Realistic Food-Based Approaches Alone May Not Ensure Dietary Adequacy for Women and Young Children in South-East Asia.

Objectives Micronutrient deficiencies, in southeast Asia (SE Asia), remain a public health challenge. We evaluated whether promoting the consumption of locally available nutritious foods, which is a low-risk micronutrient intervention, alone can ensure dietary adequacy, for women of reproductive age and 6-23 m old children. Methods Representative dietary data from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam were analysed using linear programming analysis to identify nutrients that are likely low in personal food environments (problem nutrients), and to formulate food-based recommendations (FBRs) for three to six target populations per country. Results The number of problem nutrients ranged from zero for 12-23 m olds in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to six for pregnant women in Cambodia. The FBRs selected for each target population, if adopted, would ensure a low percentage of the population was at risk of inadequate intakes for five to ten micronutrients, depending on the country and target population. Of the 11 micronutrients modelled, requirements for iron, calcium and folate were most difficult to meet (≥ 10 of the 24 target populations), using FBRs alone. The number of individual FBRs selected per set, for each target population, ranged from three to eight; and often included meat, fish or eggs, liver/organ meats, vegetables and fruits. Conclusions for practice Intervention strategies need to increase access to nutritious foods, including products fortified with micronutrients, in SE Asia, when aiming to ensure dietary adequacy for most individuals in the population

Synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and mechanism of action of anti-HIV-1 lamellarin α 20-sulfate analogues.

Lamellarin α and six different types of lamellarin α 20-sulfate analogues were synthesized and their structure-activity relationships were investigated using a single round HIV-1 vector infection assay. All lamellarin sulfates having pentacyclic lamellarin core exhibited anti-HIV-1 activity at a 10μM concentration range regardless of the number and position of the sulfate group. On the other hand, non-sulfated lamellarin α and ring-opened lamellarin sulfate analogues did not affect HIV-1 vector infection in similar concentrations. The lamellarin sulfates utilized in this study did not exhibit unfavorable cytotoxic effect under the concentrations tested (IC(50)>100μM). Confocal laser scanning microscopic analysis indicated that hydrophilic lamellarin sulfates were hardly incorporated in the cell. HIV-1 Env-mediated cell-cell fusion was suppressed by lamellarin sulfates. These results suggested that lamellarin sulfates have a novel anti-HIV-1 activity besides the previously reported integrase activity inhibition, possibly at a viral entry step of HIV-1 replication

Progress on Lamellarins

This review covers recent literature on the lamellarins, a family of marine natural products, and related analogs, encompassing synthetic strategies for total synthesis, structure-activity relationships (SAR), and studies on mechanisms of biological action, namely in the context of antitumor activity. It reviews work published from January 2008 to December 2010

Mathematical modeling to inform the development of national guidelines on infant feeding in Thailand.

The development of national dietary guidelines promoting healthy food choices is a public health priority in Thailand. In developing the recent national complementary feeding guidelines (CFGs) for 6- to 12-month-old children, mathematical modeling was used to inform decisions. Model parameters were derived from nationally representative dietary data and analyzed for 11 micronutrients by age group, using linear programming analysis in Optifood. Models were run to identify micronutrients whose nutrient reference values could not be met using local foods as consumed (problem nutrients), evaluate the original 2012 Thai CFGs, and predict the nutritional benefits of a specific fortified complementary food. The results identified three problem nutrients (iron, calcium, and zinc), which, for 9- to 11-month-olds, were reduced to one when the fortified food was modeled. The number of servings/week of vegetables and meat, fish or eggs were higher, and of oil and fruit were lower, in the modeled nutritionally best rather than observed diets (medians). When modeled, the original Thai CFGs were not feasible because the energy constraint was exceeded; hence, in revising them, the recommended number of servings/week of oil and fruit were reduced. This study demonstrates the advantages of using mathematical modeling, when revising national CFGs, to evaluate and improve them