Our understanding of the relationship between physical activity and health is constantly evolving. Therefore, the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences convened a panel of experts to review the literature and produce guidelines that health professionals might use. In the ABC of Physical Activity for Health, A is for All healthy adults, B is for Beginners, and C is for Conditioned individuals. All healthy adults aged 18-65 years should aim to take part in at least 150 min of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, or at least 75 min of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week, or equivalent combinations of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities. Moderate-intensity activities are those in which heart rate and breathing are raised, but it is possible to speak comfortably. Vigorous-intensity activities are those in which heart rate is higher, breathing is heavier, and conversation is harder. Aerobic activities should be undertaken in bouts of at least 10 min and, ideally, should be performed on five or more days a week. All healthy adults should also perform muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week. Weight training, circuit classes, yoga, and other muscle-strengthening activities offer additional health benefits and may help older adults to maintain physical independence. Beginners should work steadily towards meeting the physical activity levels recommended for all healthy adults. Even small increases in activity will bring some health benefits in the early stages and it is important to set achievable goals that provide success, build confidence, and increase motivation. For example, a beginner might be asked to walk an extra 10 min every other day for several weeks to slowly reach the recommended levels of activity for all healthy adults. It is also critical that beginners find activities they enjoy and gain support in becoming more active from family and friends. Conditioned individuals who have met the physical activity levels recommended for all healthy adults for at least 6 months may obtain additional health benefits by engaging in 300 min or more of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or 150 min or more of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week, or equivalent combinations of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activities. Adults who find it difficult to maintain a normal weight and adults with increased risk of cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes may in particular benefit from going beyond the levels of activity recommended for all healthy adults and gradually progressing towards meeting the recommendations for conditioned individuals. Physical activity is beneficial to health with or without weight loss, but adults who find it difficult to maintain a normal weight should probably be encouraged to reduce energy intake and minimize time spent in sedentary behaviours to prevent further weight gain. Children and young people aged 5-16 years should accumulate at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per day, inclu...

IntroductionBreast cancer remains a significant scientific, clinical and societal challenge. This gap analysis has reviewed and critically assessed enduring issues and new challenges emerging from recent research, and proposes strategies for translating solutions into practice.MethodsMore than 100 internationally recognised specialist breast cancer scientists, clinicians and healthcare professionals collaborated to address nine thematic areas: genetics, epigenetics and epidemiology; molecular pathology and cell biology; hormonal influences and endocrine therapy; imaging, detection and screening; current/novel therapies and biomarkers; drug resistance; metastasis, angiogenesis, circulating tumour cells, cancer ‘stem’ cells; risk and prevention; living with and managing breast cancer and its treatment. The groups developed summary papers through an iterative process which, following further appraisal from experts and patients, were melded into this summary account.ResultsThe 10 major gaps identified were: (1) understanding the functions and contextual interactions of genetic and epigenetic changes in normal breast development and during malignant transformation; (2) how to implement sustainable lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and weight) and chemopreventive strategies; (3) the need for tailored screening approaches including clinically actionable tests; (4) enhancing knowledge of molecular drivers behind breast cancer subtypes, progression and metastasis; (5) understanding the molecular mechanisms of tumour heterogeneity, dormancy, de novo or acquired resistance and how to target key nodes in these dynamic processes; (6) developing validated markers for chemosensitivity and radiosensitivity; (7) understanding the optimal duration, sequencing and rational combinations of treatment for improved personalised therapy; (8) validating multimodality imaging biomarkers for minimally invasive diagnosis and monitoring of responses in primary and metastatic disease; (9) developing interventions and support to improve the survivorship experience; (10) a continuing need for clinical material for translational research derived from normal breast, blood, primary, relapsed, metastatic and drug-resistant cancers with expert bioinformatics support to maximise its utility. The proposed infrastructural enablers include enhanced resources to support clinically relevant in vitro and in vivo tumour models; improved access to appropriate, fully annotated clinical samples; extended biomarker discovery, validation and standardisation; and facilitated cross-discipline working.ConclusionsWith resources to conduct further high-quality targeted research focusing on the gaps identified, increased knowledge translating into improved clinical care should be achievable within five years.

Exercise therapy had large, clinically meaningful, short-term beneficial effects on QoL in women treated for breast cancer; this finding cannot be attributable to attention, given that the exercise-placebo group did not report similar effects relative to usual care.

Background: Healthy lifestyle behaviors could have a role in ameliorating some of the adverse effects of androgen suppression therapy (AST) in men with prostate cancer. The primary aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a tapered supervised exercise program in combination with dietary advice in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.Methods: Advanced prostate cancer patients receiving AST for a minimum of 6 months were randomized to a 12-week lifestyle program comprising aerobic and resistance exercise, plus dietary advice (n ¼ 25), or standard care (n ¼ 25). Exercise behavior, dietary macronutrient intake, quality of life, fatigue, functional fitness, and biomarkers associated with disease progression were assessed at baseline, after the intervention, and at 6 months.Results: The lifestyle group showed improvements in exercise behavior (P < 0.001), dietary fat intake (P ¼ 0.001), total energy intake (P ¼ 0.005), fatigue (P ¼ 0.002), aerobic exercise tolerance (P < 0.001), and muscle strength (P ¼ 0.033) compared with standard care controls. Although a high rate of attrition (44%) was observed at 6 months, the improvements in key health outcomes were sustained. No effects on clinical prostate cancer disease markers were observed.Conclusions: This preliminary evidence suggests that pragmatic lifestyle interventions have potential to evoke improvements in exercise and dietary behavior, in addition to other important health outcomes in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.Impact: This study shows for the first time that pragmatic lifestyle interventions are feasible and could have a positive impact on health behaviors and other key outcomes in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(4); 647-57. Ó2011 AACR.

Breast cancer is an increasing public health problem. Substantial advances have been made in the treatment of breast cancer, but the introduction of methods to predict women at elevated risk and prevent the disease has been less successful. Here, we summarize recent data on newer approaches to risk prediction, available approaches to prevention, how new approaches may be made, and the difficult problem of using what we already know to prevent breast cancer in populations. During 2012, the Breast Cancer Campaign facilitated a series of workshops, each covering a specialty area of breast cancer to identify gaps in our knowledge. The risk-and-prevention panel involved in this exercise was asked to expand and update its report and review recent relevant peer-reviewed literature. The enlarged position paper presented here highlights the key gaps in risk-and-prevention research that were identified, together with recommendations for action. The panel estimated from the relevant literature that potentially 50% of breast cancer could be prevented in the subgroup of women at high and moderate risk of breast cancer by using current chemoprevention (tamoxifen, raloxifene, exemestane, and anastrozole) and that, in all women, lifestyle measures, including weight control, exercise, and moderating alcohol intake, could reduce breast cancer risk by about 30%. Risk may be estimated by standard models potentially with the addition of, for example, mammographic density and appropriate single-nucleotide polymorphisms. This review expands on four areas: (a) the prediction of breast cancer risk, (b) the evidence for the effectiveness of preventive therapy and lifestyle approaches to prevention, (c) how understanding the biology of the breast may lead to new targets for prevention, and (d) a summary of published guidelines for preventive approaches and measures required for their implementation. We hope that efforts to fill these and other gaps will lead to considerable advances in our efforts to predict risk and prevent breast cancer over the next 10 years.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13058-014-0446-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Analysis 2.1. Comparison 2 Strength tests (all cancers), Outcome 1 Strength tests (all cancers, 12 weeks of follow-up)............... Analysis 2.2. Comparison 2 Strength tests (all cancers), Outcome 2 Strength tests (all cancers: 12 weeks of follow-up: sensitivity analysis

Abstract. The SNC (Shergotty-Nakhla-Chassigny) meteorites have recorded interactions between martian crustal fluids and the parent igneous rocks. The resultant secondary minerals -which comprise up to ~ 1 vol.% of the meteorites -provide information about the timing and nature of hydrous activity and atmospheric processes on Mars. We suggest that the most plausible models for secondary mineral formation involve the evaporation of low temperature o C) brines. This is consistent with the simple mineralogy of these assemblages -Fe-Mg-Ca carbonates, anhydrite, gypsum, halite, clays -and the chemical fractionation of Ca-to Mg-rich carbonate in ALH84001 'rosettes'. Longer-lived, and higher temperature, hydrothermal systems would have caused more silicate alteration than is seen and probably more complex mineral assemblages. Experimental and phase equilibria data on carbonate compositions similar to those present in the SNCs imply low temperatures of formation with cooling taking place over a short period of time (e.g. days). The ALH84001 carbonate also probably shows the effects of partial vapourisation and dehydration related to an impact event postdating the initial precipitation. This shock event may have led to the formation of sulphide and some magnetite in the Fe-rich outer parts of the rosettes.Radiometric dating (K-Ar, Rb-Sr) of the secondary mineral assemblages in one of the nakhlites (Lafayette) suggests that they formed between 0 and 670 Ma, and certainly long after the crystallisation of the host igneous rocks. Crystallisation of ALH84001 carbonate took place 0.5 Ga after the parent rock. These age ranges and the other research on these assemblages suggest that environmental conditions conducive to near-surface liquid water have been present on Mars periodically over the last ~1 Ga. This fluid activity cannot have been continuous over geological time because in that case much more silicate alteration would have taken place in the meteorite parent rocks and the soluble salts would probably not have been preserved.The secondary minerals could have been precipitated from brines with seawater-like composition, high bicarbonate contents and a weakly acidic nature. The co-existence of siderite (Fe-carbonate) and clays in the nakhlites suggests that the pCO 2 level in equilibrium with the parent brine may have been 50 mbar or more. The brines could have originated as flood waters which percolated through the top few hundred metres of the crust, releasing cations from the surrounding parent rocks. There is no spectroscopic or photographic evidence for extensive evaporite deposits on the current martian surface but some salt precipitation through solute concentration must have occurred as floodwaters associated with many of the martian channels ponded in low-lying areas. The high sulphur and chlorine concentrations of the martian soil have most likely resulted from aeolian redistribution of such aqueously-deposited salts and from reaction of the martian surface with volcanic acid volatiles. However, the SNC salt a...