Social and multimedia influence on endurance athletes’ preferred snack choices

Snacks are required for athletes to fuel their higher demand of energy. Meanwhile, social influences and multimedia can affect the athletes’ choices of snacks. Social influences are divided into three categories: Compliance (sports dietitian/nutritionist & medical officer), Conformity (friend) and Obedience (parent & coach), while multimedia refers to internet, magazines and newspaper. The objective of this study was to investigate the different sources of social influence and multimedia on athletes’ preferred snacks. Out of 26 snack choices, 3 most preferred snacks were chosen by 69 endurance athletes from the National Sports Institute (NSI) through a questionnaire. They are Popiah & Mixed Fruit Jelly, Chicken Salad and Egg & Cheese Sandwich. Out of the 6 choices of beverages, the top 3 preferred beverages were sports drinks, orange smoothie and apple smoothie. Social influence from parent (p = 0.041) has significant effect on the athlete’s most preferred snack choice, followed by influence from dietitian (p = 0.02) on their second preferred snack choice and lastly internet (p = 0.024), has its effect on the third preferred snack. Other social influences such as friends, medical officer and coach show no significance effect on the preferred snack choices. The parent factor also has significant effect on the most preferred beverage choices with p = 0.043. To conclude, parent influence is strongly related to both snack and beverage choices of the athletes, followed by dietitian and internet on the athlete’s preferred snack choices

Skeletal muscle metastases in neuroblastoma share common progenitors with primary tumor and biologically resemble stage MS disease

IntroductionWhile subcutaneous metastases are often observed with stage MS neuroblastoma, an entity that usually resolves spontaneously, skeletal muscle metastases (SMM) have been rarely described. The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the significance of SMM in neuroblastoma.Patients and methodsSeventeen patients with neuroblastoma SMM were diagnosed at a median age of 4.3 (0.1-15.6) months. All had SMM at diagnosis and metastases at other sites. Fifteen (88%) had ≥ 2 SMM in disparate muscle groups. One, 14, and 2 patients had low, intermediate, and high-risk disease respectively. Fifteen tumors had favorable histology without MYCN amplification, and 2 were MYCN-amplified. Most SMM (80%; n=12/15 evaluated) were MIBG-avid.ResultsOnly 1 patient (with MYCN-non-amplified neuroblastoma) had disease progression. All survive at median follow-up of 47.9 (16.9-318.9) months post-diagnosis. Biological markers (histology, chromosomal and genetic aberrations) were not prognostic. Whole genome sequencing of 3 matched primary and SMM lesions suggested that both primary and metastatic tumors arose from the same progenitor. SMM completely resolved in 10 patients by 12 months post-diagnosis. Of 4 patients managed with watchful observation alone without any cytotoxic therapy, 3 maintain complete remission with SMM resolving by 5, 13, and 21 months post-diagnosis respectively.ConclusionsChildren with neuroblastoma SMM have an excellent prognosis, with a clinical course suggestive of stage MS disease. Based on these results, the initial management of infants with non-MYCN-amplified NB with SMM could be watchful observation, which could eliminate or reduce exposure to genotoxic therapy