Promotion of faster weight gain in infants born small for gestational age - Is there an adverse effect on later blood pressure?

Background - Being born small for gestational age is associated with later risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure. Promotion of postnatal growth has been proposed to ameliorate these effects. There is evidence in animals and infants born prematurely, however, that promotion of growth by increased postnatal nutrition increases rather than decreases later cardiovascular risk. We report the long-term impact of growth promotion in term infants born small for gestational age ( birth weight < 10th percentile).Methods and Results - Blood pressure was measured at 6 to 8 years in 153 of 299 ( 51%) of a cohort of children born small for gestational age and randomly assigned at birth to receive either a standard or a nutrient-enriched formula. The enriched formula contained 28% more protein than standard formula and promoted weight gain. Diastolic and mean ( but not systolic) blood pressure was significantly lower in children assigned to standard compared with nutrient-enriched formula ( unadjusted mean difference for diastolic blood pressure, - 3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI, - 5.8 to - 0.5; P = 0.02) independent of potential confounding factors ( adjusted difference, - 3.5 mm Hg; P = 0.01). In observational analyses, faster weight gain in infancy was associated with higher later blood pressure.Conclusions - In the present randomized study targeted to investigate the effect of early nutrition on long-term cardiovascular health, we found that a nutrient-enriched diet increased later blood pressure. These findings support an adverse effect of relative "overnutrition" in infancy on long-term cardiovascular disease risk, have implications for the early origins of cardiovascular disease hypothesis, and do not support the promotion of faster weight gain in infants born small for gestational age

Understanding the challenges behind electric vehicle usage by drivers: a case study in the Madeira Autonomous Region

Electric Vehicles (EV) adoption targets have been set by govern ments from countries throughout Europe, related to the European goals, for the decarbonization of the road transport sector. The change for electric vehicle technology can be challenging to EV users for several reasons such as battery autonomy, time to charge the vehicle, and the different driving conditions. The work in this paper aims to study how users from Madeira and Porto Santo is lands deal with the challenges of EV usage. Furthermore, this paper also studies the role of the orography in the Regenerative Braking System technology integrated into electric vehicles. To assess such information, an online questionnaire was prepared and sent out to the electric vehicle community of both islands. The main results of this study show drivers’ preference to charge the vehicles at their household and that users are satisfied with the vehicle’s technology. Also, users’ battery range anxiety did not seem to have a significant impact. Moreover, from the drivers’ point of view, there is still the need to study the role of orography, while using the regenerative braking system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The acceptance of energy monitoring technologies: the case of local prosumers

With transformations happening in the electricity sector, we need to ensure consumers have access to updated and correct information to accompany such changes. Consumers need to understand technologies available to them but also, learn how to use them to optimize their personal investment in such types of equipment. In this paper, we explore how a group of local pro sumers has adopted energy monitoring technologies, their day to-day strategies, and expectations when handling such systems. We studied 11 prosumers and the technologies they have used for three years, evaluated their satisfaction with the feedback provided and analyzed how a more modern visualization of their energy practices was introduced and adopted into their daily lives. We conducted interviews and questionnaires to evaluate their engagement with these tools. This initial work suggests this particular group of users have already a high level of knowledge about their systems, and as a result have integrated these into their routines. However, more support would be needed from other local actors to help them reach more benefits and as such, more satisfaction as consumers. We conclude by reflecting on barriers that need to be addressed to increase user satisfaction with these systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vermont Restaurant Owner & Manager Perspectives on Creating Heart-Healthy Kids Meals

Introduction: The prevalence of sugar sweetened beverages and fried foods combined with a lack of healthy children’s menu options has contributed to the obesity epidemic among young Americans. Recent legislation in New York City and San Francisco instituted strict nutritional requirements on children’s menu items. We performed a cross-sectional study that focused on independently owned restaurants with printed children’s menus in Vermont. We investigated the nutritional content of children’s menu items, restaurant owner and manager perspectives on customer ordering habits, and barriers that restaurants would face if they made children’s menu items healthier.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1220/thumbnail.jp

Using bacterial biomarkers to identify early indicators of cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbation onset

Acute periods of pulmonary exacerbation are the single most important cause of morbidity in cystic fibrosis patients, and may be associated with a loss of lung function. Intervening prior to the onset of a substantially increased inflammatory response may limit the associated damage to the airways. While a number of biomarker assays based on inflammatory markers have been developed, providing useful and important measures of disease during these periods, such factors are typically only elevated once the process of exacerbation has been initiated. Identifying biomarkers that can predict the onset of pulmonary exacerbation at an early stage would provide an opportunity to intervene before the establishment of a substantial immune response, with major implications for the advancement of cystic fibrosis care. The precise triggers of pulmonary exacerbation remain to be determined; however, the majority of models relate to the activity of microbes present in the patient's lower airways of cystic fibrosis. Advances in diagnostic microbiology now allow for the examination of these complex systems at a level likely to identify factors on which biomarker assays can be based. In this article, we discuss key considerations in the design and testing of assays that could predict pulmonary exacerbations

Understanding the limitations of eco-feedback: a one-year long-term study

For the last couple of decades the world has been witnessing a change in habits of energy consumption in domestic environments, with elec tricity emerging as the main source of energy consumed. The effects of these changes in our eco-system are hard to assess, therefore encouraging researchers from different fields to conduct studies with the goal of understanding and im proving perceptions and behaviors regarding household energy consumption. While several of these studies report success in increasing awareness, most of them are limited to short periods of time, thus resulting in a reduced knowledge of how householders will behave in the long-term. In this paper we attempt to reduce this gap presenting a long-term study on household electricity consump tion. We deployed a real-time non-intrusive energy monitoring and eco feedback system in 12 families during 52 weeks. Results show an increased awareness regarding electricity consumption despite a significant decrease in interactions with the eco-feedback system over time. We conclude that after one year of deployment of eco-feedback it was not possible to see any significant increase or decrease in the household consumption. Our results also confirm that consumption is tightly coupled with independent variables like the house hold size and the income-level of the families.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Motivation, Goal Orientation, Coaching, and Training Habits of Women Ultrarunners

Ultrarunners participate in running events that exceed the 26.2 mile marathon distance (e.g., 50 K, 50-100 miles). Very little research exists on ultrarunners, especially women. The present study is a descriptive study detailing the motivation, goal orientation, demographic characteristics (e.g., age, job demands, family structure), training habits (e.g., hours per week of training), and coach utilization of women ultrarunners. Participants (N = 344) were recruited via the Ultra Listserve and four popular ultrarunning websites, and they completed a questionnaire on motivation, goal orientation, training, and coaching using Survey Monkey. General health orientation (mean + SD) (4.71 ± 1.06) and psychological coping (4.71 ± 1.03) were the two strongest motivational factors. Participants were higher in task-orientation (1.38 ± .68) (e.g., finishing the race or accomplishing various goals) than ego- orientation (3.38 ± 1.01) (e.g., placing in the top 3 overall or beating an opponent). Women trained an average of 12.49 hours a week and spent 64% of their time training alone. Training information came from their own experience, blogs, websites, and the Ultra List Serve. Over three-fourths of the participants (80%) did not use a coach because of cost and a perceived lack of necessity. Women ultrarunners in this study were task-oriented, internally motivated, health and financially conscious individuals. With additional information about women ultrarunners, coaches will be better prepared to work with this population and ultrarunners can improve their performance by learning about current participants\u27 practices