The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. 
The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. 
The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. 
The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

Influence of Diet On the Distribtion of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals

An overview of the self-organizing map algorithm, on which the papers in this issue are based, is presented in this article.

The Self-Organizing Map

This new edition of Ann Bowling's well-known and highly respected text has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect key methodological developments in health research. It is a comprehensive, easy to read, guide to the range of methods used to study and evaluate health and health services. It describes the concepts and methods used by the main disciplines involved in health research, including: demography, epidemiology, health economics, psychology and sociology.The research methods described cover the assessment of health needs, morbidity and mortality trends and rates, costing health services, sampling for survey research, cross-sectional and longitudinal survey design, experimental methods and techniques of group assignment, questionnaire design, interviewing techniques, coding and analysis of quantitative data, methods and analysis of qualitative observational studies, and types of unstructured interviewing. With new material on topics such as cluster randomization, utility analyses, patients' preferences, and perception of risk, the text is aimed at students and researchers of health and health services. It has also been designed for health professionals and policy makers who have responsibility for applying research findings in practice, and who need to know how to judge the value of that research.

Research Methods in Health. Investigating health and health services

The current evidence suggests that many diet and exercise interventions to prevent obesity in children are not effective in preventing weight gain, but can be effective in promoting a healthy diet and increased physical activity levels.Being very overweight (obese) can cause health, psychological and social problems for children. Children who are obese are more likely to have weight and health problems as adults. Programmes designed to prevent obesity focus on modifying one or more of the factors considered to promote obesity.This review included 22 studies that tested a variety of intervention programmes, which involved increased physical activity and dietary changes, singly or in combination. Participants were under 18 and living in Asia, South America, Europe or North America. There is not enough evidence from trials to prove that any one particular programme can prevent obesity in children, although comprehensive strategies to address dietary and physical activity change, together with psycho-social support and environmental change may help. There was a trend for newer interventions to involve their respective communities and to include evaluations.Future research might usefully assess changes made on behalf of entire populations, such as improvements in the types of foods available at schools and in the availability of safe places to run and play, and should assess health effects and costs over several years.The programmes in this review used different strategies to prevent obesity so direct comparisons were difficult. Also, the duration of the studies ranged from 12 weeks to three years, but most lasted less than a year.

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Interventions for preventing obesity in children

physical activity and cancer fact sheet national cancer on this page what is physical activity what is known about the relationship between physical activity and cancer risk how might physical activity be, diet and cancer report american institute for cancer the american institute for cancer research aicr is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer prevention and educates the public about the results, download resources and toolkits world cancer research downloads for scientists from the wcrf aicr third expert report diet nutrition physical activity and cancer a global perspective, nutritional science university of washington school of public health school of public health nutritional science detailed course offerings time schedule are available for spring quarter 2019, 2019 aicr research conference american institute for about aicr we fund cutting edge research and give people practical tools and information to help them prevent and survive cancer more about aicr, agence fruits et l gumes frais aprifel the global fruit and veg newsletter is a monthly newsletter distributing to 29 countries involved in the promotion of the consumption of fruit and vegetable worldwide, world cancer research fund international we are experts in cancer prevention we analyse global research on diet nutrition physical activity cancer and make public health policy recommendations, the fractions of cancer attributable sciencedirect com a proportion of cancers at many body sites are attributable to potentially modifiable factors no global summaries of the preventable cancer burden have been, who controlling the global obesity epidemic more information obesity and overweight fact sheet who global strategy on diet physical activity and health who global database on body mass index, espen guidelines on nutrition in cancer patients gl nutrition in cancer patients outline o methods o1 basic information o2 methods o3 post publication impact a background a1 catabolic alterations in, un news global perspective human stories un news produces daily news content in arabic chinese english french kiswahili portuguese russian and spanish and weekly programmes in hindi urdu and bangla, recommended community strategies and measurements to table continued summary of recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the united states strategies to encourage physical, food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded diseases with diet, video resources bc cancer these videos help patients learn about their cancer and its treatment, prostate cancer nutrition and dietary supplements pdq nutrition methods and dietary supplements have been studied for prostate cancer prevention or treatment read about the history of research laboratory, who europe food safety food safety ingestion and handling of contaminated food causes significant illness and death worldwide across the who european region foodborne diseases, creating healthy food and eating environments policy and food and eating environments likely contribute to the increasing epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases over and above individual factors such as knowledge skills, health risks obesity prevention source harvard t h obesity and reproduction obesity can influence various aspects of reproduction from sexual activity to conception among women the association between, top nutrition schools undergraduate degree programs ncr want to know the top nutrition schools and best undergraduate degree programs here we review analyze rank rate them figure out which is best for you , overeating caloric restriction and breast cancer risk by this study analyzes the association of excessive energy intake and caloric restriction with breast cancer bc risk taking into account the individual, calcium what s best for your bones and health the possible increased risk of ovarian cancer high levels of galactose a sugar released by the digestion of lactose in milk have been studied as being, cancer protocol nutrition supplements cancer protocol nutrition supplements herbs enzymes note do not email me unless you would like a personalized protocol free with a suggested donation of 250

Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer : a Global Perspective : 食物、栄養、身体活動とがんの予防 : 世界的展望(後篇)

AIM To determine the incidence of bleeding associated with the use of enoxaparin in NSTEACS at Dunedin Public Hospital (DPH) and to identify bleeding risk factors in this patient group. METHODS A case-control retrospective review of clinical notes was undertaken. NSTEACS admissions in 2005 where a bleeding event occurred were identified and matched with controls (matched for age and sex). The incidence of Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) minor and major bleeding, not related to cardiac surgery, was determined. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for all bleeding events. RESULTS There were 446 eligible NSTEACS admissions (409 patients), of which 47 bleeding events (10.5%) were reported. Eight events (1.8%) were major according to the TIMI bleeding classification. Three risk factors were identified: renal function, the duration of enoxaparin therapy, and medical conditions involving haemostasis. Renal impairment and the duration of enoxaparin therapy were found to be significant predictors of bleeding (p=0.036 and p=0.008, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The incidence of bleeding in NSTEACS patients treated with enoxaparin at DPH is comparable to that reported in the literature. Renal impairment and prolonged treatment with enoxaparin were significantly associated with an increase in bleeding risk.

Bleeding events in patients receiving enoxaparin for the management of non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) at Dunedin Public Hospital, New Zealand.

To study snoring and non-snoring 3-year olds in their own homes and to establish reference values and night-to-night variability of physiological measurements taken during sleep. One hundred and sixty-six children, aged 3.2–4.0 years, identified as at high (n = 83, M/F = 1.5:1) or low (n = 83, M/F = 1.4:1) risk for persistent snoring, as rated by a parent, wore a sleep screening system (Grey Flash) for up to five consecutive nights, to measure snoring, oxygen saturation, heart rate, movement, sleep efficiency, and sleep timing. The snoring group snored 25% of their total sleep time, while the non-snoring group snored just 7.6%. Reliability estimates were calculated, using intraclass correlations to establish the reliability of single recordings and the Spearman–Brown prophecy formula to estimate reliability over multiple recordings. Snoring (percent), turn index (number of turns per hour), and mean heart rate were adequately assessed in both groups with one recording night (all intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ≥0.70). Furthermore, mean SpO2 was measured with sufficient reliability with two recordings in non-snorers (ICC = 0.71), while five recording nights were necessary to reach reliability in snorers (ICC = 0.71). SpO2 nadir did not reach adequate reliability in either group even after seven recording nights. Our results showed that snoring can be measured reliably at home with just one recording night, whereas most other physiological sleep measures require two or more recordings.

Reliability of home-based physiological sleep measurements in snoring and non-snoring 3-year olds

The fractional exhaled nitric oxide measured at an expiratory flow of 50mL/s (FENO50) is a marker of airway inflammation, and high levels are associated with greater response to steroid treatment. In asthma, FENO50 increases with bronchodilation and decreases with bronchoconstriction, the latter potentially causing an underestimate of the degree of airway inflammation when asthma worsens. It is unknown whether the same effect occurs in chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). Likewise, it is not known whether changes in airway calibre in COPD patients alter flow-independent parameters describing pulmonary nitric oxide exchange, such as the maximal flux of nitric oxide (NO) from the proximal airway compartment (J’awNO) and the distal airway/alveolar concentration of NO (CANO). We recruited 24 patients with COPD and performed FENO analysis at multiple expiratory flows before and after treatment with inhaled β2-agonist bronchodilator therapy. For the 21 patients analysed, FENO50 rose from 17.1 (1.4) ppb (geometric mean (geometric SD)) at baseline, to 19.3 (1.3) ppb after bronchodilator therapy, an increase of 2.2 ppb (95% CI, 0.7–3.6; P = 0.005). There were non-significant changes in flow-independent NO parameters. The change in FENO50 correlated positively with the change in J’awNO (rs = 0.67, P < 0.001; rs = 0.62, P = 0.002 before and after correction for axial back-diffusion respectively) following bronchodilation. Inhaled bronchodilator therapy can increase exhaled nitric oxide measurements in COPD. The standardisation of inhaled bronchodilator therapy before FENO analysis in COPD patients should therefore be considered in both research and clinical settings.

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Effect of Inhaled β2-Agonist on Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Software forensics is a research field that, by treating pieces of program source code as linguistically and stylistically analyzable entities, attempts to investigate aspects of computer program authorship. This can be performed with the goal of identification, discrimination, or characterization of authors. In this paper we extract a set of 26 standard authorship metrics from 351 programs by 7 different authors. The use of feedforward neural networks, multiple discriminant analysis, and case-based reasoning is then investigated in terms of classification accuracy for the authors on both training and testing samples. The first two techniques produce remarkably similar results, with the best results coming from the case-based reasoning models. All techniques have high prediction accuracy rates, supporting the feasibility of the task of discriminating program authors based on source-code measurements.

Software Forensics for Discriminating between Program Authors using Case-Based Reasoning, Feed-Forward Neural Networks and Multiple

Aims To describe the incidence of parentally reported illness in otherwise healthy South Island toddlers; characterise the predictors of illness; and determine whether there was a relationship between teething and illness in this population. Methods A 20-week randomised controlled trial was conducted on 1-year-old children (n=225) from Otago and Southland between February 2004 and December 2005. Information on symptoms of morbidity, occurrence of teething, and childcare attendance were recorded daily throughout the intervention period. Morbidity symptoms were categorised into respiratory illness (RI), gastrointestinal illness (GII), ear infection, and total illness, and the number and duration of events were determined. Results The mean (SD) number of total illnesses was 3.4 (2.3) per 20 weeks, with an average duration of 4.5 days. Episodes of RI were most common (50% of total illness events), and tended to be the longest in duration (mean of 3.7 days). Having siblings aged less than 5 years (23% increase, 95%CI 6%–42%, p=0.007) and attending childcare (72% increase, 95%CI 38%–113%, p<0.001)), were positively associated with the number of total illness events but not duration. In addition, teething was positively associated with total events (OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.45–2.60, p<0.001), RI events (OR 2.03, 95%CI 1.41–2.93, p<0.001) and GII events (OR 1.90, 95%CI 1.36– 2.67, p<0.001). Conclusion This study has shown that illness (particularly RI) is common in the second year of life. It has also confirmed that attending childcare and having siblings aged under 5 years increases the number of illness events. An association between teething and the occurrence of illness was also seen but the exact nature of this relationship requires verification. In New Zealand there are few quantitative data describing the illnesses experienced by otherwise healthy children. In fact, the existing data are only for notifiable disease 1–3 or hospitalisation rates, 4–7 with information on common childhood illnesses based primarily on experiential data from primary care practitioners. Furthermore, the figures reported in the literature are commonly combined for the one to four year-old age group. 2–4 This may be masking important information at specific ages, particularly given that rates of illness are reported to be higher during the second year of life than at any other point in childhood. 8 International research has repeatedly shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) and attending childcare are associated with higher rates of illness in preschool children. 8–13

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Andrew R. Gray

Papers

Bleeding events in patients receiving enoxaparin for the management of non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) at Dunedin Public Hospital, New Zealand.

Reliability of home-based physiological sleep measurements in snoring and non-snoring 3-year olds

Effect of Inhaled β2-Agonist on Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Software Forensics for Discriminating between Program Authors using Case-Based Reasoning, Feed-Forward Neural Networks and Multiple

Rates of common communicable illnesses in non-anaemic 12-24 month old South Island, New Zealand children