Is there a role for vitamin C in preventing osteoporosis and fractures?:A review of the potential underlying mechanisms and current epidemiological evidence

Osteoporosis and related fractures are a major global health issue, but there are few preventative strategies. Previously reported associations between higher intakes of fruits and vegetables and skeletal health have been suggested to be partly attributable to vitamin C. To date, there is some evidence for a potential role of vitamin C in osteoporosis and fracture prevention but an overall consensus of published studies has not yet been drawn. The present review aims to provide a summary of the proposed underlying mechanisms of vitamin C on bone and reviews the current evidence in the literature, examining a potential link between vitamin C intake and status with osteoporosis and fractures. The Bradford Hill criteria were used to assess reported associations. Recent animal studies have provided insights into the involvement of vitamin C in osteoclastogenesis and osteoblastogenesis, and its role as a mediator of bone matrix deposition, affecting both the quantity and quality of bone collagen. Observational studies have provided some evidence for this in the general population, showing positive associations between dietary vitamin C intake and supplements and higher bone mineral density or reduced fracture risk. However, previous intervention studies were not sufficiently well designed to evaluate these associations. Epidemiological data are particularly limited for vitamin C status and for fracture risk and good-quality randomised controlled trials are needed to confirm previous epidemiological findings. The present review also highlights that associations between vitamin C and bone health may be non-linear and further research is needed to ascertain optimal intakes for osteoporosis and fracture prevention

The Impact of Volunteering at a Girls Outreach Activity on Community Formation

This paper is focused on exploring the motivation for volunteering at an engineering outreach activity. The outreach activity itself involved a two day, overnight experience for 9th and 10th grade girls that started in 2005, and which has been held annually since that time. The outreach event takes place in Boise, Idaho, and at the time of its onset was the only outreach or camp activity in the state focused on girls or young women. Across ten years, 510 total girls have participated, with approximately 85% of them coming from the immediate metropolitan area. The program was developed with a mind toward marketing engineering as an exciting, creative activity; including activities developed specifically from that perspective.1 The specific topic of this paper is an investigation into the motivation for volunteers and students to support this program. Our hypothesis is that, in particular, the women found this an experience that helped to create community among like-minded STEM focused professionals and students. An anonymous survey was used to collect information from the 188 individuals who helped support the program across the past ten years. This includes people from local industry, and faculty, students and staff from the university (some of the student staff were paid and some of the university staff participated as part of their work duties; all others were volunteers). Survey participants were asked to identify themselves as primarily being a student, faculty or staff at the associated university, professional employed in the region, or other. In total, 67 people responded to the survey. Across all respondents, 55% were students, 12% were faculty and 5% were staff at the university; and 25% were from outside the university. The results from the survey include their motivation for participation, and reasons for participating during more than one year if applicable. Survey results also include information reported concerning formal and informal interactions between volunteers, and information concerning opportunities for interactions with other professional women that are available. Finally, respondents’ reported on how they may have benefited from their participation in the engineering outreach activity together with advice they have to help improve the volunteer experience are presented. This paper will report on the results of this survey and will discuss the implications of these results

Mechanisms of Action in a Behavioral Weight-Management Program: Latent Growth Curve Analysis.

BACKGROUND: A greater understanding of the mechanisms of action of weight-management interventions is needed to inform the design of effective interventions. PURPOSE: To investigate whether dietary restraint, habit strength, or diet self-regulation mediated the impact of a behavioral weight-management intervention on weight loss and weight loss maintenance. METHODS: Latent growth curve analysis (LGCA) was conducted on trial data in which adults (N = 1,267) with a body mass index (BMI) ≥28 kg/m2 were randomized to either a brief intervention (booklet on losing weight), a 12 week weight-management program or the same program for 52 weeks. LGCA estimated the trajectory of the variables over four time points (baseline and 3, 12 and 24 months) to assess whether potential mechanisms of action mediated the impact of the weight-management program on BMI. RESULTS: Participants randomized to the 12 and 52 week programs had a significantly greater decrease in BMI than the brief intervention. This direct effect became nonsignificant when dietary restraint, habit strength, and autonomous diet self-regulation were controlled for. The total indirect effect was significant for both the 12 (estimate = -1.33, standard error [SE] = 0.41, p = .001) and 52 week (estimate = -2.13, SE = 0.52, p < .001) program. Only the individual indirect effect for dietary restraint was significant for the 12 week intervention, whereas all three indirect effects were significant for the 52 week intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Behavior change techniques that target dietary restraint, habit strength, and autonomous diet self-regulation should be considered when designing weight loss and weight loss maintenance interventions. Longer interventions may need to target both deliberative and automatic control processes to support successful weight management

Community versus Market: A Note on Corporate Villages

We return to the literature on collective villages and reexamine its central arguments. In doing so, we focus on an institution for allocating land that we call the Rule. As claimed by its advocates, the Rule secures land allocations that result in outcomes differing from those that would be achieved by markets. The outcomes are not constrained to be efficient. But the economic costs paid fail to secure the attainment of guarantees of subsistence, greater equality, or a greater sense of community resulting from the elimination of envy. However, in the face of high levels of risk, the form of collective property rights embodied in the Rule may create what we call "communities of (mis)fortune," in which no one can envy others' gains or losses resulting from the random shocks of nature.African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Advancing a Universally Designed (UD) Curriculum: How NH-ME LEND is Creating an Accessible Program for All

To meet the recent requirement for LEND programs to develop a Self-Advocacy Discipline, faculty and staff members of the NH-ME LEND Program established a workgroup to consider how best to support trainees and faculty, including those with disabilities. The focus of the group evolved to include universally designed (UD) principles into the curriculum to accommodate the wide range of learning styles of all NH-ME LEND trainees.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ccids_posters/1065/thumbnail.jp

A comparative analysis of pharmaceutical workforce development needs across the commonwealth

Background Increasing demographic healthcare challenges, such as increased life expectancy coupled with increased use of medicines for complex morbidities, point to the need for globally applicable transformative policies in health workforce development. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has established a set of 21 Global Development Goals (FIP DGs) to strengthen pharmacy workforce and benchmark professional developmental needs. Objective This study aimed to identify policy directions and factors affecting pharmacy workforce development across the Commonwealth, and to examine country progress made towards implementing workforce oriented FIP DGs. Methods The study involved a literature review and a global survey of commonwealth countries professional leadership bodies. The literature database search included PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, Scopus and PsychINFO databases as well as the websites of the respective national pharmacy organisations of Commonwealth countries. A global survey was also conducted to assess country-level alignment with the workforce component of FIP DGs. Results Thirty-one articles representing 21 Commonwealth countries were included in the literature overview. The development needs identified were workforce shortages and inequitable distribution across practice areas and geographical regions, low workforce supply capacity, workforce feminisation, lack of professional recognition, limited training opportunities, low job satisfaction, high workload and attrition. The survey showed disparities in country-level progress and alignment with the FIP DGs. High-income countries in the survey sample reported alignment with most of the FIP DGs, while the low-income countries reported alignment with fewer DGs. More than two-thirds of the countries showed alignment with the FIP DGs related to academic capacity, early career training, quality assurance and advancing integrated services. About half reported alignment with the FIP DGs related to competency and leadership development, respectively, while only a third aligned with the equity and equality DG. Conclusion This study identified realistic pharmacy workforce developmental needs across a range of Commonwealth countries. Addressing these needs through appropriate policy interventions will be essential for increasing the pharmacy workforce capacity and assuring the delivery of high-quality pharmaceutical care and medicines expertise in these countries

Comparative Analysis of Pollution in Farmington Bay and the Great Salt Lake, Utah

Farmington Bay covers 94 mi2 (260 km2) in the SW comer of the Great Salt Lake, and is essentially a separate lake because it is enclosed by Antelope Island and a causeway leading to the island from the mainland. The bay has received wastes from the adjoining Salt Lake City metropolitan area for decades. Because of water quality concerns for Farmington 8ay, the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory class at Utah State University studied the bay and a nearby control site (Bridger Bay) in the Great Salt Lake during the fall of 2001. Field sampling and laboratory experiments, as well as other data sources, demonstrated the bay is severely eutrophic and is one of the most polluted water bodies in the state of Utah. A preliminary nutrient loading estimate for the bay indicates that total phosphorus coming into the system is a-times higher than necessary for the bay to be classed as eutrophic. Sewage treatment plants discharging directly to the bay contribute approximately 500/0 of the nutrients. Metrics of eutrophication (chlorophyll, Secchi depth and total phosphorus) all indicated that the bay was hypereutrophic and the combined Trophic State Index was 91, higher than any other lake or reservoir in the state. Oxygen was supersaturated in the surface waters of Farmington Bay during the day, but the bottom water was anoxic. During the night, nearly the entire water column became anoxic due to respiratory demand of the biota. The anoxic conditions allowed high concentrations \u27Of foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide to be produced. Brine shrimp were not abundant in Farmington Bay and the community was dominated by rotifers. In contrast, water quality in Bridger 8ay located on the main lake, was good and brine shrimp were abundant there. Our results, although restricted in scope, corroborate existing monitoring data from this bay. Water quality characteristics in Farmington Bay do not meet those mandated for the protection of aquatic life. Odor problems from the bay likely impact more people than are affected by any other polluted water body in the state. The impact of eutrophication and anoxia on the biota in Farmington Bay may also be substantial, although inadequate data exists to determine these impacts. There are substantial technical challenges to be overcome if water quality in the bay is to be improved to meet its designated use. However, before these technical issues can be solved, the responsible agencies will need to address the problem, and begin studies that may eventually lead to a solution to this serious water quality issue

Barriers to Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy: A Scoping Review

Purpose/Background More than 34 million people in the United States have diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major complication of diabetes and a leading cause of vision loss. Risk factors for diabetic retinopathy include Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and being African American or Hispanic/Latino. This scoping review seeks to analyze the current research on ways to increase vision screenings, thus reducing cases of diabetic retinopathy in adults. Methods Between September 2020 and November 2021, a search was conducted using PubMed, EBSCOhost, Medline, and CINAHL to identify articles using keywords such as diabetic retinopathy and ophthalmology. This extensive search led our group to twenty articles from different levels of evidence, which after undergoing rapid critical appraisal (RCA) left us with fifteen to be included in this scoping review. Our goal was to understand the barriers to receiving annual screening and strategies to enhance compliance with ophthalmology. Results The articles in our scoping review include systematic reviews, randomized control trials, and case-control studies. From the articles, we discovered barriers to receiving annual exams include cost, insurance, and education. We concluded that patient education along with annual referrals to ophthalmology as prevention for diabetic retinopathy is essential for reducing vision loss. Implications for Nursing Practice Based on our scoping review, we understand that multiple barriers exist that complicate compliance with annual vision screenings. Primary care providers play an essential role in providing patient education and referral to ophthalmology to decrease the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy. More research is needed on the effectiveness of interventions such as educational pamphlets in enhancing screening rates