Measures of low food variety and poor dietary quality in a cross-sectional study of London school children.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The use of simple screening tools to measure nutritional adequacy in a public health context in developed countries are currently lacking. We explore the relationship between food variety and nutrient intake of London school children using a simple tool with potential use for screening for inadequate diets. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2010. The survey included 2579 children aged 7-10 years in 52 primary schools in East London in the United Kingdom. The analysis included 2392 children (93% of the original sample). Food variety was assessed as the total number of listed foods recorded over 24 h using the validated Child and Diet Assessment Tool (CADET) comprising 115 listed foods divided into 16 food categories. Dietary quality was determined by the proportion of children meeting recommended intakes of individual micronutrients, namely, calcium, iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C. RESULTS: The mean number of CADET-listed foods consumed daily by children was 17.1 (95% CI: 16.8, 17.5). Children who consumed fewer than 11 foods on the collection day had particularly low nutrient intakes. Children consuming three different vegetables and two different fruits on average consumed 19-20 listed foods. It was estimated between 4 and 20% of children did not meet the recommended levels for individual micronutrients during the period of data collection. CONCLUSIONS: A simple method using food counts to assess daily food variety may help public health nutritionists identify groups of children at risk of inadequate diets

Description of the Method for Evaluating Digital Endpoints in Alzheimer Disease Study : Protocol for an Exploratory, Cross-sectional Study

©Jelena Curcic, Vanessa Vallejo, Jennifer Sorinas, Oleksandr Sverdlov, Jens Praestgaard, Mateusz Piksa, Mark Deurinck, Gul Erdemli, Maximilian Bügler, Ioannis Tarnanas, Nick Taptiklis, Francesca Cormack, Rebekka Anker, Fabien Massé, William Souillard-Mandar, Nathan Intrator, Lior Molcho, Erica Madero, Nicholas Bott, Mieko Chambers, Josef Tamory, Matias Shulz, Gerardo Fernandez, William Simpson, Jessica Robin, Jón G Snædal, Jang-Ho Cha, Kristin Hannesdottir. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 10.08.2022.BACKGROUND: More sensitive and less burdensome efficacy end points are urgently needed to improve the effectiveness of clinical drug development for Alzheimer disease (AD). Although conventional end points lack sensitivity, digital technologies hold promise for amplifying the detection of treatment signals and capturing cognitive anomalies at earlier disease stages. Using digital technologies and combining several test modalities allow for the collection of richer information about cognitive and functional status, which is not ascertainable via conventional paper-and-pencil tests. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties, operational feasibility, and patient acceptance of 10 promising technologies that are to be used as efficacy end points to measure cognition in future clinical drug trials. METHODS: The Method for Evaluating Digital Endpoints in Alzheimer Disease study is an exploratory, cross-sectional, noninterventional study that will evaluate 10 digital technologies' ability to accurately classify participants into 4 cohorts according to the severity of cognitive impairment and dementia. Moreover, this study will assess the psychometric properties of each of the tested digital technologies, including the acceptable range to assess ceiling and floor effects, concurrent validity to correlate digital outcome measures to traditional paper-and-pencil tests in AD, reliability to compare test and retest, and responsiveness to evaluate the sensitivity to change in a mild cognitive challenge model. This study included 50 eligible male and female participants (aged between 60 and 80 years), of whom 13 (26%) were amyloid-negative, cognitively healthy participants (controls); 12 (24%) were amyloid-positive, cognitively healthy participants (presymptomatic); 13 (26%) had mild cognitive impairment (predementia); and 12 (24%) had mild AD (mild dementia). This study involved 4 in-clinic visits. During the initial visit, all participants completed all conventional paper-and-pencil assessments. During the following 3 visits, the participants underwent a series of novel digital assessments. RESULTS: Participant recruitment and data collection began in June 2020 and continued until June 2021. Hence, the data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic). Data were successfully collected from all digital technologies to evaluate statistical and operational performance and patient acceptance. This paper reports the baseline demographics and characteristics of the population studied as well as the study's progress during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: This study was designed to generate feasibility insights and validation data to help advance novel digital technologies in clinical drug development. The learnings from this study will help guide future methods for assessing novel digital technologies and inform clinical drug trials in early AD, aiming to enhance clinical end point strategies with digital technologies. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/35442.Peer reviewe

Networks of Excellence as Virtual Communities

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Trend in injury-related mortality and morbidity among adolescents across 30 countries from 2002 to 2010

Background: The aim was to examine temporal trends in injury mortality and morbidity across 30 countries in Europe and North America, and the impact of regional geography and adolescent risk behaviours (including substance use and physical fighting) on such trends. Methods: Data were obtained for 30 countries in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Mortality data were obtained from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health for all database. Trends over time were described by WHO Regions using standardized rates comparisons and Poisson regression analyses. Results: Injury-related mortality, but not morbidity, declined over time across all countries (from 10 to 8 deaths per 100 000 between 2001 and 2010), with notable differences observed by Regions (e.g. from 48 to 39 deaths in Russia). Risk behaviours included in the models were consistently and significantly associated with injury morbidity, with substance increasing the risk for injury by 1.15 to 1.36 among girls, and physical fighting increasing the risk by 1.21 to 1.31 among boys across WHO Regions. Risk behaviours did not explain the observed temporal trends. Conclusions: Injury mortality and morbidity represent different health phenomena. Efforts that have been made to make societies safer for children have seemed to be successful in reducing injury morbidity

Trend in injury-related mortality and morbidity among adolescents across 30 countries from 2002 to 2010

Background: The aim was to examine temporal trends in injury mortality and morbidity across 30 countries in Europe and North America, and the impact of regional geography and adolescent risk behaviours (including substance use and physical fighting) on such trends. Methods: Data were obtained for 30 countries in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Mortality data were obtained from the World Health Organization\u27s (WHO) Health for all database. Trends over time were described by WHO Regions using standardized rates comparisons and Poisson regression analyses. Results: Injury-related mortality, but not morbidity, declined over time across all countries (from 10 to 8 deaths per 100 000 between 2001 and 2010), with notable differences observed by Regions (e.g. from 48 to 39 deaths in Russia). Risk behaviours included in the models were consistently and significantly associated with injury morbidity, with substance increasing the risk for injury by 1.15 to 1.36 among girls, and physical fighting increasing the risk by 1.21 to 1.31 among boys across WHO Regions. Risk behaviours did not explain the observed temporal trends. Conclusions: Injury mortality and morbidity represent different health phenomena. Efforts that have been made to make societies safer for children have seemed to be successful in reducing injury morbidity

Improved product development organisations using knowledge mining: requirements, methods and tools

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