Nutritional risk status of the non-institutionalized older adult population in Monroe County, New York

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of older adults who were at high nutritional risk in Monroe County and to determine what risk factors or nutritional problems are most prevalent. Another goal was to assess the relationship between the demographics and risk factors. The Nutrition Screening Initiative\u27s (NSI) Determine Your Nutritional Health Checklist contains 10 risk factors that have been shown to be associated with nutritional risk. Regular routine nutrition screening is promoted by the NSI and other health professionals to help identify individuals at nutritional risk and to initiate the appropriate intervention. Early intervention may delay or prevent costly health problems and improve the quality of life of older adults. The Checklist was included in a 26-item telephone survey which was administered to 403 households randomly selected from the Monroe County, NY voter registration list of adults aged 60 or older. The risk factors had a corresponding value which produced a low, moderate or high nutritional risk score. Of the sample, 15.7% received a high nutritional risk score. The risk factors that were most prevalent in the total sample include: illness affecting food intake, inadequate consumption of fruits, vegetables and milk products, multiple drug use and consuming meals alone. High nutritional risk scores were most associated with risk factors that were affected by financial constraints such as not having enough money to buy food, consuming less than two meals per day, and tooth or mouth problems affecting food intake. High risk was more likely to occur with respondents of low socioeconomic status, who are non-white and live alone; thus, adequately funded programs that provide financial assistance with food purchases, meals and dental work may help to reduce risk for this population. The moderate risk group (34%) included whites and non-whites of all income levels who shared risk factors that pertained to illness, use of medications and eating few fruits, vegetables or milk products. Thus, nutrition screening for older adults and medical nutrition therapy (for all individuals) must be included in basic health benefit packages. Nutrition professionals must document their work to provide cost/benefit data and help with the promotion of medical nutrition therapy. A large survey found 80% of health professionals believe nutrition therapy should be included in benefit packages and physician support is especially important. A correlation was not found between risk and the age of the respondents, but as age increased, respondents were more likely to eat alone and to have difficulty with grocery shopping and cooking

NASA InterCenter Collaboration Increases ROI

Funding for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space mission operations is tighter than ever in the current environment of federal government deficit reductions. Conventional wisdom would expect this environment to drive increasing competition between NASA centers for the limited available funds. However, recent inter-center activities at the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center emphasize collaboration rather than competition and demonstrate the value of partnerships to increase the return on shrinking investments. These efforts cover a variety of activities and potential returns. To facilitate sharing data from test and verification through operations without levying requirements on data format or software tools, the HOSC is working with multiple centers on an evolutionary path toward a distributed data architecture and archive. The approach reduces the required investment by allowing the partners to reuse their existing formats and tools, while facilitating gone ]stop h user visibility into and controlled access to the full complement of data regardless of user or data location. The HOSC is also working on two activities to promote sharing operations implementations and leveraging the experts and expertise across multiple NASA sites. In one, the use of Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standards for the message abstraction layer provides an interoperability layer on top of existing ground data system communication architectures. This allows missions to select the most appropriate solutions for their requirements with a minimal investment in rehosting the components in a coherent operational environment. The other emphasizes shared tools and increased remote access to minimize travel for tests and critical activities and reduce the floor space required for a dedicated operations center. This paper summarizes these and other inter-center collaboration activities at the HOSC and the benefits that each can bring, not just to the participants, but to the broader operations community

Adrenocortical and Pituitary Glucocorticoid Feedback in Abstinent Alcohol-Dependent Women

The long-term ingestion of alcohol diminishes hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity in alcohol-dependent men, potentially altering future relapse risk. Although sex differences in HPA axis functioning are apparent in healthy controls, disruptions in this system have received little attention in alcohol-dependent women. In this study, we assessed the basal secretory profile of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol, adrenocortical sensitivity in both the presence and absence of endogenous corticotropic pituitary activation, and feedback pituitary glucocorticoid sensitivity to dexamethasone.Seven women 4- to 8-week abstinent alcohol-only dependent subjects and 10 age-matched female healthy controls were studied. All subjects were between 30 and 50 years old, not taking oral contraceptives, and were studied during the early follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. Circulating concentrations of ACTH and cortisol were measured in blood samples collected at frequent intervals from 2000 to 0800 hour. A submaximal dose of cosyntropin (0.01 μg/kg), a synthetic ACTH (1–24), was administered at 0800 hour to assess adrenocortical sensitivity. In a separate session, low-dose cosyntropin was also administered following high-dose dexamethasone (8 mg intravenous) to assess adrenocortical sensitivity in the relative absence of endogenous ACTH. In addition, the ACTH response to dexamethasone was measured to determine the pituitary glucocorticoid negative feedback. Sessions were 5 days apart, and blood draws were obtained every 5 to 10 minutes.Mean concentrations and pulsatile characteristics of ACTH and cortisol over 12 hours were not statistically different between the 2 groups. Healthy controls had a somewhat higher ( p  < 0.08) net peak, but not net integrated, cortisol response to cosyntropin relative to the alcohol-dependent women. There were no significant group differences in either the ACTH or cortisol response to dexamethasone nor in the net cortisol response to cosyntropin following dexamethasone.Significant differences in pituitary–adrenal function were not apparent between alcohol-dependent women and matched controls. Despite the small n , it appears that alcohol-dependent women do not show the same disruptions in HPA activity as alcohol-dependent men. These findings may have relevance for gender-specific treatment effectiveness.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79204/1/j.1530-0277.2010.01164.x.pd

The response of young adult smokers and nonsmokers in the United Kingdom to dissuasive cigarettes: An online survey

Introduction  The cigarette stick is an important communications tool as well as the object of consumption. We explored young adults’ responses to cigarettes designed to be dissuasive.  Methods  Data come from a cross-sectional online survey, conducted in September 2015, with 16-24 year old smokers and non-smokers (N=997) in the United Kingdom. Participants were shown images of a standard cigarette (white cigarette paper with imitation cork filter), a standard cigarette displaying the warning ‘Smoking kills’ on the cigarette paper, and an unattractively coloured cigarette (green cigarette paper and filter). They were asked to rate each of the three cigarettes, shown individually, on eight perception items, and to rate the three cigarettes, shown together, on how likely they would be to try them. Ordering of the cigarettes and questions, with the exception of the question on trial, was randomised.  Results  The eight perceptions items were combined to form a composite measure of cigarette perceptions. For smokers and non-smokers, the two dissuasive cigarettes (cigarette with warning, green cigarette) were rated significantly less favourably than the standard cigarette, and less likely to encourage trial. For cigarette perceptions no significant interaction was detected between cigarette style and smoking status or susceptibility to smoke among never smokers. A significant interaction was found for likelihood of trying the cigarettes, with dissuasive cigarettes having a greater impact with smokers than non-smokers.  Conclusions  This study suggests that dissuasive cigarettes may help to reduce the desirability of cigarettes.  Implications The cigarette stick is the object of tobacco consumption, which is seen every time a cigarette is smoked. It is also an increasingly important promotional tool for tobacco companies. In this study, young adults rated two dissuasive cigarettes (a green coloured cigarette and a cigarette displaying a health warning) more negatively than a standard cigarette, and considered them less likely to encourage product trial. Our findings suggest that it may be possible to reduce the desirability of cigarette sticks by altering their design, e.g. with the addition of a warning or use of an unattractive colour

The Evolution of the Stellar Hosts of Radio Galaxies

We present new near-infrared images of z>0.8 radio galaxies from the flux-limited 7C-III sample of radio sources for which we have recently obtained almost complete spectroscopic redshifts. The 7C objects have radio luminosities about 20 times fainter than 3C radio galaxies at a given redshift. The absolute magnitudes of the underlying host galaxies and their scale sizes are only weakly dependent on radio luminosity. Radio galaxy hosts at z~2 are significantly brighter than the hosts of radio-quiet quasars at similar redshifts and the model AGN hosts of Kauffmann & Haehnelt (2000). There is no evidence for strong evolution in scale size, which shows a large scatter at all redshifts. The hosts brighten significantly with redshift, consistent with the passive evolution of a stellar population that formed at z>~3. This scenario is consistent with studies of host galaxy morphology and submillimeter continuum emission, both of which show strong evolution at z>~2.5. The lack of a strong ``redshift cutoff'' in the radio luminosity function to z>4 suggests that the formation epoch of the radio galaxy host population lasts >~1Gyr from z>~5 to z~3. We suggest these facts are best explained by models in which the most massive galaxies and their associated AGN form early due to high baryon densities in the centres of their dark matter haloes.Comment: To appear in A

Serum Vitamin D, PTH, and Calcium Levels in Patients with and without Early Childhood Caries

Purpose: The purpose was to determine differences in serum vitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and calcium levels between patients with early childhood caries (ECC) and patients without dental decay. Materials and Methods: Serum vitamin D, PTH, and calcium levels were obtained from 30 children without dental decay who acted as controls and 60 children with ECC. A questionnaire was filled out by the parent/guardian of each participant consisting of questions regarding medical and dental history, exposure to sources of vitamin D and demographic information. Results: The difference in the vitamin D levels of the participants was most strongly associated with race. African American participants demonstrated lower levels of vitamin D than non-African Americans. After adjusting for race- related differences there was no significant difference in the Vitamin D levels in the ECC cases and the healthy controls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that vitamin D levels, at least among non-African Americans, are unrelated to caries development. Future research in this area must control for important confounding factors such as skin pigmentation, season of measurement of serum vitamin D, sun exposure, fluoride exposure, water fluoridation status and tooth brushing in order to allow for vitamin D levels to be better tested against caries experience

Association between benzodiazepine coprescription and mortality in people on opioid replacement therapy:a population-based cohort study

Objective To investigate the association between opioid replacement therapy (ORT) and benzodiazepine (BZD) coprescription and all-cause mortality compared with the prescription of ORT alone.Design Population-based cohort study.Setting Scotland, UK.Participants Participants were people prescribed ORT between January 2010 and end of December 2020 aged 18 years or above.Main outcome measures All-cause mortality, drug-related deaths and non-drug related deaths.Secondary outcome ORT continuous treatment duration.Analysis Cox regression with time-varying covariates.Results During follow-up, 5776 of 46 899 participants died: 1398 while on coprescription and 4378 while on ORT only. The mortality per 100 person years was 3.11 during coprescription and 2.34 on ORT only. The adjusted HR for all-cause mortality was 1.17 (1.10 to 1.24). The adjusted HR for drug-related death was 1.14 (95% CI, 1.04 to 1.24) and the hazard for death not classified as drug-related was 1.19 (95% CI, 1.09 to 1.30).Conclusion Coprescription of BZDs in ORT was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, although with a small effect size than the international literature. Coprescribing was also associated with longer retention in treatment. Risk from BZD coprescription needs to be balanced against the risk from illicit BZDs and unplanned treatment discontinuation. A randomised controlled trial is urgently needed to provide a clear clinical direction.Trial registration number NCT04622995.</p