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At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

Family influences on food choice: context of surviving breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To explore women's perceptions of family influences on food decision-making in the context of having had breast cancer or not having had breast cancer. DESIGN: Individual interviews exploring women's perceptions of their eating habits, health status, and diet, health, and breast cancer beliefs. SETTING: In Vancouver, a large, multicultural, Canadian city, interviews were held in women's homes or offices or at the university. PARTICIPANTS: A culturally diverse convenience sample of women aged 40 to 60 years, including breast cancer survivors (n=29) and women who had not had breast cancer (n=32). ANALYSIS: Verbatim interview transcripts were coded by one of the authors, and themes were developed by sorting and summarizing transcript segments. RESULTS: Women who had not had breast cancer believed that they were catering to family preferences, even at the expense of their own health. In particular, men's "meat and potatoes" diet proved to be a barrier to dietary change. Breast cancer survivors experienced family members more as supporting than resisting healthful eating. Believing that the diagnosis had shifted their priorities, some women made healthful dietary changes regardless of family response. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Women experience family influence as significant in food decision-making. An illness diagnosis may alter women's and their families' negotiations of competing values, such that healthful eating takes on greater priority than food preferences or maintaining social relations through catering to others' tastes. This may be an opportune time to help women introduce healthful eating.

Adult↗

Design and analysis considerations for a longitudinal study of periodontal disease.

Perception and concern for the health changes in our aging population led the Veterans Administration to initiate an interdisciplinary and longitudinal investigation of the aging process, the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, in 1963. A cohort of the 2,280 healthy men of this study self-selected to enroll in the dental longitudinal study, an investigation of oral health in these healthy males. In 1968, 1,221 men between the ages of 25 and 75 began with a baseline cycle of 5 general series of examinations, including an interim health history and survey of dietary habits; masticatory performance and taste thresholds; salivary analyses; oral cytologic and radiographic survey and comprehensive clinical data on caries and periodontal status. Design considerations for the Dental Longitudinal Study included prospective planning of specific oral variables to be recorded, and provision of collection techniques to allow for additional analyses based on a wide menu of retrospective data. The volunteer cohort was screened to obtain men who met stringent general health criteria, who represented wide socioeconomic ranges and would likely remain geographically stable. Importantly, enrollment in the parent study was without regard for dental status or oral health. Administrative design considerations included orderly transfer for exam data to machine-readable format by use of optical scan forms designed to register specific oral variables, with security preserved for the primary source records and rapid record retrieval. Additional data collection requiring manual coding was designed to transfer spreadsheets of clinical impressions and diagnoses to computer retrieval protocols. Provisions for recording of exceptional circumstances, i.e., salient oral pathology, were recognized and the optical scan forms modified to index and retrieve such cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Independent components of the neural population response for discrimination of quality and intensity of chemical stimuli.

The responses of a population of 30 olfactory receptor cells from spiny lobsters to 8 behaviorally relevant complex types of stimuli at 0.005, 0.05 and 0.5 mM were analyzed using multidimensional scaling to evaluate their potential for coding quality and intensity. A discrimination index was derived from the resulting stimulus coordinates, which takes into account the response similarities within type/concentration and the response dissimilarities between types/concentrations. The results indicate that quality and intensity can be discriminated by separate components of the response of the population of neurons: quality by the pattern of responses produced across the neuronal population, and intensity by the absolute response magnitude.

Animals↗

Weaving the Web into legacy information systems.

For many years, client-server systems were developed as the backbone of clinical computing in leading hospitals around the country. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center now faces the challenge of bridging the technology gap between such systems and the Internet. While developing Web interfaces to legacy clinical systems gives a taste of the future, it is clear that complete institutional migration to the Web is not imminent. Asking clinicians to utilize two different systems, Web-based and legacy, in the interim phase is just one of the difficulties in such transition. This paper describes "Mbridge", a solution that allows legacy system users to exploit the benefits of the Internet in a fashion that does not interfere with their workflow and is both simple and affordable to implement. The service allows clinicians to work on the legacy platform while context-sensitive clinical content is streamed to the browser without their intervention. Using the system, we can gradually expose clinicians to new Web-based applications and resources without forcing them to operate two computing environments simultaneously. The service achieves these goals by means of linkage and coordination rather than by code-translation, data exchange or replication.

Computer Systems↗

Behavioral and electrophysiological dose-response relationships in adult western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) for host pollen amino acids.

A strong correlation is shown between taste cell inputs and phagostimulatory outputs with predominant dietary pollen amino acids for western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera. Behavioral and electrophysiological dose-response profiles in adult beetles are presented for five major free amino acids in host pollens. Differential responses were found with strongest phagostimulation and sensory response elicited by L-alanine and L-serine, followed in order by L-proline and beta-alanine. gamma-Aminobutyric acid gave the weakest and most sporadic response. ED(50) values for phagostimulation and chemosensory input were 28.3nmol/disk and 13mM, respectively, for L-alanine and 17nmol/disk and 11mM, respectively, for serine. Threshold values for the responses were approximately 1-2mM. These behavioral and chemosensory dose-response ranges correspond closely to levels of free amino acids present in host plant pollens. Use of these response values in development of a pollen chemosensory code for western corn rootworm feeding is discussed.

Journal Article↗

On the ability of rats to discriminate between microstimulations of the olfactory bulb in different locations.

An investigation was made into the ability of rats to discriminate between electrical stimulations applied to the mitral cell layer of the olfactory bulb in different locations. Water-deprived rats implanted with permanent electrodes were trained to use single- or multi-site microstimulations as discriminative stimuli for selecting a palatable solution without tasting it in a two-choice test. Spontaneous reactions of the animals to stimulation with sinusoidal currents higher than 3 microA per electrode resembled sensory arousal. All rats were found to discriminate between the effects of concurrent microstimulations applied to bulbar sites separated by 500 micron. Changing the current intensity in the range 4-20 microA had no detectable effect on the discrimination. Discrimination was still possible, with a few exceptions, when electrodes were separated by 250 micron and even when they were closely adjacent. Spatial resolution of discrimination seemed not to vary in different regions along the rostrocaudal axis of the bulb. The discrimination of patterns of simultaneous stimulation at several sites was also investigated. Different multi-site patterns were easily distinguished, even when their respective components were closely adjacent or when some components occupied the same area. The findings are discussed with reference to the concept of spatial coding of odours in the olfactory bulb.

Animals↗

The orbitofrontal cortex: neuronal activity in the behaving monkey.

Single unit recording of neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex of the alert rhesus monkey was used to investigate responses to sensory stimulation. 32.4% of the neurons had visual responses that had typical latencies of 100-200 ms, and 9.4% responded to gustatory inputs. Most neurons were selective, in that they responded consistently to some stimuli such as foods or aversive objects, but not to others. In a number of cases the neurons responded selectively to particular foods or aversive stimuli. However, this high selectivity could not be explained by simple sensory features of the stimulus, since the responses of some neurons could be readily reversed if the meaning of the stimulus (i.e. whether it was food or aversive) was changed, even though its physical appearance remained identical. Further, some bimodal neurons received convergent visual and gustatory inputs, with matching selectivity for the same stimulus in both modalities, again suggesting that an explanation in terms of simple sensory features is inadequate. Neurons were also studied during the performance of tasks known to be disrupted by orbitofrontal lesions, including a go/no go visual discrimination task and its reversal. 8.6% of neurons had differential responses to the two discriminative stimuli in the task, one of which indicated that reward was available and the other saline. Reversing the meaning of the two stimuli showed that whereas some differential units were closely linked to the sensory features of the stimuli, and some to their behavioural significance, others were conditional, in that they would only respond if a particular stimulus was present, and if it was the one being currently rewarded. Other neurons had activity related to the outcome of the animal's response, with some indicating that reinforcement had been received and others, that an error had been made and that a reversal was required. Thus, neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex possess highly coded information about which stimuli are present, as well as information about the consequences of the animal's own responses. It is suggested that together they may constitute a neuronal mechanism for determining whether particular visual stimuli continue to be associated with reinforcement, as well as providing for the modification of the animal's behavioural responses to such stimuli when those responses are no longer appropriate.

Animals↗

Discovery, cloning and heterologous expression of secreted potato proteins reveal erroneous pre-mRNA splicing in Aspergillus oryzae.

A novel transposon assisted signal trapping (TAST) technology, developed to specifically select only the secreted proteins, was used to discover novel extracellular plant proteins from Solarium tuberosum infected with Phytophthora infestans. Analysis of 384 hits provided 191 P. infestans and S. tuberosum sequences of secreted proteins, with an approx. 2/3 of these originating from potato. Subsequent screening for interesting genes was carried out using bioinformatics. A selected variety of the discovered sequences are presented, including a novel S. tuberosum xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (StXTH), which was cloned and subjected to detailed heterologous expression studies in Aspergillus oryzae. RT-PCR analysis of mRNA from A. oryzae StXTH1 transformants revealed that parts of the mRNA pool had been incorrectly processed, and only weak and inconsistent indications of active protein could be detected. A high AT content of StXTH1 and the occurrence of A. oryzae intron donor, acceptor, and branch point recognition sites resulted in erroneous intron interpretation (cryptic introns) of parts of the mRNA coding sequence. This may explain the difficulties generally experienced in expressing plant genes in filamentous fungi.

Aspergillus oryzae↗

[A novel trans-regulatory locus in Drosophila].

A new trans-regulatory gene, leg-arista-wing complex (lawc), was earlier identified in a system of prolonged genetic instability induced by transpositions of structurally different mobile genetic elements, the P element and MDG Stalker. Mutations of this gene alter expression of many loci, including the achaete and scute proneural genes and the cut locus coding for a homeobox-containing protein. A product of lawc is involved in regulating expression of white. This role is played in cooperation with the product of Zeste which provides for a contact between the white promoter and enhancer. A possible role of the new locus in organogenesis, neurogenesis, and embryonic development is discussed on the basis of experimental findings.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗

Glucosylation of the saffron apocarotenoid crocetin by a glucosyltransferase isolated from Crocus sativus stigmas.

Saffron, the dry stigma of Crocus sativus L., is considered to be the world's most expensive spice. Three major apocarotenoids--crocin, crocetin and picrocrocin--are responsible for the colour and bitter taste of saffron. The final step in the biosynthesis of the 20-carbon esterified carotenoid crocin is the transformation of the insoluble crocetin into a soluble and stable storage form by glucosylation. These glucosylation reactions are catalysed by glucosyltransferases (GTases) that play a crucial role in natural-product biosynthesis. Using degenerate primers designed to match the plant secondary product GTase (PSPG) box we cloned two cDNAs, UGTCs2 and UGTCs3, from C. sativus stigmas that encode putative polypeptides of 460 and 475 amino acids, respectively. These genes were expressed differentially in saffron tissues. UGTCs2 was mainly expressed in fully developed stigmas, whereas UGTCs3 was mainly expressed in stamens. The UGTCs2 transcript was not detected in the stigma tissue of a Crocus species that does not synthesize crocin, while UGTCs3 and other structural genes for carotenoid biosynthesis were expressed in the stigma of all tested Crocus species. To identify the biochemical function of UGTCs2, the isolated cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli cells. The recombinant protein UGTCs2 had glucosylation activity against crocetin, crocetin beta-D-glucosyl ester and crocetin beta-D-gentibiosyl ester. These results might suggest that the isolated clone UGTCs2 codes for a saffron crocetin GTase.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Quantitative structure-activity relationship study of bitter di- and tri-peptides including relationship with angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity.

Bitterness represents a major challenge in industrial application of food protein hydrolysates or bioactive peptides and is a major factor that controls the flavor of formulated therapeutic products. The aim of this work was to apply quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling as a tool to determine the type and position of amino acids that contribute to bitterness of di- and tri-peptides. Datasets of bitter di- and tri-peptides were constructed using values from available literature, followed by modeling using partial least square (PLS) regression based on the three z-scores of 20 coded amino acids. Prediction models were validated using cross-validation and permutation tests. Results showed that a single-component model could explain 52 and 50% of the Y variance (bitterness threshold) of bitter di- and tri-peptides, respectively. Using PLS regression coefficients, it was determined that hydrophobic amino acids at the carboxyl-terminus and bulky amino acid residues adjacent to the carboxyl terminal are the major determinants of the intensity of bitterness of di- and tri-peptides. However, there was no significant (p > 0.05) correlation between bitterness of di- and tri-peptides and their angiotensin I-converting enzyme-inhibitory properties.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Speed of onset and efficacy of zolmitriptan nasal spray in the acute treatment of migraine: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging study versus zolmitriptan tablet.

OBJECTIVE: Zolmitriptan oral tablet is highly effective and well tolerated in the acute treatment of migraine with and without aura in adults. A nasal spray formulation has now been developed. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of fixed doses of zolmitriptan administered via a nasal spray with placebo and zolmitriptan oral tablet in the acute treatment of migraine. PATIENTS AND STUDY DESIGN: This was a randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicentre, dose-ranging study. 1547 patients aged 18-65 years with an established diagnosis of migraine with or without aura (as defined by International Headache Society criteria) who had at least a 1-year history of migraine and an age of onset <50 years were included. Patients were able to distinguish typical migraine from nonmigraine headaches and had experienced an average of one to six migraine headaches per month during the 2 months preceding the study. Patients were randomised to zolmitriptan (Zomig) The use of tradenames is for product identification purposes only and does not imply endorsement.) nasal spray (5.0, 2.5, 1.0 or 0.5 mg), zolmitriptan oral tablet (2.5mg) or placebo for the treatment of three moderate or severe migraine attacks. The primary outcome measure was headache response at 2 hours following treatment, defined as reduced intensity of migraine pain (using a scale of none, mild, moderate or severe) from severe or moderate at baseline to mild or no pain at 2 hours after treatment. Secondary outcome measures included early headache response at 15, 30 and 45 minutes and headache response at 1 and 4 hours postdose, as well as pain-free rates at 15, 30 and 45 minutes and 1, 2 and 4 hours postdose. Laboratory assessments, vital signs, 12-lead ECGs and nose and throat examinations were performed at screening and follow-up visits. Adverse events were recorded throughout the study using Coding Symbols for Thesaurus of Adverse Reaction Terms (COSTART) terminology. RESULTS: Each dose of zolmitriptan nasal spray produced a greater 2-hour headache response rate than placebo (70.3%, 58.6%, 54.8% and 41.5% for zolmitriptan nasal spray 5.0, 2.5, 1.0 and 0.5mg, compared with 30.6% for placebo [all p < 0.001 vs placebo]). The 2-hour headache response rate for zolmitriptan nasal spray 5.0mg was significantly higher than that of the zolmitriptan 2.5mg oral tablet (61.3%; p < 0.05), while comparisons of nasal spray 0.5, 1.0 and 2.5mg with zolmitriptan 2.5mg oral tablet were not statistically significant. The nasal spray 5.0 and 2.5mg showed a rapid onset of action, with a significant difference in headache response compared with placebo from 15 minutes through 4 hours after administration and a significant difference between the nasal spray 5.0mg and 2.5mg oral tablet from 15 minutes through to 2 hours (the other nasal spray doses were not statistically significant compared with 2.5mg oral tablet). Zolmitriptan nasal spray resulted in pain-free rates that were dose dependent. While all doses from 1.0 mg upwards produced significant pain-free outcomes from 30 minutes versus placebo, only the 5.0mg dose produced pain-free rates significantly superior to both placebo and the 2.5mg oral tablet. Zolmitriptan nasal spray was well tolerated, with the most common adverse events being unusual taste and paresthesia. The majority of adverse events were of short duration and mild or moderate intensity. Only ten patients were withdrawn from the trial because of adverse events. Serious adverse events were reported by nine patients after taking study medication, but none was considered to be causally related to study medication. Zolmitriptan was not associated with any clinically significant changes in laboratory test values or vital signs. CONCLUSION: All doses of zolmitriptan nasal spray produced significant 2-hour headache response rates compared with placebo. The 5.0 and 2.5mg doses were also significantly more effective than placebo for the majority of secondary efficacy measures. Zolmitriptan nasal spray 5.0mg provided a headache response statistically superior to both placebo and the 2.5mg tablet as early as 15 minutes after administration, while demonstrating pain-free outcomes significantly superior to placebo and the 2.5mg tablet as early as 30 minutes after administration. All doses of zolmitriptan nasal spray were well tolerated, resulting in an optimal therapeutic index and clinical recommendation for the 5.0mg dose.

Administration, Intranasal↗

Predictive neural coding of reward preference involves dissociable responses in human ventral midbrain and ventral striatum.

Food preferences are acquired through experience and can exert strong influence on choice behavior. In order to choose which food to consume, it is necessary to maintain a predictive representation of the subjective value of the associated food stimulus. Here, we explore the neural mechanisms by which such predictive representations are learned through classical conditioning. Human subjects were scanned using fMRI while learning associations between arbitrary visual stimuli and subsequent delivery of one of five different food flavors. Using a temporal difference algorithm to model learning, we found predictive responses in the ventral midbrain and a part of ventral striatum (ventral putamen) that were related directly to subjects' actual behavioral preferences. These brain structures demonstrated divergent response profiles, with the ventral midbrain showing a linear response profile with preference, and the ventral striatum a bivalent response. These results provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying human preference behavior.

Adult↗

Effect of amiloride on gustatory responses in the ventroposteromedial nucleus of the thalamus in rats.

The existence of gustatory neuron types has been demonstrated in the chorda tympani nerve and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) of rats and hamsters through the oral application of amiloride, a sodium channel blocker. At these lower-order levels, amiloride was shown to reduce the response to sodium and lithium salts in sodium- and sugar-oriented cells, while leaving those of acid- and quinine-oriented neurons unmodified. We extended this investigation to higher-order levels by determining whether amiloride suppressed the responses of cells at the 4th-order gustatory relay in the thalamus, which neurons were affected, the degree of suppression, and whether the subsequent neural code for sodium was altered. We stimulated the whole oral cavity of anesthetized rats with a variety of tastants while recording the responses of 42 single thalamic neurons before and after the application of amiloride. The results revealed a similar pattern to that reported in the NTS. Amiloride inhibited only sodium- and sugar-oriented neurons, and specifically their responses to sodium- or lithium-containing stimuli. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the degree of sodium specificity of a neuron and its sensitivity to inhibition by amiloride. These results demonstrate a relationship between a cell's response profile and its susceptibility to amiloride, and so offer evidence that gustatory neuron types exist through the level of the thalamus in rats. Thus membership in a neuronal group retains functional significance based on a receptor event 4 synapses away.

Action Potentials↗

An unusual Zn-finger/FH2 domain protein controls a left/right asymmetric neuronal fate decision in C. elegans.

Gene regulatory networks that control the terminally differentiated state of a cell are, by and large, only superficially understood. In a mutant screen aimed at identifying regulators of gene batteries that define the differentiated state of two left/right asymmetric C. elegans gustatory neurons, ASEL and ASER, we have isolated a mutant, fozi-1, with a novel mixed-fate phenotype, characterized by de-repression of ASEL fate in ASER. fozi-1 codes for a protein that functions in the nucleus of ASER to inhibit the expression of the LIM homeobox gene lim-6, neuropeptide-encoding genes and putative chemoreceptors of the GCY gene family. The FOZI-1 protein displays a highly unusual domain architecture, that combines two functionally essential C2H2 zinc-finger domains, which are probably involved in transcriptional regulation, with a formin homology 2 (FH2) domain, normally found only in cytosolic regulators of the actin cytoskeleton. We demonstrate that the FH2 domain of FOZI-1 has lost its actin polymerization function but maintains its phylogenetically ancient ability to homodimerize. fozi-1 genetically interacts with several transcription factors and micro RNAs in the context of specific regulatory network motifs. These network motifs endow the system with properties that provide insights into how cells adopt their stable terminally differentiated states.

Alleles↗

Perspectives on intake of calcium-rich foods among Asian, Hispanic, and white preadolescent and adolescent females.

OBJECTIVE: Declining calcium intake among adolescents warrants attention. Our objective was to identify influences on adolescents' consumption of calcium-rich foods. DESIGN: Focus groups were conducted with girls representing 2 age groups (11 to 12 or 16 to 17 years) and 3 macroethnic groups (Asian, Hispanic, or white). SETTING: Public schools in 10 states. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample (n = 200) was recruited through schools. VARIABLES MEASURED: Focus groups (n = 35) were audiotaped and transcribed. Influences relative to consumption of milk or other calcium-rich foods were identified. ANALYSIS: Comments were coded as motivators or barriers within each focus group. Content analysis procedures were used to compare ethnic and age groups. RESULTS: A barrier to milk consumption that was more common among older girls and Asian groups was the limited expectation within families for drinking milk. Many controlled their own beverage choices, and milk, even if liked, was only one option. Milk was positively associated with strength and bone health, but these attributes were viewed as being more important for boys than girls. Milk was associated with breakfast, school lunches, cereal, and desserts. White girls had the most positive reactions to milk and Hispanic girls the most negative. All groups were positive toward pizza, ice cream, and cheese. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To improve calcium intake among teens, interventions should include a family component, stress the benefits of milk for girls, and focus on breakfast.

Adolescent↗

Opioids for hedonic experience and dopamine to get ready for it.

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE: More than two decades ago, Wise proposed his "anhedonia hypothesis" to explain the role of dopamine in motivated behaviors. The hypothesis posits that dopamine mediates the pleasure experienced by reward obtainment. However, some experimental findings have contested this hypothesis and several authors have proposed alternative functions for dopamine with regard to motivation. Brain dopamine has been suggested to rather code for the preparatory aspects of behavior, while brain opioids seem to mediate the perception of the hedonic properties of rewards. OBJECTIVES: The main goal of this review is to reexamine dopamine and opioids involvement in feeding when different aspects such as the anticipatory, motivational and consummatory components of this behavior are taken into account, but also when the physiologic state of the organism and the palatability of the food are considered. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the data presented point out for an implication of dopamine in the anticipatory/preparatory aspects of feeding more than on the motivational and consummatory aspects. However, dopamine involvement in the anticipatory/preparatory component of feeding seems specifically related to very relevant stimuli, such as highly palatable foods. On the other hand, our data, as well as those present in the literature, strongly suggest a role for opioids in food intake through their modulation of the hedonic perception of food. As a consequence, opioids are involved in those aspects of motivation driven by food palatability rather than by food homeostatic need.

Animals↗

Gustatory responsiveness of chorda tympani fibers in the cynomolgus monkey.

Responses of chorda tympani (CT) fibers of cynomolgus monkeys to various gustatory stimuli were analysed to obtain quantitative data on their response properties and to reveal the coding of gustatory information. Based on responses of 66 fibers to the four basic gustatory stimuli, they were classified into 16 sucrose-best, 28 NaCl-best, 11 HCl-best and 11 QHCl (quinine hydrochloride)-best fibers. Sucrose-best fibers were narrowly tuned to sucrose, while HCl-best fibers were broadly tuned to the four stimuli. The average breadth of response measure. H for all the 66 fibers was 0.375. The average value of H for sucrose-, NaCl-, HCl- and QHCl-best fibers was 0.276, 0.348, 0.634 and 0.384, respectively. Hierarchical cluster analysis performed on responses of 25 fibers to 14 gustatory stimuli revealed that all the stimuli except for 0.3 M Na-saccharin were grouped into four clusters; sucrose and 0.01 M Na-saccharin, NaCl and LiCl, acids, and non-sodium and -lithium salts, and QHCl. It is concluded that in the monkey CT each of the four classes of fibers predominantly contributes to mediate gustatory information for sweet, salty, sour and bitter stimuli.

Animals↗