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Genetics and biology may influence the age of onset of anorexia nervosa (AN). The aims of this study were to determine whether common genetic variation contributes to age of onset of AN and to investigate the genetic associations between age of onset of AN and age at menarche.

Early clinical studies showed that high-dose vitamin C, given by intravenous and oral routes, may improve symptoms and prolong life in patients with terminal cancer. Double-blind placebo-controlled studies of oral [...]

Objective: The authors sought to determine the association between panic attacks and psychoticism among young adults in the community. Method: Data were drawn from a 21-year longitudinal birth cohort study (N= 1,265). Negative binomial regression models were used to determine the association between panic attacks in adolescence (age 15-21) and psychoticism during young adulthood. Results: Having a panic attack in the preceding 3 years was associated with elevated rates of psychoticism at ages 18 (rate ratio=2.81,95% CI=1.92-4.13) and 21 (rate ratio=3.01,95% CI=2.10-4.33). These associations were adjusted for differences in previous psychoticism, comorbid anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders and a range of other potential confounding factors by using a generalized estimating equation model. This analysis showed that after adjustment for confounding factors, having a panic attack was still associated with an increased rate of psychoticism (rate ratio=1.51,95% CI=1.14-2.02). Conclusions: Panic attacks during adolescence are associated with significantly increased levels of psychoticism among young adults in the community compared with young persons with no history of panic attacks. Much of the relationship between panic attacks and psychoticism appears to be explained by common risk factors and psychiatric comorbidity, yet these data provide evidence of an independent association between panic attacks in adolescence and psychoticism during young adulthood in the community. Replication of these findings is needed, as are future studies that further investigate the mechanism of this association.

This study explores possible ethnic bias in rates of officially recorded convictions among a birth cohort of New Zealand young people studied to age 21 years. Data were gathered as [...]

It has recently been recommended that parenterally fed, critically ill patients should receive considerably less energy than the 36 kcal. kg[sup.-1]. d[sup.-1] customarily received in earlier years and that mixed amino acid infusions not exceed 1.5 g.kg[sup.-1].d[sup.-1]. The implications of these recommendations should be considered carefully, especially for patients with low body weight. Any sizeable reduction in energy provision will lead to negative energy balance in at least some patients, and negative energy balance is known to increase protein requirements. The optimal rate of amino acid delivery for underfed, critically ill patients is not well defined and could well exceed 1.5 g.kg[sup.-1].d[sup.-1]. In addition, there are good reasons to suspect that the safe protein requirement of severely underweight, critically ill patients is >1.5 g.kg[sup.-1].d[sup.-1], even when adequate energy is provided. KEY WORDS Amino acids, body composition, energy expenditure, nutrition support, parenteral nutrition

A COMMON LANGUAGE Gerald O'Collins and John Wilkins do an excellent job of pointing out the flawed preconceptions and resulting bastardized prose generated by Liturgiam authenticam ('English Is Not Latin,' [...]

Humans lose weight when administered fluoxetine, an inhibitor of serotonin reuptake by nerve terminals. To determine whether increased energy expenditure contributes to this weight loss we admitted 20 nondepressed obese women to a metabolic unit where they were randomly assigned to 3 wk of a 1.76-MJ/d formula diet and either 60 mg fluoxetine/d or a placebo. Resting energy expenditure of the control subjects fell below normal after 5.6 [+ or -] 0.6 d of energy restriction, whereas that of the fluoxetine-treated subjects increased by 4.4 [+ or -] 1.8% (P < 0.005) within 3 d of commencing treatment. This increased resting energy expenditure then reversed and fell below normal after 9.8 [+ or -] 0.9 d of energy restriction. Basal body temperature of the control subjects decreased insignificantly during the period of energy restriction, but that of the fluoxetine-treated subjects increased by 0.28 [+ or -] 0.10[degrees]C (P < 0.05) within 3 d of commencing diet and drug treatment. Urinary norepinephrine excretion and the serum triiodothyronine concentration decreased equally in both groups. Despite identical energy intakes and equal nitrogen balance, the fluoxetine-treated subjects lost weight faster than the control subjects during the final week of energy restriction (P < 0.05). We propose that serotonin reuptake inhibition increases energy expenditure by increasing basal body temperature.

Copper iodide (CuI) is a promising p-type transparent thermoelectric material for near-room temperature energy harvesting. We report a high-power factor for selenium (Se)-doped CuI films. Ion beam-sputtered CuI films were doped using 30 keV 80Se+implantation with Se concentration varying between 0.50% and 6.50%. Hall effect measurements showed a ∼34% increase in electrical conductivity (σ ≈ 36.1 Ω−1cm−1) due to a ∼54% increase in carrier density (pH ≈ 5.4 × 1019 cm−3) in the p-type γ-CuI film implanted with 5.0 × 1014 Se.cm−2. A high Seebeck coefficient, α ≈ 388.9 μVK−1−1, and moderate electrical conductivity, σ ≈ 29.1 Ω−1cm−1, yield a nearly 85% increase in the power factor, α2σ ≈ 439.7 μWm−1K−2, for a 1.0 × 1015 Se.cm−2implanted film compared to the unimplanted film (α2σ ≈ 236.4 μWm−1K−2). Monte Carlo simulation and ab initiodensity functional theory calculations revealed that the increased displacement per atom values and the {SeI−VCu} defect complex-induced shallow acceptor could be attributed to the observed increase in hole density. Our results highlight that native defects and defect complexes are beneficial for enhancing the power factor in transparent CuI for thermoelectric applications.

The clean and green hydrogen energy production by electrochemical process is gaining great attention in recent years. For this, designing an efficient and cost-effective electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desirable. Herein, Co-Ni-Mn based bimetallic sulfides electrocatalysts are developed for HER in 1 M KOH. Owing to the presence of abundant electrochemical active sites and micro flower-like morphology, the fabricated Co-Ni-S, Ni-Mn-S, Co-Mn-S electrodes deliver the small overpotential of 136, 112, 75 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2. For practical applications, the commercially available 1.6 V battery is used to drive the overall water splitting process of the device fabricated with the two-electrode system (symmetric device). In addition to this, in this research work, a graphite rod extracted from a spent battery is directly used as a counter electrode for the entire electrochemical study to substitute platinum (Pt) counter electrode. This approach is sustainable as well as eco-friendly.

Looking back over 45 years of graduating Webelos Scouts from our pack, we noted that more boys had dropped out before graduating than we had realized. We resolved to take [...]

ObjectiveThere are few data on visual outcomes in adulthood of former very low birthweight (VLBW; <1500 g) infants. We aimed to assess vision at 27–29 years in a national cohort of VLBW infants born in 1986 and assessed for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) when no treatment was available, compared with term born controls.MethodsThe cohort and controls attended a 2-day assessment in Christchurch as part of a larger study. Visual assessment included glasses prescription measured by focimeter, logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) distance visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity, autorefraction, retinal photographs and a questionnaire on vision-related everyday activities. Rates of reduced VA and myopia in the VLBW cohort at 27–29 were compared with the results of vision testing at 7–8 years.Results250 VLBW adults (77% those alive) gave study consent and 229 (45 with a history of ROP) were assessed in Christchurch, plus 100 term born controls. VLBW adults with ROP had reduced VA compared with no ROP and controls (mean logMAR score (SD); 0.003 (0.19), –0.021 (0.16), –0.078 (0.09), P=0.001). There were no differences in myopia (>2 D) between the groups but high myopia (>5 D) was confined to those with ROP. VLBW adults with ROP drove a car less often and had higher difficulties with everyday activities scores due to eyesight. Between 7–8 and 27–29 years rates of reduced VA were stable but myopia increased.ConclusionFormer VLBW young adults with ROP have ongoing problems with vision affecting daily living and should continue in regular ophthalmological review.Trial registration numberACTRN12612000995875, Pre-results .

Alkaline earth titanates and zirconates and their binary systems are of interest for their temperature in sensitive dielectric properties. Calcium titanate and calcium zirconate perovskite ceramics find applications in pulse discharge, energy storage and microwave capacitors. These dielectric materials have been used in electric hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. In the present work, fine crystalline compound powders of calcium titanate and calcium zirconate were prepared by a single step molten salt synthesis. Calcium oxide and titanium dioxide/zirconium oxide were used as precursors to obtain the calcium titanate and calcium zirconate compound powders respectively. The prepared calcium titanate and calcium zirconate compound powders were characterized by TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM and EDS analysis.