Antecedents Factors that Influence Soy Consumption: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

We propose a structural model of antecedent factors that affect the frequency of soy consumption. This model, suggests that soy-general knowledge influences perceptions about nutrition concern, health benefits of soy, soy related personal beliefs and personal attitudes toward soy. Health benefits of soy, in turn, impacts soy-related personal beliefs and personal attitudes toward soy. Additionally, soy-related personal beliefs influence personal attitudes toward soy. Finally, both nutrition concern and personal attitudes toward soy drive the frequency of soy consumption. Elaborate tests with calibration and validation samples (derived from a large and nationally representative survey) provide robust empirical support for the proposed model. Implications for consumers and food industry are discussed.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Rumah Sakit Paru-paru Di Manado - Eco Friendly Design

Indonesia merupakan negara tropis yang termasuk dalam 10 peringkat tertinggi angka kesakitan (morbiditas) penyakit paru di dunia. Tingginya morbiditas penyakit paru di Indonesia, khususnya Sulawesi Utara secara umum disebabkan oleh kualitas udara yang tidak sehat (debu, asap, kelembaban, suhu, dll), bertambahnya jumlah perokok, Perubahan gaya hidup, penularan melalui virus, bakteri, tingkat pengetahuan yang rendah, tingginya angka kemiskinan dan sedikitnya jumlah fasilitas khusus kesehatan paru di tengah lingkungan urban kota. Karakteristik penyakit paru yang menular atau tidak menular dan mudah menyebabkan komplikasi pada organ tubuh lainnya, merupakan alasan kuat mengapa penyakit ini perlu ditangani secara khusus dan intensif. Selain itu proses penyembuhannya sangat dipengaruhi oleh lingkungan (alami maupun buatan) yang sehat, nyaman dan udara yang bersih dengan memaksimalkan penggunaan pencahayaan alami. Melihat kompleksnya permasalahan diatas dan semakin kuatnya isu global warming, maka perlu dipertimbangkan kehadiran rumah sakit paru-paru dengan pendekatan desain yang ramah lingkungan (eco friendly design) di Manado. Pendekatan “eco friendly design” pada rumah sakit paru merupakan strategi desain untuk menghadirkan rancangan rumah sakit yang ramah lingkungan dan untuk mempertahankan kondisi lingkungan yang hijau, natural dan selaras atau serasi dengan alam. Hal tersebut dimaksudkan untuk memberikan rasa nyaman dan aman bagi pasien rawat jalan dan rawat inap, sekaligus sebagai sarana relaksasi bagi seluruh pengunjung dan pegawai rumah sakit sendiri, sehingga secara tidak langsung mempercepat proses penyembuhan (Natural Healing)

Kajian Prinsip ‘Eco Friendly Architecture', Studi Kasus: Sidwell Friends Middle School

Era globalisasi sekarang ini, banyak perancangan bangunan yang tidak memerhatikan keselarasan antara bangunan dengan alam dan lingkungan sekitar. Contohnya: dalam hal pemanfaatan sumber daya alam, penggunaan material dan teknologi yang tidak ramah terhadap alam. Oleh karena itu, perancangan bangunan (Arsitektur) sebagai penyumbang 45% gas CO² di bumi mempunyai andil besar memicu Pemanasan Global (global warming) dan berakibat pada turunnya kualitas lingkungan. Dari semua gejala alam yang sudah terjadi, kini sudah saatnya untuk lebih memahami alam agar tidak terjadi kerusakan alam yang lebih parah. Salah satu upaya pendekatan rancangan Arsitektur yang selaras dan ramah terhadap alam yaitu melalui Eco Friendly Architecture. Dalam prinsipnya, pembangunan akan dirancang secara holistik atau memiliki hubungan dengan ekosistem secara keseluruhan. Selain itu melalui pendekatan ini diharapkan dapat menghasilkan konsep-konsep perancangan Arsitektur yang hemat energi, ikut menjaga kelangsungan ekosistem, memanfaatkan sumber daya alam yang dapat dan tidak dapat diperbarui secara efisien dan daur ulang. Salah satu contoh penerapan konsep bangunan yang bersertifikat Eco Friendly Architecture yaitu bangunan ‘Sidwell Friends Middle School'. Dalam bangunan ini, upaya penggunaan sumber daya alam secara efisien, daur ulang dan Eco-green dilakukan untuk menjaga keseimbangan alam dengan tidak merusak tanah, air dan udara, tanpa mengabaikan kesejahteraan dan Kenyamanan manusia secara fisik, sosial dan ekonomi secara berkelanjutan

Pregravid Physical Activity, Dietary Intake, and Glucose Intolerance During Pregnancy

To ascertain prepregnancy physical activity and dietary intake from a sample of women in early pregnancy and estimate the effect of prepregnancy lifestyle behaviors on the 1-hour glucose challenge test (GCT)

Gestational Diabetes and Subsequent Growth Patterns of Offspring: The National Collaborative Perinatal Project

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that intrauterine exposure to gestational diabetes [GDM] predicts childhood growth independent of the effect on infant birthweight. We conducted a prospective analysis of 28,358 mother-infant pairs who enrolled in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project between 1959 and 1965. The offspring were followed until age 7. Four hundred and eighty-four mothers (1.7%) had GDM. The mean birthweight was 3.2 kg (range 1.1–5.6 kg). Maternal characteristics (age, education, race, family income, pre-pregnancy body mass index and pregnancy weight gain) and measures of childhood growth (birthweight, weight at ages 4, and 7) differed significantly by GDM status (all P < 0.05). As expected, compared to their non-diabetic counterparts, mothers with GDM gave birth to offspring that had higher weights at birth. The offspring of mothers with GDM were larger at age 7 as indicated by greater weight, BMI and BMI z-score compared to the offspring of mothers without GDM at that age (all P < 0.05). These differences at age 7 persisted even after adjustment for infant birthweight. Furthermore, the offspring of mothers with GDM had a 61% higher odds of being overweight at age 7 compared to the offspring of mothers without GDM after adjustment for maternal BMI, pregnancy weight gain, family income, race and birthweight [OR = 1.61 (95%CI:1.07, 1.28)]. Our results indicate that maternal GDM status is associated with offspring overweight status during childhood. This relationship is only partially mediated by effects on birthweight

Maternal risk factors for abnormal placental growth: The national collaborative perinatal project

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies of maternal risk factors for abnormal placental growth have focused on placental weight and placental ratio as measures of placental growth. We sought to identify maternal risk factors for placental weight and two neglected dimensions of placental growth: placental thickness and chorionic plate area.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted an analysis of 24,135 mother-placenta pairs enrolled in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, a prospective cohort study of pregnancy and child health. We defined growth restriction as < 10^thpercentile and hypertrophy as > 90^thpercentile for three placental growth dimensions: placental weight, placental thickness and chorionic plate area. We constructed parallel multinomial logistic regression analyses to identify (a) predictors of restricted growth (vs. normal) and (b) predictors of hypertrophic growth (vs. normal).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Black race was associated with an increased likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight, thickness and chorionic plate area, but was associated with a reduced likelihood of hypertrophy for these three placental growth dimensions. We observed an increased likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight and chorionic plate area among mothers with hypertensive disease at 24 weeks or beyond. Anemia was associated with a reduced likelihood of growth restriction for placental weight and chorionic plate area. Pre-pregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain were associated with a reduced likelihood of growth restriction and an increased likelihood of hypertrophy for all three dimensions of placental growth.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Maternal risk factors are either associated with placental growth restriction or placental hypertrophy not both. Our findings suggest that the placenta may have compensatory responses to certain maternal risk factors suggesting different underlying biological mechanisms.</p

Neighborhood and weight-related health behaviors in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have shown that neighborhood factors are associated with obesity, but few studies have evaluated the association with weight control behaviors. This study aims to conduct a multi-level analysis to examine the relationship between neighborhood SES and weight-related health behaviors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this ancillary study to Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) a trial of long-term weight loss among individuals with type 2 diabetes, individual-level data on 1219 participants from 4 clinic sites at baseline were linked to neighborhood-level data at the tract level from the 2000 US Census and other databases. Neighborhood variables included SES (% living below the federal poverty level) and the availability of food stores, convenience stores, and restaurants. Dependent variables included BMI, eating patterns, weight control behaviors and resource use related to food and physical activity. Multi-level models were used to account for individual-level SES and potential confounders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The availability of restaurants was related to several eating and weight control behaviors. Compared to their counterparts in neighborhoods with fewer restaurants, participants in neighborhoods with more restaurants were more likely to eat breakfast (prevalence Ratio [PR] 1.29 95% CI: 1.01-1.62) and lunch (PR = 1.19, 1.04-1.36) at non-fast food restaurants. They were less likely to be attempting weight loss (OR = 0.93, 0.89-0.97) but more likely to engage in weight control behaviors for food and physical activity, respectively, than those who lived in neighborhoods with fewer restaurants. In contrast, neighborhood SES had little association with weight control behaviors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this selected group of weight loss trial participants, restaurant availability was associated with some weight control practices, but neighborhood SES was not. Future studies should give attention to other populations and to evaluating various aspects of the physical and social environment with weight control practices.</p

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead