Exploring the relationship between dietary patterns, eating behaviour and fat taste detection thresholds : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Background: Dietary pattern analysis provides a unique opportunity to explore combinations of food intake in conjunction with factors known to affect dietary intake. Fat taste sensitivity is an emerging correlate of dietary intake and, when impaired, has a proposed role in the dysregulation of dietary intake and eating behaviours. Aim: To investigate dietary patterns, eating behaviours and fat taste detection thresholds in a group of New Zealand European women aged 19-45 years and identify associations between these factors. Methods: Fifty post-menarche, pre-menopausal New Zealand European (NZE) women, (18-40 years) completed a partially validated, semi-quantiative 220-item food frequency questionnaire and a validated Three-factor eating questionnaire. Height and weight were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) and a bioeletrical impedence analysis (BIA) was completed to measure body fat percentage (BF%). During sensory testing protocol participants were exposed to increasing concentrations of ultra-heat treatment (UHT) milk/oleic acid (OA) solutions using the three alternative forced choice method (3-AFC). A naïve OA detection threshold was determined at the point where the participant identified the OA solution correctly three times at the same concentration. Dietary patterns were determined using principal component factor analysis. Associations between dietary pattern scores, taste sensitivity, eating behaviour and baseline characteristics were investigated. Results: Three dietary patterns were identified: ‘unhealthy’, ‘healthy’ and ‘snacking’. Most women had low eating behaviour scores for cognitive restraint (90%) and disinhibition (74%). Hunger scores were comparatively higher, only 40% had low scores. Twenty-three participants (46%) were classified as hypersensitive and 54% were hyposensitive to OA taste. ‘Unhealthy’ pattern scores were inversely associated with cognitive restraint (r=.391, P=.005) and positively associated with age (r=.297, P=.036). ‘Healthy’ pattern scores were positively associated with cognitive restraint (r=.418, P=.003), OA taste detection thresholds (r=0.446, P=.001) and BMI (r=.325, P=.021). Women with low ‘snacking’ pattern scores were significantly older (31.7 years (24.7, 40.4)) than those with moderate scores (24.0 years (22.0, 28.1)) (P=.037). No relationship was found between OA taste detection thresholds and eating behaviour. Conclusion: Participants in this study showed a significant link between habitual dietary intake and measures for eating behaviour and fat taste sensitivity. Both ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ dietary patterns were associated with one, or both, of these factors. An unexpected positive association between the ‘healthy’ dietary pattern and fat taste sensitivity indicates a need for further investigation to better understand this relationship. Findings from the current study support the use of dietary patterns to better represent habitual intake in future research investigating fat taste sensitivity or eating behaviour. Key words: Habitual intake, dietary intake, fat taste sensitivity, cognitive restraint, disinhibition, hunge

Prehospital use of ipratropium bromide paired with salbutamol as treatment for shortness of breath.

Clinical Scenario: Two primary care paramedics respond to code 4 for a 55 year old male patient severely short of breath. Questioning his wife reveals that the patient has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), takes Ventolin (salbutamol) when necessary and takes Atrovent (ipratropium bromide) daily. He took his Atrovent today, but experienced sudden onset shortness of breath after walking up the flight of stairs in his home. PICO Question: In patients with shortness of breath from respiratory diseases, does the use of prehospital ipratropium bromide paired with salbutamol provide a better outcome than salbutamol treatment alone

Practice Issues for Evaluation and Management of the Suicidal Left Ventricular Assist Device Patient

There is a high prevalence of depression among left ventricular assist device patients, who present with an increased risk of suicidality given access to means via the device either with nonadherence or disconnection. Suicidality via device nonadherence/disconnection is an underresearched clinical issue, as paradoxically this life-saving procedure can also provide a method of lethal means to patients with significant mental health concerns. A case study is used to highlight the course of an attempted suicide by ventricular assistive device nonadherence. Clinical implications and recommendations for practice include a thorough psychological evaluation presurgery, monitoring quality of life and coping styles before and after placement, psychological testing, outlining specific suicide protocols, psychiatric care considerations for patients with highly specialized medical devices, and related ethical concerns

Accessing, integrating and inhibiting word meaning in poor comprehenders

This study examined three processes crucial to reading comprehension (semantic access, integration, and inhibition) to identify causes of comprehension impairment. Poor comprehenders were compared to chronological-age controls and vocabulary-age (VA) controls. When listening to homonym primes (“bank”) versus unrelated primes, controls were faster to name pictures related to dominant (money) and subordinate (river) meanings at 250 ms interstimulus interval (ISI) but only showed dominant priming at 1,000 ms ISI, whereas poor comprehenders only showed dominant priming. When listening to subordinately biased sentences ending in homonyms (“John fished from the bank”) versus control sentences, all groups showed priming when naming subordinate (appropriate) pictures at 250 ms ISI: VA controls and poor comprehenders also showed priming when naming dominant (inappropriate) pictures. At 1,000 ms ISI, controls showed appropriate priming, whereas poor comprehenders only showed inappropriate priming. These findings suggest that poor comprehenders have difficulties accessing subordinate word meanings, which can manifest as a failure to inhibit irrelevant information

Western Burrowing Owl Predation in an Urban Setting in California: Do California Ground Squirrel Calls Reduce Risk?

Western burrowing owls are found in ground squirrel burrows throughout the urbanized landscape of the South San Francisco bay area, where they are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, prey limitation and predation. Previous research has characterized effects of habitat loss and prey-base limitations on owls, but the interplay between ground squirrels, owls and their predators has not yet been studied. The objective of this study was to assess the rate and types of predation interactions faced by Western burrowing owls and the extent to which California ground squirrels help burrowing owls reduce risk through alarm calling at Moffett Federal Airfield in northern Santa Clara County, California. From June through August 2012 and April through June 2013, over 100 hours of direct observations and 14,540 hours of camera trapping observations yielded seven owl takes by species including red-tailed hawk, red fox, striped skunk, common raven, and snake species. Although the ratio of squirrels to owls was 74:26, ground squirrels were observed responding to predator approaches before owls 58.8% of the time, while burrowing owls responded first 28.4% of the time. Burrowing owls reacted to 65.5% of squirrel alarm calls, while squirrels responded to only 25.8% of owl alarms. This research suggests healthy ground squirrel populations may provide important predator-avoidance services in burrowing owl habitat, and that predation should be of greater concern to burrowing owl conservation. And ground squirrels are needed to determine the extent of predation protection via alarm calls

Cinematic Competence and Directorial Persona in Film School: A Study of Socialization and Cultural Production

This thesis examines the role of professional socialization in cultural production, particularly in the popular arts. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a graduate program of narrative filmmaking, it asks what is taught and what is learned in film school? and answers those questions through an account of two critical domains in film school practice: aesthetic repertoires (including narrative and stylistic competence in cinema), and the social identity of the student director. It also considers the ideology of talent in the school community. Aesthetic practice in the school extends from classical to New Hollywood, the former based on narrative clarity, continuous space and time, and goaloriented protagonists, the latter varying those conventions through the limited use of ambiguity as a narrative and stylistic element. The ideal role of the director in the school and in student filmmaking is the auteur, the film artist who uses narrative and stylistic principles to express a personal vision , and who writes, directs and edits her or his own films in an otherwise collective production process. Beyond a set of tasks, the title director also connotes an identity--who you are as well as what you do. In coming to identify themselves as directors in the school, students cultivate persona, or distinctive personal styles. Through task set, vision and persona, and also through the attribution of talent as an intrapersonal trait, the film director as singular artist merges, despite the divided labor of film production and a populist aesthetic based on a large and heterogeneous commercial audience

Fostering Student Agency to Build a Whole Child, Whole School, Whole Community Approach

In this practitioner perspective, we explore the concept of student agency through the implementation of a student government association in a laboratory middle school. Interviews with a social studies teacher and her students offer perspectives of the impact of student voice and choice for student experiences. We describe three major lessons learned through this implementation process: students learn to have healthy conflict and cooperative skills; students learn the appropriate processes to enact change in a democratic society; and students learn to conduct service for their peers, school, and community