The age-related decline in intestinal lipid uptake is associated with a reduced abundance of fatty acid-binding protein

Aging is associated with changes in the absorptive capacity of the small intestine. We tested the hypotheses that (i) aging is associated with a decline in lipid absorption, and that (ii) this decreased lipid absorption is due to a decline in the abundance of mRNA and/or the enterocyte cytosolic intestinal FA-binding protein (I-FABP), the liver FA-binding protein (L-FABP), and the ileal lipid-binding protein (ILBP). In vitro uptake studies were performed on Fischer 344 rats at ages 1, 9, and 24 mon. Northern blotting (L-FABP, ILBP) and immunohistochemistry (I-FABP, ILBP) were performed. Aging was associated with decreased animal weights, but the surface area of the intestine was not significantly altered with age. The rates of ileal uptake of 16∶0, 18∶0, 18∶1, and 18∶2 were reduced by greater than 50% with aging when expressed on the basis of mucosal weight. This decline was not associated with reduced expression of mRNA for L-FABP or ILBP but was associated with a 50% decrease in the abundance of I-FABP and a 40% decrease in the abundance of ILBP. Thus, the decrease with aging in the ileal uptake of some FA when rates were expressed on the basis of mucosal weight was associated with a reduced abundance of I-FABP and ILBP.     

Construct Validation of the Dutch Version of the Impact of Event Scale.

The Impact of Event Scale (ES; M. J. Horowitz, N. Wilner, & W. Alvarez, 1979) is a worldwide-used self-report measure to assess the frequency of intrusive and avoidant phenomena after a variety of traumatic experiences. The purpose of this article is to assess the psychometric value of the Dutch version of the IES (D. Brom & R. J. Kleber, 1985) in several samples of individuals who had experienced various traumatic stressors. The reliability and structure of the IES were evaluated in 3 different samples (total N = 1.588). The reliability of the Dutch version of the IES was adequate across the various stressors. The construct validity was assessed by using confirmatory factor analyses. Outcomes revealed a robust structure over the various samples, generally supporting the composition of the original IES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions of mental illness and judgments about help seeking among Japanese-American and White American students.

Perceived causes of mental illness and help-seeking preferences among Japanese-American and White American college students (72 men and 72 women in each ethnic group) were compared in order to investigate the reported underuse of mental health services by Japanese Americans. Results of a 2 (ethnicity of S)?×?2(severity of disorder)?×?2(gender of person with disorder)?×?2(gender of S) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that Japanese-American students were more likely than White American students to attribute mental illness to social causes, to resolve problems on their own, and to seek help from family members or friends or both. Possible barriers to use of services by this sample of Japanese Americans include both a preference for informal resources and the stigmatization of mental illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety aspects and implications of regulation of probiotic bacteria in food and food supplements

The application of living bacteria as probiotics in food or food supplements requires a careful safety assessment. This review summarizes key issues concerning the safety aspects of bacteria added to particular products marketed for improvement of general health or treatment of (post)infectious symptoms. The bacteria used in such products should be completely safe; however, it can be challenging to provide evidence for absence of all virulence properties. In some cases, virulence factors have been detected in probiotic bacterial strains, and the implications of these traits for safety assessments are discussed. Horizontal gene transfer can result in acquisition of virulence genes or antimicrobial resistance in probiotic bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance in these bacteria can possibly aid the spread of undesired resistance in intestinal bacterial populations. The relative risk of such gene transfers is considered. The generation of complete bacterial genome sequences can both resolve and create safety issues. Current practices of safety assessment procedures in the United States and the European Union are briefly reviewed and a future outlook is provided.     

Validation of the MEDFICTS dietary questionnaire: A clinical tool to assess adherence to American Heart Association dietary fat intake guidelines

Background  

Dietary assessment tools are often too long, difficult to quantify, expensive to process, and largely used for research purposes. A rapid and accurate assessment of dietary fat intake is critically important in clinical decision-making regarding dietary advice for coronary risk reduction. We assessed the validity of the MEDFICTS (MF) questionnaire, a brief instrument developed to assess fat intake according to the American Heart Association (AHA) dietary "steps".     

A Coupled 3-D PNP/ECP Model for Ion Transport in Biological Ion Channels

The Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) or Drift-Diffusion theory can be used to compute macroscopic current in ion channels in an efficient manner. The major drawback of the standard PNP theory is that it is based on a continuum model for the charge flow, therefore it models ions as a gas of point particles. Water is also not simulated explicitly, but introduced as a background medium with a given permittivity. The PNP model can be modified to include effects of finite ion size and water occupation by including a correction term, the Excess Chemical Potential (ECP), in the standard model. Gillespie et al. [1] developed a model for ECP correction, based on Density Functional theory, which is introduced in an existing 3-D PNP solver for ion transport in biological ion channels realized using the numerical computational platform PROPHET. Since incorporation of the ECP correction directly into the PNP matrix formulation is not an easy task, for demonstration purposes we developed a relatively simple decoupled relaxed iteration algorithm. Preliminary tests were conducted on idealized channel geometries, showing how the adopted ECP correction model alters significantly the ion densities inside the channel from those predicted by the conventional PNP theory alone.     

Concreteness effects on memory: When and why?

Two experiments with 194 university students studied the effects of concreteness and relatedness of noun pairs on free recall, cued recall, and memory integration. Dual-coding theory (DCT) implies that concreteness and relatedness should have independent and additive effects on memory performance, whereas relational-distinctiveness processing theory implies that the 2 variables should interact. Their effects proved to be statistically independent in cued-recall and memory integration tests in both studies. In free recall, the effects were independent in Exp 1 and interactive over subjects, but not over items in Exp 2. Results were most consistent with the DCT and, regarding integration, with the hypothesis that strong verbal relations are necessary for integrative recall of abstract pairs, whereas high imagery is sufficient for integrative recall of concrete pairs. The hypothesis resolves a long-standing issue concerning memory integration of abstract language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AIDS education and outreach to injecting drug users and the community in public housing.

Describes an inner-city outreach program using indigenous workers to reduce the risk of HIV infection with treatment coupons and communitywide education. The program targeted predominantly African-American public housing neighborhoods, where injecting drug users not in treatment and their sexual partners resided. Changes in community participation and attitudes regarding outreach were observed over 2 yrs of program operation in separate samples. The program resulted in increased knowledge about HIV infection and decreased needle-sharing behavior in Year 2; high-risk sexual behavior persisted. Treatment success was limited and complicated by continued use of other drugs, a short-length of stay in treatment, and insufficient cocaine protocols. In addition to AIDS education, outreach workers provided networking and coalition-building opportunities that have enhanced treatment accessibility and created a perception of hope and positive change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Listeners as co-narrators.

A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined what listeners do and their effect on the narrator. In 63 unacquainted dyads (81 women and 45 men), a narrator told his or her own close-call story. The listeners made 2 different kinds of listener responses: Generic responses included nodding and vocalizations such as "mhm." Specific responses, such as wincing or exclaiming, were tightly connected to (and served to illustrate) what the narrator was saying at the moment. In experimental conditions that distracted listeners from the narrative content, listeners made fewer responses, especially specific ones, and the narrators also told their stories significantly less well, particularly at what should have been the dramatic ending. Thus, listeners were co-narrators both through their own specific responses, which helped illustrate the story, and in their apparent effect on the narrator's performance. The results demonstrate the importance of moment-by-moment collaboration in face-to-face dialogue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Likes” as KPI: An examination of teenage girls’ perspective on peer feedback on Instagram and its influence on coping response

Through a survey of 296 female students in Singapore aged 12–18?years regarding their selfie-posting behaviors on Instagram, this study explored teenage girls’ perspectives on the importance of receiving peer feedback on selfies. The associations between peer feedback importance and self-esteem as well as depressed mood were also examined. Drawing on coping theory, this study further investigated how the importance of peer feedback and depressed mood influence girls’ coping responses to the stress from lacking feedback. The results of structural equation modeling demonstrate that self-esteem exerts a negative effect on the importance of peer feedback and depressed mood, but the importance of peer feedback is positively associated with depressed mood. In addition, both the importance of peer feedback and depressed mood positively impact problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. The results suggest that peer feedback has become a “KPI” of selfie-posting behaviors for teenage girls, and these girls handle the involved stress by a concomitant adoption of both types of coping.