A Guide for Graduate Students Interested in Postdoctoral Positions in Biology Education Research

Intended as a resource for life sciences graduate students, this essay discusses the diversity of postdoctoral positions in biology education and the careers to which they lead. The authors also provide advice to help graduate students develop the skills necessary to obtain a biology education research postdoctoral position

Associations between long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiovascular lipid risk factors in youth with type 1 diabetes: SEARCH Nutrition Ancillary Study

In this longitudinal study we explored the relationships between plasma n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and Δ5 and Δ6 desaturase activities (D5D and D6D, respectively) and fasting lipids in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D)

Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, and Diet as Mediators of the Association Between TV Time and BMI in Youth

Bejarano, C. M., Carlson, J. A., Conway, T. L., Saelens, B. E., Glanz, K., Couch, S. C., Cain, K. L., & Sallis, J. F. , Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, and Diet as Mediators of the Association Between TV Time and BMI in Youth, American Journal of Health Promotion, 35(5), pp. 613–623. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). DOI: 10.1177/0890117120984943.Purpose: This study examined dietary indicators, sedentary time, and physical activity as potential mediators of the association between TV time and BMIz in youth. Design: Cross-sectional study in 2 independent samples of youth. Setting: Data collection occurred by mail and telephone for adolescents and either at home or in medical settings for children. Sample: 928 youth ages 12-16 and 756 youth ages 6-12 and a parent. Measures: TV time, snacking/eating while watching TV, and a 3-day dietary recall were assessed via child/parent report. Physical activity and sedentary time were assessed by accelerometer wear. Analysis: Direct and indirect associations (through 8 diet and activity variables) of TV time with BMIz were tested in boys and girls in each sample. Results: TV time had a positive association with BMIz in 6-12 year old boys and girls. Direct associations emerged between TV time and the diet/activity variables, and between diet/activity variables and BMIz. Snacking/eating while watching TV had a significant positive association with BMIz in younger boys and mediated the association between TV time and BMIz (β = .06, p = .019; 25% attenuation). Conclusions: Snacking/eating while watching TV may be a possible reason TV time is consistently associated with obesity in youth. Targeting reductions in TV time and associated snacking could improve health impacts

Dietary Patterns in Adults from an Adriatic Island of Croatia and Their Associations with Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components

Adriatic islanders have a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) although they have traditionally practiced an active lifestyle and adhered to a Mediterranean diet. We performed a cross-sectional study to identify dietary patterns in a sample of 1442 adults from the island of Hvar, and determined whether MetS and its components: waist-circumference, serum triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, HDL-cholesterol, and blood pressure, were related to an altered pattern of the traditional Mediterranean diet. Dietary intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. MetS was defined using the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Our study showed that dietary patterns in this population have diversified from the traditional diet. Principal component analysis identified three major patterns. The meat, alcohol, and fish pattern (MAFp), sweets, grains, and fats pattern (SGFp), and an olive-oil, vegetables, and fruits pattern (OVFp) explained 30.6% of total dietary variance. The MAFp associated significantly with MetS (p=0.027) and high plasma glucose (p=0.006)

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Star-formation in UV-luminous galaxies from their luminosity functions

We present the ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function of galaxies from the GALEX Medium Imaging Survey with measured spectroscopic redshifts from the first data release of the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. This sample selects galaxies with high star formation rates: at 0.6 < z < 0.9 the median star formation rate is at the upper 95th percentile of optically-selected (r<22.5) galaxies and the sample contains about 50 per cent of all NUV < 22.8, 0.6 < z < 0.9 starburst galaxies within the volume sampled. The most luminous galaxies in our sample (-21.0>M_NUV>-22.5) evolve very rapidly with a number density declining as (1+z)^{5\pm 1} from redshift z = 0.9 to z = 0.6. These starburst galaxies (M_NUV<-21 is approximately a star formation rate of 30 \msuny) contribute about 1 per cent of cosmic star formation over the redshift range z=0.6 to z=0.9. The star formation rate density of these very luminous galaxies evolves rapidly, as (1+z)^{4\pm 1}. Such a rapid evolution implies the majority of star formation in these large galaxies must have occurred before z = 0.9. We measure the UV luminosity function in 0.05 redshift intervals spanning 0.1<z<0.9, and provide analytic fits to the results. At all redshifts greater than z=0.55 we find that the bright end of the luminosity function is not well described by a pure Schechter function due to an excess of very luminous (M_NUV<-22) galaxies. These luminosity functions can be used to create a radial selection function for the WiggleZ survey or test models of galaxy formation and evolution. Here we test the AGN feedback model in Scannapieco et al. (2005), and find that this AGN feedback model requires AGN feedback efficiency to vary with one or more of the following: stellar mass, star formation rate and redshift.Comment: 27 pages; 13 pages without appendices. 22 figures; 11 figures in the main tex

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature

We present significant improvements in cosmic distance measurements from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, achieved by applying the reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature technique. We show using both data and simulations that the reconstruction technique can often be effective despite patchiness of the survey, significant edge effects and shot-noise. We investigate three redshift bins in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1, and in all three find improvement after reconstruction in the detection of the baryonic acoustic feature and its usage as a standard ruler. We measure model-independent distance measures DV(rsfid/rs) of 1716 ± 83, 2221 ± 101, 2516 ± 86 Mpc (68 per cent CL) at effective redshifts z = 0.44, 0.6, 0.73, respectively, where DV is the volume-averaged distance, and rs is the sound horizon at the end of the baryon drag epoch. These significantly improved 4.8, 4.5 and 3.4 per cent accuracy measurements are equivalent to those expected from surveys with up to 2.5 times the volume of WiggleZ without reconstruction applied. These measurements are fully consistent with cosmologies allowed by the analyses of the Planck Collaboration and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We provide the DV(rsfid/rs) posterior probability distributions and their covariances. When combining these measurements with temperature fluctuations measurements of Planck, the polarization of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 9, and the 6dF Galaxy Survey baryonic acoustic feature, we do not detect deviations from a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. Assuming this model, we constrain the current expansion rate to H₀ = 67.15 ± 0.98 km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹. Allowing the equation of state of dark energy to vary, we obtain wDE = −1.080 ± 0.135. When assuming a curved ΛCDM model we obtain a curvature value of ΩK = −0.0043 ± 0.0047

Longitudinal associations of nutritional factors with glycated hemoglobin in youth with type 1 diabetes: the SEARCH Nutrition Ancillary Study

Background: Improved glycated hemoglobin (Hb A1c) delays the progression of microvascular and macrovascular complications in individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We previously showed that higher baseline intakes of n–3 (ω-3) fatty acids and leucine are associated with preserved β cell function 2 y later in youth with T1D

Differences in adolescent activity and dietary behaviors across home, school, and other locations warrant location-specific intervention approaches

Background Investigation of physical activity and dietary behaviors across locations can inform “setting-specific” health behavior interventions and improve understanding of contextual vulnerabilities to poor health. This study examined how physical activity, sedentary time, and dietary behaviors differed across home, school, and other locations in young adolescents. Methods Participants were adolescents aged 12–16 years from the Baltimore-Washington, DC and the Seattle areas from a larger cross-sectional study. Participants (n = 472) wore an accelerometer and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracker (Mean days = 5.12, SD = 1.62) to collect location-based physical activity and sedentary data. Participants (n = 789) completed 24-h dietary recalls to assess dietary behaviors and eating locations. Spatial analyses were performed to classify daily physical activity, sedentary time patterns, and dietary behaviors by location, categorized as home, school, and “other” locations. Results Adolescents were least physically active at home (2.5 min/hour of wear time) and school (2.9 min/hour of wear time) compared to “other” locations (5.9 min/hour of wear time). Participants spent a slightly greater proportion of wear time in sedentary time when at school (41 min/hour of wear time) than at home (39 min/hour of wear time), and time in bouts lasting ≥30 min (10 min/hour of wear time) and mean sedentary bout duration (5 min) were highest at school. About 61% of daily energy intake occurred at home, 25% at school, and 14% at “other” locations. Proportionately to energy intake, daily added sugar intake (5 g/100 kcal), fruits and vegetables (0.16 servings/100 kcal), high calorie beverages (0.09 beverages/100 kcal), whole grains (0.04 servings/100 kcal), grams of fiber (0.65 g/100 kcal), and calories of fat (33 kcal/100 kcal) and saturated fat (12 kcal/100 kcal) consumed were nutritionally least favorable at “other” locations. Daily sweet and savory snacks consumed was highest at school (0.14 snacks/100 kcal). Conclusions Adolescents’ health behaviors differed based on the location/environment they were in. Although dietary behaviors were generally more favorable in the home and school locations, physical activity was generally low and sedentary time was higher in these locations. Health behavior interventions that address the multiple locations in which adolescents spend time and use location-specific behavior change strategies should be explored to optimize health behaviors in each location

Sugar-sweetened beverage intake and cardiovascular risk factor profile in youth with type 1 diabetes: application of measurement error methodology in the SEARCH Nutrition Ancillary Study

The SEARCH Nutrition Ancillary Study aims to investigate the role of dietary intake on the development of long-term complications of type 1 diabetes in youth, and capitalise on measurement error (ME) adjustment methodology. Using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) method for episodically consumed foods, we evaluated the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and cardiovascular risk factor profile, with the application of ME adjustment methodology. The calibration sample included 166 youth with two FFQ and three 24 h dietary recall data within 1 month. The full sample included 2286 youth with type 1 diabetes. SSB intake was significantly associated with higher TAG, total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations, after adjusting for energy, age, diabetes duration, race/ethnicity, sex and education. The estimated effect size was larger (model coefficients increased approximately 3-fold) after the application of the NCI method than without adjustment for ME. Compared with individuals consuming one serving of SSB every 2 weeks, those who consumed one serving of SSB every 2 d had 3·7 mg/dl (0·04 mmol/l) higher TAG concentrations and 4·0 mg/dl (0·10 mmol/l) higher total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations, after adjusting for ME and covariates. SSB intake was not associated with measures of adiposity and blood pressure. Our findings suggest that SSB intake is significantly related to increased lipid levels in youth with type 1 diabetes, and that estimates of the effect size of SSB on lipid levels are severely attenuated in the presence of ME. Future studies in youth with diabetes should consider a design that will allow for the adjustment for ME when studying the influence of diet on health status

Relative validity and reliability of a food frequency questionnaire in youth with type 1 diabetes

To evaluate the relative validity and reliability of the SEARCH food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) that was modified from the Block Kids Questionnaire