Identifying attributes of food literacy: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVE: An absence of food literacy measurement tools makes it challenging for nutrition practitioners to assess the impact of food literacy on healthy diets and to evaluate the outcomes of food literacy interventions. The objective of the present scoping review was to identify the attributes of food literacy. DESIGN: A scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature was conducted and attributes of food literacy identified. Subjects included in the search were high-risk groups. Eligible articles were limited to research from Canada, USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. RESULTS: The search identified nineteen peer-reviewed and thirty grey literature sources. Fifteen identified food literacy attributes were organized into five categories. Food and Nutrition Knowledge informs decisions about intake and distinguishing between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' foods. Food Skills focuses on techniques of food purchasing, preparation, handling and storage. Self-Efficacy and Confidence represent one's capacity to perform successfully in specific situations. Ecologic refers to beyond self and the interaction of macro- and microsystems with food decisions and behaviours. Food Decisions reflects the application of knowledge, information and skills to make food choices. These interdependent attributes are depicted in a proposed conceptual model. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of evaluated tools inhibits the ability to assess and monitor food literacy; tailor, target and evaluate programmes; identify gaps in programming; engage in advocacy; and allocate resources. The present scoping review provides the foundation for the development of a food literacy measurement tool to address these gaps.

Fluctuations of tensile strength and hardness of c-BC2N crystals induced by difference in atomic configuration.

At the atomistic level, the physical properties of a material are determined by its structure such as atomic arrangements. Here first-principles calculations were performed to investigate the effect of atomic configuration on the tensile strength and Vickers hardness of cubic-BC2N (c-BC2N) crystals. Depending on the degree of mixture between diamond and c-BN, the tensile strength of c-BC2N crystals can vary drastically from 27 to 77 GPa. The magnitude of the Vickers hardness fluctuations (~10 GPa) is also comparable to the experimental difference (~14 GPa). Thus, atomic-scale characterization of c-BC2N crystal structures may unveil the discrepancy of the measured Vickers hardness in experiments, and uncover the obvious differences of tensile strength described in theoretical calculations.

Determinants of bone mass and size in 7-year-old former term, late-preterm, and preterm boys.

UNLABELLED: When compared, full-term prepubertal boys had greater regional bone size, higher total body (TB) bone mineral content (BMC), and regional bone density than preterm boys but higher TB bone content area and regional BMC than late-preterm boys. Implications include follow-up bone assessment and preterm formula feeding in late-preterm boys. INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to determine whether there are differences in bone mass and size among prepubertal boys born preterm (PT; < or =34 weeks gestation), late-preterm (LP; >34 and < or =37 weeks gestation), and at term (>37 weeks gestation) and to identify factors that are associated with bone mass and size in these children. METHODS: Total body (TB), spine and hip dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and tibia peripheral quantitative computed tomography measures were obtained on 24 boys aged 5.7 to 8.3 years. RESULTS: In multiple regression analysis adjusting for current weight, height, age, and jump power, term boys had greater cortical thickness (p = 0.03) and area (p = 0.01), higher trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (p = 0.05), TB bone mineral content (BMC; p = 0.007), and hip areal bone mineral density (aBMD; p = 0.01) than PT boys, and higher TB BMC (p = 0.01), TB bone area (p = 0.03), hip BMC (p = 0.02) and aBMD (p = 0.01), and femoral neck BMC (p = 0.05) and aBMD (p = 0.02) than LP boys. There were no differences in activity measures among gestation groups and no group-by-activity interactions. CONCLUSION: Term boys have greater bone size and mass than PT boys and higher bone mass than LP boys at several bone sites. Activity measures did not differ among gestation groups and did not explain bone differences.

Middle East and North Africa consensus on osteoporosis.

With the increasing life expectancy, osteoporosis is becoming a major worldwide health problem. The magnitude of the disease may become larger in developing countries, more particularly in the Middle East region where the prevalence of low bone mass is higher than in western countries. Although several local organizations and countries have developed guidelines for osteoporosis, no previous regional guidelines have been developed encompassing all Middle-Eastern and North African countries. The present document reviews all the regional published data on bone mineral density, risk factors, fracture prevalence and vitamin D status. It also gives simple recommendations applicable to all these countries. This document was endorsed by leading members of all the different regional countries including, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Identification and characterization of an excretory-secretory product from Giardia lamblia.

A 58 kDa excretory-secretory product (ESP) of Giardia lamblia has been characterized. The ESP was purified over 508-fold by a combination of ammonium sulphate precipitation and sequential chromatography on affinity matrix and a gel filtration column. The homogeneity of the purified protein was established by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Mr, 58 kDa) and analytical isoelectrophoresis (pI 4.75). The purified protein was recognized by the pooled sera of G. lamblia-positive patients as well as an antiserum raised against crude Giardia extract, thus indicating it to be an immunodominant parasite product. The ESP was found to agglutinate rabbit erythrocytes. The haemagglutinating activity of this protein was inhibited strongly by thyroglobulin, fetuin, asialofetuin and monosialoganglioside but not by simple sugars. The purified protein was characterized immunochemically and was found to be heat stable as well as protease sensitive. Lectin-binding studies of the purified ESP and its sensitivity to periodic-acid silver staining as well as to metaperiodate treatment clearly indicated its glycoprotein nature. The major localization site of the ESP was found to be on the surface of the parasite as revealed by flow cytometric analysis. Further, this glycoprotein induced fluid accumulation in ligated rabbit ileal loops and revealed a positive skin permeability reaction in the rabbit.

Immune effector responses to an excretory-secretory product of Giardia lamblia.

The prior immunisation of mice with purified excretory-secretory product (ESP) led to a complete failure of Giardia lamblia colonisation following challenge inoculation of these animals with trophozoites. The prior immunisation of mice with ESP resulted in a significant stimulation of local immunity as evidenced by a significant enhancement of T helper/inducer activity along with a significant increase in immunoglobulin A-bearing cells. Further, the presence of anti-ESP antibodies in the serum of immunised as well as immunised-challenged animals indicated the stimulation of the systemic lymphoid system. This suggests that the ESP is highly immunogenic and it could be one of the major antigens of G. lamblia responsible for protection against the infection.

recA-like genes from three archaean species with putative protein products similar to Rad51 and Dmc1 proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The process of homologous recombination has been documented in bacterial and eucaryotic organisms. The Escherichia coli RecA and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad51 proteins are the archetypal members of two related families of proteins that play a central role in this process. Using the PCR process primed by degenerate oligonucleotides designed to encode regions of the proteins showing the greatest degree of identity, we examined DNA from three organisms of a third phylogenetically divergent group, Archaea, for sequences encoding proteins similar to RecA and Rad51. The archaeans examined were a hyperthermophilic acidophile, Sulfolobus sofataricus (Sso); a halophile, Haloferax volcanii (Hvo); and a hyperthermophilic piezophilic methanogen, Methanococcus jannaschii (Mja). The PCR generated DNA was used to clone a larger genomic DNA fragment containing an open reading frame (orf), that we refer to as the radA gene, for each of the three archaeans. As shown by amino acid sequence alignments, percent amino acid identities and phylogenetic analysis, the putative proteins encoded by all three are related to each other and to both the RecA and Rad51 families of proteins. The putative RadA proteins are more similar to the Rad51 family (approximately 40% identity at the amino acid level) than to the RecA family (approximately 20%). Conserved sequence motifs, putative tertiary structures and phylogenetic analysis implied by the alignment are discussed. The 5' ends of mRNA transcripts to the Sso radA were mapped. The levels of radA mRNA do not increase after treatment with UV irradiation as do recA and RAD51 transcripts in E.coli and S.cerevisiae. Hence it is likely that radA in this organism is a constitutively expressed gene and we discuss possible implications of the lack of UV-inducibility.

Differential suppression of priA2::kan phenotypes in Escherichia coli K-12 by mutations in priA, lexA, and dnaC.

First identified as an essential component of the phi X174 in vitro DNA replication system, PriA has ATPase, helicase, translocase, and primosome-assembly activities. priA1::kan strains of Escherichia coli are sensitive to UV irradiation, deficient in homologous recombination following transduction, and filamentous. priA2::kan strains have eightfold higher levels of uninduced SOS expression than wild type. We show that (1) priA1::kan strains have eightfold higher levels of uninduced SOS expression, (2) priA2::kan strains are UVS and Rec-, (3) lexA3 suppresses the high basal levels of SOS expression of a priA2::kan strain, and (4) plasmid-encoded priA300 (K230R), a mutant allele retaining only the primosome-assembly activity of priA+, restores both UVR and Rec+ phenotypes to a priA2::kan strain. Finally, we have isolated 17 independent UVR Rec+ revertants of priA2::kan strains that carry extragenic suppressors. All 17 map in the C-terminal half of the dnaC gene. DnaC loads the DnaB helicase onto DNA as a prelude for primosome assembly and DNA replication. We conclude that priA's primosome-assembly activity is essential for DNA repair and recombination and that the dnaC suppressor mutations allow these processes to occur in the absence of priA.

Human milk containing specific secretory IgA inhibits binding of Giardia lamblia to nylon and glass surfaces.

The effects of human milk, containing specific secretory IgA, on the adherence of Giardia lamblia trophozoites in the presence and in the absence of intestinal mucus in vitro were studied. It was found that the trophozoites treated with breast milk, containing specific secretory IgA to G. lamblia, showed a significant decrease (p less than 0.01) in adherence to nylon fibre columns and glass surfaces than did trophozoites treated with milk containing no SIgA antibodies. The adherence to glass surfaces was significantly more (p less than 0.01) in the presence of intestinal mucus than when the mucus was absent. Milk that did not contain specific secretory SIgA to G. lamblia did not decrease the adherence to glass surfaces either in the presence or in the absence of mucus. The fluorescence study revealed the binding of specific secretory IgA on the trophozoite surface. The results suggest that binding of SIgA antibodies in milk to G. lamblia trophozoites inhibits parasite adherence, thus protecting against this infection in breast-fed babies.

Lectin activity of axenic and xenic Giardia lamblia trophozoites.

The membrane bound lectin of Giardia lamblia is though to play an important role in the selective colonization of the proximal small intestine by the parasite. The lectin obtained from xenic lysetes of G.lamblia gave a titre of more than 1:2048 in the hemagglutination test with rabbit erythrocytes, whereas the axenic lysates required pre-treatment with proteases (trypsin and pronase) in order to obtain a titre of 1:32. Similar behavior was exhibited by enterocytes of the mouse small intestine when tested for agglutination. The activation of xenic trophofzoites by the intestinal proteases and the probable role of bacterial enzymes has been discussed.

Effect of excretory-secretory products of Giardia lamblia on glucose and phenylalanine transport in the small intestine of Swiss albino mice.

The transport of D-glucose and L-phenylalanine was measured in intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) vesicles treated with Excretory-secretory (ES) products of Giardia lamblia. Uptake was found to be significantly lower (P/0.01) in the treated vesicles than in the controls. Exposure of intestinal tissue to ES products resulted in net secretion (P/0.01) of Na+, C1- and 3-O-methyl-D-glucose. Both observations indicate that alterations in the absorptive functions of the intestine might be attributed to interaction of ES products with the BBM.

Effect of different Giardia lamblia inocula on glucose and amino acids transport in the intestinal brush border membrane vesicles of infected mice.

The transport of D-glucose, L-phenyl-alanine, L-lysine and L-aspartic acid was measured in the brush border membrane vesicles prepared from intestines of Swiss albino mice infected with three different inocula of Giardia lamblia cysts (100, 1,000 and 10,000 cysts). A significantly low uptake of nutrients was observed in the infected animals as compared with the uninfected groups (P less than 0.05). However, the uptake of nutrients did not alter significantly with varying inoculum size. With D-glucose the respective peak uptakes at 30 seconds were 59.3 +/- 5.5, 60.4 +/- 3.8 and 60.5 +/- 4.02 pmoles mg-1 protein, while with L-phenyl-alanine they were 158.1 +/- 8.3, 151.7 +/- 17.3 and 140.7 +/- 6.0 pmoles mg-1 protein. The same trend was observed for L-lysine and L-aspartic acid. Therefore we conclude that inoculum size does not influence the uptake of nutrients.

Mandibular condylosis and apertognathia as presenting symptoms in progressive systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Pattern of mandibular bony lesions and atrophy of masticatory muscles in PSS, presumably caused by affected muscular arteries.

Apertognathia (open bite) is usually a developmental deformity of the jaws and the dentoalveolar segments in childhood and adolescence. The sudden insidious appearance of an open anterior bite in adult life is extremely rare and may be due to pathologic condylar fractures (with displacement) or to bilateral condylosis. To the best of our knowledge, only five cases of bilateral mandibular condylosis in progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) have been reported in the literature, and the present article deals with the sixth known case. In the 22-year-old woman presented in this article the mandibular manifestations were the very early symptoms of PSS, which had a very rapid fatal course. A review of the literature is presented, and attention is called to the serious significance of sudden apertognathia. PSS is a chronic generalized disease of the small arterial vessels and the mesenchyme tissues of unknown origin. The musculoskeletal system is often involved, and the disease may affect the mandible, causing bony erosions, osteolysis, and atrophy of the masticatory muscles. It is believed that these bony lesions are of ischemic origin. The lesions, which are usually bilateral, occur only in the condyles, the coronoid processes, and the gonial angles. The main arterial blood supply to the mandible and to the major part of the ascending ramus originates from the inferior alveolar artery. The blood supply of the condyles, the coronoid processes, and the gonial angles originates in small muscular arteries.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bacterial endocarditis on a prosthetic valve. Oral treatment with amoxicillin.

A patient with endocarditis due to Streptococcus faecalis on an aortic valvular prosthesis was successfully treated using large oral doses of amoxicillin concurrently with intramuscular administration of streptomycin. Oral therapy was employed because of a persistent reaction to intravenously administered antibiotics. Oral therapy for bacterial endocarditis occurring on an artificial valve may be attempted as a last resort when all other accepted therapeutic measures have failed.

The Budd-Chiari syndrome after pregnancy. Report of two cases and a review of the literature.

PIP: The authors emphasize that the association of Budd-Chiari syndrome with pregnancy has not been previously stressed in reports. The 2 cases reported followed at 3-month and 2-month intervals after delivery. Symptoms in each began with acute abdominal pain followed by distention. Livers were found to be markedly enlarged and ascites was present. Ascitic fluid contained no malignant cells or tubercle bacilli. Inferior venography showed changes in the veins in the liver and vicinity characteristic of the Budd-Chiari syndrome. Liver biopsies showed congestion only. These findings are considered to be caused by thrombotic obstruction of some of the veins and narrowing of others. Hypercoagulability of the blood plays an important role. This can occur in pregnancy and in women using oral contraceptives. During the past 2 years 8 cases of this syndrome have been described by others as occurring in young women taking oral contraceptives. A redisposing factor in the authors' cases may have been rheumatic fever in childhood which so damaged the venous endothelium as to favor later thrombosis. A reveiw of the literature reveals several cases of Budd-Chiari syndrome occurring shortly after delivery. Even in cases where the syndrome appeared a number of months after delivery, the 2 events seem related. It is interesting to note that in Chiari's original description the ascites appeared 5 months after delivery.^ieng