84 research outputs found
Establishing the role of vitamin a production in hepatocytes in cardiometabolic diseases
No full textSubmission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-12-01The student, Walter Catalan Monroy, accepted the attached license on 2024-12-06 at 16:13.The student, Walter Catalan Monroy, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2024-12-06 at 16:40.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2024-12-12 at 08:28.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21537 on 2025-03-28 at 14:57:02The conversion of dietary β-carotene to vitamin A by the β-carotene oxygenase 1 (BCO1) mitigates cardiometabolic diseases such as atherosclerosis and liver steatosis. Followed by adipocytes, hepatocytes are the major reservoirs of β-carotene in the body. Hepatocytes also participate in vitamin A homeostasis and are key players in regulating energy metabolism. This study aims to examine the cardiometabolic effects of β-carotene in hepatocytes as a vitamin A precursor. To test the impact of hepatocyte-specific vitamin A production, we fed β-carotene to BCO1-deficient (Bco1-/-) mice and injected them with a hepatocyte-specific adeno-associated vector encoding BCO1 (L-AAV-BCO1). To study atherosclerosis, we cross-bred Bco1-/- mice with the atheroprone low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (Ldlr-/-) mice to generate Bco1-/-Ldlr-/- mice. We fed Bco1-/-Ldlr-/- mice a Western diet (WD) supplemented with β-carotene (WD-β-carotene) and injected them with either L-AAV-BCO1 or an L-AAV encoding green-fluorescent protein (L-AAV-GFP) as control. To study the effect of hepatocyte-specific vitamin A production in the context of liver steatosis, we fed Bco1-/- mice a high-fat, high-sucrose (HFHS) diet supplemented with β-carotene (HFHS-β-carotene). L-AAV-BCO1 infusions increased vitamin A stores and retinoic acid signaling in Bco1-/- mice fed β-carotene, mitigated atherosclerosis progression, monocytosis, and monocyte recruitment to the lesion in Bco1-/- Ldlr-/- mice fed WD with β-carotene. L-AAV-BCO1 treatment in Bco1-/- Ldlr-/- mice fed a WD-β-carotene and Bco1-/- mice fed HFHS-β-carotene resulted in an overall reduction of hepatic lipid content, increased hepatic fatty acid oxidation, and reduced lipogenesis in comparison to age, and sex-matched controls injected with L-AAV-GFP. The effects of L-AAV-BCO1 were absent in mice fed HFHS with no β-carotene, implicating vitamin A formation in the cardiometabolic effects of L-AAV-BCO1 treatments. Our findings suggest that targeting hepatic β-carotene stores in hepatocytes to produce vitamin A is a viable strategy to mitigate the development of cardiometabolic diseases
The perception of school food-service professionals on the implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010: a mixed-methods study
No full textObjective: To: (i) understand the nutrition attitudes, self-efficacy, knowledge and practices of school food-service personnel (SFP) in Nebraska and (ii) identify potential barriers that schools face in offering healthy school meals that meet the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition standards.
Design: Convergent parallel mixed-methods study.
Setting: Kindergarten–12th grade schools in Nebraska, USA.
Participants: SFP (260 survey participants; fifteen focus group participants) working at schools that participate in the USDA National School Lunch Program.
Results: Mixed-methods themes identified include: (i) ‘Mixed attitudes towards healthy meals’, which captured a variety of conflicting positive and negative attitudes depending on the situation; (ii) ‘Positive practices to promote healthy meals’, which captured offering, serving and promotion practices; (iii) ‘Mixed nutrition-related knowledge’, which captured the variations in knowledge depending on the nutrition concept; and (iv) ‘Complex barriers’, which captured challenges with time, support and communication.
Conclusions: The study produced relevant findings to address the barriers identified by SFP. Implementing multicomponent interventions and providing training to SFP may help reduce some of the identified barriers of SFP
‘Read for Nutrition’ programme improves preschool children’s liking and consumption of target vegetable
No full textObjective: To determine whether the ‘Read for Nutrition’ programme would increase liking and consumption of broccoli (a target vegetable) in preschool children and test acceptability and practicality of the programme.
Design: Pilot pre-post intervention study, where childcare teachers received training and coaching followed by reading the book ‘Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli’ multiple times with the children during a three-week intervention.
Setting: Five classrooms of Educare, Lincoln, Nebraska in 2018.
Participants: Sixty-nine (11 to 16 children per classroom) preschool-aged children and sixteen teachers (minimum, three per classroom).
Results: Average total consumption of broccoli increased 35 % (0·14 ounces or 0·05th cup) after the ‘Read for Nutrition’ programme (t = 2·66; P = 0·01; 95 % CIs (0·035, 0·246)) for all children. Proportional consumption increased for children who received ≥ five exposures to the book (t46 = 2·77; P = 0·008). Exposures to the book predicted proportional consumption (β = 0·365; P = 0·002). Liking of broccoli increased (W69 = 2·2, P = 0·03) as well. Teachers rated the programme as acceptable, practical and enjoyable to children and to themselves.
Conclusions: Programmes such as ‘Read for Nutrition’ have the potential to improve children’s vegetable liking and consumption in early care and education settings with only book readings and no exposure to a real vegetable
Correlates of Children’s Dietary Intake in Childcare Settings: A Systematic Review
No full textContext: Children consume up to two-thirds of their daily dietary requirements in full-time childcare, making the setting a critical vector for preventing childhood obesity. Objective: To summarize the ecological correlates of children’s dietary intake in childcare settings that were identified and categorized using the Six-Cs developmental ecological model of contributors to overweight and obesity in childhood. Data Sources: A literature search was conducted in 4 electronic databases. Study Selection: English-language, peer-reviewed publications that investigated at least 1 correlate of children’s (ages 2–6 years) dietary intake in childcare settings and measured children’s actual consumption of foods and beverages from food groups were included. Data Extraction: Correlates were categorized into child, clan, community, and country groups. Results: A total of 55 studies, which examined 29 correlates, were reviewed. Correlates identified included child’s age, sex, characteristics of food provision (namely, food composition, foods and beverages served, portion sizes), repeated exposure, nutrition education, book reading, peer influence, meal service type, and childcare teachers’ responsive feeding practices. Policies and participation in Head Start and the Child and Adult Care Food Program could not be determined as correlates of children’s dietary intake, owing to a lack of evidence. Conclusion: This review produced a list of correlates to consider in designing interventions to improve children’s dietary intake in childcare settings. The correlates could contribute to development of lifelong healthy eating habits, thereby preventing childhood obesity
Participation in the CACFP Ensures Availability but not Intake of Nutritious Foods at Lunch in Preschool Children in Child-Care Centers
No full textBackground — The US Department of Agriculture Child and Adult Care Food program (CACFP) recently (October 2017) updated requirements for meal reimbursement and best practice recommendations for serving nutritious meals and beverages, and minimum age-specific serving sizes for five food groups. It is not known whether CACFPfunded child-care centers are meeting the updated meal pattern requirements and best practice recommendations, and whether children are meeting nutrition recommendations based on the current 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Objective This study assessed whether the recruited CACFP-funded child-care centers in this study were meeting the updated (2017) CACFP requirements regarding foods served for lunch and whether children attending these child-care centers were meeting ageand sex-specific DGA recommendations regarding foods consumed.
Design — This was a cross-sectional study using the Dietary Observation for Child Care method.
Participants and settings — Children aged 3 to 5 years (n 108) from 10 classrooms in three CACFP-funded child-care centers in Lincoln, NE, were recruited by convenience sampling during spring 2018.
Measurable outcomes — Food served and consumed during observed lunches in comparison with updated CACFP requirements and DGA, respectively.
Statistical analysis — Adjusted mean amounts of foods served from each food group were compared with age specific minimum CACFP serving size requirements. Adjusted mean amounts of foods consumed from each food group were then compared with ageand sex-specific DGA recommendations.
Results — The recruited child-care centers were meeting the updated CACFP requirements regarding foods served but showed limited adherence to the best practice recommendations during the observed lunches. However, the overall mean intake for grains, fruits, and vegetables was significantly lower (P\u3c0.01) than DGA recommendations. In addition, approximately 25% of the children did not consume any vegetables during their meal.
Conclusions — Although child-care centers were meeting the updated CACFP requirements by serving the recommended amounts of foods, children were not meeting DGA-recommended intakes. Future studies are needed to explore ways to improve adherence to best practice recommendations to improve children’s consumption of healthy foods in child-care centers
Synthesis of Organic–Inorganic Nanohybrids-Based Polymeric Nanocomposites
No full textOrganic–inorganic nanohybrids-based polymer nanocomposites are made up of two different components, and these hybrids attained great attention over last decades due to their diversified framework and fascinating features. These nanohybrids possess synergistic characteristics of both organic and inorganic substances. Different synthetic routes are used to synthesize these materials with enhanced morphology, tunable features, and fine nanostructures. This chapter focuses on various synthetic routes for fabrication of organic–inorganic-based nanopolymeric composites. Synthetic strategies and protocols of different routes have been described in details. We have also discussed the advantages and limitations of all synthetic methods in details.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Aerospace Manufacturing Technologie
Study of flight data recorder, underwater locator beacon, data logger and flarm collision avoidance system
No full textAccess and use of the Internet in the libraries of Lahore, Pakistan
No full textThis study is to find out the level of the Internet access in libraries, its uses by library staff and the problems regarding access and use of Internet in libraries of Lahore, Pakistan. The research is based on primary data. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted by (n=75) 48 academic libraries (university and college), 21 special libraries, five public libraries and one school library in the city of Lahore. Findings of the study may be useful for policy makers to understand the status of the Internet access and its need as well as for library schools to revise the curriculum to improve the Internet skills of future librarians
Pinokkio : Satuhahmosta teatterinukeksi
No full textOpinnäytetyössäni kerron Pinokkio-nuken rakennuksesta Kaarinan Nuorisoteatterin näytelmään. Kirjoitan Pinokkion henkilöhahmon historiasta, sekä kirjailija Carlo Collodista. Kerron tekemistäni taiteellisista ja teknisistä ratkaisuista sekä siitä, miten ne liittyvät alkuperäisen tarinan hahmoon ja miten rakentamani nuken hahmo kehittyi työskentelyni aikana.In my thesis I write about constructing Pinocchio-puppet for Kaarina Youth Theatre. I write about the history and story of Pinocchio and also about the author, Carlo Collodi. I tell about the artistic and technical solutions which led to these conclusions. I explain how the history and fame of Pinocchio affected and supported these processes
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