The Effect of Omega-3 Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation on Gestational Length: Randomized Trial of Supplementation Compared to Nutrition Education for Increasing n-3 Intake from Foods.

OBJECTIVE: DHA supplementation was compared to nutrition education to increase DHA consumption from fish and DHA fortified foods. DESIGN: This two-part intervention included a randomized double-blind placebo controlled DHA supplementation arm and a nutrition education arm designed to increase intake of DHA from dietary sources by 300 mg per day. SETTING: Denver Health Hospitals and Clinics, Denver, Colorado, USA. POPULATION: 871 pregnant women aged 18-40 were recruited between 16 and 20 weeks of gestation of whom 564 completed the study and complete delivery data was available in 505 women and infants. METHODS: Subjects received either 300 or 600 mg DHA or olive oil placebo or nutrition education. MAIN OUTCOME VARIABLE: Gestational length. RESULTS: Gestational length was significantly increased by 4.0-4.5 days in women supplemented with 600 mg DHA per day or provided with nutrition education. Each 1% increase in RBC DHA at delivery was associated with a 1.6-day increase in gestational length. No significant effects on birth weight, birth length, or head circumference were demonstrated. The rate of early preterm birth (1.7%) in those supplemented with DHA (combined 300 and 600 mg/day) was significantly lower than in controls. CONCLUSION: Nutrition education or supplementation with DHA can be effective in increasing gestational length.

A method for quantifying visual field inhomogeneities.

It is well known that performance is not homogeneous across the visual field, even at isoeccentric locations. Several inhomogeneities in particular have been identified - a Horizontal-Vertical Anisotropy (HVA - better performance in the horizontal than in the vertical direction); a Vertical Asymmetry (VA - better performance in the lower than the upper visual field); and a Vertical Meridian Asymmetry (VMA - better performance below than above the point of fixation on the vertical meridian). Performance has also been reported to be particularly poor at the location directly above the point of fixation, i.e., the "North" (N) location and sometimes at the location directly below the point of fixation, i.e., the "South" (S) location. These phenomena are typically characterized by statistics that compare performance across the visual field to a homogeneous (circular) model. Here we propose an alternative method for assessing visual field inhomogeneities, which involves comparing performance to an elliptical model of the visual field. We maintain that this method provides a more robust analysis of visual field inhomogeneities because it does not overestimate the North and South effects.

Effects of orientation and contrast upon targets in straight and curved arrays.

A regular array of black squares against a gray background increases the threshold for a light disk in an intersection of the alleys separating the squares, an illusion variously called the extinction illusion, "blanking" phenomenon, or "vanishing disk". Curving the alleys (making the squares into curved "tetragons") further increases the thresholds for both light and dark disks. This raises three questions: (1) Do the edges of the tetragons interact with similarly oriented components of a target? (2) Is blanking a different phenomenon from the obscuring (more moderate increase in threshold in the presence of an array) that affects dark disks, or is blanking simply weaker for dark disks? (3) Is blanking a function of light versus dark targets or dependent upon contrast relative to the polarity of the inducing array? We replaced the target disks with parallel line segments to explore the influence of orientation of the line segments relative to the nearby orientation of the alleys. We show that the blanking phenomenon is sensitive to the orientation of the line segments, while the weaker obscuring of dark targets is not. We also examine these effects with white tetragons. Reversing the polarity of the tetragons exchanged which line segments were orientation-sensitive, although the effectiveness of white tetragons for blanking was weaker than that of black tetragons. We consider possible reasons why white tetragons may be less effective than black tetragonsunder our conditions.

Senior military officers' educational concerns, motivators and barriers for healthful eating and regular exercise.

The increasing trend of overweight in the military, the high cost of health care associated with overweight, and the failure to meet some Healthy People 2000 objectives related to diet identify the need for more appropriate nutrition and fitness education for military personnel. The purpose of this study was to assess senior military officers' concerns on various health topics, educational preferences for nutrition and health topics, eating habits, and barriers and motivators for eating healthfully and exercising regularly. The survey was completed by 52 resident students at the U.S. Army War College. Fitness, weight, and blood cholesterol were top health concerns, and respondents wanted to know more about eating healthfully on the run. The primary barrier to eating healthfully and exercising regularly was lack of time, whereas health and appearance were top motivators. Health interventions for this population should include their topics of concern and should address perceived barriers and motivators.