Enactments of a Minor Inquiry

In this article, we map conditions and enactments for a new plane of inquiry, what Mazzei named a minor inquiry. Informed by our collective thinking with Deleuze and Guattari’s discussion of a minor literature and its attendant characteristics, deterritorialization, political immediacy, and collective assemblage of enunciation, we present the conditions for inquiry on this new plane, provide enactments from our individual projects, and conclude with incitements for escaping the dogma of prescribed method

Understanding the role of infant and toddler nutrition on population health : epidemiological resources in Australasia

The importance of understanding the relationship between weaning and toddler nutrition, which in turn impacts on health in later life, is highlighted. Emphasis is placed on the need for epidemiological research in Australasia for population-specific information on early life diet and health.Rebecca K Golley, Lisa G Smithers, Karen Campbell, and John Lync

The changing temporal association between caesarean birth and neonatal death in Ethiopia : Secondary analysis of nationally representative surveys

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessing whether early attention of very preterm infants can be improved by an omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid intervention: a follow-up of a randomised controlled tria

Introduction Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) accumulates in the frontal lobes (responsible for higher-order cognitive skills) of the fetal brain during the last trimester of pregnancy. Infants born preterm miss some of this in utero provision of DHA, and have an increased risk of suboptimal neurodevelopment. It is thought that supplementing infants born preterm with DHA may improve developmental outcomes. The aim of this follow-up is to determine whether DHA supplementation in infants born preterm can improve areas of the brain associated with frontal lobe function, namely attention and distractibility. Methods and analysis We will assess a subset of children from the N-3 (omega-3) Fatty Acids for Improvement in Respiratory Outcomes (N3RO) multicentre double-blind randomised controlled trial of DHA supplementation. Infants born <29 weeks’ completed gestation were randomised to receive an enteral emulsion containing 60 mg/kg/day of DHA or a control emulsion from within the first 3 days of enteral feeding until 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age. Children will undergo multiple measures of attention at 18 months’ corrected age. The primary outcome is the average time to be distracted when attention is focused on a toy. Secondary outcomes are other aspects of attention, and (where possible) an assessment of cognition, language and motor development with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. A minimum of 72 children will be assessed to ensure 85% power to detect an effect on the primary outcome. Families, and research personnel are blinded to group assignment. All analyses will be conducted according to the intentionto-treat principal. Ethics and dissemination All procedures were approved by the relevant institutional ethics committees prior to commencement of the study. Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journal publications and academic presentations. Trial registration number ACTRN12612000503820; Preresults

A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of early life non-cognitive skills on academic, psychosocial, cognitive and health outcomes

Success in school and the labour market relies on more than high intelligence. Associations between "non-cognitive" skills in childhood, such as attention, self-regulation, and perseverance, and later outcomes have been widely investigated. In a systematic review of this literature, we screened 9553 publications, reviewed 554 eligible publications, and interpreted results from 222 better quality publications. Better quality publications comprised randomised experimental and quasi-experimental studies (EQIs), and observational studies that made reasonable attempts to control confounding. For academic achievement outcomes there were 26 EQI publications but only 14 were available for meta-analysis with effects ranging from 0.16 to 0.37SD. However, within sub-domains effects were heterogeneous. The 95% prediction interval for literacy was consistent with negative, null and positive effects (-0.13 to 0.79). Similarly heterogeneous findings were observed for psychosocial, cognitive and language, and health outcomes. Funnel plots of EQIs and observational studies showed asymmetric distributions and potential for small study bias. There is some evidence that non-cognitive skills associate with improved outcomes. However, there is potential for small study and publication bias that may over-estimate true effects, and heterogeneity of effect estimates spanned negative, null and positive effects. The quality of evidence from EQIs under-pinning this field is lower than optimal and more than a third of observational studies made little or no attempt to control confounding. Interventions designed to develop children's non-cognitive skills could potentially improve outcomes. The inter-disciplinary researchers interested in these skills should take a more strategic and rigorous approach to determine which interventions are most effective.Lisa G. Smithers, Alyssa C.P. Sawyer, Catherine R. Chittleborough, Neil M. Davies, George Davey Smith and John W. Lync

Do dietary trajectories between infancy and toddlerhood influence IQ in childhood and adolescence? Results from a prospective birth cohort study

Extent: 9 p.OBJECTIVE: We examined whether trajectories of dietary patterns from 6 to 24 months of age are associated with intelligence quotient (IQ) in childhood and adolescence. METHODS: Participants were children enrolled in a prospective UK birth cohort (n = 7652) who had IQ measured at age 8 and/or 15 years. Dietary patterns were previously extracted from questionnaires when children were aged 6, 15 and 24 months using principal component analysis. Dietary trajectories were generated by combining scores on similar dietary patterns across each age, using multilevel mixed models. Associations between dietary trajectories and IQ were examined in generalized linear models with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: Four dietary pattern trajectories were constructed from 6 to 24 months of age and were named according to foods that made the strongest contribution to trajectory scores; Healthy (characterised by breastfeeding at 6 months, raw fruit and vegetables, cheese and herbs at 15 and 24 months); Discretionary (biscuits, chocolate, crisps at all ages), Traditional (meat, cooked vegetables and puddings at all ages) and, Ready-to-eat (use of ready-prepared baby foods at 6 and 15 months, biscuits, bread and breakfast cereals at 24 months). In fully-adjusted models, a 1 SD change in the Healthy trajectory was weakly associated with higher IQ at age 8 (1.07 (95%CI 0.17, 1.97)) but not 15 years (0.49 (20.28, 1.26)). Associations between the Discretionary and Traditional trajectories with IQ at 8 and 15 years were as follows; Discretionary; 8 years 20.35(21.03, 0.33), 15 years 20.73(21.33, 20.14) Traditional; 8 years 20.19(20.71, 0.33)15 years 20.41(20.77, 20.04)). The Ready-to-eat trajectory had no association with IQ at either age (8 years 0.32(24.31, 4.95), 15 years 1.11(23.10, 5.33). CONCLUSIONS: The Discretionary and Traditional dietary pattern trajectories from 6 to 24 months of age, over the period when food patterns begin to emerge, are weakly associated with IQ in adolescence.Lisa G. Smithers, Rebecca K. Golley, Murthy N. Mittinty, Laima Brazionis, Kate Northstone, Pauline Emmett and John W. Lync

Comparison of the sensitivity of the UKCAT and A levels to sociodemographic characteristics: a national study

Background: The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) was introduced to facilitate widening participation in medical and dental education in the UK by providing universities with a continuous variable to aid selection; one that might be less sensitive to the sociodemographic background of candidates compared to traditional measures of educational attainment. Initial research suggested that males, candidates from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and those who attended independent or grammar schools performed better on the test. The introduction of the A* grade at A level permits more detailed analysis of the relationship between UKCAT scores, secondary educational attainment and sociodemographic variables. Thus, our aim was to further assess whether the UKCAT is likely to add incremental value over A level (predicted or actual) attainment in the selection process. Methods: Data relating to UKCAT and A level performance from 8,180 candidates applying to medicine in 2009 who had complete information relating to six key sociodemographic variables were analysed. A series of regression analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the ability of sociodemographic status to predict performance on two outcome measures: A level ‘best of three’ tariff score; and the UKCAT scores. Results: In this sample A level attainment was independently and positively predicted by four sociodemographic variables (independent/grammar schooling, White ethnicity, age and professional social class background). These variables also independently and positively predicted UKCAT scores. There was a suggestion that UKCAT scores were less sensitive to educational background compared to A level attainment. In contrast to A level attainment, UKCAT score was independently and positively predicted by having English as a first language and male sex. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with a previous report; most of the sociodemographic factors that predict A level attainment also predict UKCAT performance. However, compared to A levels, males and those speaking English as a first language perform better on UKCAT. Our findings suggest that UKCAT scores may be more influenced by sex and less sensitive to school type compared to A levels. These factors must be considered by institutions utilising the UKCAT as a component of the medical and dental school selection process

A preference based measure of complementary feeding quality: Application to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

This paper presents the development of the Complementary Feeding Utility Index (CFUI), a composite index aimed to measure adherence to infant feeding guidelines. Through an axiomatic characterization this paper shows the advantages in using the CFUI are the following: it avoids the use of arbitrary cut-offs, and by converting observed diet preferences into utilities, summing the score is meaningful. In addition, as the CFUI is designed to be scored continuously, it allows the transition from intake of beneficial foods (in low quantities) and intake of detrimental foods (in high quantities) to be more subtle. The paper first describes the rationale being the development of the CFUI and then elaborates on the methodology used to develop the CFUI, including the process of selecting the components. The methodology is applied to data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to show the advantages of the CFUI over traditional diet index approaches. Unlike traditional approaches, the distribution of the CFUI does not peak towards mean value but distributes evenly towards the tails of the distribution.Murthy N. Mittinty, Rebecca K. Golley, Lisa G. Smithers, Laima Brazionis, John W. Lync