A Slight Adjustment of the Nutri-Score Nutrient Profiling System Could Help to Better Reflect the European Dietary Guidelines Regarding Nuts.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Braesco V
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9268614 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:PurposeWhole grains, generally recognised as healthy choices, are not included in most nutrient profiling systems. We tested modifications to the Nutri-Score algorithm to determine whether including whole grains would provide an improved measure of food, and overall diet quality.MethodsThe whole-grain content of food, with a minimum cut-point of 25%, was added to the algorithm, following similar methods used to score other health-promoting components such as fibre. We applied and compared the original and the modified Nutri-Score to food composition and dietary intake data from Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.ResultsAt the food level, correlations between whole-grain content and food nutritional score were strengthened using the modified algorithm in Australian data, but less so for the other countries. Improvements were greater in grain-specific food groups. The largest shift in Nutri-Score class was from B to A (best score). At the dietary intake level, whole-diet nutritional scores for individuals were calculated and compared against population-specific diet-quality scores. With modifications, correlations with diet-quality scores were improved slightly, suggesting that the modified score better aligns with national dietary guidelines. An inverse linear relationship between whole-diet nutritional score and whole-grain intake was evident, particularly with modifications (lower whole-diet nutritional score indicative of better diet quality).ConclusionIncluding a whole-grain component in the Nutri-Score algorithm is justified to align with dietary guidelines and better reflect whole grain as a contributor to improved dietary quality. Further research is required to test alternative algorithms and potentially other nutrient profiling systems.
| S-EPMC8783881 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo quantify and analyse the quality of evidence that is presented in national guidelines.SettingLevels of evidence used in all the current valid recommendations in the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) guidelines were reviewed and statistically analysed.Outcome measuresThe proportion of level D evidence used in each guideline and a statistical analysis.MethodData were collected from published guidelines available online to the public. SIGN methodology entails a professional group selected by a national organisation to develop each of these guidelines. Statistical analysis of the relationship between the number of guideline recommendations and the quality of evidence used in its recommendations was performed.ResultThe proportion of level D evidence increases with the number of recommendations made. This correlation is significant with Kendall's τ=0.22 (approximate 95% CI 0.008 to 0.45), p = 0.04; and Spearman ρ=0.22 (approximate 95% CI 0.02 to 0.57), p=0.04.ConclusionsPractice guidelines should be brief and based on scientific evidence. Paradoxically the longest guidelines have the highest proportion of recommendations based on the lowest level of evidence. Guideline developers should be more aware of the need for brevity and a stricter application of evidence-based principles could achieve this. The findings support calls for a review of how evidence is used and presented in guidelines.
| S-EPMC3918980 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this paper, we investigate the informativeness of 4- to 6-year-old (N = 125) children's questions using a combined qualitative and quantitative approach. Children were presented with a hierarchical version of the 20-questions game, in which they were given an array of objects that could be organized into three category levels based on shared features. We then tested whether it is possible to scaffold children's question-asking abilities without extensive training. In particular, we supported children's categorization performance by providing the object-related features needed to ask effective constraint-seeking questions. We found that with both age and scaffolding children asked more effective questions, targeting higher category levels and therefore reaching the solution with fewer questions. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these results.
| S-EPMC7874179 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Most clinical trials comparing treatments evaluate the separate effects on each of several efficacy and toxicity outcomes. However, population-averaged summary measures of treatment differences may not accurately reflect individual responses to treatment, and drawing conclusions about which treatment is "best" is straightforward if one treatment is superior across all outcomes, but challenging when this is not the case. METHODS:We created a study outcome based on expert opinion, which captures the risk/benefit profile of response to a treatment. Treatments were compared using this ordered outcome with standard statistical techniques. To illustrate the approach, we used as an example a study designed to evaluate initial antiretroviral therapy (ART) in human immunodeficiency virus-1-infected infants, in which results were contradictory across the study's primary and secondary efficacy and toxicity outcomes. The proposed risk/benefit outcome was evaluated retrospectively in each participant. RESULTS:In the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials P1060 study, one treatment regimen (lopinavir/ritonavir-based ART) was superior to the other (nevirapine-based ART) in reducing viral load (primary outcome) but inferior for immunologic and growth outcomes (important secondary outcomes in resource-limited settings). Treatment comparisons using the risk/benefit outcome indicated that the lopinavir/ritonavir-based ART regimen had a higher proportion of participants with the best overall response to treatment. Comparisons focusing on individual-level responses for the secondary outcomes also favored lopinavir/ritonavir-based ART, results that differed from the original population-averaged analyses ones. CONCLUSIONS:Designing studies prospectively using risk/benefit outcomes focusing on an individual's responses to treatment more closely matches the needs of clinicians making decisions about how best to treat patients in clinical settings.
| S-EPMC5807218 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as childbirth occurring at less than 37 completed weeks or 259 days of gestation. Premature babies have higher rates of cerebral palsy, sensory deficits, learning disabilities and respiratory illnesses that extend into adulthood. This lifelong morbidity results in high economic and social costs to families and communities. PTB is a syndrome initiated by multiple mechanisms, including infection or inflammation, uteroplacental ischaemia or haemorrhage, uterine overdistension, stress, and other immunologically mediated processes. Identifying and monitoring molecular signals in easily accessible body fluids that can diagnose or predict the risk of preterm labor in pregnant women will reduce or prevent PTBs. A number of studies reported the identification of putative biomarkers for PTB including protein, miRNA and hormone from different body fluids such as serum/plasma, cervical vaginal fluid, saliva and amniotic fluids. These putative biomarkers identified can largely be grouped into three main functional categories: inflammatory related molecules, placenta or fetal derived molecules and stress related molecules. In the past few years next generation sequencing (NGS) has become the major platform for miRNA analysis especially with body fluids. However, studies have shown significant sequence bias among different small RNA library preparation protocols. We have modified the small RNA library construction protocol which greatly reduces the sequence bias and increase miRNA coverage in sample. We also adapted a newly developed size exclusion chromatography (SEC) based EV purification protocol which can provide cleaner EVs compared to other methods. We are using these improved approaches to gain more reliable profile of circulating RNA in body fluid as well as its associated EVs. With these new approaches, we explore the possibility of using specific circulating miRNAs, specifically those encapsulated in EVs, as a noninvasive biomarker for PTB by comparing the miRNA profiles in maternal plasma, EV and EV-depleted plasma between individuals who had a spontaneous preterm birth and uncomplicated pregnancies.
2018-03-19 | GSE106224 | GEO
Project description:Effects from diet-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis and obesity can be ameliorated by fecal microbiota transplantation: a multiomics approach.
| PRJEB33985 | ENA
Project description:ObjectivesThe purposes of this study are to perform a large-scale evaluation of the standardized dosage adjustment nomogram recommended by the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) for the management of enoxaparin in hospitalized pediatric patients and to determine the necessity of routine and repeated anti-factor Xa (anti-Xa) levels.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was designed, and charts were reviewed in a single tertiary care institution for all patients who received enoxaparin between October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2016. Patients were included if they were receiving treatment doses of enoxaparin according to the pediatric CHEST guidelines, had a subtherapeutic or supratherapeutic anti-Xa level drawn at 3.5 to 6 hours after a dose, had a dose changed in an attempt to attain a therapeutic anti-Xa level, and had a second anti-Xa level drawn 3.5 to 6 hours after the dose change. Descriptive statistical methods were used to characterize the ability of dose adjustment via a nomogram to attain an anti-Xa of 0.5 to 1 unit/mL.ResultsA total of 467 patients were identified who received the appropriate initial dose and dosage adjustment and whose levels were drawn according to the CHEST guidelines. In patients who had an initial anti-Xa level of <0.35 units/mL and received the nomogram recommended dose increase of 25% ± 5%, 28 out of 96 patients (29.2%) reached therapeutic levels. Of 197 patients who had an initial anti-Xa level between 0.35 and 0.49 units/mL and who received the nomogram recommended dose increase of 10% ± 5%, 116 (58.9%) reached therapeutic levels. Of 50 patients with an initial anti-Xa level between 1.1 and 1.5 units/mL and who received the nomogram dose decrease of 20% ± 5%, 31 (62%) reached therapeutic levels.ConclusionsThe current dosage adjustment nomogram recommended by the CHEST guidelines does not reliably lead to therapeutic anti-Xa levels when used to adjust enoxaparin doses in pediatric patients.
| S-EPMC6478360 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Elucidating the soil phosphorus cycle driven by soil microbes is a vital question in soil microbial ecology. The Japanese arable Andisols, occupying half of the Japanese cropland, are known for their high phosphorus sorption capacity. However, limited information is currently available on microbially driven phosphorus mineralization in arable Andisols. We herein report that the phosphorus-mineralizing community in the Japanese arable Andisols showed characteristic distribution and composition patterns, from those in other types of soils. We performed a chemical analysis and microbial community analysis of 43 arable Andisols along the Japanese archipelago. Soil phosphomonoesterase activities measured at pH 11 were approximately 70% of those at pH 6.5, which indicates that alkaline phosphatase contributes to phosphorus cycling, although most soil samples were acidic. Functional gene predictions based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the alkaline phosphatase gene phoD was more abundant than other alkaline phosphatase genes and, thus, plays major roles. Hence, amplicon sequencing targeting phoD was performed and the results obtained showed that alphaproteobacterial phoD was dominant. This is in contrast to previously reported phoD compositions in other soils and may be attributed to the nutrient conditions in arable Andisols, which favor copiotrophic Alphaproteobacteria. Furthermore, the composition of phoD correlated with soil pH and bioavailable phosphorus concentrations rather than carbon or nitrogen concentrations. These results were partly different from previous findings, varying in the soil types and geographic ranges of sampling sites. Collectively, the present results indicate that the phosphorus-mineralizing community in the Japanese arable Andisols is regulated differently from those in other soil types.
| S-EPMC6167123 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundNutrient profiling (NP) models that are used to assess the nutrient density of foods can be based on a combination of key nutrients and desirable food groups.ObjectiveTo compare the diagnostic accuracy of a new balanced hybrid nutrient density score (bHNDS) to Nutri-Score and Health Star Rating (HSR) front-of-pack systems using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. The diet-level bHNDS was first validated against Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) using data from the 2017-18 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017-18 NHANES). Food-level bHNDS values were then compared to both the Nutri-Score and HSR using ROC curve analyses.ResultsThe bHNDS was based on 6 nutrients to encourage (protein, fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, and vitamin D); 5 food groups to encourage (whole grains, nuts and seeds, dairy, vegetables, and fruit), and 3 nutrients (saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium) to limit. The algorithm balanced components to encourage against those to limit. Diet-level bHNDS values correlated well with HEI-2015 (r = 0.67; p < 0.001). Food-level correlations with both Nutri-Score (r = 0.60) and with HSR (r = 0.58) were significant (both p < 0.001). ROC estimates of the Area Under the Curve (AUC) showed high agreement between bHNDS values and optimal Nutri-Score and HSR ratings (>0.90 in most cases). ROC analysis identified those bHNDS cut-off points that were predictive of A-grade Nutri-Score or 5-star HSR. Those cut-off points were highly category-specific.ConclusionThe new bHNDS model showed high agreement with two front-of-pack labeling systems. Cross-model comparisons based on ROC curve analyses are the first step toward harmonization of proliferating NP methods that aim to "diagnose" high nutrient-density foods.
| S-EPMC9108770 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Previous studies of Eurasian grasslands have suggested that nutrient ratios, rather than absolute nutrient availabilities and associated productivity, may be driving plant species richness patterns. However, the underlying assumption that species occupy distinct niches along nutrient ratio gradients remains to be tested. We analysed plant community composition and nutrient status of 644 Eurasian wet grassland plots. The importance of nutrient ratios driving variation in species composition was analysed using ordination methods (DCA and CCA). Subsequently, we assessed the niche position and width along the most important nutrient ratio gradient [N:P] for each species. We found that the N:P ratio explained part of the variation in species composition independent from conventional explanatory variables. The N:P ratio explained less variation than soil moisture or pH, but more than productivity or the availability of N and P separately, highlighting its importance for grassland species composition. Species occupied distinct niches along the N:P gradient, and species' niche widths decreased toward extreme nutrient limitation. After correcting for niche position, there was no overall difference in niche width between endangered and non-endangered species. Surprisingly, endangered species with niche optima at the extreme P-limited end of the gradient had broader niches than their non-endangered counterparts. As species occupied distinct niches along a nutrient ratio gradient, future grassland conservation efforts may benefit from targeting changes in nutrient ratios, i.e. the balance between N and P, rather than only focussing on a general reduction in nutrient availability. However, what management interventions can be used for this purpose remains unclear.
| S-EPMC5859057 | biostudies-literature