Effectiveness and Feasibility of In-office versus Smartphone Text-delivered Nutrition Education in the College Setting: A Mixed-methods Pilot Study

Often, being away from home for the first time, coupled with limited knowledge regarding healthy eating behaviors, leads to poor food choices and an increased risk of obesity among college-aged young adults. These college students are prone to high-calorie diets and limited physical activity, putting them at risk for obesity, a physiologically, psychologically, and financially costly epidemic in the United States. College students use their cellular phones over eight and a half hours a day and cell phones are their primary means of information consumption outside of the classroom, suggesting that the phones would be a useful tool to provide nutrition education to this at-risk population. This mixed-methods randomized-controlled trial took place over eight weeks, between 9/15/15 and 12/2/15. The primary aims of this study were to assess the effectiveness and feasibility between an educational nutrition intervention delivered via smartphone texts and a traditional in-office setting for 18-22-year-old, overweight college students at the Sonoma State University Student Health Center. Using simple randomization, participants were assigned to one of two groups: text, or in-office. Participants in the in-office group received one-on-one nutrition counseling framed within the social cognitive theory by a registered nurse at the study onset, week two, and week four. Participants in the text group received the same information, broken up into weekly text messages with links to websites, YouTube, and explanations of content. Participant characteristics, including weight, height, and health behaviors (hours of sleep a night, number of fruits and vegetables per day), were assessed at the study onset (T1) and again at week two (T2), week four (T3), and week eight (T4). All participants were invited to take part in an in-depth, qualitative, face-to-face interview at the end of the study (T4). Nine participants completed both the trial and interviews. Two-thirds (66.7%, n=6) were in the text group, 66.7% (n=6) were female, 33.3% (n=3) were minorities, 66.7% lived on- campus, and 44.4% (n=4) took part in the university’s on-campus meal plan. No statistically significant differences were noted in participant characteristics, or health behaviors between the two groups throughout the study. Although no statistical significance was noted between the two groups with regard to weight change, the text group’s mean weight decreased from 188.25(sd=25.03) pounds to 184.58(sd=24.67) pounds while the in-office group’s mean weight increased from 254.00(sd=90.15) to 257.00(sd=94.14) pounds. Weight loss in the text group should be further evaluated as it may hold clinical significance for effectiveness of the intervention. Through qualitative interviews exploring participants’ experiences, four major themes emerged. All participants in the text group (n=6) stated that they felt there was a need for their method of education, they felt their method was effective, they would recommend their method, and their health behaviors changed positively. For the in-office group, all participants (n=3) said there was a need for their method of education, 67% (n=2) said it was effective, all would recommend it, and 67% stated that they changed their behaviors. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings of this study hold clinical significance as to the effectiveness and feasibility of text messages as a means of providing nutrition education in the college setting. Future research with larger sample sizes and a longer-term study are recommended for more statistical power and to determine the long-term benefits of these methods of nutrition education

Residue analyses and exposure assessment of the Irish population to nitrofuran metabolites from different food commodities in 2009–2010

peer-reviewedAn exposure assessment to nitrofuran residues was performed for three human populations (adults, teenagers and children), based on residue analyses of foods of animal origin (liver, honey, eggs and aquaculture) covering the 2-year period 2009– 2010. The occurrence of nitrofuran metabolites in food on the Irish market was determined for the selected period using the data from Ireland’s National Food Residue Database (NFRD) and from results obtained from the analysis of retail samples (aquaculture and honey). Laboratory analyses of residues were performed by methods validated in accordance with Commission Decision 2002/657/EC regarding performance of the analytical method and interpretation of results. Semicarbazide (SEM) was the contaminant most frequently identified and its content ranged from 0.09 to 1.27 μg kg−1. SEM is currently used as a marker of nitrofuran abuse, but it may also occur from other sources. The presence of nitrofuran metabolite 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) was detected in two aquaculture samples (prawns) at 1.63 and 1.14 μg kg−1, but such a low number of positive cases did not present sufficient data for a full AOZ exposure assessment. Therefore, the evaluation of exposure was focused on SEM-containing food groups only. Exposure assessments were completed using a probabilistic approach that generated 10 iterations. The results of both the upper- and lower-bound exposure assessments demonstrate that SEM exposure for Irish adults, teenagers and children from selected food commodities are well below EFSA-estimated safe levels.This research was funded by the Food for Health Research Initiative (FHRI) administered by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Health Research Board (Contract 07FHRIAFRC5

The application of the Practitioners in Applied Practice Model during breaking bad news communication training for medical students : a case study

Background and Aims Breaking bad news is a key skill within clinical communication and one which can impact outcomes for both the patient and practitioner. The evidence base for effective clinical communication training in breaking bad news is scarce. Frameworks have been found to assist the practitioner, such as SPIKES, however the pedagogical approach used alongside such frameworks can vary. This study sought to examine the impact of utilising the Practitioners in Applied Practice Model (PAPM) alongside the SPIKES framework for training undergraduate medical students in breaking bad news. Methods and Results A case study approach is used to highlight the impact of training based on the PAPM and SPIKES on patient-centred communication and simulated patient satisfaction with the clinical communication behaviour. Results showed that following training, both patient-centred behaviour and patient satisfaction improved. With detailed communication behaviour changes a balance was established between rapport building behaviour, lifestyle and psychosocial talk alongside biomedical information. Conclusion This case study shows how the PAPM could be utilised alongside the SPIKES framework to improve breaking bad news communication in medical undergraduate students and describes the behavioural basis of the improvement. Further research is required to show the generalisability of this training intervention.PostprintPeer reviewe

Flipping Argument

This project utilizes the concept of “flipping the classroom” pioneered by the Kahn Academy to help students understand Aristotelian elements of argument (ethos, pathos, and logos). The four lesson plans require students to preview existing internet resources depicting practical applications of rhetorical concepts, and then invites them to utilize these concepts in the classroom. Students learn to recognize logical fallacies and types of argumentative appeals as they are used (and misused) in popular culture and in literature. The project as a whole has the additional benefit of encouraging students to identify and critically evaluate explicit and implicit arguments in a range of media, from blogs, to YouTube videos, to television drama, to advertising. Students will gain a sense of what makes an effective argument, and how argument is deployed in daily life, popular culture and literature

Seeing red: Relearning to read in a case of Balint's Syndrome

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Balint's Syndrome is a rare condition, often associated with hypoxic brain damage. The major characteristic is an inability to localise objects in space, another is simultanagnosia frequently resulting in reading difficulties. We present RN, a 37 year old woman whose major problem with reading was her inability to recognise individual letters correctly in either lower or upper case. We noted, however, that she was better if the letters were shown in red type. The aims were to determine if RN could relearn letters of the alphabet, investigate whether colour affected her ability to learn, and to explore more specifically whether the red type also helped her to read words. METHOD: Using a single case experimental ABA design, we first determined that the optimal font for RN was size 16. In the baseline (A) phase, we assessed her ability to read all lower and upper case letters of the alphabet in black ink. In the intervention (B) phase we used font size 16 in red ink and an errorless learning approach to teaching the letters. Sessions ran 5 times per week (20 minutes per session). The intervention was then applied to picture recognition and word reading with four sets of 10 words and corresponding pictures. RESULTS: A consistent difference was noted between initial baseline and intervention. Improvement carried over when we returned to baseline. CONCLUSION: Using red type and an errorless learning approach enabled RN to re-learn letters of the alphabet and read words she was previously unable to read. This did not however generalise to her everyday life

Visible Difference, Stigmatising Language(s) and the Discursive Construction of Prejudices Against Others in Leeds and Warsaw

There is a growing interest in – and urgency around – the understanding of cultural difference in and across European societies. Language matters crucially to how difference is perceived and conceptualised. Against this backdrop, the consequences of encountering difference through language still require research. In response to this need, this chapter looks into the use of prejudiced terms addressing difference with respect to axes of gendered ethnicity/religion (Muslim men) and gendered class (male underclass) in two European cities. In doing so, it traces the vernacular embedding of perceptions of specifically coded difference in Poland and the UK. As such, it explores how the same categories of difference are discursively produced in two national contexts and enquires in what ways perceptions differ, overlap or refer to an increasingly global discursive framework

A common spatial scene? Young people and faith-based organisations at the margins. Kap. 13

I: I. Swart, A. Vähäkangas, M. Rabe and A. Leis-Peters (Red.), 2021, Stuck in the Margins? Young people and faith-based organisations in South African and Nordic localities (Kap. 13, s. 247-266). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Brill. https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/abs/10.13109/9783666568558This book is the product of a South African - Nordic research collaboration that wanted to gain deeper insight into the role that faith-based organizations (FBOs) play in the lives of young people eking out a living from the margins of society. The book as such distinguishes itself as a first major international scholarly endeavor to explore the contemporary phenomenon of youth marginalization from a concerted interdisciplinary faith-based organizational interest. While the exploration of concepts such as NEET (an acronym for young people not in education, employment or training), social cohesion and FBOs constitutes an important point of departure, the book's essential contribution lies in the empirical work undertaken. In six case studies, conducted respectively in locations in South Africa, Finland and Norway, the authors make a deliberate attempt to give a voice to the young people with whom interviews were conducted. The result is a scholarly work that in its discussions and conclusions is both critical and appreciative of the involvement of FBOs in the lives of marginalized youths but also the research achievement itself. Perspectives that recognize the meaningful presence of FBOs in the lives and lived religion of many young people at the margins are presented, while authors do not shy away either from highlighting the shortcomings of FBOs to work more purposefully with young people in overcoming the conditions conducive to their marginalization. Ultimately, however, this book does not confine itself to a critical perspective on FBOs alone but through the contribution of some of its authors present illuminating insight into what may still be required from the point of view of academic research to participate in larger liberative practices involving young people but also FBOs at the margins of society.publishedVersion247-26

Collateral Estoppel

The doctrine of collateral estoppel involves the use of an old judgment in a new action to prevent the relitigation of issues resolved by that old judgment. At common law, use of the doctrine required that the party using collateral estoppel and the party against whom it was used be the same as the parties to the prior judgment. This common law requirement of mutuality has been relaxed and since the United States Supreme Court\u27s 1979 decision in ParklaneHoisery Co. v. Shore, the strict common law requirement of mutuality has all but completely vanished. In Parklane the Court sanctioned the use of collateral estoppel by a plaintiff who was a stranger to the original suit against a defendant who was party to that suit. The courts\u27 search for fair results and judicial economy in the application of the doctrine led to this application of the doctrine in circumstances in which the parties were not mutual. This note traces the un- steady course which the doctrine of collateral estoppel traveled before Parklane. The significance of the Court\u27s decision in Parklane is then analyzed. Finally, post-Parklane applications of collateral estoppel are discussed, including the effect of the use of collateral estoppel on the seventh amendment right to jury trial and its impact on substantive areas of law

Reconfiguring the "other" in late nineteenth-century British utopian literature

Work on non-canonicalfin-de-siècle feminist utopian literature to date has focused on discovery and description as seen in the bibliographies of Sargent, Patai. and Suvin. This study examines non-canonical texts alongside canonical texts and moves beyond previous studies by exploring how English utopian writers redefine the cultural "Other" using the discourses of Empire, commerce, and science. Mikhail Bakhtin and Homi Bhabha emphasize the dialogic function of language in constructing and altering cultural boundaries, and their work provides a theoretical base for this study. The writers in this study, Mary Bramston, Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett, Lady Florence Dixie, Amelia Garland Mears, William Morris, and H. G. Wells, imply that ideal societies will emerge only if nineteenth-century values and conventions are subverted. These writers attempt to put actual, as well as temporal distance between Utopia and fin-de-siècle England

Walking a tightrope - as a next-of-kin to an adolescent or young adult with cancer facing eating difficulties

Purpose: Eating difficulties cause reduced food intake and poor quality of life among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. Therefore, next-of-kin eating support is crucial. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of being close to AYAs with cancer in the context of eating when they are at home between high-emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) sessions. Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 next-of-kin to AYAs (15–29 years old) with oncological or haematological diseases, treated with HEC. Van Manen’s hermeneuticphenomenological approach guided the design. Results: The essential meaning of the next-of-kin experiences is reflected in the overarching theme “Utilizing meals as an action-opportunity” consisting of two subthemes: ’Being on constant alert’ and “Walking a tightrope to maintain usual everyday life.” Conclusions: Findings revealed that utilizing meals as an action-opportunity towards AYAs’ food intake involved existential feelings including fear of losing their loved ones. Next-of-kin experienced that providing support through and with food was their only avenue of action. However, this sparked feelings of frustration and powerlessness.publishedVersio