The fantastic future of food – celebrating 50 years of food science and technology

The Institute of Food Science and Technology is this year celebrating 50 years since its formation. But we are not planning a year of retrospection – far from it. The main focus for the Institute's celebrations is very much on the future, hence the main theme for our 50th Jubilee year; ‘The Fantastic Future of Food’. Food science and technology can provide solutions to many of the current big challenges such as food safety, sustainability, waste reduction and, of course, some aspects of nutritional health. The Institute is therefore using its 50th Jubilee to raise the profile of its activities and also launch a number of key projects which it believes will have a significant impact on some of the key issues facing the food sector. The first of these will be its Register of Food Safety Professionals which will provide independent professional accreditation at all levels for those engaged in food safety roles.     

Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter during Pregnancy and Risk of Preterm Birth among Women in New Jersey,Ohio, and Pennsylvania, 2000–2005

Background: Particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM_2.5) has been variably associated with preterm birth (PTB).Objective: We classified PTB into four categories (20–27, 28–31, 32–34, and 35–36 weeks completed gestation) and estimated risk differences (RDs) for each category in association with a 1-μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 exposure during each week of gestation.Methods: We assembled a cohort of singleton pregnancies that completed ≥ 20 weeks of gestation during 2000–2005 using live birth certificate data from three states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey) (n = 1,940,213; 8% PTB). We estimated mean PM_2.5 exposures for each week of gestation from monitor-corrected Community Multi-Scale Air Quality modeling data. RDs were estimated using modified Poisson linear regression and adjusted for maternal race/ethnicity, marital status, education, age, and ozone.Results: RD estimates varied by exposure window and outcome period. Average PM_2.5 exposure during the fourth week of gestation was positively associated with all PTB outcomes, although magnitude varied by PTB category [e.g., for a 1-μg/m³ increase, RD = 11.8 (95% CI: –6, 29.2); RD = 46 (95% CI: 23.2, 68.9); RD = 61.1 (95% CI: 22.6, 99.7); and RD = 28.5 (95% CI: –39, 95.7) for preterm births during 20–27, 28–31, 32–34, and 35–36 weeks, respectively]. Exposures during the week of birth and the 2 weeks before birth also were positively associated with all PTB categories.Conclusions: Exposures beginning around the time of implantation and near birth appeared to be more strongly associated with PTB than exposures during other time periods. Because particulate matter exposure is ubiquitous, evidence of effects of PM_2.5 exposure on PTB, even if small in magnitude, is cause for concern.Citation: Rappazzo KM, Daniels JL, Messer LC, Poole C, Lobdell DT. 2014. Exposure to fine particulate matter during pregnancy and risk of preterm birth among women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, 2000–2005. Environ Health Perspect 122:992–997; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307456     

Exploring the Relationship Between Changes in Weight and Utterances in an Online Weight Loss Forum: A Content and Correlational Analysis Study

BackgroundThere is increasing interest in the use of online forums as a component of eHealth weight loss interventions. Although the research is mixed on the utility of online forums in general, results suggest that there is promise to this, particularly if the systems can be designed well to support healthful interactions that foster weight loss and continued engagement.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the styles of utterances individuals make on an online weight loss forum and week-to-week fluctuations in weight. This analysis was conducted to generate hypotheses on possible strategies that could be used to improve the overall design of online support groups to facilitate more healthful interactions.MethodsA convenience sample of individuals using an online weight loss forum (N=4132) included data both on online forum use and weight check-in data. All interactions were coded utilizing the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) system. Mixed model analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between these LIWC variables and weight over time.ResultsResults suggested that increased use of past-tense verbs (P=.05) and motion (P=.02) were associated with lower weekly weights whereas increased use of conjunctions (eg, and, but, whereas; P=.001) and exclusion words (eg, but, without, exclude; P=.07) were both associated with higher weight during the weeks when these utterances were used more.ConclusionsThese results provide some insights on the styles of interactions that appear to be associated with weight fluctuations. Future work should explore the stability of these findings and also explore possibilities for fostering these types of interactions more explicitly within online weight loss forums.     

Nursing interventions for adults following a mental health crisis: A systematic review guided by trauma‐informed principles

There exists a growing need for health and service providers to respond to persons in a manner that recognizes the prevalence and impact of trauma in individuals and prevent inadvertent re‐traumatization in the routine process of care. The experience of mental health crisis in of itself can have traumatic and impactful effects on individuals. Trauma‐informed approaches to care offer a framework to provide crisis intervention responses that are based on the acknowledgement of the prevalence and impact of trauma and define trauma not by the event per se, but by the impact of an experience of trauma. The integration of trauma‐informed principles in the context of crisis intervention is a current practice gap. In order to inform a portion of a best‐practice guideline for registered nurses and the interprofessional team, a systematic literature review was conducted to primarily identify nursing interventions within four weeks of a mental health crisis, with a secondary focus on identifying particular interventions that included trauma‐informed principles. The systematic review yielded 21 quantitative and qualitative studies related to nursing interventions for mental health crisis, 10 of which referred to one or more principles of trauma‐informed approaches. There was a lack of studies on nursing interventions explicitly linked to implementation of trauma‐informed principles, highlighting future research needs and focused efforts to integrate trauma‐informed principles into crisis intervention practices.     

Articular cartilage collagen and proteoglycans their functional interdependency

By use of an in vitro experimental system which permits the observation at high resolution of articular cartilage in a physiologic condition, its biomechanical response to compression was investigated before and after enzymatic digestion of the proteoglycan components with testicular hyaluronidase. The study provides further insight into the functional interplay between the collagen network and the hydrated proteoglycans. Certain structural features associated with age-related and osteoarthritic changes occurring in vivo in human articular cartilage were mimicked in the compressive response of the enzymatically digested tissue.     

Proteoglycan-induced arthritis in balb/c mice

Immunization with chondroitinase ABC–digested fetal human cartilage proteoglycan and Freund's complete adjuvant induced polyarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis in female BALB/c mice. The initial external symptoms of the joint inflammation were swelling and redness. This was associated with edema of the synovium and periarticular tissues and gross proliferation of cells, which reached a peak during weeks 7–9 of the experiment. Mononuclear cell infiltration, with perivascular concentration and occlusion of small vessels, was common. Synovitis increased in severity, villous pannus developed, and erosions of bone, articular cartilage, and occasionally, growth plate were observed. The lumbar spine and the proximal intervertebral discs of the tail also exhibited inflammatory and degenerative changes. As the arthritis progressed, sometimes with acute inflammatory exacerbations, more joints became involved and, by the sixteenth to the twentieth weeks of the experiment, a progressive polyarthritis, with gross joint deformities and restricted function, developed in the majority of the limb joints. Clinical and morphologic features of the disease correlated well with radiologic analysis and with an increased deposition of ^99mTc–methylene diphosphonate (determined by radionuclide imaging). The development of this arthritis was accompanied by the expression of cell-mediated and humoral immunity to the immunizing antigen. However, this immunity was also observed, although it was generally less well developed, in mice that received the intact or digested proteoglycan without adjuvant. These mice did not usually develop arthritis. Control mice that received only adjuvant did not develop arthritis.