the time they were completing elementary school.

An Evidence-Based Framework for Strengthening Exercises to Prevent Hamstring Injury

Abstract: Strength training is a valuable component of hamstring strain injury prevention programmes; however, in recent years a significant body of work has emerged to suggest that the acute responses and chronic adaptations to training with different exercises are heterogeneous. Unfortunately, these research findings do not appear to have uniformly influenced clinical guidelines for exercise selection in hamstring injury prevention or rehabilitation programmes. The purpose of this review was to provide the practitioner with an evidence-base from which to prescribe strengthening exercises to mitigate the risk of hamstring injury. Several studies have established that eccentric knee flexor conditioning reduces the risk of hamstring strain injury when compliance is adequate. The benefits of this type of training are likely to be at least partly mediated by increases in biceps femoris long head fascicle length and improvements in eccentric knee flexor strength. Therefore, selecting exercises with a proven benefit on these variables should form the basis of effective injury prevention protocols. In addition, a growing body of work suggests that the patterns of hamstring muscle activation diverge significantly between different exercises. Typically, relatively higher levels of biceps femoris long head and semimembranosus activity have been observed during hip extension-oriented movements, whereas preferential semitendinosus and biceps femoris short head activation have been reported during knee flexion-oriented movements. These findings may have implications for targeting specific muscles in injury prevention programmes. An evidence-based approach to strength training for the prevention of hamstring strain injury should consider the impact of exercise selection on muscle activation, and the effect of training interventions on hamstring muscle architecture, morphology and function. Most importantly, practitioners should consider the effect of a strength training programme on known or proposed risk factors for hamstring injury.

Relationships Between Neighbourhood Physical Environmental Attributes and Older Adults' Leisure-Time Physical Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract: Activity-friendly neighbourhood physical environments with access to recreational facilities are hypothesised to facilitate leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among older adults (≥ 65 years old). The aim of the current study was to systematically review and quantitatively summarise study findings on the relationships between physical environmental attributes and LTPA among older adults. An extensive search of literature, including grey literature, yielded 72 articles eligible for inclusion. The reported associations between seven categories of environmental attributes and six LTPA outcomes were extracted, weighted by sample size and study quality, and quantitatively summarised. Reported moderating effects of individual and environmental characteristics and neighbourhood definition were also examined. We observed positive associations for walkability (p = 0.01), land-use mix—access (p = 0.02) and aesthetically pleasing scenery (p < 0.001) with leisure-time walking. For leisure-time walking within the neighbourhood, evidence was found for positive associations with land-use mix—access (p = 0.03) and access to public transit (p = 0.05), and a negative association with barriers to walking/cycling (p = 0.03). Evidence for positive relationships between overall LTPA and access to recreational facilities (p = 0.01) and parks/open space (p = 0.04) was found. Several environmental attribute–LTPA outcome combinations were insufficiently studied to draw conclusions. No consistent moderating effects were observed for individual and environmental characteristics and neighbourhood definition. The observed significant relationships can be used to inform policy makers and planners on how to (re-)design neighbourhoods that promote LTPA among older adults. Many environmental attribute–LTPA outcome relationships have been studied insufficiently and several methodological issues remain to be addressed. PROSPERO 2016:CRD42016051180.