Effects of cod intake in pregnancy on iodine nutrition and infant development: study protocol for Mommy’s Food - a randomized controlled trial

Background Iodine is a key component of thyroid hormones that are critical for normal development of the brain and nervous system in utero. Recent results indicate that two thirds of pregnant women in Europe have sub-optimal iodine nutrition. In Norway, milk and seafood are the most important dietary iodine sources and contributes to about 80% of the intake. Method Two-armed randomized trial where 137 pregnant women were randomized to either receiving cod twice weekly, or continue with habitual diet for 16 weeks (pregnancy week 20–36). Socioeconomic- and demographic factors, dietary information and biological (urine, blood, and hair) samples are collected pre- and post-intervention, and at six weeks, three-, six-, and eleven months postpartum. Biological samples (urine, blood, and hair) of the infant are collected at six weeks, three-, six-, and eleven months postnatal. Child development is assessed by The Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition, at eleven months, and by parent report on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, 3rd edition, and Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional at three-, six-, and eleven months. Discussion The Mommy’s Food study will provide knowledge on changes in iodine nutrition when consuming iodine rich fish during pregnancy and contribute to the understanding of the impact of iodine status in pregnancy on infant neurodevelopment.publishedVersio

Iodine status in Norwegian preschool children and associations with dietary iodine sources: the FINS-KIDS study

Iodine is an essential trace element necessary for thyroid hormone synthesis. Iodine deficiency is a continuing public health problem despite international efforts to eliminate it. Studies on iodine status in preschoolers are scarce. Thus, the aims of the current study were to determine the iodine status and to investigate possible associations between urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and estimated 24 h iodine extraction (UIE) and iodine-rich foods.publishedVersio

Fatty fish intake and cognitive function: FINS-KIDS, a randomized controlled trial in preschool children

Marine resources including fatty fish are important sources of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFAs), which are important for brain development. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating the impact of fatty fish on cognition in preschool children. The purpose of the trial was to investigate whether an increased intake of fatty fish compared to meat improves cognitive function in children 4–6 years old.publishedVersio

Analyser av saltinnhold i utvalgte matvarer i Norge 2014-2018

Helsedirektoratet lanserte i 2014 Tiltaksplan salt 2014-2018 med mål om å redusere saltinntaket i befolkningen i Norge. Ett av tiltakene i denne tiltaksplanen var å følge utviklingen i saltinnhold i ulike matvarekategorier. Målene for prosjektet har vært å analysere innholdet av salt i utvalgte indikatormatvarer, følge utviklingen av saltinnholdet i perioden 2014 til 2018 og sammenligne resultatene med veiledende mål i Saltpartnerskapets saltlister, samt å oppdatere data om salt og andre næringsstoffer til matvaretabellen. De utvalgte indikatormatvarene var brød og kornvarer, kjøttprodukter, fiskeprodukter, meieri og spisefett, ferdigretter, sauser og majonesbaserte salater. Havforskningsinstituttet har på oppdrag fra Helsedirektoratet og Mattilsynet gjennomført analyseprosjektet. Matvarene ble innkjøpt i dagligvarebutikker i Norge og tre ulike produksjonsnumre av matvaren ble blandet sammen til en samleprøve. Analysert natriumkonsentrasjon ble omregnet til salt ved å multiplisere med 2,5. Analysemetoden har en måleusikkerhet på ± 15 %. Det ble analysert 196 matvarer i 2014-15 fra alle matvarekategoriene, 29 brød- og kornprodukter i 2016, 112 kjøtt- og fiskeprodukter i 2017 og 203 matvarer fra alle matvarekategoriene i 2018. Gjennomsnittlig saltinnhold i ferskt brød var lavere i 2018 sammenlignet med 2014-15. I 2018 var 18 av 32 (56 %) brød og kornvarer i tråd med Saltpartnerskapets saltmål, mens i 2014-15 var ni av 27 (33 %) i samsvar med saltmålene. For kjøttproduktene var gjennomsnittlig saltinnhold i kjøttpålegg lavere i 2018 sammenlignet med 2014-15. Saltmengden i leverpostei var noe lavere, mens for pølser, kjøttkaker-, boller og karbonader og for spekepølser var saltmengden uendret. Det ble til sammen analysert 74 kjøttprodukter i 2018 og 36 (49 %) av disse indikatormatvarene var i tråd med Saltpartnerskapets saltmål. I 2014-15 var 17 av 61 kjøttprodukter (28 %) i samsvar med saltmålene. For fiskeproduktene fiskemat fersk og frossen var det ingen endring av gjennomsnittlig saltinnhold fra 2014 til 2018. I de andre kategoriene av fiskeprodukter var det få produkter. Det ble til sammen analysert 33 fiskeprodukter i 2018 hvor 15 (45 %) av disse var i tråd med Saltpartnerskapets saltmål. I 2014-15 var 18 av 33 (55 %) fiskeprodukter i samsvar med saltmålene. Det var få produkter i kategorien meieri- og spisefett. I 2018 var syv av 15 (47 %) og i 2014-15 var seks av 18 (33 %) av produktene i samsvar med saltmålene. I kategoriene ferdigretter, sauser og majonesbaserte salater var gjennomsnittlig saltinnhold uendret for middags- og lunsjretter og lavere for tomatsaus/orientalsk saus i 2018 sammenlignet med 2014-15. I 2018 var 16 av 33 produkter (48 %) i tråd med saltmålet, mens det gjaldt 14 av 41 produkter (34 %) i 2014-15. Det ble i perioden 2014 til 2018 utført 540 analyser i utvalgte indikatormatvarer. Selv om antall produkter i matvarekategoriene varierer og flere kategorier har få produkter, viser resultatene samlet sett at flere matvarer var i samsvar med Saltpartnerskapets saltmål i 2018 (49 %) sammenlignet med 2014-15 (36 %).publishedVersio

ZIP8 Zinc Transporter: Indispensable Role for Both Multiple-Organ Organogenesis and Hematopoiesis In Utero

Previously this laboratory characterized Slc39a8-encoded ZIP8 as a Zn2+/(HCO3–)2 symporter; yet, the overall physiological importance of ZIP8 at the whole-organism level remains unclear. Herein we describe the phenotype of the hypomorphic Slc39a8(neo/neo) mouse which has retained the neomycin-resistance gene in intron 3, hence causing significantly decreased ZIP8 mRNA and protein levels in embryo, fetus, placenta, yolk sac, and several tissues of neonates. The Slc39a8(neo) allele is associated with diminished zinc and iron uptake in mouse fetal fibroblast and liver-derived cultures; consequently, Slc39a8(neo/neo) newborns exhibit diminished zinc and iron levels in several tissues. Slc39a8(neo/neo) homozygotes from gestational day(GD)-11.5 onward are pale, growth-stunted, and die between GD18.5 and 48 h postnatally. Defects include: severely hypoplastic spleen; hypoplasia of liver, kidney, lung, and lower limbs. Histologically, Slc39a8(neo/neo) neonates show decreased numbers of hematopoietic islands in yolk sac and liver. Low hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell count, serum iron, and total iron-binding capacity confirmed severe anemia. Flow cytometry of fetal liver cells revealed the erythroid series strikingly affected in the hypomorph. Zinc-dependent 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase, required for heme synthesis, was not different between Slc39a8(+/+) and Slc39a8(neo/neo) offspring. To demonstrate further that the mouse phenotype is due to ZIP8 deficiency, we bred Slc39a8(+/neo) with BAC-transgenic BTZIP8-3 line (carrying three extra copies of the Slc39a8 allele); this cross generated viable Slc39a8(neo/neo)_BTZIP8-3(+/+) pups showing none of the above-mentioned congenital defects–proving Slc39a8(neo/neo) causes the described phenotype. Our study demonstrates that ZIP8-mediated zinc transport plays an unappreciated critical role during in utero and neonatal growth, organ morphogenesis, and hematopoiesis

Legible virus: A politics of reading through Joyce and Rushdie

The predominant models for reading in our learning institutions proceed from an implicit objective of mastery over text. Metaphors traditionally deployed to describe the reading process are culled from the language of domination and control. We speak of penetrating a difficult passage or mastering a complex text as if the book were either an enemy territory or a servant in the household of our imagination. While existing models of control and mastery might suffice for many kinds of textual interpretation, they offer little aid to a reader of an opaque literary text. Both Joyce and Rushdie have often been charged with writing books that are nearly incomprehensible. But I contend that this is only true if the reader\u27s expectations hinge on translucent access and mastery. If, on the other hand, a reader experiences a text as if he or she were a host cell infiltrated by a virus, the results are different. The frustration stemming from lack of control can be replaced with an enjoyment brought on by the experience of changed perceptions and of a partial and incrementally expansive sense of access. This project offers an explicit alternative to the implicitly presiding model of literary conquest. The model of the legible virus relies on a communal relationship with reading, one that admits to the permeable border between text and reader, text and conditions of production or reception, and between various readers and their multiplying interpretations. Taking my example from the infectious mechanisms of a virus, which, though imperceptible, can effect noticeable change in the body, the model of a legible virus relies on unconscious processing of text by its reader. The virus has also formed the method for research and the compositional structure. Each chapter is as a different body or a different species that the virus moves between, infects, and by infecting is itself altered

Stephen Biko and the Torture Aesthetic

Stephen Biko’s death in South Africa in 1977 under the apartheidregime has become an iconic event for the global human-rightscommunity for whom he is an international symbol. In the aestheticrealm—in works of art in a wide variety of forms including poetry,drama, popular song, film, and visual arts—his memory has beenkept alive for over three decades. This essay focuses on three popular,transnational works of art that lay claim on global audiencesto participate in an idealized universal citizenship founded on anobjection to torture that is both the assumption and motivation fortheir art. Peter Gabriel’s 1980 song “Biko,” Richard Attenborough’s1987 film “Cry Freedom,” and Saira Essa and Charles Pillai’s 1985documentary play Steve Biko: The Inquest each in its own formalregister (song, film, play), memorializes torture to produce an iconographyof political martyrdom that I will call the torture aesthetic.Biko iconography stands here as a particularly potent example of alarger trend within aesthetic practices in which a historical exampleof brutality is invoked to activate audiences and to raise concernswithin human rights discourse itself

Stephen Biko and the Torture Aesthetic

Stephen Biko’s death in South Africa in 1977 under the apartheidregime has become an iconic event for the global human-rightscommunity for whom he is an international symbol. In the aestheticrealm—in works of art in a wide variety of forms including poetry,drama, popular song, film, and visual arts—his memory has beenkept alive for over three decades. This essay focuses on three popular,transnational works of art that lay claim on global audiencesto participate in an idealized universal citizenship founded on anobjection to torture that is both the assumption and motivation fortheir art. Peter Gabriel’s 1980 song “Biko,” Richard Attenborough’s1987 film “Cry Freedom,” and Saira Essa and Charles Pillai’s 1985documentary play Steve Biko: The Inquest each in its own formalregister (song, film, play), memorializes torture to produce an iconographyof political martyrdom that I will call the torture aesthetic.Biko iconography stands here as a particularly potent example of alarger trend within aesthetic practices in which a historical exampleof brutality is invoked to activate audiences and to raise concernswithin human rights discourse itself