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Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68741/2/10.1177_002743218707400104.pd

Engaging Undergraduate Nutrition Students in Research: A Graduate Student Mentorship Approach

Poster from the 2016 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. Poster Session: Innovations in Dietetics Practice and Education

Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk in First-Semester College Students

Poster from the 2019 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. Poster Session: Wellness and Public Health

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention in Rural West Virginia Extension’s Role and Lessons Learned

The Cooperative Extension system is uniquely positioned to lead rural community efforts to prevent obesity in early childhood. This article explores best practices in promoting healthy weights among young children and shares examples and resources relevant to Extension programming. The West Virginia (WV) Healthy Children Project aims to improve community, home, and early care and education (ECE) environments by promoting healthy eating, physical activity, outdoor play, and reduced screen time. This project primarily focuses on interventions with ECE providers serving 2-5-year-old children in three rural counties. Comprehensive assessments informed the interventions and guided Community Advisory Committees. ECE providers were trained in “I Am Moving, I Am Learning” (IMIL) and “Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care” (Go NAP SACC) best practices and were supported with technical assistance and classroom resources. Garden-based learning, natural playscapes, painted playgrounds, and farm-to-ECE further enhanced the environments and experiences. Community leaders were engaged in advisory committees, transformative projects, and local family-focused activities. The efficacy of these practices was tracked using quantitative and qualitative evaluation strategies conducted throughout the project, including observations, ripple effects mapping, and questionnaires. This article describes the overall project strategies and reveals the lessons learned and the challenges encountered

Staphylococcus aureus Infections in US Veterans, Maryland, USA, 1999–20081

Trends in Staphylococcus aureus infections are not well described. To calculate incidence in overall S. aureus infection and invasive and noninvasive infections according to methicillin susceptibility and location, we conducted a 10-year population-based retrospective cohort study (1999–2008) using patient-level data in the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System. We found 3,674 S. aureus infections: 2,816 (77%) were noninvasive; 2,256 (61%) were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA); 2,517 (69%) were community onset, and 1,157 (31%) were hospital onset. Sixty-one percent of noninvasive infections were skin and soft tissue infections; 1,112 (65%) of these were MRSA. Ten-year averaged incidence per 100,000 veterans was 749 (± 132 SD, range 549–954) overall, 178 (± 41 SD, range 114–259) invasive, and 571 (± 152 SD, range 364–801) noninvasive S. aureus infections. Incidence of all S. aureus infections significantly increased (p<0.001), driven by noninvasive, MRSA, and community-onset infections (p<0.001); incidence of invasive S. aureus infection significantly decreased (p<0.001)

The Trail, 1963-10-30

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thetrail_all/1877/thumbnail.jp

Akkermansia muciniphila as a Model Case for the Development of an Improved Quantitative RPA Microbiome Assay

Changes in the population levels of specific bacterial species within the gut microbiome have been linked to a variety of illnesses. Most assays that determine the relative abundance of specific taxa are based on amplification and sequencing of stable phylogenetic gene regions. Such lab-based analysis requires pre-analytical sample preservation and storage that have been shown to introduce biases in the characterization of microbial profiles. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal nucleic acid amplification method that employs commercially available, easy-to-use freeze-dried enzyme pellets that can be used to analyze specimens rapidly in the field or clinic, using a portable fluorometer. Immediate analysis of diverse bacterial communities can lead to a more accurate quantification of relative bacterial abundance. In this study, we discovered that universal bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA primers give false-positive signals in RPA analysis because manufacturing host Escherichia coli DNA is present in the RPA reagents. The manufacturer of RPA reagents advises against developing an RPA assay that detects the presence of E. coli due to the presence of contaminating E. coli DNA in the reaction buffer (www.twistdx.co.uk/). We, therefore, explored four strategies to deplete or fragment extraneous DNA in RPA reagents while preserving enzyme activity: metal-chelate affinity chromatography, sonication, DNA cleavage using methylation-dependent restriction endonucleases, and DNA depletion using anti-DNA antibodies. Removing DNA with anti-DNA antibodies enabled the development of a quantitative RPA microbiome assay capable of determining the relative abundance of the physiologically-important bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila in human feces