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Biomedical subjects

J Kearney

Publications and source records attributed to J Kearney.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Stages of dietary change and nutrition attitudes in the Spanish population.

UNLABELLED: A national survey was developed in a representative sample of the Spanish population (15 years old and upwards). This study belongs to a partnership in a pan-European survey about stages of dietary change where subjects were classified into six different categories according to their readiness for dietary change: precontemplation (not considering any changes), contemplation (considering changes), decision (making plans to change), action (carrying out the changes), maintenance (maintaining changes for more than six months) and relapse stage (reverting back to eating less healthily). The main objective was to investigate the distribution of the different stages of change concerning dietary habits across strata of socio-demographic variables (sex, age, educational level, socioeconomic level). Also, this study was conducted to assess the relationships between stages of dietary change and the influences on food choice as well as the definitions used to describe healthy eating. The survey was carried out, according to an established protocol, on a representative sample of 1009 Spanish subjects selected by an at random multistage procedure. Subjects completed a face-to-face interview-assisted questionnaire. To ensure representativeness data were weighted by population size, by sex, age and regional distribution. The proportion of subjects in precontemplation (56.0%) and maintenance (28.3%) stages was substantially larger than in the other stages of dietary change. More males (59.7%) and subjects from the oldest age groups (65.8%) were classified as belonging to the precontemplation stage, while more females (30.2%) and subjects between 25-34 years of age (34.5%) were in the maintenance stage. 'Trying to eat healthy' as an influence on food choice was more frequently mentioned by those in the dynamic and maintenance stages, while a high percentage of subjects from the precontemplation and relapse stages (61.1%) agreed they did not need to make changes to their diets because their diet was already sufficiently healthy. A very high proportion of the Spanish adult population do not contemplate a change in their dietary habits. Intervention strategies in health promotion programs should be available for people at the various stages of change. It would be more effective to attempt to increase people's awareness and personal concerns about nutrition and health, before introducing action strategies. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: The adult population can be classified into different stages of dietary change, so the stages of change model may be applied to future nutrition interventions. This approach will help to focus more accurately strategies of nutrition education.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Underestimation of body mass index through perceived body image as compared to self-reported body mass index in the European Union.

An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of the European Union (7155 men and 8077 women) to calculate the underestimation of body weight as assessed by body image among the overweight and obese population and identify the associated factors to this behavior. Participants were older than 15 years and they were living in the 15 European Union countries. Body mass index (BMI) was grouped into 4 categories using the cutpoints established by the WHO, while perceived body image (PBI) was assessed using a nine-silhouettes drawing. The degree of underestimation between PBI as compared to BMI was identified in overweight and obesity categories of BMI. A multivariable logistic regression model for each gender was used to adjust for potentially confounding variables. Men classified themselves worse than women, being more likely to underestimate their body weight (65.2% of men underestimated their weight vs 32.2% women), regardless of other socioeconomic and attitudinal variables. The greatest degree of underestimation was observed in Mediterranean individuals (68.7% of men and 37.9% of women underestimated their weight). The subjects in the 'maintenance' stage of physical activity tended more often to wrongly select their actual image (71.8% for men and 38.7% for women).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

[The perceptions of the adult Spanish population of the factors determinative of health].

OBJECTIVE: To assess which are the most important perceived influential factors on health among the Spanish adult population. This may provide sufficient information to promote primary health care campaigns directed specifically to those that acknowledge that lifestyles are important in spite of not living healthy lifestyles themselves. DESIGN: Observational cross-sectional study. SETTING: Spain (Canary Islands not included). PARTICIPANTS: A representative sample of 1000 Spanish participants over 15 years old selected by a multistage procedure. INTERVENTION: Survey to evaluate the population choosing one of nine known health-related factors (smoking, food, alcohol intake, stress, physical activity, environment, body weight, support from family, genetics) as being one of the two most important factors influencing health through a validated questionnaire. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The chi-square test for linear trend was used to assess the influence of factors coded on an ordinal scale. The Pearson chi-square test was applied for categorical factors. Smoking was considered the most influential health-related factor by most participants (47.8%). Males, those from lower socioeconomic and educational levels; people living in the south of Spain, and rural regions; those married and individuals who had 3 or more children below 15 years, perceived smoking more often as one of the most important determinants of health. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that a large percentage of the Spanish adult population recognizes that life-styles are important determinants of health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

The influence of survey duration on estimates of food intakes--relevance for food-based dietary guidelines.

Development of food-based dietary guidelines relies on correct identification and interpretation of current dietary intake patterns. The process involves assessing which foods discriminate between those with desirable and undesirable intakes of particular nutrients. It is therefore important that those involved in this task are aware of any source of variability in the underlying food consumption data that cannot be attributed to true differences between individuals. A short survey duration can introduce a high degree of within-person variation and not reflect usual or more long-term food or nutrient intakes. As survey duration increases, the % consumers identified by a survey increases and the intakes among consumers only decrease while the total population intakes do not change. A short survey duration may also lead to misclassification of individuals into high and low consumers. Survey duration is therefore an issue that should be considered in the interpretation of dietary data when developing food-based dietary guidelines.

Diet Surveys↗
PubMed1999

Perceived barriers of, and benefits to, healthy eating reported by a Spanish national sample.

OBJECTIVE: A national survey was developed in order to assess the difficulties and the potential benefits that the adult Spanish population perceive when they try to eat a healthier diet and also to help nutrition educators to develop relevant and specific strategies to promote healthy eating. DESIGN: The study survey was carried out according to an established protocol on a representative sample of 1009 Spanish subjects over 15 years of age selected by a multi-stage procedure. This study belongs to a partnership in a pan-European survey about food, nutrition and health. The analysis was focused on the evaluation of the seven most frequently chosen barriers and benefits. RESULTS: There was a trend to select as the main barriers: 'irregular work hours' (29.7%), 'willpower' (29.7%) and 'unappealing food' (21.3%), while 'prevent disease' (73.6%) was the most frequently selected benefit to healthy eating. About 20% of the subjects said they did not have any difficulty eating healthier and most people believed that healthy eating was associated with at least one benefit. CONCLUSIONS: In Spain, nutrition educators should be aware that an irregular and busy lifestyle, willpower and food-related factors (such as price and unappealing foods) are the main perceived barriers to healthy eating. Conversely, the prevention and health promotion aspects are the main perceived benefits.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle and obesity in the European Union.

BACKGROUND: Diverging trends of decreasing energy intake and increasing prevalence of obesity suggest that physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle may be one of the key determinants of the growing rates of overweight/obesity in Western populations information about the impact of physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles on the prevalence of obesity among the general adult population in the European Union is sparse. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the association of leisure-time sedentary and non-sedentary activities with body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and with the prevalence of obesity (BMI>30 kg/m2) in a sample of the 15 member states of the European Union. METHODS: Professional interviewers administered standardized in-home questionnaires to 15,239 men and women aged 15 years upwards, selected by a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling with quotas applied to ensure national and European representativeness. Energy expenditure during leisure time was calculated based on data on frequency of and amount of time participating in various physical activities, assigning metabolic equivalents (METS) to each activity. Sedentary lifestyle was assessed by means of self-reported hours spent sitting down during leisure time. Multiple linear regression models with BMI as the dependent variable, and logistic regression models with obesity (BMI>30 kg/m2) as the outcome, were fitted. RESULTS: Independent associations of leisure-time physical activity (inverse) and amount of time spent sitting down (direct) with BMI were found. The adjusted prevalence odds ratio (OR) for obesity was 0.52 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43-0.64, P<0.001] for the upper quintile of physical activity (>30 METS) compared with the most physically inactive quintile (<1.75 METS). A positive independent association was also evident for the time spent sitting down, with an adjusted OR= 1.61(95% CI: 1.33-1.95, P<0.001) for those who spent more than 35 h of their leisure time sitting down compared with those who spent less than 15 h. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity and higher body weight are strongly associated with a sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity in the adult population of the European Union. These results, however, need to be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional design. Nonetheless, they are consistent with the view that a reduction in energy expenditure during leisure time may be the main determinant of the current epidemic of obesity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Environmentally responsive temperature instability in pediatric spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency and clinical implications of environmentally responsive temperature instability in hospitalized pediatric patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTING: A tertiary level SCI rehabilitation unit located in a free standing children's hospital in Wilmington, DE, USA. STUDY DESIGN: Temperature data and corresponding clinical responses were collected prospectively between January 1991 and June 1993. Fifty-four consecutive patients with SCI levels at or above T6 were admitted to the pediatric spinal cord injury rehabilitation unit over that time (4059 SCI days). METHODS: Hypothermic events were defined as oral temperatures less than 35.0 degrees C or rectal temperatures less than 35.6 degrees C. Hyperthermic events were defined as oral temperatures greater than 38.0 degrees C or rectal temperatures greater than 38.4 degrees C. The events and the clinical responses were reviewed retrospectively and were used for subsequent analysis if there was evidence of clinical response to environmental manipulation within 4 hours of case identification, and other potential etiologies of temperature fluctuation could be excluded. RESULTS: Sixty-five events of hypothermia (1.60%) and 14 events of hyperthermia (0.34%) were analyzed. Twelve patients (22%) accounted for all 79 events. Subjects with environmentally responsive temperature instability were more recently injured (P<0.001), had longer lengths of stay (P<0.001) and were more likely to be ventilator dependent (P<0.002) than those who did not have environmentally responsive temperature instability. There was no significant difference between the two groups in age, gender, level or etiology of the SCI. There were no adverse clinical outcomes as a result of the environmentally responsive temperature instability. CONCLUSIONS: Environmentally responsive temperature instability affects a select subset of pediatric aged spinal cord injured persons. Early recognition of the potential contribution of the environment to temperature fluctuation in this group has led to the successful utilization of a temperature instability protocol on our SCI unit.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

An analysis of the incremental value of retaining brand-level information in food consumption databases in estimating food additive intake.

In the Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults (DNSBA) food consumption database, brand level intake data are recorded for 2197 subjects over 7 days. This study set out to examine the incremental value of such brand level data in food consumption studies to estimate additive intake. The food codes in the DNSBA database were re-arranged into 14 food categories within each of which were varying numbers of both sub-categories of foods and of brands. Intake of the 97.5th percentile for brands and sub-categories were compared with intakes at the 97.5th percentile of the appropriate food category. Taking > or = 60 consumers as the minimal sample size for which a 97.5th percentile statistic can be calculated, only 6% of the 1363 brands listed had sufficient data to work with. Of the 14 food categories, six had a sub-category with a 97.5th percentile in excess of that of the category but none exceeded 1.3 x 97.5th percentile intake of the category. Of the 85 brands for which there were > or = 60 consumers, only 11 had 97.5th percentile intakes in excess of that statistic for the relevant food category and none exceeded a multiple of 1.3 times the category 97.5th percentile intakes. Unless dietary surveys are very large and carried out for longer periods of time, there is little value in retaining food consumption data at brand level. If 1.3x the intake of an additive from a given food category at the 97.5th percentile does not exceed the ADI, no sub-category or brand appears to do so. This may provide a valuable technique in crude estimates of food additive intake.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Intravitreal tissue plasminogen activator for acute central retinal vein occlusion.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the efficacy of intravitreal tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for the treatment of acute central retinal vein occlusion. DESIGN: Twenty-six eyes with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO, n=23) and hemi-retinal vein occlusion (n=3) with recent onset of visual symptoms (< or = 21 days) were identified and given an intravitreal injection of 65 -110 microg of tPA. RESULTS: Among eyes with CRVO, visual acuity improved to > or = 20/40 in 7 of 23 patients (30.4%) at 6 weeks, and 8 of 23 patients (34.8%) at 6 months. Visual acuity improved or stabilized in 69.6% (16 of 23 patients) at the 6 week visit and persisted with longer follow-up. Four patients developed doubling of the visual angle. No patients developed rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, infection or neovascular glaucoma. One patient developed a small vitreous hemorrhage and 2 developed an increase in the size of pre-existing macular hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal tPA administered early in the course of central retinal vein occlusion did not lead to catastrophic hemorrhagic events. Intravitreal tPA may cause worsening of vision in some patients. While some eyes appear to have benefited from the therapy, no conclusions can be reached because there was not a concurrent control group. A randomized clinical trial is necessary to determine its efficacy. SUMMARY STATEMENT: Intravitreal tPA administered early in the course of central retinal vein occlusion did not lead to catastrophic hemorrhagic events. A randomized clinical trial is necessary to determine its efficacy.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1999

Escherichia coli O157 incident associated with a farm open to members of the public.

Three children, one who lived on an open farm and two who visited the farm in school parties, developed Vero cytotoxin producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O157 infection in 1997. All had been in direct contact with animals. All were admitted to hospital with diarrhoea and two developed the haemolytic uraemic syndrome, one of whom developed severe neurological impairment. E.coli O157 phage type 21 that produced Vero cytotoxin 2 were isolated from the three children and from a goat paddock and two cows at the farm. The isolates were indistinguishable by molecular typing. The farm closed voluntarily for six weeks while recommendations to reduce the exposure of visitors to faecal contamination and to improve hygiene procedures (especially handwashing) were implemented. More research is needed into all aspects of VTEC O157 on farms, including the natural history of carriage in animals, the organism prevalence and factors that affect infectivity to humans. Further consideration is needed about the role of open farms in zoonoses, and how open farms can be assisted in reducing risks for visitors. The public need to be educated about the risks and about their responsibilities, which include the need to wash hands thoroughly and to avoid hand to mouth contact when visiting farms.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Vitreitis and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia.

PURPOSE: To describe vitreitis in a patient with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. METHODS: Case report and review of pertinent literature. RESULTS: A 90-year-old man developed vitreitis 10 years after a systemic diagnosis of a lymphoproliferative disorder. Numerous small, normal-appearing lymphocytes were seen on pathologic examination of the vitreous. He developed worsening lymphadenopathy and was diagnosed with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia after systemic review. CONCLUSION: Chronic lymphoproliferative diseases such as Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia may cause vitreitis.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Predicting percentage of individuals consuming foods from percentage of households purchasing foods to improve the use of household budget surveys in estimating food chemical intakes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the hypothesis that there is sufficient agreement between percentage of households purchasing selected foods using household budget surveys and percentage of individuals consuming these foods as determined in individual-based surveys to allow the former to act as a surrogate for the latter when estimating food chemical intakes using household budget data. DESIGN: Database study. SETTING: Databases from Sweden, The Netherlands. Ireland and the UK. SUBJECTS: 319 foods (Sweden n = 60, The Netherlands n = 80, Ireland n = 90, UK n = 89). RESULTS: Pearson correlations demonstrated a high degree of linear association between % households purchasing and % consumers (r = 0.86). Regression analysis defined a close positive relationship between the two datasets (slope 0.95, intercept +2.74). Across countries, using the regression equation, the % households predicted % consumers to within 5% of the true value for between 33 and 48% of foods and to within 10% for between 53 and 78% of foods. CONCLUSIONS: Values for % households can be used as a crude surrogate for % consumers and can thus play a role in improving estimates of food additive intake.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Definition of healthy eating in the Spanish adult population: a national sample in a pan-European survey.

A national survey was carried out to find out how the Spanish adult population defined 'healthy eating'. Consumers were asked to describe in their own words what 'healthy eating' means to them. The sample included 1009 Spanish subjects over 15 y of age selected by a multietapic procedure. This study belongs to the Spanish partnership in a pan-European survey about attitudes to food, nutrition and health coordinated by the Institute of European Food Studies of Dublin. The results were shown as the percentages of the sample who gave one of the five most frequently mentioned descriptions ('more vegetables', 'balanced diet', 'more fruit', 'less fat' and 'more fish') and the distribution of responses by age, sex, region, socio-economic level and education level. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to assess the characteristics independently related to the use of the definition 'balance and variety' for healthy eating. The majority of the Spanish people defined 'healthy eating' as a diet with 'more vegetables' as the main description. Other descriptions commonly mentioned were 'less fat', 'more fruit', 'more fish', and 'more lean meat'. A higher age was associated with a lower likelihood of mentioning the concept of balanced diet. A higher educational level was also independently and strongly related to a higher prevalence of this definition. Differences between men and women showed only borderline significance. Our results suggest the need to improve nutritional education about fiber, low fat and cholesterol. It would be interesting to develop strategies in Spain to educate people on a definition of 'healthy eating' based upon 'balance and variety'.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

A birthday party, home-made ice cream, and an outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 6 infection.

An outbreak of food poisoning caused by Salmonella enteritidis phage type (PT) 6 followed a children's birthday party. Thirty of 37 (attack rate 81%) attendees were ill, with diarrhoea and fever being the most common symptoms. One child required hospital admission for rehydration. No deaths occurred. Stool specimens from 24 out of 25 people who submitted them were positive for S. enteritidis PT 6 and one was positive for S. enteritidis PT4. Epidemiological investigation indicated that home-made ice cream was the vehicle of infection. Fresh shell eggs used raw in the ice cream were the likeliest source of infection. No ice cream or eggs were available for microbiological analysis. S. enteritidis PT6 accounts for a small but increasing proportion of all salmonellas in humans and its epidemiology is thought to be similar to S. enteritidis PT4. Thus current recommendations on the use of raw eggs in cooking continue to apply.

Child↗
PubMed1997

AC133, a novel marker for human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

AC133 is one of a new panel of murine hybridoma lines producing monoclonal IgG antibodies (mAbs) to a novel stem cell glycoprotein antigen with a molecular weight of 120 kD. AC133 antigen is selectively expressed on CD34(bright) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (progenitors) derived from human fetal liver and bone marrow, and blood. It is not detectable on other blood cells, cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), fibroblast cell lines, or the myeloid leukemia cell line KG1a by standard flow cytometric procedures. All of the noncommitted CD34(+) cell population, as well as the majority of CD34(+) cells committed to the granulocytic/monocytic pathway, are stained with AC133 antibody. In vitro clonogenicity assays have demonstrated that the CD34(+)AC133(+) double-positive population from adult bone marrow contains the majority of the CFU-GM, a proportion of the CFU-Mix, and a minor population of BFU-E. The CD34(dim) and AC133(-) population has been shown to contain the remaining progenitor cells. AC133-selected cells engraft successfully in a fetal sheep transplantation model, and human cells harvested from chimeric fetal sheep bone marrow have been shown to successfully engraft secondary recipients, providing evidence for the long-term repopulating potential of AC133(+) cells. A cDNA coding for AC133 antigen has been isolated, which codes for a polypeptide consisting of 865 amino acids (aa) with a predicted size of 97 kD. This antigen is modeled as a 5-transmembrane molecule, a structure that is novel among known cell surface structures. AC133 antibody provides an alternative to CD34 for the selection and characterization of cells necessary for both short- and long-term engraftment, in transplant situations, for studies of ex vivo expansion strategies, and for gene therapy.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Calcium, vitamin D, and dairy foods and the occurrence of colon cancer in men.

To examine the associations between intakes of calcium, Vitamin D, and dairy foods and the risk of colon cancer, the authors analyzed data from a prospective study of 47,935 US male professionals, 40-75 years of age and free of cancer in 1986. Within this cohort, 203 new cases of colon cancer were documented between 1986 and 1992. After adjusting for age and total energy intake, the authors found that the intake of calcium from foods and supplements was inversely associated with colon cancer risk (relative risk (RR) = 0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-087 between high and low intakes of calcium). However, after adjusting for confounding variables, they found that the trend was no longer statistically significant (p = 0.22), and the relative risk for the highest quintile group of intake was attenuated: 0.75 (95% CI 0.48-1.15). Similar results were observed for total vitamin D intake; the age- and energy-adjusted relative risk was 0.54% (95% CI 0/34-0/85) for the highest versus lowest quintile group, and this was attenuated in the multivariate model (RR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.42-1.05). The inverse association was weaker for dietary vitamin D (RR highest vs. lowest quintile = 0.88. 95% CI 0.54-1.42) and strongest for vitamin D arising from vitamin supplements (RR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.22-1.02). Thus, it is possible that other components of multivitamin use rather than vitamin D accounted for the reduction in risk. Consumption of milk and fermented dairy products was not significantly associated with the risk of colon cancer; individuals consuming two or more glasses of "whole" or skim milk per day had a relative risk of 1.09 (95% CI 0.69-1.72), compared with those who consumed "whole or skim milk less than once a month. These prospective data do not support the hypothesis that calcium intake is strongly protective against colon cancer risk, although a modest association cannot be excluded.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Ocular manifestations of AIDS.

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a lethal multisystem disease. Its ocular manifestations have received relatively little attention in the literature. Between 73% and 100% of AIDS patients develop ocular lesions. The commonest lesions seen are retinal--either infectious or noninfectious retinopathy. Involvement of the conjunctiva with Kaposi's sarcoma, infected tears and infected cornea as well as the vitreous are less common. Infections with cytomegalovirus and varicella zoster virus are common causes of visual loss and can be treated with antiviral agents such as ganciclovir and foscarnet. This greatly increases the quality of life in these patients by preventing visual loss.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗