Addendum to the MyPyramid Equivalents Database 2.0

AbstractBackgroundThe MyPyramid Equivalents Database (MPED) provides amounts of food groups and subgroups in foods consumed in nationwide food consumption surveys. The most recent MPED issued by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) was Version 2.0, created for use with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-04. Several of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's (CNPP) projects require food group equivalents data for foods from more recent NHANES.ObjectiveTo provide a supplementary database of food group equivalents for more recent NHANES foods, for use in CNPP projects.DescriptionAdditional foods (n=820) reported in NHANES 2005-06 and 2007-08 were identified for inclusion in several CNPP projects, including the new online diet assessment tool, the SuperTracker. Cup and ounce equivalents were calculated for 750 foods by using the approach described in the documentation for the MPED 2.0. The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 23 (2010) was used for calculations. ARS provided equivalents data for 70 formulated foods. The Addendum to the MPED includes cup or ounce equivalents per 100 grams of food for each USDA food group and subgroup, grams of discretionary solid fats and oils, teaspoons of added sugars, alcoholic beverages, as well as whole fruit and fruit juice equivalents. The Addendum database and documentation are available on the CNPP web site at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/OtherProjects.htm.ConclusionThe Addendum provides useful data for foods from more recent NHANES that are not in MPED 2.0. It will be available until the next equivalents database is released by ARS

Bimanual reach to grasp movements after cervical spinal cord injury

Injury to the cervical spinal cord results in bilateral deficits in arm/hand function reducing functional independence and quality of life. To date little research has been undertaken to investigate control strategies of arm/hand movements following cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). This study aimed to investigate unimanual and bimanual coordination in patients with acute cSCI using 3D kinematic analysis as they performed naturalistic reach to grasp actions with one hand, or with both hands together (symmetrical task), and compare this to the movement patterns of uninjured younger and older adults. Eighteen adults with a cSCI (mean 61.61 years) with lesions at C4-C8, with an American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grade B to D and 16 uninjured younger adults (mean 23.68 years) and sixteen uninjured older adults (mean 70.92 years) were recruited. Participants with a cSCI produced reach-to-grasp actions which took longer, were slower, and had longer deceleration phases than uninjured participants. These differences were exacerbated during bimanual reach-to-grasp tasks. Maximal grasp aperture was no different between groups, but reached earlier by people with cSCI. Participants with a cSCI were less synchronous than younger and older adults but all groups used the deceleration phase for error correction to end the movement in a synchronous fashion. Overall, this study suggests that after cSCI a level of bimanual coordination is retained. While there seems to be a greater reliance on feedback to produce both the reach to grasp, we observed minimal disruption of the more impaired limb on the less impaired limb. This suggests that bimanual movements should be integrated into therapy

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors - National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report

Based on a survey of AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which provide prescription drugs to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured HIV/AIDS patients, provides an overview of ADAPs' operations, developments, challenges, and policy and program changes

Predator decline leads to decreased stability in a coastal fish community

Fisheries exploitation has caused widespread declines in marine predators. Theory predicts that predator depletion will destabilise lower trophic levels, making natural communities more vulnerable to environmental perturbations. However, empirical evidence has been limited. Using a community matrix model, we empirically assessed trends in the stability of a multispecies coastal fish community over the course of predator depletion. Three indices of community stability (resistance, resilience and reactivity) revealed significantly decreasing stability concurrent with declining predator abundance. The trophically downgraded community exhibited weaker top-down control, leading to predator-release processes in lower trophic levels and increased susceptibility to perturbation. At the community level, our results suggest that high predator abundance acts as a stabilising force to the naturally stochastic and highly autocorrelated dynamics in low trophic species. These findings have important implications for the conservation and management of predators in marine ecosystems and provide empirical support for the theory of predatory control

Developmental appearance of factors that bind specifically to cis-regulatory sequences of a gene expressed in the sea urchin embryo

Previous gene-transfer experiments have identified a 2500-nucleotide 5' domain of the CyIIIa cytoskeletal actin gene, which contains cis-regulatory sequences that are necessary and sufficient for spatial and temporal control of CyIIIa gene expression during embryogenesis. This gene is activated in late cleavage, exclusively in aboral ectoderm cell lineages. In this study, we focus on interactions demonstrated in vitro between sequences of the regulatory domain and proteins present in crude extracts derived from sea urchin embryo nuclei and from unfertilized eggs. Quantitative gel-shift measurements are utilized to estimate minimum numbers of factor molecules per embryo at 24 hr postfertilization, when the CyIIIa gene is active, at 7 hr, when it is still silent, and in the unfertilized egg. We also estimate the binding affinity preferences (K_r) of the various factors for their respective sites, relative to their affinity for synthetic DNA competitors. At least 14 different specific interactions occur within the regulatory regions, some of which produce multiple DNA-protein complexes. Values of K_r range from approximately 2 x 10^4 to approximately 2 x 10^6 for these factors under the conditions applied. With one exception, the minimum factor prevalences that we measured in the 400-cell 24-hr embryo nuclear extracts fell within the range of 2 x 10^5 to 2 x 10^6 molecules per embryo, i.e., a few hundred to a few thousand molecules per nucleus. Three developmental patterns were observed with respect to factor prevalence: Factors reacting at one site were found in unfertilized egg cytoplasm at about the same level per egg or embryo as in 24-hr embryo nuclei; factors reacting with five other regions of the regulatory domain are not detectable in egg cytoplasm but in 7-hr mid-cleavage-stage embryo, nuclei are already at or close to their concentrations in the 24-hr embryo nuclei; and factors reacting with five additional regions are not detectable in egg cytoplasm and are low in 7-hr embryo nuclei, i.e., ⩽10% per embryo of the level they attain in 24-hr embryo nuclei. The rise in concentration of factors of the latter class could provide the proximal cause for the temporal activation of the CyIIIa gene at the early blastula stage

Reconciling the size‐dependence of marine particle sinking speed

Sinking particles are critical to the ocean's “biological pump,” sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. Particles' sinking speeds are a primary factor determining fluxes and subsequent ecological and climatic impacts. While size is a key determinant of particles' sinking speeds, observations suggest a variable size-sinking relationship, affected by other particle properties, resulting in substantial spread in parameterizations of particle sinking and fluxes. We compile particle size-sinking observations and apply hierarchical Bayesian statistical models to resolve the size-sinking relationship while accounting for other factors. We find an overall scaling close to the general Navier-Stokes drag equation, and differences between particle types, open ocean versus coastal/laboratory particles, and in situ versus ex situ methods. These results can help harmonize how Earth system models parameterize particle fluxes and support a weaker size-dependence than often assumed, with implications for the flux contribution of small particles and the predicted future shrinking of marine particle populations

Timescales of spike-train correlation for neural oscillators with common drive

We examine the effect of the phase-resetting curve (PRC) on the transfer of correlated input signals into correlated output spikes in a class of neural models receiving noisy, super-threshold stimulation. We use linear response theory to approximate the spike correlation coefficient in terms of moments of the associated exit time problem, and contrast the results for Type I vs. Type II models and across the different timescales over which spike correlations can be assessed. We find that, on long timescales, Type I oscillators transfer correlations much more efficiently than Type II oscillators. On short timescales this trend reverses, with the relative efficiency switching at a timescale that depends on the mean and standard deviation of input currents. This switch occurs over timescales that could be exploited by downstream circuits