Chronic disease risk typologies among young adults in community college

Objectives: To address chronic disease risk holistically from a behavioral perspective, insights are needed to refine understanding of the covariance of key health behaviors. This study aims to identify distinct typologies of young adults based on 4 modifiable risk factors of chronic disease using a latent class analysis approach, and to describe patterns of class membership based on demographic characteristics, living arrangements, and weight. Methods: Overall, 441 young adults aged 18-35 attending community colleges in the Minnesota Twin Cities area completed a baseline questionnaire for the Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings study, a RCT. Behavioral items were used to create indicators for latent classes, and individuals were classified using maximum-probability assignment. Results: Three latent classes were identified: ‘active, binge-drinkers with a healthy dietary intake’ (13.1%); ‘non-active, moderate-smokers and non-drinkers with poor dietary intake’ (38.2%); ‘moderately active, non-smokers and non-drinkers with moderately healthy dietary intake’ (48.7%). Classes exhibited unique demographic and weight-related profiles. Conclusions: This study may contribute to the literature on health behaviors among young adults and provides evidence that there are weight and age differences among subgroups. Understanding how behaviors cluster is important for identifying groups for targeted interventions in community colleges

Are Differences in Exposure to a Multicomponent School-Based Intervention Associated With Varying Dietary Outcomes in Adolescents?

Multicomponent interventions are recommended for health behavior change among adolescents. However, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of multiple intervention components. This article reports outcomes associated with varying levels of exposure to a school-based nutrition intervention, Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS). Four incremental exposureswere possible: (1) control group, (2) school environment interventions only, (3) classroom plus environment interventions, and (4) peer leaders plus classroom plus environment interventions. Patterns suggesting dose response were observed, with peer leaders reporting the largest increases in fruit, vegetable, and lower fat food consumption. Students exposed to classroom plus environment interventions also improved, whereas students exposed only to school environment interventions showed trends toward choosing lower fat foods and declining fruit intake and no change in vegetable intake. Control students’ choices remained stable. Future studies may investigate mechanisms for peer leaders’ changes, maximizing curriculum effectiveness, and improving environmental interventions

Design Concept for a Reusable/Propellantless MXER Tether Space Transportation System

The Momentum Exchange/Electrodynamic Reboost (MXER) tether facility is a transformational concept that significantly reduces the fuel requirements (and associated costs) in transferring payloads above low earth orbit (LEO). Facility reboost is accomplished without propellant by driving current against a voltage created by a conducting tether's interaction with the Earth's magnetic field (electrodynamic reboost). This system can be used for transferring a variety of payloads (scientific, cargo, and human space vehicles) to multiple destinations including geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Moon or Mars. MXER technology advancement requires development in two key areas: survivable, high tensile strength non-conducting tethers and reliable, lightweight payload catch/release mechanisms. Fundamental requirements associated with the MXER non-conducting strength tether and catch mechanism designs will be presented. Key requirements for the tether design include high specific-strength (tensile strength/material density), material survivability to the space environment (atomic oxygen and ultraviolet radiation), and structural survivability to micrometeoroid/orbital debris (MM/OD) impacts. The driving mechanism key,gequirements include low mass-to-capture-volume ratio, positional and velocity error tolerance, and operational reliability. Preliminary tether and catch mechanism design criteria are presented, which have been used as guidelines to "screen" and down-select initial concepts. Candidate tether materials and protective coatings are summarized along with their performance in simulated space environments (e.g., oxygen plasma, thermal cycling). A candidate catch mechanism design concept is presented along with examples of demonstration hardware

A comparison of meningococcal carriage by pregnancy status

Neisseria meningitidis is the second leading cause of invasive meningitis. A prerequisite for infection is colonization of the nasopharynx, and asymptomatic carrier rates are widely reported in the range of 10-15%. Recent reports have indicated an increased likelihood that a pediatric admission for Neisseria meningitidis will have a mother who is pregnant in the home. We hypothesized that this association may relate to immunologic changes in pregnancy leading to higher carrier rates

Non-exposed Bisphosphonate-related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw: A Critical Assessment of Current Definition, Staging, and Treatment Guidelines

Non-exposed bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is a newly reported complication arising from bisphosphonate therapy that presents with atypical symptoms and no apparent mucosal fenestration or exposure of necrotic bone. The clinical observation of the presence of necrotic bone underneath normal epithelial coverage was not conclusive for the diagnosis of BRONJ based on current guidelines established by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) and the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), which specify the presence of clinically exposed necrotic bone for more than 8weeks. Hence, the purpose of this review is to critically assess the current guidelines for diagnosis and management of BRONJ and propose a modified staging system and treatment guidelines to properly address the non-exposed variant of BRONJ lesions. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S

Nurturing Children's Healthy Eating: Position statement

The relationship between eating a healthy diet and positive health outcomes is well known; nurturing healthy eating among children therefore has the potential to improve public health. A healthy diet occurs when one''s usual eating patterns include adequate nutrient intake and sufficient, but not excessive, energy intake to meet the energy needs of the individual. However, many parents struggle to establish healthy eating patterns in their children due to the pressures of modern life. Moreover, healthcare providers often do not have the time or the guidance they need to empower parents to establish healthy eating practices in their children. Based on existing evidence from epidemiologic and intervention research, the Nurturing Children''s Healthy Eating collaboration, established by Danone Institute International, has identified four key themes that encourage and support healthy eating practices among children in the modern Western world. The first — positive parental feeding — explores how parenting practices and styles, such as avoiding food restriction, allowing children to make their own food choices, and encouraging children to self-limit their portion sizes, can influence children''s dietary intake. The second — eating together — highlights the link between eating socialization through regular family meals and healthful diet among children. The third — a healthy home food environment — explores the impact on eating practices of family resources, food availability/accessibility, parental modeling, and cues for eating. The fourth — the pleasure of eating — associates children''s healthy eating with pleasure through repeated exposure to healthful foods, enjoyable social meals, and enhancement of the cognitive qualities (e.g. thoughts or ideas) of healthful foods. This paper reviews the evidence leading to the characterization of these nurturing themes, and ways in which recommendations might be implemented in the home

Wearable Positive End-Expiratory Pressure Valve Improves Exercise Performance

Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) provides benefits to pulmonary patients, yet effects in healthy, exercising adults are unknown. PURPOSE: We designed two experiments (EXP) to test a novel PEEP (4.2 cmH2O PEEP) mouthpiece (PMP) on maximal cycling performance of physically active volunteers. METHODS: EXP-1 PMP vs. control (CON) mouthpiece (N=9, Age=30±2 yr, Weight=72.2±3.7 kg, BMI=24.4±1.2, 5♂); and EXP-2 PMP vs. no mouthpiece (NMP) (N=10, Age=27±1 yr, Weight=76.7±3.6 kg, BMI=23.9±0.8, ♂). Exercise test procedures for both experiments were identical. On Day 1, under the first mouthpiece condition assigned at random subjects performed graded exercise cycling testing (GXT) (Corival®) for VO2peak (ml*kg*min-1), oxygen pulse (mlO2*bt) (O2pulse), GXT endurance time (s) (GXT-T), and VO2(ml*kg*min-1)-at-ventilatory-threshold (VO2 @VT). Subjects returned 72 h later (Day 2), to complete an endurance ride timed (s)to exhaustion (VTER) at an intensity equivalent to their VO2 @VT power (W). One week later, subjects repeated exercise testing protocols (Days 3 & 4, time-of-day controlled) under the alternate mouthpiece condition. RESULTS: Selected outcomes were as follows (paired T-test, *PMP vs. CON, respectively: VO2peak=45.2±2.4* vs. 42.4±2.3; VO2@VT=33.7±2.0 vs. 32.3±1.6; GXT-T=521.7±73.4* vs. 495.3±72.8; VTER=846.2±166.0 vs. 743.1±124.7; O2pulse=24.5±1.4* vs. 23.1±1.3. PMP vs. NMP, respectively: VO2peak=43.3±1.6* vs. 41.7±1.6; VO2@AT=31.1±1.2* vs. 29.1±1.3; GXT-T=511.7*±49.6 vs. 486.4±49.6; VTER 872.4±134.0 vs. 792.9 ± 122.4; O2pulse=24.1±0.9* vs. 23.4±0.9. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the novel PEEP mouthpiece we tested confers a significant performance benefit to cyclists completing high intensity exercise. By extension, it is likely to be an advantage in any physical activity having an aerobic component

Process evaluation results from a school- and community-linked intervention: the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG)

Process evaluation is a component of intervention research that evaluates whether interventions are delivered and received as intended. Here, we describe the process evaluation results for the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) intervention. The intervention consisted of four synergistic components designed to provide supportive school- and community-linked environments to prevent the decline in physical activity in adolescent girls. Process evaluation results indicate that the intervention components were delivered from intervention staff to teachers with high fidelity (84–97%) to the protocol and with lower fidelity (range: 18–93%) from teachers to students. Physical activity programs for girls, a unique feature of the TAAG intervention, increased from a mean of 10 programs per school to a mean of 16 and 15 in years 1 and 2, respectively, in intervention schools, with no change in control schools. These findings suggest that a multicomponent school- and community-based physical activity intervention can be delivered with fidelity and result in a middle school environment that supports physical activity for girls

BKB_K using HYP-smeared staggered fermions in Nf=2+1N_f=2+1 unquenched QCD

We present results for kaon mixing parameter $B_K$ calculated using HYP-smeared improved staggered fermions on the MILC asqtad lattices. We use three lattice spacings ($a\approx 0.12$, $0.09$ and $0.06\;$fm), ten different valence quark masses ($m\approx m_s/10-m_s$), and several light sea-quark masses in order to control the continuum and chiral extrapolations. We derive the next-to-leading order staggered chiral perturbation theory (SChPT) results necessary to fit our data, and use these results to do extrapolations based both on SU(2) and SU(3) SChPT. The SU(2) fitting is particularly straightforward because parameters related to taste-breaking and matching errors appear only at next-to-next-to-leading order. We match to the continuum renormalization scheme (NDR) using one-loop perturbation theory. Our final result is from the SU(2) analysis, with the SU(3) result providing a (less accurate) cross check. We find $B_K(\text{NDR}, \mu = 2 \text{GeV}) = 0.529 \pm 0.009 \pm 0.032$ and $\hat{B}_K =B_K(\text{RGI})= 0.724 \pm 0.012 \pm 0.043$, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The error is dominated by the truncation error in the matching factor. Our results are consistent with those obtained using valence domain-wall fermions on lattices generated with asqtad or domain-wall sea quarks.Comment: 37 pages, 31 figures, most updated versio

The response of perennial and temporary headwater stream invertebrate communities to hydrological extremes

The headwaters of karst rivers experience considerable hydrological variability, including spates and streambed drying. Extreme summer flooding on the River Lathkill (Derbyshire, UK) provided the opportunity to examine the invertebrate community response to unseasonal spate flows, flow recession and, at temporary sites, streambed drying. Invertebrates were sampled at sites with differing flow permanence regimes during and after the spates. Following streambed drying at temporary sites, dewatered surface sediments were investigated as a refugium for aquatic invertebrates. Experimental rehydration of these dewatered sediments was conducted to promote development of desiccation-tolerant life stages. At perennial sites, spate flows reduced invertebrate abundance and diversity, whilst at temporary sites, flow reactivation facilitated rapid colonisation of the surface channel by a limited number of invertebrate taxa. Following streambed drying, 38 taxa were recorded from the dewatered and rehydrated sediments, with Oligochaeta being the most abundant taxon and Chironomidae (Diptera) the most diverse. Experimental rehydration of dewatered sediments revealed the presence of additional taxa, including Stenophylax sp. (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) and Nemoura sp. (Plecoptera: Nemouridae). The influence of flow permanence on invertebrate community composition was apparent despite the aseasonal high-magnitude flood events