Introduction:
Food in vending machines in US colleges contain limited nutritious foods available for purchase, which could affect the food choices made by students leading to poor diet quality. ...Interventions to improve college foodscapes usually follow a top-down approach and fail to affect dietary behavioral changes ultimately. This research aims to uncover what students want and ways to achieve change.
Methods:
The mixed-methods approach included peer-led qualitative focus group discussions and a brief quantitative questionnaire on satisfaction from foods available in vending machines. A convenience sample of 20 students (15 females) was recruited from a Hispanic serving institution for this study.
Results:
Vending machines were perceived as convenient, plentiful, and unhealthy. Students expressed dissatisfaction with both the variety and nutritional quality of snacks in vending machines. Suggestions for improvement included more fresh items (fruits and vegetables) and refrigerated items with higher protein content (low-fat yogurt, hummus, and peanut butter). To implement these improvements, participants discussed the cost and feasibility of perishable items. Increasing awareness and partnering strategies were proposed to mediate potential cost and buy-in obstacles as was elevating the appeal of healthy vending machines with technological enhancements that draw customers in and educate.
Conclusion and Implication for Practice:
This group of college students was eager for positive changes in foods sold in vending machines and understand the major difficulties. The suggested changes may help this and other colleges develop policies to regulate the foods in vending machines to promote overall health and help prevent chronic diseases in the future.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous group of tumors, with aggressive clinical course that renders prognostication and choice of treatment strategy difficult. Chemo-immunotherapy ...with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP) is the current first-line treatment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are under investigation as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in several malignancies, including malignant lymphomas. While tissue miRNAs in DLBCL patients have been extensively studied as biomarkers, only few reports to date have evaluated the role of circulating/serum miRNAs as potential prognostic factors. Here circulating/serum miRNAs, including miR-22, were investigated as potential non-invasive biomarkers, with the aim of a better prognostic stratification of DLBCL patients.
MiRNAs were selected by global expression profile of serum miRNAs of DLBCL patients, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) analysis and literature research. Serum and tissues miRNA expression profile in de novo DLBCL patients, consecutively enrolled for this study, were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Relative expression was calculated using the comparative Ct method. Statistical significance was determined using the Mann-Whitney rank sum and Fisher's exact test. Survival analysis was conducted through the use of Kaplan-Meier method. Spearman's Rho was applied to study the correlation between miRNA distributions and days to first relapse. Experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions were assessed by miRTarBase database. Negative miRNA-mRNA correlation was evaluated in TCGA DLBCL dataset. Pathway analysis was performed by the functional annotation clustering DAVID tool.
We showed a significant modulation of serum miR-22 after R-CHOP treatment compared with basal values but no difference between baseline serum miRNAs values of DLBCL patients and healthy controls. High expression level of serum miR-22 in DLBCL at diagnosis (n = 36) is associated with a worse PFS and is independent of the currently used clinical prognostic index. Integrative and pathways analysis of miR-22 identified target genes involved in different important pathways such as p53 signaling.
Our data suggest that miR-22 is of potential interest as non-invasive biomarker to predict clinical outcome in DLBCL patients. Characterization of miR-22 pathways can pave the way to the development of targeted therapy approaches for specific subgroups of DLBCL patients.
College students spend most of their time on campus, where they are exposed to unhealthy vending machine (VM) snacks, increasing their risk of weight gain and co-morbidities. Improving VM snacks to ...healthier options could lead to a healthier student body. The objectives of this study were to identify the on-campus VM food choices of Florida International University (FIU) students and their perceptions about how these could be substituted with healthier alternatives. This was a preliminary study for a future intervention to improve quality of the snacks offered in VM at FIU.
Students were recruited through flyers and mass e-mails. After contacting and screening, 20 students participated in this mixed-methods study. The study was approved by the IRB and participants signed a consent form. They completed a demographic survey, a food preference questionnaire and a focus group, which was audio-recorded. Recordings were transcribed and analyzed using NVIVO. Data from the questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistics.
Most participants were female (75%), 18–24 years of age, seeking a bachelor’s degree (55%), and identified the most with Latin American/Hispanic cuisine (40%). Students purchased VM snacks a few times per month (45%) and preferred purchasing savory foods (80%). A total of 40% were somewhat unsatisfied with the selection of VM snacks and 50% were somewhat unsatisfied with the nutritional value of these foods. The main reason for purchasing from VMs was convenience and a fast solution to their hunger. Participants noted that certain areas of the university had healthier VM snacks than others, which cost more. They suggested the improvement of availability and accessibility of healthier snacks (i.e., protein foods and fresh, safe products), particularly for those with special needs (i.e., financial, allergies, disabilities), and placement of healthy snacks in high traffic areas. Creating a health culture, through the use of nutrition education, within FIU was deemed necessary for improving the quality of snacks on campus.
This study proved the need for improving snacks offered in VMs on campus and students are open to supporting this initiative, but suggested to be accompanied by a nutrition education program.
Florida International University internal funds.
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