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Biomedical subjects

A Adamson

Publications and source records attributed to A Adamson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

A questionnaire assessment of nutrition knowledge--validity and reliability issues.

OBJECTIVE: This study describes an evaluation of validity and reliability measures in a questionnaire designed to assess knowledge of applied nutrition in children participating in an after-school care dietary intervention programme being undertaken in an area of high social disadvantage. DESIGN: Three domains were assessed: Knowledge of Applied Nutrition (KN), Knowledge of Food Preparation (KP) and Perceived Confidence in Cooking Skills (PC). Four pilot studies were undertaken to determine item reliability, test-retest reliability, discrimination and difficulty indices, and content, cognitive and face validity. SETTING: Primary schools in Dundee, Scotland and Newcastle upon Tyne, England. SUBJECTS: Ninety-eight children aged 11 years. RESULTS: The final instrument comprised 36 questions (18 KN items, 9 KP items and 9 PC items) presented on four sides of paper, which could be self-completed in less than 15 minutes. Question formatting included open and closed structures (KP) and multiple choice (KN and PC) items. All knowledge questions could be answered correctly by 5 to 95% of the target population, with discrimination scores ranging from 0.06 to 0.83. Retest reliability scores were significant (KN 0.458, KP 0.577, PC 0.381, ) and internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of each component was also significant. CONCLUSION: The test meets basic psychometric criteria for reliability and validity and forms a suitable instrument for measuring changes associated with intervention work aimed at improving food and dietary knowledge.

Child↗
PubMed2000

Risk of cardiovascular disease measured by carotid intima-media thickness at age 49-51: lifecourse study.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the direct and indirect effects of fetal life, childhood, and adult life on risk of cardiovascular disease at age 49-51 years. DESIGN: Follow up study of the "Newcastle thousand families" birth cohort established in 1947. PARTICIPANTS: 154 men and 193 women who completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire and attended for clinical examination between October 1996 and December 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Correlations between mean intima-media thickness of the carotid artery (carotid intima-media thickness) and family history, birth weight, and socioeconomic position around birth; socioeconomic position, growth, illness, and adverse life events in childhood; and adult socioeconomic position, lifestyle, and biological risk markers. Proportions of variance in carotid intima-media thickness that were accounted for by each stage of the lifecourse. RESULTS: Socioeconomic position at birth and birth weight were negatively associated with carotid intima-media thickness, although only social class at birth in women was a statistically significant covariate independent of adult lifestyle. These early life variables accounted directly for 2.2% of total variance in men and 2.0% in women. More variation in carotid intima-media thickness was explained by adult socioeconomic position and lifestyle, which accounted directly and indirectly for 3.4% of variance in men (95% confidence interval 0.5% to 6.2%) and 7.6% in women (2.1% to 13.0%). Biological risk markers measured in adulthood independently accounted for a further 9.5% of variance in men (2.4% to 14.2%) and 4.9% in women (1.6% to 7.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Adult lifestyle and biological risk markers were the most important determinants of the cardiovascular health of the study members of the Newcastle thousand families cohort at age 49-51 years. The limited overall effect of early life factors may reflect the postwar birth year of this cohort.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed2000

Development of a System to Provide Full, Real-time Remote Control of a Scanning Electron Microscope across the Second Generation Internet: The Teaching SEM.

The development and makeup of a real-time full remote control system for the University of Michigan, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Teaching SEM is described. The instrument was initially controlled via the campus local area Ethernet network and cable TV network. The latest implementation employs Fast Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, and moving picture experts group (MPEG) video encoding to effect the remote control via the computer network alone. Remote control demonstrations from Washington, DC, Dearborn, MI, and Emerson School, Ann Arbor, MI are described.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

When complexity helps: an electrophysiological analysis of multiple feature benefits in object perception.

Fournier, L. R., Eriksen, C. W. and Bowd, C. (1998. Multiple feature discrimination faster than single feature discrimination within the same object? Perception & Psychophysics 60, 1384-1405) found that judging the presence of multiple features within an object is faster than judging the presence of the least discriminable of these features alone (multiple feature benefits, MFBs). When an 'absent' response is required, responses are slower when some of the relevant (target) features are present (multiple feature costs, MFCs). The present study utilized psychophysiological measures (of the event-related brain potential and the electromyogram) to determine the contributions of response priming and stimulus evaluation processes (P300 latency) to these effects. P300 latency and reaction time (RT) both showed evidence of MFBs and MFCs. These findings suggest that MFBs and MFCs can be attributed to processing that occurs prior to response selection. No dissociations between P300 latency and RT measures were found for 'present' responses across the single and multiple feature judgements. However, for 'absent' responses, partial dissociations were found between these measures, and partial errors and longer response execution intervals were observed more often when an object contained some target features. These findings suggest that response priming contributes to MFCs, but may not contribute to MFBs.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Proliferation, C-myc, and cyclin D1 expression in diffuse alveolar damage: potential roles in pathogenesis and implications for prognosis.

In this study we compared expression of DNA topoisomerase IIalpha, a marker of cellular proliferation, c-myc, and cyclin D1 in lung biopsy specimens showing diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) with control lung tissues. We subsequently correlated DNA topoisomerase IIalpha, c-myc, and cyclin D1 expression with survival. We hypothesized that poor outcome may correlate with a higher proliferation index, and that c-myc and cyclin D1 activation are potentially important regulators of both proliferation and apoptosis in DAD. Immnuohistochemical stains for c-myc, cyclin D1, and DNA topoisomerase IIalpha were performed on 10 cases of DAD (15 cases for DNA topoisomerase IIalpha) and 10 control lungs. A proliferation index for each case was calculated by dividing the number of nuclei expressing DNA topoisomerase IIalpha by the total number of nuclei counted. The percentages of alveolar pneumocytes and interstitial cells staining positively for c-myc and cyclin D1 were estimated. The average proliferation index (DNA topoisomerase IIalpha index) in DAD (0.16 +/- 0.06, n = 15) was significantly greater than in control lungs (0.00 +/- 0.01, n = 10) (P < .0001). The average proliferation index of patients with DAD who died of respiratory failure (0.18 +/- 0.05, n = 9) was significantly greater than the average proliferation index of patients whose respiratory disease resolved or stabilized (0.11 +/- 0.05, n = 5) (P < .03). Expression of c-myc in alveolar pneumocytes and interstitial cells was more intense and slightly more widespread in cases of DAD compared with control lungs. In 9 of 10 cases of DAD, cyclin D1 expression was present in up to 30% of alveolar pneumocytes and up to 10% of interstitial cells. No staining for cyclin D1 was present in control lungs. These results show that the proliferation index in DAD potentially correlates with patient survival. Furthermore, enhanced expression of c-myc and cyclin D1 may contribute to dysregulation of cellular proliferation and apoptosis observed in DAD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Structure of the human amyloid-precursor-like protein gene APLP1 at 19q13.1.

Amyloid-precursor-like protein 1 (APLP1) is a membrane-associated glycoprotein, whose gene is homologous to the APP gene, which has been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. APLP1 is predominantly expressed in brain, particularly in the cerebral cortex postsynaptic density. The genomic organization of mouse APLP1 has been determined, and the human gene has been mapped to chromosomal region 19q13.1. In the present study, the entire sequence of human APLP1 has been determined from a cosmid clone, and the genomic structure has been determined. The gene is 11.8 kb long and contains 17 exons. We have previously mapped the gene for congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNF) to the APLP1 region, to the vicinity of marker D19S610 located between markers D19S191 and DS19608. APLP1 is the only known gene in the vicinity of the marker D19S610. Because of its location and the proposed interference of amyloid with basement membrane assembly, APLP1 has been considered a candidate gene for CNF. All exon regions of the gene were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced from DNA of CNF patients. No differences were observed between CNF patients and controls, suggesting that mutations in APLP1 are not involved in the etiology of CNF.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The dimensionality of the flanker compatibility effect: a psychophysiological analysis.

The psychophysiological approach was used to evaluate the effects of feature similarity and "intrinsic response mapping" on the flanker compatibility effect. Symbol (e.g., < > < and </<) and letter arrays (e.g., HCH and SCS) were used. Results showed that delays in stimulus evaluation and both peripheral and central response competition contributed to the compatibility effect, with the contribution of these processes depending on feature similarity and the intrinsic response mapping of the stimuli. For letter stimuli, the difference in the size of the compatibility effect for similar and dissimilar arrays could be accounted for in terms of stimulus evaluation. For symbol arrays, differences in size of the compatibility effect could be accounted for by response competition. Thus, symbol and letter arrays do not appear to be processed differently; what is different is the degree to which stimulus and response-related processes are affected by incompatibility.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Associations between dietary intake, dental caries experience and salivary bacterial levels in 12-year-old English schoolchildren.

A population of 328 12-yr-old English schoolchildren, consuming their normal diets, was investigated in a cross-sectional study to determine the interactions between caries experience, oral hygiene status as gingival index (GI), dietary intake (as number of eating events per day and the number of eating events per day at which sugar-containing foodstuffs, confectionery or starch-containing foods were consumed) and salivary levels of caries-associated micro-organisms (mutants streptococci, lactobacilli and yeasts). The mean (+/- SD) decayed, missing and filled surfaces (DMFS) (excluding precavitation lesions) score was 3.05 +/- 3.85 and 5.72 +/- 5.00 (including precavitation lesions). The DMFS scores were significantly related to the salivary levels of caries-associated micro-organisms and to the number of eating events per day for total number of eating events and the number of eating events at which sugar-containing foods or confectionery were consumed. These associations were apparent in both bivariate and partial correlation coefficients with the caries-associated micro-organisms and GI controlled. The total daily intakes of food types, except for starch, were not associated with caries experience. No significant correlations were found between intake of food types and salivary levels of caries-associated micro-organisms except that the mean number of confectionery-eating events was correlated with lactobacillus levels (r = 0.136, p < 0.01). The salivary levels of mutans streptococci, lactobacilli and yeasts were significantly correlated with GI scores. These data do not indicate simple associations between dietary intake, caries and levels of caries-associated micro-organisms. Poor oral hygiene, in children consuming unrestricted diets, may influence the salivary levels of mutans streptococci, lactobacilli and yeasts irrespective of the frequency or amount of sugar consumed. Multiple regression analyses revealed that three variables--GI (probably an indicator of toothbrushing behaviour with a fluoride-containing toothpaste), salivary concentration of lactobacilli and frequency of ingestion of confectionery/sugary foods--were independently and positively related to caries experience.

Child↗
PubMed1996

Dietary sources of calcium and the contribution of flour fortification to total calcium intake in the diets of Northumbrian adolescents.

Increased Ca intake by adolescents is desirable. In order to achieve this, information on the current dietary sources of Ca by this age group is essential to enable change to build on existing habits. This paper addresses two issues: first, the dietary sources of Ca for adolescents are reported and, second, the importance of fortification of flour with Ca to present-day Ca intakes was determined. In 1990 the diets of 379 children aged 12 years were assessed using the 3 d dietary diary and interview method. Computerized food tables were used to calculate the contributions of different food groups to total Ca intake. The Ca content of each food was subdivided into naturally occurring Ca and Ca from fortification, and data were analysed to give the daily intake of each. The four most important sources of Ca were milk (25%), beverages (12%), puddings (10%) and bread (9%). Fortification of flour accounted for 13% of total Ca intake. When the contribution of fortification was removed, the proportion of subjects with intakes of Ca below the lower reference nutrient intake (Department of Health, 1991) increased more than fourfold, to 10% of girls and 12% of boys. Milk is contributing less to Ca intake than in the past and increased consumption should be encouraged. Ca fortification of flour remains an important source of Ca. Therefore, unless dietary habits are modified to ensure adequate Ca from other sources, increased consumption of unfortified products from outside the UK will lead to a further reduction in Ca intake.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Trash penis.

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Aged↗
PubMed1994

Effects of nitrogen concentration and cold temperature on DSP-toxin concentrations in the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima (Prorocentrales, Dinophyceae).

The diarrhetic shellfish poisoning toxin-producing dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum lima, isolated from Nova Scotian waters, contained both okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX-1) throughout its growth cycle in culture; maximum concentrations of toxins and highest OA/DTX-1 ratios occurred during the stationary phase. Cells of P. lima survived 0 degrees C for 5 weeks and recovered when brought to a higher temperature. During the cold period, some cell damage probably occurred with concomitant losses of toxins to the medium. Nitrogen concentration in the medium was used to limit growth or stress the cells physiologically, and when growth was limited, increases in toxin associated with the cells were recorded. The relative amounts of okadaic acid were always greater than dinophysistoxin-1, but the significance of these ratios remains to be determined.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Nutritional intake, height and weight of 11-12-year-old Northumbrian children in 1990 compared with information obtained in 1980.

There is little age-specific information on changes in dietary intake over time in this country, yet this is valuable in assessing the effectiveness of health education programmes particularly in vulnerable groups such as adolescents. In 1990, 379 children aged 12 years completed two 3 d dietary records. They were interviewed by one dietitian on the day after completion of each diary to verify and enlarge on the information provided and, with the aid of food models, obtain a quantitative record of food intake. Nutrient intake was calculated using computerized food tables. These children attended the same seven Middle schools in Northumberland as 405 children of the same age who recorded their diet using the same method, 10 years previously. Heights and weights were also recorded in both studies in the same manner. Comparing the nutrient intakes in 1990 with 1980, energy intake fell in the boys (to 8.6 MJ) but not in the girls (8.3 MJ). The contribution of fat to energy intake was unchanged at about 40% (about 90 g/d). Likewise, intake of sugars was unchanged at about 22% of energy (about 118 g/d). Calcium intake remained the same in the girls (763 mg/d in 1990) but fell in the boys (786 mg/d in 1990). Iron, vitamin C and unavailable carbohydrate intakes increased in both sexes, and the nutrient density of the diet improved in all sex and social-class groups. However, a social trend evident in 1980 still existed in 1990 with low social groups having the poorest-quality diet. It is concluded that there is little evidence of substantial progress towards improving the diet of adolescents in this country.

Body Height↗