Who\u27s not dieting in America and who should be? Results from the 1994-1996 Diet and Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS 1994-1996)

The rising rates of obesity and overweight are contributing to higher costs for the individual and the nation, both medically and financially. There is a greater need for education and other preventive measures, but in order to tailor such programs effectively to the individuals most in need, it is important to examine the current trends, knowledge, and practices of adults in the United States. Previous research has examined the prevalence rates and practices of specific populations and individuals in limited geographical locations but, due to obvious constraints, few nationally representative samples have been examined. This study analyzed the results of the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey 1994-1996 (DHKS 1994-1996) in the context of dieting and nutritional knowledge and practices of adults in the United States. Factor analyses were conducted on the dietary knowledge and practices portion of the survey for data reduction. To examine the effects of various demographic variables on dietary knowledge and practices, the resulting subscales and various demographic variables were subjected to multivariate analyses. This study also employed logistic regression analyses to examine who is currently dieting and the likelihood of a health professional as the source of the diet. The factor analyses resulted in an interview with 50 key questions and 12 factors related to the consequences of poor nutrition, dietary beliefs, dietary practices, and dietary knowledge. Results indicated that dieters were most likely to be females and individuals with higher income, higher BMI level, and higher education. Among dieters, individuals with a medical condition were more likely to report a health professional as the source of their diet. Dieters also tended to report healthier dietary practices than non-dieters. Additional main effects and interactions are discussed further

Do overweight inactive parents raise overweight inactive children? Examination of the influence of the home environment on weight status of children over time

The primary aim of this study was to test whether body mass index (BMI), psychosocial, and behavioral parental variables were associated with similar variables in children at baseline, and whether these variables also served as significant predictors of overweight status in children after two years. While there have been several cross-sectional studies examining the impact of parental behaviors and characteristics on similar variables in children, and several longitudinal studies predicting weight status, BMI percentile, and risk factors of disease in children over time, there is a paucity of research that has identified (cross-sectionally) and then tested (longitudinally) significant parental variables as predictors of weight status in children over time. The current study sought to expand this literature. It was hypothesized that parental variables such as weight, activity level, social support, and eating habits would be associated with BMI percentile, eating attitudes, food selection, energy consumption, and activity level of their children at baseline. These parental and environmental variables were then tested as predictors of the children’s weight status after two years. Cross-sectional results provided partial support for the hypotheses, whereby less active caregivers with higher BMI’s, less social support, and unhealthy dietary habits were associated with heavier children who consumed more calories, reported lower self-esteem, fewer dieting attitudes and behaviors, had a higher preoccupation with food, and consumed more calories from fat. However, the significant cross-sectional parental correlates at baseline were not significant predictors of weight status in children after two years. In order to design more effective environmental interventions, future studies should primarily utilize longitudinal data from all family members to gain further insight into significant relationships between family members’ weight, activity, and health status over time

Effectiveness of Advanced Stay Strong, Stay Healthy in community settings

"July 2014."Thesis supervisor: Dr. Stephen D. Ball.Introduction. The Advanced Stay Strong, Stay Healthy (ASSSH) program was developed in 2009 by a team of MU Extension Specialists to meet the increasing need for a follow-up program to the Stay Strong, Stay Healthy (SSSH) program. The goal of the program is to build on the fitness base acquired from SSSH by adding new and more complex exercises. The neuromuscular system quickly adapts to stressors and loads and must be constantly challenged for gains in strength, flexibility and balance to continue. Thus, it is necessary to alter the exercise routine regularly. Advanced SSSH is designed to challenge older adults in new and different ways to help staleness and plateaus, and to improve activities of daily living (ADL's). Loss of muscular strength, flexibility, and balance are strong predictors of falls in the elderly. Purpose. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the MU Extension program Advanced Stay Strong, Stay Healthy. It was hypothesized that the program can improve physical parameters of health including strength, balance, and flexibility which indicate the risk of falling among seniors. Methods. Twenty eight older adults volunteered to participate in this study. Matched pairs t-tests were used to compare differences in measures of the physical indicators of strength, flexibility, and balance. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine exercise adherence and age effects on the increments in measures of the physical indicators of strength from pre to post. Dual X-Ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans were conducted before and after the 10-week exercise intervention to identify changes in body composition (lean mass and fat mass) and changes in percent body fat (%BF). Results. Twenty three subjects (21 female, 2 male; 50-76 y) successfully completed the 10 week training protocol and were included in the analysis. Following a 10-week structured strength program, participants significantly improved strength, flexibility, and balance (p<0.05). Results from the DXA scans indicated improvements in body weight and whole body composition ratio displayed by a decrease in body fat (g) and an increase in lean body mass (g), however, no significant differences were observed. Subjects showed a significant decrease in %BF following 10 weeks of programming. No significant changes in bone mineral content (BMC) or bone mass density (BMD) were observed. Conclusion. The community-based MU Extension program ASSSH can significantly improve muscular strength, flexibility, balance and, ultimately, reduce risk factors of falling among seniors. Although subjects showed statistically significant improvement in strength, flexibility and balance measures, 10 weeks appeared to be too short to achieve significant changes in BMC, BMD and changes in lean body mass and fat mass. Nevertheless, the positive trends observed in body composition and BMD suggest that analysis of a longer intervention period to elicit observable changes in bone turnover (i.e. 12 months or greater) is warranted.Includes bibliographical references

Transfer Effects in Auditory Temporal Preparation Occur Using an Unfilled but not Filled Foreperiod

How quickly participants respond to a “go” after a “warning” signal is partly determined by the time between the two signals (the foreperiod) and the distribution of foreperiods. According to Multiple Trace Theory of Temporal Preparation (MTP), participants use memory traces of previous foreperiods to prepare for the upcoming go signal. If the processes underlying temporal preparation reflect general encoding and memory principles, transfer effects (the carryover effect of a previous block’s distribution of foreperiods to the current block) should be observed regardless of the sensory modality in which signals are presented. Despite convincing evidence for transfer effects in the visual domain, only weak evidence for transfer effects has been documented in the auditory domain. Three experiments were conducted to examine whether such differences in results are due to the modality of the stimulus or other procedural factors. In each experiment, two groups of participants were exposed to different foreperiod distributions in the acquisition phase and to the same foreperiod distribution in the transfer phase. Experiment 1 used a choice-reaction time (RT) task, and the warning signal remained on until the go signal, but there was no evidence for transfer effects. Experiments 2 and 3 used a simple- and choice-RT task, respectively, and there was silence between the warning and go signals. Both experiments revealed evidence for transfer effects, which suggests that transfer effects are most evident when there is no auditory stimulation between the warning and go signals

In-task auditory performance-related feedback promotes cardiovascular markers of a challenge state during a pressurized task

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordBackground and Objectives: Individuals evaluate the demands and resources associated with a pressurized situation, which leads to distinct patterns of cardiovascular responses. While it is accepted that cognitive evaluations are updated throughout a pressurized situation, to date, cardiovascular markers have only been recorded immediately before, or averaged across, these situations. Thus, this study examined the influence of in-task performance-related feedback on cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat to explore fluctuations in these markers.Methods and Design: Forty participants completed a pressurized visual search task while cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat were recorded. During the task, participants received either positive or negative feedback via distinct auditory tones to induce a challenge or threat state. Following task completion, cardiovascular markers were recorded during a recovery phase.Results: Participants' cardiovascular responses changed across the experimental protocol. Specifically, while participants displayed a cardiovascular response more reflective of a challenge state following in-task performance-related feedback, participants exhibited a response more akin to a threat state later during the recovery phase.Conclusions: In-task auditory performance-related feedback promoted cardiovascular markers of a challenge state. These markers fluctuated over the experiment, suggesting that they, and presumably underlying demand and resource evaluations, are relatively dynamic in nature.Experimental Psychology Societ

Time and Space Use of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Purpose: This study analyzed the time and space use of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in order to better understand the occupational patterns of this population. Methods: Time and space use data were collected through observation of 15 adults with ID during 4-hour periods on typical weekdays and weekend days. Data were coded into 12 time and 10 space use descriptive categories. Results: The participants used a greater variety of locations during weekdays that contributed to greater amounts of weekday time spent in a wider variety of activity categories. In contrast, the participants spent a majority of the observed weekend day time in the group home with less activity variety. Although the participants in this study lived in group homes and participated in day habilitation programs or supported employment, a majority of their midday time use occurred in passive activity categories in a minimum variety of locations. These results may be due to the types of activities offered by structured day habilitation programs and group homes. Conclusion: Occupational therapists may be key players to enhance the environments of people with ID by providing direct service and staff training to facilitate more diversity of active use of time and space for adults with ID

New approaches to the analysis of eye movement behaviour across expertise while viewing brain MRIs

Abstract Brain tumour detection and diagnosis requires clinicians to inspect and analyse brain magnetic resonance images. Eye-tracking is commonly used to examine observers’ gaze behaviour during such medical image interpretation tasks, but analysis of eye movement sequences is limited. We therefore used ScanMatch, a novel technique that compares saccadic eye movement sequences, to examine the effect of expertise and diagnosis on the similarity of scanning patterns. Diagnostic accuracy was also recorded. Thirty-five participants were classified as Novices, Medics and Experts based on their level of expertise. Participants completed two brain tumour detection tasks. The first was a whole-brain task, which consisted of 60 consecutively presented slices from one patient; the second was an independent-slice detection task, which consisted of 32 independent slices from five different patients. Experts displayed the highest accuracy and sensitivity followed by Medics and then Novices in the independent-slice task. Experts showed the highest level of scanning pattern similarity, with medics engaging in the least similar scanning patterns, for both the whole-brain and independent-slice task. In the independent-slice task, scanning patterns were the least similar for false negatives across all expertise levels and most similar for experts when they responded correctly. These results demonstrate the value of using ScanMatch in the medical image perception literature. Future research adopting this tool could, for example, identify cases that yield low scanning similarity and so provide insight into why diagnostic errors occur and ultimately help in training radiologists