Study Highlight: Middle-school children in New York City were less likely to be absent from school after they became more physically fit, particularly for girls attending schools in high poverty neighborhoods. Embargoed until 3 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT Wed., March 6, 2019 (NewMediaWire) - March 06, 2019 - HOUSTON - Increasing physical fitness among middle-school children attending schools in New York City was associated with decreasing absenteeism from school, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2019, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population-based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians. “In a previous study we found a strong relationship between middle schoolers’ health-related fitness improvement and school absenteeism reduction. In this study, we looked specifically at whether the fitness-absenteeism relationship changed in middle schoolers exposed to different types of poverty,” said study author Emily D'Agostino, Dr.P.H., M.S., M.Ed., M.A., senior researcher and epidemiologist, Miami-Dade County Dept of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces in Miami, Florida. “We found that children who started the study as chronically absent were no longer missing enough school to be at high risk for the negative factors associated with chronic absenteeism, such as substance abuse, increased rates of teen pregnancy or juvenile delinquency,” D’Agostino said. “We saw the biggest improvements for youth attending schools in high poverty neighborhoods and in girls attending schools with a high proportion of students qualifying for free/reduced-price school meals.” Researchers studied available information on more than 360,000 6th through 8th graders in public schools within the five boroughs of New York City over a seven-year period, all of whom received annual physical fitness assessments. Of that group, 67 percent were black or Hispanic, 51 percent were male, and 69 percent qualified for free or reduced-price school lunches. Poverty was assessed by individual student household income, percent of students qualifying for free/reduced-price school meals and/or by neighborhood statistics. Although all students showed reductions in absenteeism if they had improvements in fitness, boys and girls experiencing high poverty in their home, school and/or neighborhood experienced a dose-response relationship between being more fit and being less likely to be absent from school. Girls in high-poverty neighborhoods experienced the greatest reduction in absenteeism – an 11 percent improvement in attendance a year after they had a large increase in physical fitness. The findings point to the need for more research looking at interventions that might help all children and teens – particularly those exposed to poverty – to improve their fitness and how those interventions impact absenteeism. The American Heart Association recommends providing all students with 150 minutes per week of physical education in elementary schools and 225 minutes per week in middle schools and high schools. Co-authors are: Sophia E. Day, M.A.; Kevin J. Konty, Ph.D.; and Katarzyna Wyka, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the abstract. This study did not receive outside funding. Additional Resources: Multimedia including AHA volunteer expert, Penny M. Kris-Etherton, PhD, RDN, LDN, FAHA, offers perspective (via Zoom). Download and transcript available on the right side of the release link https://newsroom.heart.org/news/improving-physical-fitness-strongly-linked-to-lower-absenteeism-for-new-york-city-middle-schoolers?preview=cb07f38c568582b2ef3ba975e6231b5b How Can I Help My Child Be More Physically Active For more news from AHA EPI Lifestyle Conference 2019, follow us on @HeartNewsTwitter #EPILifestyle19. Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The ...
Study Highlights: Even in middle age, adding healthy plant foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables to your diet may reduce the risk of death from heart disease and other causes. In contrast, adding less healthy plant-based foods such as sugary beverages, potatoes, refined grains and sweets may increase the risk. Embargoed until 3 p.m. CT/ 4 p.m. ET, Wednesday, March 6, 2019 (NewMediaWire) - March 06, 2019 - HOUSTON - As long as you don’t count French fries and soda as healthy choices, it’s never too late to increase your longevity and cut your risk of heart disease death by adding fruits and vegetables to your diet, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2019, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians. “Not all plant-based diets are equal, but boosting the intake of high-quality plant-based foods over time lowers the risk of death even among people who started off with poor-quality diets,” said Megu Y. Baden, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Previous studies have shown that eating a high-quality plant-based diet can reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, but this is the first to look at how positive or negative changes in diet may influence a person’s risk of dying – no matter where they started. In the current study, researchers developed three diet scales that took into account the overall consumption of plant-based foods, the consumption of healthful plant-based foods (such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts), and the consumption of lower-quality plant-based foods (such as fruit juices, refined grains, potatoes and sweets). The study included 47,983 women (average age 64 years) participating in the Nurses’ Health Study and 25,737 men (average age 64 years) participating in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. None had a history of heart disease or cancer when they entered the study in 1998. Using dietary reports, participants were assessed on changes in their diet over the 12 years prior to entering the study. Compared to those who had fairly stable diets, during a 12-year follow-up period (1998-2014) the researchers found that deaths from all causes were: 8 percent lower in those with the biggest increase in an overall plant-based diet; 10 percent lower in those with the biggest increase in a healthy plant-based diet; 11 percent higher in those with the biggest increase in an unhealthy plant-based diet. A 10-point increase in score on the healthy plant-based diet scale (which can be achieved for example by replacing 1 serving/day intake of refined grains with whole grains, increasing fruit intake by 1 serving/day and vegetable intake by 1 serving/day, and decreasing sugary beverage intake by 1 serving/day) was associated with a 10 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, while a 10-point increase in score on the unhealthy plant-based diet scale was associated with a 6 percent high risk of cardiovascular-disease death. “Over a period of time, consuming more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, while decreasing your intake of refined grains, sweets and desserts, and animal foods such as animal fat meat, and miscellaneous animal-based foods, may lower your risk of death from heart disease and other causes,” Baden said. Results were adjusted for several factors, including age, race, initial diet score, body mass index, weight change, family history of diabetes, heart attack, or cancer, heart disease risk factors, medications, menopausal status and hormone use, initial and changes in smoking and other lifestyle influences, and weight change. Because the study was not a randomized trial, it cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the dietary changes and the risk of death. Although there is no reason to think that consuming ...
Barcelona, SPAIN - (NewMediaWire) - March 06, 2019 - A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by Martin Peronnet, General Manager of Monaco Telecom and Weiliang Shi, General Manager of Huawei France during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This new strategic partnership aims to accelerate deployment of “Smart City” services in the Principality, in line with the “5G Smart Nation” project decided by Monaco. Specifically, Monaco Telecom and Huawei will work closely together to develop technology and marketing solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and the cloud in order to offer a wide range of services for the benefit of Monaco residents.In particular, Monaco Telecom will be able to rely on Huawei's 5G and NB-IoT networks deployed in the Principality of Monaco and on the test Cloud platform based in Dusseldorf in Germany, the next step consisting to deploy a dedicated platform in the Principality.The agreement is following the global partnership initiated in 2012 between the Monaco operator and Huawei which has already allowed the launch of the first fixed 1Gpbs service in the world in 2016 and mobile in 2017. In September 2018, the two companies signed an agreement to make Monaco the first country fully covered by the 5G.“Huawei is a historical technology partner of Monaco Telecom. This new agreement is a new step for our cooperation. We are very proud to help develop new major technological innovations serving businesses and Monaco residents to make the Principality a truly 5G ‘Smart’ Nation,” said Weiliang Shi, General Manager of Huawei France.“We are particularly pleased that Huawei continues to choose Monaco to deploy its latest technologies. The Principality is ground for innovation, which is now leading its digital transformation. It is very important to be able to rely on our major partners to succeed at this stage and offer high-performance services to residents, to the businesses, and to Government services,” said Martin Péronnet, General Manager of Monaco Telecom.MWC 2019 runs from February 25 to February 28 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei showcases its products and solutions at booth 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1, booth 3I30 in Hall 3, the Innovation City zone in Hall 4, booth 7C21 and 7C31 in Hall 7. For more information, please visit http://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2019John Leung John.leung@wmglobal.com
Barcelona, SPAIN - (NewMediaWire) - March 06, 2019 - Maxis, the leading converged communications and digital services company in Malaysia and Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during 2019 Mobile World Congress. Both parties will collaborate to accelerate 5G in Malaysia. This MoU aims to cooperate on full-fledged 5G trials with end-to-end systems and services.Signing on behalf of Maxis were Gokhan Ogut, CEO-designate and Morten Bangsgaard, Chief Technology Officer. Meanwhile, Huawei was represented by its Rotating Chairman, Guo Ping, its President of Southern Pacific Region, Jeffery Liu and its CEO of Malaysia, Michael Yuan.Gokhan Ogut said: “Maxis has long started its 5G journey, and we are already focusing on live trials, investments and evolving our network infrastructure to be ready for a future where smart solutions will be part of everyday life. We are pleased to be working with world-class technology leader and long term partner Huawei on our 5G trials, and to be a pioneer in bringing the latest technologies to Malaysia once again. At Maxis, we have been maintaining our network leadership in terms of speed, quality and performance in Malaysia, and we look forward to delivering the best 5G innovation for both consumers and businesses for the future.”Michael Yuan said: “We would like to thank Maxis for years of trust and support. The development of 5G needs the cooperation of all different partners, working together to innovate together. We are very happy to sign this MoU with Maxis, which shows the commitment of both companies to the future of 5G in Malaysia. As a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure, Huawei is committed to helping Maxis to expand the boundaries of their business and find paths to new growth with our full-series, all-scenario simplified 5G products. We have signed over 30 commercial contracts as of now and shipped more than 40,000 5G base stations across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.”MWC 2019 runs from February 25 to February 28 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei showcases its products and solutions at booth 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1, booth 3I30 in Hall 3, the Innovation City zone in Hall 4, booth 7C21 and 7C31 in Hall 7. For more information, please visit http://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2019John Leung John.leung@wmglobal.com
Barcelona, SPAIN - (NewMediaWire) - March 6, 2019 - At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, Huawei unveiled their next-generation Data Center Interconnect (DCI) transmission solution. The solution aims to build an ultra-broadband, simplified, and intelligent DCI network by leveraging 600G/wavelength, OXC all-optical switching, and Network Cloud Engine (NCE) technologies.Cloud computing and Big Data are driving a new round of ICT transformation, and data centers (DCs) are becoming new hotspots for investment. Due to space limitations, DCs are often widely distributed. Therefore, DCI is required to provide high-speed and non-blocking data transmission and switching, which forms a logical resource pool to provide consistent cloud services. DCI has contributed to record levels of traffic and posed unprecedented challenges to technological innovation. On one hand, due to an upsurge in traffic between DCs, bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. On the other hand, ultra-large data backup and fast traffic migration between cloud DCs require network meshing for DCI. Connections in more degrees increase both fiber connections and the complexity of the optical-layer configuration. Furthermore, the dynamic migration of cloud service virtual machines (VMs) constantly changes the DC load. Network traffic becomes dynamic and unpredictable, resulting in frequent service setup and teardown.To address these challenges, Huawei's next-generation DCI transmission solution integrates three innovative technologies: 600G/wavelength, OXC all-optical switching, and NCE, leading DCI networks into an ultra-broadband, simplified, and intelligent AI era:Ultra-broadband: 600G/wavelength and 48T/fiber ultra-high capacity. Based on the algorithm accumulation of Huawei-developed optical digital signal processor (oDSP) chips, Huawei combines channel-matched shaping (CMS) and optical-layer AI neuron technologies to build 600G commercial capabilities. Single-wavelength 600G will enable ultra-high-speed cloud interconnection, thus to activate the value of ultra-broadband connection.Simplification: The OXC all-optical switching technology builds a simplified optical layer. The all-optical backplane supports 32-degree wavelength switching and high integration. With the application of One Direction One Unit (1D1U), one board integrates the functions of multiple boards, such as multiplexer/demultiplexer, OA, and optical supervisory boards. This greatly reduces the number of boards required and simplifies internal fiber connections.Intelligence: The NCE uniformly manages network-wide resources and enables one-click service provisioning and automatic hitless bandwidth adjustment, making the network more flexible and intelligent to adapt to rapid changes in cloud services.At the unveiling event, Huawei invited partners German Access, and Netherland's Tallgrass to share their thoughts on DCI development and network construction challenges.Reindert Hommes said, "The Netherlands is the traffic exchange center of Western Europe. Cloud-based service providers and MTDCs choose Amsterdam to set up data centers."The CEO of the Netherlands' Tallgrass also added, "Dozens of data centers have been built in Amsterdam. Although network meshing increases the connection density and complexity, Huawei's all-optical switching OXC greatly simplifies fiber connections and optical-layer configurations. The traffic growth between data centers goes beyond our provisioning, using 600G technology will reduce the cost per bit and build a more competitive DCI network."Lothar Frischholz, the CTO of Germany's German Access, said, "The cloudification of enterprises in Germany is occurring rapidly, and the network must adapt to the rapid migration of cloud services. DCI networks require more flexible service grooming, while the NCE provides flexible and intelligent network capabilities.""Huawei attaches paramount importance to DCI in next-generation networks and continuously accelerates technological innovation. Huawei's introduction of CMS addresses the difficulties in deploying 600G commercially. ...
Barcelona, SPAIN - (NewMediaWire) - March 6, 2019 - At MWC 2019, Huawei released a symmetric 10G PON ONT with the industry's highest Wi-Fi rate, EchoLife V5 X Pro. It delivers 10 Gbps bidirectional ultra-fast transmission, zero-freezing Wi-Fi experience, and seamless coverage of an entire residence, providing users with carrier-class home Wi-Fi experience.In the Internet of Everything era, emerging services such as 4K/8K, VR, and online gaming are becoming popular in homes. This stimulates explosive growth of data traffic in operator networks and poses great challenges to existing home networks. Key problems include insufficient network bandwidth causing poor user experience, broadband service limitations due to experience bottlenecks, and 30%-60% of user experience complaints related to Wi-Fi. With 80% of home data traffic carried over Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi network quality has become an urgent issue for operators.Huawei's symmetric 10G PON ONT EchoLife V5 X Pro is an innovative product designed to solve key problems affecting home user experience, such as frequent signal conflict, strong interference, poor coverage, and low Wi-Fi rate. This product allows operators to build home Wi-Fi networks with ultimate experience.10 Gbps bidirectional ultra-fast transmission: The EchoLife V5 X Pro gateway supports smooth evolution from GPON to 10G PON and provides up to 10 Gbps wired transmission in both upstream and downstream directions, enabling super gigabit broadband access for high-bandwidth services such as home video, entertainment, VR, gaming, and private line.Ultimate Wi-Fi experience with zero freezing: The EchoLife V5 X Pro gateway features the industry's most advanced Wi-Fi 6 technology with an air interface rate of up to 6 Gbps, four times that of Wi-Fi 5. The unique dual-4x4 high-performance omnidirectional antenna array design reduces attenuation from walls by 25%. It also supports the highest 160 MHz spectrum bandwidth in the industry, and intelligently avoids busy channels by using radar channel scanning to help users connect to the fastest Wi-Fi channel. A proprietary optimization algorithm is used to shorten Wi-Fi transmission delay to less than 7 ms, eliminate stalling and delay, and ensure ultimate user experience for cutting-edge immersive services such as 4K/8K IPTV, online gaming, and cloud VR.Ubiquitous coverage for large residences: In large residences where Wi-Fi signals of a single ONT cannot cover the entire space, the EchoLife V5 X Pro gateway supports the PremiumWi-Fi solution to flexibly mesh network with a series of edge ONT products. This extends Wi-Fi coverage, providing ubiquitous high-speed broadband experience. PremiumWi-Fi uses a cloud management platform to visually monitor Wi-Fi performance in real time, help operator detect Wi-Fi faults with one click, and reduce home visits for troubleshooting by 30%, significantly reducing O&M costs.Using Huawei EchoLife V5 X Pro, operators can smoothly upgrade to 10G PON networks, providing users with premium home Wi-Fi experience. More than 380 million fixed terminal products of Huawei Transmission & Access Product Line have already been deployed in more than 100 countries and region worldwide. Huawei's continuous innovation leads the fixed access industry into the 10G PON era and helps operators succeed in business.John Leung John.leung@wmglobal.com
