Sugar intake among German adolescents: trends from 1990-2016 based on biomarker excretion in 24-h urine samples

Trend analyses based on dietary records suggest decreases in the intakes of total (TS), added (AS) and free sugar (FS) since 2005 among children and adolescents in Germany. In terms of age trends, TS intake decreased with increasing age. However, self-reported sugar intake in epidemiological studies is criticized, as it may be prone to bias due to selective underreporting. Furthermore, adolescents are more susceptible to underreporting than children. We thus analyzed time and age trends in urinary fructose excretion (FE), sucrose excretion (SE) and the sum of both (FE+SE) as biomarkers for sugar intake among 8.5-16.5-year-old adolescents. Urinary sugar excretion was measured by UPLC-MS/MS in 997 24-h urine samples collected from 239 boys and 253 girls participating in the DONALD study cohort between 1990 and 2016. Time and age trends of log-transformed FE, SE and FE+SE were analyzed using polynomial mixed-effects regression models. Between 1990 and 2016 FE as well as FE+SE decreased (linear time trend: p=0.0272 and p<0.0001, respectively). A minor increase in excretion during adolescence was confined to FE (linear age trend: p=0.0017). The present 24-h excretion measurements support a previously reported dietary-record based decline in sugar intake since 2005. However, the previous seen dietary record-based decrease in TS from childhood to late adolescence was not confirmed by our biomarker analysis, suggesting a constant sugar intake for the period of adolescence

The DONALD study as a longitudinal sensor of nutritional developments: iodine and salt intake over more than 30 years in German children

Purpose: Mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency was present in large parts of Germany up to the beginning 1990s and improved from then on. Current epidemiological data on spot urine iodine measurements in German children strongly suggest the re-occurrence of an impaired iodine status. We thus examined whether this re-occurrence is identifiable in more detail, through iodine analyses of 24-h urine samples of a well-characterized cohort of German children in whom samples have been systematically collected from 1985 onward. As iodized salt is a major source for iodine supply, urinary sodium excretion was additionally studied. Methods: Daily iodine and sodium excretions were measured in 2600 24-h urine samples collected between 1985 and 2018 by 677 healthy children aged 6–12 years (participants of the DONALD study). These data were compared with 24-h iodine and sodium excretion estimates obtained from spot urine samples collected in the representative German Health Interview and Examination Surveys for Children and Adolescents KiGGS-baseline (2003–2006) and KiGGS-wave-2 (2014–2017). Results: Between 1985 and1992, DONALD participants started with a median daily iodine excretion level of 40.1 µg/d. Then, during 1993–2003, iodine excretions mounted up to an approximate plateau (~ 84.8 µg/d). This plateau lasted until 2012. Thereafter, iodine concentrations started to decrease again resulting in a median iodine excretion of only 58.9 µg/d in 2018. Sodium excretion, however, had increased. The marked decrease in iodine status along with an abundant sodium excretion corresponded closely with nationwide KiGGS data. Conclusions: As exemplified for the clearly worsening iodine status in German children, longitudinal cohort studies collecting detailed biomarker-based prospective data have the potential to reliably capture health-relevant nutritional changes and trends, applicable on a more comprehensive and even representative population level.Peer Reviewe

A Satellite-based Assessment of Trans-Pacific Transport of Pollution Aerosol

It has been well documented that pollution aerosol and dust from East Asia can transport across the North Pacific basin, reaching North America and beyond. Such intercontinental transport extends the impact of aerosols for climate change, air quality, atmospheric chemistry, and ocean biology from local and regional scales to hemispheric and global scales. Long term, measurement-based studies are necessary to adequately assess the implications of these wider impacts. A satellite-based assessment can augment intensive field campaigns by expanding temporal and spatial scales and also serve as constraints for model simulations. Satellite imagers have been providing a wealth of evidence for the intercontinental transport of aerosols for more than two decades. Quantitative assessments, however, became feasible only recently as a result of the much improved measurement accuracy and enhanced new capabilities of satellite sensors. In this study, we generated a 4-year (2002 to 2005) climatology of optical depth for pollution aerosol (defined as a mixture of aerosols from urbanlindustrial pollution and biomass burning in this study) over the North Pacific from MODerate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) observations of fine- and coarse-mode aerosol optical depths. The pollution aerosol mass loading and fluxes were then calculated using measurements of the dependence of aerosol mass extinction efficiency on relative humidity and of aerosol vertical distributions from field campaigns and available satellite observations in the region. We estimated that about 18 Tg/year pollution aerosol is exported from East Asia to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, of which about 25% reaches the west coast of North America. The pollution fluxes are largest in spring and smallest in summer. For the period we have examined the strongest export and import of pollution particulates occurred in 2003, due largely to record intense Eurasia wildfires in spring and summer. The overall uncertainty of pollution fluxes is estimated at about 80%. A reduction of uncertainty can be achieved with a better characterization of pollution aerosol through integrating emerging A-Train measurements. Simulations by the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) and Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) models agree quite well with the satellite-based estimates of annual and latitudeintegrated fluxes, with larger model-satellite differences in latitudinal variations of fluxes

Development and Validation of the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale-2

The two studies presented describe the revision process that led to the development of the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale–2 (APOS-2) and efforts to evaluate the new measure’s reliability and construct validity. In Study 1, a 26-item measure was developed from data gathered from a sample of 484 undergraduate students. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a four-factor solution made up of awareness of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism was appropriate. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis suggested the proposed hierarchical four-factor solution was the best available fit of the data using a second sample of 520 undergraduate students. The observed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates for the final 26-item total score and subscale scores in the two presented studies were as follows: Total score (.89, .88), Awareness of Heterosexism (.82, .82), Awareness of Sexism (.76, .76), Awareness of Classism (.81, .82), and Awareness of Racism (.84, .80)

High (but Not Low) Urinary Iodine Excretion Is Predicted by Iodine Excretion Levels from Five Years Ago

Background: It has not been investigated whether there are associations between urinary iodine (UI) excretion measurements some years apart, nor whether such an association remains after adjustment for nutritional habits. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between iodine-creatinine ratio (ICR) at two measuring points 5 years apart. Methods: Data from 2,659 individuals from the Study of Health in Pomerania were analyzed. Analysis of covariance and Poisson regressions were used to associate baseline with follow-up ICR. Results: Baseline ICR was associated with follow-up ICR. Particularly, baseline ICR >300 mu g/g was related to an ICR >300 mu g/g at follow-up (relative risk, RR: 2.20; p < 0.001). The association was stronger in males (RR: 2.64; p < 0.001) than in females (RR: 1.64; p = 0.007). In contrast, baseline ICR <100 mu g/g was only associated with an ICR <100 mu g/g at follow-up in males when considering unadjusted ICR. Conclusions: We detected only a weak correlation with respect to low ICR. Studies assessing iodine status in a population should take into account that an individual with a low UI excretion in one measurement is not necessarily permanently iodine deficient. On the other hand, current high ICR could have been predicted by high ICR 5 years ago. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Quantifying the response of the ORAC aerosol optical depth retrieval for MSG SEVIRI to aerosol model assumptions

We test the response of the Oxford-RAL Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) retrieval algorithm for MSG SEVIRI to changes in the aerosol properties used in the dust aerosol model, using data from the Dust Outflow and Deposition to the Ocean (DODO) flight campaign in August 2006. We find that using the observed DODO free tropospheric aerosol size distribution and refractive index increases simulated top of the atmosphere radiance at 0.55 µm assuming a fixed erosol optical depth of 0.5 by 10–15 %, reaching a maximum difference at low solar zenith angles. We test the sensitivity of the retrieval to the vertical distribution f the aerosol and find that this is unimportant in determining simulated radiance at 0.55 µm. We also test the ability of the ORAC retrieval when used to produce the GlobAerosol dataset to correctly identify continental aerosol outflow from the African continent and we find that it poorly constrains aerosol speciation. We develop spatially and temporally resolved prior distributions of aerosols to inform the retrieval which incorporates five aerosol models: desert dust, maritime, biomass burning, urban and continental. We use a Saharan Dust Index and the GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model to describe dust and biomass burning aerosol outflow, and compare AOD using our speciation against the GlobAerosol retrieval during January and July 2006. We find AOD discrepancies of 0.2–1 over regions of intense biomass burning outflow, where AOD from our aerosol speciation and GlobAerosol speciation can differ by as much as 50 - 70 %

Orbital Observations of Dust Lofted by Daytime Convective Turbulence

Over the past several decades, orbital observations of lofted dust have revealed the importance of mineral aerosols as a climate forcing mechanism on both Earth and Mars. Increasingly detailed and diverse data sets have provided an ever-improving understanding of dust sources, transport pathways, and sinks on both planets, but the role of dust in modulating atmospheric processes is complex and not always well understood. We present a review of orbital observations of entrained dust on Earth and Mars, particularly that produced by the dust-laden structures produced by daytime convective turbulence called “dust devils”. On Earth, dust devils are thought to contribute only a small fraction of the atmospheric dust budget; accordingly, there are not yet any published accounts of their occurrence from orbit. In contrast, dust devils on Mars are thought to account for several tens of percent of the planet’s atmospheric dust budget; the literature regarding martian dust devils is quite rich. Because terrestrial dust devils may temporarily contribute significantly to local dust loading and lowered air quality, we suggest that martian dust devil studies may inform future studies of convectively-lofted dust on Earth