Background and purpose: Studies in adults and children have demonstrated a strong correlation of skin carotenoids with fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake. There are few studies testing the usefulness of this methodology in a community setting. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) skin carotenoid intensity scores in young children to assess F/V intake.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to capture the RRS skin carotenoid intensity scores using the Pharmanex BioPhotonic Scanner. The RRS skin carotenoid intensity score ranges from 0 to 70,000+ with increasing scores indicating a higher carotenoid concentration. Children’s dietary intake of F/V was assessed within one-month period using a 26-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and multiple pass 24-hour dietary recalls (24HDRs) administered to the parent of the child. Participants were 51 Mexican-origin children (ages 3-8 years) living in two rural California school districts during July-August 2014. RRS skin carotenoid intensity scores; frequency of fruit and vegetable intake from FFQ; daily servings of fruit and vegetables and carotenoid intake from 24HDR. Spearman correlation was used to determine the correlation between RRS skin carotenoid intensity scores and average 24HDR F/V intake and FFQ F/V intake.
Results: The results of the study demonstrate a significant positive correlation between skin carotenoid levels and parent-reported 24HDR vegetable consumption (r =.41, p =.003) but not with 24HDR fruit, FFQ fruit, or FFQ vegetable consumption.
Conclusion: The use of skin carotenoid measurements may be more indicative of short-term vegetable consumption than overall fruit and vegetable or fruit-only consumption in this population of Mexican-origin children.
Background and objectives: The association between arthritis and falls has been study mainly in older adults, and information about fall-related injuries and arthritis in younger population is scarce. In addition, there is a gap of knowledge about the activities and types of injury associated with falls among people with arthritis in different age groups. The aims of the study were: 1) to explore the association between arthritis and fall-related injury among different age groups, and 2) to compare the main activity associated with fall-related injury and the type of injury resulted from falls between age groups in people with arthritis.
Methods: This study used aggregated data from the Canadian Community Health Survey for the years 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009/2010 and 2013/2014.
Results: People with arthritis were significantly more likely to report fall-related injuries than people without arthritis across all age groups. Younger people (12-19 years) were over six times more likely to fall when practicing sports, whereas all adults were more likely to slip/trip/stumble while walking. As a result of the falls, older adults (65 and over) were more likely to have broken bones and other kind of injuries (i.e., bruises, cuts, etc.), while all younger age groups reported more strains/sprains.
Conclusion: Fall-related injury is a concern across all age groups in people with arthritis, and not only among older adults. In addition, the activities performed when the fall occurred and the type of injuries resulted from the falls were different between age groups. These findings contribute to reduce the gap of knowledge about fall-related injuries among people with arthritis in different age groups.
Purpose: To provide an updated and comparative analysis of injury-related falls from bicycles, skateboards, roller skates and non-motorized scooters in the United States.
Methods: The study used two national databases - the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample - and subnational databases for New York, California, and Maryland covering the time span from 2005 to 2014. Univariate and multivariate analyses (negative binomial regression) were performed to identify effects of age, gender, racial-ethnic background, and region on the incidence of injury-related falls from each of the four devices.
Results: The rate of injuries due to falls from bicycles far surpassed the rates due to falls from the other devices. When a measure of “exposure” is taken into consideration, however, the rate of injuries from skateboards outstripped the rates from bicycles or roller skates. The profile of patients who were injured from falls from each of the four devices was distinctive. Asian-Americans were greatly underrepresented among those who suffer a fall-related injury from any of the four devices. The incidence of injuries attributable to falls varied considerably by geographic region.
Conclusion: Public health officials need to be mindful that while certain activities such as scootering might be gaining in popularity, the number of injuries sustained from bicycles still dwarfs the number attributable to falls from skateboards, roller skates, and scooters combined. Thus special attention needs to be paid to both prevent falls from bicycles and specific treatment modalities. It is important for public health officials to gather injury data at the local level to allocate prevention and treatment resources more efficiently.
Zinc is an essential nutrient for mammals. Zinc has only one oxidation state Zn2+ but it has many coordination states, which can alter without demanding energy. Coordination states depend on prevailing pH. In soils the coordination state changes from octahedral (nonphysiologic) form to tetrahedral (physiologic) form when pH rises to about 6.5. Weathering processes of common soil mineral mica are also pH dependent. Large scale argricultural field liming began from 1950’s onward in the Western Countries and since that time the incidence of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) began to increase in the Western Countries. Liming elevates soil pH often near 6.5 and favours mosaic mica-vermiculite nanoparticle formation in which vermiculite corner binds zinc in tetrahedral (physiological) coordination state. In this pH mica corner remains in native form and offers the plane for soluble pMHC molecule (binded with antigenic beta-cell specific self peptide) to adhere on mica and as a consequence to trigger the activation of autoreactive CD4 and/or CD8 T cells. Beta-cell specific autoantigens are released because abundant zinc derived from endocytosed zinc-mica-vermiculite particles in lysosomes leads to incresed beta-cell apoptosis, also the physiological neonatal beta-cell mass remodeling enhance beta-cell specific auto-antigen release. Furthermore enterovirusinfections during first years of life are common and can release beta-cell specific auto-antigens. The probable disease mechanism is dealt with this review article.
Objective: We assessed change in the prevalence of overweight/obesity and hypertension among adult Congolese people at two different periods.
Methods: In 2007-8 the prevalence of overweight/obesity and high blood pressure was assessed among 1,292 subjects (56.6% women) representing a random sample of the inhabitants of an urban Congolese community. The data were compared to previous observations in 424 participants (55.2% women) obtained in a 1983-4 survey of the same community. Age structure of the two samples was different. We therefore directly standardized the prevalence of overweight/obesity and hypertension for gender and age. We modeled the risk of hypertension in a multivariable logistic regression analysis and compared the rates of awareness and control of hypertension during both periods.
Results: Crude prevalence of overweight/obesity (26.7 vs. 42.3%; P <.0001) and hypertension (21.5 vs. 30.9%; P =.0002) was higher in 2007-8. Overweight/obesity predominated among women at both periods, hypertension among men in 1983-4. Gender-age directly standardized prevalence remained higher in 2007-8 for overweight/obesity [28.4(24.1-32.7)% vs. 41.3(38.8-43.7)%] and was borderline for hypertension [24.9(20-28.9)% vs. 29.7(27.4-31.9)%]. The 1983-4/2007-8 risk ratio was 0.69 for overweight/obesity (P <.0001), 0.84 for hypertension (P =.054). Awareness, treatment and control of hypertension tended to be better in 2007-8, especially among women. The risk of hypertension in multivariable logistic analysis, was greater for male gender (OR: 1.47[95% CI:1.14-1.88]; P =.0029), and increased with age (5.62[4.37-7.23]; P <.0001), overweight/obesity (2.27[1.77-2.91]; P <.0001) and pulse rate (for each 10 beats/min: 1.20[1.08-1.32]; P =.0005); the risk was 35% higher in 2007-8 (1.35;[1.01-1.80]; P =.0416).
Conclusion: Our data indicate the prevalence of overweight/obesity and hypertension has increased among adult urban Congolese people; they suggest that prevention of cardiovascular diseases might require appropriate control of these conditions.
Background: Many studies report vaccine uptake among young adults aged 18 to 49 years is low. In Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends influenza vaccination for adults in contact with young children, however vaccination rates for this specific population are missing. An estimate is required to identify appropriate public health interventions. The objective of this study was to describe recent trends in influenza vaccination uptake among Canadian adults aged 18 to 49 years old living with or without young children.
Methods: The Canadian Community Health Survey (2013-2014) dataset, available for public use was used after grouping individuals by influenza vaccination uptake within the past year in adults aged 18 to 49 years. The relationship between living in a household with young children and influenza vaccination uptake was examined using a multivariable logistic regression model.
Results: Among Canadian adults aged 18 to 49 years, the influenza vaccination uptake was 24.1% in adult household contacts with young children compared to 18.2% in those without young children (p <.0001). After adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and self-perceived health, we determined that vaccine uptake was associated with living in a household with young children (adjusted OR: 1.30 [95%CI: 1.17-1.44]). While socio-demographic characteristics and self-perceived health greatly influenced influenza vaccination uptake, we also found marital status was a strong influencer of influenza vaccine uptake (adjusted OR: 1.31 [95%CI: 1.16-1.48]).
Conclusion: Overall, influenza vaccination uptake among caregiving adults is low. Increased vaccine uptake was associated with living in a household with one or more young children. Targeted education and vaccination programs are required to improve uptake of the influenza vaccine in this age group.