Is the Balanced School Day truly balanced? A review of the impacts on children, families, and school food environments.

Background: The Balanced School Day (BSD) is a scheduling policy that has the potential to impact children's food behaviors because students are provided with two 20-minute eating opportunities versus the traditional 20-minute lunch.

Methods: We aim to raise awareness of this grassroots academic policy and its potential consequences to inform future decision making and minimize potential unintended negative health consequences.

Results: While there is limited research on this schedule, it has been shown that there is less time lost in transition from classroom to recess.

Contractile activity of lymphatic vessels is altered in the TNBS model of guinea pig ileitis.

The ability of the lymphatic system to actively remove fluid from the interstitium is critical to the resolution of edema. The response of the lymphatics to inflammatory situations is poorly studied, so we examined mesenteric lymphatic contractile activity in the 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) model of guinea pig ileitis, a well-accepted animal model of intestinal inflammation, by videomicroscopy in vivo and in vitro 1, 3, and 6 days after induction of ileitis. Lymphatic function (diameter, constriction frequency, amplitude of constrictions, and calculated stroke volume and lymph flow rate) of isolated vessels from TNBS-treated guinea pigs were impaired compared with sham-treated controls.

Lymphatic vessel contractile activity and intestinal inflammation.

Edema is a consistent observation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and immune responses are inevitable in inflammation. Because the lymphatic system is an integral part of both tissue fluid homeostasis and immune reactions, it is likely that lymphatics play a role in the complex etiology of IBD. Despite the consistent findings that the lymphatic system is altered during gastrointestinal inflammation, the majority of studies conducted on the disease only mention the lymphatic system in passing.