Marijuana use among minority youths living in public housing developments

Youths residing in public housing developments appear to be at markedly heightened risk for drug use because of their constant exposure to violence, poverty, and drug-related activity. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model of marijuana etiology with adolescents (N=624) residing in public housing. African-American and Hispanic seventh graders completed questionnaires about their marijuana use, social influences to smoke maijuana, and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. Results indicated that social influences, such as friends' marijuana use and perceived ease of availability of marijuana, significantly predicted both occasional and future use of marijuana. Individual characteristics such as antimarijuana attitudes and drug refsul skills also predicted marijuana use. The findings imply that effective prevention approaches that target urban youths residing in public housing developments should provide them with an awareness of social influences to use marijuana, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of marijuana smoking, and train adolescents in relevant psychosocial skills.     

Anthropometric Characteristics of Mohawk Children Aged 6 to 11 Years: A Population Perspective

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have concluded that Native North American children have higher proportions of overweight and obesity than children from the general North American population. This study presents anthropometric data on a representative sample of children from the Mohawk Nation that can be used for comparison with other Native American populations. DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study comparing distributions of anthropometric characteristics of Mohawk children to the corresponding age and gender data from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II). Weight, height, triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness, and waist and hip circumferences were measured in 527 children. SUBJECTS/SETTING: All children in grades 1 to 6 (aged 6 to 11 years) in the 3 elementary schools of 2 Mohawk communities in Canada, for whom parental consent was obtained, were enrolled in the present study. There were no exclusion criteria. With a participation rate of 83%, the 527 children enrolled in this study represent an unbiased sample of the population from 2 Mohawk territories. RESULTS: Compared with children studied in NHANES II, Mohawk children were similar in height and triceps skinfolds but were generally heavier, had thicker subscapular skinfolds, and had greater waist and hip circumferences. These differences were greater in older children. Mohawk children who had extreme-high weight values compared with their population means were heavier than their NHANES II counterparts. APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that, on average, Mohawk children seem to be slightly heavier than children in NHANES II. Except for those with extreme overweight values, Mohawk children show less variation of weight and body mass index than children in NHANES II. Finally, overweight Mohawk children seem to be more likely to carry their excess body fat truncally, compared with overweight children from NHANES II. Health practitioners working with Native American populations should be careful when assessing childhood obesity. Simple comparisons of weight or body mass index with NHANES standards may lead to inappropriate risk assessments.     

Dietary Changes Favorably Affect Bone Remodeling in Older Adults

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether dietary counseling to increase milk intake could produce useful changes in the calcium economy and what, if any, other nutrition-related changes might be produced. DESIGN: Randomized, open trial. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Two hundred four healthy men and women, aged 55 to 85 years, who habitually consumed fewer than 1.5 servings of dairy foods per day. Six academic health centers in the United States. INTERVENTION: Subjects were instructed to consume 3 servings per day of nonfat milk or 1% milk as a part of their daily diets, or to maintain their usual diets, for a 12-week intervention period, which followed 4 weeks of baseline observations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Energy and nutrient intake assessed from milk intake logs and 3-day food records; serum calciotrophic hormone levels at baseline and at 8 and 12 weeks; urinary excretion of calcium and N-telopeptide at 12 weeks. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Repeated-measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: In the milk-supplemented group, calcium intake increased by 729 +/- 45 mg/day (mean +/- standard error), serum parathyroid hormone level decreased by approximately 9%, and urinary excretion of N-telopeptide, a bone resorption marker, decreased by 13%. Urine calcium excretion increased in milk-supplemented subjects by 21 +/- 7.6 mg/day (mean +/- standard error), less than half the amount predicted to be absorbed from the increment in calcium intake. All of these changes were significantly different from baseline values in the milk group and from the corresponding changes in the control group. Bone-specific alkaline phosphatase level (a bone formation marker) fell by approximately 9% in both groups. Serum level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) rose by 10% in the milk group (P < .001), and the level of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) fell slightly (1.9%) in the milk group and rose significantly (7.9%) in the control group (P < .05). APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: The changes observed in the calcium economy through consumption of food sources of calcium are similar in kind and extent to those reported previously for calcium supplement tablets. The increase in IGF-1 level and the decrease in IBFBP-4 level are new observations that are beneficial for bone health. Important improvements in skeletal metabolism can feasibly occur in older adults by consumption of food sources of calcium. Dietitians can be confident that food works, and that desired calcium intakes can be achieved using food sources.     

Acculturation and Dietary Practices Among Korean Americans

OBJECTIVE: Examine variation in dietary practices and nutritional intakes of Korean Americans at different acculturation levels. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mail survey. SUBJECTS/SETTING: US national sample of 348 Korean Americans (46% of the Korean American sample to whom questionnaires were delivered). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS PERFORMED: Analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, Spearman rank correlation, chi 2 test, and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Korean Americans who were more acculturated consumed more American food and less Korean food. American foods such as oranges, low-fat milk, bagels, tomatoes, and bread were consumed regularly by Korean Americans; Korean foods such as rice, kimchi, garlic, green onions, and Korean soup were also consumed regularly. American foods were adopted the most at breakfast and the least at dinner. Bicultural people regularly incorporated more different types of foods into their diet. Despite significant differences in dietary practices, dietary quality did not vary by acculturation status. APPLICATION/CONCLUSIONS: Acculturation was influential in the dietary patterns of Korean Americans. Specific information about Korean diet related to acculturation status can be used by dietitians who work with Korean Americans. Dietitians can benefit from gathering and applying specific information about Korean diets and diets of other ethnic groups; they also need to recognize the changing nature of dietary patterns as acculturation occurs.     

Sensory Responses to Fat are Not Affected by Varying Dietary Energy Intake From Fat and Saturated Fat Over Ranges Common in the American Diet

Objective To examine the effects of manipulating dietary fat in foods on sensitivity and hedonic response to fat in selected foods.Design Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to a sequence of three 8-week experimental diets (average American diet, step 1 diet, low-saturated-fat diet) that varied in energy from fat (37%, 30%, and 26%, respectively) and saturated fat (17%, 10%, and 6%, respectively). Subjects participated in sensory tests designed to assess their sensitivity to and liking for fat in several foods, before the study (baseline), after consumption of each diet, and after the study (washout).Subjects/setting Subjects were participants in the Dietary Effects on Lipoprotein and Thrombogenic Activity (DELTA) study.Results No significant differences were found among diets for difference thresholds (ie, just noticeable differences) for fat in milk and pudding, ad libitum mixing of low- and high-fat samples of milk and soup, and hedonic scaling of fat concentrations in milk and muffins and of cheese, mayonnaise, hot dog, and pastry samples.Applications/conclusions Within the dietary fat ranges and for the fat stimuli tested in this study, dietary fat as percentage of energy from fat and saturated fat was not a significant determinant of sensitivity to and/or liking for fat. Sensory factors should not be a barrier to the implementation of low-fat diets such as the step 1 and low-saturated-fat diets. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99:690–696.     

Mitotic counts in rat adenohypophysial thyrotrophs and somatotrophs: Effects of short-term thyroidectomy,thyroxine, and thyrotropin-releasing hormone

The question of whether thyroxine (T₄) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) affect mitoses in pituitary thyrotrophs (Tt) and somatotrophs (St) of hypothyroid rats was investigated. Fifteen day thyroidectomized (Tx) rats were used. Groups of Tx animals received T₄ or TRH or both. Except 6 and 24 h TRH groups, the animals were sacrificed 12 h after injections. Unoperated euthyroid rats served as controls. In Tx group adenohypophysial mitoses were significantly increased. T₄ diminished mitoses in Tx rats. Mitotic counts were decreased in 6 and 24 h Tx groups, but increased in 12 h TRH group. TRH plus T₄ in Tx animals had a synergistic effect on adenohypophysial mitoses. In unoperated controls few mitoses were observed in Tt and more mitoses in St. In Tx rats more mitoses were seen in Tt than in St. T₄ alone failed to reduce mitoses in Tt but increased them in St. We concluded that T₄ affects Tt and St replication. In normal rats mitoses occur mainly in St. In Tx rats mitotic activity increased in Tt. TRH plus T₄ have a synergistic motogenic effect on St. T₄ but not TRH affects St replication. It appears that the presence, of T₄ is necessary for St multiplication.     

Epi-Inositol and inositol depletion: Two new treatment approaches in affective disorder

Inositol is a simple polyol precursor in a second messenger system important in brain myo-insitol, the natural isomer, which has been found to be therapeutically effective in depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in double-blind controlled trials. Recently, epiinositol, an unnatural stereoisomer of myo-inositol, was found to have effects similar to those of myo-inositol to reverse lithium-pilocarpine seizures. We measured the behavior of rats in an elevated plus maze model of anxiety after chronic treatment of 11 daily intraperitoneal injections of epi-inositol, myo-inositol, or control solution. Epi-inositol reduced anxiety levels of rats compared with controls, and its effect was stronger than that of myoinositol. Lithium has been hypothesized to alleviate mania by reducing brain inositol levels. Inositol in brain derives from the second messenger cycle, from new synthesis, or from diet via transport across the blood brain barrier. Because the first two are inhibited by lithium, we propose that an inositol-free diet will augment lithium action in mania by enhancing restriction of inositol.