Search results

Randomised controlled trials identify causal links between variables but not why an outcome has occurred. This analysis sought to determine how psychological factors assessed at baseline influenced response to personalised nutrition.

Web-based, randomised, controlled trial (RCT) was conducted across seven European countries. Volunteers, both male and female, aged over 18 years were randomised to either a non-personalised (control) or a personalised (treatment) dietary advice condition. Linear mixed model analysis with fixed effects was used to compare associations between internal and external health locus of control (HLoC), nutrition self-efficacy (NS-E) and self-report habit index (S-RHI) at baseline (N = 1444), with healthy eating index (HEI) and Mediterranean diet index (MDI) scores between conditions post-intervention (N = 763).

An increase in MDI scores was observed between baseline and six months in the treatment group which was associated with higher NS-E (p < 0.001), S-RHI (p < 0.001) and external HLoC (p < 0.001). Increase in HEI between baseline and six months in the treatment group was associated with higher NS-E (p < 0.001) and external HLoC (p = 0.009). Interaction between time and condition indicated increased HEI scores (p < 0.001), which were associated with higher S-RHI scores in the treatment than control group (p = 0.032). Internal HLoC had no effect on MDI or HEI.

Psychological factors associated with behaviour change need consideration when tailoring dietary advice. Those with weaker habit strength will require communication focussed upon establishing dietary habits and support in integrating advised changes into daily routine. Information on habit strength can also be used to inform how progress towards dietary goals is monitored and fed back to the individual. Those with stronger habit strength are more likely to benefit from personalised nutrition.

Richard Williams has been appointed to the Board of Micaply International as Marketing Director. He has extensive experience of the European printed circuit industry with periods spent in the UK, Sweden and Germany.

Every pound in your pocket is printed on Portals' paper. And with the Bank of England holding a 32% stake, this £35m specialist paper‐to‐water treatment group is shielded from takeover bids. ‘This enables us to make better decisions,’ says executive deputy chairman and old Etonian, Julian Sheffield. ‘We don't have to make short‐term decisions to maximise short‐term results.’ Report by Ken Gooding.

The UK public has been fairly resistant to health promotion messages encouraging reduced fat intake as a component of the strategy to help achieve the targets for cardiovascular disease risk reduction identified in The Health of the Nation and extended in Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation. This project is designed to test the hypothesis that a more positive message to eat more (low fat) starchy foods would be better received and achieve the desired dietary goals. Newcastle families, in enumeration districts in the middle three quintiles of the Townsend Deprivation Index who do not meet current dietary targets for fat and starch, are being recruited to one of three interventions designed to encourage and enable them to choose diets richer in starchy foods. Dietary outcomes are being measured at three and six months after the interventions. We are investigating the process of change through use of questionnaires and in‐depth interviews with both “achievers” and “non‐achievers”.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

1. The Committee was informed that the manufacture of shredded suet from imported premier jus is subject to control by licence and that it is a condition of the licences that the product shall contain not less than 83 per cent. of fat. This figure was adopted in 1931 by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists pending the establishment of a legal standard. 2. In the manufacture of shredded suet premier jus the fat is forced into shreds or granules and a cereal or amylaceous filler is added so as to form a coating over the particles of fat, thus preventing them from adhering together and at the same time retarding the development of rancidity. 3. The amount of filler taken up by the shredded fat depends primarily on its stickiness, which in turn depends on the temperature at which the manufacturing process is conducted. Manufacturers must give special attention to the problem of securing uniformity of distribution, otherwise part of a batch will take up more than its share of the amount of filler allowed by the manufacturing formula. In spite of all practicable care, complete uniformity cannot be ensured and some tolerance is therefore necessary to allow for unavoidable variations. 4. The proportion of filler used in the past by different manufacturers has varied considerably. A purchaser of shredded suet is primarily purchasing fat and it is desirable that the fat content shall be the maximum that can be included whilst still retaining good keeping properties. The Committee is of the opinion that shredded suet, to be of satisfactory quality, should not contain substantially less than 85 percent. of fat, and that a product approximating to this standard will have the necessary keeping properties. The Committee is satisfied that the allowance of 2 per cent. for uneven distribution on and among the shreds, which was adopted by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts in 1931, is reasonable, and understands that it is considered adequate by the manufacturers of shredded suet. 5. A small amount of suet (i.e., natural unrendered fat), received by butchers as part of their meat allocation, is chopped or minced, and in the latter case mixed with cereal filler and sold under the description “shredded suet.” By whichever method it is prepared it differs from the shredded suet made from premier jus by reason of the presence of membrane and moisture. If made by chopping it will contain more fat than the product made from premier jus, but if made by mincing and admixture with a filler it is likely to contain less owing to the membrane and moisture in the raw material and the impracticability of analytical control. 6. It was suggested to the Committee that the use of the description shredded suet for the products made by butchers was misleading and that the name should be restricted to the product made from premier jus. The Committee is, however, of the opinion that the general public would be equally satisfied whether the product supplied in response to a demand for shredded suet had been prepared with premier jus or suet. Further, it is considered that a purchaser of shredded suet is not prejudiced if he receives a product containing membrane and moisture provided he also receives the appropriate amount of fat. It therefore does not appear to the Committee that there is any necessity, from the viewpoint of protecting the public in regard to quality, for recommending the imposition of this restriction. 7. The Committee noted that the statement issued by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts included an expression of opinion that “the nature of any admixture to suet should be declared.” This recommendation is, however, outside the terms of reference of the Committee and no comment is therefore made thereon. 8. The Committee accordingly recommends that shredded suet should be required to contain not less than 83 per cent. of fat.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the status of US hospital Laboratory Information Systems. Laboratory Information Systems are critical to high quality healthcare service provision. Data show that the need for these systems is growing to meet accompanying technological and workload demands. Additionally, laboratory tests provide the majority of information for clinical decision‐making. Laboratory processes automation, including patient result verification, has greatly improved laboratory test throughput while decreasing turn‐around‐times, enabling critical results to reach physicians rapidly for improved clinical outcomes.

Data were drawn from the 2007 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics Database, which includes over 5,000 US healthcare organizations and provides extensive data on the hardware, software, and information technology infrastructure within healthcare organizations.

US hospitals are actively involved in laboratory systems planning to improve health service quality. Specifically, data show 76 new laboratory information systems are currently being installed in 2007 with another 399 under contract for future installation. As a result, increasing investment in laboratory information systems is providing state‐of‐the‐art clinical laboratory support, which enhances clinical care processes and improves quality. These state‐of‐the‐art Laboratory Information Systems, when linked with other clinical information systems such as Computerized Physician Order Entry and Electronic Medical Record, will support further healthcare quality improvement.

This article includes the most current information available on the US hospital laboratory information system applications.

The paper aims to explore the food shopping and preparation responsibility in a sample of adults, average age 32.5 years.

A sample of 198 adults (81 men and 117 women) who were involved in a longitudinal dietary study self‐completed a questionnaire about their food habits. Chi‐squared analysis explored relationships between variables using SPSS (version 10). Open‐ended responses were analysed in QSR NUD*IST using a content analysis framework.

The majority of respondents were married or co‐habiting (79 per cent), 6 per cent were lone parents, 9 per cent lived alone and the remainder lived with parents and others. Significantly more women than men were responsible for food shopping and preparation (both p<0.001). Within shared households food responsibility was predominately a female dominated area, with a considerably higher proportion of women responsible for food shopping and preparation compared with men. Reasons given for this included aspects of time and work as well as women being more skilled in this task.

The study was a relatively small and homogenous sample, not necessarily representative of the wider UK population.

Identifies the enduring gender divide in food responsibility. Findings will be useful to health educators, policy planners and researchers.

In light of the recent focus on diet and health, this paper describes the reported shopping and food preparation behaviours in a sample of adults in their 30s at the beginning of a new century.

The advent of novel advanced packaging technologies such as multilayer thin‐film interconnect, combined with continuous improvements in IC clock speed and circuit performance, has placed extreme demands on electronics packaging and package materials. Aluminium nitride (AIN) ceramic offers significant opportunities and advantages for package design, particularly where the effective thermal management and overall reliability of large devices are a high priority. AIN has already been successfully employed at the substrate level for the enhanced thermal relief of power devices. Examples of these applications include heat sinks and device mounts for thyristor modules, power transistors, solid state relays, power SCRs, switching modules, LEDs and various RF package configurations. Both bare and metallised AIN substrates are beginning to find application as a substitute for beryllia (BeO) in mass market and high reliability automotive electronics applications. Successfully implementing AIN in a high level electronics packaging application requires a systems approach in which the intrinsic properties of AIN are considered as ‘first principles’ in shaping the package design process. The unique physicochemical and mechanical properties of AIN require the development of specialised metallisation and co‐firing processes to fabricate the advanced components necessary for hermetic packaging of complex devices and multichip modules. This paper presents a practical and mass manufacturable AIN‐based package tailored to these high level applications. The package design is unique in that it provides for the total separation of the electrical‐signal conduction from the mechanical support/mounting functions of the package. Such a separation of the functions improves both the package durability and reliability relative to currently available electronics packages of conventional designs.

On Tuesday afternoons at Countesthorpe Community College in Leicestershire, two dozen old people sit in groups amidst the noise and chaos of the activity area, where table tennis, the juke box and the coffee bar are in full swing. But the old people, members of the College's Tuesday Club, don't seem to mind at all. Some find a quiet corner to talk, others are engrossed in cards or dominoes or in watching the youngsters. Tea and cakes are served by solicitous domestic science students. It is an afternoon out, and what is lacking in comfort is compensated for by the vitality of the place.