Aging, Resistance Training, and Diabetes Prevention

With the aging of the baby-boom generation and increases in life expectancy, the American population is growing older. Aging is associated with adverse changes in glucose tolerance and increased risk of diabetes; the increasing prevalence of diabetes among older adults suggests a clear need for effective diabetes prevention approaches for this population. The purpose of paper is to review what is known about changes in glucose tolerance with advancing age and the potential utility of resistance training (RT) as an intervention to prevent diabetes among middle-aged and older adults. Age-related factors contributing to glucose intolerance, which may be improved with RT, include improvements in insulin signaling defects, reductions in tumor necrosis factor-α, increases in adiponectin and insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations, and reductions in total and abdominal visceral fat. Current RT recommendations and future areas for investigation are presented

Validation of predictive equations to estimate resting metabolic rate of females and males across different activity levels

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are sincerely grateful to all the volunteers involved in this experimental study. This research was performed in the Human Integrative Physiology Laboratory (Dept. of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA). OPN is funded by a Virginia Tech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, KHR by a Virginia Tech Translational Obesity Research Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Predoctoral Fellow-ship, and GZR is funded by Next Generation EU funds Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellowship. FUNDING INFORMATION OPN is funded by a Virginia Tech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, and KHR by a Virginia Tech Translational Obesity Research Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Predoctoral FellowshipPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Supporting maintenance of sugar-sweetened beverage reduction using automated versus live telephone support: Findings from a randomized control trial

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Background Although reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake is an important behavioral strategy to improve health, no known SSB-focused behavioral trial has examined maintenance of SSB behaviors after an initial reduction. Guided by the RE-AIM framework, this study examines 6–18 month and 0–18 month individual-level maintenance outcomes from an SSB reduction trial conducted in a medically-underserved, rural Appalachia region of Virginia. Reach and implementation indicators are also reported. Methods Following completion of a 6-month, multi-component, behavioral RCT to reduce SSB intake (SIPsmartER condition vs. comparison condition), participants were further randomized to one of three 12-month maintenance conditions. Each condition included monthly telephone calls, but varied in mode and content: 1) interactive voice response (IVR) behavior support, 2) human-delivered behavior support, or 3) IVR control condition. Assessments included the Beverage Intake Questionnaire (BEVQ-15), weight, BMI, and quality of life. Call completion rates and costs were tracked. Analysis included descriptive statistics and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models using intent-to-treat procedures. Results Of 301 subjects enrolled in the 6-month RCT, 242 (80%) were randomized into the maintenance phase and 235 (78%) included in the analyses. SIPsmartER participants maintained significant 0–18 month decreases in SSB. For SSB, weight, BMI and quality of life, there were no significant 6–18 month changes among SIPsmartER participants, indicating post-program maintenance. The IVR-behavior participants reported greater reductions in SSB kcals/day during the 6–18 month maintenance phase, compared to the IVR control participants (− 98 SSB kcals/day, 95% CI = − 196, − 0.55, p < 0.05); yet the human-delivered behavior condition was not significantly different from either the IVR-behavior condition (27 SSB kcals/day, 95% CI = − 69, 125) or IVR control condition (− 70 SSB kcals/day, 95% CI = − 209, 64). Call completion rates were similar across maintenance conditions (4.2–4.6 out of 11 calls); however, loss to follow-up was greatest in the IVR control condition. Approximated costs of IVR and human-delivered calls were remarkably similar (i.e., $3.15/participant/month or$38/participant total for the 12-month maintenance phase), yet implications for scalability and sustainability differ. Conclusion Overall, SIPsmartER participants maintained improvements in SSB behaviors. Using IVR to support SSB behaviors is effective and may offer advantages as a scalable maintenance strategy for real-world systems in rural regions to address excessive SSB consumption.National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (R01CA154364

Beverage Choices of Adolescents and Their Parents Using the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Mixed Methods Analysis

Added sugar intake in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) has been considered a contributor to weight gain and cardiometabolic dysfunction in adults and youth. Adolescents are some of the highest consumers of added sugars, taking in ~16% of their total calories from added sugars with ~40% of these calories coming from SSB. Youth’s food preferences and self-regulation of dietary intake can be influenced by parents

A randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of two technology-enhanced diabetes prevention programs in primary care: The DiaBEAT-it study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of two technology-enhanced interventions for diabetes prevention among adults at risk for developing diabetes in a primary care setting.MethodsThe DiaBEAT-it study employed a hybrid 2-group preference (Choice) and 3-group randomized controlled (RCT) design. This paper presents weight related primary outcomes of the RCT arm. Patients from Southwest Virginia were identified through the Carilion Clinic electronic health records. Eligible participants (18 and older, BMI ≥ 25, no Type 2 Diabetes) were randomized to either Choice (n = 264) or RCT (n = 334). RCT individuals were further randomized to one of three groups: (1) a 2-h small group class to help patients develop a personal action plan to prevent diabetes (SC, n = 117); (2) a 2-h small group class plus automated telephone calls using an interactive voice response system (IVR) to help participants initiate weight loss through a healthful diet and regular physical activity (Class/IVR, n = 110); or (3) a DVD with same content as the class plus the same IVR calls over a period of 12 months (DVD/IVR, n = 107).ResultsOf the 334 participants that were randomized, 232 (69%) had study measured weights at 6 months, 221 (66%) at 12 months, and 208 (62%) at 18 months. Class/IVR participants were less likely to complete weight measures than SC or DVD/IVR. Intention to treat analyses, controlling for gender, race, age and baseline BMI, showed that DVD/IVR and Class/IVR led to reductions in BMI at 6 (DVD/IVR −0.94, p &lt; 0.001; Class/IVR −0.70, p &lt; 0.01), 12 (DVD/IVR −0.88, p &lt; 0.001; Class/IVR-0.82, p &lt; 0.001) and 18 (DVD/IVR −0.78, p &lt; 0.001; Class/IVR −0.58, p &lt; 0.01) months. All three groups showed a significant number of participants losing at least 5% of their body weight at 12 months (DVD/IVR 26.87%; Class/IVR 21.62%; SC 16.85%). When comparing groups, DVD/IVR were significantly more likely to decrease BMI at 6 months (p &lt; 0.05) and maintain the reduction at 18 months (p &lt; 0.05) when compared to SC. There were no differences between the other groups.ConclusionsThe DiaBEAT-it interventions show promise in responding to the need for scalable, effective methods to manage obesity and prevent diabetes in primary care settings that do not over burden primary care clinics and providers.Registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02162901, identifier: NCT02162901

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Comparison of assessment techniques: plasma lipid and lipoproteins related to the metabolic syndrome

Abstract Background The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of analytical method on reported concentrations of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, and to determine if there are clinical implications of any potential differences on identification of the metabolic syndrome dyslipidemia, CVD risk stratification and classification of LDL subclass phenotype. Results Plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations were 1.09 ± 0.06 and 1.17 ± 0.06 mmol/L and plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations were 1.09 ± 0.03 vs 1.19 ± 0.03 mmol/L (both p Conclusion Different plasma lipid and lipoprotein analytical techniques yield results which are highly correlated, yet significantly different, which suggests a consistent measurement difference. This difference has clinical implications, in that the proportion of individuals identified as meeting the metabolic syndrome dyslipidemia criteria, "at risk" based upon apo B or LDL particle number, and the LDL pattern B phenotype will differ based upon choice of analytical method.</p

Dietary Intake, Body Composition, and Menstrual Cycle Changes during Competition Preparation and Recovery in a Drug-Free Figure Competitor: A Case Study

Physique competitions are events in which competitors are judged on muscular appearance and symmetry. The purpose of this retrospective case study was to describe changes in dietary intake, body mass/composition, and the menstrual cycle during the 20-week competition preparation (PREP) and 20-week post competition recovery (REC) periods of a drug-free amateur female figure competitor (age = 26–27, BMI = 19.5 kg/m2). Dietary intake (via weighed food records) and body mass were assessed daily and averaged weekly. Body composition was estimated via Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and 7-site skinfold measurements. Energy intake, body mass and composition, and energy availability decreased during the 20-week PREP period (changes of ~298 kcals, 5.1 kg, 6.5% body fat, and 5.4 kcal/kg fat free mass, respectively) and returned to baseline values by end of the 20-week REC period. Menstrual cycle irregularity was reported within the first month of PREP and the last menstruation was reported at week 11 of PREP. Given the potentially adverse health outcomes associated with caloric restriction, future, prospective cohort studies on the physiological response to PREP and REC are warranted in drug-free, female physique competitors