Impact of the Wood-Burning Cookstove on Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c): A Stepped-Wedge Randomized Trial in Rural Honduras.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a rapidly growing global health challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and evidence suggests that air pollution exposure contributes. Household air pollution from burning solid fuels for cooking is a major burden in LMICs, but studies demonstrating associations between reductions in household air pollution and improvements in HbA1c, a biomarker of diabetes risk, are lacking. We previously reported substantial reductions in fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter () and black carbon concentrations following an intervention in rural Honduras with the cookstove, a wood-burning stove with an engineered combustion chamber and chimney.

Improving Simulation Model Accuracy for Friction Stir Welding of AA 2219.

Modeling of friction stir welding (FSW) is challenging, as there are large gradients in both strain rate and temperature (typically between 450 and 500 °C in aluminum alloys) that must be accounted for in the constitutive law of the material being joined. Constitutive laws are most often calibrated using flow stresses from hot compression or hot torsion testing, where strain rates are much lower than those seen in the stir zone of the FSW process. As such, the current work employed a recently developed method to measure flow stresses at high strain rates and temperatures in AA 2219-T67, and these data were used in the development of a finite element (FE) simulation of FSW.

Measuring the impact of obesity on cardiovascular risk for northern Colorado school children: Healthy hearts and minds program 2013-2023.

Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in both children and adults and is predictive of poor cardiovascular outcomes. Prevalence of CVD risk factors among children has become more frequent and is often influenced by the family. The purpose of this study was to both cross-sectionally and longitudinally determine the prevalence and changes in CVD risk factors among northern Colorado students.

Deletion of the transcription factor EBF1 in perivascular stroma disrupts skeletal homeostasis and precipitates premature aging of the marrow microenvironment.

Early B cell factor 1 (EBF1) is a transcription factor expressed by multiple lineages of stromal cells within the bone marrow. While cultures of Ebf1-deficient cells have been demonstrated to have impaired differentiation into either the osteoblast or adipogenic lineage in vitro by several groups, in vivo there has been a nominal consequence of the loss of EBF1 on skeletal development. In this study we used Prx-cre driven deletion of Ebf1 to eliminate EBF1 from the entire mesenchymal lineage of the skeleton and resolve this discrepancy.

Association of Physical Domain Participation with POTFF Domains in Special Forces Operators.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the physical domain (PD) to improve performance in all the POTFF domains (physical, psychological, social/family, and spiritual) among Special Forces (SF) Operators.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of active SF Operators assigned to the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). Recruitment began in October 2016.

The combined effect of motivational interviewing and wearable fitness trackers on motivation and physical activity in inactive adults: A randomized controlled trial.

Despite overwhelming adoption of wearable fitness trackers (WFT), it is unclear if they affect physical activity (PA) engagement or PA motivation. We hypothesized that combining a WFT with an effective intervention, motivational interviewing (MI), would positively influence both motivation and PA. A 12-week randomized controlled trial was conducted in 40 adults who did not meet PA recommendations.

Maternal Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Is Associated With Higher BMI Among Preschool-Aged Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Childhood obesity is an ongoing concern in the United States. Higher weight status in early childhood is associated with higher weight status at older ages. The Maternal Obesity Matters (MOMs) Study investigated associations between maternal risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and child BMI z-scores (BMIz) among preschool-aged children.

Household air pollution from wood-burning cookstoves and C-reactive protein among women in rural Honduras.

Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion was estimated to cause 2.31 million deaths worldwide in 2019; cardiovascular disease is a substantial contributor to the global burden. We evaluated the cross-sectional association between household air pollution (24-h gravimetric kitchen and personal particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC)) and C-reactive protein (CRP) measured in dried blood spots among 107 women in rural Honduras using wood-burning traditional or Justa (an engineered combustion chamber) stoves.

Educational attainment of same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins: An individual-level pooled study of 19 twin cohorts.

Comparing twins from same- and opposite-sex pairs can provide information on potential sex differences in a variety of outcomes, including socioeconomic-related outcomes such as educational attainment. It has been suggested that this design can be applied to examine the putative role of intrauterine exposure to testosterone for educational attainment, but the evidence is still disputed. Thus, we established an international database of twin data from 11 countries with 88,290 individual dizygotic twins born over 100 years and tested for differences between twins from same- and opposite-sex dizygotic pairs in educational attainment.

Association Between COVID-19 Exposure and Self-reported Compliance With Public Health Guidelines Among Essential Employees at an Institution of Higher Education in the US.

Importance: Detailed analysis of infection rates paired with behavioral and employee-reported risk factors is vital to understanding how transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be exacerbated or mitigated in the workplace. Institutions of higher education are heterogeneous work units that supported continued in-person employment during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a test site for occupational health evaluation.

Objective: To evaluate the association between self-reported protective behaviors and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among essential in-person employees during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.

Autonomous motivation and action planning are longitudinally associated with physical activity during adolescence and early adulthood.

We examined the associations of autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and physical activity (PA) planning with PA participation over six years across the adolescent-to-adult transition. Participants from the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative cohort study of U.S.

Response of the ENPP1-Deficient Skeletal Phenotype to Oral Phosphate Supplementation and/or Enzyme Replacement Therapy: Comparative Studies in Humans and Mice.

Inactivating mutations in human ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1) may result in early-onset osteoporosis (EOOP) in haploinsufficiency and autosomal recessive hypophosphatemic rickets (ARHR2) in homozygous deficiency. ARHR2 patients are frequently treated with phosphate supplementation to ameliorate the rachitic phenotype, but elevating plasma phosphorus concentrations in ARHR2 patients may increase the risk of ectopic calcification without increasing bone mass. To assess the risks and efficacy of conventional ARHR2 therapy, we performed comprehensive evaluations of ARHR2 patients at two academic medical centers and compared their skeletal and renal phenotypes with ENPP1-deficient Enpp1 mice on an acceleration diet containing high phosphate treated with recombinant murine Enpp1-Fc.

Veterinary-prescribed physical activity promotes walking in healthy dogs and people.

Background: Regular physical activity (PA) promotes health and can prevent and treat diseases among both humans and dogs. Unfortunately, most U.S.

Depression and polypharmacy are risk factors for activity limitation in type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Individuals with type 2 diabetes are at risk for deficits in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL: e.g., managing medication, preparing healthy meals).

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Examine the Effects of Duty Status on Acute Stress and Tiredness in Firefighters: A Pilot Study.

Objective: Characterize firefighters' acute stress and tiredness by duty status (ie, "off night/day," "on night/day").

Methods: Thirty nine career firefighters completed three, eight-day smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment periods with seven surveys per day assessing stress and tiredness. Mixed-effects location scale models examined duty status effects on stress and tiredness.

Genetic and environmental variation in educational attainment: an individual-based analysis of 28 twin cohorts.

We investigated the heritability of educational attainment and how it differed between birth cohorts and cultural-geographic regions. A classical twin design was applied to pooled data from 28 cohorts representing 16 countries and including 193,518 twins with information on educational attainment at 25 years of age or older. Genetic factors explained the major part of individual differences in educational attainment (heritability: a = 0.

Effects of Motivational Interviewing and Wearable Fitness Trackers on Motivation and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review.

Objective: To systematically review the impacts of Wearable Fitness Trackers (WFTs), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Self Determination Theory (SDT)-based interventions on physical activity (PA) and motivation for PA.

Data Source: Manuscripts published between 2008 and 2018 in PubMed, Web of Science, CABAbstracts, and SPORTDiscus database were reviewed.

Study Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria: Inclusion criteria were original pilot studies, randomized controlled trials (RCT), cross-sectional studies, qualitative assessments, prospective cohort studies, longitudinal observational studies, and pretest posttest designs published in peer-reviewed journals.

Genetic and environmental influences on human height from infancy through adulthood at different levels of parental education.

Genetic factors explain a major proportion of human height variation, but differences in mean stature have also been found between socio-economic categories suggesting a possible effect of environment. By utilizing a classical twin design which allows decomposing the variation of height into genetic and environmental components, we tested the hypothesis that environmental variation in height is greater in offspring of lower educated parents. Twin data from 29 cohorts including 65,978 complete twin pairs with information on height at ages 1 to 69 years and on parental education were pooled allowing the analyses at different ages and in three geographic-cultural regions (Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia).

IL-1β Drives Production of FGF-23 at the Onset of Chronic Kidney Disease in Mice.

FGF-23 has arisen as an early biomarker of renal dysfunction, but at the onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD), data suggest that FGF-23 may be produced independently of the parathyroid hormone (PTH), 1,25(OH) -vitamin D signaling axis. Iron status is inversely correlated to the level of circulating FGF-23, and improvement in iron bioavailability within patients correlates with a decrease in FGF-23. Alternately, recent evidence also supports a regulatory role of inflammatory cytokines in the modulation of FGF-23 expression.

Diet, Secondhand Smoke, and Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) Levels among Singapore Chinese Adults.

The combination of poor diet and exposure to secondhand smoke may increase hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, but few studies have explored this interaction. We explored an interaction among 574 never-smoking adults from the Singapore Chinese Health Study. At baseline (age 59 ± 8 years), intakes of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin C, vitamin E and fiber were estimated using a modified food frequency questionnaire.

Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Among US Adults: Use of 1999-2014 NHANES Data.

One in four deaths in the US is caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD), and early detection may be a key aspect of prevention. We assessed the probability of a first hard atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) event within 10 years in US Non-Hispanic White and African American population aged 40-79 years. With data from 16 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we utilized the 2013 Pooled Cohort Equations developed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association to calculate risk scores for a representative sample.

C-reactive protein from dried blood spots: Application to household air pollution field studies.

Household air pollution (HAP) is estimated to be an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but little clinical evidence exists and collecting biomarkers of disease risk is difficult in low-resource settings. Among 54 Nicaraguan women with woodburning cookstoves, we evaluated cross-sectional associations between 48-hour measures of HAP (eg, fine particulate matter, PM ) and C-reactive protein (CRP) via dried blood spots; secondary analyses included seven additional biomarkers of systemic injury and inflammation. We conducted sub-studies to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) in biomarkers collected over four consecutive days in Nicaragua and to assess the validity of measuring biomarkers in dried blood by calculating the correlation with paired venous-drawn samples in Colorado.

Otitis Media: Rapid Evidence Review.

Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most common diagnosis in childhood acute sick visits. By three years of age, 50% to 85% of children will have at least one episode of AOM. Symptoms may include ear pain (rubbing, tugging, or holding the ear may be a sign of pain), fever, irritability, otorrhea, anorexia, and sometimes vomiting or lethargy.

Early B Cell Factor 1 (EBF1) Regulates Glomerular Development by Controlling Mesangial Maturation and Consequently COX-2 Expression.

Background: We recently showed the transcription factor Early B cell factor 1 (EBF1) is essential for the last stages of metanephric development, and that mice globally deficient in EBF1 display impaired maturation of peripheral glomeruli. EBF1 is present within multiple glomerular cell types, including the glomerular mesangium and podocytes.

Methods: To identify which cell type is driving the glomerular developmental defects in the global EBF1 knockout mice, we deleted EBF1 from the mesangium/pericytes (Foxd1-cre) or podocytes (Podocin-cre) in mice.