Nutrient adequacy, dietary patterns and diet quality among children with and without intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) frequently have feeding problems, but there has been limited research on nutrient intake, dietary patterns and diet quality in this population. METHOD: Nutrient intakes, dietary patterns and the Healthy Eating Index were compared between 48 children with ID and 55 typically developing (TD) children aged 3-8 years who participated in the Children's Mealtime Study. Three-day food records that included two weekdays and one weekend day were used to assess dietary intake. Food intake was entered into the Nutrition Data System for Research for analysis of nutrient intake, dietary patterns and diet quality. Height and weight were measured to determine body mass index (BMI). The relation of dietary patterns to weight status was also assessed. RESULTS: Typically developing children and children with ID met the Estimated Average Requirement/Adequate Intake (EAR/AI) for most nutrients. However, a substantial number of children in both groups did not meet the EAR for vitamins E and D and calcium and the AI for vitamin K. Only one TD child met the AI for potassium. A small percentage of children in both groups did not meet the EAR for vitamin A and vitamin C, and in the ID group, a small percentage did not meet the EAR for vitamin B12 . Children in the ID group consumed, on average, fewer servings of vegetables than TD children (0.5 vs. 1.2, P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference in servings of fruit (0.8 vs. 1.1, respectively), fruit juice (less than a half serving in both groups), sugar-sweetened beverages (less than a half serving in both groups) or snacks (1.1 vs. 1.4, respectively) after adjusting for BMI z-score, parental education and race. We found a significant correlation between snack intake and BMI z-score among children with ID but not among TD children (r = 0.48, P < 0.0001 vs. r = 0.19, P = 0.16, respectively). The Healthy Eating Index indicated, on average, poor overall diet quality in both groups (58.2 in the ID group and 59.1 in the TD group). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the diets of children with ID, as in TD children, need improvement. Targeting healthy eating in children with ID would improve diet quality and overall health.

Climate change: essential knowledge for developing holistic solutions to our climate crisis.

Understanding anthropogenic climate change is essential for anyone working in the life sciences. Firstly because climate change has already started to impact the Earth biosphere and human health and these changes need to be documented and acknowledged. Secondly, many of the solutions to climate change, both mitigation and adaptation, will be through the life sciences, everything from massive reforestation and sustainable agriculture to preventing the spread of disease and protecting individual human health. Anthropogenic climate change is, therefore, one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, along with poverty alleviation, environmental degradation and global security. Climate change is no longer just a scientific concern but encompasses economics, sociology, geopolitics, national and local politics, law and health to name a few. Hence, to understand climate change fully then not only does one have to review the science but also the politics and geopolitics, which have created the issue and can provide the solutions. Climate change ultimately makes us examine the whole basis of modern society and ultimately asks questions about humanity's relationship with the rest of the planet.

Rapid Increase in Neural Conduction Time in the Adult Human Auditory Brainstem Following Sudden Unilateral Deafness.

Individuals with sudden unilateral deafness offer a unique opportunity to study plasticity of the binaural auditory system in adult humans. Stimulation of the intact ear results in increased activity in the auditory cortex. However, there are no reports of changes at sub-cortical levels in humans. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate changes in sub-cortical activity immediately before and after the onset of surgically induced unilateral deafness in adult humans. Click-evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to stimulation of the healthy ear were recorded from ten adults during the course of translabyrinthine surgery for the removal of a unilateral acoustic neuroma. This surgical technique always results in abrupt deafferentation of the affected ear. The results revealed a rapid (within minutes) reduction in latency of wave V (mean pre = 6.55 ms; mean post = 6.15 ms; p < 0.001). A latency reduction was also observed for wave III (mean pre = 4.40 ms; mean post = 4.13 ms; p < 0.001). These reductions in response latency are consistent with functional changes including disinhibition or/and more rapid intra-cellular signalling affecting binaurally sensitive neurons in the central auditory system. The results are highly relevant for improved understanding of putative physiological mechanisms underlying perceptual disorders such as tinnitus and hyperacusis.

A Palaeogene perspective on climate sensitivity and methane hydrate instability.

The Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), a rapid global warming event and carbon-cycle perturbation of the early Palaeogene, provides a unique test of climate and carbon-cycle models as well as our understanding of sedimentary methane hydrate stability, albeit under conditions very different from the modern. The principal expression of the PETM in the geological record is a large and rapid negative excursion in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates and organic matter from both marine and terrestrial environments. Palaeotemperature proxy data from across the PETM indicate a coincident increase in global surface temperatures of approximately 5-6 degrees C. Reliable estimates of atmospheric CO(2) changes and global warming through past transient climate events can provide an important test of the climate sensitivities reproduced by state-of-the-art atmosphere-ocean general circulation models. Here, we synthesize the available carbon-cycle model estimates of the magnitude of the carbon input to the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system, and the consequent atmospheric pCO(2) perturbation, through the PETM. We also review the theoretical mass balance arguments and available sedimentary evidence for the role of massive methane hydrate dissociation in this event. The plausible range of carbon mass input, approximately 4000-7000 PgC, strongly suggests a major alternative source of carbon in addition to any contribution from methane hydrates. We find that the potential range of PETM atmospheric pCO(2) increase, combined with proxy estimates of the PETM temperature anomaly, does not necessarily imply climate sensitivities beyond the range of state-of-the-art climate models.

Reconstruction of the Amazon Basin effective moisture availability over the past 14,000 years.

Quantifying the moisture history of the Amazon Basin is essential for understanding the cause of rain forest diversity and its potential as a methane source. We reconstructed the Amazon River outflow history for the past 14,000 years to provide a moisture budget for the river drainage basin. The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera recovered from a marine sediment core in a region of Amazon River discharge shows that the Amazon Basin was extremely dry during the Younger Dryas, with the discharge reduced by at least 40% as compared with that of today. After the Younger Dryas, a meltwater-driven discharge event was followed by a steady increase in the Amazon Basin effective moisture throughout the Holocene.