Gut Microbiota, the Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy

Investigators from the Children's Hospital of Fudan University assessed changes in the gut microbiome of pediatric patients with intractable non-lesional epilepsy between responders and non-responders to the ketogenic diet

Measuring, Mapping, Creating: A mixed method approach to sedentary behaviours and work-place design

This paper reports on the formation and success of an innovative interdisciplinary research team formed to tackle a current critical challenge in our social, cultural and built environments. The challenge—that of sedentary behaviour and its relationship to workplace design—is somewhat familiar to researchers in health promotion but is less so to architectural researchers. The research team has been especially choreographed to include a diverse membership with different skills and expertise ranging from highly scientific to highly creative practices. The team consists of experienced researchers from the fields of architecture, health promotion and recreation and includes early career researchers, doctoral and undergraduate students. The mixed methods employed in this study reinforce the value of engaging critical creative practices with scientific analyses. The success of the partnership is demonstrated by being awarded the first ‘Healthway’ grant to an area outside of Health Sciences at Curtin University. In undertaking the research and engaging in interdisciplinary practices it was found that all parties built understandings and capacities in unexpected and enriching ways. Tackling a real world challenge, such as this, through the full spectrum of scientific, critical and creative means results in multifaceted creative solutions and outputs with wide dissemination opportunities

Stationary in the Office: Emerging themes for active buildings

This research aims to highlight the gap between management, design and health-promotion strategies in the workplace, and seeks to illustrate how the disciplines of architecture and health promotion can work together to reduce sedentary behaviour and increase opportunities for incidental physical activity within the working day. In particular, this paper argues that qualitative research with a focus on socio-cultural factors is necessary to fully understand how the spatial practices of a workplace might positively or negatively influence the sedentary behaviour of workers. This paper summarizes observational and anecdotal findings of a pilot study. The workplace was analysed using architectural movement diagramming, observational and photographic studies along with textural analysis of the anecdotal comments offered to the field officers during the process of data collection. This study shows that overlaying physical workplace design are multiple layers of spatial, managerial and cultural influences that affect workers and their reasons for movement. The lived-experience information gained from the observational studies adds to a richer understanding of the workplace as a social organization and how this might inform active workplace design

Optimal clinical management of children receiving dietary therapies for epilepsy: Updated recommendations of the International Ketogenic Diet Study Group.

Ketogenic dietary therapies (KDTs) are established, effective nonpharmacologic treatments for intractable childhood epilepsy. For many years KDTs were implemented differently throughout the world due to lack of consistent protocols. In 2009, an expert consensus guideline for the management of children on KDT was published, focusing on topics of patient selection, pre-KDT counseling and evaluation, diet choice and attributes, implementation, supplementation, follow-up, side events, and KDT discontinuation. It has been helpful in outlining a state-of-the-art protocol, standardizing KDT for multicenter clinical trials, and identifying areas of controversy and uncertainty for future research. Now one decade later, the organizers and authors of this guideline present a revised version with additional authors, in order to include recent research, especially regarding other dietary treatments, clarifying indications for use, side effects during initiation and ongoing use, value of supplements, and methods of KDT discontinuation. In addition, authors completed a survey of their institution's practices, which was compared to responses from the original consensus survey, to show trends in management over the last 10 years