1,721,510 research outputs found
Integrating the ideas of life course across cellular, individual, and population levels in cancer causation
No full textCells, individuals, and societies are complex systems in which the integrity of structure and function is protected through tight regulation and control. For each level of organization, health represents the ability to maintain integrity in response to the wider environment. Critical stages during growth and development act as checkpoints, where choice is exercised, and help determine future direction. Important among factors influencing the checkpoints include the availability of nutrients or foods within the immediate environment. At the cellular and whole-body levels, this information can be communicated to future generations. Recent work on the developmental origins of adult disease indicate specific factors that set limits on structure and function and potentially limit the capacity of the cell and individual to respond to environmental stressors that represent potential risk factors for neoplastic change. Epigenetic mechanisms modulate structure and function at the cellular and tissue levels, reflecting the potential for the growth and development of individuals, and reflect the food and nutrients available to the body as a whole and within the wider society. Understanding the nature and the interaction of the critical factors that determine and regulate variable stable and unstable gene expression will be increasingly important in characterizing abnormal cellular function and risk of disease for individuals and populations. This will require the ability to synthesize large data sets within and between different levels of organization to develop and refine a deeper understanding of how the systems are effectively integrated and regulated within and across generations and where this fails in the genesis of cancer
The impact of maternal micronutrient supplementation on early neonatal morbidity
No full textMany women throughout the world survive on diets of poor quality, and deficiencies in vitamins, minerals and trace elements are common in many developing countries. The effect of this poor nutritional status is a particular concern when the additional demands of pregnancy and lactation expose both the mother and her newborn infant to increased risk of adverse consequence.1 In response to this, the international community proposed about 10 years ago that a multiple micronutrient supplement be developed for widespread use as a dietary supplement during pregnancy.2 Since that time a number of large-scale randomised controlled trials have been carried out in which maternal supplementation with multiple micronutrients during pregnancy has been assessed for an effect on maternal mortality and morbidity, birth weight and later growth, morbidity and survival. <br/
Quality control issues related to assessment of body composition
No full textThere are no internationally agreed quality standards for the measurement of stature, weight, and body composition. This lack of agreement constrains the quality of work in nutrition and must be addressed in order to build systemic capacity within the Scaling Up Nutrition agenda. There is a need to reach agreement and define standards of performance and the required training to be able to demonstrate the competency of those responsible for making the measurements. This, together with the adoption of standardized protocols, traceable reference materials, quality assurance frameworks, and publication guidance, would mark an important first step in improving the conduct and interpretation of measurements of growth and body composition
Outcomes of children aged 6-59 months with severe acute malnutrition at the GADO Outpatient Therapeutic Center in Cameroon
Get PDFObjective: We aimed to assess outcomes [rates of recovery, default, case fatality; rate of weight gain and rate of Mean Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) gain] of children aged 6-59 months with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) at the Outpatient Therapeutic Center at Gado Refugee Camp, Cameroon, in relation to international standards. We retrospectively analysed files of 254 children with SAM aged 6-59 months admitted from April 2015 to August 2016. Results: 72.8% got discharged as recovered, 0.8% died and none defaulted. 26.8% got referred to stabilization center, mostly for poor weight gain (44.1%). Mean rate of weight gain was 4.4 g/kg/day and MUAC gain 0.3 mm/cm/day; median duration of treatment 44.5 days. Amongst those with marasmus, kwashiorkor and marasmic kwashiorkor, median duration of stay was 48, 24.5 and 36.3 days (p = 0.002); recovery rates were similar 73, 71.4, 71.4% respectively (p = 0.7); Median rates of weight gain, 4.4, 6.7 and 8.1 g/kg/day (p = 0.05). 49 children had been incorrectly diagnosed and treated as SAM. International Standards were met in terms of case fatality rate and default rate but not rates of recovery and weight gain. Separate gender charts must be used to calculate weight for height z scores as combined charts cause significant errors.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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