Instruments for measuring physical activity

描述(申请人提供)：体力活动消耗的能量是能量平衡和体重的重要组成部分。由于自由生活的人类从事的身体活动种类繁多，要准确测量人类身体活动的数量或能量成本一直是极具挑战性的。体力活动所消耗的能量由有目的的运动所消耗的能量和非运动活动所消耗的能量构成。后者甚至比前者更难衡量。由于大多数美国人从事的有目的的体育活动相对较少，消耗在体育活动上的大部分能量将通过整洁来消耗。 本申请中提出的研究重点是改进体力活动的量和能量成本的测量系统，并提出了测量非运动性体力活动和整洁的具体技术。我们建议开发一种新的高精度体力活动测量系统(PAMS)。PAMS将使用现成的组件和在通用软件程序中编写的宏来开发。PAMS将允许以低成本准确地测量体力活动，并将很容易为世界各地的调查人员所用。在具体目标#1中，我们建议开发PAMS，并使用将被限制在全房间间接量热计中的受试者来验证它。在具体目标2中，我们建议在自由生活的受试者中验证PAMS。然后，在具体目标#3中，我们将利用PAMS来开发瘦和肥胖受试者的标准化数据。在这个特定的目标中，我们将定义瘦人和肥胖者中的neat的组成部分。这不仅将是PAMS用户的基本信息，还将加深我们对体育活动及其组成部分如何影响肥胖的理解。 PAMS有可能使来自不同学科的研究人员能够准确和经济地测量体力活动。这应该使我们能够更好地界定体育活动在健康和疾病中的作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The energy expended in physical activity is an important component of energy balance and body weight. Because of the variety of physical activities that free-living humans undertake, it has been extremely challenging to obtain accurate measurements of either the amount or energy cost of human physical activity. The energy expended in physical activity consists of energy expended in purposeful exercise and the energy expended in non-exercise activity thermo genesis (NEAT). The latter is even more difficult to measure than the former. Since most Americans engage in relatively little purposeful physical activity, the majority of energy expended in physical activity will be through NEAT. The research proposed in this application focuses on improving measurement systems for amount and energy cost of physical activity, with specific techniques proposed for measuring non-exercise physical activity and NEAT. We propose to develop a new high-precision Physical Activity Measurement System (PAMS). PAMS will be developed using off-the-shelf components and macros written in an universally available software program. PAMS will allow physical activity to be accurately measured at low cost and will be easily available to investigators worldwide. In Specific Aim #1, we propose to develop PAMS and validate it using subjects who will be confined in a whole-room indirect calorimeter. In Specific Aim #2, we propose to validate PAMS in free-living subjects. We will then, in Specific Aim #3, utilize PAMS to develop normative data for lean and obese subjects. In this specific aim we will define the components of NEAT in the lean and obese. This will not only be essential information for users of PAMS but will enhance our understanding of how physical activity and its components impacts obesity. PAMS has the potential to empower researchers from a variety of disciplines to measure physical activity precisely and cost-effectively. This should allow us to better define the role of physical activity in health and disease.