Background Eating, or nutrition, environments are believed to contribute to obesity and chronic diseases. There is a need for valid, reliable measures of nutrition environments. This article reports on the development and evaluation of measures of nutrition environments in retail food stores. Methods The Nutrition Environment Measures Study developed observational measures of the nutrition environment within retail food stores (NEMS-S) to assess availability of healthy options, price, and quality. After pretesting, measures were completed by independent raters to evaluate inter-rater reliability and across two occasions to assess test–retest reliability in grocery and convenience stores in four neighborhoods differing on income and community design in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Data were collected and analyzed in 2004 and 2005. Results Ten food categories (e.g., fruits) or indicator food items (e.g., ground beef) were evaluated in 85 stores. Inter-rater reliability and test–retest reliability of availability were high: inter-rater reliability kappas were 0.84 to 1.00, and test–retest reliabilities were .73 to 1.00. Inter-rater reliability for quality across fresh produce was moderate (kappas, 0.44 to 1.00). Healthier options were higher priced for hot dogs, lean ground beef, and baked chips. More healthful options were available in grocery than convenience stores and in stores in higher income neighborhoods. Conclusions The NEMS-S tool was found to have a high degree of inter-rater and test–retest reliability, and to reveal significant differences across store types and neighborhoods of high and low socioeconomic status. These observational measures of nutrition environments can be applied in multilevel studies of community nutrition, and can inform new approaches to conducting and evaluating nutrition interventions.
The purpose of this study was to examine tracking of physical activity at home and recess in young children. Three hundred fifty-one Mexican-American and Anglo-American children entered the study (mean age = 4.4 yr), and 83% completed 2 yr of measurement. Physical activity was directly observed on 10 d over 2 yr. Measurement waves occurred every 6 months, and each wave consisted of 2 d of observation within 1 wk. Children were observed for 60 min at home on a weekday evening and up to 30 min during recess at preschool or school. Maximum likelihood procedures using a linear mixed-effects model indicated that most of the variance in home and recess physical activity was accounted for by short-term/weekly factors. Tracking of physical activity accounted for 15% of the total variance at home and 8% at recess. Pearson correlations for physical activity over time were higher at home than at recess. Tracking of home physical activity was r = 0.15 when single days were correlated and r = 0.36 when the means of 4 d were correlated. There was a small, but detectable, stable component of physical activity in young children, at least at home.
From the Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, the Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA. Although there are still years of intensive work ahead of us, the IKK/NF-κB pathway is a promising and important star on the intensive care horizon. Present address of Dr. Senftleben: Clinic of Anesthesiology, University of Ulm, Steinhövelstr. 9, 89075 Ulm, Germany. Address requests for reprints to: Michael Karin, PhD, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0636. E-mail: [email protected]
Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB)/Rel proteins are dimeric, sequence-specific transcription factors involved in the activation of an exceptionally large number of genes in response to inflammation, viral and bacterial infections, and other stressful situations requiring rapid reprogramming of gene expression. In unstimulated cells, NF-κB is sequestered in an inactive form in the cytoplasm bound to inhibitory IκB proteins. Stimulation leads to the rapid phosphorylation, ubiquitinylation, and ultimately proteolytic degradation of IκB, which frees NF-κB to translocate to the nucleus and activate the transcription of its target genes. The multisubunit IκB kinase (IKK) responsible for the inducible phosphorylation of IκB appears to be the initial point of convergence for most stimuli that activate NF-κB. IKK contains two catalytic subunits, IKKα and IKKβ, both of which phosphorylate IκB at sites phosphorylated in vivo. Gene knockout studies indicate that IKKβ is primarily responsible for the activation of NF-κB in response to proinflammatory stimuli, whereas IKKα is essential for keratinocyte differentiation. The activity of IKK is regulated by phosphorylation. IKK contains a regulatory subunit, IKKγ, which is critical for activation of IKK and is postulated to serve as a recognition site for upstream activators. When phosphorylated, the IKK recognition site on IκBα serves as a specific recognition site for the κ-TrCP-like component of a Skp1-Cullin-F-box-type E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase. A variety of other signaling events, including phosphorylation of NF-κB, phosphorylation of IKK, new synthesis of IκBs, and the processing of NF-κB precursors provide mechanisms of modulating the amount and duration of NF-κB activity.
Regular physical activity enhances health during childhood and adolescence and is important in setting the stage for participation in physical activity across the lifespan. Physician-patient interactions during childhood and adolescence provide important opportunities for clinicians to influence physical activity behaviours. This article reviews current physical activity recommendations for youth and the wide range of health benefits provided to youth from engaging in regular physical activity. It also outlines a practical counselling model, the 5As approach, that can guide clinical counselling for physical activity, and reviews how an increasingly important model of practice organisation, the Care Model, can be used to promote physical activity in children and adolescents. Family, social and environmental influences on child and adolescent physical activity are also addressed.
This study examined the association of objective and perceived neighborhood environmental characteristics and parent concerns with active commuting to school, investigated whether parental concerns varied by environmental characteristics, and compared the association of the perceived environment, parental concerns, and objective environment on the outcome active commuting to school.Randomly selected parents of children (aged 5-18 yr), in neighborhoods chosen for their variability in objectively measured walkability and income, completed questionnaires about their neighborhood environment, concerns about children walking to school, and children's behavior (N = 259). Objective measures of the environment were available for each participant and each neighborhood. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the relationships among environment, parental concerns, and walking or biking to or from school at least once a week.A parental concerns scale was most strongly associated with child active commuting (odds ratio: 5.2, 95% CI: 2.71-9.96). In high-income neighborhoods, more children actively commuted in high-walkable (34%) than in low-walkable neighborhoods (23%) (odds ratio: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.12-3.97), but no differences were noted in low-income neighborhoods. Parent concerns and neighborhood aesthetics were independently associated with active commuting. Perceived access to local stores and biking or walking facilities accounted for some of the effect of walkability on active commuting.Both parent concerns and the built environment were associated with children's active commuting to school. To increase active commuting to school, interventions that include both environmental change and education campaigns may be needed.
The effectiveness of a family-based cardiovascular disease risk reduction intervention was evaluated in two ethnic groups. Participants were 206 healthy, volunteer low-to-middle-income Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white (Anglo-American) families (623 individuals), each with a fifth or a sixth-grade child. Families were recruited through elementary schools. Half of the families were randomized to a year-long educational intervention designed to decrease the whole family's intake of high salt, high fat foods, and to increase their regular physical activity. Eighty-nine percent of the enrolled families were measured at the 24-month follow-up. Both Mexican- and Anglo-American families in the experimental groups gained significantly more knowledge of the skills required to change dietary and exercise habits than did those in the control groups. Experimental families in both ethnic groups reported improved eating habits on a food frequency index. Anglo families reported lower total fat and sodium intake. There were no significant group differences in reported physical activity or in tested cardiovascular fitness levels. Significant differences for Anglo-American experimental vs. control adult subjects were found for LDL cholesterol. Significant intervention-control differences ranging from 2.2 to 3.4 mmHg systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure were found in all subgroups. Direct observation of diet and physical activity behaviors in a structured environment suggested generalization of behavior changes. There was evidence that behavior change persisted one year beyond the completion of the intervention program. It is concluded that involvement of families utilizing school based resources is feasible and effective. Future studies should focus on the most cost-effective methods of family involvement, and the potential for additive effects when family strategies are combined with other school health education programs.
Copper resistance in yeast is controlled by the CUP1 locus. The level of resistance is proportional to the copy number of this locus, which can be found in up to 15 tandemly iterated copies. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms controlling the amplification and expression of the CUP1, locus, we determined its full nucleotide sequence. We have also identified and mapped two transcription units within the basic amplification unit of CUP1 in laboratory yeast strains. One of those transcription units is inducible by copper and encodes a low molecular weight copper binding protein--copper chelatin. The increased production of chelatin, due to both gene amplification and induction of transcription, leads to increased resistance of yeast cells to copper ions.
