Food Insecurity Knowledge and Training Among College Students in Health Majors.

Objective: To describe current food insecurity (FI)-related training among nutrition/dietetics, public health, and social work students.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was used among students (n = 306) enrolled in health-related programs at 12 US universities. Participants reported FI-related course-based and extracurricular experiences and rated confidence to address FI on a scale of 1-3.

Food security as a basic need: College students need greater support from institutional administration.

Food insecurity among college students has become a growing concern, with reports documenting its prevalence for over a decade. As the demographics of university and college students change, with more first-generation, nontraditional, and minority students, the risk of food insecurity is heightened. This viewpoint contends that food security is an essential basic need among college students, and when left unmet, it significantly impacts their well-being, resulting in an increased risk of poor academic performance or departure from higher education before degree completion.

Advancing college food security: priority research gaps.

Despite over a decade of both quantitative and qualitative studies, food insecurity among US college/university students remains a pervasive problem within higher education. The purpose of this perspective piece was to highlight research gaps in the area of college food insecurity and provide rationale for the research community to focus on these gaps going forward. A group of food insecurity researchers from a variety of higher education institutions across the United States identified five thematic areas of research gaps: screening and estimates of food insecurity; longitudinal changes in food insecurity; impact of food insecurity on broader health and academic outcomes; evaluation of impact, sustainability and cost effectiveness of existing programmes and initiatives; and state and federal policies and programmes.

Campus-based programmes to address food insecurity vary in leadership, funding and evaluation strategies.

College food insecurity is a known detriment to student success, but little is known about the implementation of campus-based programmes to help address this issue on campus in the United States. The objective of this research study was to determine the types of food insecurity initiatives implemented and assess how such programmes are managed, funded, and evaluated. A cross-sectional, 23-item online survey was administered among individuals involved with campus food insecurity initiatives identified through professional networks.

β-Cryptoxanthin-Biofortified Hen Eggs Enhance Vitamin A Status When Fed to Male Mongolian Gerbils.

Background: Consumption of provitamin A carotenoid biofortified crops, such as maize, supports vitamin A (VA) status in animals and humans. Laying hens that consume β-cryptoxanthin-biofortified maize deposit β-cryptoxanthin into egg yolk.

Objective: We investigated whether β-cryptoxanthin-biofortified egg consumption would affect VA status of male Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) compared with white-yolked eggs.

Lysophosphatidic Acid Stimulates Urokinase Receptor (uPAR/CD87) in Ovarian Epithelial Cancer Cells.

Background/aim: Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive lipid positively linked with ovarian cancer progression. The multi-functional urokinase receptor (uPAR), a cell-surface glycoprotein, binds and facilitates activation of uPA and laterally regulates integrin and tyrosine kinase receptor activities in promotion of cell migration and invasion. We hypothesized that LPA stimulates uPAR expression and activity in ovarian epithelial cancer cells.

Healthy birth weight results in higher vitamin A storage in neonate piglets administered high-dose supplements.

A proposed intervention for newborn infants in countries with suspected vitamin A (VA) deficiency is to administer 50,000 IU retinyl palmitate at birth to reduce mortality risk. However, no studies have investigated birth weight effects. In this study, low birth weight (LBW; <1 kg, n = 18) and healthy birth weight (HBW) piglets (>1.

Biofortified orange maize enhances β-cryptoxanthin concentrations in egg yolks of laying hens better than tangerine peel fortificant.

The xanthophyll β-cryptoxanthin provides vitamin A and has other purported health benefits. Laying hens deposit xanthophyll carotenoids into egg yolk. Hens (n = 8/group) were fed conventional-bred high β-cryptoxanthin biofortified (orange) maize, tangerine peel-fortified white maize, lutein-fortified yellow maize, or white maize for 40 d to investigate yolk color changes using L*a*b* scales, yolk carotenoid enhancement, and hen vitamin A status.

High-provitamin A carotenoid (Orange) maize increases hepatic vitamin A reserves of offspring in a vitamin A-depleted sow-piglet model during lactation.

The relationship of dietary vitamin A transfer from mother to fetus is not well understood. The difference in swine offspring liver reserves was investigated between single-dose vitamin A provided to the mother post-conception compared with continuous provitamin A carotenoid dietary intake from biofortified (enhanced provitamin A) orange maize (OM) fed during gestation and lactation. Vitamin A-depleted sows were fed OM (n = 5) or white maize (WM) + 1.

Establishing a molecular relationship between chondritic and cometary organic solids.

Multidimensional solid-state NMR spectroscopy is used to refine the identification and abundance determination of functional groups in insoluble organic matter (IOM) isolated from a carbonaceous chondrite (Murchison, CM2). It is shown that IOM is composed primarily of highly substituted single ring aromatics, substituted furan/pyran moieties, highly branched oxygenated aliphatics, and carbonyl groups. A pathway for producing an IOM-like molecular structure through formaldehyde polymerization is proposed and tested experimentally.