A healthy school start - Parental support to promote healthy dietary habits and physical activity in children: Design and evaluation of a cluster-randomised intervention

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Childhood obesity is multi-factorial and determined to a large extent by dietary habits, physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Previous research has shown that school-based programmes are effective but that their effectiveness can be improved by including a parental component. At present, there is a lack of effective parental support programmes for improvement of diet and physical activity and prevention of obesity in children.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This paper describes the rationale and design of a parental support programme to promote healthy dietary habits and physical activity in six-year-old children starting school. The study is performed in close collaboration with the school health care and is designed as a cluster-randomised controlled trial with a mixed methods approach. In total, 14 pre-school classes are included from a municipality in Stockholm county where there is large variation in socio-economic status between the families. The school classes are randomised to intervention (n = 7) and control (n = 7) groups including a total of 242 children. The intervention is based on social cognitive theory and consists of three main components: 1) a health information brochure; 2) two motivational interviewing sessions with the parents; and 3) teacher-led classroom activities with the children. The primary outcomes are physical activity in the children measured objectively by accelerometry, children's dietary and physical activity habits measured with a parent-proxy questionnaire and parents' self-efficacy measured by a questionnaire. Secondary outcomes are height, weight and waist circumference in the children. The duration of the intervention is six months and includes baseline, post intervention and six months follow-up measurements. Linear and logistic regression models will be used to analyse differences between intervention and control groups in the outcome variables. Mediator and moderator analysis will be performed. Participants will be interviewed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The results from this study will show if it is possible to promote a healthy lifestyle and a normal weight development among children from low-income districts with relatively limited efforts involving parents. Hopefully the study will provide new insights to the further development of effective programmes to prevent overweight and obesity in children.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN32750699">ISRCTN32750699</a></p

Scenario-Driven Supply Chain Charaterization Using a Multi-Dimensional Approach

Extreme disruptive events, such as the volcano eruption in Iceland, the Japanese tsunami, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as constant changes in customers’ needs and expectations, have forced supply chains to continuously adapt to new environments. Consequently, it is paramount to understand the supply chain characteristics for possible future scenarios, in order to know how to respond to threats and take advantage of the opportunities that the next years will bring. This chapter focuses on describing the characteristics of the supply chain in each of the six macro-scenarios presented in Sardesai et al. (2020b), as final stage of the scenario building methodology. Supply chains for each scenario are characterized in eight dimensions: Products and Services, Supply Chain Paradigm, Sourcing and Distribution, Technology Level, Supply Chain Configuration, Manufacturing Systems, Sales Channel, and Sustainability

Enhanced intrinsic gain of PMOSFETs with a SiGe channel

Abstract PMOSFETs with a Si 0.

Active targeting of mesoporous silica drug carriers enhances γ-secretase inhibitor efficacy in an in vivo model for breast cancer

Aim: In this article, we use an alternative cancer model for the evaluation of nanotherapy, and assess the impact of surface functionalization and active targeting of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) on therapeutic efficacy in vivo. Materials &amp; methods: We used the chorioallantoic membrane xenograft assay to investigate the biodistribution and therapeutic efficacy of folate versus polyethyleneimine-functionalized ¿-secretase inhibitor-loaded MSNPs in breast and prostate tumor models. Results: ¿-secretase inhibitor-loaded MSNPs inhibited tumor growth in breast and prostate cancer xenografts. Folate conjugation improved the therapeutic outcome in folic acid receptor-positive breast cancer, but not in prostate cancer lacking the receptor. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that therapeutic efficacy is linked to cellular uptake of MSNPs as opposed to tumor accumulation, and show that MSNP-based delivery of ¿-secretase inhibitors is therapeutically effective in both breast and prostate cancer. In this article, we present a model system for a medium-to-high throughput, cost-effective, quantitative evaluation of nanoparticulate drug carriers. Original submitted 12 November 2012; Revised submitted 8 February 2013