Search

We recently reported that lowering the high, habitual palmitic acid (PA) intake in ovulating women improved insulin sensitivity and both inflammatory and oxidative stress. In vitro studies indicate that PA can activate both cell membrane toll-like receptor-4 and the intracellular nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor protein (NLRP3). To gain further insight into the relevance to human metabolic disease of dietary PA, we studied healthy, lean and obese adults enrolled in a randomized, crossover trial comparing 3-week, high-PA (HPA) and low-PA/high-oleic-acid (HOA) diets. After each diet, both hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivities were measured, and we assessed cytokine concentrations in plasma and in supernatants derived from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as well as proinflammatory gene expression in skeletal muscle. Insulin sensitivity was unaffected by diet. Plasma concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α was higher during the HPA diet. Lowering the habitually high PA intake by feeding the HOA diet resulted in lower secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-18, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α by PBMCs, as well as lower relative mRNA expression of cJun and NLRP3 in muscle. Principal components analysis of 156 total variables coupled to analysis of covariance indicated that the mechanistic pathway for the differential dietary effects on PBMCs involved changes in the PA/OA ratio of tissue lipids. Our results indicate that lowering the dietary and tissue lipid PA/OA ratio resulted in lower leukocyte production of proinflammatory cytokines and muscle expression of redox-sensitive genes, but the relevance to diabetes risk is uncertain., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Mass media interventions for reduction of youth cigarette smoking have been recommended based on a broad array of evidence, although few randomized community trials have been reported., Design: Four matched pairs of independent media markets were identified; one member of each pair was randomized to receive the intervention. School surveys were conducted in all markets, in 2001 before (n=19,966) and in 2005 after (n=23,246) the interventions were completed., Setting/participants: Grade 7-12 students from public schools in these eight medium-sized metropolitan areas participated in the summative evaluations; Grades 4-12 students were targeted to receive mass media interventions in four of these markets., Intervention: Four simultaneous campaigns consisting of specially developed messages based on behavioral theory and targeted to defined age groups of racially and ethnically diverse young people were placed in popular TV, cable, and radio programming using purchased time for 4 years., Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of youth smoking and psychosocial mediators of smoking., Results: No significant impacts of these interventions on smoking behaviors or mediators were found for the overall samples. A positive effect was found for one mediator in subgroups. Among Hispanic participants a marginally favorable effect on smoking prevalence and significant effects on mediators were found. General awareness of smoking prevention TV messages was slightly higher over time in the intervention areas., Conclusions: Mass media interventions alone were unable to induce an incremental difference in youth smoking prevalence, probably because of a relatively strong tobacco control environment that included a substantial national smoking prevention media campaign., (Copyright 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Low back pain is associated with abnormal movement strategies due to changes in neuromuscular control. A plausible contributing factor to low back pain is poor control of trunk muscles, thus understanding motor control alterations in this population can guide rehabilitation. Quantification of postural responses following support surface translations is one way to examine motor control impairments in people with low back pain., Methods: Twenty-four healthy subjects [mean 33 (SD 11) years] who had no low back pain and 26 subjects [mean 39 (SD 13) years] with chronic, recurrent low back pain were instructed to stand with feet placed on separate force plates, which were mounted on a moveable platform. The platform was translated unexpectedly in one of 12 directions for a total of 72 trials. For both the sagittal and frontal planes, the net center of pressure displacement was derived and the total body center of mass was calculated by combining kinematic and anthropometric data., Findings: For sagittal plane responses, subjects with low back pain had reduced and delayed sagittal plane center of pressure responses (P<0.01) compared to the subjects without low back pain. In contrast, the sagittal plane center of mass responses were larger in magnitude (P=0.03) yet similarly delayed in onset (P=0.04) for the low back pain group. Frontal plane responses did not differ between groups., Interpretation: Subjects with low back pain have altered automatic postural coordination, both in terms of magnitude and timing of responses, indicating alterations in neuromuscular control.

Relatively little is known about smoking cessation self-efficacy and outcome expectations for quitting smoking in adolescent smokers. In this study, we created measures of these two constructs and conducted factor analyses with data from a diverse sample of 1126 adolescent smokers. Results yielded a two-factor solution for the self-efficacy measure, and a four-factor solution for the outcome expectations scale. In a subset of the original sample (n=515), we re-administered the measures one year later and also examined the longitudinal associations between the baseline sub-scale scores and cigarettes smoked per week at follow-up. Results revealed significant relationships between the negative affect sub-scales of the self-efficacy and outcome expectations measures and weekly smoking level. These associations remained when adjusting for baseline smoking level and other sub-scales. The findings lend support for the possible role of affect regulation in smoking reduction in adolescents.