Life Sciences Commons^™

How Useful Is Gsv As An Environmental Observation Tool? An Analysis Of The Evidence So Far., Katherine Nesse, Leah Airt

SPU Works

Researchers in many disciplines have turned to Google Street View to replace pedestrian- or carbased in-person observation of streetscapes. It is most prevalent within the research literature on the relationship between neighborhood environments and public health but has been used as diverse as disaster recovery, ecology and wildlife habitat, and urban design. Evaluations of the tool have found that the results of GSV-based observation are similar to the results from in-person observation although the similarity depends on the type of characteristic being observed. Larger, permanent and discrete features showed more consistency between the two methods and smaller, transient and judgmental …

Does Breastfeeding Shape Food Preferences? Links To Obesity, Alison K. Ventura

Kinesiology and Public Health

The first 2 years of life have been recognized as a critical window for obesity prevention efforts. This period is characterized by rapid growth and development and, in a relatively short period of time, a child transitions from a purely milk-based diet to a more varied solid-food diet. Much learning about food and eating occurs during this critical window, and it is well-documented that early feeding and dietary exposures predict later food preferences, eating behaviors, and dietary patterns. The focus of this review will be on the earliest feeding experiences - breast- and formula-feeding - and the unique role of …

Vitamin D Status And Demographic And Lifestyle Determinants Among Adults In The United States (Nhanes 2001-2006), Yan Cao, Katie L. Callahan, Sreenivas P. Veeranki, Yang Chen, Ying Liu, Shimin Zheng

Shimin Zheng

This study looked at risk factors associated with vitamin D levels in the body among a representative sample of adults in the U.S., NHANES III (2001-2006) data were used to assess the relationship between several demographic and health risk factors and vitamin D levels in the body. The Baseline-Category Logit Model was used to test the association between vitamin D level and the potential risk factors age, education, ethnicity, poverty status, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, obesity, diabetes and total cholesterol with both genders. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were significantly associated with age, race, education, physical activity, obesity, diabetes and …

Discovery And Fine-Mapping Of Adiposity Loci Using High Density Imputation Of Genome-Wide Association Studies In Individuals Of African Ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium, Maggie C. Y. Ng, Mariaelisa Graff, Yingchang Lu, Anne E. Justice, Poorva Mudgal, Ching-Ti Liu, Kristin Young, Lisa R. Yanek, Mary F. Feitosa, Mary K. Wojczynski, Kristin Rand, Jennifer A. Brody, Brian E. Cade, Latchezar Dimitrov, Qing Duan, Xiuqing Guo, Leslie A. Lange, Michael A. Nalls, Hayrettin Okut, Salman M. Tajuddin, Bamidele O. Tayo, Sailaja Vedantam, Jonathan P. Bradfield, Guanjie Chen, Wei-Min Chen, Alessandra Chesi, Marguerite R. Irvin, Badri Padhukasahasram, Jennifer A. Smith, Wei Zheng, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified > 300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHR_adjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHR_adjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified …

Association Of Body Mass Index With Dna Methylation And Gene Expression In Blood Cells And Relations To Cardiometabolic Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Approach, Michael M. Mendelson, Riccardo E. Marioni, Roby Joehanes, Chunyu Liu, Åsa K. Hedman, Stella Aslibekyan, Ellen W. Demerath, Weihua Guan, Degui Zhi, Chen Yao, Tianxiao Huan, Christine Willinger, Brian Chen, Paul Courchesne, Michael Multhaup, Marguerite R. Irvin, Ariella Cohain, Eric E. Schadt, Megan L. Grove, Jan Bressler, Kari North, Johan Sundström, Stefan Gustafsson, Sonia Shah, Allan F. Mcrae, Sarah E. Harris, Jude Gibson, Paul Redmond, Janie Corley, Lee Murphy, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background

The link between DNA methylation, obesity, and adiposity-related diseases in the general population remains uncertain.

Methods and Findings

We conducted an association study of body mass index (BMI) and differential methylation for over 400,000 CpGs assayed by microarray in whole-blood-derived DNA from 3,743 participants in the Framingham Heart Study and the Lothian Birth Cohorts, with independent replication in three external cohorts of 4,055 participants. We examined variations in whole blood gene expression and conducted Mendelian randomization analyses to investigate the functional and clinical relevance of the findings. We identified novel and previously reported BMI-related differential methylation at 83 CpGs …

Assessing For Awareness And Knowledge Regarding Diabetes In Pre-Diabetes Obese Patients, Remona Lysa Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in prevalence of diabetes in the United States. Prevention of diabetes and improving patients' knowledge and awareness of diabetes are crucial for healthcare providers. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical foundation, the student used the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to improve awareness and knowledge of diabetes among obese individuals with prediabetes. The key research question of this project was to determine whether the patients' diabetes knowledge and awareness improved after the NDPP program. A convenience sample of …

A Potential Tool For Clinicians; Evaluating A Computer-Led Dietary Assessment Method In Overweight And Obese Women During Weight Loss, Adrianne Widaman, Nancy Keim, Dustin Burnett, Beverly Miller, Megan Witbracht, Keith Widaman, Kevin Laugero

Faculty Publications

Many Americans are attempting to lose weight with the help of healthcare professionals. Clinicians can improve weight loss results by using technology. Accurate dietary assessment is crucial to effective weight loss. The aim of this study was to validate a computer-led dietary assessment method in overweight/obese women. Known dietary intake was compared to Automated Self-Administered 24-h recall (ASA24) reported intake in women (n = 45), 19–50 years, with body mass index of 27–39.9 kg/m2. Participants received nutrition education and reduced body weight by 4%–10%. Participants completed one unannounced dietary recall and their responses were compared to actual intake. Accuracy of …