Dietary intakes of some essential and non-essential trace elements, nitrate, nitrite and N-nitrosamines, by Dutch adults: estimated via a 24-hour duplicate portion study

Duplicate portions of 24-hour diets of 110 adults have been analyzed for aluminium, cadmium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, zinc, nitrate, nitrite and volatile N-nitrosamines. The mean daily intake of copper (1.2 mg) is only about 50% of recommended values; mean daily intakes for manganese (3.3 mg) and zinc (8.4 mg) are adequate and marginal respectively with respect to recommended amounts. For the non-essential elements Al, Cd, Hg and Pb, mean daily intakes of 3.1 mg, 0.01 mg, 0.002 mg and 0.034 mg were found, respectively. For Cd this amounts to 17% of the acceptable daily amount, for Al, Hg and Pb 5%, 5% and 8%, respectively. Since 1976-1978 the dietary intake of lead has been reduced by a factor three; for the other six elements daily dietary intakes are almost the same as in 1976-1978. Average nitrate intake was 52 mg NO3-/day, about 25% of the ADI. Only 16 diets contained a measurable amount of nitrite. The highest daily intake (0.7 mg NO2-) is less than 10% of the ADI. Volatile N-nitrosamines were detectable in two duplicate diets (NDMA and NPIP). It is estimated that the daily dietary intake of volatile N-nitrosamines is around 0.1 microgram or less.     

Local Notions of Healthy Eating and National Dietary Guidelines: A Comparison in Vulnerable Salvadoran Communities

This study presents an assessment of local definitions and perceptions concerning healthy eating through a study in four resource-poor border communities in El Salvador. The study included focus groups, key-informant interviews, and observations of the food environment. Local definitions of healthy eating elicited through focus groups were compared to the national Salvadoran dietary guidelines recommendations. The comparison revealed several areas of overlap (including the importance of dietary variety, fruits, and vegetables, among others) and omissions (mention of limiting sweets/candy, salt, sugar, and alcohol). Focus group participants expressed concerns over the origin of their foods and whether food contained harmful chemicals. These conversations also revealed the contradictions between nutrition knowledge and preferences for foods classified as unhealthy. This article concludes with a discussion about barriers to healthy eating identified in the focus groups and through the food environment assessment.     

Differentiated Patterns of Legume Sensitisation in Peanut-Allergic Patients

Patients with peanut allergy are often serologically sensitised to other legumes. If primary peanut allergy was contracted, secondary allergies to other legume plants may develop. The cross-sensitisation implies an enhanced risk of food-related anaphylaxis for the patients even if its clinical relevance is under discussion. In the present study, 32 patients with anti-peanut immunoglobulin E-levels (IgE) of at least class 1 according to the ImmunoCap™ classification system were included. The patients had been referred to the Norwegian National Register and Reporting System for Severe Allergic Reactions to Food with histories of anaphylaxis by the consumption of legume-containing foods. The patient sera were analysed for IgE that reacted to peanut (Arachis hypogea), soybean (Glycine max), pea (Pisum sativum), lupin (Lupinus albus) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum). Immunoblot experiments were performed using extracts of in total eight different legume plants. IgE measurements and blot analyses revealed differentiated patterns of legume sensitisation. One third of the patients had anti-peanut IgE class 4 to 6. In contrast, just one patient had specific IgE higher than class 4 to respectively pea, soybean and fenugreek. However, ten patients had elevated anti-fenugreek IgE (≥class 3), significantly more than for the other legumes. The second highest levels were found for soybean, followed by pea and lupin. The immunoblots showed particularly strong IgE binding to proteins at 12, 22, 30, 36 and 50 kDa for all legumes, indicating that the major peanut allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2 and Ara h 3 are strong candidates for causing cross-sensitivity.     

Nutritional properties of medium-chain triglycerides

The biological effects of MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) differed from those of conventional fats, and certain of these suggested examination of the fatty acid composition and triglyceride structure of the adipose tissues and other organs of rats which were fed medium- or long-chain triglyceride mixtures with two levels of linoleic acid. Fatty acid compositions and TG patterns varied with the tissue, with the dietary fat, and with the level of linoleate in the diet. Increasing the latter resulted in the deposition of more linoleate at the expense of oleate and in the deposition of more of the dietary fatty acids. The percentage of completely saturated triglyc-erides (S₃), in adipose tissue with the higher linoleate supplement in the rats fed MCT, decreased in those fed LCT and was unchanged in the controls fed a fat-free diet. The increased deposition of the dietary fatty acids was more pronounced in the S₃ band. Supported by Grants U-1347 and U-1510 from the Health Research Council of the City of New York.     

A Wear Detection Parameter for the Wheel–Rail Contact Based on Emitted Noise

This article describes how a wheel–rail wear detection parameter based on noise was developed by running a rapid transit train instrumented with microphones in a depot with a small curve radius. This full-scale test made use of previous knowledge gained from lab-scale tests. The lab- and full-scale tests showed that noise could be used as an indicator of wear transition, when normal wear turns into severe or catastrophic wear. This transition was accompanied by a significant increase in sound pressure and a broader sound pressure amplitude spectrum; that is, a narrow initial amplitude distribution in the normal wear regime and a broader distribution in the severe wear regime. The measured noise from the inner/low and outer/high rails was analyzed in conjunction with the wear from the outer wheel and comparisons were made between cleaned (exposed to severe wear) and lubricated (no wear) rail. Based on those analyses, a wear detection parameter criterion was developed for this specific train. This wear parameter has been implemented in a real-time condition monitoring system so that warnings of the risk for severe wear could be sent to the maintenance department. Validation of the wear parameter and challenges linked to open system conditions are discussed in this article.     

Expanding the social performance of food production landscapes: measuring health and well-being benefits

Advocates of integrating food production landscapes within urban, suburban, campus and other design arenas cite multiple and integrated benefits, including enhanced food security and quality; land access for small farmers; psychological and social benefits; educational opportunities; and green infrastructure contributions, among others. If performance can be understood as ‘the fulfilment of a claim’ then landscape performance measures for food production would ideally encompass the overall range of cited benefits. Yet in current practice the performance of food production landscapes tends to be measured in limited ways, most often by weight and value of harvest. The aim of this paper is to identify expanded methods and metrics for measuring the performance of food production landscapes, in particular for health and well-being benefits. Through a transdisciplinary literature review, evidence for mental well-being, physical activity and human nutrition benefits of food production landscapes is presented, and performance metrics and evaluation methods are catalogued.     

Characterizing multiple memory deficits and their relation to everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

The authors evaluated multiple memory processes and explored their contributions to everyday functional limitations in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants included individuals with amnestic MCI, nonamnestic MCI, and healthy older adults. As expected, the amnestic MCI group performed more poorly than the control and nonamnestic MCI groups on a content memory measure. Both MCI groups, however, performed more poorly than controls on the noncontent memory measures of prospective memory, temporal order memory, and source memory. Informants also reported that the MCI groups were experiencing greater difficulty than controls completing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Noncontent memory measures were found to make an independent contribution to IADL performances over and above that of content memory. These findings demonstrate that impairments in memory beyond the traditionally assessed content memory are present in individuals with amnestic MCI and with nonamnestic MCI. The results further show that these noncontent memory processes, which have been linked with executive functioning, play a role in supporting IADLs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Musical expertise, bilingualism, and executive functioning.

The authors investigated whether intensive musical experience leads to enhancements in executive processing, as has been shown for bilingualism. Young adults who were bilinguals, musical performers (instrumentalists or vocalists), or neither completed 3 cognitive measures and 2 executive function tasks based on conflict. Both executive function tasks included control conditions that assessed performance in the absence of conflict. All participants performed equivalently for the cognitive measures and the control conditions of the executive function tasks, but performance diverged in the conflict conditions. In a version of the Simon task involving spatial conflict between a target cue and its position, bilinguals and musicians outperformed monolinguals, replicating earlier research with bilinguals. In a version of the Stroop task involving auditory and linguistic conflict between a word and its pitch, the musicians performed better than the other participants. Instrumentalists and vocalists did not differ on any measure. Results demonstrate that extended musical experience enhances executive control on a nonverbal spatial task, as previously shown for bilingualism, but also enhances control in a more specialized auditory task, although the effect of bilingualism did not extend to that domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal psychotherapy for co-occurring depression and chronic pain.

Up to 37% of individuals experience chronic pain during their lifetimes. Approximately one fourth of primary care patients with chronic pain also meet criteria for major depression. Many of these individuals fail to receive psychotherapy or other treatment for their depression; moreover, when they do, physical pain is often not addressed directly. Women, socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals, African Americans, and Latinos all report higher rates of pain and depression compared with other groups. This article describes a version of interpersonal psychotherapy tailored for patients with comorbid depression and chronic pain, interpersonal psychotherapy for depression and pain (IPT-P). IPT-P potentially could be delivered to many patient populations in a range of clinical settings, but this article focuses on its delivery within primary care settings for socioeconomically disadvantaged women. Adaptations include a brief 8-session protocol that incorporates strategies for anticipating barriers to psychotherapy, accepting patients' conceptualization of their difficulties, encouraging patients to consider the impact of their pain on their roles and relationships, emphasizing self-care, incorporating pain management techniques, and flexible scheduling. In addition, IPT-P is designed as an adjunct to usual medical pain treatment, and seeks to engage non–treatment-seeking patients in psychotherapy by focusing on accessibility and relevance of the intervention to concerns common among patients with pain. Identifying patients with comorbid depression and chronic pain and offering IPT-P as a treatment option have the potential to improve clinical outcomes for individuals with depression and chronic pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)