The school food environment and student body mass index and food consumption: 2004 to 2007 national data

PURPOSE: This study identifies trends in the availability of various food choices in United States' middle and high schools from 2004 to 2007, and examines the potential associations between such food availability and students' self-reported eating habits and body mass index (BMI)-related outcomes. METHODS: Data are based on nationally representative samples of 78,442 students in 684 secondary schools surveyed from 2004 to 2007 as part of the Youth, Education, and Society (YES) study and the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. In the YES study, school administrators and food service managers completed self-administered questionnaires on their school's food environment. In the MTF study, students in the same schools completed self-administered questionnaires, providing data used to construct BMI and food consumption measures. RESULTS: Overall, there was a decrease in the availability of regular-sugar/fat food items in both middle and high schools, and some indication of an increase in high school availability of reduced-fat food items through school lunch or a la carte. Some minimal evidence was found for relationships between the school food environment and student BMI-related outcomes and food consumption measures. CONCLUSIONS: United States secondary schools are making progress in the types of foods offered to students, with food items of lower nutritional value becoming less prevalent in recent years. Continued monitoring of food environment trends may help clarify whether and how such factors relate to youth health outcomes.The Youth, Education, and Society (YES) project (part of a larger research initiative, entitled Bridging the Gap: Research Informing Policy and Practice for Healthy Youth Behavior) is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Monitoring the Future study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA01411). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders. (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; DA01411 - National Institute on Drug Abuse

Sports Participation and Physical Education in American Secondary Schools: Current Levels of Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities

Summarizes findings from a study of physical education requirements and school-based physical activity among American schoolchildren. Analyzes data by gender, grade, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status

Do Higher Cigarette Prices Encourage Youth to Use Marijuana?

Every major national tobacco legislation proposed in the past two years has called for significant increases in the price of cigarettes as a way to discourage youths from smoking. One argument used to oppose these bills is that increases in the price of cigarettes would cause youths to substitute marijuana for cigarettes. Although it has long been believed that cigarettes are a gateway drug,' no economic research has been done to determine whether cigarettes and marijuana are economic complements or substitutes. This paper begins to fill the void in the current research by examining the contemporaneous relationship between the demands for cigarettes and marijuana among a nationally representative sample of 8th, 10th and 12th graders from the 1992-1994 Monitoring the Future Project. Two part models are used to estimate reduced form demand equations. Examination of the cross-price effects clearly shows that higher cigarette prices will not increase marijuana use among youths. In addition to reducing youth smoking, we find that higher cigarette prices significantly reduce the average level of marijuana used by current users. Cigarette prices also have a negative effect on the probability of using marijuana findings are not significant at conventional levels.

Effects of Price and Access Laws on Teenage Smoking Initiation: A National Longitudinal Analysis

Over the past three decades a significant amount of economic research has established that increasing cigarette prices reduces cigarette smoking among both adults and adolescents. The consensus estimates for the price elasticity of adult demand from these studies fall in a narrow range of 0.3 to 0.5, suggesting that a 10% increase in the price of cigarettes would decrease adult consumption by 3%-5%. A smaller literature on youth responsiveness to cigarette prices has also emerged. A majority of these studies concluded that youth are up to three times as responsive to price as are adults. Only four econometric studies have attempted to model youth and young adult smoking initiation decisions. All four studies concluded that cigarette prices (or cigarette excise taxes) are insignificant determinants of smoking initiation. This study addresses the limitations of the previous studies on smoking initiation and examines the impact of cigarette prices and youth access laws on adolescent smoking initiation. Nationally representative longitudinal surveys of 8th and 10th graders as part of the Monitoring the Future project are employed in the analysis. State-specific prices and several measures of youth access restrictions are added to the survey data. Discrete-time hazard methods are used to model the probability of initiation. Contradicting the results of the four previous studies on smoking initiation, the results of this study clearly indicate that increases in the price of cigarettes would significantly reduce the number of adolescents who start smoking. The results are mixed with respect to youth access restrictions.

Designing and Piloting a Tool for the Measurement of the Use of Pronunciation Learning Strategies

What appears to be indispensable to drive the field forward and ensure that research findings will be comparable across studies and provide a sound basis for feasible pedagogic proposals is to draw up a classification of PLS and design on that basis a valid and reliable data collection tool which could be employed to measure the use of these strategies in different groups of learners, correlate it with individual and contextual variables, and appraise the effects of training programs. In accordance with this rationale, the present paper represents an attempt to propose a tentative categorization of pronunciation learning strategies, adopting as a point of reference the existing taxonomies of strategic devices (i.e. O'Malley and Chamot 1990; Oxford 1990) and the instructional options teachers have at their disposal when dealing with elements of this language subsystem (e.g. Kelly 2000; Goodwin 2001). It also introduces a research instrument designed on the basis of the classification that shares a number of characteristics with Oxford's (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning but, in contrast to it, includes both Likert-scale and open-ended items. The findings of a pilot study which involved 80 English Department students demonstrate that although the tool requires considerable refinement, it provides a useful point of departure for future research into PLS

Physical Activity Breaks and Facilities in US Secondary Schools

BACKGROUND Research on physical activity breaks and facilities (indoor and outdoor) in secondary schools is relatively limited. METHODS School administrators and students in nationally representative samples of 8th (middle school) and 10th/12th grade (high school) students were surveyed annually from 2008‐2009 to 2011‐2012. School administrators reported information about physical activity breaks and facilities. Students self‐reported height, weight, and physical activity. RESULTS The prevalence of physical activity breaks and indoor and outdoor facilities (dichotomized by median split) differed significantly by region of the country, school size, student race/ethnicity, and school socioeconomic status (SES). Breaks were associated with lower odds of overweight (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.83‐1.00) and obesity (AOR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.75‐0.99) among middle school students. Among low‐SES middle school students and schools, higher indoor facilities were associated with lower rates of overweight and obesity. Among high school students, higher indoor and outdoor facilities were associated with 19‐42% higher odds of moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity. CONCLUSIONS Physical activity breaks and school facilities may help to address high rates of overweight/obesity and low physical activity levels among secondary students, especially lower‐SES students. Students in all schools should have equal access to these resources.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108694/1/josh12206.pd

Combined xIL-6R and urocortin-2 treatment restores mdx diaphragm muscle force

Introduction: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by progressive muscle degeneration leading to immobility, respiratory failure, and premature death. As chronic inflammation and stress are implicated in DMD pathology, the efficacy of an anti-inflammatory and anti-stress intervention strategy in ameliorating diaphragm dysfunction was investigated. Methods: Diaphragm muscle contractile function was compared in wild-type and dystrophin-deficient mdx mice treated with saline, anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibodies (xIL-6R), the corticotrophin-releasing factor receptor 2 (CRFR2) agonist, urocortin 2, or both xIL-6R and urocortin 2. Results: Combined treatment with xIL-6R and urocortin 2 rescued impaired force in mdx diaphragms. Mechanical work production and muscle shortening was also improved by combined drug treatment. Conclusions: Treatment which neutralizes peripheral IL-6 signaling and stimulates CRFR2 recovers force-generating capacity and the ability to perform mechanical work in mdx diaphragm muscle. These findings may be important in the search for therapeutic targets in DMD

CE17015

In the southwest of Ireland and the Celtic Sea (ICES Divisions VIIaS, g & j), herring are an important commercial species to the pelagic and polyvalent fleet. For a period in the 1970s and1980s, larval surveys were conducted for herring in this area. However, since 1989, acoustic surveys have been carried out, and currently are the only tuning indices available for this stock. In the Celtic Sea and VIIj, herring acoustic surveys have been carried out since 1989. Since 2004 the survey has been fixed in October and carried out onboard the RV Celtic Explorer. The geographical confines of the annual 21 day survey have been modified in recent years to include areas to the south of the main winter spawning grounds in an effort to identify the whereabouts of winter spawning fish before the annual inshore spawning migration. Spatial resolution of acoustic transects has been increased over the entire south coast survey area. The acoustic component of the survey has been further complemented since 2004 by detailed hydrographic, marine mammal and seabird surveys

24^{24}Mg(pp, α\alpha)21^{21}Na reaction study for spectroscopy of 21^{21}Na

The $^{24}$Mg($p$, $\alpha$)$^{21}$Na reaction was measured at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in order to better constrain spins and parities of energy levels in $^{21}$Na for the astrophysically important $^{17}$F($\alpha, p$)$^{20}$Ne reaction rate calculation. 31 MeV proton beams from the 25-MV tandem accelerator and enriched $^{24}$Mg solid targets were used. Recoiling $^{4}$He particles from the $^{24}$Mg($p$, $\alpha$)$^{21}$Na reaction were detected by a highly segmented silicon detector array which measured the yields of $^{4}$He particles over a range of angles simultaneously. A new level at 6661 $\pm$ 5 keV was observed in the present work. The extracted angular distributions for the first four levels of $^{21}$Na and Distorted Wave Born Approximation (DWBA) calculations were compared to verify and extract angular momentum transfer.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Accelerators and Beam Utilization (ICABU2014