Sociodemographic characteristics and food habits of organic consumers--a study from the Danish National Birth Cohort.

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the pageTo develop a basis for building models that can examine the impact of organic food (OF) choices on maternal and offspring health, including identification of factors associated with OF consumption and underlying dietary patterns.Dietary intake was collected for the preceding month from an FFQ in mid-pregnancy and information on sociodemographic characteristics was collected from telephone interviews during pregnancy. From a question about OF consumption in the FFQ, including six food categories, an OF preference index was calculated. Latent variables that captured the variability in OF choices in relation to dietary intake were defined.The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), 1996-2002.Pregnant women from DNBC (n 60,773).We found that frequent OF use was highly associated with age, occupational status, urbanization, smoking and vegetarianism. By principal components analysis we identified two eating patterns, a ‘Western dietary pattern’ and a ‘Prudent dietary pattern’, that explained 14.2% of the variability in data. Frequent OF users consumed a more ‘prudent’ diet compared with non-users and had significantly higher intakes of vegetables (167%), fibre (113%) and n-3 fatty acids (111%) and less saturated fat (28%).Frequent OF users seemed to have a healthier lifestyle than non-users. These findings highlight a major challenge in observational studies examining the impact of OF consumption on health due to potentially irremediable confounding factors.Danish Fund for Organic Agriculture European Union Integrated Research Project EARNEST/FOOD-CT-2005-007036 Danish Council for Strategic Research 09-067124 March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Danish Heart Association Danish Medical Research Council Sygekassernes Helsefond Danish National Research Foundation Danish Pharmaceutical Association Ministry of Health National Board of Health Statens Serum Institu

Psychometric evaluation of an item bank for computerized adaptive testing of the EORTC QLQ-C30 cognitive functioning dimension in cancer patients

Background The European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Group is developing computerized adaptive testing (CAT) versions of all EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) scales with the aim to enhance measurement precision. Here we present the results on the field-testing and psychometric evaluation of the item bank for cognitive functioning (CF). Methods In previous phases (I-III), 44 candidate items were developed measuring CF in cancer patients. In phase IV, these items were psychometrically evaluated in a large sample of international cancer patients. This evaluation included an assessment of dimensionality, fit to the item response theory (IRT) model, differential item functioning (DIF), and measurement properties. Results A total of 1030 cancer patients completed the 44 candidate items on CF. Of these, 34 items could be included in a unidimensional IRT model, showing an acceptable fit. Although several items showed DIF, these had a negligible impact on CF estimation. Measurement precision of the item bank was much higher than the two original QLQ-C30 CF items alone, across the whole continuum. Moreover, CAT measurement may on average reduce study sample sizes with about 35-40% compared to the original QLQ-C30 CF scale, without loss of power. Conclusion A CF item bank for CAT measurement consisting of 34 items was established, applicable to various cancer patients across countries. This CAT measurement system will facilitate precise and efficient assessment of HRQOL of cancer patients, without loss of comparability of results

Pediatric Emergencies in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services:A National Population-Based Cohort Study From Denmark

Study objective: To examine the diagnostic pattern, level of severity of illness or injuries, and mortality among children for whom a physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) was dispatched. Methods: Population-based cohort study including patients aged less than 16 years treated by the Danish national HEMS from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2018. Diagnoses were retrieved from inhospital medical records, and the severity of illness or injuries was assessed by a severity score on scene, administration of advanced out-of-hospital care, need for intensive care in a hospital, and mortality. Results: In total, 651 HEMS missions included pediatric patients aged less than 1 year (9.2%), 1 to 2 years (29.0%), 3 to 7 years (28.3%), and 8 to 15 years (33.5%). A third of the patients had critical emergencies (29.6%), and for 20.1% of the patients, 1 or more out-of-hospital interventions were performed: intubation, mechanical chest compressions, intraosseous vascular access, blood transfusion, chest tube insertion, and/or ultrasound examination. Among the 525 patients with hospital follow-up, the most frequent hospital diagnoses were injuries (32.2%), burns (11.2%), and respiratory diseases (7.8%). Within 24 hours of the mission, 18.1% of patients required intensive care. Twenty-nine patients (5.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.6 to 7.3) died either on or within 1 day of the mission, and the cumulative 30-day mortality was 35 of 565 (6.2%, 95% CI 4.5 to 8.5) (N¼565 first-time missions). Conclusion: On Danish physician-staffed HEMS missions, 1 in 5 pediatric patients required advanced out-of-hospital care. Among hospitalized patients, nearly one-fifth of the patients required immediate intensive care and 6.2% died within 30 days of the mission.publishedVersio

Detailed statistical analysis plan for the Danish Palliative care trial (DanPaCT)

Acknowledgements We wish to thank the students who sent out the questionnaires, who entered and compared all data, help with data management, made material blind to the investigators, and were/will be outcome assessors of interventions given. They were: Nicla Rohde Christensen, Ellen Lundorff, Marc Klee Olsen, Charlotte Lund Rasmussen, and Nete Skjødt. This work was funded by the Tryg Foundation [journal number 7-10-0838A] and the Danish Cancer Society [journal number R16-A695]. Other than funding the trial, the funding body had no role in the design, conduct, analysis, or reporting of the present trial.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Maternal Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy in Relation to Offspring Forearm Fractures: Prospective Study from the Danish National Birth Cohort

Limited evidence exists for an association between maternal diet during pregnancy and offspring bone health. In a prospective study, we examined the association between dietary patterns in mid-pregnancy and offspring forearm fractures. In total, 101,042 pregnancies were recruited to the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) during 1996–2002. Maternal diet was collected by a food frequency questionnaire. Associations were analyzed between seven dietary patterns extracted by principal component analysis and offspring first occurrence of any forearm fracture diagnosis, extracted from the Danish National Patient Register, between time of birth and end of follow-up (<16 year) (n = 53,922). In multivariable Cox regression models, offspring of mothers in the fourth vs. first quintile of the Western pattern had a significant increased risk (Hazard ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 1.01–1.23) of fractures, and there was a borderline significant positive trend (p = 0.06). The other dietary patterns showed no associations and neither did supplementary analyses of macro- and micronutrients or single food groups, except for the intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks, which was positively associated with offspring forearm fractures (p = 0.02). In the large prospective DNBC high mid-pregnancy consumption of Western diet and artificially sweetened soft drinks, respectively, indicated positive associations with offspring forearm fractures, which provides interesting hypotheses for future research

Thresholds for clinical importance were defined for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Computer Adaptive Testing Core-an adaptive measure of core quality of life domains in oncology clinical practice and research

Objectives The aim of this article was to establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) Core measure, the new adaptive version of the EORTC QLQ-C30. Study Design and Setting For our diagnostic study, we recruited cancer patients with mixed diagnoses and treatments from six European countries. Patients completed the EORTC CAT Core and a questionnaire with anchor items assessing criteria for clinical importance (limitations in everyday life, need for help/care, and worries by the patient/family/partner) for each EORTC CAT Core domain. We used a binary variable summarizing the anchor items for determining TCIs and for calculating the area under the curve (AUC) in receiving operator characteristic analysis as a measure of diagnostic accuracy. Results Using data from 498 cancer patients (mean age 60.4 years, 55.2% women), we established TCIs for the 14 domains of the EORTC CAT Core. Median AUC across domains was 0.93 (range 0.84–0.94). Median sensitivity and specificity of the TCIs were 0.91 (range 0.80–0.96) and 0.77 (range 0.66–0.84), respectively. TCIs and AUCs were largely consistent across patient groups. Conclusion We have generated TCIs for the 14 functional health and symptom domains of the EORTC CAT Core. The EORTC CAT Core showed high diagnostic accuracy in identifying clinically important symptoms and functional impairments

Thresholds for clinical importance were established to improve interpretation of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in clinical practice and research

To establish thresholds for clinical importance (TCIs) for the five functioning and nine symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire

A broad range quorum sensing inhibitor working through sRNA inhibition

Abstract For the last decade, chemical control of bacterial virulence has received considerable attention. Ajoene, a sulfur-rich molecule from garlic has been shown to reduce expression of key quorum sensing regulated virulence factors in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here we show that the repressing effect of ajoene on quorum sensing occurs by inhibition of small regulatory RNAs (sRNA) in P. aeruginosa as well as in Staphylococcus aureus, another important human pathogen that employs quorum sensing to control virulence gene expression. Using various reporter constructs, we found that ajoene lowered expression of the sRNAs RsmY and RsmZ in P. aeruginosa and the small dual-function regulatory RNA, RNAIII in S. aureus, that controls expression of key virulence factors. We confirmed the modulation of RNAIII by RNA sequencing and found that the expression of many QS regulated genes encoding virulence factors such as hemolysins and proteases were lowered in the presence of ajoene in S. aureus. Importantly, our findings show that sRNAs across bacterial species potentially may qualify as targets of anti-virulence therapy and that ajoene could be a lead structure in search of broad-spectrum compounds transcending the Gram negative-positive borderline