Despite the wide use of 24-h dietary recalls and differences in food culture between Western and Asian countries, limited studies validating 24-h dietary recalls have been performed in rice-based ...meals and in Asians. To determine the accuracy of 24-h dietary recalls in Koreans, 22 older women participating in a controlled-feeding study completed a single interviewer-administered 24-h dietary recall. The recalls of food items were classified as matches, exclusions, or intrusions. Portion size reports were categorized as corresponding (≤10% error), overreport, underreport, and missing. Recall accuracy was analyzed according to the type of dish, food group, or nutrients and compared by one-way analysis of variance or paired
-test. Participants reported 95% of the foods that they consumed. Sauces were most frequently missing. Corresponding portion sizes were 24%, while 43% were underreported. Kimchi was most frequently underreported. No difference was found among food groups. The recalled intakes of energy and most nutrients were similar to the actual intakes, with the exception of fat and sodium, which were underreported. The interviewer-administered 24-h dietary recall may be a reliable tool to assess food and nutrient intake in older Korean women. More accurate methods are necessary to assess sauce, kimchi, fat, and sodium intakes in the Korean diet.
Food-insecure pregnant females may be at greater risk of iron deficiency (ID) because nutrition needs increase and more resources are needed to secure food during pregnancy. This may result in a ...higher risk of infant low birth weight and possibly cognitive impairment in the neonate. The relationships of food insecurity and poverty income ratio (PIR) with iron intake and ID among pregnant females in the United States were investigated using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2010 data (n=1,045). Food security status was classified using the US Food Security Survey Module. One 24-hour dietary recall and a 30-day supplement recall were used to assess iron intake. Ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor, or total body iron classified ID. Difference of supplement intake prevalence, difference in mean iron intake, and association of ID and food security status or PIR were assessed using χ(2) analysis, Student t test, and logistic regression analysis (adjusted for age, race, survey year, PIR/food security status, education, parity, trimester, smoking, C-reactive protein level, and health insurance coverage), respectively. Mean dietary iron intake was similar among groups. Mean supplemental and total iron intake were lower, whereas odds of ID, classified by ferritin status, were 2.90 times higher for food-insecure pregnant females compared with food-secure pregnant females. Other indicators of ID were not associated with food security status. PIR was not associated with iron intake or ID. Food insecurity status may be a better indicator compared with income status to identify populations at whom to direct interventions aimed at improving access and education regarding iron-rich foods and supplements.
In cancer patients, visual identification of sentinel lymph nodes (LNs) is achieved by the injection of dyes that bind avidly to endogenous albumin, targeting these compounds to LNs, where they are ...efficiently filtered by resident phagocytes. Here we translate this 'albumin hitchhiking' approach to molecular vaccines, through the synthesis of amphiphiles (amph-vaccines) comprising an antigen or adjuvant cargo linked to a lipophilic albumin-binding tail by a solubility-promoting polar polymer chain. Administration of structurally optimized CpG-DNA/peptide amph-vaccines in mice resulted in marked increases in LN accumulation and decreased systemic dissemination relative to their parent compounds, leading to 30-fold increases in T-cell priming and enhanced anti-tumour efficacy while greatly reducing systemic toxicity. Amph-vaccines provide a simple, broadly applicable strategy to simultaneously increase the potency and safety of subunit vaccines.
The changes that have swept rural Myanmar, transforming landscapes and affecting livelihoods, have ignited rural politics and civil society and grassroot organizations' strategies to counter, resist, ...negotiate and adapt to these changes. Rural politics have centred on broad calls for agrarian and environmental rights and social justice that do not address women's rights, gender and generational justice explicitly. Based on fieldwork carried out in Myanmar's Taninthary region, and engagement with grassroots organizations, I examine how gender and generational power dynamics play out, transform and are transformed in processes of agrarian and environmental change and rural politics.
Abstract
Most studies on osteoarthritis (OA) and vitamin D status were performed in Whites with relatively adequate vitamin D status. Associations may differ by baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) ...and race. We assessed the odds of OA and joint pain according to vitamin D status in Korean adults ≥ 50 years of age in the nationally representative Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (
n
= 8575). Agreement between radiologic OA (ROA) and self-reported OA were also assessed. Multivariate logistic regression was performed and participants were stratified by sex. Adults with serum 25(OH)D < 12 ng/mL and 12 to < 20 ng/mL had 26% and 18% lower odds of knee ROA, respectively, compared to those with 25(OH)D ≥ 20 ng/mL. Similar results were observed in men, but not women. No associations were found between 25(OH)D and knee ROA severity, lumbar spine ROA, symptomatic OA, or knee pain. Sensitivity of self-reported OA was low (27%), indicating a weak possibility of reverse causation. Prospective studies are required to identify the possible causality of vitamin D on OA in Korean men.
Older adults are recommended vitamin D to prevent fractures. Though this population is also at risk of osteoarthritis (OA), the effect of vitamin D on OA is unclear and may differ by disease state. ...The relationship between vitamin D and OA during OA initiation and progression were considered in this narrative review of in vivo and in vitro studies. Regarding OA initiation in humans, the small number of published observational studies suggest a lack of association between induction of OA and vitamin D status. Most randomized controlled trials were performed in White OA patients with relatively high vitamin D status (>50 nmol/L). These studies found no benefit of vitamin D supplementation on OA progression. However, subset analyses and one randomized controlled pilot trial indicated that vitamin D supplementation may alleviate joint pain in OA patients with low vitamin D status (<50 nmol/L). As the etiology of OA is recently being more fully uncovered, better animal and cell models are needed. According to currently available clinical results, evidence is lacking to set a vitamin D level to prevent OA, and increasing vitamin D status above 50 nmol/L does not seem to benefit OA patients.
Vitamin D deficiency affects >60% of the Korean population. Recent reports in Caucasian, African American, and Chinese populations indicate an association between vitamin D status and related single ...nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), but specific associations differ among study populations. We investigated the relationship between five SNPs involved in the vitamin D metabolic pathway (DHCR7 rs12785878, GC rs2282679, CYP2R1 rs12794714, CYP2R1 rs10741657, and CYP24A1 rs6013897) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D status in Koreans using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide database. Whether the association was modified by demographic and lifestyle factors, including sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, and sun exposure, were also investigated. The results showed the serum level of 25(OH)D was associated with rs12785878, rs2282679, and rs12794714 genotypes, but not with rs10741657 or rs6013897. The genetic risk score (GRS) calculated by summing the number of alleles of these 5 SNPs was associated with low circulating levels of 25(OH)D. However, the negative association between 25(OH)D and GRS was modified by obesity and sun exposure. Specifically, negative associations between 25(OH)D and GRS were present in adults with lower BMI (<25 kg/m2) and longer sun exposure time (≥2 h/day). In conclusion, common variants of vitamin D-related SNPs are associated with vitamin D status in Koreans, and this genetic effect was masked when BMI ≥25 kg/m2 or sun exposure <2 h/day. Additionally, seasonal variation must be considered in future studies among Koreans.
Most child and adolescent food literacy measurement tools focus on nutrition and food safety. However, the importance of aspects related to the food system such as food distribution and food waste ...and their effects on environmental sustainability is growing. We therefore developed and validated a two-dimensional tool for children (8-12 years old) and adolescents (13-18 years old) that can comprehensively measure food literacy. The association of food literacy with diet quality and self-reported health was assessed.
First, we developed a food literacy conceptual framework that contains food system and literacy dimensions through a literature review, focus group interviews, and expert review. After a face validity study, we conducted the main survey (n = 200) to validate the questionnaire. Construct validity and reliability were assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Cronbach's alpha.
As a result of the Delphi study, content validity was confirmed for the remaining 30 items after two items were excluded (content validity ratio = 0.86). Eleven items were excluded from the EFA results, while the CFA results indicated appropriate fit indices for the proposed model (comparative fit index = 0.904, root mean square error of approximation = 0.068). The final food literacy questionnaire consisted of 19 questions and comprised 5 factors: production, distribution, selection, preparation and cooking, and intake. Food literacy was positively associated with diet quality, as assessed by the Nutrition Quotient score, in both children and adolescents and with self-reported health in adolescents.
Based on this integrated conceptual framework, a two-dimensional 19-item food literacy measurement tool was developed and verified for practical use to improve the diet quality and food-related environmental sustainability awareness of children and adolescents.
B-cells are promising candidate autologous antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to prime antigen-specific T-cells both in vitro and in vivo. However to date, a significant barrier to utilizing B-cells as ...APCs is their low capacity for non-specific antigen uptake compared to "professional" APCs such as dendritic cells. Here we utilize a microfluidic device that employs many parallel channels to pass single cells through narrow constrictions in high throughput. This microscale "cell squeezing" process creates transient pores in the plasma membrane, enabling intracellular delivery of whole proteins from the surrounding medium into B-cells via mechano-poration. We demonstrate that both resting and activated B-cells process and present antigens delivered via mechano-poration exclusively to antigen-specific CD8(+)T-cells, and not CD4(+)T-cells. Squeezed B-cells primed and expanded large numbers of effector CD8(+)T-cells in vitro that produced effector cytokines critical to cytolytic function, including granzyme B and interferon-γ. Finally, antigen-loaded B-cells were also able to prime antigen-specific CD8(+)T-cells in vivo when adoptively transferred into mice. Altogether, these data demonstrate crucial proof-of-concept for mechano-poration as an enabling technology for B-cell antigen loading, priming of antigen-specific CD8(+)T-cells, and decoupling of antigen uptake from B-cell activation.
Vitamin D is known to increase Ca absorption in adults. However, the threshold vitamin D status to benefit Ca absorption is lower than the target vitamin D status for higher bone mineral density and ...lower fracture risk, pointing to another pathway for vitamin D to benefit bone. One possibility is by affecting osteoblast and osteoclasts directly. Vitamin D-related bone metabolism may also be affected by soy isoflavones, which selectively bind to the estrogen receptor β and may reduce bone loss in postmenopausal women. We discuss a possible synergistic effect of soy isoflavones and vitamin D on bone by affecting osteoblast and osteoclast formation and activity in postmenopausal women.
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