A Twitter-delivered intervention for promoting physical activity among inactive women from a heart clinic was feasible, acceptable, and demonstrated preliminary efficacy in increasing daily active hours, daily total steps, and the ratio of sitting-to-moving from pre to post for the intervention compared with the control. Lessons learned from this pilot suggest that the next study should expand the recruitment pool, refine the intervention to increase group engagement, and select active hours, total steps, and ratio of sitting-to-movement as primary sedentary behavior measures.

A total of 10,264 adults with either knee (n=3796) or low back (n=6468) pain for at least three months were included in the study. Participants experienced a 68.45% average improvement in VAS pain between baseline intake and 12 weeks. In all, 73.04% (7497/10,264) participants completed the DCP into the final month. In total, 78.60% (5893/7497) of program completers (7144/10,264, 69.60% of all participants) achieved minimally important change in pain. Furthermore, the number of ET sessions and coaching interactions were both positively associated with improvement in pain, suggesting that the amount of engagement influenced outcomes. Secondary outcomes included a 57.9% and 58.3% decrease in depression and anxiety scores, respectively, and 61.5% improvement in work productivity. Finally, 3 distinct clusters of pain response trajectories were identified, which could be predicted with a mean 76% accuracy using baseline measures.

Vitamin D is a vital nutrient and hormone needed for many essential functions in overall health. There is growing literature examining the role of vitamin D not only in the general population but also in athletes. The most predominantly studied area of vitamin D pertains to bone health. Recently, there has been increased investigation into the relationship of vitamin D and stress fractures, including genetic polymorphisms, levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and bioavailable vitamin D. This review will address the most recent developments of vitamin D research and its important role in bone health in athletes.

Onset of psychosis is believed to be associated with neuronal dysregulation and degeneration. Reductions in brain volumes have been related in part to neuronal loss but more substantially to loss of neuronal connectivity, loss of dendritic spines, and reductions in supporting glial cells. These changes have been associated with alterations in neurotrophic factors in the brain. Recent evidence suggests that aggressive synaptic pruning may underlie onset of psychosis for some individuals (1). While reductions in regional brain volumes have been demonstrated in individuals in their first episode of schizophrenia, further deterioration has been shown to occur even after initiation of treatment (2, 3). The disruption of myelination has been proposed as one mechanism underlying these effects (4, 5). Duration of untreated psychosis is associated with both symptom severity and poor functional outcomes (6). Therefore, the time around onset of psychosis is considered a critical period when neuronal systems in the brain are vulnerable to deterioration, fragile, unstable, and in need of protection and, possibly, regeneration.