Detection of targeted perfluorocarbon nanoparticle binding using 19F diffusion weighted MR spectroscopy.

Real-time detection of targeted contrast agent binding is challenging due to background signal from unbound agent. (19)F diffusion weighted MR spectroscopy (DWS) could selectively detect binding of angiogenesis-targeted perfluorocarbon nanoparticles in vivo. Transgenic K14-HPV16 mice with epidermal squamous carcinomas exhibiting up-regulated neovasculature were used, with nontransgenic littermates as controls.

Economic evaluation of a primary care trial to reduce weight gain in overweight/obese children: the LEAP trial.

Background: A common policy response to the childhood obesity epidemic is to recommend that primary care physicians screen for and offer counseling to the overweight/obese. As the literature suggests, this approach may be ineffective; it is important to document the opportunity costs incurred by brief primary care obesity interventions that ultimately may not alter body mass index (BMI) trajectory.

Methods: Live, Eat and Play (LEAP) was a randomized controlled trial of a brief secondary prevention intervention delivered by family physicians in 2002-2003 that targeted overweight/mildly obese children aged 5 to 9 years.

Family and carer smoking control programmes for reducing children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.

Background: Children's exposure to other people's cigarette smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS) is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes for children. Parental smoking is a common source of children's exposure to ETS. Preventing exposure to cigarette smoke in infancy and childhood has significant potential to improve children's health worldwide.

Detection and quantification of angiogenesis in experimental valve disease with integrin-targeted nanoparticles and 19-fluorine MRI/MRS.

Background: Angiogenesis is a critical early feature of atherosclerotic plaque development and may also feature prominently in the pathogenesis of aortic valve stenosis. It has been shown that MRI can detect and quantify specific molecules of interest expressed in cardiovascular disease and cancer by measuring the unique fluorine signature of appropriately targeted perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanoparticles. In this study, we demonstrated specific binding of alphanubeta3 integrin targeted nanoparticles to neovasculature in a rabbit model of aortic valve disease.

UNCROC and the prevention of childhood obesity: the right not to have food advertisements on television.

This article discusses how legal rights-based discourse could inform the response of Australian State and federal governments to the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity. The authors contend that the principles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (a treaty which has been ratified but not implemented) are capable of providing a basis for a legislative program to prevent childhood obesity. It is argued that an approach to legislation which is grounded on the basis of children's rights would require that there be restrictions on advertising food to children.

The relationship between proxy reported health-related quality of life and parental distress: gender differences.

Objective: Although primary caregiver proxy reports of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are often used for healthcare decision making when child self-reports are unable to be collected (because of a variety of reasons such as child illness, disability or age), we have little understanding of the correlates of parent-proxy reports. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parental depression and parent-proxy reported QOL for primary caregivers (mothers and fathers), using a multidimensional HRQOL instrument. It was hypothesized that maternal depression would be negatively correlated with maternal reported HRQOL, but that paternal depression would not be correlated with paternal reported HRQOL.

Comparative analysis of the small heat shock proteins in three angiosperm genomes identifies new subfamilies and reveals diverse evolutionary patterns.

The small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are a diverse family of molecular chaperones. It is well established that these proteins are crucial components of the plant heat shock response. They also have important roles in other stress responses and in normal development.

Ultrastructural localization of extranuclear progestin receptors in the rat hippocampal formation.

Progesterone's effects on hippocampus-dependent behavior and synaptic connectivity maybe mediated through the progestin receptor (PR). Although estrogen induces PR mRNA and cytosolic PR in the hippocampus, nuclear PR immunoreactivity is undetectable by light microscopy, suggesting that PR is present at extranuclear sites. To determine whether this is the case, we used immunoelectron microscopy to examine PR distribution in the hippocampal formation of proestrus rats.

Ovarian steroids modulate leu-enkephalin levels and target leu-enkephalinergic profiles in the female hippocampal mossy fiber pathway.

In the hippocampal formation (HF), the enkephalin opioids and estrogen are each known to modulate learning and cognitive performance relevant to drug abuse. Within the HF, leu-enkephalin (LENK) is most prominent in the mossy fiber (MF) pathway formed by the axons of dentate gyrus (DG) granule cells. To examine the influence of ovarian steroids on MF pathway LENK levels, we used quantitative light microscopic immunocytochemistry to evaluate LENK levels in normal cycling rats and in estrogen-treated ovariectomized rats.

Over and undernutrition in the children of Australian immigrants: Assessing the influence of birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home on the nutritional status of 4-5-year-olds.

Objective: To document the relationship between childhood nutrition status and ethnicity (defined as the birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home) using a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children.

Design And Participants: Cross-sectional population survey of 4 983 4- to 5-year-old children (2 537 boys and 2 446 girls) as part of Wave 1 (2004) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Main Outcome Measures: Overweight/obesity and thinness using the newly published body mass index cut-off points of Cole (2007).

Interventions implemented through sporting organisations for increasing participation in sport.

Background: There is now compelling scientific evidence that increased levels of physical activity can bring wide-ranging health benefits. These benefits can extend beyond physical health to include other positive impacts relating to mental health and personal development. The sport and recreation sector is viewed as a priority area for increasing rates of physical activity.

Policy interventions implemented through sporting organisations for promoting healthy behaviour change.

Background: Sporting organisations provide an important setting for health promotion strategies that involve policies, communication of healthy messages and creation of health promoting environments. The introduction of policy interventions within sporting organisations is one strategy to target high risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, excess sun exposure, unhealthy eating and discrimination.

Objectives: To update a review of all controlled studies evaluating policy interventions organised through sporting settings to increase healthy behaviour (related to smoking, alcohol, healthy eating, sun protection, discrimination, safety and access).

Steroid-induced hippocampal synaptic plasticity: sex differences and similarities.

Early in development, steroid hormones structurally organize various regions of the CNS. However, steroid hormones continue to affect the structure and function of the CNS throughout the life of the individual. In this review, we discuss sex differences and similarities in steroid-induced synaptic plasticity in the adult brain.

Double disadvantage: the influence of ethnicity over socioeconomic position on childhood overweight and obesity: findings from an inner urban population of primary school children.

Objective: To examine the relationship between overweight/obesity in children, socioeconomic status and ethnicity/cultural background.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of children aged 4-13 years.

Setting: A total of 23 primary (elementary) schools in an inner urban municipality of Melbourne, Australia.

Estrous cycle regulates activation of hippocampal Akt, LIM kinase, and neurotrophin receptors in C57BL/6 mice.

Estradiol modulates dendritic spine morphology and synaptic protein expression in the rodent hippocampus, as well as hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. In the rat, these effects may be mediated through nongenomic steroid signaling such as estradiol activation of the Akt and LIM kinase (LIMK) pathways, in addition to genomic signaling involving estradiol upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression (BDNF). Due to the many species differences between mice and rats, including differences in the hippocampal response to estradiol, it is unclear whether estradiol modulates these pathways in the mouse hippocampus.

Randomized trial on the 5 a day, the Rio Grande Way Website, a web-based program to improve fruit and vegetable consumption in rural communities.

The Internet is a new technology for health communication in communities. The 5 a Day, the Rio Grande Way website intended to increase fruits and vegetables (FV) consumption was evaluated in a rural region enrolling 755 adults (65% Hispanic, 9% Native American, 88% female) in a randomized pretest-posttest controlled trial in 2002-2004. A total of 473 (63%) adults completed a 4-month follow-up.

The effectiveness of nutrition interventions on dietary outcomes by relative social disadvantage: a systematic review.

Objective: To determine whether nutrition interventions widen dietary inequalities across socioeconomic status groups.

Design: Systematic review of interventions that aim to promote healthy eating.

Data Sources: CINAHL and MEDLINE were searched between 1990 and 2007.

Primary care funding and organisational policy options and implications: a narrative review of evidence from five comparator countries.

Objective: To review innovative models of primary care in different countries in order to identify potential mechanisms for reforming primary care policy in Australia.

Methods: We conducted a narrative review and synthesis of evidence about models of primary care from four English-speaking comparator countries (New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States) and one European country (The Netherlands), with a particular focus on the relevance and applicability of these models to Australia.

Results: We identified four key mechanisms for bringing about reform in primary care: flexible funding, quality frameworks, regional-level primary care organisations, and primary care infrastructure.

Angiotensin II-induced hypertension differentially affects estrogen and progestin receptors in central autonomic regulatory areas of female rats.

Estrogen receptor (ER) activation in central autonomic nuclei modulates arterial blood pressure (ABP) and counteracts the deleterious effect of hypertension. We tested the hypothesis that hypertension, in turn, influences the expression and trafficking of gonadal steroid receptors in central cardiovascular circuits. Thus, we examined whether ER- and progestin receptor (PR)-immunoreactivity (ir) are altered in medullary and hypothalamic autonomic areas of cycling rats following chronic infusion of the hypertensive agent, angiotensin II (AngII).

Chronic immobilization stress alters aspects of emotionality and associative learning in the rat.

Chronic stress significantly alters limbic neuroarchitecture and function, and potentiates emotionality in rats. Chronic restraint stress (CRS) increases aggression among familiar rats, potentiates anxiety, and enhances fear conditioning. Chronic immobilization stress (CIS) induces anxiety behavior and dendritic hypertrophy in the basolateral amygdala, which persist beyond a recovery period.

CD11c/EYFP transgene illuminates a discrete network of dendritic cells within the embryonic, neonatal, adult, and injured mouse brain.

The CD11c enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) transgenic mouse was constructed to identify dendritic cells in the periphery (Lindquist et al. [2004] Nat. Immunol.

Children's after school activity: associations with weight status and family circumstance.

This study investigated children's after-school activity and associations with body mass index (BMI) and family circumstance. One thousand two hundred thirty-four parents and 854 children (age 8-13 years) completed activity diaries for the 2 hours after school. Parents reported children as more active than children reported themselves.

The recent evolution of a pseudogene: diversity and divergence of a mitochondria-localized small heat shock protein in Arabidopsis thaliana.

In this study we examined the evolution of the genes for three organelle-localized small heat shock proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana: the chloroplast-localized (CP) protein HSP21 and two mitochondria-localized (MT) proteins, HSP23.5 and HSP23.6.