Report card on school snack food policies among the United States' largest school districts in 2004–2005: Room for improvement

BACKGROUND: Federal nutritional guidelines apply to school foods provided through the national school lunch and breakfast programs, but few federal regulations apply to other foods and drinks sold in schools (labeled "competitive foods"), which are often high in calories, fat and sugar. Competitive food policies among school districts are increasingly viewed as an important modifiable factor in the school nutrition environment, particularly to address rising rates of childhood overweight. Congress passed legislation in 2004 requiring all school districts to develop a Wellness Policy that includes nutrition guidelines for competitive foods starting in 2006–2007. In addition, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently published recommendations for schools to address childhood obesity. METHODS: Representatives of school districts with the largest student enrollment in each state and D.C. (N = 51) were interviewed in October-November 2004 about each school district's nutrition policies on "competitive foods." District policies were examined and compared to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for schools to address childhood obesity. Information about state competitive food policies was accessed via the Internet, and through state and district contacts. RESULTS: The 51 districts accounted for 5.9 million students, representing 11% of US students. Nineteen of the 51 districts (39%) had competitive food policies beyond state or federal requirements. The majority of these district policies (79%) were adopted since 2002. School district policies varied in scope and requirements. Ten districts (53%) set different standards by grade level. Most district policies had criteria for food and beverage content (74%) and prohibited the sale of soda in all schools (63%); fewer policies restricted portion size of foods (53%) or beverages (47%). Restrictions more often applied to vending machines (95%), cafeteria à la carte (79%), and student stores (79%) than fundraising activities (47%). Most of the policies did not address more comprehensive approaches to the school nutrition environment, such as nutrition education (32%) or advertising to students (26%), nor did they include guidelines on physical education (11%). In addition, few policies addressed monitoring (32%) or consequences for non-compliance (11%). No policy restricted foods sold for after-school fundraising or required monitoring physical health indicators (e.g. BMI). CONCLUSION: When compared to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for schools' role in preventing obesity, none of the nutrition policies among each state's largest school district had addressed all the recommendations by 2004–2005. Nutritionists, nurses, pediatricians, parents, and others concerned about child health have an unprecedented opportunity to help shape and implement more comprehensive school district nutrition policies as part of the Congressional requirement for a "Wellness Policy" by 2006–2007

GH mediates exercise-dependent activation of SVZ neural precursor cells in aged mice

Here we demonstrate, both in vivo and in vitro, that growth hormone (GH) mediates precursor cell activation in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the aged (12-month-old) brain following exercise, and that GH signaling stimulates precursor activation to a similar extent to exercise. Our results reveal that both addition of GH in culture and direct intracerebroventricular infusion of GH stimulate neural precursor cells in the aged brain. In contrast, no increase in neurosphere numbers was observed in GH receptor null animals following exercise. Continuous infusion of a GH antagonist into the lateral ventricle of wild-type animals completely abolished the exercise-induced increase in neural precursor cell number. Given that the aged brain does not recover well after injury, we investigated the direct effect of exercise and GH on neural precursor cell activation following irradiation. This revealed that physical exercise as well as infusion of GH promoted repopulation of neural precursor cells in irradiated aged animals. Conversely, infusion of a GH antagonist during exercise prevented recovery of precursor cells in the SVZ following irradiation

Harmonizing and improving European education in prescribing: An overview of digital educational resources used in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics

Aim: Improvement and harmonization of European clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) education is urgently required. Because digital educational resources can be easily shared, adapted to local situations and re-used widely across a variety of educational systems, they may be ideally suited for this purpose. Methods: With a cross-sectional survey among principal CPT teachers in 279 out of 304 European medical schools, an overview and classification of digital resources was compiled. Results: Teachers from 95 (34%) medical schools in 26 of 28 EU countries responded, 66 (70%) of whom used digital educational resources in their CPT curriculum. A total of 89 of such resources were described in detail, including e-learning (24%), simulators to teach pharmacokinetics and/or pharmacodynamics (10%), virtual patients (8%), and serious games (5%). Together, these resources covered 235 knowledge-based learning objectives, 88 skills, and 13 attitudes. Only one third (27) of the resources were in-part or totally free and only two were licensed open educational resources (free to use, distribute and adapt). A narrative overview of the largest, free and most novel resources is given. Conclusion: Digital educational resources, ranging from e-learning to virtual patients and games, are widely used for CPT education in EU medical schools. Learning objectives are based largely on knowledge rather than skills or attitudes. This may be improved by including more real-life clinical case scenarios. Moreover, the majority of resources are neither free nor open. Therefore, with a view to harmonizing international CPT education, more needs to be learned about why CPT teachers are not currently sharing their educational materials

Growth hormone induces age-dependent alteration in the expression of hippocampal growth hormone receptor and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunits gene transcripts in male rats

Studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of s.c. injected recombinant human growth hormone (GH) on the expression of the gene transcript of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunits type 1 (NR1), type 2A (NR2A), and type 2B (NR2B) in the male rat hippocampus. The GH-induced effects on the expression of hippocampal gene transcripts of GH receptor (GHR) and GH-binding protein were also examined. Male Sprague–Dawley rats, kept in four groups of two different ages, was treated with the hormone or saline during 10 days before decapitation and tissue dissection. Brain tissues collected were analyzed for mRNA content by using the Northern blot technique. The results indicated that in adult young rats (11 weeks of age) the hormone elicited a decrease in the mRNA expression of NR1 but an increase in that of the NR2B subunit. In elderly adult rats (57–67 weeks of age) GH induced an increase in the expression of the hippocampal message for NR1 and NR2A. Meanwhile, the hormone induced a significant up-regulation of the GHR transcript in hippocampus of adult young rats but not in elderly adult rats. It was further found that a significant positive correlation exists between the level of GHR mRNA and the expression of the NR2B subunit transcript in adult young rats. The GH-induced increase in the expression of hippocampal mRNA for the NR2B subunit is compatible with a previously observed memory promoting effect seen for the hormone, because overexpression of this N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit is shown to enhance cognitive capabilities