Putting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into Action through the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

The United States is facing a crisis of widespread food insecurity and exceedingly high rates of diet-related diseases like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. To address this challenge and set a course for improved nutrition and food access nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years on September 28, 2022. In the National Strategy, released in conjunction with the Conference, the Administration identified a set of actions that the federal government will take to help achieve its goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030, so that fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases. Underpinning many of these actions is the Dietary Guidelines for Americans ( Dietary Guidelines ), which provides scientific advice on nutrition intake to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent disease and serves as the cornerstone of federal food and nutrition programs. This manuscript details how expanded implementation of the Dietary Guidelines can help advance actions in the National Strategy and achieve the goals of the Administration

Putting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into Action through the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

The United States is facing a crisis of widespread food insecurity and exceedingly high rates of diet-related diseases like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. To address this challenge and set a course for improved nutrition and food access nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years on September 28, 2022. In the National Strategy, released in conjunction with the Conference, the Administration identified a set of actions that the federal government will take to help achieve its goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030, so that fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases. Underpinning many of these actions is the Dietary Guidelines for Americans ( Dietary Guidelines ), which provides scientific advice on nutrition intake to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent disease and serves as the cornerstone of federal food and nutrition programs. This manuscript details how expanded implementation of the Dietary Guidelines can help advance actions in the National Strategy and achieve the goals of the Administration

Detection, Occurrence and Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Agricultural Environments

A total of 43 papers published in 2014 were reviewed ranging from detailed descriptions of analytical methods, to fate and occurrence studies, to measuring and predicting biological effects for a wide variety of emerging contaminants likely to occur in agricultural environments. New methods and studies on veterinary pharmaceuticals, natural and synthetics steroids, and antibiotic resistance genes in agricultural environments continue to expand our knowledge base on the occurrence and potential impacts of these compounds. This review is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Analytical Methods, Occurrence and Fate, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, and Risk Assessment

Addressing the persistent inequities in immunization coverage.

A key focus of the health-related sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 is universal health coverage (UHC), including access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines. However, the challenges to achieving UHC are substantial, especially with increased demands on the health sector and with most budgets being static or shrinking. Immunization programmes have been successful in reaching children worldwide. For example, 86% of the world’s infants had received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine in 2018. The experiences from such programmes can contribute to UHC, and as these programmes strive to adapt to new global strategic frameworks, such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s strategy Gavi and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Immunization Agenda 2030, these efforts can inform the progressive realization of UHC. Immunization programmes that can sustain regular levels of contact between health providers and beneficiaries at the community level have enabled new vaccines to be added to routine immunization schedules and other interventions to be delivered to children and their families. In addition, experiences from both polio campaigns and the child health days strategy show that incorporating additional interventions into campaigns can increase coverage of these interventions as well as of vaccinations

Power grip, pinch grip, manual muscle testing or thenar atrophy - which should be assessed as a motor outcome after carpal tunnel decompression? A systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Objective assessment of motor function is frequently used to evaluate outcome after surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). However a range of outcome measures are used and there appears to be no consensus on which measure of motor function effectively captures change. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify the methods used to assess motor function in randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. A secondary aim was to evaluate which instruments reflect clinical change and are psychometrically robust.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The bibliographic databases Medline, AMED and CINAHL were searched for randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. Data on instruments used, methods of assessment and results of tests of motor function was extracted by two independent reviewers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-two studies were retrieved which included performance based assessments of motor function. Nineteen studies assessed power grip dynamometry, fourteen studies used both power and pinch grip dynamometry, eight used manual muscle testing and five assessed the presence or absence of thenar atrophy. Several studies used multiple tests of motor function. Two studies included both power and pinch strength and reported descriptive statistics enabling calculation of effect sizes to compare the relative responsiveness of grip and pinch strength within study samples. The study findings suggest that tip pinch is more responsive than lateral pinch or power grip up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although used most frequently and known to be reliable, power and key pinch dynamometry are not the most valid or responsive tools for assessing motor outcome up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS. Tip pinch dynamometry more specifically targets the thenar musculature and appears to be more responsive. Manual muscle testing, which in theory is most specific to the thenar musculature, may be more sensitive if assessed using a hand held dynamometer – the Rotterdam Intrinsic Handheld Myometer. However further research is needed to evaluate its reliability and responsiveness and establish the most efficient and psychometrically robust method of evaluating motor function following surgery for CTS.</p

Integrated Multi-Tumor Radio-Genomic Marker of Outcomes in Patients with High Serous Ovarian Carcinoma.

Purpose: Develop an integrated intra-site and inter-site radiomics-clinical-genomic marker of high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) outcomes and explore the biological basis of radiomics with respect to molecular signaling pathways and the tumor microenvironment (TME). Method: Seventy-five stage III-IV HGSOC patients from internal (N = 40) and external factors via the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCGA) (N = 35) with pre-operative contrast enhanced CT, attempted primary cytoreduction, at least two disease sites, and molecular analysis performed within TCGA were retrospectively analyzed. An intra-site and inter-site radiomics (cluDiss) measure was combined with clinical-genomic variables (iRCG) and compared against conventional (volume and number of sites) and average radiomics (N = 75) for prognosticating progression-free survival (PFS) and platinum resistance. Correlation with molecular signaling and TME derived using a single sample gene set enrichment that was measured. Results: The iRCG model had the best platinum resistance classification accuracy (AUROC of 0.78 [95% CI 0.77 to 0.80]). CluDiss was associated with PFS (HR 1.03 [95% CI: 1.01 to 1.05], p = 0.002), negatively correlated with Wnt signaling, and positively to immune TME. Conclusions: CluDiss and the iRCG prognosticated HGSOC outcomes better than conventional and average radiomic measures and could better stratify patient outcomes if validated on larger multi-center trials

Overcoming real-world obstacles in 21 cm power spectrum estimation: A method demonstration and results from early Murchison Widefield Array data

We present techniques for bridging the gap between idealized inverse covariance weighted quadratic estimation of 21 cm power spectra and the real-world challenges presented universally by interferometric observation. By carefully evaluating various estimators and adapting our techniques for large but incomplete data sets, we develop a robust power spectrum estimation framework that preserves the so-called "Epoch of Reionization (EoR) window" and keeps track of estimator errors and covariances. We apply our method to observations from the 32-tile prototype of the Murchinson Widefield Array to demonstrate the importance of a judicious analysis technique. Lastly, we apply our method to investigate the dependence of the clean EoR window on frequency—especially the frequency dependence of the so-called “wedge" feature—and establish upper limits on the power spectrum from z ¼ 6.2 to z ¼ 11:7. Our lowest limit is ?ðkÞ &lt; 0.3 Kelvin at 95% confidence at a comoving scale k ¼ 0.046 Mpc-1 and z ¼ 9.5

The developmental effects of media-ideal internalization and self-objectification processes on adolescents’ negative body-feelings, dietary restraint, and binge eating

Despite accumulated experimental evidence of the negative effects of exposure to media-idealized images, the degree to which body image, and eating related disturbances are caused by media portrayals of gendered beauty ideals remains controversial. On the basis of the most up-to-date meta-analysis of experimental studies indicating that media-idealized images have the most harmful and substantial impact on vulnerable individuals regardless of gender (i.e., “internalizers” and “self-objectifiers”), the current longitudinal study examined the direct and mediated links posited in objectification theory among media-ideal internalization, self-objectification, shame and anxiety surrounding the body and appearance, dietary restraint, and binge eating. Data collected from 685 adolescents aged between 14 and 15 at baseline (47 % males), who were interviewed and completed standardized measures annually over a 3-year period, were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that media-ideal internalization predicted later thinking and scrutinizing of one’s body from an external observer’s standpoint (or self-objectification), which then predicted later negative emotional experiences related to one’s body and appearance. In turn, these negative emotional experiences predicted subsequent dietary restraint and binge eating, and each of these core features of eating disorders influenced each other. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were significant. The study provides valuable information about how the cultural values embodied by gendered beauty ideals negatively influence adolescents’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors regarding their own body, and on the complex processes involved in disordered eating. Practical implications are discussed