Carrying heavy and moderate military loads in backpacks or as body armour compresses the chest, causing a change in lung function that is typical of a restrictive ventilatory impairment. It is not known if a lighter backpack load of only 6 kg, such as is typical of loads carried by students, will have a similar effect on lung function. There have been no studies examining whether backpacks of d...

Backpack programs across the United States distribute easy-to-prepare foods in a backpack to potentially food-insecure students on Fridays to help reduce weekend hunger. This study used Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) to assess foods provided in Montana backpack programs. Healthy Eating Index 2010 measures compliance with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and is a tool to assess the diet quality...

Cellular "backpacks" are a new type of anisotropic, nanoscale thickness microparticle that may be attached to the surface of living cells creating a "bio-hybrid" material. Previous work has shown that these backpacks do not impair cell viability or native functions such as migration in a B and T cell line, respectively. In the current work, we show that backpacks, when added to a cell suspensio...

Biomechanical gait parameters--ground reaction forces (GRFs) and plantar pressures--during load carriage of young adults were compared at a low gait cadence and a high gait cadence. Differences between load carriage and normal walking during both gait cadences were also assessed. A force plate and an in-shoe plantar pressure system were used to assess 60 adults while they were walking either no...

In a series of recent studies, Proffitt and his colleagues have reported that the perceived distance to a target is influenced by the energy expenditure associated with any action, such as walking or throwing, for spanning the distance to the target. In particular, Proffitt, Stefanucci, Banton, and Epstein (2003) reported that wearing a heavy backpack caused verbal reports of distance to increa...

Recording single cells from alert rats currently requires a cable to connect brain electrodes to the acquisition system. If no cable were necessary, a variety of interesting experiments would become possible, and the design of other experiments would be simplified. To eliminate the need for a cable we have developed a one-channel radiotelemetry system that is easily carried by a rat. This syste...

UNLABELLED The aim of the paper was to determine a correlation between the weight of a child's backpack, their body weight, and certain features of their body posture. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study group consisted of 109 children, all aged seven years. The parameters of body posture were determined using the Zebris Ultrasonic System. RESULTS The number of children carrying a school backpac...

STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional study comprising the first phase of an ongoing, longitudinal prospective study was conducted. OBJECTIVE To investigate the relation between backpack use and back pain in adolescents. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The prevalence of nonspecific back pain increases dramatically during adolescence from less than 10% in the pre-teen-age years up to 50% in 15- to 16-ye...

OBJECTIVES To describe the degree of disability, anthropometric variables, quality of life (QoL), and school backpack weight in boys and girls aged 11-17 years. The differences in QoL between those who did or did not report low back pain (LBP) were also analyzed. METHODS Eighty-six girls (13.9 ± 1.9 years of age) and 63 boys (13.7 ± 1.7 years of age) participated. LBP was assessed by question...

It is well established nowadays the benefits that physical activity can have on the health of individuals. Walking is considered a fundamental method of movement and using a backpack is a common and economical manner of carrying load weight. Nevertheless, the shock wave produced by the impact forces when carrying a backpack can have detrimental effects on health status. Therefore, the aim of th...