School nurses are in a key position to promote children's physical activity. They engage all children in health dialogues and use different approaches to inform children about physical activity and motivate them to change their physical activity level. In a school context, it is important to explore and problematize school nurses' views of children's physical activity and the influence of these views on their professional practice in the school health service. Identifying and problematizing school nurses' views of physical activity would enable them to create improved guidelines and equivalent ways of working in the future. Therefore, this study aims to discursively explore Swedish school nurses' views on school children's physical activity and its promotion and elucidate them through a discursive framework based on sensitizing concepts. This study uses a qualitative research design with a constructivist grounded theory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 school nurses. The analysis resulted in a core category describing how school nurses use intertwined views to lead children from sedentarity to physical activity. Furthermore, the school nurses' practices were identified in three categories: fostering everyday movement as a tool for health, battling children's sedentarity under difficult conditions, and promoting everyday movement and compensating for unequal access. The results indicate that school nurses lack common and clear guidelines for their mission to promote physical activity to children, which may lead to inequality in access to physical activity for children and young people.

In Swedish school health services, local initiatives have been taken to use physical activity on prescription (PAP) to encourage physically inactive children to become more active. Previous research shows that interprofessional collaboration plays a crucial role in promoting physical activity in children, as well as in promoting health in schools. However, there is a lack of knowledge about PAP for children in the school setting, including how medical and educational staff can work together to encourage children who have been recommended PAP. Therefore, this study aims to explore the perceived facilitators and barriers concerning interprofessional collaboration regarding physical activity on prescription in the school setting, as viewed from the professionals' perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 professionals who work with the method in school settings. The data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The results reveal both barriers and facilitators for interprofessional collaboration on PAP in the school setting, as perceived by professionals. Organizational and structural obstacles within school institutions hinder collaboration, while a shared commitment to PAP, characterized by consensus-building, acts as a facilitating factor. PAP for children in a school setting is still an unexplored area and further research is required.

This study aims to explore police students’ self-rated mental health and physical activity levels and the relationship between them. Based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data (N = 722), two scales on mental health orientation were developed. The scales and levels of physical activity were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and X2. During police education, (1) the level of physical activity decreases for men, (2) there is a decline in positive health orientation for both sexes, and (3) women report a more negative health orientation. This raises questions regarding whether “enough” is done to provide police students with sufficient conditions for improving their health.

Introduction: In Sweden, police education should promote students’ physical activity and mental health. According to national goals, police students should be provided with sufficient conditions to develop and maintain advantageous exercise habits and tools to handle various mentally and physically demanding tasks. The national goals also state that students’ physical fitness must be better at graduation than what the requirements are for admission (see Krugly et al., 2022). Although the improvement of students’ physical fitness and mental health are national goals, there is a general lack of knowledge regarding: 1) police students physical and mental health, especially from a Swedish perspective; and 2) how well police education promotes students’ level of physical activity during education. Against this background, the aim is to explore police students’ mental health and level of physical activity during police education in Sweden.

Methods: The data derives from the largest project in Sweden on police students’ physical and mental health, and consists of longitudinal data on police students answers of a self-rated questionnaire about exercise habits and mental health (N = 785). The data used in this study was gathered between 2019–2021, and consisted of four data collection points, from two police educations in Sweden. The analysis was conducted in two steps. First, exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to create scales for mental health orientation. Second, these scales, together with the variable exercise habits, were used as outcome variables in t-tests, X2 test and ANOVA. Effect size measurements were calculated and interpreted based on established guidelines.

Results: The results show high psychometric support for two scales named positive health orientation and negative health orientation. Based on the scales and the variable of exercise habits, three primarily results emerge: 1) the levels of physical training for men decrease during education; 2) there are gender differences showing that women have a more negative health orientation; and, 3) the positive mental health orientation decreases during education for both men and women.

Discussion: Swedish police education should prepare students for physically and mentally demanding work. However, as this study concludes, this tends to not be the case, especially given that both the level of physical activity and the positive mental health orientation decrease during education. This raises questions on whether the Swedish police education is doing “enough” to provide the students with adequate conditions for improving their mental and physical health.

Krugly, S., Bjärsholm, D., Jansson, A., Rosendal Hansen, A., Hansson, O., Brehm, K., Datmo, A., Hafsteinsson Östenberg, A., & Vikman, J. (2022). A retrospective study of physical fitness and mental health among police students in Sweden. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles. doi.org/10.1177/0032258X221089576

Little is known about the physical and mental health among police students. Based on data on Swedish police students’ physical fitness (N = 1736) and mental health (N = 407), the results show that: (a) there are gender differences; (b) the physical fitness changes during police education; in general, the students get stronger but less flexible, and the aerobic endurance increases for women but decreases for men; and (c) students’ self-reported physical activity and mental health affect their perceived police ability differently in relation to gender. Consequently, this study questions if the Swedish police education is preparing the students adequately for their future profession.

Working as a police officer involves mentally and physically demanding tasks. During the Swedish police education, students should be provided with sufficient conditions to develop and maintain advantageous exercise habits and tools to handle mentally and physically demanding tasks (see Krugly et al., 2022). However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding Swedish police students exercise habits and overall mental- and physical health.

The aim is to explore police students’ mental health and physical activity levels during police education in Sweden.

The data consisted of police students answers of a self-rated questionnaire about their physical and mental health. The data used in this study was gathered between 2019–2021, and consist of four data collection points, from two police educations in Sweden. The analysis was conducted in two steps. First, exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to create scales for health orientation. Second, these scales were used as outcome variables in t-tests, X2 test and ANOVA. Effect size measurements (Cohens, d, Crames V and Phi) were calculated and interpreted based on well establish guidelines.

Two scales were developed (i.e. positive health orientation and negative health orientation), and both showed high psychometric support. Based on the scales, two primarily results emerged: 1) results showed that women had a more negative health orientation in general and that positive health orientation, for both genders, decreased between semesters one to four; and 2) more women conducted two hours (or more) per week of physical exercise. Moreover, physical training among men decreased continuously during their education.

Conclusions and ImplicationsBased on the results, this study questions whether police education in Sweden doing enough to prepare students for a mentally and physically demanding profession.

Statins are beneficial in the treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but these lipid-lowering drugs are associated with increased incidence of new on-set diabetes. The cellular mechanisms behind the development of diabetes by statins are elusive. Here we have treated mice on normal diet (ND) and high fat diet (HFD) with rosuvastatin. Under ND rosuvastatin lowered blood glucose through improved insulin sensitivity and increased glucose uptake in adipose tissue. In vitro rosuvastatin reduced insulin secretion and insulin content in islets. In the beta cell Ca(2+) signaling was impaired and the density of granules at the plasma membrane was increased by rosuvastatin treatment. HFD mice developed insulin resistance and increased insulin secretion prior to administration of rosuvastatin. Treatment with rosuvastatin decreased the compensatory insulin secretion and increased glucose uptake. In conclusion, our data shows dual effects on glucose homeostasis by rosuvastatin where insulin sensitivity is improved, but beta cell function is impaired.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Studies have shown that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors stimulate insulin secretion and increase beta cell mass in rodents. However, in these models hyperglycaemia has been induced early on in life and the treatment periods have been short. To explore the long-term effects of DPP4 inhibition on insulin secretion and beta cell mass, we have generated a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced-obesity model in mice of advanced age (10 months old). METHODS: After 1 month of HFD alone, the mice were given the DPP4 inhibitor vildagliptin for a further 11 months. At multiple time points throughout the study, OGTTs were performed and beta cell area and long-term survival were evaluated. RESULTS: Beta cell function and glucose tolerance were significantly improved by vildagliptin with both diets. In contrast, in spite of the long treatment period, beta cell area was not significantly different between vildagliptin-treated mice and controls. Mice of advanced age chronically fed an HFD displayed clear and extensive pancreatic inflammation and peri-insulitis, mainly formed by CD3-positive T cells, which were completely prevented by vildagliptin treatment. Chronic vildagliptin treatment also improved survival rates for HFD-fed mice. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: In a unique advanced-aged HFD-induced-obesity mouse model, insulin secretion was improved and the extensive peri-insulitis prevented by chronic DPP4 inhibition. The improved survival rates for obese mice chronically treated with vildagliptin suggest that chronic DPP4 inhibition potentially results in additional quality-adjusted life-years for individuals with type 2 diabetes, which is the primary goal of any diabetes therapy.

Apart from glucose, proteins and lipids also stimulate incretin and islet hormone secretion. However, the glucoregulatory effect of macronutrients in combination is poorly understood. We therefore developed an oral mixed meal model in mice to 1) explore the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and islet hormone responses to mixed meal versus isocaloric glucose, and 2) characterize the relative contribution of individual macronutrients to these responses. Anesthetized C57BL/6J female mice were orally gavaged with 1) a mixed meal (0.285 kcal; glucose, whey protein and peanut oil; 60/20/20% kcal) versus an isocaloric glucose load (0.285 kcal), and 2) a mixed meal (0.285 kcal) versus glucose, whey protein or peanut oil administered individually in their mixed meal caloric quantity, i.e., 0.171, 0.055 and 0.055 kcal, respectively. Plasma was analyzed for glucose, insulin and intact GLP-1 before and during oral challenges. Plasma glucose was lower after mixed meal versus after isocaloric glucose ingestion. In spite of this, the peak insulin response (P=0.02), the peak intact GLP-1 levels (P=0.006) and the estimated β-cell function (P=0.005) were higher. Furthermore, the peak insulin (P=0.004) and intact GLP-1 (P=0.006) levels were higher after mixed meal ingestion than the sum of responses to individual macronutrients. Compared to glucose alone, we conclude that there is a marked early insulin response to mixed meal ingestion, which emanates from a synergistic, rather than an additive, effect of the individual macronutrients in the mixed meal and is in part likely caused by increased levels of GLP-1.

The function of alpha-cells in patients with type 2 diabetes is often disturbed; glucagon secretion is increased at hyperglycaemia, yet fails to respond to hypoglycaemia. A crucial mechanism behind the fine-tuned release of glucagon relies in the exocytotic machinery including SNARE proteins. Here, we aimed to investigate the temporal role of syntaxin 1A and SNAP-25 in mouse alpha-cell exocytosis. First, we used confocal imaging to investigate glucose dependency in the localisation of SNAP-25 and syntaxin 1A. SNAP-25 was mainly distributed in the plasma membrane at 2.8 mM glucose, whereas the syntaxin 1A distribution in the plasma membrane, as compared to the cytosolic fraction, was highest at 8.3 mM glucose. Furthermore, following inclusion of an antibody against SNAP-25 or syntaxin 1A, exocytosis evoked by a train of ten depolarisations and measured as an increase in membrane capacitance was reduced by ~50%. Closer inspection revealed a reduction in the refilling of granules from the reserve pool (RP), but also showed a decreased size of the readily releasable pool (RRP) by ~45%. Disparate from the situation in pancreatic beta-cells, the voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ current was not reduced, but the Ca²⁺ sensitivity of exocytosis decreased by the antibody against syntaxin 1A. Finally, ultrastructural analysis revealed that the number of docked granules was >2-fold higher at 16.7 mM than at 1 mM glucose. We conclude that syntaxin 1A and SNAP-25 are necessary for alpha-cell exocytosis and regulate fusion of granules belonging to both the RRP and RP without affecting the Ca²⁺ current.