Book Arts Subscriptions

There’s nothing quite like opening your mailbox to find a hand-addressed envelope with some art enclosed. Over the almost thirty years I have been making books, I’ve noticed a number of artists who work in the book arts and who offer serial subscriptions of some kind. Even before crowdfunding and online sales sites, some artists made books or prints, usually smaller, more modest pieces, that sold in the manner of traditional mailed magazine subscriptions. Pay your money and receive a regular mailing of a piece of art—prints, ephemera, zines, or pamphlets. What does it take to create a successful subscription series? What advantages are there for an artist to produce one? And why should a subscriber sign up? I’ve been curious about this for some time, so I reached out to a handful of artists with current or past subscription series to find out. &nbsp

Opiate Drug Seeking and Addiction: The Influence of Sucrose Consumption on the Acquisition and Expression of Morphine-induced Conditioned Place Preferences (CPP)

Sucrose intake may lead to changes in brain and behavior similar to the effects of abused drugs. For example, sucrose may agonize endogenous opiate systems and modulate opiate-seeking behavior. Previous research reported equivocal outcomes where sucrose may either enhance (i.e., cross-sensitization) or attenuate (i.e., cross-tolerance) drug seeking as measured by morphine-induced CPP. The present experiment extends from past work and evaluated the impact of sucrose administered prior to place conditioning. Additionally, unique groups received sucrose prior to tests for CPP to measure sucrose influences on CPP expression. Sprague-Dawley rats (n=24) were assigned to sucrose (15% w/v) or water pre-exposure conditions. Subsequently, subjects received morphine place conditioning where morphine (10mg/kg) was administered on the initially non-preferred side of the apparatus. Three post-tests were conducted and, prior to each test, animals within each pre-exposure group (sucrose or water) received either sucrose or water. Factorial ANOVA was used to analyze data. Results showed robust morphine-induced CPP. Although animals in the sucrose pre-exposure condition displayed enhanced CPP, the outcomes were not statistically significant. The present findings support the value of CPP techniques to measure opiate drug-seeking behavior. Future work may discover the sufficient conditions for detecting sucrose cross-sensitization of morphine CPP

Get Cookin’: Investigating the Effects of a Six-week Cooking Intervention on Cooking and Dietary Behaviors among Low-income Families

Background and Purpose: Healthy eating practices have been associated with prevention of chronic diseases. There is limited information about strategies for healthy eating practices among families. The current study examined the effectiveness of Get Cookin’, a six-week intervention consisting of nutrition education and hands-on cooking and tasting activities among low-income families. Methods: Lowincome adults participated in Get Cookin’, a six-week intervention consisting of nutrition education and hands-on cooking activities. Ninety-six participants completed a retrospective survey which examined their meal planning, budgeting and cooking behaviors, as well as fruit and vegetable consumption. Thirteen graduates of the program participated in focus groups. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to examine pre-to-post changes. Results: Participants showed significant improvements in meal planning and budgeting skills. They started cooking meals at home more frequently and increased consumption and variety of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Focus groups revealed that participants shared cooking and nutrition information and skills learned with their families. Additionally, participants with diverse backgrounds gained a sense of empowerment to overcome personal challenges to make healthy choices. Conclusions: Nutrition education, combined with cooking and tasting activities, appears to have a positive impact on healthy behaviors among low-income families. Further research with a control group would be needed to more definitively understand the effectiveness of the Get Cookin’ intervention

Teachers’ Perceptions Indicate Success for Harvest of the Month Nutrition Education Program

The objective of this study was to examine teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, classroom practices and perceptions of students’ nutrition-related behaviors. The study involved 419 K-6th grade teachers participating in the Harvest of the Month (HOTM) program in fifty low-income schools from 19 school districts in the Sierra Cascade region of northern California. The independent variables were the teachers’ implementation level of the HOTM program and encouragement level of vegetable and fruit consumption. The dependent variables were teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about their ability to provide nutrition education, classroom practices and their perceptions of students’ nutrition-related behaviors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple ordinal logistic regression models. The analysis accounted for number of years teaching, county location of school, and grade. Implementation level of the HOTM program was significantly related to teachers’ perception of student nutrition-related behaviors. Additionally, teachers’ perceptions of improvements in their students’ behaviors were positively associated the level of encouragement they report to give their students to consume fruits and vegetables. Therefore, levels of both HOTM program implementation and fruit and vegetable consumption encouragement were associated with positive outcomes. Study results support the effectiveness of the HOTM program and identify a need for teacher trainings to increase the levels of nutrition education and encouragement for students to make healthier food choices

Discrepancies Among Student School Lunch Preferences, Menu Options, and Consumption Patterns in a Low-Income Northern California High-School

USDA Nutrient Standard Menu Planning option, one of two National School Lunch Program options for school meal planning, has no requirements for fruit/vegetable servings and enables foodservice to serve nutrient-poor foods while remaining compliant with nutrition requirements. The objective of this research was to compare student reported preferences, meals offered, and meals selected over nine days. A preference survey was administered to 151 ninth grade students attending a low-income northern California high school. School lunch observations were conducted daily for an average of 418 to 584 students by trained researchers. Observation data demonstrated that 66% of students chose no servings of fruit or vegetables over the nine day period. In addition, 37% consistently selected the same one or two meals out of the 32 meals offered daily over a five day period. There was a discrepancy between reported meal preferences and observed meal selections. While 10% selected pizza as their most preferred entrée, pizza comprised almost 30% of all daily entrée sales. This discrepancy is possibly due to the increased availability of pizza and/or limited availability of the more preferred entrees that either contain or are served with a fruit/vegetable. Findings indicate that a significant proportion of students may complete high school without ever selecting a serving of fruit or vegetables. A considerable gap between available food items and student preferences resulted in nutrient-poor food selection practices among 9th graders

A non-land policy for global sustainable land use?

What are new ways and future options for the international governance of sustainable land use? Effective policies towards more sustainable land use should not only deal with land and soil. These policies need to address various drivers and different contexts in an integrated manner

Causal Inference Considerations for Endocrine Disruptor Research in Children's Health

Substantial population exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, combined with available biomarkers and public concern, has resulted in an explosion of human health effects research. At the same time, remarkable shifts in the regulations governing the composition of some consumer products that contain endocrine disruptors (EDs) has occurred. However, important questions remain as to the weight of evidence linking EDs to human health end points. In this review, we critically examine the literature linking ED exposures to child neurodevelopment, focusing in particular on two model exposures to demonstrate issues related to bioaccumulative [e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)] and rapidly metabolized (e.g., phthalates) compounds, respectively. Issues of study design, confounding, and exposure measurement are considered. Given widespread exposure to these compounds, the potential public health consequences of even small effects on human health are substantial. Therefore, advancing our understanding of any impact calls for careful attention to the principles of causal inference

Prenatal exposure to environmental phenols and childhood fat mass in the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Study

Early life exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals may alter adipogenesis and energy balance leading to changes in obesity risk. Several studies have evaluated the association of prenatal bisphenol A exposure with childhood body size but only one study of male infants has examined other environmental phenols. Therefore, we assessed associations between prenatal exposure to environmental phenols and fat mass in a prospective birth cohort. We quantified four phenol biomarkers in third trimester maternal spot urine samples in a cohort of women enrolled in New York City between 1998 and 2002 and evaluated fat mass in their children using a Tanita scale between ages 4 and 9 years (173 children with 351 total observations). We estimated associations of standard deviation differences in natural log creatinine-standardized phenol biomarker concentrations with percent fat mass using linear mixed effects regression models. We did not observe associations of bisphenol A or triclosan with childhood percent fat mass. In unadjusted models, maternal urinary concentrations of 2,5-dichlorophenol were associated with greater percent fat mass and benzophenone-3 was associated with lower percent fat mass among children. After adjustment, phenol biomarkers were not associated with percent fat mass. However, the association between benzophenone-3 and percent fat mass was modified by child’s sex: benzophenone-3 concentrations were inversely associated with percent fat mass in girls (beta = −1.51, 95% CI = −3.06, 0.01) but not boys (beta = −0.20, 95% CI = −1.69, 1.26). Although we did not observe strong evidence that prenatal environmental phenols exposures influence the development of childhood adiposity, the potential antiadipogenic effect of benzophenone-3 in girls may warrant further investigation

Emerging exposures of developmental toxicants

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to identify emerging developmental toxicants that are understudied in children's health. Exposures may arise from new products designed to improve utility, to reduce toxicity, or to replace undesirable chemicals. Exposures to less-toxic chemicals may also be significant if they are very commonly used, thereby generating widespread exposure. Sources of exposure include the workplace, personal, home, and office products; food, water, and air. RECENT FINDINGS: We describe eight exposure categories that contain numerous potential developmental toxicants. References are discussed if reported in PubMed during the past decade at least 10 times more frequently than in 1990-2000. Examples included phthalates, phenols, sunscreens, pesticides, halogenated flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl coatings, nanoparticles, e-cigarettes, and dietary polyphenols. Replacements are often close structural homologs of their precursors. We suggest biomonitoring as preferred means of exposure assessment to emerging chemicals. Some existing analytic methods would require minimal modification to measure these exposures, but others require toxicokinetic and analytic investigation. SUMMARY: A deliberate strategy for biomonitoring of emerging replacement chemicals is warranted, especially in view of concerns regarding developmental toxicity. To prevent adverse health effects, it is important to characterize such exposures before they become widely disseminated