Real world evidence on the characteristics of regular and intermittent users of a very-low calorie diet program and associations with measures of program success, health, and quality of life.

Background: Very low-calorie diet (VLCD) programs are readily available in Australia. However, there is a lack of real-world evidence describing the characteristics related to positive outcomes.

Aims: To examine the demographic, eating, self-efficacy and program engagement characteristics of VLCD users in Australia, and the associations between user characteristics and program success, weight loss, quality of life (QOL) and health.

Association between disordered eating and clinical outcomes following a surgical or endoscopic bariatric procedure: A real-world exploratory study.

Problem: Disordered eating, such as binge, graze, and emotional eating, has been strongly linked to weight gain. Improved understanding of disordered eating by adults who elect bariatric weight loss procedures in a real-world setting is required.

Purpose: To determine the association between the number and type of disordered eating patterns (DEPs), as described by healthcare professionals during routine care without standardized assessment, with clinical outcomes in adults who elected a bariatric weight loss procedure.

The Impact of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy on Physical Performance.

Context: The inclusion of transgender people in elite sport has been a topic of debate. This narrative review examines the impact of gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) on physical performance, muscle strength, and markers of endurance.

Evidence Acquisition: MEDLINE and Embase were searched using terms to define the population (transgender), intervention (GAHT), and physical performance outcomes.

Uncovering the effects of gender affirming hormone therapy on skeletal muscle and epigenetics: protocol for a prospective matched cohort study in transgender individuals (the GAME study).

Introduction: Gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) is increasingly used by transgender individuals and leads to shifts in sex hormone levels. Skeletal muscle is highly responsive to hormone activity, with limited data on the effects of GAHT on different human tissues. Here, we present the protocol for the GAME study (the effects of ender ffirming hormone therapy on skeletal uscle training and pigenetics), which aims to uncover the effects of GAHT on skeletal muscle 'omic' profiles (methylomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and markers of skeletal muscle health and fitness.

Implementation of multiple statistical methods to estimate variability and individual response to training.

Multiple statistical methods have been proposed to estimate individual responses to exercise training; yet, the evaluation of these methods is lacking. We compared five of these methods including the following: the use of a control group, a control period, repeated testing during an intervention, a reliability trial and a repeated intervention. Apparently healthy males from the Gene SMART study completed a 4-week control period, 4 weeks of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), >1 year of washout, and then subsequently repeated the same 4 weeks of HIIT, followed by an additional 8 weeks of HIIT.

Vegetable content & variety of convenience cooking product recipes: an online audit of Australian supermarket products.

ABSTARCTMeal/recipe bases are low-cost and popular convenience cooking products, requiring limited preparation time and cooking skills. Back-of-pack recipes provided on these products could help encourage vegetable consumption; however, the vegetable content of these recipes has not been examined. Therefore, an audit was conducted of recipes provided on recipe/meal bases ( = 91) sold online at two Australian supermarkets.

Dimensions of hospital workplace violence: Patient violence towards the healthcare team.

Aims And Objectives: To investigate the cognitive dimensions nurses use when perceiving patient-to-healthcare provider workplace violence.

Background: The concept of workplace violence, especially with respect to healthcare settings, has been well documented. Healthcare workers are at particular risk for experiencing violence from their patients, though these incidents often go unreported.

Biophysical evidence to support and extend the vitamin D-folate hypothesis as a paradigm for the evolution of human skin pigmentation.

Objective: To test the "vitamin D-folate hypothesis for the evolution of human skin pigmentation."

Methods: Total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) satellite data were used to examine surface UV-irradiance in a large (n = 649) Australian cross-sectional study population. Genetic analysis was used to score vitamin D- and folate-related gene polymorphisms (n = 22), along with two pigmentation gene variants (IRF4-rs12203592/HERC2-rs12913832).

Correlations between Self-Reported Cooking Confidence and Creativity and Use of Convenience Cooking Products in an Australian Cohort.

Background: Most Australians do not meet vegetable intake recommendations. Vegetables are most often consumed in evening meals. However, they often require preparation and therefore cooking skills.

Independent and Interactive Influences of Environmental UVR, Vitamin D Levels, and Folate Variant -rs2236225 on Homocysteine Levels.

Elevated homocysteine (Hcy) levels are a risk factor for vascular diseases. Recently, increases in ultraviolet radiation (UVR) have been linked to decreased Hcy levels. This relationship may be mediated by the status of UVR-responsive vitamins, vitamin D and folate, and/or genetic variants influencing their levels; however, this has yet to be examined.

Distribution of variants in multiple vitamin D-related loci (DHCR7/NADSYN1, GC, CYP2R1, CYP11A1, CYP24A1, VDR, RXRα and RXRγ) vary between European, East-Asian and Sub-Saharan African-ancestry populations.

Background: The frequency of vitamin D-associated gene variants appear to reflect changes in long-term ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) environment, indicating interactions exist between the primary determinant of vitamin D status, UVB exposure and genetic disposition. Such interactions could have health implications, where UVB could modulate the impact of vitamin D genetic variants identified as disease risk factors. However, the current understanding of how vitamin D variants differ between populations from disparate UVB environments is limited, with previous work examining a small pool of variants and restricted populations only.

Environmental UVR Levels and Skin Pigmentation Gene Variants Associated with Folate and Homocysteine Levels in an Elderly Cohort.

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a ubiquitous exposure which may contribute to decreased folate levels. Skin pigmentation mediates the biological effect of UVR exposure, but its relationship to folate levels is unexamined. Interactions may exist between UVR and pigmentation genes in determining folate status, which may, in turn, impact homocysteine levels, a potential risk factor for multiple chronic diseases.

Early lifecycle UV-exposure calibrates adult vitamin D metabolism: Evidence for a developmentally originated vitamin D homeostat that may alter related adult phenotypes.

Objectives: Within the Developmental Origins of Adult Disease (DOHaD) model, early life environmental exposures can confer a long-term legacy on human health. This mechanism may be adaptive or maladaptive depending on lifestyle circumstances. This article examines the role of first trimester UV-exposure on late-life vitamin D levels, and potentially related adaptive and maladaptive phenotypes (height and osteoporosis respectively).

Reply: "Comment on: The Vitamin D⁻Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas, , , 554".

We thank Elias and Williams for their interest in our review [...

Vitamin D and folate: A reciprocal environmental association based on seasonality and genetic disposition.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was (1) to elucidate any reciprocal seasonal relationship that might exist between red cell folate (RCF) and serum vitamin D Levels; (2) to explore whether folate-related gene variants that influence/alter DNA-thymidylate and methyl group biosynthesis modify any associations detected in objective 1; and (3) to consider whether these processes might influence reproductive success consistent with the "folate-vitamin D-UV hypothesis of skin pigmentation" evolutionary model.

Methods: A large (n = 649) Australian cross-sectional study population was examined. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used to genotype C677T-MTHFR, C1420T-SHMT, T401C-MTHFD and 2R > 3R-TS.

Photobiology of vitamins.

This review explores contemporary ideas about the relationship between light exposure and vitamin biology. Nutritional biochemistry has long recognized the relationship between vitamins A and D and light exposure, but in recent years other vitamins have also been implicated in photoresponsive biological mechanisms that influence health, well-being, and even evolutionary processes. Interactions between light and vitamins can modify genotype-phenotype relationships across the life cycle, providing a basis for interesting new explanations relevant to wide aspects of human biology.

The Vitamin D⁻Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas.

Vitamin D is unique in being generated in our skin following ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Ongoing research into vitamin D must therefore always consider the influence of UVR on vitamin D processes. The close relationship between vitamin D and UVR forms the basis of the “vitamin D⁻folate hypothesis”, a popular theory for why human skin colour has evolved as an apparent adaption to UVR environments.

Frequency of folate-related polymorphisms varies by skin pigmentation.

Objectives: Folate-mediated 1-carbon transfer processes are vital in human health but are susceptible to independent and interactive influences of genetic variance and environmental exposures. Evidence suggests folate levels may be impacted by genetic variance and environmental UVR, with the effect of UVR levels influenced in part by degree of skin pigmentation. Folate-related genes are also influenced by UVR levels; however, the potential relationship between key folate-related genes and skin pigmentation has not yet been explored.

VDR gene methylation as a molecular adaption to light exposure: Historic, recent and genetic influences.

Objectives: The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a member of the nuclear receptor family of transcription factors. We examined whether degree of VDR gene methylation acts as a molecular adaptation to light exposure. We explored this in the context of photoperiod at conception, recent UV irradiance at 305 nm, and gene-latitude effects.

UV-associated decline in systemic folate: implications for human nutrigenetics, health, and evolutionary processes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine whether UV exposure alters folate status according to C677T-MTHFR genotype, and to consider the relevance of this to human health and the evolutionary model of skin pigmentation.

Methods: Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite data were used to examine surface UV-irradiance, as a marker of UV exposure, in a large (n = 649) Australian cross-sectional study population. PCR/RFLP analysis was used to genotype C677T-MTHFR.

Vitamin D Receptor Genotype Modulates the Correlation between Vitamin D and Circulating Levels of let-7a/b and Vitamin D Intake in an Elderly Cohort.

Background And Aims: Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are linked to disease and are potential biomarkers. Vitamin D may modulate miRNA profiles, and vitamin D status has been linked to risk of disease, including cardiovascular disease and cancers. We hypothesise that genotypic variance influences these relationships.