Socio-environmental Factors Associated With Length Of Gestation And Infant Birth Weight Among A Teenage Sample

Infant birth weight and length of gestation are associated with a variety of health outcomes for the infant. Birth weight, in particular, is most closely associated with neonatal and postneonatal mortality as well as a number of other health consequences.;The present study has considered some promising socio-environmental factors and their relationship to length of gestation and infant birth weight. These factors included social stressors, supportive relationships, self esteem and personal competence. As well, this study examined a potential intervening role for those variables in the relationship of maternal age and marital status with study outcomes.;The study group consisted of 204 women aged 19 years or less. Participants were referred to the study from the caseload of physicians in Middlesex and Elgin Counties. Two additional sources were also drawn upon; public health nurses and a newspaper advertisement. Each participant completed two questionnaires administered by an interviewer. The questionnaires were administered at two points in time. The first interview took place as soon as possible after the confirmation of pregnancy and the second occurred six weeks after delivery. Information was also abstracted from the hospital chart of the mother and the infant.;The relationships of the various measures with the study outcomes were examined using multiple regression analysis. The study findings showed that maternal age and marital status influenced infant birth weight only through their association with prenatal care, weight gain and alcohol consumption. It was also found that weight gain, prenatal care and alcohol consumption were related to infant birth weight directly and indirectly through length of gestation.;The variables of social support and personal resources were not related to length of gestation or infant birth weight. However, some suggestive evidence of a possible relationship between life event stress and infant birth weight was revealed

Mobilizing hegemonic practices in trajectories of conspicuous resistance

Purpose Focusing on a community organisation, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the process through which infringing contested practices that threaten or compromise the community’s sense of distinction are transformed into acceptable symbolic markers. Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic study comprising participant observation, in-depth interviews and secondary data was conducted in the context of a non-profit community cinema. Findings Taking a longitudinal approach and drawing from practice theory, this paper outlines how member-driven, customer-driven and necessity-imposed infringing practices settle in new contexts. Further, this paper demonstrates that such practices are filtered in terms of their ideological “fit” with the organisation and are, as a result, rejected, recontextualised or replaced with do-it-yourself alternatives. In this process, authority shifts from the contested practice to community members and eventually to the space as a whole, ensuring the singularisation of the cinema-going experience. Practical implications This paper addresses how the integration of hegemonic practices to an off-the-mainstream experience can provide a differentiation tool, aiding resisting organisations to compensate for their lack of resources. Originality/value While the appropriation practices that communities use to ensure distinction are well documented, there is little understanding of the journey that negatively contested practices undergo in their purification to more community-friendly forms. This paper theorises this journey by outlining how the objects, meanings and doings that comprise hegemonic practices are transformed by and transforming of resisting organisations. </jats:sec

Fine-Tuning Reception in the Bone: PPARγ and Company

PPARγ plays a central role in the formation of fat. Regulation of PPARγ activity depends on numerous factors ranging from dietary ligands to nuclear hormone coactivators and corepressors to oxygen-sensing mechanisms. In addition, the interplay of PPARγ with other nuclear hormone receptors has implications for the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis in mesenchymal stem cells of the bone marrow stroma. This review will explore a range of factors influencing PPARγ activity and how these interactions may affect osteogenesis

Influence of micronization (infrared treatment) on the protein and functional quality of a ready-to-eat sorghum-cowpea African porridge for young child-feeding

Indigenous plant foods play a major nutritional and cultural role in the diets of rural people in Africa. However, they can contain high levels of antinutrients, which may exacerbate nutritional and health problems in young children consuming nutrient deficient diets. Also, the rapid increase in urbanization in Africa has led to the need for convenience type meals. This study investigated the potential of micronization (infrared treatment) in combination with extrusion cooking in developing a ready-to-eat sorghum and cowpea based porridge supplemented with cooked cowpea leaves for young child-feeding. Micronization not only inactivated the trypsin inhibitors in cowpea, it also produced an instantized product with excellent hydration properties. When served as a stiff porridge with cooked cowpea leaves in the recommended portion sizes for children aged 2e5 years, one daily serving would meet 40% of the children's protein and lysine requirements. Further, the calculated Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score would be comparable to commercial maize-soy instant products. This is notwithstanding that the cowpea leaves had a negative effect on protein digestibility due to their high tannin content. This nutritious ready-to-eat meal from locally available plant foods could contribute substantially to food security in both urban and rural communities in Africa.University of Pretoria Institutional Research Theme fundinghttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt2016-10-31hb201

Synchrotron X-Ray Studies of Surface Disordering

Contains an introduction and reports on three research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-000

Perchlorate and nitrate in situ bioremediation of ground water

Nitrate and perchlorate are growing worldwide problems as mobile anionic groundwater contaminants. Biological rduction of nitrate and perchlorate in groundwater is under development as a technology to address these problems

Effects of processing and addition of a cowpea leaf relish on the iron and zinc nutritive value of a ready-to-eat sorghum-cowpea porridge aimed at young children

While dietary diversification of monotonous cereal-based diets using legumes and vegetables can alleviate the high prevalence of iron and zinc deficiencies in sub-Saharan African children, laborious cooking times limit the use of particularly legumes. This study investigated the effects of high-temperature short-time (HTST) processing on sorghum (extrusion) and cowpea (micronisation), compositing sorghum-cowpea (70:30) (ESMC) in a ready-to-eat porridge and addition of cowpea leaves on iron and zinc bioaccessibilities compared to a commercial fortified maize:soy ready-to-eat porridge. HTST processing increased iron bioaccessibility from both grains and the zinc bioaccessibility from the sorghum. One serving of ESMC porridge with cowpea leaves could contribute z85 and 18% towards the iron and zinc RDA of preschool children, compared to the commercial product at z84 and 125%, respectively. However, the higher iron and zinc bioaccessibilities from the ESMC porridge with cowpea leaves, compared to the commercial product (11.8 vs. 5.0% and 18.9 vs 2.7%, respectively) means it would provide more bioaccessible iron (2.24 vs. 0.86 mg/100 g, db) and similar levels of zinc (0.35 vs. 0.32 mg/ 100 g) towards the absolute/basal requirements of preschool children. The ESMC porridge with cowpea leaves could improve the iron and zinc nutritive value of preschool sub-Saharan African children’s diets.This publication was made possible through support provided by the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy, Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-L-14-00003. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The authors would also like to acknowledge financial support for N Vilakati from the South African National Research Foundation and the University of Pretoria’s Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt2017-11-30hb2016Food ScienceHuman Nutritio

Patterns of bruising in preschool children with inherited bleeding disorders: a longitudinal study

Objective The extent that inherited bleeding disorders affect; number, size and location of bruises in young children <6 years. Design Prospective, longitudinal, observational study. Setting Community. Patients 105 children with bleeding disorders, were compared with 328 without a bleeding disorder and classified by mobility: premobile (non-rolling/rolling over/ sitting), early mobile (crawling/cruising) and walking and by disease severity: severe bleeding disorder factor VIII/IX/XI <1 IU/dL or type 3 von Willebrand disease. Interventions Number, size and location of bruises recorded in each child weekly for up to 12 weeks. Outcomes The interventions were compared between children with severe and mild/moderate bleeding disorders and those without bleeding disorders. Multiple collections for individual children were analysed by multilevel modelling. Results Children with bleeding disorders had more and larger bruises, especially when premobile. Compared with premobile children without a bleeding disorder; the modelled ratio of means (95% CI) for number of bruises/ collection was 31.82 (8.39 to 65.42) for severe bleeding disorders and 5.15 (1.23 to 11.17) for mild/moderate, and was 1.81 (1.13 to 2.23) for size of bruises. Children with bleeding disorders rarely had bruises on the ears, neck, cheeks, eyes or genitalia. Conclusions Children with bleeding disorder have more and larger bruises at all developmental stages. The differences were greatest in premobile children. In this age group for children with unexplained bruising, it is essential that coagulation studies are done early to avoid the erroneous diagnosis of physical abuse when the child actually has a serious bleeding disorder, however a blood test compatible with a mild/moderate bleeding disorder cannot be assumed to be the cause of bruising

X-Ray Diffuse Scattering

Contains introduction and reports on three research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program DAAL03-89-C-000

The Heritability of Prostate Cancer in the Nordic Twin Study of Cancer

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is thought to be the most heritable cancer, although little is known about how this genetic contribution varies across age. METHODS: To address this question, we undertook the world's largest prospective study in the Nordic Twin Study of Cancer cohort, including 18,680 monozygotic and 30,054 dizygotic same sex male twin pairs. We incorporated time-to-event analyses to estimate the risk concordance and heritability while accounting for censoring and competing risks of death, essential sources of biases that have not been accounted for in previous twin studies modeling cancer risk and liability. RESULTS: The cumulative risk of prostate cancer was similar to that of the background population. The cumulative risk for twins whose co-twin was diagnosed with prostate cancer was greater for MZ than for DZ twins across all ages. Among concordantly affected pairs, the time between diagnoses was significantly shorter for MZ than DZ pairs (median 3.8 versus 6.5 years, respectively). Genetic differences contributed substantially to variation in both the risk and the liability (heritability=58% (95% CI 52%–63%) of developing prostate cancer. The relative contribution of genetic factors was constant across age through late life with substantial genetic heterogeneity even when diagnosis and screening procedures vary. CONCLUSIONS: Results from the population based twin cohort, indicate a greater genetic contribution to the risk of developing prostate cancer when addressing sources of bias. The role of genetic factors is consistently high across age IMPACT: Findings impact the search for genetic and epigenetic markers and frame prevention efforts