Dr. Jennifer Gay’s collaborative project with UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant on active volunteering is featured in the latest news from the Public Service & Outreach office. Read the story here.

Congratulations to Dr. Rees-Punia, now a post-doctoral fellow at the American Cancer Society, for publishing part of her dissertation research. Here is the abstract from her recent publication:

Introduction
Excess sitting is a risk factor for early mortality. This may be resulting, at least in part, from the displacement of physical activity with sedentary behaviors. The purpose of this observational study was to examine the mortality risk reductions associated with replacing 30minutes/day sitting for an equivalent duration of light or moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Methods
Participants included 37,924 men and 54,617 women in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort, of which 14,415 men and 13,358 women died during follow-up (1999–2014). An isotemporal substitution approach to the Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CIs for mortality associated with the substitution of 30minutes/day self-reported sitting for light physical activity or MVPA. Analyses were conducted in 2018.

Results
Among the least active participants (≤17minutes/day MVPA), the replacement of 30minutes/day sitting with light physical activity was associated with a 14% mortality risk reduction (hazard ratio=0.86, 95% CI=0.81, 0.89) and replacement with MVPA was associated with a 45% mortality risk reduction (hazard ratio=0.55, 95% CI=0.47, 0.62). Similar associations were seen among moderately active participants (light physical activity replacement, hazard ratio=0.94, 95% CI=0.91, 0.97; MVPA replacement, hazard ratio=0.83, 95% CI=0.76, 0.88). However, for the most active (MVPA >38 minutes/day), substitution of sitting time with light physical activity or MVPA was not associated with a reduction in mortality risk (hazard ratio=1.00, 95% CI=0.97, 1.03, and hazard ratio=0.99, 95% CI=0.95, 1.02, respectively).

Conclusions
These findings suggest that the replacement of modest amounts of sitting time with even light physical activity may have the potential to reduce the risk of premature death among less active adults.

Catriona Geddes, Chantal LaFlamme, and Sarah Cherof presented the results of their research projects at the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) annual symposium this week.

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Chantal (left) and Sarah (right) presented sections from a systematic review of the literature on ability to climb stairs and mental well-being. They have been working all year on the systematic review with Dr. Gay and Dr. O’Connor (UGA-Kinesiology). A manuscript from this project was recently submitted for peer-reviewed publication.

Congratulations to all of you on your research successes!

New research has been published by Dr. Erika Rees-Punia, recent PACE Lab graduate, in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (January 2019 issue). Her work assess the reliability and validity of a sedentary time questionnaire in the Cancer Prevention Study-3 cohort. Great work Dr. Rees-Punia!

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Dr. Jennifer Gay has published a new article from her American Heart Association-funded project. Occupational Physical Activity Opposes Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Modern Replication of the Morris 1953 London Busmen Study was published in the latest issue of Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2019. 61(3), 177-182). We found that the people who were most active at work had smaller waist circumferences by nearly 13 centimeters relative to people who were sedentary at work. And their body fat percentage was more than 9 percentage points smaller as well. The article can be found on the publisher’s website.

Congratulations to PACE Lab doctoral student Marilyn Wolff for earning a Paper of the Year Award from the American Journal of Health Promotion! Her work, “Does Organizational and Coworker Support Moderate Diabetes Risk and Job Stress Among Employees?” describes the role of workplace supports on employee health outcomes. Award criteria includes studies that address a topic of timely importance to health promotion and the findings offer a unique contribution to the literature. Terrific work Marilyn!

Dr. Jennifer Gay and PACE Lab member Anita Reina have had abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine in Washington, DC. Anita will present on Body Image and Weight Management among Mexican American Adolescents: Differences by Sport Type. Dr. Gay will present work from her AHA-funded study, Physical Activity from Work and Waist Circumference: A Cross-Sectional Modern Replication of the Morris London Busmen Study. We hope to see you there!

Congratulations to PACE Lab team member, Chantal Laflamme, for being awarded a CURO Research Assistantship! The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities offers competitive assistantships each semester. The assistantship provides a stipend of $1,000 to support student participation on research projects. Chantal works with the PACE Lab on the PAL Program, and she is a co-author on a manuscript in preparation reviewing the health benefits of stair climbing. More information on CURO assistantships and the research symposium can be found at https://curo.uga.edu/.