Are positive changes in potential determinants associated with increased fruit and vegetable intakes among primary schoolchildren? Results of two intervention studies in the Netherlands: The Schoolgruiten Project and the Pro Children Study

Background: To investigate if positive changes or maintenance high scores on potential behavioral determinants of fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake are associated with increased or maintenance favorable levels of F&V intake frequency in the same time lapse or later in time. Data were used from two intervention studies in the Netherlands: the Schoolgruiten Project and the Pro Children Study. Methods: A design with baseline and two follow-up measurements. 344 children of the Dutch Schoolgruiten Project and 258 children of the Pro Children Study completed questionnaires, including questions on general demographics, usual F&V intake frequency, important potential determinants of F&V intake, such as taste preferences of F&V, availability of F&V, knowledge of recommended intake levels of F&V, self-efficacy for eating F&V, and parental influences for eating F&V. Three different associations between changes in determinants of F&V intake and changes in F&V intake frequency were assessed by multilevel multinomial regression analyses. Results: Results of one of the investigated associations indicated that in both studies behavior change (increase in F&V intake frequency) was preceded by changes in the following variables; liking of fruit, parental facilitation of vegetables, family rules for eating vegetables and availability at home of vegetables. Furthermore, changes in F&V intake frequency preceded changes in liking of F&V later in time. Conclusion: In accordance with behavior change theories, the present study provides some evidence that behavior change was preceded by changes in certain potential determinants of F&V intake. Potential determinants of F&V intake that appear to be important to induce behavior change were liking of fruit, parental facilitation of vegetables, family rules for eating vegetables and availability at home of vegetables. Some evidence was also found that behavior changes may precede changes in presumed determinants of F&V intake, such as liking of F&V

Mach's Principle and Model for a Broken Symmetric Theory of Gravity

We investigate spontaneous symmetry breaking in a conformally invariant gravitational model. In particular, we use a conformally invariant scalar tensor theory as the vacuum sector of a gravitational model to examine the idea that gravitational coupling may be the result of a spontaneous symmetry breaking. In this model matter is taken to be coupled with a metric which is different but conformally related to the metric appearing explicitly in the vacuum sector. We show that after the spontaneous symmetry breaking the resulting theory is consistent with Mach's principle in the sense that inertial masses of particles have variable configurations in a cosmological context. Moreover, our analysis allows to construct a mechanism in which the resulting large vacuum energy density relaxes during evolution of the universe.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

Do individual cognitions mediate the association of socio-cultural and physical environmental factors with adolescent sports participation?

Abstract Objective To examine the associations of perceived physical environmental factors (availability of physical activity (PA) attributes at home, PA facilities in the neighbourhood, neighbourhood pleasantness and safety) and social environmental factors (parental sports behaviour and parental rule regarding sports participation) with adolescent leisure-time sports participation, and to explore whether the associations found were mediated by individual cognitions as derived from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Design Cross-sectional study. Setting In schoolyear 2005/2006 adolescents from seventeen schools in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, completed a questionnaire during school hours that included self-reported measures of leisure-time sports participation, perceived physical environmental factors and TPB variables. Information about parental sports behaviour and parental rule was obtained from a questionnaire that was completed by one parent of the adolescents. Subjects Data were collected from 584 adolescent-parent combinations. Results Data were analysed with multi-level logistic regression analyses. Availability of PA attributes at home (OR = 1·26), parents' sports behaviour (OR = 2·03) and parental rule (OR = 1·64) were associated with a higher likelihood of adolescents' leisure-time sports participation. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention. Conclusions Adolescents were more likely to engage in leisure-time sports when PA attributes were available at home, when parents participated in sports activities and had a rule about their offspring participation in sports activities. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention. These results suggest that parents can importantly promote sports participation among their offspring by making sports activities accessible and a family routin

Predicting the chances of a live birth after one or more complete cycles of in vitro fertilisation : population based study of linked cycle data from 113 873 women

Funding: This work was supported by a Chief Scientist Office postdoctoral training fellowship in health services research and health of the public research (ref PDF/12/06). The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Chief Scientist Office. The funder did not have any role in the study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; nor the decision to submit the paper for publication. DJM had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Differences in fruit and vegetable intake and their determinants among 11-year-old schoolchildren between 2003 and 2009

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in children in the Netherlands is much lower than recommended. Recurrent appraisal of intake levels is important for detecting changes in intake over time and to inform future interventions and policies. The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in fruit and vegetable intake, and whether these could be explained by differences in potential determinants of FV intake in 11-year-old Dutch schoolchildren, by comparing two school samples assessed in 2003 and 2009.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>For 1105 children of the Pro Children study in 2003 and 577 children of the Pro Greens study in 2009 complete data on intake and behavioural determinants were available. The self-administered questionnaire included questions on children's ethnicity, usual fruit and vegetable intake, mother's educational level, and important potential determinants of fruit and vegetable intake.</p> <p>Multiple regression analysis was applied to test for differences in intake and determinants between study samples. Mediation analyses were used to investigate whether the potential mediators explained the differences in intake between the two samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2009, more children complied with the World Health Organization recommendation of 400 g fruit and vegetables per day (17.0%) than in 2003 (11.8%, p = 0.004). Fruit consumption was significantly higher in the sample of 2009 than in the sample of 2003 (difference = 23.8 (95%CI: 8.1; 39.5) grams/day). This difference was mainly explained by a difference in the parental demand regarding their child's intake (23.6%), followed by the child's knowledge of the fruit recommendation (14.2%) and parental facilitation of consumption (18.5%). Vegetable intake was lower in the 2009 sample than in the 2003 sample (12.3 (95%CI -21.0; -3.6). This difference could not be explained by the assessed mediators.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings indicate that fruit intake among 11-year-olds improved somewhat between 2003 and 2009. Vegetable intake, however, appears to have declined somewhat between 2003 and 2009. Since a better knowledge of the recommendation, parental demand and facilitation explained most of the observed fruit consumption difference, future interventions may specifically address these potential mediators. Further, the provision of vegetables in the school setting should be considered in order to increase children's vegetable intake.</p

An improvement in the method used to assess discriminatory ability when predicting the chances of a live birth after one or more complete cycles of in vitro fertilisation

Peer reviewedPostprin

Planning and control in a manual collision avoidance task by children with hemiparesis

We examined whether deficits in planning and control during a manual collision avoidance task in children with hemiparesis are associated with damage to the left or right hemisphere (LHD and RHD). Children pushed a doll across a scale-size road between two approaching toy cars. Movement onset and velocity served as indicators of planning and control. In Experiment 1, children with hemiparesis collided more frequently, and controlled velocity less appropriately compared to typically-developing children. Children with LHD initiated their movement later than children with RHD. Experiment 2 compared the preferred and non-preferred hand of children with LHD and RHD. Children with RHD crossed less with their non-preferred hand, while children with LHD initiated later than children with RHD. Moreover, the groups showed differences in velocity control. It is argued that planning deficits may be related to LHD. The hypothesized association between control deficits and RHD, however, was not confirmed

Mothers' involvement in a school-based fruit and vegetable promotion intervention is associated with increased fruit and vegetable intakes – The Pro Children study

Background: Several school-based fruit and vegetable interventions include activities to involve parents, but not much is know about the effectiveness of such a family component on child and parent intake levels. The current study evaluated the effects of the multi-component school-based intervention, 'the Pro Children Study', on mothers' intake levels. Furthermore, associations between level of involvement in the project and improvement in the mothers' intake levels were assessed. Methods: Effect was evaluated in a cluster randomized controlled trial in Spain, Norway and the Netherlands among mothers of 11-year-olds. Of the 1253 mothers with complete data at baseline, 754 and 476 had complete data at first and second follow-up respectively. Fruit and vegetable intake, level of involvement and demographic variables were assessed by a parental questionnaire. Data was analyzed using multilevel regression analyses. Results: Results showed no effect of the intervention on mothers' fruit and vegetable intake after one year and two year follow-up. Participation rate for the different activities varied by activity and by country, e.g. 3.7-9.4% visited the website, while 26.4-72.6% of the mothers participated in the home work assignments. Results further showed that higher involvement levels were associated with higher intake at follow-up. Conclusion: The Pro Children Intervention could not increase the fruit and vegetable consumption of the mothers of participating pupils, which might be explained by the low involvement in the project. More research is needed to increase mothers' involvement in school-based interventions

Do heart failure status and psychosocial variables moderate the relationship between leisure time physical activity and mortality risk among patients with a history of myocardial infarction?

Background: Leisure time physical activity (LTPA) is inversely related to mortality risk among patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI). The aims were to explore if heart failure (HF) status and psychosocial variables moderate the association.Methods: Participants (n = 1169) were from a multi-center prospective cohort study. Information on LTPA (none, irregular,1–150, 151–300 and >300 weekly minutes), depression, social support and other prognostic indicators were collected 10–13 years after index MI. Cox regressions were conducted, adjusting for potential confounders. In case of significant moderation by HF-status or psychosocial variables, stratified analyses were performed.Results: During follow-up (M = 8.4 years), 25.6 % of the sample had died. LTPA was inversely associated with mortality (p for trend < 0.01 in all models). HF did not, but psychosocial variables did, moderate the association. In the LTPA category 1–150 weekly minutes, patients with a high level of depression had a lower mortality risk in comparison to those with a low level (hazard ratios (95 % confidence intervals) were 0.43 (0.25, 0.75) versus 0.69 (0.36, 1.32)), and patients with a low level of social support had a lower mortality risk in comparison to those with a high level (0.40 (0.21, 0.77) versus 0.71 (0.39, 1.27)). In the category >300 min, patients with a high level of social support had a lower mortality risk than those with a low level (0.38 (0.19, 0.79) versus 0.51 (0.30, 0.87)).Conclusions: LTPA was inversely related to mortality risk of post-MI patients. HF did not moderate the relationship; depression and social support partially did