Background: The carbon isotope ratio (CIR) is a candidate biomarker for sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake in the United States. However, research specific to youth, who differ in their physiology and dietary patterns compared with adults, is lacking.
Objectives: We evaluated longitudinal associations of SSB intakes across childhood/adolescence with serum CIR.
Objectives: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, little was known about managing sick patients, but emergency department (ED) clinicians had to decide which treatments and care processes to adopt. Our objective was to describe how ED clinicians learned about innovations and how they assessed them for credibility during the pandemic.
Methods: We purposively sampled clinicians from hospital-based EDs to conduct focus groups with ED clinicians and staff.
Little is known about lipid changes that occur in the setting of metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) regression. We previously reported improvements in hepatic steatosis, de novo lipogenesis (DNL), and metabolomic profiles associated with oxidative stress, inflammation, and selected lipid metabolism in 40 adolescent boys (11-16 y) with hepatic steatosis ≥5% (98% meeting the definition of MASLD). Participants were randomized to a low-free-sugar diet (LFSD) (n = 20) or usual diet (n = 20) for 8 weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as NAFLD, is the most common liver disease in children. Liver biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, although more efficient screening methods are needed. We previously developed a novel NAFLD screening panel in youth using machine learning applied to high-resolution metabolomics and clinical phenotype data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth information technology (HIT) holds potential to transform Home Health Care (HHC), yet, little is known about its adoption in this setting. In the context of infection prevention and control, we aimed to: (1) describe challenges associated with the adoption of HIT, for example, electronic health records (EHR) and telehealth and (2) examine HHC agency characteristics associated with HIT adoption. We conducted in-depth interviews with 41 staff from 13 U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Infant feeding patterns have been linked with obesity risk in childhood, but associations with precise measures of body fat distribution are unclear.
Objective: We examined associations of infant feeding practices with abdominal fat and hepatic fat trajectories in childhood.
Methods: This study included 356 children in the Healthy Start Study, a prospective prebirth cohort in Colorado.
Background: Most pregnant women in the United States are at risk of inadequate intake of vitamin A, vitamin D, folic acid, calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids from foods alone. Very few United States dietary supplements provide sufficient doses of all 6 nutrients without inducing excess intake.
Objective: We aimed to identify energy-efficient foods that provide sufficient doses of these nutrients and could be consumed in lieu of dietary supplements to achieve the recommended intake in pregnancy.
Introduction: Despite widespread recognition among public health experts that childhood sugar-sweetened beverage consumption should be reduced, doing so has proven to be a challenge. An agent-based model of early childhood sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was applied to data from three high-quality, longitudinal cohort studies to gain insight into potentially effective intervention strategies across contexts.
Methods: From 2021 to 2023, a single agent-based model design was applied to data sets derived from three separate cohorts of children followed from infancy to childhood, with very different populations and environments (participants recruited in 1999-2002; 2003-2010; and 2009-2014).
Unlabelled: There is a growing need for interventions to improve well-being in healthcare workers, particularly since the onset of COVID-19.
Objectives: To synthesise evidence since 2015 on the impact of interventions designed to address well-being and burnout in physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals.
Design: Systematic literature review.
Studies have established that nurse practitioners (NPs) deliver primary care comparable to physicians in quality and cost, but most focus on Medicare, a program that reimburses NPs less than physicians. In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated the quality and cost implications of receiving primary care from NPs compared to physicians in 14 states that reimburse NPs at the Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS) physician rate (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Maternal prepregnancy BMI (ppBMI) and an infant's rapid weight gain (RWG) are each associated with increased risk for childhood obesity. We hypothesized that ppBMI and RWG interact to further raise childhood obesity risk.
Methods: Mother-infant dyads (n = 414) from the Healthy Start Study, an observational prebirth cohort, were included.
Dietary sugar reduction is one therapeutic strategy for improving nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and the underlying mechanisms for this effect warrant further investigation. Here, we employed metabolomics and metagenomics to examine systemic biological adaptations associated with dietary sugar restriction and (subsequent) hepatic fat reductions in youth with NAFLD. Data/samples were from a randomized controlled trial in adolescent boys (11-16 years, mean ± SD: 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Overnutrition in utero may increase offspring risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the specific contribution of maternal diet quality during pregnancy to this association remains understudied in humans.
Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations of maternal diet quality during pregnancy with offspring hepatic fat in early childhood (median: 5 y old, range: 4-8 y old).
Methods: Data were from 278 mother-child pairs in the longitudinal, Colorado-based Healthy Start Study.
J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr
March 2023
Background/objectives: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an inflammatory disease of unclear etiology. The aim of this study was to use untargeted plasma metabolomics to identify metabolic pathway alterations associated with EoE to better understand the pathophysiology.
Methods: This prospective, case-control study included 72 children, aged 1-17 years, undergoing clinically indicated upper endoscopy (14 diagnosed with EoE and 58 controls).
Understanding pigmentation regulations taking into account the original skin color type is important to address pigmentary disorders. Biological models including adult melanocytes from different phenotypes allow to perform fine-tuned explorative studies and support discovery of treatments adapted to populations' skin color. However, technical challenges arise when trying to not only isolate but also amplify melanocytes from highly pigmented adult skin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEach year, Medicare allocates tens of billions of dollars for indirect practice expense (PE) across services on the basis of data from the Physician Practice Information (PPI) Survey, which reflects 2006 expenses. Because these data are not regularly updated, and because there have been significant changes in the U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adiposity is an established risk factor for pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but little is known about the influence of body composition patterns earlier in life on NAFLD risk.
Objectives: We aimed to examine associations of body composition at birth and body composition trajectories from birth to early childhood with hepatic fat in early childhood.
Methods: Data were from the longitudinal Healthy Start Study in Colorado.
Introduction: Some for-profit businesses act like non-profit anchor institutions in contributing to community development, particularly health-related initiatives. Their motives are not well understood. We aimed to 1) identify and describe potential anchor businesses, 2) determine their motivations to contribute to community development, and 3) highlight motivations behind health-related initiatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this study was to assess intermediary metabolic alterations that link sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake to cardiometabolic (CM) risk factors in youth. A total of 597 participants from the multi-ethnic, longitudinal Exploring Perinatal Outcomes among CHildren (EPOCH) Study were followed in childhood (median 10 yrs) and adolescence (median 16 yrs). We used a multi-step approach: first, mixed models were used to examine the associations of SSB intake in childhood with CM measures across childhood and adolescence, which revealed a positive association between SSB intake and fasting triglycerides (β (95% CI) for the highest vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infections among nursing home (NH) residents. Antibiotics are often misused when a UTI is suspected. Using sophisticated information technology (IT) could help in appropriate UTI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFetal overnutrition predisposes offspring to increased metabolic risk. The current study used metabolomics to assess sustained differences in serum metabolites across childhood and adolescence among youth exposed to three typologies of fetal overnutrition: maternal obesity only, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) only, and obesity + GDM. We included youth exposed in utero to obesity only (BMI ≥ 30; n = 66), GDM only (n = 56), obesity + GDM (n = 25), or unexposed (n = 297), with untargeted metabolomics measured at ages 10 and 16 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Up to 15% of the 1.4 million US nursing home (NH) residents receive antibiotics daily. Antibiotic use in NHs is often inappropriate, contributing to quality and safety concerns as well as antibiotic resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intrauterine overnutrition has been associated with paediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the exact mechanisms involved remain unclear.
Objective: To examine whether maternal fuels and metabolic markers during pregnancy are associated with offspring hepatic fat in childhood.
Methods: This analysis included 286 mother-child pairs from the Healthy Start Study, a longitudinal pre-birth cohort in Colorado.
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether nutrient intakes in childhood are associated with abdominal and hepatic fat depots later in adolescence.
Methods: Using data from 302 participants in the longitudinal Exploring Perinatal Outcomes among CHildren (EPOCH) study, energy partition and nutrient density models were constructed to examine associations of nutrient intakes in childhood (~10 years of age), assessed by food frequency questionnaire, with abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and hepatic fat in adolescence (~16 years of age).
Results: In energy partition models (energy intake not held constant), total, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat intakes in childhood were associated with higher SAT in adolescence (β [95% CI]: 8.