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Background/objectives:What drives overconsumption of food is poorly understood. Alterations in brain structure and function could contribute to increased food seeking. Recently, brain orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volume has been implicated in dysregulated eating but little is known how brain structure relates to function.Subjects/methods:We examined obese (n=18, age=28.7±8.3 years) and healthy control women (n=24, age=27.4±6.3 years) using a multimodal brain imaging approach. We applied magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging to study brain gray and white matter volume as well as white matter (WM) integrity, and tested whether orbitofrontal cortex volume predicts brain reward circuitry activation in a taste reinforcement-learning paradigm that has been associated with dopamine function.Results:Obese individuals displayed lower gray and associated white matter volumes (P<0.05 family-wise error (FWE)- small volume corrected) compared with controls in the orbitofrontal cortex, striatum and insula. White matter integrity was reduced in obese individuals in fiber tracts including the external capsule, corona radiata, sagittal stratum, and the uncinate, inferior fronto-occipital, and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. Gray matter volume of the gyrus rectus at the medial edge of the orbitofrontal cortex predicted functional taste reward-learning response in frontal cortex, insula, basal ganglia, amygdala, hypothalamus and anterior cingulate cortex in control but not obese individuals.Conclusions:This study indicates a strong association between medial orbitofrontal cortex volume and taste reinforcement-learning activation in the brain in control but not in obese women. Lower brain volumes in the orbitofrontal cortex and other brain regions associated with taste reward function as well as lower integrity of connecting pathways in obesity (OB) may support a more widespread disruption of reward pathways. The medial orbitofrontal cortex is an important structure in the termination of food intake and disturbances in this and related structures could contribute to overconsumption of food in obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To examine the effect of computer-generated reminders on nurse charting deficiencies in two intensive care units. Design Nurses caring for a group of 60 study patients received patient-specific paper reminder reports when charting deficiencies were found at mid-day. Nurses caring for a group of 60 control patients received no reminders. A group of 60 retrospective patients was also formed. Measurements The average numbers of charting deficiencies at the end of the shift in each of the three groups were compared using two planned orthogonal contrasts. Results The average in the study group patients was 1.02 deficiencies per day per patient, whereas the control group the average was 1.40 deficiencies per day per patient (p = 0.001). The average number of end-of-shift deficiencies in the pooled prospective (study/control) population was 1.21 deficiencies per day per patient, compared with the average in the retrospective group of 1.56 deficiencies per day per patient (p < 0.001). Conclusion The decrease was likely due both to the appropriate response of the nurses to the reminders and to a learned attentiveness to the tasks on the part of the nurses who cared for study patients. Greater gains were hindered by incomplete "coupling" of the reminders to the end-of-shift deficiencies and by inaccuracies in the reminders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research with adults and with adolescents has revealed frequent co-morbidity of substance use and eating disorders. However, past research has infrequently gone beyond documenting such co-morbidity. In the current study we investigated possible relationships between the number of different substances ever taken and several clinical characteristics frequently exhibited with eating disorders. To do so we administered a widely-used measure of such clinical traits to adolescent girls who met diagnostic criteria for either anorexia nervosa (n = 53) or bulimia nervosa (n = 57). After statistically controlling for age and diagnosis (anorexia nervosa versus bulimia nervosa), substance use was unrelated to scores on several scales of eating disorder symptomatology (Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, Body Dissatisfaction) as well as particular clinical characteristics (Ineffectiveness, Perfectionism, Interpersonal Distrust, Maturity Fears). Only scores on the Interoceptive Awareness scale (indicating increased lack of interoceptive awareness) were uniquely related to substance use regardless of age or eating disorder diagnostic type. Results are discussed with regard to future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for measuring strain using diffraction of light from a single aperture is described, and results of a comparison tensile test with an electrical-resistance strain gage are presented. The 'diffractographic strain gage' is shown to have high sensitivity, linearity, accuracy and temperature compensation and the ability to operate in a variety of hostile environments. It is furthermore simple, inexpensive, and the data can be collected by eye without assistance from further instrumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Described is a novel torque sensor utilizing changes in the diffraction pattern of a slit aperture whose edges move relative to each other in proportion to the applied torque. In common with other electro-optical torque sensors, the device is 'noncontacting' and, therefore, requires no slip rings and may be read visually. In this form, it is a very simple and inexpensive device, exhibiting no zero shift and capable of operation in extreme environments. The principal disadvantage of the device is its inability to sense torque continuously through the rotational cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diffractographic method, a recently developed experimental technique, has been extended to solve the problem of determining the displacement information along the length of a beam. The method, which uses the diffraction of monochromatic light through a variable aperture whose size is a function of the beam displacement, demonstrates that this displacement along a line technique offers a new and accurate method occupying the unique position between point detectors and whole-field procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]