Publications by authors named "Alison C Berg"
Objective: The effectiveness of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) in improving diet quality (DQ) in community settings is largely unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the DQ changes of Extension DPP participants.
Methods: A single-group, repeated-measures design was used to evaluate an Extension-implemented DPP using the PreventT2 curriculum.
Article Synopsis
- Community gardens are becoming more popular due to their physical and mental health benefits, but most research has focused on urban areas, leaving a gap in understanding their impact in rural settings.
- This study examined community gardens in five rural Georgia counties as part of an obesity prevention project, discovering that most gardens distributed produce directly to consumers but were underrecognized as food sources.
- Findings suggest that community gardens can promote broader health initiatives by raising awareness about healthy food access and supporting future projects aimed at improving food systems and physical activity in rural communities.
Increased dissemination of the CDC's Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is imperative to reduce type 2 diabetes. Due to its nationwide reach and mission to improve health, Cooperative Extension (Extension) is poised to be a sustainable DPP delivery system. However, research evaluating DPP implementation in Extension remains scant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To develop a conceptualization of cultural influence on perceptions of a rural food and physical activity policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change project to inform public health research and practice.
Design: Basic qualitative research design, semistructured phone interviews with community health coalition members.
Setting: Five rural Southern counties (obesity prevalence > 40%).
Article Synopsis
- Obesity impacts lower extremity physical function (LEPF) in older adults, and while exercise and higher protein diets help improve body composition and strength, their combined effects in older women are not well studied.
- The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a higher protein diet with or without exercise on body composition, muscle strength, and LEPF in overweight/obese postmenopausal women after weight loss over six months.
- Results showed that while weight loss was similar across groups, only those who exercised preserved muscle strength and showed better LEPF improvements, indicating exercise is essential for enhancing these outcomes, regardless of diet composition.
Background: Community-based educational programs can complement clinical strategies to increase cancer screenings and encourage healthier lifestyles to reduce cancer burden. However, implementation quality can influence program outcomes and is rarely formally evaluated in community settings. This mixed-methods study aimed to characterize implementation of a community-based cancer prevention program using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), determine if implementation was related to participant outcomes, and identify barriers and facilitators to implementation that could be addressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate inter-coder (between-coder) and intra-coder (within-coder) reliability among trained data coders who enter 24-hour dietary recall data collected through Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program operations in the state of Georgia.
Design: This study employed multiple cross-sectional evaluations of inter-coder reliability and a short-term longitudinal evaluation of intra-coder reliability.
Participants/setting: Study participants consisted of trained data coders (n = 9) who were employed during the 12-month period of evaluation.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relative contributions of changes in muscle quality and body composition to changes in lower-extremity physical function (LEPF) following a 6-month exercise and weight loss intervention in overweight and obese older women. Thirty-eight overweight and obese (BMI = 30.0 ± 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEating behaviors (cognitive restraint, flexible and rigid restraint, disinhibition, hunger) have been associated with obesity and weight loss success in middle-aged individuals, but little is known about these relationships in older adults. This study examined relationships between eating behaviors and weight loss in overweight/obese older women (n = 61; 69 ± 3.6 years; body mass index = 31.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- * The two groups were similar in age, energy intake, and body mass index, but survivors had lower consumption of dairy, animal protein, total protein, and calcium, while consuming more legumes, noncitrus fruits, and carbohydrates.
- * Breast cancer survivors had a concerning average calcium intake of 686 mg/d, significantly below the recommended 1200 mg/d, highlighting the need for nutritional guidance from professionals for better bone health and muscle function.
Pericytes synthesize renin.
World J Nephrol
February 2013
Aim: To investigate renin expression in pericytes during normal kidney development and after deletion of angiotensinogen, the precursor for all angiotensins.
Methods: We examined the distribution of renin expressing cells by immunoshistochemistry in the interstitial compartment of wild type (WT) and angiotensinogen deficient (AGT -/-) mice at different developmental stages from embryonic day 18 (E18: WT, n = 4; AGT -/-, n = 5) and at day 1 (P1: WT, n = 5; AGT -/-, n = 5), 5 (P5: WT, n = 7; AGT -/-, n = 8), 10 (P10: WT, n = 3; AGT -/-, n = 5), 21 (P21: WT, n = 7; AGT -/-, n = 5), 45 (P45: WT, n = 3; AGT -/-, n = 3), and 70 (P70: WT, n = 2; AGT -/-, n = 2) of postnatal life. We quantified the number of pericytes positive for renin at all the developmental stages mentioned above and compared the results of AGT -/- mice to their WT counterparts.