Price, Nutrition, Time, and Other Trade-Offs: A Web-Based Food Value Analysis Application to Compare Foods at Different Levels of Preparation and Processing

Consumers choose to eat different forms of foods based on a wide variety of factors such as price, taste, nutrition, and convenience and, in doing so, make trade-offs among them. A Web-based application for use by nutrition educators was developed to help individuals compare foods prepared from home recipes with those for other forms of food (eg, frozen, canned, dry mix). Foods with a home-recipe form in US Department of Agriculture databases were selected to represent a range of commonly consumed entrées, baked goods, side dishes, fruits, vegetables, desserts, and beverages. Multiple US Department of Agriculture and commercial databases along with other public data sources were used to construct prices, nutrient values, food groups and components, preparation and cooking times, shelf life, and food safety concerns for foods in the database. Per-serving and per-100-g values were constructed for 100 individual foods with a home recipe and 1 or more other forms. The data are available in a Web-based application, located at http://www.foodvalueanalysis.org, allowing comparisons of individual foods or a daily diet constructed from foods in the database. Nutrition educators can use the application to advise individuals in selecting foods to consume to meet dietary guidelines while taking into consideration cost, preparation time, food preparation skills, and individual preferences. For example, the application can be used to evaluate differences in prices of fresh or processed foods, whether home recipe or processed foods are less costly when taking into consideration the value of preparation time, and the differences in nutrients across different forms of foods

Quantitative 18F-AV1451 Brain Tau PET Imaging in Cognitively Normal Older Adults, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease Patients

Recent developments of tau Positron Emission Tomography (PET) allows assessment of regional neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) deposition in human brain. Among the tau PET molecular probes, 18F-AV1451 is characterized by high selectivity for pathologic tau aggregates over amyloid plaques, limited non-specific binding in white and gray matter, and confined off-target binding. The objectives of the study are (1) to quantitatively characterize regional brain tau deposition measured by 18F-AV1451 PET in cognitively normal older adults (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD participants; (2) to evaluate the correlations between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers or Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 18F-AV1451 PET standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR); and (3) to evaluate the partial volume effects on 18F-AV1451 brain uptake.Methods: The study included total 115 participants (CN = 49, MCI = 58, and AD = 8) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Preprocessed 18F-AV1451 PET images, structural MRIs, and demographic and clinical assessments were downloaded from the ADNI database. A reblurred Van Cittertiteration method was used for voxelwise partial volume correction (PVC) on PET images. Structural MRIs were used for PET spatial normalization and region of interest (ROI) definition in standard space. The parametric images of 18F-AV1451 SUVR relative to cerebellum were calculated. The ROI SUVR measurements from PVC and non-PVC SUVR images were compared. The correlation between ROI 18F-AV1451 SUVR and the measurements of MMSE, CSF total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) were also assessed.Results:18F-AV1451 prominently specific binding was found in the amygdala, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampus, fusiform, posterior cingulate, temporal, parietal, and frontal brain regions. Most regional SUVRs showed significantly higher uptake of 18F-AV1451 in AD than MCI and CN participants. SUVRs of small regions like amygdala, entorhinal cortex and parahippocampus were statistically improved by PVC in all groups (p < 0.01). Although there was an increasing tendency of 18F-AV-1451 SUVRs in MCI group compared with CN group, no significant difference of 18F-AV1451 deposition was found between CN and MCI brains with or without PVC (p > 0.05). Declined MMSE score was observed with increasing 18F-AV1451 binding in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampus, and fusiform. CSF p-tau was positively correlated with 18F-AV1451 deposition. PVC improved the results of 18F-AV-1451 tau deposition and correlation studies in small brain regions.Conclusion: The typical deposition of 18F-AV1451 tau PET imaging in AD brain was found in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, fusiform and parahippocampus, and these regions were strongly associated with cognitive impairment and CSF biomarkers. Although more deposition was observed in MCI group, the 18F-AV-1451 PET imaging could not differentiate the MCI patients from CN population. More tau deposition related to decreased MMSE score and increased level of CSF p-tau, especially in ROIs of amygdala, entorhinal cortex and parahippocampus. PVC did improve the results of tau deposition and correlation studies in small brain regions and suggest to be routinely used in 18F-AV1451 tau PET quantification

Michał Żmuda - ‘Games at the Threshold: Paratexts and Storyworld Creation in Digital Games’

The paper explores how Gérard Genette's paratext theory can be applied to a study of authorial control over players' experience and interpretation of game narratives. The author proposes to look at paratexts as both analog and digital groups of practices that surround and extend a main game text. The article focuses on such narrative artifacts as analog story booklets, manuals, and other objects supplied in the game packages; and also on digital encyclopedias, notes, and journals embedded in the software itself. The author describes different modes of engagement with these paratexts. He notices that they not only provide information about the storyworlds but also allow the players to interact with them, intensifying the feeling of immersion. This is especially visible in cases, where the paratexts pretend to be objects from the game's diegesis. While all analyzed paratexts share a narrative function, their materiality influences how they carry it out. The analog objects are available to the users from the beginning, whereas the digital texts embedded in the interface gradually emerge during the gameplay. In some instances the paratexts are necessary for the comprehension of the storyworld, in other cases they exist as optional data – allowing the players to customize their narrative experience. As critical examination reveals, the paratexts have the potential to break the immersion effect, unraveling the media difference among the game and its supplementary texts. Following this finding, the author connects the paratextual theory with the notion of interface. He probes non-narrative elements in game interfaces and the effects they have on storyworld creation. The findings allow the author to recognize paratexts as not only "windows" into storyworlds, but also as devices that complicate the narrative process. They move between being transparent and mediating, diegetic and non-diegetic. The ambiguity of paratexts can contribute to a storyworld development, but can also make players aware of its artificiality

An underestimated technique. Does pressurized and pressure-assisted capillary electrochromatography have potential in drug and pharmacological-active compounds analysis?

Pharmaceutical analysis guarantees patient safety all over the world. Thus, continuous development of existing analytical techniques is still very important. Pressurized capillary electrochromatography and pressure-assisted capillary electrochromatography are hybrid separation techniques that combine the selectivity of liquid chromatography and the high separation efficiency of capillary electrophoresis. They use a smaller amount of reagents and samples, hence, reducing the total cost of analysis. Therefore they have found application in a number of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. This review article focuses on the use and importance of pressurized and pressure-assisted capillary electrochromatography in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, taking into account types of detectors and capillaries used. Despite the fact that pressurized capillary electrochromatography and pressure assisted capillary electrochromatography offer many possibilities and have been available for over a dozen years, they are still underdevelopment and not fully explored

Price, Nutrition, Time, and Other Trade-Offs: A Web-Based Food Value Analysis Application to Compare Foods at Different Levels of Preparation and Processing

Consumers choose to eat different forms of foods based on a wide variety of factors such as price, taste, nutrition, and convenience and, in doing so, make trade-offs among them. A Web-based application for use by nutrition educators was developed to help individuals compare foods prepared from home recipes with those for other forms of food (eg, frozen, canned, dry mix). Foods with a home-recipe form in US Department of Agriculture databases were selected to represent a range of commonly consumed entrées, baked goods, side dishes, fruits, vegetables, desserts, and beverages. Multiple US Department of Agriculture and commercial databases along with other public data sources were used to construct prices, nutrient values, food groups and components, preparation and cooking times, shelf life, and food safety concerns for foods in the database. Per-serving and per-100-g values were constructed for 100 individual foods with a home recipe and 1 or more other forms. The data are available in a Web-based application, located at http://www.foodvalueanalysis.org, allowing comparisons of individual foods or a daily diet constructed from foods in the database. Nutrition educators can use the application to advise individuals in selecting foods to consume to meet dietary guidelines while taking into consideration cost, preparation time, food preparation skills, and individual preferences. For example, the application can be used to evaluate differences in prices of fresh or processed foods, whether home recipe or processed foods are less costly when taking into consideration the value of preparation time, and the differences in nutrients across different forms of foods.This is an article from Nutrition Today 49 (2014): 176, doi: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000039.</p