A Dietary Feedback System for the Delivery of Consistent Personalized Dietary Advice in the Web-Based Multicenter Food4Me Study.

BACKGROUND: Despite numerous healthy eating campaigns, the prevalence of diets high in saturated fatty acids, sugar, and salt and low in fiber, fruit, and vegetables remains high. With more people than ever accessing the Internet, Web-based dietary assessment instruments have the potential to promote healthier dietary behaviors via personalized dietary advice. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to develop a dietary feedback system for the delivery of consistent personalized dietary advice in a multicenter study and to examine the impact of automating the advice system. METHODS: The development of the dietary feedback system included 4 components: (1) designing a system for categorizing nutritional intakes; (2) creating a method for prioritizing 3 nutrient-related goals for subsequent targeted dietary advice; (3) constructing decision tree algorithms linking data on nutritional intake to feedback messages; and (4) developing personal feedback reports. The system was used manually by researchers to provide personalized nutrition advice based on dietary assessment to 369 participants during the Food4Me randomized controlled trial, with an automated version developed on completion of the study. RESULTS: Saturated fatty acid, salt, and dietary fiber were most frequently selected as nutrient-related goals across the 7 centers. Average agreement between the manual and automated systems, in selecting 3 nutrient-related goals for personalized dietary advice across the centers, was highest for nutrient-related goals 1 and 2 and lower for goal 3, averaging at 92%, 87%, and 63%, respectively. Complete agreement between the 2 systems for feedback advice message selection averaged at 87% across the centers. CONCLUSIONS: The dietary feedback system was used to deliver personalized dietary advice within a multi-country study. Overall, there was good agreement between the manual and automated feedback systems, giving promise to the use of automated systems for personalizing dietary advice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01530139; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01530139 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6ht5Dgj8I).

Aggregate exposure modelling of zinc pyrithione in rinse-off personal cleansing products using a person-orientated approach with market share refinement.

Realistic estimates of chemical aggregate exposure are needed to ensure consumer safety. As exposure estimates are a critical part of the equation used to calculate acceptable "safe levels" and conduct quantitative risk assessments, methods are needed to produce realistic exposure estimations. To this end, a probabilistic aggregate exposure model was developed to estimate consumer exposure from several rinse off personal cleansing products containing the anti-dandruff preservative zinc pyrithione. The model incorporates large habits and practices surveys, containing data on frequency of use, amount applied, co-use along with market share, and combines these data at the level of the individual based on subject demographics to better estimate exposure. The daily-applied exposure (i.e., amount applied to the skin) was 3.79 mg/kg/day for the 95th percentile consumer. The estimated internal dose for the 95th percentile exposure ranged from 0.01-1.29 µg/kg/day after accounting for retention following rinsing and dermal penetration of ZnPt. This probabilistic aggregate exposure model can be used in the human safety assessment of ingredients in multiple rinse-off technologies (e.g., shampoo, bar soap, body wash, and liquid hand soap). In addition, this model may be used in other situations where refined exposure assessment is required to support a chemical risk assessment.

Use of an aggregate exposure model to estimate consumer exposure to fragrance ingredients in personal care and cosmetic products.

Ensuring the toxicological safety of fragrance ingredients used in personal care and cosmetic products is essential in product development and design, as well as in the regulatory compliance of the products. This requires an accurate estimation of consumer exposure which, in turn, requires an understanding of consumer habits and use of products. Where ingredients are used in multiple product types, it is important to take account of aggregate exposure in consumers using these products. This publication investigates the use of a newly developed probabilistic model, the Creme RIFM model, to estimate aggregate exposure to fragrance ingredients using the example of 2-phenylethanol (PEA). The output shown demonstrates the utility of the model in determining systemic and dermal exposure to fragrances from individual products, and aggregate exposure. The model provides valuable information not only for risk assessment, but also for risk management. It should be noted that data on the concentrations of PEA in products used in this article were obtained from limited sources and not the standard, industry wide surveys typically employed by the fragrance industry and are thus presented here to illustrate the output and utility of the newly developed model. They should not be considered an accurate representation of actual exposure to PEA.

Novel database for exposure to fragrance ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products.

Exposure of fragrance ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products to the population can be determined by way of a detailed and robust survey. The frequency and combinations of products used at specific times during the day will allow the estimation of aggregate exposure for an individual consumer, and to the sample population. In the present study, habits and practices of personal care and cosmetic products have been obtained from market research data for 36,446 subjects across European countries and the United States in order to determine the exposure to fragrance ingredients. Each subject logged their product uses, time of day and body application sites in an online diary for seven consecutive days. The survey data did not contain information on the amount of product used per occasion or body measurements, such as weight and skin surface area. Nevertheless, this was found from the literature where the likely amount of product used per occasion or body measurement could be probabilistically chosen from distributions of data based on subject demographics. The daily aggregate applied consumer product exposure was estimated based on each subject's frequency of product use, and Monte Carlo simulations of their likely product amount per use and body measurements. Statistical analyses of the habits and practices and consumer product exposure are presented, which show the robustness of the data and the ability to estimate aggregate consumer product exposure. Consequently, the data and modelling methods presented show potential as a means of performing ingredient safety assessments for personal care and cosmetics products.

Design and baseline characteristics of the Food4Me study: a web-based randomised controlled trial of personalised nutrition in seven European countries.

Improving lifestyle behaviours has considerable potential for reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases, promoting better health across the life-course and increasing well-being. However, realising this potential will require the development, testing and implementation of much more effective behaviour change interventions than are used conventionally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a multi-centre, web-based, proof-of-principle study of personalised nutrition (PN) to determine whether providing more personalised dietary advice leads to greater improvements in eating patterns and health outcomes compared to conventional population-based advice. A total of 5,562 volunteers were screened across seven European countries; the first 1,607 participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited into the trial. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following intervention groups for a 6-month period: Level 0-control group-receiving conventional, non-PN advice; Level 1-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake data alone; Level 2-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake and phenotypic data; and Level 3-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake, phenotypic and genotypic data. A total of 1,607 participants had a mean age of 39.8 years (ranging from 18 to 79 years). Of these participants, 60.9 % were women and 96.7 % were from white-European background. The mean BMI for all randomised participants was 25.5 kg m(-2), and 44.8 % of the participants had a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg m(-2). Food4Me is the first large multi-centre RCT of web-based PN. The main outcomes from the Food4Me study will be submitted for publication during 2015.

Indicators of pretreatment suicidal ideation in adults with major depressive disorder.

OBJECTIVE: In order to evaluate the presence of treatment emergent suicidal ideation (SI), it becomes necessary to identify those patients with SI at the onset of treatment. The purpose of this report is to identify sociodemographic and clinical features that are associated with SI in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients prior to treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. METHOD: This multisite study enrolled 265 out-patients with non-psychotic MDD. Sociodemographic and clinical features of participants with and without SI were compared post hoc. RESULTS: Social phobia, bulimia nervosa, number of past depressive episodes, and race were independently associated with SI by one or more SI measure. CONCLUSION: Concurrent social phobia and bulimia nervosa may be potential risk factors for SI in patients with non-psychotic MDD. Additionally, patients with more than one past depressive episode may also be at increased risk of SI.

Cholinesterase inhibitors for behavioral disturbance in dementia.

The authors review the literature from the last year examining the benefits of cholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of behavioral disturbance in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. Previous review has indicated that cholinesterase inhibitors have psychotropic properties. We found more evidence to support both the benefits of cholinesterase inhibitors in behavioral disturbance, and that specific behaviors may be selectively responsive to treatment.

Calculating low-altitude trapped particle fluxes with the NASA models AP-8 and AE-8.

Accessing the NASA trapped radiation models AP-8 and AE-8 with (B,L) values obtained with modern geomagnetic field models causes an unrealistic secular increase of the predicted flux over low altitude orbits. We show the secular variation of the orbit-averaged particle flux along the LDEF orbit and the mission dose, obtained using the AP-8 trapped radiation models with an epoch-dependent magnetic field. The artificially increased epoch-dependent fluxes and doses are compared to the flux and dose obtained with a consistent and more correct procedure for predicting fluxes with the NASA models. This procedure has been implemented in the radiation analysis software package UNIRAD developed and distributed by BIRA-IASB.

The effects of instructional match and content overlap on generalized reading performance.

This study examined the effects of instructional match and content overlap on students' ability to generalize from passage reading instruction. Four students with mild disabilities served as participants. Using a multielement design, students were instructed with passages at two levels of text difficulty (instructionally matched vs. instructionally mismatched), and generalization was assessed with passages at two levels of similarity to those instructed (low vs. high content overlap). Results indicated that students' oral reading accuracy and fluency showed the greatest degree of generalization when instructional materials were matched to the students' skill level and assessment materials were similar to those used during instruction. Moreover, these results were maintained at 1-month follow-up. The implications of these findings for classroom reading instruction and the assessment of students' reading skills are discussed.

A comparison of three interventions for increasing oral reading performance: Application of the instructional hierarchy.

The instructional hierarchy is a behavior-analytic model that links level of academic skill development (i.e., acquisition, fluency, generalization, adaptation) with appropriate instructional techniques. The present study used the instructional hierarchy to compare the effects of three instructional interventions (listening passage preview, subject passage preview, and taped words) on subjects' oral reading performance on word lists and passages. Subjects were 4 male students with learning disabilities who ranged in age from 8 years 10 months to 11 years 11 months. A multielement design was used to compare the effects of the three interventions to each other and to baseline. Results indicated that the listening passage preview intervention (which contained modeling, drill, and generalization components) produced the largest performance gains. The implications of these results for selecting academic interventions based on the instructional hierarchy are discussed.

The effects of oil spill chemicals on carbon translocation rates in Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Black Valentine when sprayed with Corexit dispersants shows a rapid inhibition of photosynthesis. The plant retains the ability to translocate fixed carbon, and this involves mobilising previously fixed carbon in the sprayed leaf or the repartitioning of carbon from unsprayed regions of the plant towards the growing sink regions. The ability to maintain carbon translocation while photosynthesis is declining maximises the regrowth potential of the plant.

Biofeedback applications to migraine and tension headaches: a double-blinded outcome study.

The efficacy of progressive relaxation, fingertip temperature training, and EMG training of the frontalis muscles was tested against chronic migraine and tension headaches in a double-blinded 3 X 2 design. All 56 subjects reported being conditioned in the course of the nine 1/2-hour training sessions. Detailed records of perceived severity and duration of the headaches were maintained by the subjects before the study and for at least 3 months after the training period. While even a conservative F revealed a diminution of perceived severity, of hours/month of headache, and of an index conceived by Budzynski, Stoyva, Adler, and Mullaney (1973), across time, at beyond the .05 level of significance, no specific treatment emerged as clearly most effective for either type of headache. Over time, however, progressive relaxation was not as good as the other procedures in reducing the number of hours/month of headache.