Several plant species indirectly defend themselves against herbivory by attracting natural enemies of herbivores by releasing signal chemicals when infested. Previous empirical research suggested that the chemical signals also reflexively induce signal emission by neighboring undamaged plants. We hypothesize that such a reflexively induced signal is a defensive strategy used by undamaged plants...

BACKGROUND In most European origin populations measures of socioeconomic position are positively associated with leisure time physical activity (LTPA), this is unclear for active commuting. In addition, these associations have scarcely been studied in ethnic minority groups, who often have a high cardiovascular disease risk. Because of the expected public health potential, we assessed the relat...

CONTEXT Relationships between socio-environmental factors and obesity are poorly understood due to a dearth of longitudinal population-level research. The objective of this analysis was to examine 45-year trends in time-use, household management (HM) and energy expenditure in women. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Using national time-use data from women 19-64 years of age, we quantified time allocati...

The interactions of sex, age, season, and habitual physical activity were examined in 41 male and 54 female Japanese age 65-83 yr, using a pedometer/accelerometer that determined step counts and amounts of physical activity (<3 and >3 metabolic equivalents [METs]) throughout each 24-hr period for an entire year. All 3 measures were greater in men than in women. In women, age was negatively corr...

BACKGROUND Potential benefit of physical activity in asthma incidence is scarce and controversial. We aimed to assess the association between regular physical activity and adult-onset asthma. METHODS We included 51,080 women from a French cohort study, and followed them from 1993 to 2003. Physical activity at baseline was defined as time spent in household and leisure time physical activity, ...

We study homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies in a Weyl spacetime. We show that for homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes, the field equations can be reduced to the Einstein equations with a twofluid source. We write the equations as a two-dimensional dynamical system and analyze the qualitative, asymptotic behavior of the models. We examine the possibility that in certain theories the Weyl 1-f...

BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) is complex and a difficult behavior to assess as there is no ideal assessment tool(s) that can capture all contexts of PA. Therefore, it is important to understand how different assessment tools rank individuals. We examined the extent to which self-report and direct assessment PA tools yielded the same ranking of PA levels. METHODS PA levels were measured by...

OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of chronic exercise training initiated later in life upon development of metabolic markers of cardiovascular disease risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Two inception cohorts of previously sedentary healthy adults aged 55-75 years at baseline (1989), one initiating regular supervised physical exercise training and the other a geographical similar sedentary cont...

Insects exhibit three patterns of gas exchange: continuous (CoGE), cyclic (CGE) and discontinuous (DGE). In this work, we present the first record of a DGE in Phasmatodea and its transition to CGE and to CoGE through a thermal gradient. The rate of CO2 production (VCO2) at 10, 20 and 30°C was examined in adults of Agathemera crassa, a high-Andean phasmid of central Chile. Carbon dioxide release...

BACKGROUND There is limited evidence comparing adult and child physical activity (PA) trends and examining parent-child PA associations within a newly industrialized country setting. PA research within a newly industrialized country setting is particularly important given the negative effects of rapid urbanization, socioeconomic growth, and technological advances on PA behaviors. The purpose of...