Issue addressed:International studies have consistently found that exposure to air pollutants is higher inside cars than outside. However, few studies have compared personal exposure to air pollutants by travel mode focusing on usual travel patterns. Objectives:To compare the exposure to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) for commuters in central Sydney for five different commuting modes.Methods: Forty-four volunteers were recruited into one of five travel mode groups: car, train, bus, bicycle and walking. Each participant travelled for at least 30 minutes by their usual mode of travel to the area around Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, in central Sydney. Each participant wore BTEX and NO 2 passive sampling apparatus during their travel to and from work for two weeks, following specific instructions to measure personal exposure. Results:The highest pollutant levels for all four BTEX pollutants were found for car commuters. Train commuters recorded the lowest pollutant levels for all four BTEX pollutants and NO 2 , and these levels were significantly lower than that for car commuters. Commuting by bus recorded the highest levels for NO 2 . Walking and cycling commuters had significantly lower levels of exposure to benzene compared with car commuters and significantly lower levels of NO 2 than bus commuters. Conclusions:The results of this study are consistent with the findings of studies in other cities and found elevated levels of exposure to motor vehicle-related pollutants in roadway microenvironments. Strategies that encourage commuting by train, walking and cycling should be supported as this reduces population exposure to motor vehicle-related pollutants.

We conducted a systematic review to evaluate combinations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep duration and their associations with physical, psychological and educational outcomes in children and adolescents. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, SPORTDiscus, PubMed, EMBASE, and ERIC were searched in June 2020. Included studies needed to 1) quantitatively analyze the association of two or more movement behaviors with an outcome, 2) analyze a population between 5-17 years old, and 3) include at least an English abstract. We included 141 studies. Most studies included the combination of physical activity and sedentary behavior in their analyzes. Sleep was studied less frequently. In combination, high physical activity and low sedentary behavior were associated with the best physical health, psychological health, and education-related outcomes. Sleep was often in the combination that was associated with the most favorable outcomes. Sedentary behavior had a stronger influence in adolescents than children and tended to be associated more negatively with outcomes when it was defined as screen time than overall time spent being sedentary. More initiatives and guidelines combining all three movement behaviors will benefit adiposity, cardiometabolic risk factors, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular physical fitness, well-being, health-related quality of life, mental health, academic performance, and cognitive/executive function.

A high percentage of young people not attending school in the Pacific island nations of Vanuatu, Tonga and the Federated States of Micronesia are at risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs, including HIV, because of patterns of sexual risk behaviour.

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