INCORPORATING SUBSISTENCE INTO A PROBIT ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD NUTRITION LEVELS

Previous nutrient demand and consumption analyses show that several economic and sociodemographic variables are often associated with intakes. However, most of the literature does not account for differences among individuals within households. This study reviewed possible definitions of nutrient differences with respect to nutritional needs. Nutrient levels defined by the Thrifty Food Plan were used as subsistence levels for households in the 1977-78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. Probit analysis showed that the usual variables found related to nutrient intakes did not differentiate among subsistence groups. Household life cycle and working female heads influenced whether the household was under its requirement level.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Vision Problems In Ecuador: Developing A Clinical Trial to Test Visual Acuity In Rural Populations

In many developing countries, access to medical care and screenings are difficult, and this is especially true for countries with large rural populations, such as Ecuador. There are many groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that contribute time and money to educational systems and other basic infrastructure, but not necessarily medical screenings. In the case of eyesight, without proper screening an individual may fall behind academically or even withdraw from education simply because they cannot see. The simple addition of corrective lenses could be the difference between a life of poverty, and a life of wellbeing for many of these individuals. Visual acuity is a good indicator of eye health, and can be used to quickly screen large populations and identify those with vision problems. Working with Dr. Kass we have developed a program that uses an “open door” method to determine visual acuity. The acuity results from this program can be compared to results from a standard Landolt C eye chart to determine if the program accurately predicts visual acuity. Ecuador is an excellent country to use as a trial for this program, and successful implementation can lead the way for implementation in other countries

Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy: Assessment Tool Development and an Evaluation of a College-Based Curriculum

Students’ mental health issues are a common concern on college campuses and are often addressed via prevention programming called mental health literacy. This dissertation consists of two studies regarding mental health literacy programming for college students at a western university in the United States. In study one, the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool (MHAA-AT) was created and evaluated for its utility in assessing college students’ mental health literacy. This assessment tool is unique in that it is built upon a process-based approach to mental health literacy. The assessment tool demonstrated adequate psychometric properties and it was deemed an appropriate tool to assess college students’ mental health literacy, specifically their declarative knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors. In study two the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy (MHAA) curriculum was created and evaluated in a college student population. The MHAA curriculum is unique in that is taught in-person or online in a degree seeking program at a college or university. Results from study two suggest that the MHAA curriculum was effective in increasing college students’ mental health literacy scores, specifically their declarative knowledge and self-efficacy. The benefit of this two-study dissertation is that it provides a unique way to deliver and evaluate effective mental health literacy prevention programming on a larger scale via a degree-seeking program to college students

Acute Effects of Static Stretching on Passive Stiffness of the Hamstrings in Healthy Young and Older Women

Static stretching is often performed prior to exercise to increase range of motion (ROM) and reduce passive stiffness of the muscle-tendon unit. A decrease in passive stiffness after stretching is believed to reduce the risk of injury and improve athletic performance. Previous research has demonstrated that an acute bout of static stretching was effective at decreasing passive stiffness in older men. However, to our knowledge, no previous research has examined the acute effects of static stretching on passive stiffness in older women, nor have there been any studies that have compared these effects with a younger female population. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effects of static stretching on passive stiffness of the hamstrings in healthy young and older women. METHODS: Fifteen young (23 ± 4 years) and 15 older (73 ± 5 years) healthy women underwent two passive knee extension assessments before (Pre) and after (Post) two randomized conditions that included a control treatment (quiet resting for two min) and an experimental treatment of static stretching. During the passive knee extension, participants were seated in an upright position with restraining straps placed over the shoulders and right thigh. Each knee extension assessment was administered using a calibrated isokinetic dynamometer programmed in passive mode to extend the leg at 5°∙s-1. All passive knee extensions were performed on the right leg to the point of discomfort but not pain as indicated by the participant, which was regarded as the maximum ROM. Once maximum ROM was reached, the leg was then immediately returned to the baseline position, which was a knee joint angle of 80° below full extension. Passive stiffness (Nm·º-1) was calculated during each knee extension assessment as the final slope of the tangent to the angle-torque curve. For the experimental treatment, four 15-s static stretches were completed in the same manner as the passive knee extension assessments; however, when maximum ROM was reached, the leg was held at this position for 15 s. Each 15-s stretch was separated by 15 s of rest. RESULTS: Passive stiffness (collapsed across group) was lower (P = 0.007) at Post (0.63 ± 0.18 Nm·º-1) compared to Pre (0.72 ± 0.18 Nm·º-1) for the stretching treatment. There was no significant difference (P \u3e 0.999) in passive stiffness between the Pre (0.72 ± 0.18 Nm·º-1) and Post (0.74 ± 0.28 Nm·º-1) time points for the control. The stretch-induced decrease in passive stiffness from Pre to Post was significantly greater (P = 0.049) for the old (-17%) compared to the younger (-5%) women. CONCLUSION: These findings showed that passive stiffness in young and older women decreased after four 15-s static stretches. The greater stretch-induced decrease in passive stiffness observed for the older women suggests that an acute bout of static stretching may be particularly beneficial for alleviating muscle tightness in the elderly. As a result, it may be advantageous for older adults to incorporate static stretching into their warm-up routine prior to exercise, as this may be used to reduce passive stiffness, which could help improve performance and reduce the risk of injury in this population

Quaternion algebras with the same subfields

G. Prasad and A. Rapinchuk asked if two quaternion division F -algebras that have the same subfields are necessarily isomorphic. The answer is known to be "no" for some very large fields. We prove that the answer is "yes" if F is an extension of a global field K so that F /K is unirational and has zero unramified Brauer group. We also prove a similar result for Pfister forms and give an application to tractable fields

Ractopamine HCl improved cardiac hypertrophy but not poor growth, metabolic inefficiency, or greater white blood cells associated with heat stress in concentrate-fed lambs

Heat stress decreases livestock performance and well-being (Hahn, 1999; Nienaber and Hahn, 2007), causes metabolic dysfunction that decreases growth efficiency (O’Brien et al., 2010), and alters cardiovascular function (Crandall et al., 2008). Each year, heat stress costs the livestock industry up to $2.5 billion (St-Pierre et al., 2003). Ractopamine HCl acts as a nutrient repartitioning agent (Beermann, 2002); classified as a β adrenergic agonist (βAA), it shares pharmacological properties with adrenaline (Beermann, 2002). βAA increase muscle mass and decreases fat deposition through unknown mechanisms (Beermann, 2002). In feedlot cattle, they increase growth efficiency and improve carcass yield and merit (Scramlin et al., 2010; Buntyn et al., 2017), which increases profit and allows more meat to be produced from fewer animals. However, because βAA act via a stress system, it is unclear how the products affect animals under stress conditions. β1AA and β2AA can also cause tachycardia, heart palpitations, and arrhythmias (Sears, 2002). We hypothesize that β1AA combined with heat stress may overstimulate the adrenergic system, resulting is metabolic dysfunction and decreased performance. Sheep are a common model for cattle, and thus, the objective of this study was to determine the impact of ractopamine HCl on health and cardiovascular parameters, growth, and metabolic efficiency in feeder lambs

Effects of Practical Durations of Stretching on Hamstrings Range of Motion and Strength

ABSTRACT Stretching is often performed prior to exercise with the intent to improve range of motion (ROM) and athletic performance. However, stretching-induced strength loss has been extensively reported and is believed to be influenced by several factors, including the time under stretch. The majority of previous studies showing stretching-induced strength declines have used stretching routines for durations (8-30 min) considerably longer than those commonly applied in the field. Fewer studies have examined the effects of shorter, more practical durations (≤2 min) of stretching on ROM and muscle strength. PURPOSE: To examine the acute effects of practical stretching durations on hamstrings ROM and muscle strength. METHODS: Eighteen young, healthy females (age = 21±2 years) volunteered for this investigation.Participants visited the laboratory 5 times, separated by 2-7 days at approximately the same time of day (±2 hours). The first visit was a familiarization trial, and the next 4 visits were experimental trials in a randomized order: ((a) control condition and stretching treatment conditions for (b) 30 s, (c) 1 min, and (d) 2 min). For each experimental trial, participants completed 2 passive straight-leg raises (SLRs) and isometric maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) before and after the treatment condition using an isokinetic dynamometer. The control condition consisted of quiet resting for 5 min. For the SLR assessments, the dynamometer lever arm passively moved the right leg toward the head at 5°·s-1 until the maximal tolerable torque threshold was achieved, which was regarded as the maximum ROM, at which point the leg was immediately returned to the baseline position. For each MVC, participants laid supine and were instructed to extend the right thigh “as hard and fast as possible” for 3-4 s. Isometric MVC peak torque (PT) was determined as the highest mean 500 ms epoch during the entire 3-4 s MVC plateau. The stretching treatments were performed in the same fashion as the SLR assessments; however, when the maximal tolerable torque threshold was reached, it was sustained for 30 s and then released for 20 s. Each stretch was repeated until the specific time under stretch was completed for each condition. RESULTS: ROM increased from pre- to post-stretching for the 30 s(100±21° to 108±22°; P \u3c 0.001), 1 min (100±23º to 109±19º; P \u3c 0.001), and 2 min (103±22º to 113±22º; P \u3c0.001) conditions but not for the control condition (101± 25º to 102± 25º; P = 0.389). PT decreased from pre- to post-stretching for all conditions (collapsed across condition: 231±54Nm to 224±54Nm; P = 0.038). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated that the stretching durations of 30 s, 1 min, and 2 min resulted in significant increases (8-10%) in ROM. The similar decreases (1-4%) in PT between conditions indicated that these stretching durations for the hamstrings did not alter muscle strength when compared to the control condition. Because stretching routines for long durations of ≥8 min have been shown to elicit significant reductions (\u3e10%) in muscle strength, it may be advantageous for practitioners who are using pre-exercise stretches as a warm-up, to perform them on their athletes for shorter durations similar to those used in the present study (≤2 min)

Measuring Mental Health Literacy: Development of the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool

Background: Mental health literacy programs are a common community-based approach used to address the prevention of mental health issues on college campuses. Current assessment strategies used to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs often lack strong theoretical rational and psychometric rigor. Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold. First, based upon extant literature, theory, and standard clinical practice, we propose a process-based model of mental health literacy that includes three macro factors—identifying mental health issues, locating empirically based resources, and responding to mental health issues—and three micro processes of how they unfold—acquiring knowledge, building self-efficacy, and applying skills (behavior). The second aim was to test the psychometric properties of a new tool created to evaluate this process-based model—the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool (MHAA-AT). Setting: Not applicable. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: A national sample of 296 college attending participants were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants responded to a demographic questionnaire and the newly developed MHAA-AT. Psychometric properties were examined through item response theory, exploratory factor analyses, and bivariate correlations. Findings: Results suggest the MHAA-AT is a sound measure and demonstrates appropriate item, person, and trait characteristics on declarative knowledge items, and single factor structures on self-efficacy and behavior items with moderate to high reliability and validity. While additional testing is need among other samples, results suggest that the MHAA-AT is a quality assessment tool. Keywords: College students; mental health literacy; item response theory; measuremen

Reliability and Relationships between Rectus Femoris Muscle Size and Hip Flexion Maximal and Explosive Strength

Ultrasound assessments of muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) are commonly used to evaluate muscle size in young adults. It has been hypothesized that the CSA of the rectus femoris (RF) may be an important contributor to hip flexion maximal and explosive strength capacities. However, limited data exist regarding the reliability of RF CSA and how it relates to maximal and explosive strength of the hip flexors in young adults. PURPOSE: To examine the reliability of RF CSA and its relationships with hip flexion isometric maximal and explosive strength. METHODS: Nineteen young, healthy females (age = 21±2 years; mass = 61±7 kg; height = 163±6 cm) volunteered for this study. Participants visited the laboratory 2 times, separated by 2-7 days at approximately the same time of day (±2 hours). During each visit, participants underwent 2 diagnostic ultrasound assessments followed by 2 isometric maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) of the hip flexors using an isokinetic dynamometer. CSA (cm2) of the RF was measured on the right leg using a portable B-mode ultrasound imaging device and linear-array probe. For each ultrasound assessment, participants laid supine with the knee resting comfortably in extension near the natural resting position of 10°. All ultrasound images were taken in the transverse plane using a panoramic ultrasound imaging technique, which consisted of the investigator moving the probe manually at a slow and continuous rate along the surface of the skin from the lateral to medial sides of the muscle. For each MVC, participants laid supine and were instructed to flex the right thigh “as hard and fast as possible” for 3-4 s. Isometric MVC peak torque (PT; Nm) was determined as the highest mean 500 ms epoch during the entire 3-4 s MVC plateau. Rate of torque development (RTD; Nm·s-1) was determined from the linear slope of the torque-time curve over the time interval of 0-200 ms. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement expressed as a percentage of the mean (SEM%) were calculated across visits to assess reliability for RF CSA and hip flexion PT and RTD. The relationships between these variables were determined by Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (r). RESULTS: Mean±SD values (averaged across both visits) were 9.38±1.69 cm2, 136.58±23.88 Nm, and 772.86±170.91 Nm·s-1, ICCs were 0.95, 0.90, and 0.82, and SEM% values were 5.85, 5.68, and 10.03% for the CSA, PT, and RTD data, respectively. Significant positive relationships were observed between CSA and PT (r = 0.605, P = 0.006) and RTD (r = 0.462, P = 0.046). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated that CSA, PT, and RTD may be reliable measures for assessing RF muscle size and maximal and explosive strength capacities of the hip flexors in young, healthy adults. The significant relationships observed between CSA and PT and RTD perhaps suggest that the size of the RF may play an important role in hip flexion maximal and explosive strength. As a result, practitioners may consider implementing training programs aimed at increasing the size of the RF in younger adults which may be beneficial for improving the maximal and explosive strength capacities of the hip flexors

Computational algebraic methods in efficient estimation

A strong link between information geometry and algebraic statistics is made by investigating statistical manifolds which are algebraic varieties. In particular it it shown how first and second order efficient estimators can be constructed, such as bias corrected Maximum Likelihood and more general estimators, and for which the estimating equations are purely algebraic. In addition it is shown how Gr\"obner basis technology, which is at the heart of algebraic statistics, can be used to reduce the degrees of the terms in the estimating equations. This points the way to the feasible use, to find the estimators, of special methods for solving polynomial equations, such as homotopy continuation methods. Simple examples are given showing both equations and computations. *** The proof of Theorem 2 was corrected by the latest version. Some minor errors were also corrected.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure