Behavior-change trials to assess the feasibility of improving complementary feeding practices and micronutrient intake of infants in rural Bangladesh

This study used simple rapid-assessment techniques to test the feasibility of increasing the consumption of complementary foods by infants by asking mothers to increase meal quantity or frequency or by altering the viscosity/energy density of the food. The feasibility of using micronutrient supplements either added directly to food or administered as liquid drops was also examined. The study was conducted in rural Bangladesh and involved four separate short-term behavioral change trials. Depending on the trial, fieldworkers recruited 30 to 45 infants 6 to 12 months of age. Following recommendations to increase the amount of food provided to infants, the mean intakes from single meals increased from 40 +/- 23 g on day 1 to 64 +/- 30 g on day 7 (p < 0.05). In a second trial, the mean meal frequency increased from 2.2 +/- 1.3 on day 1 to 4.1 +/- 1.3 on day 7 (p < 0.05). Provision of high-energy-density diets, prepared by decreasing viscosity with alpha-amylase or by hand-mashing rice and dhal into a paste before feeding, increased single-meal energy consumption from 54 +/- 35 kcal to 79 +/- 52 kcal or 75 +/- 37 kcal (p < 0.05), respectively. Both types of micronutrient supplements were well accepted and used according to recommendations. In conclusion, it was possible to change short-term child-feeding behaviors to promote increased food intake, mealfrequency, energy density, and micronutrient consumption. Because each of these interventions lasted for only about 1 week, however, the long-term sustainability of these changes is not known. Moreover, the effect of increased feeding of complementary foods on intakes of breastmilk and total daily consumption of energy and nutrients requires further study.     

Prediction of MS/MS data. 1. A focus on pharmaceuticals containing carboxylic acids

Metabolite identification is a necessary step in developing safe and effective drugs. Metabolite analysis typically involves rapid identification of the chemical composition of the metabolite by automated HPLC-MS methods, followed by the laborious process of identifying the structure of the metabolite. Since MS is typically utilized to identify the metabolite, it is logical to utilize MS/MS to structurally characterize the sample. However, interpretation of MS/MS data may not provide sufficient information, as fragmentation pathways are not well understood or predictable. Therefore, other more time-consuming methods of analysis are often undertaken. If the dissociation rules for low-energy MS/MS experiments were clearly defined for all classes of compounds, more information would be obtained from MS/MS data, and metabolite identification would proceed more rapidly. We are currently developing methods to define these fragmentation rules. By screening approximately 100 carboxylic acids at a time and applying knowledge of physical-organic chemistry, predictive rules are under development that describe how compounds dissociate under low-energy collision-induced dissociation conditions. Studies of carboxylic acid dissociation demonstrate that this approach is practical and reliable. Dissociation rules were predicted with a 90% success rate, when tested on acid-containing pharmaceuticals. This predictive power cannot be matched by any commercially available software. This study, and others like it, will be used to develop algorithms that more rapidly identify drug metabolites and degradation products, based on MS/MS data. Such algorithms will benefit drug development for all types of pharmaceuticals.     

MALDI analysis of Bacilli in spore mixtures by applying a quadrupole ion trap time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometer

A novel ion trap time-of-flight hybrid mass spectrometer (qIT-TOF MS) has been applied for peptide sequencing in proteolytic digests generated from spore mixtures of Bacilli. The method of on-probe solubilization and in situ proteolytic digestion of small, acid-soluble spore proteins has been recently developed in our laboratory, and microorganism identification in less than 20 min was accomplished. In this study, tryptic peptides were generated in situ from complex spore mixtures of B. subtilis 168, B. globigii, B. thuringiensis subs. Kurstaki, and B. cereus T, respectively. MALDI analysis of bacterial peptides generated was performed with an average mass resolving power of 6200 and a mass accuracy of up to 10 ppm using a trap-TOF tandem configuration. Precursor ions of interest were usually selected and stored in the quadrupole ion trap with their complete isotope distribution by choosing a window of +/- 2 Da. Sequence-specific information on isolated protonated peptides was gained via tandem MS experiments with an average mass resolving power of 4450 for product ion analysis, and protein and bacterial sources were identified by database searching.     

Estimates of echo correlation and measurement bias in acoustic radiation force impulse imaging

Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is a novel imaging modality in which pulses from a diagnostic ultrasound scanner are used to displace tissue and track its motion. The region displaced has lateral and elevational dimensions of similar scale to the ultrasound beams used to track the motion. Therefore, there is a range of tissue displacements present within the tracking beam, leading to decorrelation of the echo signal. Expressions are derived for the expected value of the displacement estimate and the cross-correlation at the expected displacement. Numerical simulations confirm the analytical model.     

A randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy, light therapy, and their combination for seasonal affective disorder.

This first controlled psychotherapy trial for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) compared SAD-tailored cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), light therapy (LT), and their combination to a concurrent wait-list control. Adults (N = 61) with major depression, recurrent with seasonal pattern, were randomized to one of four 6-week conditions: CBT (1.5-hr twice-weekly group therapy), LT (10,000-lux for 90-min/day with administration time individually adjusted), combined CBT + LT, or a minimal contact/delayed LT control (MCDT; LT following 6 weeks of monitoring). CBT, LT, and CBT + LT significantly and comparably improved depression severity relative to MCDT in intent-to-treat and completer samples. CBT + LT (73%) had a significantly higher remission rate than MCDT (20%). Using prospectively measured summer mood status to estimate the "functional" population, CBT + LT also had a significantly larger proportion of participants with clinically significant change over treatment compared with MCDT. The LT condition outcomes virtually replicated results from prior trials. CBT, alone or combined with LT, holds promise as an efficacious SAD treatment and warrants further study. If replicated, CBT + LT's remission rate would represent a clinically meaningful improvement over the 53% observed across LT studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurocognitive signs in prodromal Huntington disease.

Objective: PREDICT-HD is a large-scale international study of people with the Huntington disease (HD) CAG-repeat expansion who are not yet diagnosed with HD. The objective of this study was to determine the stage in the HD prodrome at which cognitive differences from CAG-normal controls can be reliably detected. Method: For each of 738 HD CAG-expanded participants, we computed estimated years to clinical diagnosis and probability of diagnosis in 5 years based on age and CAG-repeat expansion number (Langbehn, Brinkman, Falush, Paulsen, & Hayden, 2004). We then stratified the sample into groups: NEAR, estimated to be ≤9 years; MID, between 9 and 15 years; and FAR, ≥15 years. The control sample included 168 CAG-normal participants. Nineteen cognitive tasks were used to assess attention, working memory, psychomotor functions, episodic memory, language, recognition of facial emotion, sensory–perceptual functions, and executive functions. Results: Compared with the controls, the NEAR group showed significantly poorer performance on nearly all of the cognitive tests and the MID group on about half of the cognitive tests (p = .05, Cohen's d NEAR as large as ?1.17, MID as large as ?0.61). One test even revealed significantly poorer performance in the FAR group (Cohen's d = ?0.26). Individual tasks accounted for 0.2% to 9.7% of the variance in estimated proximity to diagnosis. Overall, the cognitive battery accounted for 34% of the variance; in comparison, the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale motor score accounted for 11.7%. Conclusions: Neurocognitive tests are robust clinical indicators of the disease process prior to reaching criteria for motor diagnosis of HD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent classroom goals, standards for performance, and academic achievement: An interactionist perspective.

In the 1st study, correlational results from 203 high school students suggest that achievement, as indexed by grade point average (GPA), is positively related to efforts to be a successful student, be dependable and responsible, understand things, do one's very best, and get things done on time, and negatively related to trying to have fun. Student GPAs were also related to the number of goals and the unique sets of goals that students try to achieve. In the 2nd study, with a subsample of 107 students, the motivational characteristics of students that predicted GPAs did not predict Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. Findings of the 1st study suggest the potential relevance of motivation to achieve socially prescribed as well as cognitive outcomes for explaining academic performance in the classroom. The importance of studying motivation–performance relationships within context is suggested by the fact that the findings of Study 1 were not replicated when nonclassroom evaluations of performance were used as indices of academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shortage of expert system personnel in the UK — hype or reality?

Abstract: There is much conjecture in the press about the manpower shortage in the UK expert system field. Is it hype or reality? Presented here are the findings of a three-month study which investigated the availability of jobs in this field, the types of personnel sought by employers and whether demand is currently being met. The study involved identifying and analysing all national advertisements for expert system posts over a six-month period and undertaking follow-up surveys involving the agencies and employers who placed the advertisements. It was concluded that the shortage of expert system personnel in the UK is neither hype nor reality. The reason for this is that although there is not a sizeable demand for expert system personnel (only 134 posts were advertised) some employers are genuinely finding it hard to fill posts.     

Notes for a Substantive Theory of Rural Planning: Evidence from the US Experience

Rural areas are the locus of many pressing planning issues, pointing to the need for and possibility of a substantive theory of rural planning. In this article we develop a framework for such a theory. We begin by outlining the emergence of planning and the marginalization of ‘the rural,’ by investigating aspects of existing planning theory. Then we explain the framework and apply it to a small set of critical cases in deep rural areas of the U.S. To conclude, we summarize our findings and propose future directions for theory in rural planning.