Role of Nutrition Focused Physical Exam in the Identification of Malnutrition in the Elderly

Sixteen percent of the U.S. population is over 65 years of age and up to one out of two have malnutrition. The nutrition-focused physical exam (NFPE) is an integral part of the nutrition care process and model consisting of consecutive steps: nutrition assessment, diagnosis, intervention, and monitoring/evaluation. The NFPE is a component of nutrition assessment providing registered dietitian nutritionists (RDN) with information to determine nutrition status and degree of malnutrition. Six clinical characteristics used to identify malnutrition are energy intake, weight loss, subcutaneous fat loss, muscle loss, fluid accumulation, and reduced function status. Each has a threshold for identification of well-nourished, mild-moderate malnutrition and severe-malnutrition. The objective of the study was to determine if there is a correlation between the number of positive NFPE findings and the degree of severity of malnutrition and to identify the components of NFPE that have the most frequent positive results in this sample population. The study also assessed the role of nutrient intake and body mass index in relation to overall nutritional status. A cohort study of senior adults participated in a NFPE, body mass index (BMI) calculations and nutrition analysis. Thirty-four, free-living adults attending the Senior Center in Arkadelphia, AR, participated in the study. Descriptive statistics were calculated using Nutritionist Pro®, Excel®, and SPSS®. A bivariate (Pearson) correlation compared age with nutrient intake and a one-sample t test compared nutrient intake with Dietary Reference Intake (DRI)

Effects of Nutrition and Physical Activity Intervention in Improving Children\u27s BMI-for-Age Percentiles

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally 340 million school-aged children are obese. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 13.7 million (19%) of U.S. children and adolescents age 2-19 years are obese. Obesity rates are 14% in 2- to 5-year-olds, 18% in 6- to 11-year-olds, and 21% in 12- to 19-year-olds. Hispanic children (26%) and non-Hispanic black children (22%) have higher obesity prevalence than non-Hispanic white children (14%). Non-Hispanic Asian children (11%) have lower obesity rates than non-Hispanic black children and Hispanic children. In Arkansas, 22% of school-aged children are obese and 39% are overweight and obese. In Arkadelphia, 19% of school-aged children are obese and 36% are overweight and obese. In Gurdon, 20% of school-aged children are obese and 37% are overweight and obese. Therefore, programs to lower body mass index (BMI) and increase physical activity in children are needed. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a nutrition and physical activity intervention in improving the BMI-for-age percentiles of rural Arkansas children at risk for childhood obesity. The study consisted of a treatment group (n=62) and a control group (n=25) of children 2-12 years of age. Anthropometric data for each child in the control and the treatment group was collected at the beginning and the end of the seven-week intervention. Data was used to calculate BMI, BMI-for-age percentile, weight status category, and BMI z-scores. The researchers visited the treatment group weekly and taught 30-60 minute lessons on nutrition and physical activity. The control group did not receive treatment. All data was collated and analyzed to determine the effects of the treatment

An Examination of Microbial Populations in Different Brands and Flavors of Ice Cream

Outbreaks of foodborne illness are of concern to many Americans. While pasteurization of ingredients and freezing eliminates most microbiological hazards, ice cream can act as a vehicle for pathogen transmission and be a cause of foodborne disease. This study examined the bacterial content of seven nationally distributed brands of ice cream and one local farmer’s market brand. The aims of the study were to (1) determine if there was a higher bacterial content in chocolate and strawberry ice cream compared to vanilla ice cream, potentially because of more ingredients and more opportunities for bacterial contamination in those flavors, and (2) determine if the local farmer’s market ice cream contained a greater number of bacteria than the commercial brands, possibly because of reduced processing and less regulation. Ice cream samples were incubated on tryptic soy agar and milk agar plates, the number of colony forming units was determined, and representative cultures from each sample were identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. While more bacteria were found in chocolate ice cream than strawberry or vanilla, high variability in bacterial counts between brands meant that differences between flavors were not statistically significant (p=0.15-0.20). In terms of brand, the greatest number of bacteria were found in samples from the farmer’s market and the bargain bulk brand, both of which gave counts of >30 million bacteria per pint container. The lowest bacterial counts were found in brands that had plastic seals around the rim of the container, suggesting that packaging style is an important factor. Bacillus cereus, a common cause of food poisoning, was identified in all brands except for the farmer’s market brand, while Escherichia coli was identified in three brands

First Asteroseismic Analysis of the Globular Cluster M80: Multiple Populations and Stellar Mass Loss

Asteroseismology provides a new avenue for accurately measuring the masses of evolved globular cluster (GC) stars through the detection of their solar-like oscillations. We present the first detections of solar-like oscillations in 47 red giant branch (RGB) and early asymptotic giant branch (EAGB) stars in the metal-poor GC M80; only the second ever with measured seismic masses. We investigate two major areas of stellar evolution and GC science; the multiple populations and stellar mass-loss. We detected a distinct bimodality in the EAGB mass distribution. We showed that this is likely due to sub-population membership. If confirmed, it would be the first direct measurement of a mass difference between sub-populations. A mass difference was not detected between the sub-populations in our RGB sample. We instead measured an average RGB mass of 0.782\pm0.009~\msun, which we interpret as the average between the sub-populations. Differing mass-loss rates on the RGB has been proposed as the second parameter that could explain the horizontal branch (HB) morphology variations between GCs. We calculated an integrated RGB mass-loss separately for each sub-population: 0.12\pm0.02~\msun (SP1) and 0.25\pm0.02~\msun (SP2). Thus, SP2 stars have greatly enhanced mass-loss on the RGB. Mass-loss is thought to scale with metallicity, which we confirm by comparing our results to a higher metallicity GC, M4. We also find that M80 stars have insignificant mass-loss on the HB. This is different to M4, suggesting that there is a metallicity and temperature dependence in the HB mass-loss. Finally, our study shows the robustness of the $\Delta\nu$-independent mass scaling relation in the low-metallicity (and low-surface gravity) regime.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Addressing the mental health needs of children affected by HIV in Rwanda: validation of a rapid depression screening tool for children 7–14 years old

Background: Depression in children presents a significant health burden to society and often co-exists with chronic illnesses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Research has demonstrated that 10–37% of children and adolescents living with HIV also suffer from depression. Low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) shoulder a disproportionate burden of HIV among other health challenges, but reliable estimates of co-morbid depression are lacking in these settings. Prior studies in Rwanda, a LMIC of 12 million people in East Africa, found that 25% of children living with HIV met criteria for depression. Though depression may negatively affect adherence to HIV treatment among children and adolescents, most LMICs fail to routinely screen children for mental health problems due to a shortage of trained health care providers. While some screening tools exist, they can be costly to implement in resource-constrained settings and are often lacking a contextual appropriateness. Methods: Relying on international guidelines for diagnosing depression, Rwandan health experts developed a freely available, open-access Child Depression Screening Tool (CDST). To validate this tool in Rwanda, a sample of 296 children with a known diagnosis of HIV between ages 7–14 years were recruited as study participants. In addition to completing the CDST, all participants were evaluated by a mental health professional using a structured clinical interview. The validity of the CDST was assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: This analysis found that depression continues to be a co-morbid condition among children living with HIV in Rwanda. For identifying these at-risk children, the CDST had a sensitivity of 88.1% and specificity of 96.5% in identifying risk for depression among children living with HIV at a cutoff score of 6 points. This corresponded with an area under the ROC curve of 92.3%. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the CDST is a valid tool for screening depression among children affected by HIV in a resource-constrained setting. As an open-access and freely available tool in LMICs, the CDST can allow any health practitioner to identify children at risk of depression and refer them in a timely manner to more specialized mental health services. Future work can show if and how this tool has the potential to be useful in screening depression in children suffering from other chronic illnesses

The development of a web-based program to reduce dietary salt intake in schoolchildren: study protocol

Background: Salt intake of schoolchildren in the Australian state of Victoria is high. To protect future cardiovascular health, interventions that seek to reduce the amount of salt in children’s diets are required.Objective: We sought to develop and pilot test a Web-based program (Digital Education to Limit Salt Intake in the Home [DELISH]) that aims to reduce dietary salt intake among schoolchildren and to improve child and parent knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to salt intake. This paper presents the DELISH study protocol, along with pilot findings used to inform the development of the program.Methods: The DELISH program is a 5-week Web-based intervention that targets schoolchildren aged 7-10 years and their parents. This is a single-arm study with a pretest and posttest design. We will assess change in salt intake through analysis of 24-hour urinary sodium excretion. Children and parents will complete online surveys assessing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to salt intake. We will assess feasibility of the program via process measures, which include metrics to describe intervention uptake (eg, number of children who complete Web-based sessions and of parents who view online newsletters) and evaluation surveys and interviews conducted with children, parents, and schoolteachers. The first 2 Web sessions developed for children were pilot tested in 19 children aged 8-12 years.Results: Findings from pilot testing indicated that most children (session 1: 18/19, 95%; and session 2: 19/19, 100%) enjoyed completing each session and liked the inclusion of comic strips and interactive games. Commonly reported areas of improvement related to sessions being text and content heavy. Based on these findings, we simplified sessions and developed 3 additional sessions for use in the DELISH program. The DELISH program was implemented during June-December 2016. We expect to have results from this study at the end of 2017.Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first Australian study to examine the effectiveness of a Web-based program to reduce salt intake among children in primary school. If shown to be acceptable and effective in lowering salt intake, the DELISH program could be tested using a more rigorous randomized controlled trial design

Concert recording 2022-11-14

[Track 1]. Solo de concours / André Messager -- [Track 2]. Concertino for clarinet and piano / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 3]. Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major. III. Alla polacca / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 4]. Sonatina for clarinet and piano. III. Furioso / Malcolm Arnold -- [Track 5]. Promenade (Walking the dog) for clarinet & piano / George Gershwin / arr. Shieley Denwood -- [Track 6]. Fantasistykke for clarinet and piano / Carl Nielsen -- [Track 7]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. I. Mässig bewegt / Paul Hindemith -- [Track 8]. Premiere Rhapsody for clarinet and piano / Claude Debussy -- [Track 9]. Impromptu: Duo for Clarinet and Marimba / William A.R. May -- [Track 10]. Irish suite / arr. Elliot A. Del Borgo -- [Track 11]. Danse Macabre / Camille Saint-Saëns ; arr. Melanie Thorne -- [Track 12]. “Nimrod” from Enigma variations / Edward Elgar ; arr. Jeanie Murrow -- [Track 13]. Claribel / Roland Cardon

Concert recording 2022-11-14

[Track 1]. Solo de concours / André Messager -- [Track 2]. Concertino for clarinet and piano / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 3]. Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major. III. Alla polacca / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 4]. Sonatina for clarinet and piano. III. Furioso / Malcolm Arnold -- [Track 5]. Promenade (Walking the dog) for clarinet & piano / George Gershwin / arr. Shieley Denwood -- [Track 6]. Fantasistykke for clarinet and piano / Carl Nielsen -- [Track 7]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. I. Mässig bewegt / Paul Hindemith -- [Track 8]. Premiere Rhapsody for clarinet and piano / Claude Debussy -- [Track 9]. Impromptu: Duo for Clarinet and Marimba / William A.R. May -- [Track 10]. Irish suite / arr. Elliot A. Del Borgo -- [Track 11]. Danse Macabre / Camille Saint-Saëns ; arr. Melanie Thorne -- [Track 12]. “Nimrod” from Enigma variations / Edward Elgar ; arr. Jeanie Murrow -- [Track 13]. Claribel / Roland Cardon

Transforming LIS Education through Disability Inclusion

Combining perspectives from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US, this international panel will develop an honest dialog on disability inclusion in LIS education, drawing on empirical research, discursive analysis, and practical experience. All introductory talks will be followed by nuanced and carefully developed experiential activities prepared by each group of presenters and delivered at the two thematically arranged round tables. Jointly, seven interconnected presentations will address LIS pedagogy, educational policy, and educational content from the standpoint of disability inclusion and its potential to transform LIS education

Feminist identification, actions, beliefs and commitments at CSB/SJU

Does self-identification as a feminist, non-feminist, or non-labeler, affect actions, beliefs, and commitments regarding feminist ideals? Is there any dissonance between identifying with feminist beliefs and identifying with the feminist label? Will our data give us insight into education about feminist ideas at CSB/SJU (College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University)? Is the “feminist” label stigmatized on our campuses