An integrated parenting intervention for maternal depression and child development in a low-resource setting: Cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Rates of depression among Pakistani mothers are high, leading to poor developmental outcomes in their children. This study tested the effectiveness of a manualized integrated parenting program; Learning through Play Plus (LTP+) for maternal depression in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods: A cluster randomized control trial conducted from January 2014 to December 2015 across 120 villages in Karachi.

Perceived environmental supports for fruit and vegetable consumption among older adults in the US.

Background: The physical and social environments surrounding food, whether perceived or observed, can influence consumers' food choices by changing food access, and affordability, or by changing settings where food-related behaviors occur.

Aim: To describe older adults' perceived food environment, identify the most important sites and factors that enable healthy eating, and explore older adults' recommendations for communities to facilitate fruit and vegetable consumption.

Methods: Participants aged 60 and older from metropolitan areas in Massachusetts, Iowa, and Illinois completed a researcher-administered survey to rate the perceived environment including accessibility, availability, and affordability of fruits and vegetables, and perceived importance of factors and establishments related to fruit and vegetable consumption.

Efficacy of learning through play plus intervention to reduce maternal depression in women with malnourished children: A randomized controlled trial from Pakistan.

Background: The risk factors and adverse outcomes related to maternal depression and child malnutrition are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) including Pakistan. Above 25% of women suffer from maternal depression. Up to 50% children are under-nourished which contributes to 35% of all under-5 deaths in the country.

Insight into Health Care Outcomes for Persons Living with Heart Failure Using Health Data Analytics.

The Integrated Funding Model (IFM) is designed to measure the impact of a bundled model of health care for patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) for a period of 60 days post discharge. CHF is a primary reason for patient admissions. The goal of this study is to gain insight into the effectiveness of the IFM pathway intervention on health care outcomes for persons living with CHF, using Health data Analytics.

Community Priorities for Healthy Eating in Older Adults.

Community planners such as policymakers and health care and nutrition service providers can create an "age-friendly" environment to support healthy eating in older residents by addressing the highest priorities that enable older adults to improve their dietary intake through different food-related community settings. To identify and prioritize these factors that facilitate behavioral change (enablers) and behavioral settings important for older adult nutrition based on the social ecological model, nutrition and aging professionals (n = 30) from two rural (West Virginia, Iowa) and two urban (Massachusetts, New York) city/county regions (communities) participated in an online or live focus group discussion and completed an analytic hierarchy process survey online. Overall, the most important perceived enablers were accessibility and cost, followed by transportation and social support, but their relative importance varied by community.

Compliance With Recommended Food Safety Practices in Television Cooking Shows.

Objective: Examine compliance with recommended food safety practices in television cooking shows.

Methods: Using a tool based on the Massachusetts Food Establishment Inspection Report, raters examined 39 episodes from 10 television cooking shows.

Results: Chefs demonstrated conformance with good retail practices for proper use and storage of utensils in 78% of episodes; preventing contamination (62%), and fingernail care (82%).

Package Information Used by Older Adults to Identify Whole Grain Foods.

A structured interview protocol was used to investigate the ability of older adults (n = 89, age ≥ 65 years) to accurately determine whether three common food items were whole grain, and to assess the package information used in their decision process. Cereal and crackers, which were both whole grain products, were correctly identified by 63% and 66% of participants, respectively. Bread (a refined product), was correctly identified by only 19% of participants, while 46% of participants misidentified the bread as being whole grain.

Dietary patterns and their association with hypertension among Pakistani urban adults.

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting more than 25% of adults worldwide. In Pakistan, 33% of the adult population suffers from hypertension. Numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated the critical role of dietary patterns in the causation, prevention and management of hypertension.

Type 2 Diabetes and Depression: Patient, Family Member, and Primary Care Provider Perspectives on the Development of an Integrated Self-Management Intervention.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to engage a local primary care clinic community that serves the Latino immigrant population to obtain their input regarding the design and implementation of a proposed integrated behavioral intervention that will simultaneously target T2DM and depression self-management in this high risk patient population.

Methods: Nine key informant interviews and 3 focus groups were conducted. Key informant interviews were conducted with the medical director, a primary care provider, a diabetes educator, and a medical assistant from each site, as well as the counselor who serves both sites.

Functional MRI of facial emotion processing in left temporal lobe epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may negatively affect the ability to recognize emotions. This study aimed to determine the cortical correlates of facial emotion processing (happy, sad, fearful, and neutral) in patients with well-characterized left TLE (LTLE) and to examine the effect of seizure control on emotion processing. We enrolled 34 consecutive patients with LTLE and 30 matched healthy control (HC) subjects.

Identification of environmental supports for healthy eating in older adults.

Many environmental settings and influences can affect food choices and eating behaviors in the growing population of community-dwelling older adults. Using the Social Ecological model, an expert panel participated in online discussions and an Analytic Hierarchy Process survey to identify the most important and changeable environmental settings and enabling factors that promote healthy eating in older adults. Food stores were rated most important when considering accessibility and affordability.

I thought we were good: social cognition, figurative language, and adolescent psychopathology.

Background: Language has been shown to play a critical role in social cognitive reasoning in preschool and school-aged children, but little research has been conducted with adolescents. During adolescence, the ability to understand figurative language becomes increasingly important for social relationships and may affect social adjustment. This study investigated the contribution of structural and figurative language to social cognitive skills in adolescents who present for mental health services and those who do not.

Higher order language competence and adolescent mental health.

Background: Clinic and community-based epidemiological studies have shown an association between child psychopathology and language impairment. The demands on language for social and academic adjustment shift dramatically during adolescence and the ability to understand the nonliteral meaning in language represented by higher order language becomes essential.

Objectives:  : This article reports on the association between difficulties in higher order language skills, reading, cognition, and social-emotional adjustment in adolescents.

Dietary patterns of Pakistani adults and their associations with sociodemographic, anthropometric and life-style factors.

Dietary pattern analysis is an epidemiological method designed to consider the complexity of food preferences and diet patterns of populations. Few studies from South Asia have used this methodology to describe population food intake. Our objective was to identify dietary patterns and understand their associations with sociodemographic, anthropometric and life-style factors among low-income Pakistani urban adults.

The design, implementation, and evaluation of online credit nutrition courses: a systematic review.

Objective: To assess how postsecondary online nutrition education courses (ONEC) are delivered, determine ONEC effectiveness, identify theoretical models used, and identify future research needs.

Design: Systematic search of database literature.

Setting: Postsecondary education.

Determination of physicochemical characteristics in different products of tomato varieties.

The objective of this work was to study the newly developed and existing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) varieties for physicochemical changes in the fruits in the ripe period. Varieties 'CXD179' and 'CX8401' in fresh and canned, and 'CXD203' and 'CXD276' in paste were found superior with respect to ascorbic acid and antioxidant capacity.

Caenorhabditis elegans ABCRNAi transporters interact genetically with rde-2 and mut-7.

RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms are conserved and consist of an interrelated network of activities that not only respond to exogenous dsRNA, but also perform endogenous functions required in the fine tuning of gene expression and in maintaining genome integrity. Not surprisingly, RNAi functions have widespread influences on cellular function and organismal development. Previously, we observed a reduced capacity to mount an RNAi response in nine Caenorhabditis elegans mutants that are defective in ABC transporter genes (ABC(RNAi) mutants).

Children adopted from China: a prospective study of their growth and development.

Background: China has become a lead country for international adoption because of the relatively young age of the children and reported positive conditions of the orphanages. This study examined the process and outcome of growth and development of children adopted from China over their first two years with their adoptive families.

Method: Seventy infant girls adopted from China at 8 to 21 months of age (Mean age = 13 months) were examined on arrival in Canada and 6, 12, and 24 months later.

Language impairment and psychiatric comorbidities.

This article provides an overview of language impairment and its associated conditions and discusses the interactive relationship between language and other domains of development, using the framework of developmental psychopathology. This framework emphasizes the mutually influential transactions approach between developmental domains within individuals and their environment. How knowledge can be translated to practice is discussed.

Social cognition and externalizing psychopathology: an investigation of the mediating role of language.

The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354 clinic-referred children (aged 7 to 14 years) recruited from a children's mental health centre were tested on measures of language, social cognition, working memory, and child psychopathology.

From nutrition scientist to nutrition communicator: why you should take the leap.

Media reports about new nutrition research are abundant, but they may confuse the public when unqualified sources are quoted, findings are reported out of context, or results appear to contradict previous studies. The nutrition scientist who conducts the research is best qualified to communicate the findings accurately and within context. Yet, some nutrition scientists hesitate to speak out in the media because of barriers such as a lack of time, media skills, and support from administrators or fear that their results will be miscommunicated or sensationalized.

Worker safety and glutaraldehyde in the gastrointestinal lab environment.

Glutaraldehyde is considered a high-level surgical disinfectant commonly used in the United States in gastrointestinal lab environments. Glutaraldehyde requires proper ventilation when used as glutaraldehyde vapors are known irritants to the skin, eyes, nose, and lungs without proper ventilation in the work environment. Vapor concentration is the unit of measurement for the environmental presence of glutaraldehyde.

Office versus operating room insertion of the bone-anchored hearing aid: a comparative analysis.

Background: The Bone-anchored Hearing Aid is indicated for patients with unilateral deafness and/or an irreversible conductive hearing loss. The insertion of this device is usually performed in the operating room under intravenous sedation or general anesthesia. We suggest that the placement of the abutment can occur easily and safely in the clinic setting, reducing time and costs for both the patient and the physician.

Polycystin-2 accelerates Ca2+ release from intracellular stores in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Polycystin-2, a member of the TRP family of calcium channels, is encoded by the human PKD2 gene. Mutations in that gene can lead to swelling of nephrons into the fluid-filled cysts of polycystic kidney disease. In addition to expression in tubular epithelial cells, human polycystin-2 is found in muscle and neuronal cells, but its cell biological function has been unclear.