Protocol to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an environmental nutrition and physical activity intervention in nurseries (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment for Child Care - NAP SACC UK): a multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: One in seven UK children have obesity when starting school, with higher prevalence associated with deprivation. Most pre-school children do not meet UK recommendations for physical activity and nutrition. Formal childcare settings provide opportunities to deliver interventions to improve nutritional quality and physical activity to the majority of 3-4-year-olds. The nutrition and physical activity self-assessment for childcare (NAP SACC) intervention has demonstrated effectiveness in the USA with high acceptability in the UK. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the NAP SACC UK intervention to increase physical activity, reduce sedentary time and improve nutritional intake. METHODS: Multi-centre cluster RCT with process and economic evaluation. Participants are children aged 2 years or over, attending UK early years settings (nurseries) for ≥ 12 h/week or ≥ 15 h/week during term time and their parents, and staff at participating nurseries. The 12-month intervention involves nursery managers working with a Partner (public health practitioner) to self-assess policies and practices relating to physical activity and nutrition; nursery staff attending one physical activity and one nutrition training workshop and setting goals to be achieved within 6 months. The Partner provides support and reviews progress. Nursery staff receive a further workshop and new goals are set, with Partner support for a further 6 months. The comparator is usual practice. Up to 56 nurseries will be stratified by area and randomly allocated to intervention or comparator arm with minimisation of differences in level of deprivation. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: accelerometer-assessed mean total activity time on nursery days and average total energy (kcal) intake per eating occasion of lunch and morning/afternoon snacks consumed within nurseries. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: accelerometer-assessed mean daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time per nursery day, total physical activity on nursery days compared to non-nursery days, average serving size of lunch and morning/afternoon snacks in nursery per day, average percentage of core and non-core food in lunch and morning/afternoon snacks, zBMI, proportion of children who are overweight/obese and child quality-of-life. A process evaluation will examine fidelity, acceptability, sustainability and context. An economic evaluation will compare costs and consequences from the perspective of the local government, nursery and parents. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN33134697, 31/10/2019.

Parents' perceptions of children's emotional well-being during spring 2020 COVID-19 restrictions: A qualitative study with parents of young children in England.

BACKGROUND: During COVID-19 restrictions in England in spring 2020, early years settings for young children were closed to all but a small percentage of families, social contact was limited and play areas in parks were closed. Concerns were raised about the impact of these restrictions on young children's emotional well-being. The aim of this study was to explore parents' perceptions of young children's emotional well-being during these COVID-19 restrictions. METHODS: We interviewed 20 parents of children 3-4 years due to begin school in England in September 2020. Interviews were conducted via telephone (n = 18) and video call (n = 2), audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interviews focused on childcare arrangements, children's behaviour and transition to school. A sample of transcripts were coded line by line to create a coding framework, which was subsequently applied to the remaining transcripts. Coded data were then analysed using a nurture lens to develop themes and further understanding. RESULTS: Participants were predominantly mothers (n = 16), White British (n = 10) and educated to degree level (n = 13), with half the sample living in the highest deprivation quintile in England (n = 10). Five were single parents. Three themes developed from nurturing principles were identified: creating age-appropriate explanations, understanding children's behaviour and concerns about school transition. Parents reported that their children's emotional well-being was impacted and described attempts to support their young children while looking ahead to their transition to primary school. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to examine in-depth perceptions of COVID-19 restrictions on young children's emotional well-being. The longer term impacts are not yet understood. Although young children may be unable to understand in detail what the virus is, they undoubtedly experience the disruption it brings to their lives. The well-being of families and children needs to be nurtured as they recover from the effects of the pandemic to allow them to thrive.

Protocol to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an environmental nutrition and physical activity intervention in nurseries (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment for Child Care - NAP SACC UK): a multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background One in seven UK children have obesity when starting school, with higher prevalence associated with deprivation. Most pre-school children do not meet UK recommendations for physical activity and nutrition. Formal childcare settings provide opportunities to deliver interventions to improve nutritional quality and physical activity to the majority of 3-4-year-olds. The nutrition and physical activity self-assessment for childcare (NAP SACC) intervention has demonstrated effectiveness in the USA with high acceptability in the UK. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the NAP SACC UK intervention to increase physical activity, reduce sedentary time and improve nutritional intake. Methods Multi-centre cluster RCT with process and economic evaluation. Participants are children aged 2 years or over, attending UK early years settings (nurseries) for ≥ 12 hours/week or ≥ 15 hours/week during term time and their parents, and staff at participating nurseries. The 12-month intervention involves nursery managers working with a Partner (public health practitioner) to self-assess policies and practices relating to physical activity and nutrition; nursery staff attending one physical activity and one nutrition training workshop and setting goals to be achieved within six months. The Partner provides support and reviews progress. Nursery staff receive a further workshop and new goals are set, with Partner support for a further six months. The comparator is usual practice. Up to 56 nurseries will be stratified by area and randomly allocated to intervention or comparator arm with minimisation of differences in level of deprivation. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: accelerometer-assessed mean total activity time on nursery days and average total energy (kcal) intake per eating occasion of lunch and morning/afternoon snacks consumed within nurseries. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: accelerometer-assessed mean daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time per nursery day, total physical activity on nursery days compared to non-nursery days, average serving size of lunch and morning/afternoon snacks in nursery per day, average percentage of core and non-core food in lunch and morning/afternoon snacks, zBMI, proportion of children who are overweight/obese and child quality-of-life. A process evaluation will examine fidelity, acceptability, sustainability and context. An economic evaluation will compare costs and consequences from the perspective of the local government, nursery and parents. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN33134697.

Creation of a Pilot School Health Research Network in an English Education Infrastructure to Improve Adolescent Health and Well-Being: A Study Protocol.

Schools play a significant role in promoting health and well-being and the reciprocal links between health and educational attainment are well-evidenced. Despite recognition of the beneficial impact of school-based health improvement programmes, significant barriers to improving health and well-being within schools remain. This study pilots a School Health Research Network in the South West of England (SW-SHRN), a systems-based health intervention bringing together schools, academic health researchers and public health and/or education teams in local authorities to share knowledge and expertise to improve the health and well-being of young people. A maximum of 20 secondary schools will be recruited to the pilot SW-SHRN. All students in Years 8 (age 12-13) and 10 (age 14-15) will be invited to complete a health and well-being questionnaire, generating a cohort of approximately 5000 adolescents. School environment questionnaires will also be completed with each school to build a regional picture of existing school health policies and programmes. Each school will be provided with a report summarising data for their students benchmarked against data for all schools in the network. Quantitative analysis will model associations between health risk behaviours and mental health outcomes and a qualitative process evaluation will explore the feasibility and sustainability of the network. This study will create adolescent health data to help provide schools and local authorities with timely and robust information on the health and well-being of their students and help them to identify areas in which public health interventions may be required. SW-SHRN will also help public health professionals focus their resources in the areas most at need.

Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on preschool children's eating, activity and sleep behaviours: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: In spring 2020, the first COVID-19 national lockdown placed unprecedented restrictions on the behaviour and movements of the UK population. Citizens were ordered to 'stay at home', only allowed to leave their houses to buy essential supplies, attend medical appointments or exercise once a day. We explored how lockdown and its subsequent easing changed young children's everyday activities, eating and sleep habits to gain insight into the impact for health and well-being. DESIGN: In-depth qualitative interviews; data analysed using thematic analysis. SETTING: South West and West Midlands of England. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty parents (16 mothers; 4 fathers) of preschool-age children (3-5 years) due to start school in September 2020. Forty per cent of the sample were from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds and half lived in the most deprived areas. RESULTS: Children's activity, screen time, eating and sleep routines had been disrupted. Parents reported children ate more snacks, but families also spent more time preparing meals and eating together. Most parents reported a reduction in their children's physical activity and an increase in screen time, which some linked to difficulties in getting their child to sleep. Parents sometimes expressed guilt about changes in activity, screen time and snacking over lockdown. Most felt these changes would be temporary, though others worried about re-establishing healthy routines. CONCLUSIONS: Parents reported that lockdown negatively impacted on preschool children's eating, activity and sleep routines. While some positive changes were identified, many participants described lack of routines, habits and boundaries which may have been detrimental for child health and development. Guidance and support for families during COVID-19 restrictions could be valuable to help maintain healthy activity, eating, screen time and sleeping routines to protect child health and ensure unhealthy habits are not adopted.

Physical Activity and Psychosocial Characteristics of the Peer Supporters in the PLAN-A Study-A Latent Class Analysis.

PLAN-A is a cluster randomised controlled trial of a peer-led physical activity intervention which uses peer supporters to increase the physical activity of 13-14-year-old girls in the UK. This paper uses latent class analysis to identify classes in the whole study population and investigate how those selected as peer supporters in PLAN-A were drawn from different social groups. We identified five classes of girls, based on psychosocial variables (self-esteem, physical activity self-efficacy, motivation, physical activity values among friends and peer support for physical activity (PA) and physical activity behaviour variables (average minutes of weekday MVPA, sedentary time and screen viewing). Peer supporters were similar to the whole study population in terms of overall demographics, but were drawn unequally from the five classes. In addition, there was considerable variation in the distribution of peer supporters between schools. The selection of peer supporters is an integral component of peer-led interventions and should be explored and linked to underlying theory to understand the characteristics of those recruited. However, demographic representativeness is not necessarily the aim, and simple reporting of overall demographic comparisons may mask important differences within subgroups.

Mitochondrial DNA reveals multiple Northern Hemisphere introductions of Caprella mutica (Crustacea, Amphipoda).

Caprella mutica (Crustacea, Amphipoda) has been widely introduced to non-native regions in the last 40 years. Its native habitat is sub-boreal northeast Asia, but in the Northern Hemisphere, it is now found on both coasts of North America, and North Atlantic coastlines of Europe. Direct sequencing of mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene) was used to compare genetic variation in native and non-native populations of C. mutica. These data were used to investigate the invasion history of C. mutica and to test potential source populations in Japan. High diversity (31 haplotypes from 49 individuals), but no phylogeographical structure, was identified in four populations in the putative native range. In contrast, non-native populations showed reduced genetic diversity (7 haplotypes from 249 individuals) and informative phylogeographical structure. Grouping of C. mutica populations into native, east Pacific, and Atlantic groups explained the most among-region variation (59%). This indicates independent introduction pathways for C. mutica to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. Two dominant haplotypes were identified in eastern and western Atlantic coastal populations, indicating several dispersal routes within the Atlantic. The analysis indicated that several introductions from multiple sources were likely to be responsible for the observed global distribution of C. mutica, but the pathways were least well defined among the Atlantic populations. The four sampled populations of C. mutica in Japan could not be identified as the direct source of the non-native populations examined in this study. The high diversity within the Japan populations indicates that the native range needs to be assessed at a far greater scale, both within and among populations, to accurately assess the source of the global spread of C. mutica.

Environmental tolerance of Caprella mutica: implications for its distribution as a marine non-native species.

Physiological tolerances limit the distribution of marine species, with geographical ranges being set by environmental factors, such as temperature and salinity, which affect the rates of vital processes and survival of marine ectotherms. The physiological tolerances of the non-native marine amphipod Caprella mutica were investigated in laboratory experiments. Adult C. mutica were collected from a fish farm on the west coast of Scotland and exposed to a range of temperatures and salinities for 48 h. C. mutica were tolerant of a broad range of temperature and salinity conditions, with 100% mortality at 30 degrees C (48 h LT50, 28.3+/-0.4 degrees C), and salinities lower than 16 (48 h LC50, 18.7+/-0.2). Although lethargic at low temperatures (2 degrees C), no mortality was observed, and the species is known to survive at temperatures as low as -1.8 degrees C. The upper LC(50) was greater than the highest salinity tested (40), thus it is unlikely that salinity will limit the distribution of C. mutica in open coastal waters. However, the species will be excluded from brackish water environments such as the heads of sea lochs or estuaries. The physiological tolerances of C. mutica are beyond the physical conditions experienced in its native or introduced range and are thus unlikely to be the primary factors limiting its present distribution and future spread.

A new generation of biocides for control of crustacea in fish farms.

Farming of salmon has become a significant industry in many countries over the past two decades. A major challenge facing this sector is infestation of the salmon by sea lice. The main way of treating salmon for such infestations is the use of medicines such as organophosphates, pyrethrins, hydrogen peroxide or benzoylphenyl ureas. The use of these medicines in fish farms is, however, highly regulated due to concerns about contamination of the wider marine environment. In this paper we report the use of photochemically active biocides for the treatment of a marine copepod, which is a model of parasitic sea lice. Photochemical activation and subsequent photodegradation of PDAs may represent a controllable and environmentally benign option for control of these parasites or other pest organisms in aquaculture.

Diel vertical migration of Arctic zooplankton during the polar night.

High-latitude environments show extreme seasonal variation in physical and biological variables. The classic paradigm of Arctic marine ecosystems holds that most biological processes slow down or cease during the polar night. One key process that is generally assumed to cease during winter is diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton. DVM constitutes the largest synchronized movement of biomass on the planet, and is of paramount importance for marine ecosystem function and carbon cycling. Here we present acoustic data that demonstrate a synchronized DVM behaviour of zooplankton that continues throughout the Arctic winter, in both open and ice-covered waters. We argue that even during the polar night, DVM is regulated by diel variations in solar and lunar illumination, which are at intensities far below the threshold of human perception. We also demonstrate that winter DVM is stronger in open waters compared with ice-covered waters. This suggests that the biologically mediated vertical flux of carbon will increase if there is a continued retreat of the Arctic winter sea ice cover.

Seasonal variation in plankton community responses of mesocosms dosed with pentachlorophenol.

Seasonal variations in plankton community response to pentachlorophenol (PCP) were studied in four mesocosm experiments using enclosures in a small lake. The mesocosms (860 l) were dosed with single applications of technical grade PCP (0, 4, 10, 24, 36, 54, 81 and 121 microg/l PCP) and monitored for 20 days. Multivariate statistical analyses showed that plankton community taxonomic composition varied with season. In winter and spring, communities were most stable in time; species diversity and abundance were lowest in winter. Seasonally, the communities varied little with respect to the dominant species, which were the copepod Calamoecia lucasi, the alga Peridinium sp. and the rotifer Ascomorpha ovalis. The direct effects of the PCP additions varied little between seasons, but indirect effects were evident at lower treatment levels in autumn. Indirect effects were not evident in winter. Minor variations in plankton community responses to PCP with season were apparent in the following order of decreasing sensitivity; autumn > or = winter/spring > or = summer. At the species level, C. lucasi showed the largest response. The responses observed were greatest in autumn, with decreased abundance at PCP concentrations > or = 24 microg/l. In the other seasons, effects were observed at levels of 54 or 81 microg/l and higher. Ascomorpha ovalis was the most responding rotifer in winter and spring, whereas Anuraeopsis fissa responded more strongly in autumn and summer. The dinoflagellate alga Peridinium sp. had the largest negative response in all but winter, when Dinobryon cylindricum did. Cryptomonas sp. responded positively to PCP in all seasons, increasing in abundance in the highest treatments, possibly due to reduced grazing pressure, reduced competition, or increased decomposition. The plankton community no-observed effect-concentration (NOEC) was 24-36 microg/l PCP. Results reported here suggest that the Australian and New Zealand water quality guideline values for PCP are sufficient to protect plankton communities against adverse effects.