Influence of a home-based exercise program on the urine pH in elderly female subjects: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial

Background

A low urine pH is a characteristic metabolic feature of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of a 12-week home-based bench step exercise on the urine pH status of elderly female subjects.

Methods

The current study is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which 59 postmenopausal female subjects were randomized to either the exercise group (n?=?29) or the control group (n?=?30). The subjects in the exercise group were instructed to perform home-based exercises using a bench step at the anaerobic threshold (AT), with a goal of performing ≥140 min/week at home for 12 weeks. The subjects in the control group were instructed to not change their normal lifestyle. Urine was collected after overnight fasting, and the urine pH was measured using a urinary test strip. The inter-group-differences at baseline and the pre-post changes within groups were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test, respectively. Additionally, the difference in the post-intervention urine pH levels of the two groups, adjusted for the pre-intervention values (the estimated effect size) and the precision (95% confidence intervals) were investigated using an analysis of covariance.

Results

The pre-post comparison of the urine pH data using Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test showed a significant increase in the urine pH levels of the exercise group (p?<?0.05); there was no significant change in the urine pH levels of the control group. However, the estimated effect size (0.15) was small and the confidence interval straddled 0 (?0.25–0.55).

Conclusions

Based on the results of the current secondary analysis of an RCT, we could not clearly conclude that exercise has a beneficial effect on the urine pH. Further well-designed RCTs should be conducted to determine whether aerobic exercise is truly able to ameliorate urine acidification.

Trial registration

The study was retrospectively registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) as “Effect of step exercise on aerobic fitness and progression of atherosclerosis in the elderly” under the registration number UMIN 000026743 (the date of registration: March 28, 2017).

     

Suicide and unemployment in Japan: Evidence from municipal level suicide rates and age-specific suicide rates

Most previous studies on the relationship between unemployment and suicide use either individual level data or large unit aggregate level data. The former typically fail to distinguish the observed association from the causal link, and the latter often produce inconsistent findings on the unemployment-suicide relationship, making it difficult to draw policy implications. The present study contributes to this line of research by using two semi-aggregate level data in Japan. The results show that unemployment is significantly associated with male suicide rates, especially those of prime age working men, while the results are not straightforward for female suicide rates.     

Racial diversity,immigrants and the well-being of residents: evidence from US counties

This paper presents empirical evidence that racial diversity and immigrant population at the local level tend to be associated with lower life satisfaction for Whites by matching individual data with the county-level population data during the period 2005–2010. The magnitudes I find suggest that a ten-percentage-point increase in the share of the non-White population (approximately one half of a standard deviation) is associated with 0.006 and 0.007 points reduction in life satisfaction on a four-point scale for White men and White women, respectively. For White men, this effect appears to be driven by the percentage of the population that is Black. I also find that a ten-percentage-point increase in the percentage of the immigrant population (approximately 2 standard deviations) is associated with 0.009 and 0.021 points reduction in life satisfaction for White men and White women, respectively. The percentage of the non-White population seems to reduce older Whites’ life satisfaction more than that of younger Whites. Though the scale of the findings relating to the impact of local racial compositions and immigrant population is relatively modest, the findings may pose a challenge in the coming years as the percentage of the population that is non-White rises in the USA.     

Children's and Adolescents' Decisions about Sharing Money with Others

Two hundred and ninety-four participants aged between 7 and 17 years of age were asked to share out money between themselves and another, imaginary group. Individual responses were recorded as well as responses after discussion in a group with two other participants. The distribution task took place in two different experimental conditions that either gave participants a free choice about how much to offer to the other group or involved making a strategic offer to avoid the other group rejecting an offer and losing all the money. From 10 years of age onwards, when allowed to choose freely how much to share, boys made progressively less generous offers than girls whereas girls' offers remained the same with age. However, when inter-group strategic constraints were present, there were few gender differences from 10 years of age. The order in which games were presented was a powerful influence on the offers that participants made.     

Marital Dissolution and Formation for Interracial Couples: Evidence from Parents of Biracial Children

There is a large amount of literature on whether interracial relationships are more unstable than same-race relationships. This study utilizes data on the race of respondents’ children and examines how marital dissolution and formation differ for those who mate interracially. Contrary to several previous studies, this study finds that some interracial couples are more likely to proceed to marriage and have more stable marriage than same-race couples. White men with Asian biracial children are more likely to be married than other white male parents, black women with white biracial children are more likely to be married than other black female parents, and Asian women with white biracial children are more likely to get married (but more likely to get divorced or separated once married) than other Asian female parents.     

Cross-sectional analysis between prostate volumes and serum sex hormones in Japanese men attending a urological clinic

Aim: To evaluate epidemiologically the association between measured prostate volume and sex hormones.

Methods: Between December 2012 and September 2014, 226 patients attending the urological clinic were assessed for the relationship between prostate volume (PV) and, serum sex hormones, physical size, personal habits, etc. Prostate volume was measured by using transabdominal ultrasonography. Statistically, the Pearson correlation coefficients test was used.

Results: Total cases, the cases of PV?≤?25?ml, and the cases of PV?>?25?ml were evaluated respectively. Total cases and the cases of PV?>?25?ml showed a positive significant correlation with testosterone (T), but the cases of PV?≤?25?ml showed no such correlation. The cases of PV?>?25?ml had a positive significant correlation with estradiol (E2), but total cases and cases of PV?≤?25?ml did not. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) showed no correlation with any case of PV, however it decreased significantly with age and had a correlation with alopecia. The E2/T ratio had no correlation with any case of PV, but on the other hand, the T/DHEAS and E2/DHEAS ratios had significant positive correlation with PV?>?25?ml.

Conclusions: Serum T and E2 had significant positive correlation with measured PV especially in larger prostates. This result seems to correspond with the conventional theory that T and E2 have an etiological effect on benign prostatic hyperplasia. DHEAS did not show direct correlation with PV, however it appeared to suppress the role of T and E2 on benign prostatic hyperplasia growth. DHEAS might be a key to understanding the etiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia with aging.     

Interactional Synchrony in Conversations about Emotional Episodes: A Measurement by “the Between-Participants Pseudosynchrony Experimental Paradigm”

Interactional synchrony refers to the coordination of movements between individuals in both timing and form during interpersonal communication. Most previous studies in Western culture used a coding methodology and concluded that interactional synchrony occurred for positive episodes but not for negative episodes (e.g., Charny, E. J. (1966). Psychosomatic Medicine, 28, 305–315). In this study, we examined interactional synchrony using a between-participants pseudosynchrony experimental paradigm (Bernieri, F. J., & Rosenthal, R. (1991). In R. S. Feldman & B. Rime (Eds.), Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 401–432). New York: Cambridge University Press). Sixty Japanese female university students viewed interaction clips and judged the level of perceived synchrony. The results show that interactional synchrony was perceived in negative episodes as well as in positive episodes. The degree of perceived synchrony was higher in positive episodes than in negative episodes.

A prospective longitudinal survey of erectile function status in symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia patients treated with dutasteride

We prospectively evaluated erectile function (EF) using the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) and the erectile hardness score (EHS) as well as urinary statuses using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) before and 3, 6, and 12 months after a daily treatment with 0.5?mg dutasteride (DUT). Significant improvements were observed in IPSS and OABSS in 98 patients with the DUT treatment, and the effects were similar between 28 patients with potency with baseline SHIM of 8 or greater and 70 severe erectile dysfunction (ED) patients at baseline. In the 28 patients with potency, significant decreases were observed in SHIM and EHS after 3, 6, and 12 months of the DUT treatment, with the severity of ED according to SHIM deteriorating in half of these patients after 12 months of the DUT treatment. Eighteen out of 28 patients (64.3%) with potency at baseline had awareness of the occurrence of ED before the DUT treatment, were younger, and had higher SHIM and EHS just before the DUT treatment than their counterparts. Regular assessments of EF may be needed, especially in younger patients and those with higher levels of EF before the administration of DUT.     

The effect of health insurance coverage on personal bankruptcy: evidence from the Medicaid expansion

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper investigates the effects of health insurance coverage among low-income people on personal bankruptcies at the county level and the state level,...