An Evaluation of Primary Care Clinician Referrals for Behavioral Weight Loss Counseling.

Introduction/objectives: In the context of enrolling patients from primary care practices into a weight loss research study, this study describes the percentage of patients primary care clinicians (PCCs) considered appropriate for referral and study participation rates among those referred.

Methods: An electronic health record review identified 5322 patients aged 18 to 75 years with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m as eligible for review by community, attending, and resident PCCs for referral to a weight loss study. Referrals and patient interest in participating in the study are reported overall and by PCC type.

Purified diets containing high levels of soluble fiber and grain-based diets promote similar gastrointestinal morphometry yet distinct microbial communities.

Unlabelled: Dietary fibers play a crucial role in shaping the gut microbiome and influencing gastrointestinal (GI) physiology. Grain-based diets (GBDs) are widely used in rodent studies, but their utility is limited due to batch-to-batch variability resulting from inconsistent ingredients. Purified diets (PDs) are composed of only known and refined ingredients and offer a solution to the constraints of GBDs.

Rural African American Women With Severe Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Lifestyle Behaviors and Psychosocial Characteristics.

Purpose: To examine differences in lifestyle behavioral and psychosocial factors between rural African American women with Class 3 obesity and those with overweight, and Class 1-2 obesity.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Rural Southeastern United States.

Clomifene and Assisted Reproductive Technology in Humans Are Associated with Sex-Specific Offspring Epigenetic Alterations in Imprinted Control Regions.

Children conceived with assisted reproductive technology (ART) have an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including congenital malformations and imprinted gene disorders. In a retrospective North Carolina-based-birth-cohort, we examined the effect of ovulation drugs and ART on CpG methylation in differentially methylated CpGs in known imprint control regions (ICRs). Nine ICRs containing 48 CpGs were assessed for methylation status by pyrosequencing in mixed leukocytes from cord blood.

Associations between maternal obesity, gestational cytokine levels and child obesity in the NEST cohort.

Background: Although maternal systemic inflammation is hypothesized to link maternal pre-pregnancy obesity to offspring metabolic dysfunction, patient empirical data are limited.

Objectives: In this study, we hypothesized that pre-pregnancy obesity alters systemic chemo/cytokines concentrations in pregnancy, and this alteration contributes to obesity in children.

Methods: In a multi-ethnic cohort of 361 mother-child pairs, we measured prenatal concentrations of plasma TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, IL-4, IFN-γ, IL-12 p70 subunit, and IL-17A using a multiplex ELISA and examined associations of pre-pregnancy obesity on maternal chemo/cytokine levels, and associations of these cytokine levels with offspring body mass index z score (BMI-z) at age 2-6 years using linear regression.

Using community-based participatory research principles to develop more understandable recruitment and informed consent documents in genomic research.

Background: Heart Healthy Lenoir is a transdisciplinary project aimed at creating long-term, sustainable approaches to reduce cardiovascular disease risk disparities in Lenoir County, North Carolina using a design spanning genomic analysis and clinical intervention. We hypothesized that residents of Lenoir County would be unfamiliar and mistrustful of genomic research, and therefore reluctant to participate; additionally, these feelings would be higher in African-Americans.

Methodology: To test our hypothesis, we conducted qualitative research using community-based participatory research principles to ensure our genomic research strategies addressed the needs, priorities, and concerns of the community.

In vivo tests of thermodynamic models of transcription repressor function.

One emphasis of the Gibbs Conference on Biothermodynamics is the value of thermodynamic measurements for understanding behaviors of biological systems. In this study, the correlation between thermodynamic measurements of in vitro DNA binding affinity with in vivo transcription repression was investigated for two transcription repressors. In the first system, which comprised an engineered LacI/GalR homolog, mutational changes altered the equilibrium constant for binding DNA.