Comparison of feeding practices, eating behaviors and dietary intake between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder of different body weight status in Sarawak

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a nutritionally vulnerable population. To date, information on nutritional status and dietary intake of Malaysian children with ASD is scarce. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare parental feeding practices, child eating behaviors, and dietary intake between children with ASD of different body weight status from 16 autism intervention centers in Sarawak. A total of 124 children (83.9% males and 16.1% females) aged 2 to 11 years and their mothers were recruited using convenience sampling. Mothers were interviewed to obtain information on parental feeding practices and child eating behaviors. Anthropometric measurements including weight and height were measured by the researcher. Dietary intake was assessed using food diary and nutrient intakes were compared with the Malaysian Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNI). The prevalence of at risk of overweight (4.8%), overweight (16.9%), and obesity (20.2%) was higher than that of thinness (3.2%). Inadequate intake of energy (33.9%), calcium (90.3%), vitamin C (37.9%), vitamin A (52.4%), and vitamin D (93.5%) was reported among children with ASD. Mothers with overweight/obese children reported higher scores in perceived child weight (p<0.001), concern about child weight (p=0.003), food responsiveness (p=0.001), emotional over-eating (p=0.035), and enjoyment of food (p=0.038) subscales as compared to their counterparts with normal weight. Overweight/obese children with ASD consumed more energy, fat, and iron than normal weight children with ASD (p<0.05). Children with ASD in this study were prone to overnutrition and nutritional deficiencies. Dietary interventions and trainings on parental feeding practices should be included in the intervention programmes by the autism intervention centers to improve feeding practices, eating behaviors, and nutrient intakes of children with ASD

ENGINEERING CONCEPTS IN ANALYSING LUMBOSACRAL LOAD IN POST-OPERATIVE SCOLIOTIC PATIENTS

Lumbosacral alignment plays a major role in the mechanical low back pain in normal population. Malalignment causes increased strain to the muscles and ligaments around it which eventually leads to mechanical low back pain and discomfort. The level of strain a ligament receives in the lumbosacral junction depends upon the lumbosacral angle and the load exerted on it. If there is an easy way to find the load exerted at the lumbosacral junction, then it would be trouble free for the physicians to examine. Hence, the treatment can be planned accordingly. This study analysis the angle, net force produced and stress faced by the ligaments around the lumbosacral joint in postoperative scoliosis patients using radiographic images. Study design was analytical, observational cross sectional study. Radiographs of 30 patients were collected and one sample ‘t ’test was used for data analysis with ‘p ’value set as 0.05 as level of significance .The mean lumbosacral angle of the postoperative scoliotic patients was found to be 45.56 degrees and the standard deviation was ± 8.7156. The results suggest that patients who underwent scoliosis correction surgery did not have an optimal lumbosacral angle of 30 degrees

Gallium vacancy and the residual acceptor in undoped GaSb studied by positron lifetime spectroscopy and photoluminescence

Positron lifetime, photoluminescence (PL), and Hall measurements were performed to study undoped p-type gallium antimonide materials. A 314 ps positron lifetime component was attributed to Ga vacancy (V Ga) related defect. Isochronal annealing studies showed at 300°C annealing, the 314 ps positron lifetime component and the two observed PL signals (777 and 797 meV) disappeared, which gave clear and strong evidence for their correlation. However, the hole concentration (∼2×10 17cm -3) was observed to be independent of the annealing temperature. Although the residual acceptor is generally related to the V Ga defect, at least for cases with annealing temperatures above 300°C, V Ga is not the acceptor responsible for the p-type conduction. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Dataset on gene expression in the elderly after Mindfulness Awareness Practice or Health Education Program

It has been reported that relaxation techniques can improve physical health and cognitive function. A number of studies involving different types of relaxation practices showed changes in expression of genes. We investigated the gene expression pattern of a cohort of elderly subjects of Asian descent after weekly (for the first three months) and monthly (for the subsequent six months) intervention. Sixty consenting elderly subjects (aged 60–90 years) with mild cognitive impairment were assigned to either the Mindfulness Awareness Practice (MAP) or Health Education Program (HEP) group in a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the programs in preventing further cognitive decline and evaluate the influence on neurological, cellular and biochemical factors. Blood samples were collected before the start of intervention and after nine months for gene expression profiling using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. The dataset is publicly available for further analyses

Influence of layer thickness to the emission spectra in microcavity organic light emitting diodes

Microcavity organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted great attention because they can reduce the width of emission spectra from organic materials, enhance brightness and achieve multipeak emission from the same material. In this work, we have fabricated microcavity OLEDs with widely used organic materials, such as N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) as a hole transport layer and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq) as emitting and electron transporting layer. These organic materials are sandwiched either between two thick silver mirrors or one thin copper and one thick silver mirrors. The influence of total cavity length (from 164 nm to 243nm) and the cavity Q-factor to the emission behavior has been investigated. In all cases, an OLED without bottom mirror, i.e. with the organic materials sandwiched between indium tin oxide and a thick silver mirror, has been fabricated for comparison. We have characterized the devices with photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and reflectance measurements. Multiple peaks have been observed for some devices at larger viewing angles

Directed differentiation of notochord-like and nucleus pulposus-like cells using human pluripotent stem cells

Intervertebral disc degeneration might be amenable to stem cell therapy, but the required cells are scarce. Here, we report the development of a protocol for directed in vitro differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into notochord-like and nucleus pulposus (NP)-like cells of the disc. The first step combines enhancement of ACTIVIN/NODAL and WNT and inhibition of BMP pathways. By day 5 of differentiation, hPSC-derived cells express notochordal cell characteristic genes. After activating the TGF-beta pathway for an additional 15 days, qPCR, immunostaining, and transcriptome data show that a wide array of NP markers are expressed. Transcriptomically, the in vitro-derived cells become more like in vivo adolescent human NP cells, driven by a set of influential genes enriched with motifs bound by BRACHYURY and FOXA2, consistent with an NP cell-like identity. Transplantation of these NP-like cells attenuates fibrotic changes in a rat disc injury model of disc degeneration