Calcium, dairy products, and energy balance in overweight adolescents: a controlled trial.

Background: Dairy product and calcium consumption have been associated with modifying body fat and body weight in children and adults.

Objective: In overweight adolescent boys and girls, we aimed to determine the effect of the doubling of habitual calcium intake to the recommended intake from dairy or calcium carbonate on energy balance and purported mechanisms including fecal fat excretion, macronutrient use, and parathyroid hormone suppression.

Design: Twenty-five girls with a mean (±SD) BMI (in kg/m(2)) of 33 ± 5 and 17 boys with a BMI of 28 ± 5, aged 12-15 y, participated in two 3-wk controlled feeding sessions that used a crossover design in random order as a summer research camp.

Obesity augments calcium-induced increases in skeletal calcium retention in adolescents.

Context: Overweight adolescents have low bone mineral content for weight and are at increased risk for fractures.

Objective: The aim was to determine whether overweight and obesity influence the positive relationship between dietary calcium intake and skeletal calcium retention in adolescents.

Design: Analysis of pooled data from calcium balance studies in adolescents.

Fructo-oligosaccharides and calcium absorption and retention in adolescent girls.

Background: Several studies have shown a positive effect of fructo-oligosaccharides on calcium absorption and retention in animals and humans. Effects of levels of these pre-biotics that can be functionally incorporated into manufactured foods, have not been studied in controlled feeding studies.

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of 9 g/d of fructo-oligosaccharides as part of a controlled diet on calcium absorption and retention in adolescent girls.

Calcium requirements and metabolism in Chinese-American boys and girls.

Calcium requirements of North American adolescents were set at 1300 mg/day based on data from white girls. Calcium requirements for Asian-American adolescents have not been studied. Using metabolic balance protocols and a range in calcium intakes, skeletal calcium retention was determined in Chinese-American adolescents.

Are complex psychotherapies more effective than biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both? A meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 26 studies was conducted to assess whether more complex forms of psychotherapy would be superior to control treatments of either biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both. Consistent with hypotheses, more complex treatments provided a small, significant improvement over biofeedback and progressive muscle relaxation (r = .09).

Processing abilities associated with math skills in adult learning disability.

This study evaluated college adults (N = 138) referred for learning problems using a Cattell-Horn-Carroll based intelligence measure (Woodcock Johnson-Revised: WJ-R) and spatial and executive function neuropsychological measures to determine processing abilities underlying math skills. Auditory and visual perceptual (WJ-R Ga and Gv), long- and short-memory (WJ-R Glr and Gsm), crystallized and fluid intellectual (WJ-R Gc and Gf), and spatial and executive function (Judgment of Line Orientation [JLO] and Category Test) measures differentiated those with and without math deficits. Multiple regression revealed selective processing abilities (Gf, JLO, and Category) predicting about 16% of the variance in math skills after variance associated with general intelligence (also about 16%) was removed.

Processing abilities associated with phonologic and orthographic skills in adult learning disability.

Measures of orthographic and phonologic skills were related to co-normed Woodcock Johnson-Revised (WJ-R) cognitive measures in 138 college age, learning problem adults. Only orthographic deficits were associated with a processing disorder (p<.001).

Effects of September 11 on patients with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA were investigated in 25 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and 27 normal controls 4-6 months after the attacks. Participants completed a 15-item questionnaire to retrospectively assess changes in mood, cognition, behavior and somatic complaints since September 11, 2001. Overall, both patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and normal controls reported minor changes in mood, behavior and somatic complaints.

Sonic hedgehog patterning in chick neural plate is antagonized by a Wnt3-like signal.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) patterns the dorsal-ventral axis of the neural tube by promoting the differentiation of ventral neural cell types while suppressing dorsal neural fates. Other signals impinge upon the Shh response, biasing the differentiation of a cell. Three dorsally expressed transforming Wnts, of which the most broadly expressed is Wnt3, may be among the signals that influence the Shh response.

Wnt signaling is required at distinct stages of development for the induction of the posterior forebrain.

One of the earliest manifestations of anteroposterior pattering in the developing brain is the restricted expression of Six3 and Irx3 in the anterior and posterior forebrain, respectively. Consistent with the role of Wnts as posteriorizing agents in neural tissue, we found that Wnt signaling was sufficient to induce Irx3 and repress Six3 expression in forebrain explants. The position of the zona limitans intrathalamica (zli), a boundary-cell population that develops between the ventral (vT) and dorsal thalamus (dT), is predicted by the apposition of Six3 and Irx3 expression domains.