Life course body mass index and risk of knee osteoarthritis at the age of 53 years: evidence from the 1946 British birth cohort study

Introduction: The authors examined how body mass index (BMI) across life is linked to the risk of midlife knee osteoarthritis (OA), testing whether prolonged exposure to high BMI or high BMI at a particular period has the greatest influence on the risk of knee OA. Methods: A population-based British birth cohort of 3035 men and women underwent clinical examination for knee OA at age 53 years.Heights and weights were measured 10 times from 2 to 53 years. Analyses were stratified by gender and adjusted for occupation and activity levels. Results: The prevalence of knee OA was higher in women than in men (12.9% (n=194) vs 7.4% (n=108)). In men, the association between BMI and later knee OA was evident at 20 years (p=0.038) and remained until 53 years (OR per z-score 1.38 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.71)). In women, there was evidence for an association at 15 years (p=0.003); at 53 years, the OR was 1.89 (95% CI 1.59 to 2.24) per z-score increase in BMI. Changes in BMI from childhood in women and from adolescence in men were also positively associated with knee OA. A structured modelling approach to disentange the way in which BMI is linked to knee OA suggested that prolonged exposure to high BMI throughout adulthood carried the highest risk and that there was no additional risk conferred from adolescence once adult BMI had been accounted for. Conclusion: This study suggests that the risk of knee OA accumulates from exposure to a high BMI through adulthood. <br/

Understanding Faculty Use of the Learning Management System

The learning management system (LMS) has become a critical tool for nearly all institutions of higher education, and a driving force in online learning. According to a 2014 report by the Educause Center for Analysis and Research, 99% of higher education institutions have an LMS in place, and the LMS is used by 85% of faculty and 83% of students. This was not always the case, however. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when using an LMS was considered highly innovative. Understanding the growth and adoption of the LMS is a stepping stone to understanding how faculty may choose to adopt other technological and pedagogical innovations. This study was conducted at a large, research-intensive public university in the Midwest, which has used the same LMS for 15 years. From a small pilot, adoption has grown to nearly universal use. This study used system logs and database queries to examine how faculty used the LMS. The results identified the features that were used most frequently and how usage had changed over time. In addition, the study compared the usage data for face-to-face and online courses to determine if there are differences in LMS use due to course modality. Based on this, it is possible to better understand the role the LMS plays in higher education and online learning, to inform development of next generation learning systems or other innovative technologies

LiveWell in Early Childhood: Results from a Two-year Pilot Intervention to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, Systems and Environments among Early Childhood Education Programs in South Carolina

Background Early childhood education (ECE) settings are critical intervention targets for obesity prevention. This study evaluated a pilot two-year community-based participatory research (CBPR) project designed to assist ECE center directors and caregivers in policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change for improving healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PA). Methods A two-year CBPR study was conducted in 10 licensed ECE centers in Greenville, South Carolina. The intervention consisted of five steps: [1] baseline data collection and self-assessment using the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go-NAP SACC), [2] tailored goal setting and action planning, [3] technical assistance and access to resources, [4] post intervention data collection and re-assessment, and [5] celebration of success. Main outcome measures (HE and PA environments, practices and policies) were assessed using the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool at baseline and 24 months. One classroom of 3–5-year-olds was randomly selected for observation from each center (mean of 12 children per classroom). Means and standard deviations were calculated for total PA, total nutrition and each subscale of PA and nutrition. Paired sample t-tests were calculated to assess changes in EPAO scales from baseline to post intervention. Results Ten ECE centers enrolled in the pilot study and eight completed the two-year intervention. Center-based goals were accomplished across all 8 ECE centers over the two-year intervention: 16 child nutrition goals, 6 outdoor play goals, 11 physical activity goals and 8 screen time goals across the entire sample. Nutrition policy and PA policy significantly improved (p \u3c 0.05), with greater improvements in PA (10.0 point increase, p = .048) as compared to nutrition (3.3 point increase, p = 0.02). Conclusions Utilizing a CBPR approach, this two-year nutrition and PA PSE intervention in ECE centers improved ECE center HE and PA policies

Fragment merging using a graph database samples different catalogue space than similarity search

Fragment merging is a promising approach to progressing fragments directly to on-scale potency: each designed compound incorporates the structural motifs of overlapping fragments in a way that ensures compounds recapitulate multiple high-quality interactions. Searching commercial catalogues provides one useful way to quickly and cheaply identify such merges and circumvents the challenge of synthetic accessibility, provided they can be readily identified. Here, we demonstrate that the Fragment Network, a graph database that provides a novel way to explore the chemical space surrounding fragment hits, is well-suited to this challenge. We use an iteration of the database containing >120 million catalogue compounds to find fragment merges for four crystallographic screening campaigns and contrast the results with a traditional fingerprint-based similarity search. The two approaches identify complementary sets of merges that recapitulate the observed fragment–protein interactions but lie in different regions of chemical space. We further show our methodology is an effective route to achieving on-scale potency by retrospective analyses for two different targets; in analyses of public COVID Moonshot and Mycobacterium tuberculosis EthR inhibitors, potential inhibitors with micromolar IC50 values were identified. This work demonstrates the use of the Fragment Network to increase the yield of fragment merges beyond that of a classical catalogue search

Sera selected from national STI surveillance system shows Chlamydia trachomatis PgP3 antibody correlates with time since infection and number of previous infections

Pgp3 seropositivity by time since most recent chlamydia diagnosis on a) the indirect ELISA and b) the double-antigen ELISA (Denominator labelled on bar. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals).</p

Exploring the links between unhealthy eating behaviour and heavy alcohol use in the social, emotional and cultural lives of young adults (aged 18–25)::A qualitative research study

Alcohol use peaks in early adulthood and can contribute both directly and indirectly to unhealthy weight gain. This is the first qualitative study to explore the links between unhealthy eating behaviour and heavy alcohol use in the social, emotional and cultural lives of young adults. We conducted 45 in-depth interviews with 18–25-year-olds in North-East England to inform development of a dual-focused intervention to reduce health risk due to excess weight gain and alcohol use. Data were analysed thematically, following the principles of constant comparison, resulting in three intersecting themes: (1) how food and alcohol consumption currently link together for this population group; (2) influences upon linked eating and drinking behaviours and (3) young adults’ feelings and concerns about linked eating and drinking behaviours. Socio-cultural, physical and emotional links between food and alcohol consumption were an unquestioned norm among young adults. Eating patterns linked to alcohol use were not tied only to hunger, but also to sociability, traditions and identity. Young adults conceptualised and calculated risks to weight, appearance and social status, rather than to long-term health. This study is the first to evidence the deeply interconnected nature of food and alcohol consumption for many young adults. Findings have important implications for intervention development, UK public health policy and practice, and point to a need for similar research in other countries

Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests

The theory of metabolic ecology predicts specific relationships among tree stem diameter, biomass, height, growth and mortality. As demographic rates are important to estimates of carbon fluxes in forests, this theory might offer important insights into the global carbon budget, and deserves careful assessment. We assembled data from 10 old-growth tropical forests encompassing censuses of 367 ha and > 1.7 million trees to test the theory's predictions. We also developed a set of alternative predictions that retained some assumptions of metabolic ecology while also considering how availability of a key limiting resource, light, changes with tree size. Our results show that there are no universal scaling relationships of growth or mortality with size among trees in tropical forests. Observed patterns were consistent with our alternative model in the one site where we had the data necessary to evaluate it, and were inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology in all forests