PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Environment Design”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Environmental correlates of physical activity in a sample of Belgian adults.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the variance in sitting, walking, and moderate and vigorous physical activity explained by neighborhood design and recreational environmental variables above and beyond the variance accounted for by individual demographic variables. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses of self-reported survey data. SETTING: A random sample of inhabitants of Ghent, Belgium, aged 18-65 years, was drawn. SUBJECTS: Five hundred twenty-one adults completed questionnaires (52.1% response rate). The average age of the sample was 41 years, and 48.2% were female. MEASURES: A questionnaire developed to assess neighborhood design and recreational environmental variables with a total of 81 items was administered. The environmental questionnaire showed acceptable to good reliability and acceptable validity. The previously validated International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to quantify physical activity in the past 7 days. Additional demographic information was also obtained. RESULTS: Regression analyses showed that environmental variables were related to all types of physical activity in both sexes. However, the range of variance explained by the models including demographic and environmental variables was low, only 5% to 13%. Minutes of walking and of moderate-intensity activity were related to quality of sidewalks and accessibility of shopping and public transportation. Vigorous physical activity was related to presence of activity supplies in the home and number of convenient activity facilities outside the home. CONCLUSIONS: Both neighborhood design and recreational environment variables had small but significant associations with multiple types of physical activity in a sample of Belgian adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Knowledge acquisition environment for the design of a decision support system: application in blood transfusion.

Blood transfusion is a medical domain where decision support systems (DSSs) could be very helpful to the physicians but must easily and continuously be maintained. We have developed a knowledge acquisition tool that allows the construction and the maintenance of such a system by the domain expert. The methodology used could be applied to another highly evolutive medical domain. In this paper, we detail our knowledge acquisition tool, its use and the final DSS obtained, which is fully integrated into our hospital information network.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1986

Adapting organizational structure to a changing environment.

The design of a successful organization is related to its environment, according to Mr. Arrildt. He traces the organizational changes made by a large, complex teaching institution, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, in response to environmental change, and analyzes the place of radiology in the new structure.

Budgets↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hospital design of the future--healing environments.

Predicting the future of hospital design is hardly a consensus forming art. Crystal ball visions of the 21st-century hospital vary from expert to expert. Perhaps that's simply a sign of the diversity of our health care system. Or perhaps it's a problem inherent in reading the future. For example, some hospital architects and facility planners say tomorrow's hospitals will be smaller due to technological advances. Others say those same advances will create larger hospitals brimming with high-tech equipment. Some say hospitals will be part of medical malls; others see them in a campus setting, perhaps accompanied by satellite facilities in the surrounding community. Yet, despite their often diverse views of the future, architects and planners do share common thoughts about hospital architecture in the decades ahead. Without question, they most commonly agree that hospitals will offer a more patient-friendly environment. Achieving that goal could take many forms, but it is expected to include the use of soothing colors, attractive landscaping, natural lighting, wayfinder lobbies and entrances, private rooms, quieter hallways and accommodations for family and friends.

California↗
PubMed2001

Limitations of the case-only design for identifying gene-environment interactions.

The case-only design, which requires only diseased subjects, allows for estimation of multiplicative interactions between factors known to be independent in the study population. The design is being used as an alternative to the case-control design to study gene-environment interactions. Estimates of gene-environment interactions have been shown to be very efficient relative to estimates obtained with a case-control study under the assumption of independence between the genetic and environmental factors. In this paper, the authors explore the robustness of this procedure to uncertainty about the independence assumption. By using simulations, they demonstrate that inferences about the multiplicative interaction with the case-only design can be highly distorted when there is departure from the independence assumption. They illustrate their results with a recent study of gene-environment interactions and risk of lung cancer incidence in a cohort of miners from the Yunnan Tin Corporation in southern China. Investigators should be aware that the increased efficiency of the case-only design is a consequence of a strong assumption and that this design can perform poorly if the assumption is violated.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed2005

Designed sound and music environment in postanaesthesia care units--a multicentre study of patients and staff.

A multicentre study in five postanaesthesia care units (PACUs) was performed to investigate patient and staff opinion of a specially designed music environment (DME), related to geographical location. Patients (325) and staff (91) described their opinion by means of a questionnaire-anonymously in the case of staff. Patients were not asked beforehand for permission to play music. Amongst patients 267 (83%) found the sound environment with DME pleasant or very pleasant, 26 (6%) found it unpleasant, whereas 32 (11%) answered "no opinion". The opinion of the patients did not differ significantly with geographical location. A strong correlation (P<0.05) between a positive attitude towards DME and degree of relaxation and satisfaction with stay was found. The staff had an equally positive attitude towards the DME; but theirs varied significantly with location. The opinion of the staff was more similar concerning the beneficial effect on working conditions and distress, but varied still significantly. The opinion of the staff had no demonstrable impact on that of the patients.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1996

Nitrification and Denitrification: Probing the Nitrogen Cycle in Aquatic Environments

Methods designed to detect microorganisms involved in the biogeochemistry of nitrogen in the marine environment are rapidly being developed and deployed in ecological investigations. Probes based on phylogenetic sequences (usually rRNA) and those based on the sequences of functional genes or proteins have both been demonstrated in the nitrogen cycle. The most progress has been made for ammonia oxidizers; several sets of PCR primers have been described and their specificity may be optimized to allow detection of genetically and ecologically meaningful groups. For denitrifying bacteria, functional probes based on nitrite reductase show most promise. These approaches should complement the more familiar, but no less sophisticated, methods that focus on quantification of in situ transformation rates. Both approaches in combination will be useful in understanding regulation and environmental control of biogeochemical processes.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

New controlled environment vitrification system for cryo-transmission electron microscopy: design and application to surfactant solutions.

A newly designed controlled environment vitrification system for cryo-transmission electron microscopy of vitrified samples (cryo TEM) is presented. It significantly reduces the lag-time from blotting to vitrification by means of an optimized blotting procedure. Furthermore, a modified transfer system allows rapid transfer of the vitrified sample into the microscope and reduces the equilibration time. The practicable throughput of samples is thereby markedly increased. This new equipment is used to determine the overall size of individual polymer-like mixed lecithin-bile salt micelles, which very critically depends on the composition of the sample. The quantitative agreement with the results from independent light scattering experiments on the same sample supports the validity and performance of the presented sample preparation and handling procedures. In addition, these experiments demonstrate that cryo TEM experiments not only provide direct structural information, but furthermore permit a quantitative determination of micellar properties.

Bile Acids and Salts↗
PubMed1999

Case-parents design for gene-environment interaction.

The scientific and public health implications of gene-environment interaction warrant that the most powerful study designs and methods of analysis be used. Because traditional case-control designs, which use nonrelated subjects, have demonstrated the need for large samples to detect interactions, alternative study designs may be worthwhile, such as sampling diseased cases and their parents. If the transmission of particular alleles from parents to their diseased child appears to be distorted from Mendelian expectation, then this suggests an etiologic association of the alleles with disease; if the frequency of transmission differs between exposed and nonexposed cases, then gene-environment interaction is suggested. We present likelihood-based methods to assess interaction, as well as an extension of the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT). For these statistical tests, we also derive methods to compute sample size and power. Comparisons of sample size requirements between the case-parents design and the case-control design indicate that the case-parents design can be more powerful to detect gene-environment interactions, particularly when the disease susceptible allele is rare. Also, one of the derived likelihood methods, based on additive effects of alleles, tended to be the most robust in terms of power for a broad range of genetic mechanisms, and so may be useful for broad applications to assess gene-environment interactions.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed2004

Effect of virtual reality graded exposure on anxiety levels of performing musicians: a case study.

This study examined the effect of computer generated virtual reality graded exposure on the physiological and psychological responses of performing musicians. Three upper division undergraduate saxophonists, two female and one male, performed while immersed in four virtual environments each designed to gradually increase the expected anxiety level of the performer. Heart rates and subjective measurements were taken throughout the exposure period. Results of this study indicated that virtual reality graded exposure did elicit physiological and psychological indications of increased anxiety in musical performance environments designed for that purpose. Findings also corroborated previous research that found gender to be a predictor of heart rate during performance.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The use of the sonic pathfinder as a secondary mobility aid for travel in business environments: a single-subject design.

Two studies were conducted using a single subject research design in different business environments to evaluate the efficacy of the Sonic Pathfinder for increasing efficiency in travel with an experienced and accomplished blind traveller. The Sonic Pathfinder is one of eight or nine commercially available electronic travel aids (ETAs) designed for use by blind or visually impaired persons. The use of ETAs are thought to result in more rapid travel and a greater ability to detect and avoid obstacles in one's path. Elapsed time for travel and the number of unintentional contacts made while travelling were used as the dependent variables in both studies. No marked effect was observed for either variable in either study. An additional traveller who was slower and more tenuous in his movements was recruited to participate in the second study to investigate the possibility that a floor effect may have masked the results of the use of the ETA with the first subject. However, no marked effects were observed with this subject either. Yet, both subjects stated that the use of the aid increased their distance for environmental preview over and above that provided by the long cane alone, while providing them with the opportunity to judge the distance of objects approached beyond cane length. Discussion centers on the need to identify other means to evaluate the utility of this aid in light of the positive statements made by the participants of these studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Formative design of a virtual learning environment.

Current technology for 3D visualization, modeling and interaction allows the construction of attractive virtual environments for study of anatomy, surgery and other biomedical fields. The formative methodology for designing such environments is uncharted, but necessary before committing to large scale development. We present one such methodology undertaken during the design of a learning environment for biology for high school and middle school students. We expect to extend this design methodology to the development of environments for the teaching of medical subjects.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Children at risk: risk factors for low back pain in the elementary school environment.

STUDY DESIGN: A prevalence survey of 101 randomly selected elementary schools in the Israel Central District. OBJECTIVES: To identify and describe risk factors for low back pain that exist in the elementary school environment. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Recent surveys report a high prevalence of low back pain in children and adolescents that increases with age, with a correlation between low back pain in adolescence and that experienced in adulthood. Environmental risk factors have been associated with the development of low back pain in children. Because of the significant amount of time children spend in their school environment, risk factors need to be identified in this environment. METHODS: A questionnaire, completed by school nurses, measured risk factors among 10,000 children in elementary schools in Israel. These included backpack and student weight, the availability of storage facilities, the appropriateness of chair and desk height to student height, seating arrangements during frontal lessons, and physical activity at recess. RESULTS: Between 30% and 54% of students carried >15% of their body weight. Nearly 15% of the first graders and 20% of sixth graders had inappropriate chairs. In 74% of the classes, students sat with their side facing the teacher and in 35% students sat with their backs. In 6% of schools, no physical activity is offered at recess. CONCLUSIONS: Shortcomings were found in all areas investigated. There is an urgent need for health promotion programs to increase awareness and reduce risks in the school environment.

Body Weight↗