Computerized dietary analysis by food groups and by nutrients from food groups

The professional responsibility of dietetic and nutrition educators and counselors is to provide clients and the public with accurate, understandable information and counseling concerning the relationship of diet to health and disease. Dietary guidance expressed as energy and nutrient content is clear to the nutrition professional, but it frequently is difficult for many clients to comprehend. This study was undertaken to develop a computer software program to analyze dietary data in terms of foods, food groups, and nutrients and to discuss the applications of the computerized assessment. Dietary recalls from a group of noninstitutionalized older women were used for illustrative purposes. Dietary intakes were described in terms of servings consumed of 9 major food groups and 39 major subgroups. Intake of energy and selected nutrients from each major food group was calculated. Recalls were evaluated by comparison with recommended servings from two food guides and recommended energy and nutrient allowances. The information elicited by the software package is useful for monitoring changes in food consumption patterns, assessing dietary compliance, planning, and evaluating nutrition and feeding programs.     

Genetic analysis workshop III: Use of multidimensional scaling in chromosome mapping

Two-point methods were used throughout. Male and female lod scores were calculated using LIPED. Edwards' programs, ZLODS and OBM, were used for joint analysis of the lod scores. ZLODS estimates recombination fractions. OBM calculates the likelihood and estimates the map distances for a given ordering of loci. Since OBM will only analyze a specified ordering, multidimensional scaling was used as a general method for establishing linkage groups and likely orderings within them.     

Quantification of health states with rank-based nonmetric multidimensional scaling.

OBJECTIVES: An alternative methodology is introduced to generate cardinal valuations of health states. This methodology is based on the ranking of differences between health states combined with an associated scaling model that transforms the individual rank data into group values on the interval level. METHODS: Data were collected in a Dutch EuroQol EQ-5D valuation study, in which a representative sample (n = 212) of the Dutch population valued a set of 18 EQ-5D health states and death. Three computational steps were undertaken: 1) differences in visual analog scale (VAS) values were computed for each pair of health states based on individual data; 2) the rank ordering of these pairwise differences was derived; 3) nonmetric multidimensional scaling was used to recover cardinal scale values for each state based on these rankings of differences. RESULTS: Scaling of ranked differences between health states using multidimensional scaling produced cardinal values that were nearly identical to the mean VAS valuations. The rank-based values explained 98% of the variance in the VAS values. CONCLUSION: Ordinal data collection techniques, combined with scaling models, may offer an attractive alternative to direct cardinal elicitation methods for valuing health states.     

Cluster analysis to improve food classification within commodity groups

Mathematical clustering algorithms were used to classify foods within dairy, grain, and fat commodity groups on the basis of nutrients with limited availability in the food supply as well as those posing a possible health risk due to excess consumption. The procedure overcomes the problem that has made objective and accurate grouping, i.e., dealing simultaneously with 10 or more nutrients, difficult. The clustering routine classifies foods on the basis of similar nutrient content for any number of food attributes and assigns a degree of association to each food to indicate its compositional similarity to a prototype food for the cluster group. Foods within dairy, grain, and fat commodity groups were clustered on the basis of similar content of vitamin B-6, calcium, iron, magnesium, folacin, zinc, and added sugar, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Whole milk and natural cheese clustered together on the basis of their moderate nutrient and relatively high fat and sodium content. Whole wheat breads, pumpernickel bread, and pancakes from mix constituted a grain subgroup with highest nutrient content, lowest cholesterol and sugar, lower fat, and higher sodium. Other subgroups based upon similarities in attributes were identified within food commodity categories. The result is an expansion of some food groups to incorporate concepts of both nutritional adequacy and moderation of food components of current nutritional concern.     

An analysis of the effectiveness of parent-infant support groups

A variety of programs have been developed to provide support and education for new parents. This article analyzes underlying issues in, and common problems of, parent-infant support groups. The Family Development Parenting Groups are described to illustrate typical findings of very positive feelings of participants toward the groups, but few objective effects of participation on adjustment or family functioning. The analysis suggests the importance of coordinating the type of goals of the program with (a) the needs of participants; (b) the implementation strategies; and (c) the measurement of positive and negative effects. The need to clarify the operationalization of support and to specifically measure the behavioral processes and effects of support is emphasized.A shorter version of this essay was presented as part of the symposium, Increasing the Effectiveness of Parent-Infant Support Programs, presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Boston, April, 1981. Appreciation is expressed to the many people who worked with the project, to the parents and babies who participated, and to Ben Gottlieb and anonymous reviewers for their comments. Dr. Wandersman is Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208.     

Consumer perceptions of medical information sources: an application of multidimensional scaling

Multidimensional scaling is widely used in marketing research to characterize the perceived relationships among a set of consumer products. The technique is also well suited to study a number of issues that are of interest to health care marketers. This paper explains multidimensional scaling and provides an illustrative example of a health care application. In the research study reported here, the perceptions of various sources of medical information give important insights to a health care organization that is designing a new medical information service for consumers. Other potential applications of the technique for health care marketing are also explored.     

饮食的4大功效

药食同源,药食同行。科学研究发现:选择特殊的饮食,可以有针对性地治疗各种疾病。例如: 高血压:防治高血压=蔬菜 水果 菊花。 心脏病:防治心脏病=苹果 洋葱十茶叶。 癌症:实验证明,大蒜、菠菜、木耳和谷类具有特殊的防癌效果,并可杀灭癌细胞。此外,还有     

An abbreviated food table using food groups for the calculation of energy,protein, fat,carbohydrate, total sugars,starch, and dietary fibre

The usefulness of a food grouping system based on 104 food groups in estimating energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, total sugars, starch and dietary fibre intake by a UK population was examined. Nutrient data from 112 days of mixed diets were calculated using both the food groups and detailed food composition tables and these calculated intakes were compared with analyses of duplicate diets.For a group of 7 subjects the mean differences and correlation coefficients between calculated and analysed results were similar for both methods of calculation with the exception of total sugars which were underestimated by both calculation methods. However, the underestimation of total sugars was less when the food groups were used. It therefore appears that this method of coding is of use where rapid coding of dietary records is required.     

一起食物中毒的调查与分析

某村农民于1999年12月3日为孩子"出生9天"设家宴庆贺,餐后多人出现恶心、呕吐、腹泻、发热等症状.我局随即组织人员赴现场调查,现将调查与结果分析如下.     

四起农村宴席食物中毒的实验室检测和分析

目的:对四起农村宴席食物中毒的原因进行分析和实验室确认,提供预防和控制农村宴席食物中毒的科学依据。方法:通过收集近年农村宴席食物中毒的流行病学调查报告和实验室检验记录,回顾性分析引发当地宴席食物中毒的常见菌株。结果:引起四起农村宴席食物中毒的病原菌分别是金黄色葡萄球菌、致泻大肠埃希菌、沙门菌。结论:农村宴席食物中毒需引起足够重视,食品安全监督部门应加强农村自办宴席的卫生质量监督监测。     

Quality of Life (QoL) in severely disabled multiple sclerosis patients: Comparison of three QoL measures using multidimensional scaling

This study reports a comparison of three quality of life (QoL) measures completed by patients with advanced multiple sclerosis. Multidimensional scaling analysis explored the structure of relationships amongst a general health measure (the Short Form 36 – SF 36) and two person-centred measures (the Patient Generated Index – PGI; and the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life – Direct Weighting version – SEIQoL-DW). Results showed distinct differences both between the two person-centred measures, and when compared against the general health measure, reflecting the different conceptual bases of these measures. The findings suggest that PGI scores closely relate to measures of physical functioning, whereas SEIQoL-DW scores relate more closely to feelings of health and vitality. The implications of these results for selection and development of appropriate QoL scales for the target population are discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Variability of food intakes. An analysis of a 12-day data series using persistence measures

Data from the US Department of Agriculture's Exploratory Study of Longitudinal Measures of Individual Food Intake, conducted in 1982, were used to evaluate individual intakes for day-to-day patterns and to relate these patterns to the reliability of estimated daily energy and nutrient intake means. Generalized least squares estimators incorporating a simple persistence hypothesis showed the importance of including day-to-day patterns in estimating mean daily intake levels. The simple persistence hypothesis was that day-to-day intakes follow a first-order autoregressive process. Results on the accuracy of mean intake estimates and sample size suggested that for the dietary components examined, greatest gains in accuracy of estimated mean daily intake were generally obtained with the first six days of intake data. This conclusion was, however, highly conditioned by the inclusion of the persistence hypothesis in the calculations. It was concluded that additional investigations exploring alternative and perhaps more physiologically justified persistence hypotheses for food intakes would improve the use of sample data in estimating mean daily intakes of diet components.     

The four Cs of food service

This article focuses on the themes of cost containment, competence, compilance, and commitment in food service administration in the health care setting. Particular emphasis is given to cost containment and various ways to contain costs in the food service operation are presented.     

An identification of low back pain groups using biobehavioral variables

A multivariate predictive model of low back pain (LBP) was developed. Following a semi-structured interview, 73 participants were assigned to dysfunctional chronic low back pain (DCLBP), functional chronic low back pain (FCLBP), acute low back pain (ALBP), and healthy control (HC) groups. All participants underwent a comprehensive physical, psychophysiological, and psychological evaluation. Multivariate analyses indicated no psychophysiological, few physical, and many psychological differences among the groups. The DCLBP group was found to be most impaired in flexion (p<.001), and the HC group performed the most total work (ft-lb) in extension (p<.001). Psychologically, the DCLBP group displayed greater levels of emotional distress and characterological disturbances and were more functionally impaired (p<.001). Few differences between FCLBP and HC were found. A classification analysis using physical and psychological variables correctly classified 83.3% of DCLBP patients, and it was found that the ALBP group was heterogeneous with some patients having a dysfunctional profile and other patients having a functional profile. The psychological variables were more potent predictors of group membership than were the physical variables. These findings indicate that potential DCLBP and FCLBP patients can be identified shortly following an injury, suggesting important implications for assessment and treatment of low back pain in general, and more specifically, for reducing health care costs and human suffering.     

从四起SARS爆发案例分析SARS的流行病学特征

目的探索SARS的可能来源、流行特征、传播途径与预防对策。方法对广西的2起早期SARS案例进行流行病学调查,对北京某家庭SARS案例和报刊介绍的北京一宗SARS案例收集有关流行病学资料,用流行病学方法和因素分布理论结合免疫学原理对其传播链进行解剖分析和演绎推理。结果广西的两宗早期病例分别存在动物或野生动物接触史。4起爆发案例均呈家庭和特殊职业聚集性,其二代病例以近距离飞沫和密切接触传播为主,但也可能存在血传播和性传播。结论SARS很可能为自然疫源性疾病,除传播途径为近距离飞沫和密切接触传播外,显性感染者的潜伏期或隐性感染可通过性传播而形成隐匿传播。SARS的预防策略为禁止捕杀野生动物,加强疫情报告与监测,做到早发现、早报告、早隔离、早治疗、早调查处理,同时做好医护人员防护和避免院内交叉感染以及切断隐匿传播途径的综合性预防措施。