Food branding and young children's taste preferences: a reassessment.

Objectives: This study examines the effects of branding and packaging on young children's taste preferences.

Methods: Preschool children aged 3 to 5 (n=65) tasted five pairs of identical foods in packaging from McDonald's and in matched packaging that was either plain, Starbucks-branded, or colourful (but unbranded). Children were asked if the foods tasted the same or if one tasted better.

Toddler foods, children's foods: assessing sodium in packaged supermarket foods targeted at children.

Objective: To critically examine child-oriented packaged food products sold in Canada for their sodium content, and to assess them light of intake recommendations, the current policy context and suggested targets.

Design: Baby/toddler foods (n 186) and child-oriented packaged foods (n 354) were coded for various attributes (including sodium). Summary statistics were created for sodium, then the children's food products were compared with the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) 'targets' for sodium in packaged foods.

Development of a mathematical model of the human circulatory system.

A mathematical lumped parameter model of the human circulatory system (HCS) has been developed to complement in vitro testing of ventricular assist devices. Components included in this model represent the major parts of the systemic HCS loop, with all component parameters based on physiological data available in the literature. Two model configurations are presented in this paper, the first featuring elements with purely linear constitutive relations, and the second featuring nonlinear constitutive relations for the larger vessels.