Testing a Biobehavioral Model of Chronic Stress and Weight Gain in Young Children (Family Stress Study): Protocol and Baseline Demographics for a Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Chronic stress is an important risk factor in the development of obesity. While research suggests chronic stress is linked to excess weight gain in children, the biological or behavioral mechanisms are poorly understood.

Objective: The objectives of the Family Stress Study are to examine behavioral and biological pathways through which chronic stress exposure (including stress from COVID-19) may be associated with adiposity in young children, and to determine if factors such as child sex, caregiver-child relationship quality, caregiver education, and caregiver self-regulation moderate the association between chronic stress and child adiposity.

Timing of Red Blood Cell Transfusions and Occurrence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Observational studies often report that anemia and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are associated with a higher risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) among extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) infants.

Objective: To evaluate whether there is a temporal association between 72-hour hazard periods of exposure to RBC transfusions and NEC among ELBW infants randomized to either higher or lower hemoglobin transfusion thresholds.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This post hoc secondary analysis of 1690 ELBW infants who survived to postnatal day 10 enrolled in the Transfusion of Prematures (TOP) randomized multicenter trial between December 1, 2012, and April 12, 2017, was performed between June 2021 and July 2023.

Characteristics of Abdominal Visceral Adipose Tissue, Metabolic Health and the Gut Microbiome in Adults.

Context: Compared with the relatively benign effects of increased subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume is a causal risk factor for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In rodents, increased VAT volume and triglyceride density and ectopic lipid accumulation in kidneys and liver have been induced by alterations in the gut microbiome. However, few studies have characterized these relationships in humans.

Attrition from paediatric weight management impacts anthropometric outcomes at 2 years, but not health-related quality of life.

The study objective is to evaluate the influence of attrition from a paediatric weight management program (PWM) on health indicators over a 2-year period. In this observational study, children and youth with obesity were recruited at entry into a family-based behaviour modification PWM and had four research study visits, independent of clinic visits, over 2 years. Participants were divided into attrition groups based on length of clinic enrolment.

Anthologizing Gwen Flager's plays in southern lesbian theater.

With limited anthologizing of southern United States lesbian theater, the purpose of this article is twofold: to anthologize the work of Gwen Flager, self-identified southern lesbian playwright and to interpret Flager's work as intentionally disruptive to gender and sexual norms through humor and a centering of southern lesbian identity. Flager is an award-winning playwright with U.S.

Diagnosis and management of isolated neutropenia: A survey of pediatric hematologist oncologists.

Background: Isolated neutropenia is a common referral to pediatric hematology oncology (PHO) physicians. There are no established consensus guidelines in the diagnosis and management of patients with isolated, asymptomatic, and incidentally discovered neutropenia.

Methods: A survey was distributed to PHO physicians on the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology member discussion page to determine the common diagnostic and management decisions regarding patients with isolated neutropenia and to explore beliefs regarding the term "benign ethnic neutropenia.

Growth and body composition trajectories in infants meeting the WHO growth standards study requirements.

Background: While the World Health Organization (WHO) developed postnatal growth standards for infants, corresponding body composition data remains scarce. This study explores growth and body composition trajectories in infants meeting the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) eligibility criteria.

Study Design: Infants enrolled in this longitudinal cohort underwent anthropometric and body composition measurement by air displacement plethysmography (ADP) at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 5 months postnatally.

Impaired Cold-Stimulated Supraclavicular Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Young Boys With Obesity.

Childhood obesity is a growing worldwide problem. In adults, lower cold-induced brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity is linked to obesity and metabolic dysfunction; this relationship remains uncertain in children. In this cross-sectional study, we compared cold-induced supraclavicular (SCV) BAT activity (percent change in proton density fat fraction [PDFF]) within the SCV region after 1 h of whole-body cold exposure (18°C), using MRI in 26 boys aged 8-10 years: 13 with normal BMI and 13 with overweight/obesity.

Bloom where you are planted: Hemangioma or malignancy?

Vascular anomalies comprise a spectrum of disorders characterized by the abnormal development or growth of blood and lymphatic vessels. These growths have unique features and diverse behaviors, mandating a multidisciplinary approach in their evaluation, diagnosis, and management. Here we describe the case of a male toddler presenting with an abdominal mass, originally treated as a metastatic retroperitoneal tumor, but subsequently felt to represent a vascular anomaly.

Lower brown adipose tissue activity is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease but not changes in the gut microbiota.

In rodents, lower brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity is associated with greater liver steatosis and changes in the gut microbiome. However, little is known about these relationships in humans. In adults (n = 60), we assessed hepatic fat and cold-stimulated BAT activity using magnetic resonance imaging and the gut microbiota with 16S sequencing.

Infants' First Solid Foods: Impact on Gut Microbiota Development in Two Intercontinental Cohorts.

The introduction of solid foods is an important dietary event during infancy that causes profound shifts in the gut microbial composition towards a more adult-like state. Infant gut bacterial dynamics, especially in relation to nutritional intake remain understudied. Over 2 weeks surrounding the time of solid food introduction, the day-to-day dynamics in the gut microbiomes of 24 healthy, full-term infants from the Baby, Food & Mi and LucKi-Gut cohort studies were investigated in relation to their dietary intake.

Persistence of Suspected Probiotic Organisms in Preterm Infant Gut Microbiota Weeks After Probiotic Supplementation in the NICU.

Probiotics are becoming a prevalent supplement to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in infants born preterm. However, little is known about the ability of these live bacterial supplements to colonize the gut or how they affect endogenous bacterial strains and the overall gut community. We capitalized on a natural experiment resulting from a policy change that introduced the use of probiotics to preterm infants in a single Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Grip strength is lower in adults born with extremely low birth weight compared to term-born controls.

Background: Grip strength predicts long-term morbidity and mortality in adults. We compared grip strength in adults born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW; under 1 kg) and a normal birth weight control group (NBW) and describe change in grip strength over a 10-year period in a longitudinal cohort study of preterm birth.

Methods: Grip strength, body composition, and device-measured physical activity were assessed in 95 mature adults (MA) born ELBW (age 31.

MRI Reveals Human Brown Adipose Tissue Is Rapidly Activated in Response to Cold.

Context: In rodents, cold exposure induces the activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and the induction of intracellular triacylglycerol (TAG) lipolysis. However, in humans, the kinetics of supraclavicular (SCV) BAT activation and the potential importance of TAG stores remain poorly defined.

Objective: To determine the time course of BAT activation and changes in intracellular TAG using MRI assessment of the SCV ( BAT depot) and fat in the posterior neck region ( non-BAT).

Intrapartum antibiotics for GBS prophylaxis alter colonization patterns in the early infant gut microbiome of low risk infants.

Early life microbial colonization and succession is critically important to healthy development with impacts on metabolic and immunologic processes throughout life. A longitudinal prospective cohort was recruited from midwifery practices to include infants born at full term gestation to women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Here we compare bacterial community succession in infants born vaginally, with no exposure to antibiotics (n = 53), with infants who were exposed to intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) for Group B Streptococcus (GBS; n = 14), and infants born by C-section (n = 7).

Optimizing the methodology for measuring supraclavicular skin temperature using infrared thermography; implications for measuring brown adipose tissue activity in humans.

The discovery of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adults has sparked interest in its role as a therapeutic target in metabolic disorders. Infrared thermography is a promising way to quantify BAT; however, a standardized methodology has not been established. This study aims to establish a standardized and reproducible protocol to measure thermal response to cold in the supraclavicular area using thermographic imaging.

A comparison of intestinal microbiota in a population of low-risk infants exposed and not exposed to intrapartum antibiotics: The Baby & Microbiota of the Intestine cohort study protocol.

Background: The intestinal microbiota influences metabolic, nutritional, and immunologic processes and has been associated with a broad range of adverse health outcomes including asthma, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Early life exposures may alter the course of gut microbial colonization leading to differences in metabolic and immune regulation throughout life. Although approximately 50 % of low-risk full-term infants born in Canada are exposed to intrapartum antibiotics, little is known about the influence of this common prophylactic treatment on the developing neonatal intestinal microbiota.

Cardiometabolic Health in Adults Born Premature With Extremely Low Birth Weight.

Background: Young adults born with extreme prematurity have increased blood pressure and insulin resistance. This study documents their metabolic health as they enter their fourth decade of life. The study objective was to compare body composition, glycemia, lipid levels, and blood pressure in adults born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) versus age- and sex- matched normal birth weight (NBW) control subjects and to examine related previous and current exposures.

Self-efficacy and outcome expectations in cardiac rehabilitation: associations with women's physical activity.

Objective: Little is known regarding the social-cognitive correlates of physical activity (PA) during and after cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in a female sample. The objective of the current study was to identify distinct trajectories for task self-efficacy, barrier self-efficacy, and outcome expectations and examine their association with PA.

Method: A total of 203 women with cardiovascular disease completed a survey that included the self-efficacy, outcome-expectation, and PA measures at the beginning and end of CR, and 6 and 12 months after completing CR.

Exercise trajectories of women from entry to a 6-month cardiac rehabilitation program to one year after discharge.

Background: Physical activity is associated with reduced mortality and morbidity. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an effective intervention for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Unfortunately, women are less likely to engage in, or sustain, regular physical activity.

Cognitive function and self-care management in older patients with heart failure.

Aims: People with heart failure have difficulty with self-care management. We do not know if patients with heart failure have difficulty with self-care management due to underlying, mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The purpose of this study was to determine whether MCI, as identified on a simple screening tool, is significantly associated with self-care management in a sample of community dwelling older patients with heart failure.

Effect of cement fill ratio in loosening of hip implants.

Femoral loosening is one of the most prevalent causes of revision orthopedic surgeries. Cement mantle thickness has been directly correlated with femoral loosening. If the mantle is too thick, there is an increased risk of radiolucent lines and inconsistent densities.

Nonischemic chest pain following successful percutaneous coronary intervention at a regional referral centre in southern Ontario.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predispose individuals to nonischemic chest pain following successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: We prospectively followed, for 6 months, a cohort of 110 patients who underwent PCI. We determined baseline factors associated with post PCI pain via nonlinear mixed model regression; a binomial distribution with logit link was used.

Stroke prevention care delivery: predictors of risk factor management outcomes.

Background: Internationally, the development and implementation of stroke care guidelines have resulted in the evolution of stroke prevention outpatient clinics designed to accelerate patient access to treatment and behavioral risk reduction following transient ischemic attack or stroke.

Objectives: To examine the extent to which selected demographic, social-psychological, physiological, and adherence characteristics predicted achievement of blood pressure and glucose targets in a group of patients referred to a Canadian stroke prevention clinic with confirmed transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke and hypertension and/or diabetes.

Participants: A total of 313, English speaking, adult patients who were referred from family or emergency department physicians to a stroke prevention clinic provided demographic data and received social-psychological screening testing at intake.