844 research outputs found
Understanding nutrition students' knowledge, perceived barriers and their views on the future role of nutritionists regarding sustainable diets
Nutrition professionals are important stakeholders in sustainable food systems with skills to promote the connection between health, food production, environment, culture and economics. Higher education institutions are increasingly recognising the importance of teaching about sustainability, yet there exists a gap in the literature detailing the awareness of sustainability issues by nutrition students. This study aimed to ascertain the level of knowledge of sustainable diets (SDs), the perceived barriers to their adoption in their own diets, students' experience of universityâbased teaching about SDs and their views on the future role of the nutrition profession in relation to SD amongst nutrition students on Association for Nutrition (AfN)âaccredited degrees. The study assessed environmental and sustainable food literacy (SFL) through an online questionnaire and explored the issues in more detail in virtual or faceâtoâface interviews in 2019. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics (KruskalâWallis, JonckheereâTerpstra, independent tâtest, Spearman, Pearson Correlations). Qualitative data were analysed using the Braun and Clark (2006) sixâstep approach to thematic analysis. The questionnaire responses (n=â51) represented 17 AfNâaccredited undergraduate courses (35% of AfNâaccredited universities in 2019). The majority (76%) of students had received an introduction, partaken in a module or received teaching on SDs throughout their whole degree. Students were predominantly environmentally literate, yet had a fragmented understanding of SDs, focusing on the environmental aspects of SDs. There was no correlation between SFL and reported sustainability content of university courses, highlighting a need for more effective teaching on sustainability topics. Additionally, no relationship between selfâreported diet intake and SFL was found. Students identified a lack of knowledge and education as barriers preventing them from adopting sustainable practices in the present and future. To integrate sustainability into their future practice more consistently and effectively, nutrition students require more structured, holistic sustainability education and knowledge
Family composition and age at menarche: findings from the international Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study
This research was funded by The University of St Andrews and NHS Health Scotland.Background Early menarche has been associated with father absence, stepfather presence and adverse health consequences in later life. This article assesses the association of different family compositions with the age at menarche. Pathways are explored which may explain any association between family characteristics and pubertal timing. Methods Cross-sectional, international data on the age at menarche, family structure and covariates (age, psychosomatic complaints, media consumption, physical activity) were collected from the 2009â2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. The sample focuses on 15-year old girls comprising 36,175 individuals across 40 countries in Europe and North America (Nâ=â21,075 for age at menarche). The study examined the association of different family characteristics with age at menarche. Regression and path analyses were applied incorporating multilevel techniques to adjust for the nested nature of data within countries. Results Living with mother (Cohenâs dâ=â.12), father (dâ=â.08), brothers (dâ=â.04) and sisters (dâ=â.06) are independently associated with later age at menarche. Living in a foster home (dâ=ââ.16), with âsomeone elseâ (dâ=ââ.11), stepmother (dâ=ââ.10) or stepfather (dâ=ââ.06) was associated with earlier menarche. Path models show that up to 89% of these effects can be explained through lifestyle and psychological variables. Conclusions Earlier menarche is reported amongst those with living conditions other than a family consisting of two biological parents. This can partly be explained by girlsâ higher Body Mass Index in these families which is a biological determinant of early menarche. Lower physical activity and elevated psychosomatic complaints were also more often found in girls in these family environments.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Vortices in (2+1)d Conformal Fluids
We study isolated, stationary, axially symmetric vortex solutions in
(2+1)-dimensional viscous conformal fluids. The equations describing them can
be brought to the form of three coupled first order ODEs for the radial and
rotational velocities and the temperature. They have a rich space of solutions
characterized by the radial energy and angular momentum fluxes. We do a
detailed study of the phases in the one-parameter family of solutions with no
energy flux. This parameter is the product of the asymptotic vorticity and
temperature. When it is large, the radial fluid velocity reaches the speed of
light at a finite inner radius. When it is below a critical value, the velocity
is everywhere bounded, but at the origin there is a discontinuity. We comment
on turbulence, potential gravity duals, non-viscous limits and non-relativistic
limits.Comment: 39 pages, 10 eps figures, v2: Minor changes, refs, preprint numbe
Selecting control genes for RT-QPCR using public microarray data
Background: Gene expression analysis has emerged as a major biological research area, with real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-QPCR) being one of the most accurate and widely used techniques for expression profiling of selected genes. In order to obtain results that are comparable across assays, a stable normalization strategy is required. In general, the normalization of PCR measurements between different samples uses one to several control genes (e. g. housekeeping genes), from which a baseline reference level is constructed. Thus, the choice of the control genes is of utmost importance, yet there is not a generally accepted standard technique for screening a large number of candidates and identifying the best ones.
Results: We propose a novel approach for scoring and ranking candidate genes for their suitability as control genes. Our approach relies on publicly available microarray data and allows the combination of multiple data sets originating from different platforms and/or representing different pathologies. The use of microarray data allows the screening of tens of thousands of genes, producing very comprehensive lists of candidates. We also provide two lists of candidate control genes: one which is breast cancer-specific and one with more general applicability. Two genes from the breast cancer list which had not been previously used as control genes are identified and validated by RT-QPCR. Open source R functions are available at http://www.isrec.isb-sib.ch/similar to vpopovic/research/
Conclusion: We proposed a new method for identifying candidate control genes for RT-QPCR which was able to rank thousands of genes according to some predefined suitability criteria and we applied it to the case of breast cancer. We also empirically showed that translating the results from microarray to PCR platform was achievable
Symbolic Logic meets Machine Learning: A Brief Survey in Infinite Domains
The tension between deduction and induction is perhaps the most fundamental
issue in areas such as philosophy, cognition and artificial intelligence (AI).
The deduction camp concerns itself with questions about the expressiveness of
formal languages for capturing knowledge about the world, together with proof
systems for reasoning from such knowledge bases. The learning camp attempts to
generalize from examples about partial descriptions about the world. In AI,
historically, these camps have loosely divided the development of the field,
but advances in cross-over areas such as statistical relational learning,
neuro-symbolic systems, and high-level control have illustrated that the
dichotomy is not very constructive, and perhaps even ill-formed. In this
article, we survey work that provides further evidence for the connections
between logic and learning. Our narrative is structured in terms of three
strands: logic versus learning, machine learning for logic, and logic for
machine learning, but naturally, there is considerable overlap. We place an
emphasis on the following "sore" point: there is a common misconception that
logic is for discrete properties, whereas probability theory and machine
learning, more generally, is for continuous properties. We report on results
that challenge this view on the limitations of logic, and expose the role that
logic can play for learning in infinite domains
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