Gender Differences in Environmental Correlates of Cycling Activity among Older Urban Adults

Cycling is a form of active transport that can improve the level of health among the elderly population. However, little is known about the environmental correlates of bicycle use among older adults. This study investigated the relationship between the built and social environment and the gender differences in cycling frequency among older urban adults in China. The data were derived from a household travel survey in 2012 and covered thirty-three urban neighborhoods in Zhongshan. The results suggest that denser intersections are negatively related to cycling trips among both older men and women. Reverse associations for either gender, however, are observed between the average income in a neighborhood and cycling frequency. For older women, living far from a bus stop is positively correlated to an increase in daily cycling trips. For older men, social environment, including the proportions of employed or elderly people in a neighborhood, is significantly associated with cycling activity. The findings facilitate the understanding of the gender gap in cycling activity among older urban adults, and help towards designing effective planning strategies as health interventions.

Edema-like symptoms are common in ultra-distance cyclists and driven by overdrinking, use of analgesics and female sex – a study of 919 athletes

Background Ultra-endurance cyclists regularly report various extents of bodily decline during long-distance bicycle rides, including potential kidney function-related symptoms such as swelling of body parts and urine changes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of these symptoms in a representative cohort of ultra-endurance cyclists and shed light on potential predictors related to the ride, the rider and the rider’s behavior. Methods Between November 26 and December 14, 2020, 1350 people participated in an online survey investigating potential kidney-related symptoms of ultra-distance cycling. Frequency and severity of edema-like (“swelling”) symptoms and perceived changes in urine output, concentration and quality were associated with ride-related factors, demographic parameters and rider behavior-related variables. Results A total of 919 participants met the predefined inclusion criteria. The majority (N = 603, 65.6%) stated that they suffered from at least one potential kidney function-related symptom, out of which 498 (54.2%) stated one or more edema-like (“swelling”) symptoms. In correlational and multiple regression analyses, female sex, intake of analgesics and drinking strategies correlated with swelling symptoms. Further analyses indicated that drinking due to thirst and/or drinking adapted to ambient sweating and temperature negatively correlated with swelling symptoms, whereas “drinking as much as possible” enhanced these. Intake of analgesics was moderately positively correlated with swelling symptoms. Conclusions According to our survey, edema-like symptoms occur in the majority of ultra-distance cyclists and female sex, drinking strategy and intake of analgesic drugs are major predictors thereof. Studies are needed to investigate the underlying pathophysiological processes of such symptoms.

Reliability of one-shot device with generalized gamma lifetime under cyclic accelerated life-test

One-shot devices are products or equipments that can be used only once. A nature characteristic of one-shot devices is that they get destroyed immediately after their use, and therefore their actual lifetimes are never observable. The only information observed is the condition whether they worked or not at the time they are used. These days the quality of products are significantly improved, so that the information obtained under a normal test during a short time is quite limited. A typical test to induce more failures is the accelerated life-test, which is developed by increasing the stress levels under test. In this paper, we will investigate the reliability of one-shot devices with generalized gamma fatigue life under accelerated life-tests with various cyclic temperature fluctuations by assuming a Norris-Landzberg model. Generalized gamma involves many common lifetime distributions, such as gamma, Weibull, lognormal, and positive stable distributions, as special cases. Norris-Landzberg model takes not only temperature change, highest testing temperature, but also the cycling frequency into account when modeling the number of cycles-to-failure, resulting a generalized model with the well-known Coffin-Manson model and Coffin-Manson-Arrhenius model as special cases. Associated inferences are developed. The performance of the proposed model and inferential methods will be evaluated with simulation study and model discrimination. Finally, the chip-scale package solder joints data is analyzed to illustrate the considered model and inferential methods developed in this paper.

Single-cell sequencing of rotavirus-infected intestinal epithelium reveals cell-type specific epithelial repair and tuft cell infection

Intestinal epithelial damage is associated with most digestive diseases and results in detrimental effects on nutrient absorption and production of hormones and antimicrobial defense molecules. Thus, understanding epithelial repair and regeneration following damage is essential in developing therapeutics that assist in rapid healing and restoration of normal intestinal function. Here we used a well-characterized enteric virus (rotavirus) that damages the epithelium at the villus tip but does not directly damage the intestinal stem cell, to explore the regenerative transcriptional response of the intestinal epithelium at the single-cell level. We found that there are specific Lgr5+ cell subsets that exhibit increased cycling frequency associated with significant expansion of the epithelial crypt. This was accompanied by an increase in the number of immature enterocytes. Unexpectedly, we found rotavirus infects tuft cells. Transcriptional profiling indicates tuft cells respond to viral infection through interferon-related pathways. Together these data provide insights as to how the intestinal epithelium responds to insults by providing evidence of stimulation of a repair program driven by stem cells with involvement of tuft cells that results in the production of immature enterocytes that repair the damaged epithelium.

Nonlinear Associations of the Built Environment with Cycling Frequency among Older Adults in Zhongshan, China

The health and welfare of older adults have raised increasing attention due to global aging. Cycling is a physical activity and mode of transportation to enhance the mobility and quality of life among older adults. Nevertheless, the planning strategies to promote cycling among older adults are underutilized. Therefore, this paper describes the nonlinear associations of the built environment with cycling frequency among older adults. The data were collected from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The modeling approach was the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model. The findings demonstrated that nonlinear relationships exist among all the selected built environment attributes. Within specific intervals, the population density, the land-use mixture, the distance from home to the nearest bus stop, and the distance from home to CBD are positively correlated to the cycling among older adults. Additionally, an inverse “U”-shaped relationship appears in the percentage of green space land use among all land uses. Moreover, the intersection density is inversely related to the cycling frequency among older adults. These findings provide nuanced and appropriate guidance for establishing age-friendly neighborhoods.

Factors influencing safety perceptions and cycling frequency of people who grew up in different mobility cultures

Denmark is one of the world’s leading cycling countries. For most new residents coming from abroad, the Danish cycling culture strongly contrasts with the mobility culture of their country of origin. Based on an online survey including students and knowledge workers who grew up in Denmark (n=106) and abroad (n=148), this study examined safety perception and cycling frequency of both groups. We found a significant increase of foreigner’s self-reported safety perceptions and cycling frequencies after moving to Denmark. In regression analyses, we found that age of learning to cycle, experiencing anger from car drivers, stress and being unaware of cycling rules had an effect on safety perception. Stress and driving anger were significant factors for the sub-sample of newcomers, but not for Danes. Attitude towards cycling and cycling norm in the country of origin (measured based on a new 6-item cycling norm index, CNI) were significant factors of cycling frequency. Unlike our expectations, a low CNI increased cycling frequency in Denmark. Newcomers’ cycling frequency was additionally influenced by the age of learning to cycle. Based on the results, it seems advisable to help newcomers to cycling countries to get familiar with formal and informal cycling rules to reduce their stress and make them feel safer when cycling. While this will probably reduce conflicts with car drivers, efforts to reduce car drivers’ anger expression against cyclists also need to be increased.

Comparison of Usage and Influencing Factors between Governmental Public Bicycles and Dockless Bicycles in Linfen City, China

Automobile traffic has shifted the use of bicycles in many developed regions to being mainly for sport, recreation and commuting. Due to the desire to mitigate the impacts of climate change and alleviate traffic jams, bicycle sharing is booming in China. Governmental public bicycles and dockless bicycles are the main types of bicycle sharing in China, each with different types of management and pricing. Field research has found that many bicycle sharing networks are idle and wasteful, and thus we investigated which type is more popular and suitable for Chinese cities. This research comparatively analyzes the application of governmental public bicycles and dockless bicycles, mainly focusing on the cycling destination, cycling frequency, and cycling factors, taking Linfen City as an example. The results show that: (1) The purpose is different between governmental public bicycles and dockless bicycles. On the one hand, the aim of riding a governmental public bicycle to work represents the largest proportion at about 29%, mainly because of the fixed route of travel, and the fact that the fixed placement of governmental public bicycles makes them more available compared to the random arbitrariness of dockless bicycles. On the other hand, the aim of riding a dockless bicycle for entertainment accounts for the largest proportion, at about 34%, mainly due to the ease of borrowing and returning a bike, and mobile payment. (2) In terms of frequency, the public’s choice of riding a dockless bicycle or a governmental public bicycle has no essential difference, given that there are only two options for citizens in Linfen. (3) The response to the two kinds of bicycle sharing is different; the governmental public bicycle has the advantage of lower cost, but the dockless bicycle has more advantages in the procedure of borrowing and returning the bicycle.

The effect of rolling resistance on people’s willingness to cycle during wintertime

Harsh winters reduce utilitarian cycling in many cities. Using an online survey, we examined how increasing rolling resistance due to snow and ice affect people’s cycling willingness. The respondents (N = 1318) reported their willingness to cycle on various winter cycling conditions presented in photos. The answers were compared to the rolling resistance levels on the presented conditions, measured in a previous study. Respondents’ cycling willingness dropped from 91.2% at very low to 18.3% at very high rolling resistances. The cyclist’s age, gender, local climate, winter cycling experience and studded tire use affected the cycling willingness significantly. Electric bike usage did not affect cycling willingness. “Summer-only” cyclists did not cycle during the winter due to low temperatures (29%), lacked feeling of safety (27%), bicycle wear (17%), increased travel time (17%) and increased physical effort (10%). Hence, lower rolling resistance and increased use of studded tires can increase the cycling frequency of existing winter cyclists. To recruit new winter cyclists, the surface conditions should not only offer a low rolling resistance but should also be perceived as safe and comfortable.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEGREE OF ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION IN BICYCLE RACE ATHLETES

Objective: This research aims to identify factors influencing the degree of erectile dysfunction in bicycle racing athletes. Material & Methods: This study used quantitative analysis and cross-sectional research design. Samples included in this research were 54 respondents in accordance to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study, and were willing to participate in this research. The data were collected using the IIEF-5 (International Index of Erectile Function-5) questionnaire. The data were then edited, coded and analyzed using Chi-square (bivariate analysis). Results: The results showed correlations between the degree of erectile dysfunction in bicycle race athletes and age (PR= 1.182; 95%CI= 0.403-3.465; p= 0.976), cycling history (PR= 0.462; 95% CI= 0.490-4363; p= 0.687), cycling frequency (PR=1.400; 95% CI= 0.299-6.560; p= 0.72), cycling duration (PR= 0.333; 95% CI= 0.074-1.507; p= 0.165), furthest cycling distance (PR= 0.883; 95% CI= 0.267-2.919; p= 1.00), and type of saddle (PR= 0.271; 95% CI= 0.481-1.547; p= 0.221) respectively. Conclusion: There were no significant correlation (p= >0.05) in all variables analyzed in this study.