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Nut consumption has been associated with improvements in risk factors for chronic disease in populations within North America, Europe and Iran. This relationship has not been investigated in New Zealand (NZ). The associations between nut consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors among New Zealanders were examined. Data from the 24-h diet recalls of 4721 participants from the NZ Adult Nutrition Survey 2008/2009 (2008/2009 NZANS) were used to determine whole and total nut intake. Anthropometric data and blood pressure were collected, as well as blood samples analysed for total cholesterol (total-C) and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein (CRP) and folate. Participants were classified according to their five-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Both whole and total nut consumers had significantly lower weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and central adiposity than non-nut consumers (all p ≤ 0.044). Whole blood, serum and red blood cell folate concentrations were significantly higher among whole nut consumers compared to non-whole nut consumers (all p ≤ 0.014), with only serum folate higher in total nut consumers compared to non-total nut consumers (p = 0.023). There were no significant differences for blood pressure, total-C, HDL-C and HbA1c, however, significant negative associations between total nut consumption and CVD risk category (p &lt, 0.001) and CRP (p = 0.045) were apparent. Nut consumption was associated with more favourable body composition and a number of risk factors, which could collectively reduce chronic disease.

The kinetics and mechanisms associated with the ozonation of 2,6-, 3,4-, and 3,5-dichlorophenols (DCPs) in aqueous solutions were studied. It was found that 2 moles of ozone are required for the initial degradation of 1 mole of DCP. The overall reaction between ozone and a DCP was found to be second order (first order per reactant). The overall reaction rate constants of all three DCPs increased with pH because of increased dissociation of the dichlorophenol molecules to dichlorophenoxide ions. Due to its high dissociation constant, 2,6-DCP is most reactive of the three with ozone with the overall reaction rate constants varying from 1.31×105 to 3.36×105M-1 s-1 within the pH range of 2.0–4.0. Various chlorobenzenediols, chlorocyclohexadienediones, ketones, esters, and carboxylic acids were identified as intermediate and final ozonation products using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. The initial electrophilic addition of ozone at the ortho and para positions of the molecular and ionic forms i...

Importance Baby-led approaches to complementary feeding, which promote self-feeding of all nonliquid foods are proposed to improve energy self-regulation and lower obesity risk. However, to date, no randomized clinical trials have studied this proposition. Objective To determine whether a baby-led approach to complementary feeding results in a lower body mass index (BMI) than traditional spoon-feeding. Design, Setting, and Participants The 2-year Baby-Led Introduction to Solids (BLISS) randomized clinical trial recruited 206 women (168 [81.6%] of European ancestry; 85 [41.3%] primiparous) in late pregnancy from December 19, 2012, through March 17, 2014, as part of a community intervention in Dunedin, New Zealand. Women were randomized to a control condition (n = 101) or the BLISS intervention (n = 105) after stratification for parity and education. All outcomes were collected by staff blinded to group randomization, and no participants withdrew because of an adverse event. Data were analyzed based on intention to treat. Interventions Mothers in the BLISS group received lactation consultant support (≥5 contacts) to extend exclusive breastfeeding and delay introduction of complementary foods until 6 months of age and 3 personalized face-to-face contacts (at 5.5, 7.0, and 9.0 months). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was BMI z score (at 12 and 24 months). Secondary outcomes included energy self-regulation and eating behaviors assessed with questionnaires at 6, 12, and 24 months and energy intake assessed with 3-day weighed diet records at 7, 12, and 24 months. Results Among the 206 participants (mean [SD] age, 31.3 [5.6] years), 166 were available for analysis at 24 months (retention, 80.5%). The mean (SD) BMI z score was not significantly different at 12 months (control group, 0.20 [0.89]; BLISS group, 0.44 [1.13]; adjusted difference, 0.21; 95% CI, −0.07 to 0.48) or at 24 months (control group, 0.24 [1.01]; BLISS group, 0.39 [1.04]; adjusted difference, 0.16; 95% CI, −0.13 to 0.45). At 24 months, 5 of 78 infants (6.4%) were overweight (BMI≥95th percentile) in the control group compared with 9 of 87 (10.3%) in the BLISS group (relative risk, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.6-5.7). Lower satiety responsiveness was observed in BLISS infants at 24 months (adjusted difference, −0.24; 95% CI, −0.41 to −0.07). Parents also reported less food fussiness (adjusted difference, −0.33; 95% CI, −0.51 to −0.14) and greater enjoyment of food (adjusted difference, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.43) at 12 months in BLISS infants. Estimated differences in energy intake were 55 kJ (95% CI, −284 to 395 kJ) at 12 months and 143 kJ (95% CI, −241 to 526 kJ) at 24 months. Conclusions and Relevance A baby-led approach to complementary feeding did not result in more appropriate BMI than traditional spoon-feeding, although children were reported to have less food fussiness. Further research should determine whether these findings apply to individuals using unmodified baby-led weaning. Trial Registration http://anzctr.org.auIdentifier:ACTRN12612001133820

Regular nut consumption is associated with reduced CVD risk. Insight into nut consumption patterns provides important information to help design strategies to encourage intake. The present study aimed to describe nut consumption in terms of the percentage of consumers, mean grams eaten among the population and nut consumers, and to identify the predictors of nut consumption. Data from the 24 h dietary recalls of the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey (n 4721) were used to measure nut consumption. On the recall day, the percentages of consumers of whole nuts, nut butters and nuts from hidden sources were 6·9 % (n 240), 7·2 % (n 346) and 19·2 % (n 732), respectively (28·9 % (n 1167) combined (total)). The mean grams consumed by the population were relatively low for whole nuts (2·8 g/d), nut butters (0·9 g/d), nuts from hidden sources (1·5 g/d) and total nuts (5·2 g/d). Among consumers, the mean daily grams of whole nuts, nut butters, nuts from hidden sources and total nuts eaten were 40·3, 12·9, 7·8 and 17·9 g/d, respectively. Those aged 15–18 years had the lowest whole nut consumption, but had the highest nut butter consumption. The consumption of total nuts was positively associated with education and socio-economic status, while whole nut consumption was inversely associated with BMI. In conclusion, the low percentage of nut consumers is of concern and new strategies to increase nut consumption are required. Future public health initiatives should be mindful of these patterns and predictors. In particular, different forms of nuts may appeal to different age and socio-economic groups.

Identification of the coding elements in the genome is a fundamental step to understanding the building blocks of living systems. Short peptides (

This research investigates the kinetic parameters associated with the ozonation of 2,3-, 2,4-, and 2,5-dichlorophenols (DCPs) in aqueous solutions at 25°C. The overall ozonation kinetics of each DCP was found to be first order with respect to each reactant concentration (i.e., DCP and ozone). Among the three isomers studied, the ozonation of 2,5-DCP was the fastest with the overall rate constant varying from 68,500 to 7,750,000 M−1 s−1 within a pH range of 2.1 to 5.0. The overall rate constant increased with pH because of the increase in the degree of dissociation of the DCP molecules to dichlorophenoxide ions. The electrophilic addition of ozone at the ortho and para positions of the molecular and ionic forms of the DCPs was postulated to be the likely mechanism for the degradation of the DCPs to chlorobenzenediols, monochlorophenols, chlorocyclohexadienediones, ethylacetate, heptanone, carboxylic acids, and other by-products that were detected using gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry analysis.

ObjectiveTo investigate: (i) the percentage of the New Zealand (NZ) population reporting fast food/takeaway food and restaurant/café food per day; (ii) examine demographic factors associated with their use; (iii) quantify their contribution to energy intake; and (iv) describe the specific types of foods reported from both sources.DesignTwenty-four hour diet recalls from the cross-sectional 2008/09 NZ Adult Nutrition Survey were used to identify fast-food and restaurant-food consumers.SettingNZ households.SubjectsAdults aged 15 years and older (n4721).ResultsOverall 28 % reported consuming at least one fast food and 14 % a restaurant food within the 24 h diet recall. Fast-food consumption was not associated with level of education or an area-based measure of socio-economic status, but a higher education was positively associated with restaurant-food consumption. Individual factors such as ethnicity, household size, age, sex and marital status were found to be important influences on the use of fast food and restaurant food. Fast-food consumption was more prevalent among participants living in urban areas, young adults (19–30 years) and Māori compared with NZ European and Others. The most frequently reported fast foods were bread-based dishes, potatoes (including fries) and non-alcoholic beverages.ConclusionsGiven the high reported consumption of fast food by young adults, health promotion initiatives both to improve the nutritional quality of fast-food menus and to encourage healthier food choices would likely make a large impact on the overall diet quality of this group.

This paper summarizes insights into pilot compliance to Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Advisories (RA's), as gained in a series of experiments in an integrated air traffic-flight simulator with airline pilots. The simulator had a full implementation of TCAS, and the aircraft's path was controlled by an air traffic controller as part of a busy traffic stream arriving into Dallas-Fort Worth. The pilots were urged to apply their best judgment to resolve traffic events. The experiments varied Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications, including traffic call-outs and instructions that directly conflicted with TCAS advisories.-Additionally, the experiments varied traffic events by both relative trajectory (including events during approach intercept and with noncontrolled Visual Flight Regulation traffic passing 500 feet below) and a range of resolution advisory types (including preventive, corrective, and crossing-corrective RA's). The compliance of the pilots is detailed here, including examination of aspects of pilot responses to RAs that caused non-compliance. Further, the impact of several interventions - auto-execution, pilot training, and displays - will be compared for its impact on pilot compliance.

After fertilization, maternal factors direct development and trigger zygotic genome activation (ZGA) at the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT). In zebrafish, ZGA is required for gastrulation and clearance of maternal messenger RNAs, which is in part regulated by the conserved microRNA miR-430. However, the factors that activate the zygotic program in vertebrates are unknown. Here we show that Nanog, Pou5f1 (also called Oct4) and SoxB1 regulate zygotic gene activation in zebrafish. We identified several hundred genes directly activated by maternal factors, constituting the first wave of zygotic transcription. Ribosome profiling revealed that nanog, sox19b and pou5f1 are the most highly translated transcription factors pre-MZT. Combined loss of these factors resulted in developmental arrest before gastrulation and a failure to activate >75% of zygotic genes, including miR-430. Our results demonstrate that maternal Nanog, Pou5f1 and SoxB1 are required to initiate the zygotic developmental program and induce clearance of the maternal program by activating miR-430 expression.

Efficient cleavage and polyadenylation at the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) poly(A) site requires an upstream 3'-processing enhancer to overcome the suboptimal sequence context of the AAUAAA hexamer. The HIV-1 3'-processing enhancer functions to stabilize the association of the pre-mRNA with cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF), the factor responsible for recognition of the AAUAAA hexamer. Intriguingly, in the absence of the 3'-processing enhancer, CPSF binding and polyadenylation efficiency could be restored to near wild-type levels upon replacement of the 14-nucleotide region immediately 5' of the HIV-1 AAUAAA hexamer (the B segment) by the analogous sequences from the efficient adenovirus L3 poly(A) site. To further investigate the contributions of RNA sequence and structure to poly(A) site recognition, we have used an in vitro selection system to identify B segment sequences that enhance the polyadenylation efficiency of a pre-cleaved RNA lacking a 3'-processing enhancer. The final RNA selection pool was composed of two predominant classes of RNAs. Nuclease probing revealed that the selected sequences restored an RNA conformation that facilitates recognition of the AAUAAA hexamer by CPSF. These results indicate that both the sequence and structural context of the AAUAAA hexamer contribute to poly(A) site recognition by CPSF.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) was leased by the US Air Force for the purpose of producing rocket fuel, namely Aerozine 50, by blending hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH). A product of the decomposition of UDMH is N-nitrosodimethylamine (NMDA). Bituminous coal granular activated carbon (GAC) systems located at the boundaries of the RMA are not highly effective at removal of NDMA. Modifications to the existing systems by adding additional adsorbents specific to NDMA removal vs construction of new facilities were evaluated. This paper summarizes the results of investigations into alternative adsorption technologies which might be more effective at removal of NDMA than bituminous coal GAC. The results were well described by the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. Bench-scale isotherm and column studies revealed that a coconut shell GAC and carbonaceous resin were more effective at removal of NDMA than bituminous coal GAC.

Sequence conservation among mammalian poly(A) sites is limited to the sequence AAUAAA, coupled with an amorphous downstream U- or GU-rich region. Since these sequences may also occur within the coding region of mRNAs, additional information must be required to define authentic poly(A) sites. Several poly(A) sites have been shown to contain sequences outside the core elements that enhance the efficiency of 3' processing in vivo and in vitro. The human immunodeficiency virus type 1, equine infectious anemia virus, and adenovirus L1 3' processing enhancers have been shown to promote the binding of cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF), the factor responsible for recognition of AAUAAA, to the pre-mRNA, thereby facilitating the assembly of a stable 3' processing complex. We have used in vitro selection to examine the mechanism by which the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 3' processing enhancer promotes the interaction of CPSF with the AAUAAA hexamer. Surprisingly, RNAs selected for efficient polyadenylation were related by structure rather than sequence. Therefore, in the absence of extensive sequence conservation, our results strongly suggest that RNA structure is a critical determinant of poly(A) site recognition by CPSF and may play a key role in poly(A) site definition.

Objectives To compare the food, nutrient and ‘family meal’ intakes of infants following baby-led weaning (BLW) with those of infants following a more traditional spoon-feeding (TSF) approach to complementary feeding. Study design and participants Cross-sectional study of dietary intake and feeding behaviours in 51 age-matched and sex-matched infants (n=25 BLW, 26 TSF) 6–8 months of age. Methods Parents completed a questionnaire, and weighed diet records (WDRs) on 1–3 non-consecutive days, to investigate food and nutrient intakes, the extent to which infants were self-fed or parent-fed, and infant involvement in ‘family meals’. Results BLW infants were more likely than TSF infants to have fed themselves all or most of their food when starting complementary feeding (67% vs 8%, p

The endonucleolytic cleavage and polyadenylation of a pre-mRNA in mammalian cells requires two cis-acting elements, a highly conserved AAUAAA hexamer and an amorphous U- or GU-rich downstream element, that together constitute the "core" poly(A) site. The terminal redundancy of the HIV-1 pre-mRNA requires that the processing machinery disregard a core poly(A) site at the 5' end of the transcript, and efficiently utilize an identical signal that resides near the 3' end. Efficient processing at the 3' core poly(A) site, both in vivo and in vitro, has been shown to require sequences 76 nucleotides upstream of the AAUAAA hexamer. In this report we demonstrate that this HIV-1 upstream element interacts directly with the 160-kD subunit of CPSF (cleavage polyadenylation specificity factor), the factor responsible for the recognition of the AAUAAA hexamer. The presence of the upstream element in the context of the AAUAAA hexamer directs the stable binding of CPSF to the pre-mRNA and enhances the efficiency of poly(A) addition in reactions reconstituted with purified CPSF and recombinant poly(A) polymerase. Our results indicate that the dependence of HIV-1 3' processing on upstream sequences is a consequence of the suboptimal sequence context of the AAUAAA hexamer. We suggest that poly(A) site definition involves the recognition of multiple heterogeneous sequence elements in the context of the AAUAAA hexamer.

The Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is designed to reduce the number of mid-air collisions. TCAS monitors the nearby airspace for other aircraft which are shown to the pilot on a traffic situation display (TSD). In addition, TCAS alerts the pilot to the presence of nearby aircraft with a precautionary Traffic Advisory (TA). If separation continues to degrade, TCAS then provides a Resolution Advisory (RA) which will audibly and visually instruct the pilot to make a vertical avoidance maneuver. However, pilots do not always comply with the RA. Changing the TSD could help improve pilot compliance. During an RA, the pilot is asked to maneuver vertically, but the TSD provides a top-down horizontal view which does not project the flight-path of other traffic and does not show if the other traffic is also receiving an RA. This project performed a literature review, a work domain analysis, and pilot interviews to inform design changes. The design methods echoed a need to provide pilots with better altitude information during traffic events along with a better picture of traffic heading and velocity. From these results, a new display was designed and is described using an animation. Future work includes evaluation of the new display as part of an iterative design process.

Chapter overview 109 Aim of assessment 109 Systematic assessment 110 Physical assessment 111 Cardiovascular assessment 114 Respiratory assessment 123Percussion 128 Pulse oximetry 130 Auxology 133 Blood glucose 136 Neurological observations 138 References 145LEARNING OUTCOMESUpon completion of this chapter, the reader should be able to accomplish the following:1 Define the assessment phase of the nursing process2 Discuss the purpose of assessment in nursing practice3 Identify and apply the skills required for undertaking a systematic nursing assessment4 Differentiate between objective and subjective data collection5 Describe the various methods that may be employed to obtain objective data collection during physical assessment6 Describe the procedures used to assess vital signs, temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, capillary refill time and oxygen saturation level7 Recognise normal vital sign values for infants and children of all ages8 Identify rationale for using different routes when assessing temperature, pulse and capillary refill time9 Describe and explain the role of electrocardiograph monitoring in infants and children10 Describe the procedure for assessing neurological status in infants and children and be able to recognise abnormalities11 Describe the procedures used to assess growth in the infant and childCentral to the delivery of safe and effective nursing care is the nurse’s ability to assess accurately the infant and child. It is the keystone of effective and safe practice and is a fundamental skill. Each child has unique healthcare needs, and the first question a nurse should ask is ‘What information do I require if I am to nurse them effectively and safely?’ Assessment leads to the identification of health problems and then to the development of care plans. This chapter is concerned primarily with the collection of physical data but will also consider the role of systematic assessment.

The US public sector is facing the opposing challenges of increased citizen expectations for better services and decreased resources to run offices. It is an enormous undertaking to achieve these goals due to the numerous obstacles that plague all functions within federal, state, and local agencies. While the internet maybe an ideal solution, it requires substantial financial commitment and the staggering economic growth is exacerbating the nation's fiscal problems as evidenced by budget cuts at all levels of government. Consequently, public organisations are at a crossroads where it is critical to strike a delicate balance between embracing emerging technologies and securing funds to support them. In this research study, we identify the value of e-procurement, examine the basic options for financing the adoption and implementation of e-procurement, as well as discuss issues related to those funding methods. Several new and innovative approaches to acquiring e-procurement systems are also reviewed.

The sudden popular awareness of photomapping a decade ago was generated by the development of the differential rectifier. To many people the prophecies made for photomapping at that time have not been fulfilled. Photomapping techniques have been developing steadily, but much remains to be achieved, particularly in the reproduction and cartographic treatment of photomaps.

The teaching of reading is one of the most frequently investigated curricular areas, but most studies have not contributed significantly to the ability of teachers to maximize the effectiveness of classroom instruction. Oral reading represents a particular problem area for classroom teachers. The failure of current findings to greatly enhance teaching of oral reading stems from several factors. A review of the literature revealed that, on the whole, insufficient information is provided with regard to such areas as initial assessment, pinpointing errors, curriculum readability factors, teaching strategies and the basis for selecting teaching strategies. These and related concerns are discussed, with recommendations for improving future efforts to teach oral reading.