Giant Taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza) Root Meal with or without Coconut Oil Slurry as Source of Dietary Energy for Laying Hens

The effect of feeding Alocasia macrorrhiza root meal (AMRM) with or without added coconut oil slurry (COS) on egg production and egg qualities was investigated in a 20-week experiment. A control diet based on maize and 4 other diets containing 10 and 20% AMRM with or without COS were fed each to 4 replicates of 10 birds in a completely randomized design. There were no significant dietary effects on feed intake (FI) and the intake of lysine, methionine and metabolizable energy (ME). Birds fed the 20% AMRM_COS added significantly less weight during the experimental period compared to the control fed group. Body weight change (BWC) did not differ among the AMRM fed birds. Per cent hen-day and feed conversion ratio were depressed on 20% AMRM and egg weight on 10% AMRM but these depressing effects were overcome by COS addition. Egg shape index, Haugh unit and per cent shell were not affected by the diet. It is concluded that AMRM can replace 10% dietary maize without adverse effect on laying performance but 20% replacement negatively impacts on hen-day and egg weight. These adverse effects are however, overcome by treating AMRM with COS at the ratio of 9: 1. More research into higher levels of COS treated AMRM in the diet is warranted

The contribution of caregiver psychosocial factors to distress associated with behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Objective: The objective of the study is to examine caregiver factors as predictors of BPSD-related distress and their potential mechanisms. Method: Informal caregivers of people with dementia (n = 157) recruited from 28 community mental health teams in six NHS Trusts across England completed questionnaires regarding psychosocial factors (relationship quality, competence, guilt, health-related quality of life in the caregiver and person with dementia, reactivity to behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia [BPSD] and burden) and frequency of BPSD. Analyses of BPSD-related distress include hierarchical multiple regression, mediation, moderation and path analysis. Results: Caregiver psychosocial factors explained 56% of the variance in BPSD-related distress. After controlling for these factors, frequency of BPSD was not a significant predictor of BPSD-related distress. Caregiver reactivity to BPSD, burden, competence and relationship quality directly influenced BPSD-related distress. Guilt influenced distress indirectly via competence, burden and reactivity to BPSD. The final model accounted for 41% of the variance in BPSD-related distress and achieved a good fit to the data (χ 2 = 23.920, df = 19, p = 0.199). Conclusions: Caregiver psychosocial factors including sense of competence, guilt, burden and reactivity to BPSD contribute to BPSD-related distress. Tailored interventions for managing behaviour problems in family settings could focus on these factors associated with BPSD-related distress to minimise distress in families. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A systematic review of longitudinal and experimental evidence providing new insight for motor competence and health

In 2008, a conceptual model explaining the role of motor competence (MC) on children’s physical activity (PA), health-related fitness, weight status and perceived MC was published by Stodden et al. The purpose of this review is to systematically compile mediation, longitudinal and experimental evidence in support of this model. Searches were undertaken for each pathway of interest using six relevant databases. Potential articles were identified though abstract and title checking (N = 585), then screened (n = 152), with 43 articles identified for extraction. Studies needed to: be original, peer-reviewed, include typically developing children and adolescents first assessed between 2 and 18 years and objective assessment of gross MC and at least one other model variable. Strength of evidence was calculated for each pathway in both directions by dividing the proportion of studies indicating a significantly positive pathway in the hypothesized direction by the total amount of studies investigating that pathway. Classifications were no association (0–33 %), indeterminate/inconsistent (34–59 %), or a positive “+” or negative “-” association (≥60 %). The latter category was classified as strong evidence (i.e., ++ or –) when four or more studies found an association. If the total number of studies in a domain of interest were three or less, this was considered insufficient evidence. There was strong evidence in both directions for a negative association between MC and weight status. There was indeterminate evidence between MC and fitness and indeterminate evidence from MC to PA and no evidence for the reverse. There was insufficient evidence for the MC to perceived MC pathway. There was strong positive evidence for the fitness-mediated pathway in both directions. There was indeterminate evidence for the perceived MC-mediated pathway from PA to MC and no evidence for the reverse. To test the whole model, the field needs robust longitudinal studies with multiple time points, including all variables in the model and accounting for confounding factors.N.C.V is supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personel – CAPESPrint Brazil. V.P.L is supported by national funding through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under project UID04045/2020 L.P.R is partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. under Project UID/DTP/04045/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio