Exercise Self-Efficacy as a Mediator between Goal-Setting and Physical Activity: Developing the Workplace as a Setting for Promoting Physical Activity.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is ranked as a leading health indicator and the workplace is a key setting to promote PA. The purpose of this study was to examine how goal-setting and exercise self-efficacy (SE) during a health promotion program influenced PA level among Japanese workers. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional study design, we surveyed 281 employees. The short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess PA level. Exercise SE was assessed using a partially modified version of Oka's exercise SE scale. Personal goals were assessed as the total numbers of "yes" responses to five items regarding "details of personal goals to perform PA". A mediational model was used to examine whether exercise SE mediates between the number of personal goals and PA level. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 46.3 years, 76.2% were men, and the most common occupational category was software engineer (30.6%). The average PA level per week exceeded the recommended level in 127 participants (45.2%). One hundred and eighty-four participants (65.5%) set some form of concrete personal goal to perform PA. The relationship between the number of personal goals and PA level was mediated by exercise SE. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that exercise SE mediates goal-setting and increases PA. The results suggest that the components of PA promotion programs should be tailored to enhance participants' confidence in performing PA.

Multiple messenger ribonucleic acid transcripts and revised gene organization of the human TSH receptor.

Northern blot analysis of human TSH receptor (hTSHR) messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression has previously demonstrated multiple species of transcripts in the thyroid gland, suggesting the presence of multiple transcription initiation sites, alternatively spliced forms or alternate polyadenylation (poly(A)) sites. The first two have already been reported elsewhere. To clarify alternate poly(A) sites in the hTSHR gene, the present study was designed to characterize three full-length hTSHR cDNAs with distinct poly(A) signals that we have previously cloned. The comparison of the nucleotide sequencing data on the 3'UTR of these three clones to the Draft Human Genome in NCBI database revealed that the 3' segment of exon 10 of hTSHR gene contains three tandem repeats of the poly(A) sites, from which are expressed three full-length TSHR mRNAs with distinct 3'UTR length. The longest one appears to be a predominant transcript. From these data, together with (i) the previously reported organization of hTSHR genome and (ii) use of the Draft Human Genome to localize the unidentified sequence in the alternatively spliced form of truncated hTSHR, we propose the complete structure of hTSHR gene. Rather than 10 exons, our analysis suggests that hTSHR gene seems to contain 13 exons and 12 introns. At least three full-length TSHR mRNAs with distinct poly(A) sites and five alternatively spliced forms of TSHR mRNAs are expressed from the single hTSHR gene.