Organized Activity Participation, Positive Youth Development, and the Over‐Scheduling Hypothesis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145279/1/sop200049.pd

Proprietary Considerations

Background: Celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) are two chronic autoimmune diseases with increasing incidence worldwide. A combination of genetic, environmental and immunological factors is considered to be involved in development of the diseases, even though the exact disease mechanisms still are unknown. CD and T1D are both believed to be associated with type 1 like immune responses. However, there is limited knowledge about the complex network of intestinal and peripheral immune responses associated with the diseases. Aims: The aim of this thesis was to explore intestinal and peripheral immune responses in children at different stages of CD and in children with T1D. Further, we studied peripheral immune responses in children at risk for T1D supplemented with probiotics during their first 6 months of life (PRODIA study). Results & Discussion: Children with untreated CD had up-regulated T-helper (Th)1, T-cytotoxic (Tc)1, Th17 and T-regulatory (Treg) responses, but down-regulated Th2 and Th3 responses in the small intestine. The type 1 response (Th1 and Tc1) seemed to remain elevated in CD children under gluten free diet (GFD)-treatment and thus seemed to be related to the disease itself rather than the gluten intake. The Th2, Th3, Th17 and Treg responses seemed to be gluten dependent, since they normalized upon GFD-treatment. The alterations in the intestinal biopsies did not seem to correlate with the alterations seen in the blood Children with potential CD had diminished levels of the Th17 cytokine IL-17, whereas children with untreated CD had elevated levels of IL-17, indicating that IL-17 immunity develops in the late phase of CD when villous atrophy has developed. Furthermore, stimulation of intestinal epithelial cells with IL-17 induced anti-apoptotic mechanisms. The low intestinal expression of Th1, Th17 and Treg markers was normal in children with T1D, whereas children with T1D and CD had the same pattern as children with untreated CD: high intestinal secretion of pro-inflammatory and Th17 cytokines. The immune responses in children with T1D were generally influenced by the degree of villous atrophy. As expected, the number of children in the PRODIA study developing T1D related autoantibodies during their first two years of life was low. No difference in the autoantibody emergence was seen between infants given probiotics compared to placebo. In the probiotic group, the number of circulating CD58+ monocytes was lower at 6 months of age. At 12 months of age the number of circulating CCR5+ monocytes was lower in the probiotic group, whereas the spontaneous expression of TLR9 on PBMCs was higher. Conclusion: Most of the intestinal T-cell associated immune alterations were generally gluten dependent, since they normalized on a GFD treatment, but the type 1 response seemed to be related to the disease itself, since it was still seen in GFD treated individuals. IL-17 immunity seemed to be induced in the late stage of CD, when villous atrophy has developed and it seemed to be involved in protection from tissue damage in the inflamed intestinal mucosa. The intestinal immune responses were generally not reflected in peripheral blood. Probiotic supplementation in infancy modulated the activation stage and stimulation response of monocytes. Thus, early exposure to microbes seemed to influence the function of the innate immune system in later life

Establishing new principles for nutrient reference values (NRVs) for food labeling purposes

Many countries such as The Republic of Korea have established their own nutritional standards, collectively termed Nutrient Reference Values(NRVs), and they vary due to the science which was reviewed, the purposes for which they are developed, and issues related to nutrition and food policy in the country. The current effort by the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CNFSDU) to update the NRVs that were established following the Helsinki Consultation in 1988 represents an opportunity to develop a set of reference values reflecting current scientific information to be used or adapted by many countries. This paper will focus on possible approaches to selecting or developing reference values which would serve the intended purpose for nutrition labeling to the greatest extent possible. Within the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) is currently reviewing regulations on nutrition labeling to better address current health issues, and is expected to enter into a process in the next few months to begin to explore how best to update nutrient Daily Values (DVs), most of which are still based on the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) of the Food and Nutrition Board, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, last reviewed and revised in 1968. In this presentation, I review the current purposes in the U.S. for nutrition labeling as identified in the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as amended, the scientific basis for current nutrition labeling regulations in the United States, and the recommendations made by the recent Committee on Use of Dietary Reference Intakes in Nutrition Labeling of the Institute of Medicine (2003) regarding how to use the DRIs in developing new DVs to be used on the label in the United States and Canada. Based on these reviews, I then provide examples of the issues that arise in comparing one approach to another. Much of the discussion focuses on the appropriate role of nutrient labeling within the Nutrition Facts panel, one of the three major public nutrition education tools in the United States (along with MyPyramid and Dietary Guidelines for Americans)

Exact Bayesian curve fitting and signal segmentation.

We consider regression models where the underlying functional relationship between the response and the explanatory variable is modeled as independent linear regressions on disjoint segments. We present an algorithm for perfect simulation from the posterior distribution of such a model, even allowing for an unknown number of segments and an unknown model order for the linear regressions within each segment. The algorithm is simple, can scale well to large data sets, and avoids the problem of diagnosing convergence that is present with Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) approaches to this problem. We demonstrate our algorithm on standard denoising problems, on a piecewise constant AR model, and on a speech segmentation problem

EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA); Scientific Opinion on principles for deriving and applying Dietary Reference Values

This Opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA) deals with the general principles for development and application of Dietary Reference Values (DRVs). These quantitative reference values for nutrient intakes for healthy individuals and populations are based on health criteria. Derived from DRVs, nutrients goals and recommendations take into account other criteria such as food composition or dietary habits, and may be used for assessment and planning of diets. It is proposed to derive the following DRVs: 1) Population Reference Intakes (PRI), 2) Average Requirement (AR), 3) Lower Threshold Intake (LTI), 4) Adequate Intake (AI), 5) Reference Intake ranges for macronutrients (RI). Nutrient requirements differ with age, sex and physiological condition. The Panel proposes to define the age ranges used for each nutrient on a case-by-case basis depending on the available data. For the age group < 6 months requirements are considered to be equal to the supply from breast- milk, except in those cases where this does not apply. Separate reference values will be established for pregnant and lactating women. Interpolation or extrapolation between population groups will be used in instances where no data are available for defined age and sex groups

Developing a conceptual framework for an evaluation system for the NIAID HIV/AIDS clinical trials networks

Globally, health research organizations are called upon to re-examine their policies and practices to more efficiently and effectively address current scientific and social needs, as well as increasing public demands for accountability

Bringing together emerging and endemic zoonoses surveillance: shared challenges and a common solution

Early detection of disease outbreaks in human and animal populations is crucial to the effective surveillance of emerging infectious diseases. However, there are marked geographical disparities in capacity for early detection of outbreaks, which limit the effectiveness of global surveillance strategies. Linking surveillance approaches for emerging and neglected endemic zoonoses, with a renewed focus on existing disease problems in developing countries, has the potential to overcome several limitations and to achieve additional health benefits. Poor reporting is a major constraint to the surveillance of both emerging and endemic zoonoses, and several important barriers to reporting can be identified: (i) a lack of tangible benefits when reports are made; (ii) a lack of capacity to enforce regulations; (iii) poor communication among communities, institutions and sectors; and (iv) complexities of the international regulatory environment. Redirecting surveillance efforts to focus on endemic zoonoses in developing countries offers a pragmatic approach that overcomes some of these barriers and provides support in regions where surveillance capacity is currently weakest. In addition, this approach addresses immediate health and development problems, and provides an equitable and sustainable mechanism for building the culture of surveillance and the core capacities that are needed for all zoonotic pathogens, including emerging disease threats