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Associations of Lifestyle and Sociodemographic Factors With Dietary Supplement Use in College Students
Get PDFBackground: Dietary supplement use has been shown to be significantly prevalent in the United States, especially among the young adult population. Studies have reported increasing use of dietary supplements among college students in the US. However, little research has investigated the sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics associated with dietary supplement use in this population.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of dietary supplement use and sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics associated with dietary supplement use in college students and examine the attitudes and beliefs of college students on dietary supplements.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 106 college students. A questionnaire was developed to assess student’s demographic and anthropometric data, physical activity, nutritional knowledge, dietary supplement use, and attitudes towards dietary supplements. The data was analyzed using SAS Version 9.4. Frequency counts, Fisher exact tests, Spearman’s rank, multiple logistic regression, and descriptive statistics were performed.
Results: Overall, 66% of college students reported using a dietary supplement in the previous 30 days. The most commonly used dietary supplements used alone or in combination were vitamins (32%), multivitamins/minerals (27%), and proteins (24%). As student age increased, the odds of using a dietary supplement increased by a factor of 1.64 (p \u3c 0.05). The primary reason students reported for using dietary supplements was to improve their overall health (24%) and the most frequently reported source of nutrition information was the media (42%).
Conclusions: Dietary supplement use was considerably higher in the college student population than the general US population. Demographic factors such as age might influence the prevalence of dietary supplement use in this population. Nutritional education and consulting should be made available to college students, emphasizing the role of healthcare providers and researchers in determining beneficial plans for nutrient supplementation
Don’t Wait, Automate! Industry Perspectives on KBART Holdings Automation
Get PDFWhen trying to manage their e-resources, librarians spend a significant amount of time adjusting their holdings in vendor knowledgebases to make sure that the content their library can access is selected properly. This is often a tedious process, which, extrapolated out to each content provider, can be a drain on library resources. A National Information Standards Organization (NISO) recommended practice provides a solution to this problem by facilitating the automatic transfer and retrieval of library-specific Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) holdings data between content providers and knowledgebases. In this presentation, Matthew Ragucci of Wiley presents a publisher’s perspective on the work required to implement KBART Automation: Automated Retrieval of Customer Electronic Holdings, Andrée Rathemacher of the University of Rhode Island shares a librarian’s opinion on the benefits and potential pitfalls of KBART Automation, and Stephanie Doellinger of OCLC addresses the topic from a knowledgebase supplier’s point of view
The Relationship of Physical Activity and Dietary Quality with Android Fat Composition and Distribution in US Adults
Get PDFThis study examined the relationship of physical activity (PA) and dietary quality to android fat composition and distribution using a national representative adult sample and determined sex-based differences in these relationships. It is a cross-sectional (n = 10,014) analysis of the 2011–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the US department of Agriculture’s Food Patterns Equivalents datasets. Variables utilized for this analysis include PA, 24-h dietary recalls, android percent fat, and android-gynoid (A/G) ratio measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the relationship between PA and/or dietary quality and android percent fat and A/G ratio adjusted for confounding factors. The study results revealed that PA and/or dietary quality were inversely related to android percent fat and A/G ratio (p \u3c 0.05), but the sex effect was only seen between PA and A/G ratio (p = 0.003). Participants who met PA recommendations and had higher dietary quality had 2.12% lower android fat than those who did not meet PA recommendations and had lower dietary quality (p \u3c 0.001). Both PA and dietary quality are associated with android fat reduction regardless of sex. Given the direct connection between android fat and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, it is important to increase both PA and dietary quality
Quantitative Analysis of the Trade-Offs of Colony Formation for Trichodesmium
Get PDFThere is considerable debate about the benefits and trade-offs for colony formation in a major marine nitrogen fixer, Trichodesmium. To quantitatively analyze the trade-offs, we developed a metabolic model based on carbon fluxes to compare the performance of Trichodesmium colonies and free trichomes under different scenarios. Despite reported reductions in carbon fixation and nitrogen fixation rates for colonies relative to free trichomes, we found that model colonies can outperform individual cells in several cases. The formation of colonies can be advantageous when respiration rates account for a high proportion of the carbon fixation rate. Negative external influence on vital rates, such as mortality due to predation or micronutrient limitations, can also create a net benefit for colony formation relative to individual cells. In contrast, free trichomes also outcompete colonies in many scenarios, such as when respiration rates are equal for both colonies and individual cells or when there is a net positive external influence on rate processes (i.e., optimal environmental conditions regarding light and temperature or high nutrient availability). For both colonies and free trichomes, an increase in carbon fixation relative to nitrogen fixation rates would increase their relative competitiveness. These findings suggest that the formation of colonies in Trichodesmium might be linked to specific environmental and ecological circumstances. Our results provide a road map for empirical studies and models to evaluate the conditions under which colony formation in marine phytoplankton can be sustained in the natural environment
Alignment of optical backscatter measurements from the EXPORTS Northeast Pacific Field Deployment
Get PDFBackscattering of light is commonly measured by ocean observing systems, including ships and autonomous platforms, and is used as a proxy for the concentration of water column constituents such as phytoplankton and particulate carbon. Multiple on-going projects involve large numbers of independent measurements of backscatter, as well as other biologically relevant parameters, to understand how biology is changing in time and space throughout the global ocean. Rarely are there sufficient measurements to test how well these instruments are inter-calibrated in real-world deployment conditions.This paper develops a procedure to align multiple independently calibrated backscatter instruments to each other using nearby profiling casts and applies this method to nine instruments deployed during a recent field campaign in the North Pacific during August-September of 2018. This process revealed several incorrect calibrations; post-alignment, all nine instruments aligned extremely well with each other. We also tested an alignment to a deep-water reference and found that this method is generally sufficient but has significant limitations; this procedure lacks the ability to correct instruments measuring only shallow profiles and can only account for additive offsets, not multiplicative changes. These findings highlight the utility of process studies involving several independent measurements of similar parameters in the same area
The Population Genetics and Evolutionary Potential of Diatoms
No full textSince the Victorian era, people have remarked on the diversity and abundance of diatoms in marine waters. Diatoms are found across the sunlit ocean, are key components of marine food webs, and help to drive biogeochemical cycles. These characteristics are often used as measures of the ecological “success” of diatoms. In this chapter, we examine some of the evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to this success by reviewing the evolutionary strategies and rates that govern diatom population genetic structure and evolutionary potential. We highlight the field and lab data that have provided insights into contemporary evolution including standing genetic variation, natural selection, and rates of mutation, gene flow, recombination, and genetic drift. We also highlight the diversity of methodological approaches that have been used to examine genetic structure and contemporary evolution including single and several locus analyses, partial and whole genome sequencing efforts, experimental evolution, and modeling studies. This variety of approaches has revealed that diatom species are generally comprised of multiple genetically distinct populations. These populations are made up of genotypically diverse individuals with the ability to rapidly respond to their environment without any genetic change through acclimation. Populations also have the potential to respond to environmental change by shifting their genetic composition (evolution), due to their high genotypic diversity and ability to generate additional variation through mutation or heritable epigenetic responses. A key challenge for the future is to connect genotype with phenotype to better interrogate and understand how contemporary evolution functions in natural populations. This effort should include the development of culture-independent methods as well as robust support for laboratory assays to evaluate phenotypic variation across a diversity of traits and species. Finally, future efforts should be focused on obtaining a deeper understanding of how life history traits in diatoms, such as sexual reproduction and resting spore formation, influence their adaptive potential
Tuning Agrochemical Chemistry at the Nanoscale to Enhance Stress Tolerance, Crop Nutrition, and Yield
Get PDFLow use and delivery efficiency of conventional agrichemicals is a significant impediment to maintaining global food security, particularly given that a 60-70% increase in food production is needed by 2050 to support the projected population. Further confounding these efforts is a changing climate, which may force increased growth of crops under more marginal and stress-inducing conditions. Novel and sustainable strategies for enhancing food production are needed all along the “farm-to-fork” continuum. We have focused on using nanotechnology to increase the delivery efficiency and efficacy of nutrients; e.g., given the known role of micronutrients in plant growth and defense against both abiotic and biotic stresses, we began mechanistic investigations into the potential of nanoscale micronutrient platforms for enhancing nutritional status and disease resistance. In several studies, foliar amendment of nanoscale materials such as CuO, CuS, S and SiO2 have been shown to significantly alleviate damage caused by the fungal and viral pathogens, resulting in enhanced growth and yield. Disease suppression is largely a function of modulated plant nutrition and disease resistance and not direct toxicity against the pathogen. We are also looking at novel biopolymer-based nanocomposited as a means to enhance the precision of phosphorus delivery while minimizing run-off and damage to the ecosystem. Other studies are focused on the use of nanoscale metal oxides to enhance photosynthetic efficiency under stressed and non-stressed conditions. Across these projects, the ability to effectively tune nanoscale material structure and composition will be critical to maximizing positive impacts, including significantly reduced amounts of agrichemical use. Results will be presented from several studies where manipulation of nanoparticle synthesis resulted in tunable and sustainable materials that yielded greater plant health and crop yield by a range of agronomic endpoints
Potential impacts of climate change on agriculture and fisheries production in 72 tropical coastal communities
Get PDFClimate change is expected to profoundly affect key food production sectors, including fisheries and agriculture. However, the potential impacts of climate change on these sectors are rarely considered jointly, especially below national scales, which can mask substantial variability in how communities will be affected. Here, we combine socioeconomic surveys of 3,008 households and intersectoral multi-model simulation outputs to conduct a sub-national analysis of the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and agriculture in 72 coastal communities across five Indo-Pacific countries (Indonesia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Tanzania). Our study reveals three key findings: First, overall potential losses to fisheries are higher than potential losses to agriculture. Second, while most locations (\u3e 2/3) will experience potential losses to both fisheries and agriculture simultaneously, climate change mitigation could reduce the proportion of places facing that double burden. Third, potential impacts are more likely in communities with lower socioeconomic status