How effective are family-based and institutional nutrition interventions in improving children's diet and health? A systematic review

Background: Effective strategies to improve dietary intake in young children are a priority to reduce the high prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases in adulthood. This study aimed to assess the impact of family-based and school/preschool nutrition programs on the health of children aged 12 or younger, including the sustainability of these impacts and the relevance to socio-economic inequalities. Methods: A systematic review of literature published from 1980 to December 2014 was undertaken. Randomised controlled trials involving families with children aged up to 12 years in high income countries were included. The primary outcomes were dietary intake and health status. Results were presented in a narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneity of the interventions and outcomes. Results: The systematic search and assessment identified 39 eligible studies. 82% of these studies were set in school/preschools. Only one school study assessed the impact of involving parents systematically. The family-based programs which provided simple positive dietary advice to parents and regular follow-up reduced fat intake significantly. School and family-based studies, if designed and implemented well, increased F& V intake, particularly fruit. Effective school-based programs have incorporated role-models including peers, teachers and heroic figures, rewards and increased access to healthy foods. School nutrition programs in disadvantaged communities were as effective as programs in other communities. Conclusions: Family and school nutrition programs can improve dietary intake, however evidence of the long-term sustainability of these impacts is limited. The modest overall impact of even these successful programs suggest complementary nutrition interventions are needed to build a supportive environment for healthy eating generally

Health outcomes of a subsidised fruit and vegetable program for Aboriginal children in northern New South Wales

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a fruit and vegetable subsidy program on short-term health outcomes of disadvantaged Aboriginal children.Design, setting and participants: A before-and-after study involving clinical assessments, health record audits and blood testing of all children aged 0–17 years (n = 167) from 55 participating families at baseline and after 12 months at three Aboriginal community-controlled health services in New South Wales. All assessments were completed between December 2008 and September 2010.Intervention: A weekly box of subsidised fruit and vegetables linked to preventive health services and nutrition promotion at an Aboriginal Medical Service.Main outcome measures: Change in episodes of illness, health service and emergency department attendances, antibiotic prescriptions and anthropometry.Results: There was a significant decrease in oral antibiotics prescribed (− 0.5 prescriptions/year; 95% CI, − 0.8 to − 0.2) during 12 months of participation in the program compared with the 12 months before the program. The proportion of children classified as overweight or obese at baseline was 28.3% (38/134) and the proportion in each weight category did not change (P = 0.721) after 12 months. A small but significant increase in mean haemoglobin level (3.1 g/L; 95% CI, 1.4–4.8 g/L) was shown, although the proportion with iron deficiency (baseline, 41%; follow-up, 37%; P = 0.440) and anaemia (baseline, 8%; follow-up, 5%; P = 0.453) did not change significantly.Conclusion: This fruit and vegetable subsidy program was associated with improvements in some indicators of short-term health status among disadvantaged Aboriginal children. A controlled trial is warranted to investigate the sustainability and feasibility of healthy food subsidy programs in Australia

Risk of allergic reactions to wine, in milk, egg and fish-allergic patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>European legislators and wine producers still debate on the requirement for labeling of wines fined with potentially allergenic food proteins (casein, egg white or fish-derived isinglass). We investigated whether wines fined with known concentrations of these proteins have the potential to provoke clinical allergic reactions in relevant patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In-house wines were produced for the study, fined with different concentrations of casein (n = 7), egg albumin (n = 1) and isinglass (n = 3). ELISA and PCR kits specific for the respective proteins were used to identify the fining agents. Skin prick tests and basophil activation tests were performed in patients with confirmed IgE-mediated relevant food allergies (n = 24). A wine consumption questionnaire and detailed history on possible reactions to wine was obtained in a multinational cohort of milk, egg or fish allergic patients (n = 53) and patients allergic to irrelevant foods as controls (n = 13).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fining agents were not detectable in wines with the available laboratory methods. Nevertheless, positive skin prick test reactions and basophil activation to the relevant wines were observed in the majority of patients with allergy to milk, egg or fish, correlating with the concentration of the fining agent. Among patients consuming wine, reported reactions were few and mild and similar with the ones reported from the control group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Casein, isinglass or egg, remaining in traces in wine after fining, present a very low risk for the respective food allergic consumers. Physician and patient awareness campaigns may be more suitable than generalized labeling to address this issue, as the latter may have negative impact on both non-allergic and allergic consumers.</p

UV femtosecond laser cleaning of encrusted historical stained-glasses

Laser irradiation enables the removal of unwanted surface deposits from different materials in a safe and controllable manner. Laser parameters should be carefully selected to achieve the removal of the target contaminants without inducing damage to the substrate. Ultra-short pulse lasers have opened new opportunities for safe and controlled decontamination of cultural heritage materials because the thickness of material that is affected by the laser is limited. In this study, an ultraviolet femtosecond pulsed laser was used for the removal of unwanted encrustation formed on the surface of an historical colourless stained-glass sample from the Cuenca Cathedral in Spain. One of the sides of this glass exhibits a reddish-brown grisaille that also has to be preserved. A laser cleaning process has been designed to avoid heat accumulation while controlling the thickness of ablated material. In this context, a multi-step process was selected in order to be able to eliminate, in a controlled way, the crust layer without damaging the grisaille layer, or the glass substrate. In this case, laser irradiation in beam scanning mode with a pulse repetition frequency of 10 kHz proved to be effective for the safe cleaning of the glass. The latter was analysed before and after laser cleaning by optical and confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy, confirming that the crust layer was effectively eliminated without damaging the surface

How effective are family based and institutional nutrition interventions in improving children's diet and health? A systematic review

The objective of this systematic review was to document the potential for family-based and institutional nutrition programs to improve the nutrition and health of young children in high income countries. Another aim was to determine how sustainable the impacts of these nutrition programs are on children's nutrition and health. Finally, lower socio-economic status is associated with both higher risk of chronic non-communicable disease and lower uptake of health promoting behaviours, including healthy eating. Thus, the impact of these nutrition programs that may help to reduce this social inequality was also reviewed.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Environmental changes and violent conflict

This letter reviews the scientific literature on whether and how environmental changes affect the risk of violent conflict. The available evidence from qualitative case studies indicates that environmental stress can contribute to violent conflict in some specific cases. Results from quantitative large-N studies, however, strongly suggest that we should be careful in drawing general conclusions. Those large-N studies that we regard as the most sophisticated ones obtain results that are not robust to alternative model specifications and, thus, have been debated. This suggests that environmental changes may, under specific circumstances, increase the risk of violent conflict, but not necessarily in a systematic way and unconditionally. Hence there is, to date, no scientific consensus on the impact of environmental changes on violent conflict. This letter also highlights the most important challenges for further research on the subject. One of the key issues is that the effects of environmental changes on violent conflict are likely to be contingent on a set of economic and political conditions that determine adaptation capacity. In the authors' view, the most important indirect effects are likely to lead from environmental changes via economic performance and migration to violent conflict. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd

A subset of circulating blood mycobacteria-specific CD4 T cells can predict the time to Mycobacterium tuberculosis sputum culture conversion

We investigated 18 HIV-negative patients with MDR-TB for M. tuberculosis (Mtb)- and PPD-specific CD4 T cell responses and followed them over 6 months of drug therapy. Twelve of these patients were sputum culture (SC) positive and six patients were SC negative upon enrollment. Our aim was to identify a subset of mycobacteria-specific CD4 T cells that would predict time to culture conversion. The total frequency of mycobacteria-specific CD4 T cells at baseline could not distinguish patients showing positive or negative SC. However, a greater proportion of late-differentiated (LD) Mtb- and PPD-specific memory CD4 T cells was found in SC positive patients than in those who were SC negative (p = 0.004 and p = 0.0012, respectively). Similarly, a higher co-expression of HLA-DR + Ki67 + on Mtb- and PPD-specific CD4 T cells could also discriminate between sputum SC positive versus SC negative (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that baseline levels of Ki67 + HLA-DR + Mtb- and PPD-specific CD4 T cells were predictive of the time to sputum culture conversion, with area-under-the-curve of 0.8 (p = 0.027). Upon treatment, there was a significant decline of these Ki67 + HLA-DR + T cell populations in the first 2 months, with a progressive increase in mycobacteria-specific polyfunctional IFNγ + IL2 + TNFα + CD4 T cells over 6 months. Thus, a subset of activated and proliferating mycobacterial-specific CD4 T cells (Ki67 + HLA-DR + ) may provide a valuable marker in peripheral blood that predicts time to sputum culture conversion in TB patients at the start of treatment

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly-internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing: Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio