Very high physical activity predicts higher diet quality in healthy young adults, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index 2005

Physical inactivity and unhealthful diet are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, and strategies worldwide now focus on improving diet and encouraging physical activity (PA). Participation in PA lowers the risk for numerous chronic diseases, while a healthful diet also offers resistance to disease. However, practicing both behaviors offers greater protection than practicing either behavior alone. Research evaluating the relationship of diet and PA has focused primarily on nutrients or food groups. Little research exists on PA and overall diet quality, and no research has used the Healthy Eating Index 2005 (HEI-2005) to assess diet quality in healthy young adults, the objective of the current study. To this end, a convenience sample of 70 healthy, young adults was recruited from a university community in 2005-2006. Dietary intake was measured with 7-d weighed food records and HEI-2005 scores were computed to assess diet quality. PA was obtained from 7-d activity records accounting for all minutes of each day. Linear regression models were used to assess the association of HEI-2005 scores to participation in moderate- and vigorous-intensity PA. In this sample, HEI-2005 scores increased as weekly minutes of PA increased (p=0.006, B=0.007). When PA was examined categorically, only the VeryHighPA (≥841 min/week) group had diet quality scores significantly higher than the LowPA (≤420 min/week) group, independent of age, BMI, and gender (p=0.033, B=7.987). Further studies are warranted to clarify the relationship of these health behaviors, an especially important topic as prevalence of obesity and chronic disease continues to rise

Comparison of the Caregiving Experience of Grief, Burden, and Quality of Life in Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease Dementia

Background: Caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) are faced with numerous challenges. However, little is known about the caregiving experience across different dementias. Objective: The aims of this cross-sectional study were to examine the differences in the caregiver experience between DLB, PDD, and AD. Methods: Respondents were caregivers (N = 515; 384 DLB, 69 AD, 62 PDD) who completed a 230-question survey including sociodemographics, disease severity, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and measures of grief, burden, depression, quality of life, social support, well-being, care confidence, and mastery/self-efficacy. Results: There were no differences in caregiver age, sex, race, or education, or in the distribution of disease severity between diagnostic groups. Constructs were highly intercorrelated with positive attributes (caregiver QoL, care recipient QoL, social support, well-being, mastery and care confidence) being inversely correlated with negative attributes (burden, grief, and depression). Across dementia etiologies, no differences were reported for quality of life, social support, depression, well-being, psychological well-being, mastery, care confidence, burden or grief. Instead, we found that the caregiver’s experience was dependent on caregiver characteristics, person living with dementia characteristics and their most disturbing symptom, with behavior, personality changes, and sleep having the greatest effect on constructs. Conclusion: Caregiver ratings of psychosocial constructs may be more dependent on care recipient-caregiver dyad characteristics and the current symptoms than the underlying cause of those symptoms. Interventions to improve the caregiving experience should be developed to address specific psychosocial constructs rather than focusing on disease etiology or stage

The efficacy and safety of Baoji Tablets for treating common cold with summer-heat and dampness syndrome: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Despite the high incidence and the economic impact of the common cold, there are still no effective therapeutic options available. Although traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used in China to treat the common cold, there is still a lack of high-quality clinical trials. This article sets forth the protocol for a high-quality trial of a new TCM drug, Baoji Tablets, which is designed to treat the common cold with summer-heat and dampness syndrome (CCSDS). The trial is evaluating both the efficacy and safety of Baoji Tablets. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is designed as a multicenter, phase II, parallel-group, double-blind, double-dummy, randomized and placebo-controlled trial. A total of 288 patients will be recruited from four centers. The new tablets group are administered Baoji Tablets 0.9 g and dummy Baoji Pills 3.7 g. The old pills group are administered dummy Baoji Tablets 0.9 g and Baoji Pills 3.7 g. The placebo control group are administered dummy Baoji Tablets 0.9 g and dummy Baoji Pills 3.7 g. All drugs are taken three times daily for 3 days. The primary outcome is the duration of all symptoms. Secondary outcomes include the duration of primary and secondary symptoms, changes in primary and secondary symptom scores and cumulative symptom score at day 4, as well as an evaluation of treatment efficacy. DISCUSSION: This is the first multicenter, double-blind, double-dummy, randomized and placebo-controlled trial designated to treat CCSDS in an adult population from China. It will establish the basis for a scientific and objective assessment of the efficacy and safety of Baoji Tablets for treating CCSDS, and provide evidence for a phase III clinical trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. The registration number is ChiCTR-TRC-13003197

Towards a theoretical determination of the geographical probability distribution of meteoroid impacts on Earth

Tunguska and Chelyabinsk impact events occurred inside a geographical area of only 3.4\% of the Earth's surface. Although two events hardly constitute a statistically significant demonstration of a geographical pattern of impacts, their spatial coincidence is at least tantalizing. To understand if this concurrence reflects an underlying geographical and/or temporal pattern, we must aim at predicting the spatio-temporal distribution of meteoroid impacts on Earth. For this purpose we designed, implemented and tested a novel numerical technique, the "Gravitational Ray Tracing" (GRT) designed to compute the relative impact probability (RIP) on the surface of any planet. GRT is inspired by the so-called ray-casting techniques used to render realistic images of complex 3D scenes. In this paper we describe the method and the results of testing it at the time of large impact events. Our findings suggest a non-trivial pattern of impact probabilities at any given time on Earth. Locations at $60-90\deg$ from the apex are more prone to impacts, especially at midnight. Counterintuitively, sites close to apex direction have the lowest RIP, while in the antapex RIP are slightly larger than average. We present here preliminary maps of RIP at the time of Tunguska and Chelyabinsk events and found no evidence of a spatial or temporal pattern, suggesting that their coincidence was fortuitous. We apply the GRT method to compute theoretical RIP at the location and time of 394 large fireballs. Although the predicted spatio-temporal impact distribution matches marginally the observed events, we successfully predict their impact speed distribution.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Phases and Faces of the Duke Lacrosse Controversy: A Conversation

This panel took place at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) in July 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The transcript has been edited for grammar, punctuation and writing style, as well as for limited content changes

Secreted metabolome of porcine blastocysts encapsulated with in \u3ci\u3ein vitro\u3c/i\u3e 3D alginate hydrogel culture systems under going morphological changes provides insights into specific mechanisms involved in the initiation of porcine conceptus elongation

Context. The exact mechanisms regulating the initiation of porcine conceptus elongation are not known due to the complexity of the uterine environment. Aims. To identify contributing factors for initiation of conceptus elongation in vitro, this study evaluated differential metabolite abundance within media following culture of blastocysts within unmodified alginate (ALG) or Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-modified alginate hydrogel culture systems. Methods. Blastocysts were harvested from pregnant gilts, encapsulated within ALG or RGD or as non-encapsulated control blastocysts (CONT), and cultured. At the termination of 96 h culture, media were separated into blastocyst media groups: non-encapsulated control blastocysts (CONT); ALG and RGD blastocysts with no morphological change (ALG− and RGD−); ALG and RGD blastocysts with morphological changes (ALG+ and RGD+) and evaluated for non-targeted metabolomic profiling by liquid chromatography (LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) techniques and gas chromatography– (GC–MS). Key results. Analysis of variance identified 280 (LC–MS) and 1 (GC–MS) compounds that differed (P \u3c 0.05), of which 134 (LC–MS) and 1 (GC–MS) were annotated. Metabolites abundance between ALG+ vs ALG−, RGD+ vs RGD−, and RGD+ vs ALG+ were further investigated to identify potential differences in metabolic processes during the initiation of elongation. Conclusions. This study identified changes in phospholipid, glycosphingolipid, lipid signalling, and amino acid metabolic processes as potential RGD-independent mechanisms of elongation and identified changes in lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingolipid secretions during RGD-mediated elongation. Implications. These results illustrate changes in phospholipid and sphingolipid metabolic processes and secretions may act as mediators of the RGD-integrin adhesion that promotes porcine conceptus elongation

Metabolic compounds within the porcine uterine environment are unique to the type of conceptus present during the early stages of blastocyst elongation

The objective of this study was to identify metabolites within the porcine uterine milieu during the early stages of blastocyst elongation. At Days 9, 10, or 11 of gestation, reproductive tracts of White cross‐bred gilts (n = 38) were collected immediately following harvest and flushed with Roswell Park Memorial Institute‐1640 medium. Conceptus morphologies were assessed from each pregnancy and corresponding uterine flushings were assigned to one of five treatment groups based on these morphologies: (a) uniform spherical (n = 8); (b) heterogeneous spherical and ovoid (n = 8); (c) uniform ovoid (n = 8); (d) heterogeneous ovoid and tubular (n = 8); and (e) uniform tubular (n = 6). Uterine flushings from these pregnancies were submitted for nontargeted profiling by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)–MS techniques. Unsupervised multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using pcaMethods and univariate analysis of variance was performed in R with false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment. PCA analysis of the GC–MS and UPLC–MS data identified 153 and 104 metabolites, respectively. After FDR adjustment of the GC–MS and UPLC–MS data, 38 and 59 metabolites, respectively, differed (p \u3c .05) in uterine flushings from pregnancies across the five conceptus stages. Some metabolites were greater (p \u3c .05) in abundance for uterine flushings containing earlier stage conceptuses (i.e., spherical), such as uric acid, tryptophan, and tyrosine. In contrast, some metabolites were greater (

Global analysis of differential gene expression within the porcine conceptus transcriptome as it transitions through spherical, ovoid, and tubular morphologies during the initiation of elongation

This study aimed to identify transcriptome differences between distinct or transitional stage spherical, ovoid, and tubular porcine blastocysts throughout the initiation of elongation. We performed a global transcriptome analysis of differential gene expression using RNA‐Seq with high temporal resolution between spherical, ovoid, and tubular stage blastocysts at specific sequential stages of development from litters containing conceptus populations of distinct or transitional blastocysts. After RNA‐Seq analysis, significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and pathways were identified between distinct morphologies or sequential development stages. Overall, 1898 significant DEGs were identified between distinct spherical and ovoid morphologies, with 311 total DEGs between developmental stages throughout this first morphological transition, while 15 were identified between distinct ovoid and tubular, with eight total throughout these second morphological transition developmental stages. The high quantity of DEGs and pathways between conceptus stages throughout the spherical to ovoid transition suggests the importance of gene regulation during this first morphological transition for initiating elongation. Further, extensive DEG coverage of known elongation signaling pathways was illustrated from spherical to ovoid, and regulation of lipid signaling and membrane/ECM remodeling across these early conceptus stages were implicated as essential to this process, providing novel insights into potential mechanisms governing this rapid morphological change

Hierarchical Star Formation in Nearby LEGUS Galaxies

Hierarchical structure in ultraviolet images of 12 late-type LEGUS galaxies is studied by determining the numbers and fluxes of nested regions as a function of size from ~1 to ~200 pc, and the number as a function of flux. Two starburst dwarfs, NGC 1705 and NGC 5253, have steeper number-size and flux-size distributions than the others, indicating high fractions of the projected areas filled with star formation. Nine subregions in 7 galaxies have similarly steep number-size slopes, even when the whole galaxies have shallower slopes. The results suggest that hierarchically structured star-forming regions several hundred parsecs or larger represent common unit structures. Small galaxies dominated by only a few of these units tend to be starbursts. The self-similarity of young stellar structures down to parsec scales suggests that star clusters form in the densest parts of a turbulent medium that also forms loose stellar groupings on larger scales. The presence of super star clusters in two of our starburst dwarfs would follow from the observed structure if cloud and stellar subregions more readily coalesce when self-gravity in the unit cell contributes more to the total gravitational potential.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for ApJ