Changes in PYY and gastric emptying across the phases of the menstrual cycle and the influence of the ovarian hormones

Nutrition-related studies avoid the participation of pre-menopausal women due to the potential effect of the menstrual cycle (MC) on their appetite regulation. It is generally accepted that women increase their energy intake during the luteal phase (LPh) compared to the follicular (FPh), however what happens in the menstrual phase (MPh) and how this might be regulated remains uncertain. Although some research indicates changes in the gastric emptying (GE) velocity, whether PYY is affected by the MC phase, remains unknown. The aim of this study was to assess whether eating the same breakfast in each of the three MC phases would change the GE time, the PYY response and post-prandial satiety such that they might affect subsequent food intake. Furthermore, the aim was to associate any potential differences to the fluctuations in estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) within a MC. Nine naturally cycling women attended to the laboratory to consume a standardised breakfast on three occasions, each of them representing one of the MC phases. Breath samples to measure GE time, plasma samples to quantify PYY levels and hunger scores were collected for a total of 4 h after which food intake was assessed by an ad-libitum buffet lunch. GE and PYY levels changed significantly across the phases of the MC (p < 0.05). GE was correlated to P4 and E2-P4 ratio (r = -0.5 and 0.4, respectively). To conclude, the appetite regulators PYY and GE time change depending upon the MC phases with GE time associated with the ovarian hormone levels which suggests the necessity of controlling the MC phase in studies looking at the appetite response

A school-based program implemented by community providers previously trained for the prevention of eating and weight-related problems in secondary-school adolescents : the MABIC study protocol

Background: The prevention of eating disorders and disordered eating are increasingly recognized as public health priorities. Challenges in this field included moving from efficacy to effectiveness and developing an integrated approach to the prevention of a broad spectrum of eating and weight-related problems. A previous efficacy trial indicated that a universal disordered eating prevention program, based on the social cognitive model, media literacy educational approach and cognitive dissonance theory, reduced risk factors for disordered eating, but it is unclear whether this program has effects under more real-world conditions. The main aim of this effectiveness trial protocol is to test whether this program has effects when incorporating an integrated approach to prevention and when previously-trained community providers implement the intervention. Methods/design: The research design involved a multi-center non-randomized controlled trial with baseline, post and 1-year follow-up measures. Six schools from the city of Sabadell (close to Barcelona) participated in the intervention group, and eleven schools from four towns neighboring Sabadell participated in the control group. A total of 174 girls and 180 boys in the intervention group, and 484 girls and 490 boys in the control group were registered in class lists prior to baseline. A total of 18 community providers, secondary-school class tutors, nurses from the Catalan Government's Health and School Program, and health promotion technicians from Sabadell City Council were trained and delivered the program. Shared risk factors of eating and weight-related problems were assessed as main measures. Discussion: It will be vital for progress in disordered eating prevention to conduct effectiveness trials, which test whether interventions are effective when delivered by community providers under ecologically valid conditions, as opposed to tightly controlled research trials. The MABIC project will provide new contributions in this transition from efficacy to effectiveness and new data about progress in the integrated approach to prevention. Pending the results, the effectiveness trial meets the effectiveness standards set down by the Society for Prevention Research. This study will provide new evidence to improve and enhance disordered eating prevention programs

Post Me_New Id, Book and DVD

Post Me_New Id is an action research project with a focus on the future of the body. In 2007-09 a collaboration between body>data>space (London, UK), CIANT (Prague, Czech Republic) TMA | Trans Media Academy (Dresden, UK) and KIBLA (Maribor, Slovenia) looked to examine the complexity of 21st century European human identity – with an exploration of the evolution of cyborg culture through technologies of the body, supported by the EU Culture 2007-2013 programme. The 4 organisations worked closely together to identify and investigate the challenges this poses to contemporary creation and the emergent artistic practices. The final output from this project is a Book and DVD combo containing essays and reflections from many of the artists involved in this eighteen month project plus the keynotes and panel conversations resulting from the Post Me_New ID Forum at CYNETart_08 in Dresden. The focus was particularly engaged in Multi-Identities and Networked Creation Processes in today’s world

The distilled mark: recognising a past-present within the results of creative action

The creative work presented for examination deals with my made mark as memorialisation of my body within a pastpresent moment of creative action and contemplation. The exhibition titled Body Mark will consist of sculptural installation, video, and paper-based works that will be exhibited at Kudos Gallery in May 2014.The research paper explored the artist's mark as the inevitable result of her creative action. After first defining what is meant by the 'mark' and introducing my concept of 'distilled mark making', the paper will go on to investigate how it is that a viewer can access the artist's pastpresent creative action via their observation of that artist's made mark. The paper will discover how an artist's use of repetition allows her to present the movement of her body through time, and will end with an observation of how the breath can be used as a metaphor for my concept of distilled mark-making before concluding.I will define the distilled mark as the result of consequential action, for example a scratch, smear, dent or footprint. I describe how this type of mark survives as a document in time and thus can be utilised by an artist to explore presentness. I reference established phenomenological theorists, artists, and art theorists to discuss how my conception of the distilled mark can reference a movement through time by becoming the artist's tool for their insistence of self. I focus on a number of artists most of whom have conceptual or performance based practices, or a practice based within a concern for simplicity and the minimal. I also address Zenga art practices and my own daily practice of Iyengar yoga to illustrate a spiritual connection with the notion of presentness and time.The final part of this paper suggests the idea the breath is the ultimate manifestation of repetition and thus is the constant reminder of our own presentness. I describe how I use breath as a metaphor and a measure for my own artistic practice, and how my observance of my own breath allows me to create these works that explore my body within a present moment in time