Pinsent Masons (United Kingdom)

A sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In 2003 the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) reported that 52.8% of Americans did not meet recommended guidelines for moderate physical activity. Pedometers are becoming increasingly popular as a means of increasing physical activity, particularly that which is ambulatory in nature. One of the benefits of wearing a pedometer is acquiring instant feedback. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine whether feedback from a pedometer would result in an increase in ambulatory physical activity. METHODS Thirty sedentary subjects, six men and twenty-four women, (46±12 yr., mean ± SD) and BMI, (30.6±6.1 kg[[Unsupported Character - #]]m −2) were recruited to wear a New Lifestyles NL-2000 pedometer (capable of storing up to 7 days worth of data), for a total of twelve days. Subjects were divided into two groups. One group received feedback and recorded the number of steps taken four times per day on a log card for the first six days, however did not look at the pedometer recording during the second six days. The other group did not receive feedback for the first six days, and then used the record form to log their steps over the second six-day period. The order of whether or not subjects received feedback from the pedometer the first or second six days was randomized. Prior to the study, subjects were not given a recommendation as to how many steps per day they should accumulate. The number of daily steps per day for each condition was recorded at the end of each six-day period. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and correlation. RESULTS No order effect was observed, thus data were grouped according to feedback or no-feedback conditions. Subjects accumulated an average of 7,409±384 steps per day during the feedback week and 7,041±374 steps per day during the non-feedback week; however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.27). When feedback and non-feedback days were combined and averaged for each subject, there were no significant correlations between steps per day and BMI (r = −0.33) or age (r = −0.33). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that feedback from a pedometer resulted in a modest, yet insignificant, increase in the number of steps per day in a sedentary, adult population.

The use of email and project collaboration websites for construction project communications is now relatively common. However, these communications generally operate without contractual support, resulting in a number of potentially serious legal implications—such as validity of contract notices, ownership of data and intellectual property rights. This paper reports on findings from eLEGAL, an EU-funded research project to enable the legally admissible use of information and communication technology in construction projects.

The financial services industries is facing a number of important legal developments. The most publicised of these is the coming into force on 1st March, 2000 of the new Data Protection Act 1998. This is going to have a profound impact on the way in which businesses process personal data. It will, for the first time ever, apply to personal data stored in certain manual files and it will also regulate trans‐border data flows and restrict the processing of a special category of sensitive personal data. Information is the lifeblood of any business. There is no doubt that this Act is going to regulate the flow of that information and all its uses. Other developments in the pipeline include the proposed European Union Directive on the distance selling of financial services to consumers and the various legislative provisions which are being put in place to deal with the huge surge in on‐line transactions.

Immunomagnetic selection of epithelial cells from peripheral blood was combined with flowcytometric or microscopic analysis to characterize and enumerate epithelium derived tumor cells in the circulation of patients with carcinoma of the breast. Highly significant differences in the number of circulating epithelial cells were found between normal controls and patients with breast cancer. In addition, significant differences in the number of circulating epithelial cells were found in patients in whom the tumor is confined to the primary tumor and those with metastatic disease to local lymphnodes or distant sites [1]. The malignant nature of the cells was demonstrated by their cytology and immunophenotype. In following up the number of epithelial cells in the blood of patients with metastatic carcinoma of the breast, it was shown that it was well correlated with the activity of the disease.