745 research outputs found
Assessment of Nutrient Intakes: Introduction to the Special Issue
No full textKirkpatrick, S. I., & Collins, C. E. (2016). Assessment of Nutrient Intakes: Introduction to the Special Issue. Nutrients, 8(4), 184. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8040184Accurately measuring consumption of food, drinks and supplements is fundamental to nutrition and health research, including surveillance, epidemiology and intervention studies. However, assessing food intake is an area that is fraught with challenges [1]. Diet is inherently complex given that it is
a chronic and multifaceted phenomenon that changes over time and varies in relation to age, life stage
and many other factors. The challenges associated with assessing diet and nutrient intakes have led to
the productive area of research that is the focus of this issue of Nutrients.Funder 1, Sharon Kirkpatrick is funded by a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Capacity
Development Award (grant # 702855) || Funder 2, Clare Collins is supported by a National Health and Medical Research
Council of Australia Senior Research Fellowship
World English: Research and Practice
No full text"World-renowned TESOL Expert Essays" gathers the research essence of many senior experts in the field of teacher education development from the internationally renowned English education and academic institution-TESOL International Association (TESOL International Association). Each series of books is dedicated to a research topic in the development of teacher education. From a broad international perspective, it conducts in-depth discussions on hot topics in the fields of teaching, scientific research and professional development of English teachers. It has both rich theoretical knowledge and freshness. The classroom examples of this article aim to provide practical and effective theoretical guidance and practical reference for the education and development of language teachers at home and abroad.
Andy Kirkpatrick is a professor in the Department of Languages and Linguistics at Griffith University in Australia. His main research directions are teaching English as a foreign language, applied linguistics and rhetoric. As an outstanding scholar in the field of world English research, the author has been committed to exploring the key issues in the theory and practice of this field in his successful career for more than 40 years. The research and practice of World English and English as a global lingua franca have emerged in Asia. And communication has had a huge impact. This book brings together a series of impressive representative articles by the author. I believe readers will be inspired by them to explore and study important issues in the world of English.No Full Tex
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A Case Study of the Character Carmen
No full textThis paper discusses the portrayal of the character of Carmen in the novel written by Prosper Mérimée and in the opera written by Georges Bizet. Sharon Grahnquist provides historical background to the character and her creation, and offers and interpretation of the intended performance
sj-doc-1-aph-10.1177_10105395231189570 – Supplemental material for Examining the Association Between Household Enrollment in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Wasting and Stunting Status Among Children Experiencing Poverty in the Philippines: A Cross-Sectional Study
No full textSupplemental material, sj-doc-1-aph-10.1177_10105395231189570 for Examining the Association Between Household Enrollment in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Wasting and Stunting Status Among Children Experiencing Poverty in the Philippines: A Cross-Sectional Study by Monica Bustos, Lincoln L. Lau, Sharon I. Kirkpatrick, Joel A. Dubin, Helena Manguerra and Warren Dodd in Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health</p
Gaps in the Evidence on Population Interventions to Reduce Consumption of Sugars: A Review of Reviews
No full textKirkpatrick, S. I., Raffoul, A., Maynard, M., Lee, K. M., & Stapleton, J. (2018). Gaps in the Evidence on Population Interventions to Reduce Consumption of Sugars: A Review of Reviews. Nutrients, 10(8), 1036. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10081036There is currently considerable attention directed to identifying promising interventions to reduce consumption of sugars among populations around the world. A review of systematic reviews was conducted to identify gaps in the evidence on such interventions. Medline, EMBASE CINAHL, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched to identify systematic reviews published in English from January 2005 to May 2017 and considering research on interventions to reduce sugar intake. Twelve systematic reviews that considered price changes, interventions to alter the food available within specific environments, and health promotion and education programs were examined. Each of the identified reviews focused on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). The existing literature provides some promising indications in terms of the potential of interventions to reduce SSB consumption among populations. However, a common thread is the limited scope of available evidence, combined with the heterogeneity of methods and measures used in existing studies, which limits conclusions that can be reached regarding the effectiveness of interventions. Reviewed studies typically had limited follow-up periods, making it difficult to assess the sustainability of effects. Further, there is a lack of studies that address the complex context within which interventions are implemented and evaluated, and little is known about the cost-effectiveness of interventions. Identified gaps speak to the need for a more holistic approach to sources of sugars beyond SSBs, consensus on measures and methods, attention to the implementation of interventions in relation to context, and careful monitoring to identify intended and unintended consequences.At the time that the work was undertaken, Sharon Kirkpatrick was supported by a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Capacity Development Award (grant
#702855)
Food insecurity among adults and adolescents in Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States before and during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
No full textBackground: Household food insecurity is a major public health concern with negative consequences for health and well-being among adults and adolescents. During the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, shocks and stabilizers may have affected the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity overall and among subgroups of the population. For example, restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 led to loss of employment, potentially increasing risk of food insecurity, whereas policies such as income supplementation for those who lost employment may have had a stabilizing effect. Comparing changes in household food insecurity across multiple countries over time can shed light into how packages of economic and social policy responses implemented or revised by national level governments during the pandemic may have influenced household food insecurity, providing insights into strategies to ameliorate household food insecurity, including in times of crisis.
Objectives: The objectives of this thesis were to 1) characterize changes, or lack thereof, in the prevalence and severity of food insecurity among adults and adolescents in Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States from before (2019) to during (2020) the pandemic (Chapter 5); 2) examine national level government economic and social policy responses implemented or revised in these countries to, in part, mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related safety measures (Chapter 6); and 3) determine whether economic and social policy responses appeared to mitigate anticipated increases in food insecurity during the COVID-19 (Chapter 7). The countries of interest were identified based on the similarity in the languages spoken, food environments, and culture among other characteristics.
Methods and results: Three inter-related studies addressed the thesis objectives, with two of the studies integrating consultation with a collaborative working group to facilitate the relevance and applicability of study findings by considering country-specific contexts. Two studies drawing upon the International Food Policy Study considered food insecurity data reported by adults aged 18 to 100 years and directly by adolescents aged 10 to 17 years, enabling comparison in trends among the two population subgroups over time. Among adults, food insecurity was measured using the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module, enabling categorization of the households in which participants lived as food secure or food insecure over the past 12 months. Among adolescents, the 10-item Child Food Insecurity Experiences Scale was used, enabling consideration of the number of food insecurity experiences (i.e., no, few, many, or several) they had over the past 12 months.
The first study (Chapter 5) drew upon repeat annual cross-sectional data from adults (n = 63,278) and adolescents (n = 23,107) to examine changes in food insecurity prevalence and severity from before (2019) to during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic in the countries of interest. Based on adjusted binary and multinomial logistic regression models, adults in Australia (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.81; 95% CI: 0.72-0.92) and Canada (AOR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77-0.99) were less likely to live in food-insecure households during (2020) relative to before (2019) the pandemic. There was little indication of changes in the odds of adults living in food-insecure households in the United Kingdom (AOR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.79-1.02) and the United States (AOR: 1.05; 95% CI: 0.93-1.19) in 2020 relative to 2019, while in Mexico, adults were more likely (AOR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.31) to live in food-insecure households in 2020. Findings related to changes in the severity of food insecurity were similar. Adolescents in Mexico were more likely (AOR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.19-1.71) to report experiencing food insecurity in 2020 compared to 2019. In Australia (adjusted relative risk ratio (ARRR): 2.24; 95% CI: 1.65-3.02) and the United States (ARRR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.04-1.86), adolescents had a higher relative risk ratio of many compared to no experiences of food insecurity in 2020 compared to 2019. No differences in the prevalence or number of experiences of food insecurity among adolescents were observed in other countries.
In the second study (Chapter 6), packages of economic and social policy responses to, in part, mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and safety measures to limit spread of the virus in the countries of interest were characterized. Potentially relevant policy responses implemented or revised by national governments between January 2020 and December 2022 were identified using eight policy response trackers. A theory of change articulating the hypothesized influence of different types of policy responses on household food insecurity guided the inclusion criteria. Two rounds of screening were conducted to identify the final set of 142 relevant economic and social policy responses. Hypotheses about how policy packages influenced household food insecurity in 2021 and 2022 were developed based on observed changes in household food insecurity from 2019 to 2020 and broader contextual events. Consideration of the influence of policies on food insecurity in 2021 and 2022 integrated evidence from other sources. Financial-based policy responses (e.g., unemployment protection) were emphasized in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In Chile, Mexico, and the United States, there was a more equal distribution of financial-based and resource-based (e.g., food assistance) policy responses. Across most countries and years, policy packages provided long periods of coverage (six months or more). Mexico was an exception in 2021 with a mix of policy responses that had short- and long-term coverage.
The third study (Chapter 7) drew upon repeat cross-sectional data from 104,418 adults and 44,759 adolescents from 2018 (adults only), 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 to determine whether economic and social policy responses mitigated anticipated increases in food insecurity among adults and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three lines of inquiry were used to realize this objective. First, year-to-year changes in food insecurity among adults and adolescents and in the known determinants (e.g., difficulty making ends meet) and consequences (e.g., poor quality diets) of food insecurity were compared. Alignment in changes would instill confidence that the nature of food insecurity did not change during the pandemic and set the foundation for the subsequent two lines of inquiry. Second, among adults living in households, the predicted prevalence of food insecurity in 2020, 2021, and 2022 had the pandemic not occurred was estimated (this analysis was not conducted for adolescents given the lack of data for 2018). Hypothesized changes in food insecurity among adults living in households for each country by year given that the pandemic occurred and considering broader contextual events (e.g., global inflation, Brexit in the United Kingdom) were developed to guide assessment of whether economic and social policy responses mitigated anticipated increases in food insecurity. Observing that the observed proportion of adults in food-insecure households was lower or did not differ from the predicted proportion would suggest that economic and social policy responses mitigated anticipated increases in food insecurity. Third, adjusted multinomial or binary logistic regression models with interactions for the survey year and selected characteristics that indicate high risk of experiencing food insecurity (e.g., households with children) assessed changes in the odds or relative risk ratio of food insecurity among adults living in households and adolescents during (2020 to 2022) relative to before (2019) the COVID-19 pandemic among the subgroups selected. Subgroups with selected characteristics were anticipated to be more likely to experience food insecurity during the pandemic. If this finding was not observed, it would suggest that economic and social policy responses mitigated anticipated increases in food insecurity among those at high risk during the pandemic.
Alignment between changes in food insecurity among adults living in households and adolescents and its known determinants and consequences ranged across countries and over time. The variation in alignment was likely due to the range of factors that could influence food insecurity and the unlikelihood that a one percent change in the proportion of food insecurity would equate to a one percent change in the singular category examined for each determinant and consequence. The observed proportions of food insecurity among adults living in households were lower than predicted had the pandemic not occurred in Australia, Canada, and the United States at various time points, suggesting that policy responses to address pandemic-related disruptions mitigated increases in food insecurity that were otherwise anticipated to due to shocks related to COVID-19 safety measures. Subgroups that were anticipated to be more likely to experience food insecurity during (2020 to 2022) relative to before (2019) the COVID-19 pandemic largely did not, with indication that some subgroups were better protected by policies introduced during the pandemic compared to beforehand.
Conclusions: Although some increases in food insecurity among adults were observed through the pandemic in the countries examined, it appears that economic and social policies introduced by national governments mitigated otherwise large, anticipated increases due to loss of income and other shocks to households. The lack of increases in the proportions of adolescents experiencing food insecurity in most countries reinforces the notion that policy packages influenced food insecurity during the pandemic. Nonetheless, household food insecurity remains prevalent and increased in later years, likely due to the expiration of policy responses, inflation, and other events globally.
Though long-term economic and social policies to address household food insecurity are lacking in the countries examined, this work indicates it is possible for governments to ameliorate this serious public health problem using policy levers. Packages of policy responses that focused on financial-based support and/or scaled up existing policy responses mitigated anticipated increases in food insecurity among adults in 2020. Policy packages also appear to have contributed to the observed prevalence of food insecurity among adults living in households being the same or lower than the predicted prevalence through the pandemic. These findings are salient as the world works to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 against the backdrop of ongoing crises anticipated to sharply increase risk of household food insecurity, including the climate emergency and conflicts
Sources of Nutrition Information in Relation to Weight Loss Behaviours Among Young Canadian Adults Trying to Lose Weight
No full textWeight loss efforts are pervasive among young adults and worrisome as they are associated with poor mental health and development of eating disorders. Data on weight loss behaviours are limited among Canadian youth, as is knowledge of environmental variables (e.g., information sources) that are associated with such behaviours. Current literature predominantly considers weight loss behaviours individually, despite evidence that health behaviours co-occur. This simplistic method of conceptualizing weight loss behaviours may have implications for research examining correlates and implications of strategies used to lose weight. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of weight loss behaviours and nutrition information sources utilized among young Canadians (16-30 years of age) who reported trying to lose weight over the past year, and to examine associations between the sources consulted and weight loss methods utilized. Cross-sectional data were drawn from the first wave of the Canada Food Study, a cohort study of young adults from five urban areas. Factor analysis was used to identify patterns of weight loss behaviours. Four factors, or patterns, were identified: Dietary Changes, Purging and Restrictive Behaviours, Non-Prescribed Supplements and Formulas, and Health-Promoting Behaviours. Factor analysis was also used to examine covariation among the sources of nutrition information reported, again identifying four factors: Government and Health Association Materials, Health and Weight Loss Specialists, Commercial Sources, and Easily Accessible Sources. Building on insights from the factor analyses to operationalize variables, Poisson regression modelling was used to examine associations between information sources and weight loss behaviours. Associations were found between the nutrition information source used and weight loss behaviours. The findings of this study challenge others to re-examine the ways in which weight loss behaviours are conceptualized, and provide insights into the possible implications of relying on certain types of sources of nutrition information for weight loss behaviours
Advancing methods to capture and analyze dietary patterns
No full textBackground: Suboptimal diet quality is linked to poor health outcomes and is associated with many sociodemographic characteristics, including several that are indicators of inequities. Assessments of dietary intake have shifted over time from investigations of single foods and nutrients towards dietary patterns. This change has led to developments in methods to capture and analyze dietary patterns, from short tools that quickly assess the overall diet to novel analytic methods. These methodological advances present opportunities to better understand dietary patterns in Canada and globally.
Research objectives: The objectives of this research were to (1) develop a brief dietary screener to assess alignment of dietary intakes with the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide healthy food choices recommendations; (2) develop a scoring system for the screener and assess the construct validity of the screener; (3) identify novel methods used to characterize dietary patterns through a scoping review of the literature; and (4) explore the capacity of probabilistic graphical models to expand our understanding of the joint relationships between multidimensional dietary patterns and intersecting sociodemographic characteristics.
Methods and results: The first study in this dissertation (Chapter 4) discusses the process to develop the Canadian Food Intake Screener. This was achieved by mapping the dietary guidance in the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide and reviewing existing tools to develop a draft screener, which was reviewed by Health Canada and external collaborators (n=15). The screener was revised iteratively based on feedback from cognitive testing conducted among adults aged 18-65 years in English (n=17) and French (n=16) and from face and content validity testing conducted with experts (n=16). The screener was well understood overall and testing informed refinement to finalize the Canadian Food Intake Screener, which includes 16 questions to rapidly assess alignment of adults’ intake with the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide healthy food choices recommendations.
The second study in the dissertation (Chapter 5) was conducted to develop a scoring system for the screener and evaluate the screener’s construct validity among adults aged 18 to 65 years. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare screener scores among subgroups with known differences in diet quality. The correlation between scores on the screener and the Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 (HEFI-2019), which also assesses alignment of intake with the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide healthy food choices recommendations, was assessed. Adults aged 18-65 years (n=154) completed the screener, answered a range of questions about their health and sociodemographic characteristics, and completed up to two 24-hour dietary recalls. The mean screener score was 35 points (SD = 4.7; maximum 65), ranging from 25 (1st percentile) to 45 (99th percentile). Meaningful differences in screener scores were observed in hypothesized directions by gender identity (p = 0.06), perceived income adequacy (p = 0.07), education (p = 0.02), and smoking status (p = 0.003). The correlation between screener and HEFI-2019 scores was 0.53 (SE = 0.12). The screener demonstrated moderate construct validity, indicating that it is appropriate for use for rapid assessment of alignment of adults’ intake with the healthy food choices recommendations when comprehensive dietary assessment is not possible.
In Chapter 6, novel methods used to characterize dietary patterns in peer-reviewed literature were summarized using a scoping review. The databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus were searched using keywords such as such as machine learning, latent class analysis, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to identify novel methods used to describe dietary patterns. Of 5274 records identified, 24 met the inclusion criteria. Twelve of 24 articles were published since 2020. A range of methods was applied to identify dietary patterns, with nine studies using approaches that have applications in machine learning to characterize dietary patterns, and the remaining 15 using other novel methods such as latent class analysis, LASSO, or treelet transform. Future work to guide the application, interpretation, and comparability of these methods is necessary to enable synthesis of the literature to inform policies and programs.
The final study (Chapter 7) in this dissertation examined the ability of probabilistic graphical models to explore the joint relationships between dietary patterns and sociodemographic characteristics. While prior research has established relationships between dietary patterns and sociodemographic characteristics, it has rarely considered the multidimensional relationships between dietary components or possible intersecting relationships among sociodemographic characteristics. Mixed graphical models, a network method, enable explorations of these complex joint relationships, which have largely been unexplored in the Canadian context. We conducted a secondary analysis of first 24-hour dietary recalls collected from adults aged 18 years and above who participated in the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey Nutrition (n=14 097). Mixed graphical models were used to identify joint relationships between amounts consumed in grams of thirty log-transformed food groups and age, sex, education, income, household food security status, geographic region, employment status, and smoking status. Sociodemographic characteristics formed a network, with several pairwise relationships. Several dietary components also formed networks, often patterning by food group. Age and sex were the sociodemographic characteristics most strongly connected to dietary components. This research applied mixed graphical models to provide deeper insights into the internal structures of the dietary patterns of adults in Canada, and how sociodemographic characteristics are jointly related with dietary patterns. Probabilistic graphical models offer promise to complement existing methods to characterize dietary patterns, such as indices.
Conclusions: This dissertation makes contributions to dietary patterns research with respect to both collecting data reflective of overall dietary patterns and analytic methods to capture their complexity. The advances from these studies can be applied to inform targeted research and policies promoting public health nutrition in Canada and beyond
Dataset: Two-dimensional wavefront characterization of adaptable corrective optics and Kirkpatrick–Baez mirror system using ptychography
No full textThe ptychography datasets and processed wavefront data in support of the publication "Two-dimensional wavefront characterization of adaptable corrective optics and Kirkpatrick–Baez mirror system using ptychography". File are in the HDF format and contain a number of datasets detailed below. If you require more information, please contact the corresponding author of the publication or [email protected]
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