High dose multiple micronutrient supplementation improves villous morphology in environmental enteropathy without HIV enteropathy: results from a double-blind randomised placebo controlled trial in Zambian adults

PMCID: PMC3897937This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

Sex, Power, and Women: Female Viewers’ Perceptions of Popular Music Video Themes

Research has linked viewing highly sexual music videos with increased gender role acceptance, and concern over personal physical appearance. However, very few studies have assessed individual differences in how music video sexual content is perceived, and no studies to date have addressed non-objectifying sexual content. In the present study, fifteen college women were exposed to 21 pop music videos and asked to categorize each video on the basis of whether it depicted women a) as sex objects, b) using sex as a source of power, or c) non-sexually. At least one video achieved perfect consensus amongst the participants for each category of sexual content, indicating that not all highly sexual portrayals of women are seen as objectifying by college women. However, the participants did not categorize the remaining videos in a uniform manner, indicating that there are considerable individual differences in the perception of music video sexual content

Neural Correlates of Complex Tone Processing and Hemispheric Asymmetry

In an effort to further explore the role of the right hemisphere in auditory processing, this study utilized brain event-related potentials (ERPs) and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) in order to localize electrical brain activity of complex tone processing. Participants engaged in a diotic pitch discrimination task while ERP components were recorded from 28 electrodes on the scalp. ERPs were analyzed via individual/group average area measurements and were submitted to sLORETA for neural source localization. Results showed stronger right vs. left hemisphere activation to complex tone processing that was localized to regions of the auditory cortex. Findings support the notion that auditory cortical regions in the right hemisphere may be involved in music processing. Moreover, these findings indicate that source localization methods may be a good approach to study the complex nature of brain electrical activity during cognitive processing.Faculty Sponsor: Ralf Greenwald, Ph.D

A Randomized, Sham-Controlled, Quintuple-Blinded Trial to Evaluate the Net Device as an alternative to Medication For Promoting Opioid abstinence

BACKGROUND: There is an unmet need for non-medication approaches to illicit opioid discontinuation and relapse prevention. The NET (NeuroElectric Therapy) Device is a non-invasive, battery-operated, portable, re-useable device designed to deliver bilateral transcranial transcutaneous alternating current electrical stimulation, and is intended to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) without medication. The device is a CE-marked Class IIa, non-significant risk, investigational medical device. OBJECTIVE: This prospective trial (NRC021) tests the hypothesis that the NET Device provides safe and effective neurostimulation treatment for persons with OUD who express a desire to be opioid abstinent without medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). METHODS: NRC021 is a randomized, parallel-group, sham-controlled, quintuple-blinded, single-site study. Persons with OUD entering a residential treatment facility for opioid detoxification are assigned to active or sham treatment (n = 50/group). Group assignment is stratified on presence of any current non-opioid substance use disorder and by sex. The biostatistician maintains the blinding so that the study sponsor, principal investigator, research assistants, treatment staff, and participants remain blinded. Following discharge from the inpatient facility, participants are assessed once weekly over 12 weeks for substance use (using timeline followback interview and video assessment of observed oral fluid sample provision and testing). The primary efficacy endpoint is each participant\u27s overall percentage of weekly abstinence from illicit opioid use without use of MOUD. The secondary efficacy endpoint is each participant\u27s percentage of non-opioid drug-free weeks. Safety outcomes are also measured. CONCLUSION: NRC021 is designed to assess the efficacy of a novel non-medication treatment for OUD. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT04916600

A Preliminary Study of Trunk Kinematics during Walking in Normal Subjects

The purpose of this study was to systematically describe the three-dimensional trunk kinematics in normal subjects, to establish a baseline for comparison to future research in gait analysis and aid in the identification of pathological gait. Seventeen volunteers between the ages of twenty and fifty, who met criteria for normal subjects, participated in this study. Trunk kinematic data were collected using an optoelectronic technique. An ensemble average of trunk kinematic data in each of the cardinal planes was plotted in degrees of motion versus percentage of gait cycle. A distinct pattern of trunk kinematics during gait was found in this study. Trunk motion relative to the pelvis was of greater magnitude than motion relative to the lab in the frontal and transverse planes. Inter-subject variability ranged from 37% to 644%, with the greatest amount of variability occurring in measurements of trunk movement relative to the lab in all three planes. Stride to stride variability within subjects ranged from 28% to 182%, with the greatest amount of intra-subject variability in trunk movements relative to the pelvis

People in different age groups show different hip-joint morphology

It has been suggested that the distribution of the subchondral bone density may be regarded as the expression of the long-term effective stress in a joint, and previous results indicate the regularity of the distribution of subchondral bone density as a function of the passing demands made upon a joint. Computed tomography-osteoabsorptiometry has been developed to visualize the area distribution of subchondral mineralization in the major joints in vivo. The purpose of this study was to display the distribution of subchondral bone density in the acetabular cup of patients of different ages. Computer tomography data files of hip joints of 27 patients (18–89 years) were used. Density ranges, image analysis, and area presentation of the distribution of subchondral mineralization are presented. The maximal subchondral mineralization in young persons is found both in the ventral and dorsal part of the acetabular roof. In older people, however, the densest areas are most often found at the zenith of the acetabulum. These morphological results could be well explained by the experimental results of other authors who found a joint incongruity in young persons with contact areas in the ventral and dorsal part of the acetabulum. With advancing age a decrease in incongruence is found, leading to an increased stress in the dome, i.e. in the area where degenerative changes are often found