Too Hot to Handle: An Evaluation of the Effect of Thermal Visual Representation on User Grasping Interaction in Virtual Reality

Influence of interaction fidelity and rendering quality on perceived user experience have been largely explored in Virtual Reality (VR). However, differences in interaction choices triggered by these rendering cues have not yet been explored. We present a study analysing the effect of thermal visual cues and contextual information on 50 participants' approach to grasp and move a virtual mug. This study comprises 3 different temperature cues (baseline empty, hot and cold) and 4 contextual representations; all embedded in a VR scenario. We evaluate 2 different hand representations (abstract and human) to assess grasp metrics. Results show temperature cues influenced grasp location, with the mug handle being predominantly grasped with a smaller grasp aperture for the hot condition, while the body and top were preferred for baseline and cold conditions

Toward a New Philosophy of Preventive Nutrition: From a Reductionist to a Holistic Paradigm to Improve Nutritional Recommendations

The reductionist approach has been predominant to date in human nutrition research and has unraveled some of the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of food nutrients (e.g., those that involve deficiency diseases). In Western countries, along with progress in medicine and pharmacology, the reductionist approach helped to increase life expectancy. However, despite 40 y of research in nutrition, epidemics of obesity and diabetes are growing each year worldwide, both in developed and developing countries, leading to a decrease in healthy life years. Yet, interactions between nutrition-health relations cannot be modeled on the basis of a linear cause-effect relation between 1 food compound and 1 physiologic effect but rather from multicausal nonlinear relations. In other words, explaining the whole from the specific by a bottom-up reductionist approach has its limits. A top-down approach becomes necessary to investigate complex issues through a holistic view before addressing any specific question to explain the whole. However, it appears that both approaches are necessary and mutually reinforcing. In this review, Eastern and Western research perspectives are first presented, laying out bases for what could be the consequences of applying a reductionist versus holistic approach to research in nutrition vis-a-vis public health, environmental sustainability, breeding, biodiversity, food science and processing, and physiology for improving nutritional recommendations. Therefore, research that replaces reductionism with a more holistic approach will reveal global and efficient solutions to the problems encountered from the field to the plate. Preventive human nutrition can no longer be considered as "pharmacology" or foods as "drugs.

IMMUNOMODULATION DU MICRO-ENVIRONNEMENT TUMORAL MAMMAIRE : L'EXERCICE PHYSIQUE CONTREBALANCE L'EFFET TOLÉROGÈNE DE LA VITAMINE D

International audienc

Un entraînement excentrique excessif chez des souris carencées en vitamine D conduit à une perte de capacités physiques, une atrophie musculaire et une inflammation systémique

International audienc

Vitamin D deficiency contributes to overtraining syndrome in excessive trained C57BL /6 mice

International audienc

Immunonutrition improves functional capacities in head and neck and esophageal cancer patients undergoing radiochemotherapy: A randomized clinical trial

Background & aims: Malnutrition is frequent in head and neck (HN) and esophageal cancer patients and aggravated by radiochemotherapy (RCT), increasing morbi-mortality and treatment toxicity. Our goal was to investigate the effect of immunonutrition consisting of an arginine, omega-3 fatty acid, nucleotides-enriched diet on nutritional status, and functional capacity in HN or esophageal cancer patients undergoing RCT. Methods: 37 patients were randomized in a double-blind clinical trial. 5 days before and until the end of RCT (5-7 weeks), they received either an Immunomodulating Enteral Nutrition (IEN) or an isonitrogenous, isoenergetic Standard Enteral Nutrition (SEN). Anthropometrical parameters, nutritional risk index (NRI), serum albumin, plasma antioxidant capacity, and functional capacity were recorded between the beginning and the end of RCT. Results: A significant gain in total body weight (+2.1 +/- 3.1 kg) was observed in IEN patients. Albuminemia and NRI were improved concomitantly in IEN malnourished patients. Plasma antioxidant capacity was improved (+100 +/- 13 mu M EqTrolox) in IEN patients. Functional capacity measured by WHO Performance Status and Karnofsky index was maintained in IEN patients but significantly reduced in SEN patients. Conclusions: These preliminary data show that immunonutrition could improve the nutritional status together with functional capacity in HN and esophageal cancer patients undergoing RCT. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved