Relationship of Dietary Factors and Physical Activity with Percent Body Fat in Young Children

ABSTRACT Learning Outcome: Identify dietary factors and physical activity levels associated with percent body fat (% BF) in young children. Childhood obesity continues to be a national health crisis making identification of risk factors a priority of prevention research. Seventy-eight healthy children ages 3 to 5 who were born full-term weighing > 5.5 pounds and were exclusively fed breast milk or formula the first 6 months of life were included in this cross-sectional study. Parents/guardians provided data including infant feeding history, 3-day food records, and the Netherland's Physical Activity Questionnaire (NPAQ). Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry was used to measure percent body fat (% BF) in a laboratory setting. A significant, negative Pearson's correlation was found between % BF and NPAQ scores in males, r (36) = -.441, p <.01, indicating males that were more active had lower %BF. Other significant Pearson's correlations were found in females between intake of fat and juice, r (42) = .532, p < .01, and intake of Kcals and juice, r (42) = .396, p < .01, indicating that females who drank more juice had higher intakes of fat and Kcals. Two-way analysis of variance found a significant main effect for gender, F (1, 74) = 17.432, p < .0001, but not infant feeding, F (1, 74) = .553, p = .460. These results suggest that obesity prevention for children should emphasize increased physical activity and decreased juice consumption. Gender differences were observed in % BF. However, data failed to show any significant difference in % BF between breastfed and formula-fed children

Ethical and welfare considerations when using cephalopods as experimental animals

Abstract: When using cephalopods as experimental animals, a number of factors, including morality, quality of information derived from experiments, and public perception, drives the motivation to consider welfare issues. Refinement of methods and techniques is a major step in ensuring protection of cephalopod welfare in both laboratory and field studies. To this end, existing literature that provides details of methods used in the collection, handling, maintenance, and culture of a range of cephalopods is a useful starting point when refining and justifying decisions about animal welfare. This review collates recent literature in which authors have used cephalopods as experimental animals, revealing the extent of use and diversity of cephalopod species and techniques. It also highlights several major issues when considering cephalopod welfare; how little is known about disease in cephalopods and its relationship to senescence and also how to define objective endpoints when animals are stressed or dying as a result of the experiment