Development of the MEAL framework: A multiliteracies approach to engaging adolescents in nutrition education

Establishing and maintaining a healthy diet is integral in promoting optimal health, growth and development. Moreover, the food choices we make and dietary behaviours we adopt are a reflection of the multiple personal, interpersonal and environmental factors to which we are exposed. Consequently, changing food habits and dietary behaviour is complex and requires the implementation of multifaceted public health strategies. Comprehensive nutrition education provided to adolescents during their school years is one such approach. Adolescence is a period of rapid psychological and physiological changes. At a socioemotional level, there is a decreased level of dependence on parents and a greater influence from peers and the environment. As a consequence, adolescents tend to be exposed to a plethora of well-marketed and advertised unhealthy foods. These changes can lead to the development of unhealthy dietary behaviours. At a cognitive level, however, adolescence is also marked as a time when the brain is malleable and the ability to process information and reason accelerates. During this period, adolescents develop the capability of thinking in abstract terms and simultaneously consider different perspectives towards an idea. Therefore, this stage of life provides a unique opportunity for learning and skill development relating to food and nutrition. Further, delivering nutrition education within the school setting is one of the most effective environments to educate and promote healthy food habits and behaviours. The aim of this study was to develop a framework demonstrating the interaction between student engagement and effective pedagogy, and how these constructs can be utilised in an adolescent nutrition education context. This framework will enable teachers, curriculum writers and academics to develop food and nutrition lessons for year 7-8 students, which acknowledge student engagement and effective pedagogy as a key focal point. A generic qualitative research approach was employed and comprised of three sequential phases. The first phase involved an extensive literature review, establishment of a project reference group and qualitative protocol development. The second phase included a series of student focus groups and teacher interviews across six Western Australian non-government schools. Using thematic data analysis, focus group and interview transcripts were analysed which resulted in the development of ten key themes. These data analyses, coupled with literature review findings, informed phase three; the development of a framework that is relevant and practical to an Australian nutrition education context. This framework was then reviewed and refined by the project reference group and led to the finalised Multiliteracies approach, Engagement focused, Adolescent specific Lesson planning (MEAL) framework. The MEAL framework and its accompanying guidelines and resources provide a valuable addition to the adolescent nutrition education resources available to Australian teachers. It is anticipated the uptake and use of this framework, will provide teachers with the confidence in knowing their planned lessons have been guided by education and public health research. Moreover, through the implementation of the MEAL framework, teachers have the capacity to contribute towards a positive change in how nutrition education is planned and delivered in the schooling environment and contribute to the overall health outcomes of Australian adolescents

Tracking autonomic responses to moral decision-making interventions

Previous studies of morality have relied on self-report measures to track changes in morality. Tracking autonomic responses in congruence with self-report measures offer more reliable data. Self-reported deontological responses in past research have shown stronger autonomic responses compared to that of utilitarian answers. Moral decision-making may elicit a physical response and thus changes can be tracked through measurements of autonomic responses. Some current methods of measuring autonomic responses to various situations and decision-making are tracking galvanic skin response, heart activity, and eye activity. These can be used as measures of autonomic nervous system activity and be used to distinguish changes in moral reasoning elicited through moral development exercises

Effect of static hip flexor stretching on standing pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to see if an acute bout of static stretching of anterior hip muscles can affect a measurable change in sagittal pelvic and lumbar position during standing. RECRUITMENT: Flyers requesting participants will be posted throughout the PE building. In addition, the PI students will invite potential participants verbally during the beginning of randomly selected PEHR classes. METHODS: Eligible participants will complete the informed consent and a brief survey to quantify their habitual stretching habits. They will perform five-minutes of moderate cycling on a stationary bike as a general warm-up. Reflective markers will be placed on the skin or clothing of the right side of the participant using double-sided adhesive tape (posterior and anterior superior iliac spines, greater trochanter of the femur, and four along the spinous processes of several lumbar and thoracic vertebra). Pelvic and lumbar position will be assessed while the participant is in a standing, actively-aligned body position with their arms overhead. The participant will be asked to ‘stand as straight and tall as possible’. A photograph of the standing position before and after the acute stretching condition will be used to record the position. From the photographs, coordinate locations of the reflective markers will be measured using the software IC Measure. The experimental intervention will involve participants stretching in a kneeling lunge position, commonly used to stretch the anterior hip musculature. They will perform 3 sets of 30sec stretches on each leg to their personal level of stretching discomfort. ANALYSIS: Pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis angles before and after the stretching intervention will be compared using paired t-tests. RESULTS: There is a significant difference (t=.002, pM angle with a reduction of the angle indicative of increasing posterior pelvic tilt. The PTC and LUMM angle was not statistically significant, the results, however, are practically significant

Sequence verification of synthetic DNA by assembly of sequencing reads

This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Oxford University Press and can be found at: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/Gene synthesis attempts to assemble user-defined DNA sequences with base-level precision. Verifying the sequences of construction intermediates and the final product of a gene synthesis project is a critical part of the workflow, yet one that has received the least attention. Sequence validation is equally important for other kinds of curated clone collections. Ensuring that the physical sequence of a clone matches its published sequence is a common quality control step performed at least once over the course of a research project. GenoREAD is a web-based application that breaks the sequence verification process into two steps: the assembly of sequencing reads and the alignment of the resulting contig with a reference sequence. GenoREAD can determine if a clone matches its reference sequence. Its sophisticated reporting features help identify and troubleshoot problems that arise during the sequence verification process. GenoREAD has been experimentally validated on thousands of gene-sized constructs from an ORFeome project, and on longer sequences including whole plasmids and synthetic chromosomes. Comparing GenoREAD results with those from manual analysis of the sequencing data demonstrates that GenoREAD tends to be conservative in its diagnostic. GenoREAD is available at www.genoread.org

Exploring How We Teach: Lived Experiences, Lessons, and Research about Graduate Instructors by Graduate Instructors

This book combines the knowledge of 30 graduate student instructors sharing about how they teach and how they’ve learned how to teach

Levothyroxine in Women with Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies before Conception

BackgroundThyroid peroxidase antibodies are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage and preterm birth, even when thyroid function is normal. Small trials indicate that the use of levothyroxine could reduce the incidence of such adverse outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to investigate whether levothyroxine treatment would increase live-birth rates among euthyroid women who had thyroid peroxidase antibodies and a history of miscarriage or infertility. A total of 19,585 women from 49 hospitals in the United Kingdom underwent testing for thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroid function. We randomly assigned 952 women to receive either 50 μg once daily of levothyroxine (476 women) or placebo (476 women) before conception through the end of pregnancy. The primary outcome was live birth after at least 34 weeks of gestation.ResultsThe follow-up rate for the primary outcome was 98.7% (940 of 952 women). A total of 266 of 470 women in the levothyroxine group (56.6%) and 274 of 470 women in the placebo group (58.3%) became pregnant. The live-birth rate was 37.4% (176 of 470 women) in the levothyroxine group and 37.9% (178 of 470 women) in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.14, P=0.74; absolute difference, −0.4 percentage points; 95% CI, −6.6 to 5.8). There were no significant between-group differences in other pregnancy outcomes, including pregnancy loss or preterm birth, or in neonatal outcomes. Serious adverse events occurred in 5.9% of women in the levothyroxine group and 3.8% in the placebo group (P=0.14).ConclusionsThe use of levothyroxine in euthyroid women with thyroid peroxidase antibodies did not result in a higher rate of live births than placebo. (Funded by the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research; TABLET Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN15948785.

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy