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UK Biobank is a population-based cohort of half a million participants aged 40–69 years recruited between 2006 and 2010. In 2014, UK Biobank started the world’s largest multi-modal imaging study, with the aim of re-inviting 100,000 participants to undergo brain, cardiac and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and carotid ultrasound. The combination of large-scale multi-modal imaging with extensive phenotypic and genetic data offers an unprecedented resource for scientists to conduct health-related research. This article provides an in-depth overview of the imaging enhancement, including the data collected, how it is managed and processed, and future directions., Between 2014 and 2023, 100,000 UK Biobank participants are undergoing brain, heart and abdominal MRI, as well as DXA and carotid ultrasound scans. In this review, authors provide a detailed overview of the rationale for the collection of these imaging data, the procedures of data collection and management, and the future directions of the UK biobank imaging enhancement.

ObjectivesThe Strengthening Families Programme 10–14 (SFP10-14) is a USA-developed universal group-based intervention aiming to prevent substance misuse by strengthening protective factors within the family. This study evaluated a proportionate universal implementation of the adapted UK version (SFP10-14UK) which brought together families identified as likely/not likely to experience/present challenges within a group setting.DesignPragmatic cluster-randomised controlled effectiveness trial, with families as the unit of randomisation and embedded process and economic evaluations.SettingThe study took place in seven counties of Wales, UK.Participants715 families (919 parents/carers, 931 young people) were randomised.InterventionsFamilies randomised to the intervention arm received the SFP10-14 comprising seven weekly sessions. Families in intervention and control arms received existing services as normal.Outcome measuresPrimary outcomes were the number of occasions young people reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days; and drunkenness during the same period, dichotomised as ‘never’ and ‘1–2 times or more’. Secondary outcomes examined alcohol/tobacco/substance behaviours including: cannabis use; weekly smoking (validated by salivary cotinine measures); age of alcohol initiation; frequency of drinking >5 drinks in a row; frequency of different types of alcoholic drinks; alcohol-related problems. Retention: primary analysis included 746 young people (80.1%) (alcohol consumption) and 732 young people (78.6%) (drunkenness).ResultsThere was no evidence of statistically significant between-group differences 2 years after randomisation for primary outcomes (young people’s alcohol consumption in the last 30 days adjusted OR=1.11, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.71, p=0.646; drunkenness in the last 30 days adjusted OR=1.46, 95% CI 0.83 to 2.55, p=0.185). There were no statistically significant between-group differences for other substance use outcomes, or those relating to well-being/stress, and emotional/behavioural problems.ConclusionsPrevious evidence of effectiveness was not replicated. Findings highlight the importance of evaluating interventions when they are adapted for new settings.Trial registration numberISRCTN63550893.Cite Now

The teaching of cooking is an important aspect of school-based efforts to promote healthy diets among children, and is frequently done by external agencies. Within a limited evidence base relating to cooking interventions in schools, there are important questions about how interventions are integrated within school settings. The purpose of this paper is to examine how a mobile classroom (Cooking Bus) sought to strengthen connections between schools and cooking, and drawing on the concept of the sociotechnical network, theorise the interactions between the Bus and school contexts.Methods comprised a postal questionnaire to 76 schools which had received a Bus visit, and case studies of the Bus' work in five schools, including a range of school sizes and urban/rural locations. Case studies comprised observation of Cooking Bus sessions, and interviews with school staff.The Cooking Bus forged connections with schools through aligning intervention and schools' goals, focussing on pupils' cooking skills, training teachers and contributing to schools' existing cooking-related activities. The Bus expanded its sociotechnical network through post-visit integration of cooking activities within schools, particularly teachers' use of intervention cooking kits.The paper highlights the need for research on the long-term impacts of school cooking interventions, and better understanding of the interaction between interventions and school contexts.This paper adds to the limited evidence base on school-based cooking interventions by theorising how cooking interventions relate to school settings, and how they may achieve integration.

Ghrelin is a recently identified orexigenic peptideinvolved in the regulation of energy balance and foodintake. Ghrelin plasma levels are inversely correlated withbody mass index in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimianervosa (BN) patients with respect to controls. Sequencealterations in the preproghrelin/ghrelin gene havebeen identified and analysed in patients with obesity(Ukkola et al., 2001, 2002; Hinney et al., 2002; Miraglia delGiudice et al., 2004), suggesting that polymorphicvariants, causing a defective or inactive protein, mayinfluence feeding behaviour and energy balance, thusrepresenting risk factors for the development of eatingdisorders.Family trios and case–control studies of three ghrelingene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs),Gln90Leu, Leu72Met and Arg51Gln, were performed in692 Caucasian cases (366 AN and 326 BN) and in 529 ANand BN trios recruited from seven European countries(Italy, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, France, Austria and UK).Each patient was evaluated according to Diagnostic andstatistical manual of mental disorder-IV criteria for ANand BN through various types of diagnostic interview bycountry. The control sample consisted of 342 unrelatedCaucasian participants matched for ethnicity and sexrecruited from four out of the eight European centres.The Arg51Gln and the Leu72Met SNPs were geno-typed using the polymerase chain reaction-restrictionfragment length polymorphism technique, the Gln90Leupolymorphism was typed using an AmplificationRefractory Mutation System assay (Hinney et al., 2002).Cases and controls within each centre and combinedoverall followed the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium foreach SNP.The combined analysis of all populations revealed noallele and genotype-wise association with the polymorph-isms for either the AN group or the BN group. We found700 (96%) Gln alleles in AN, 623 (95%) in BN and 649(95%) in controls for the Gln90Leu SNP; 671 (92%) Leualleles in AN, 611 (94%) in BN and 622 (91%) in controlsfor the Leu72Met SNP; 728 (99%) Arg alleles in AN, 644(99%) in BN and 678 (99%) in controls for the Arg51GlnSNP.

Eating disorders (ED), such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), are complex psychiatric disorders where different genetic and environmental factors are involved. Several lines of evidence support that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an essential role in eating behaviour and that alterations on this neurotrophic system participates in the susceptibility to both AN and BN. Accordingly, intraventricular administration of BDNF in rats determines food starvation and body weight loss, while BDNF or its specific receptor NTRK2 knockout mice develop obesity and hyperphagia. Case-control studies also suggest a BDNF contribution in the aetiology of ED: we have previously reported a strong association between the Met66 variant within the BDNF gene, restricting AN (ANR) and minimum body mass index (minBMI) in a Spanish sample, and a positive association between the Val66Met and -270C/T BDNF SNPs and ED in six different European populations. To replicate these results, avoiding population stratification effects, we recruited 453 ED trios from eight European centres and performed a family-based association study. Both haplotype relative risk (HRR) and haplotype-based haplotype relative risk (HHRR) methods showed a positive association between the Met66 allele and ANR. Consistently, we also observed an effect of the Met66 variant on low minBMI and a preferential transmission of the -270C/Met66 haplotype to the affected ANR offspring. These results support the involvement of BDNF in eating behaviour and further suggest its participation in the genetic susceptibility to ED, mainly ANR and low minBMI. © 2005 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.

Several genes with an essential role in the regulation of eating behavior and body weight are considered candidates involved in the etiology of eating disorders (ED), but no relevant susceptibility genes with a major effect on anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) have been identified. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been implicated in the regulation of food intake and body weight in rodents. We previously reported a strong association of the Met66 allele of the Val66Met BDNF variant with restricting AN (ANR) and low minimum body mass index in Spanish patients. Another single nucleotide polymorphism located in the promoter region of the BDNF gene (-270C > T) showed lack of association with any ED phenotype. In order to replicate these findings in a larger sample, we performed a case-control study in 1142 Caucasian patients with ED consecutively recruited in six different centers from five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) participating in the 'Factors in Healthy Eating' project. We have found that the Met66 variant is strongly associated to all ED subtypes (AN, ANR, binge-eating/purging AN and BN), and that the -270C BDNF variant has an effect on BN and late age at onset of weight loss. These are the first two variants associated with the pathophysiology of ED in different populations and support a role for BDNF in the susceptibility to aberrant eating behaviors.