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Objective: Childhood and adolescence are critical periods of bone development. Sporting activity is thought to impact peak bone mass acquisition, but most studies have used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to assess bone health and reported associations between bone mass and elite sporting activity. The objective of this study was instead to assess the relationship between recreational sporting activity (RSA) and another bone assessment, calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (cQUS), in adolescents and young adults.Methods: We related recreational sporting activity, assessed through a lifestyle questionnaire, to heel ultrasound bone parameters in a cohort of New Zealand students aged 16-35 years. Complete datasets with data on all relevant confounders (body mass index (BMI), pubertal timing, smoking status, and alcohol consumption) were available for 452 participants. cQUS was performed using a Lunar Achilles EX II machine to obtain bone parameters, broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), and speed of sound (SOS); stiffness index (SI) was derived from these measures. All descriptive statistics and statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results are presented as p-values and 95% CI.Results: Reported lifetime sport participation declined after an individual's mid-teens. Bone cQUS parameters (SI and BUA and T-score) were all positively associated with BMI, and current physical activity (SI, SOS, BUA, T-score, and Z-score) with SI and SOS measures most strongly associated with current high impact and past recreational sporting activity (all p

Introduction: osteoporotic fractures represent a major public health burden. The risk of fragility fractures in late adulthood is strongly impacted by peak bone mass acquisition by the third decade. Weight-bearing sporting activity may be beneficial to peak bone mass accrual, but previous studies have focused on elite sporting activity and have used dual energy X-ray absorptiometry as a measure of bone density. The authors performed a narrative systematic review of individual sports (performed non-competitively or at local level) and calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (cQUS) bone measures in young people.Methods: multiple databases were systematically searched up until the 31st of March 2019. The authors included studies of participants' mean age (11–35 years), reporting any level of recreational sporting activity and cQUS measures as well as excluding elite/professional sporting physical activity. Studies (title and abstract) were screened independently by two reviewers, and a third reviewer resolved any discrepancies. STROBE guidelines were used to check the reporting of observational studies. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to assess the risk of bias of the studies included in the review. The systematic review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO).Results: a search yielded 29,512 articles that considered relationships between bone density assessed by any technique and sporting activity. Duplicate and out of scope abstracts were removed. This left 424 papers that were screened by two reviewers; of these, six met the inclusion criteria, including assessment by cQUS. The authors identified papers where sports were considered, included soccer (football), swimming, cycling, gymnastics, dancing, badminton, basketball, fencing, wrestling, and judokas. Although study heterogeneity prohibited meta-analysis, all six included studies reported significant benefits of weight-bearing non-elite sports on cQUS outcomes.Conclusion: our study found beneficial effects of non-elite sports participation on cQUS in adolescence and young adulthood, although further work is now indicated.

This paper presents data on the sexual health perspectives of young British Bangladeshis and their mothers. It discusses the implications of these data for the development of appropriate sexual health education. Between April and September 2006, 36 young people and 25 mothers of Bangladeshi young people were interviewed through seven focus group discussions. Groups were gender and age specific (16-18 years, 19-20 years and mothers). Recruitment took place in community-based organisations in an inner city London borough. Mothers expressed concern about pre-marital sex but felt unable to control out-of-home activity. Feelings of isolation, lack of control and communication difficulties were key issues for them. Young people had varied perspectives on pre-marital sex. Some experienced emotional conflict between what was expected of them in terms of their faith and their engagement in intimate relationships. Both the young people and mothers highlighted the need for sex and relationship education to take account of cultural perspectives and the involvement of parents and the wider community. However, parents and community representatives require information and communication support to enable this involvement. Sex and relationships education content needs to be inclusive, have both secular and faith perspectives and engage where relevant with local communities.

Summary Fibrinolytic activity is known to be markedly diminished during pregnancy. Blood lipids are also significantly altered during pregnancy but to a different extent in different ethnic groups in Uganda. A study of fibrinolytic activity and blood lipids in African, Asian and European women (non-pregnant and pregnant) showed no relationship between the changes in these two parameters and did not suggest that altered blood lipid levels are responsible for abnormal fibrinolytic activity in pregnancy.