Effects Of Changes In Availability Research Articles

Healthy snacks in hospitals: Testing the potential effects of changes in availability.

Hospitals offer snacks for sale to patients, staff and visitors. As food choice is heavily influenced by the options available, the present study (a) audited snack availability and purchase in NHS hospital sites across a large UK city; and (b) tested the potential effects of changes to this availability in an online choice experiment. In Study 1 (audit), single-serve snacks (n=376) available in 76 hospital food retail units were audited. Purchasing data were obtained from six food retail units over four weeks (27,989 sales). In Study 2 (online experiment), participants (n=159) chose snacks from pictured ranges containing 25% (minority), 50% (equivalent) or 75% (majority) healthy options. Available single-serve snacks varied markedly in calorie (18-641 kcals), fat (0-39 g), sugar (0.1-76 g) and salt (0-2.9 g). Only 30% of available snacks were healthy options and only 25% of the most commonly purchased snacks were healthy options. In Study 2, snack choice was significantly associated with the availability of healthy options in the choice array (X2 (2)= 59.71, p<.01). More participants made healthy choices when product ranges contained 75% healthy options compared to 50% (p<.01) and 50% healthy options compared with 25% (p<.01). Healthy snacks are readily available in NHS sites but there is a greater relative variety of unhealthy snack products. Many consumers continue to purchase unhealthy items. Further increasing the availability and variety of healthy options may support consumers to make healthier choices.

Combinatory Multifactor Treatment Effects on Primary Nanofiber Oligodendrocyte Cultures.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. Neurological deficits are attributed to inflammatory demyelination, which compromises axonal function and survival. These are mitigated in experimental models by rapid and often complete remyelination of affected axons, but in MS this endogenous repair mechanism frequently fails, leaving axons increasingly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of inflammatory and metabolic stress. Understanding the molecular basis of remyelination and remyelination failure is essential to develop improved therapies for this devastating disease. However, recent studies suggest that this is not due to a single dominant mechanism, but rather represents the biological outcome of multiple changes in the lesion microenvironment that combine to disrupt oligodendrocyte differentiation. This identifies a pressing need to develop technical platforms to investigate combinatory and/or synergistic effects of factors differentially expressed in MS lesions on oligodendrocyte proliferation and differentiation. Here we describe protocols using primary oligodendrocyte cultures from Bl6 mice on 384-well nanofiber plates to model changes affecting oligodendrogenesis and differentiation in the complex signaling environment associated with multiple sclerosis lesions. Using platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF–AA), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) as representative targets, we demonstrate that we can assess their combinatory effects across a wide range of concentrations in a single experiment. This in vitro model is ideal for assessing the combinatory effects of changes in availability of multiple factors, thus more closely modelling the situation in vivo and furthering high-throughput screening possibilities.

Effects of Changes in Availability of Alcohol: Unexpected Results Can Stimulate Theory Development and Research

This is an interesting and important report (Gustafsson, 2010) from the Nordic Tax Study, of a quasi-experimental situation created by changes in alcohol availability, initiated by Robin Room and others and conducted mainly by researchers from the Nordic countries. The starting point was the great increase in alcohol availability in southern Sweden. Denmark, which is close to southern Sweden by bridge from Copenhagen and a short-distance by ferry, reduced its spirits tax by 45% on 1 October 2003, while on 1 January 2004 Sweden markedly increased quotas for travellers from the EU (which includes Denmark) to almost unlimited amounts. The Nordic Tax Study has impressively resulted in about 25 scientific reports so far. This paper from Nina-Katri Gustafsson is one of four papers in her PhD thesis ‘Bridging the world. Alcohol policy in transition and diverging alcohol patterns in Sweden’ (Gustafsson, unpublished thesis, May 2010). The aims were to study whether in southern Sweden self-reported alcohol-related social problems changed in the same direction as self-reported alcohol consumption, using as a control a carefully selected area in northern Sweden where there had been no significant changes in availability, and to compare the …

The Effect of Changes in Availability on Food Selection at Different Levels of DeprIvation

In the present study, two experiments investigated the effect of a change in food availability on selection between two food items at different deprivation levels. In the first study, 6 pigeons chose between a nonpreferred food item (i.e., checkers) after a fixed delay and a preferred food item (i.e., corn) after an adjusting delay. The delay to the preferred food item adjusted depending upon the pigeon’s choices. The dependent measure was the amount of delay added to corn to produce indifference at 70% and 95% of body weight. Results showed that less delay had to be added when pigeons were more deprived. In the second study, the availability of both corn and checkers was varied by manipulating the amount of each food item presented to the pigeons at 70% and 95% of body weight. The dependent measure was the amount of each item taken. For the nonpreferred food item, consumption depended on an interaction between deprivation and availability. A decrease in availability only affected checker consumption when body weight was at 70%. Together these two studies showed that the effect of a change in food availability on selectivity was greater when pigeons were more deprived.

Privatizing alcohol sales and alcohol consumption: evidence and implications.

To provide an overview of recent privatization/deregulation experiences in North America and other settings, in order to draw conclusions about the impacts that might be expected from such changes on rates of alcohol consumption and related problems. Critical review of research evidence on the effect of changes in availability, particularly changes in physical availability and economic availability that typically accompany privatization of alcohol retail monopolies. Deregulation/privatization experiences commonly involve higher density of outlets, longer hours or more days of sale, changes in price, a strong orientation to commercial aspects of alcohol sales and the introduction of new vested economic interests into alcohol management arrangements in the jurisdiction. In many instances these changes in access to alcohol are accompanied by an increase in the per capita rates of consumption. In the short term changes in prices are likely to either increase or demonstrate opposite patterns for beverages with different base prices. Longer-term patterns point to a decline in real price with privatization, which very probably stimulates per capita alcohol sales. The existing evaluation literature on the subject of privatization has tended to focus on examining the net short-term results in terms of alcohol consumption levels. Overall, there are too few studies employing adequate statistical methodologies to explore the underlying causes of changing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm. Finally, seven specific suggestions that may assist future studies are discussed.

An evaluation of the isolated, in vitro, non-myotomal muscle preparation for the study of factors affecting protein synthesis in fish

The rate of tritiated tyrosine incorporation into the protein fraction of isolated, intact supra-, and infra-carinalis muscles of the carp was determined and the effect of changes in availability of various individual essential amino acids and hormones upon this incorporation was investigated. Problems were identified with respect to the potential use of the preparation for the rapid screening of factors likely to enhance net protein accretion in vitro. In particular, the high endogenous rate of proteolysis relative to synthesis and the necessity to measure effects upon both synthetic and degradative processes were identified as factors limiting the general applicability of the isolated muscle preparation.

Effects of food availability on the valve movements and feeding behavior of juvenile Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). II. Feeding rates and behavior

The effects of changes in availability of algal food on the feeding behavior of Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin) were investigated. Individual oysters were subjected to three conditions: (1) continuously fed, the algal suspension maintained at a constant concetration (50,000 cells·ml −1) by an fed, the algal suspension maintained at a constant concentration (50,000 cells·ml −1) by an automatic turbidostat, (2) discontinuously fed, where oysters were alternately fed with the turbidostat for 12 h and unfed in filtered sea water for 12 h, and (3) batch fed, in which oysters were given a specific daily algal ration which was subsequently grazed. Valve movements of the oysters were concurrently recorded and rates of algae removal measured. Rates of removal of algae from suspension by oysters mainatained under constant algal concentration varied from hour to hour. However, when cumulative ration removed per activity period (valves open) was plotted as a function of the duration of the activity period, the relationship was linear slope = 1.02. time-averaged rates of algal removal were thus constant for all oysters and consistent among different individuals. Average rates of algal removal by oyster fed continuously and discontinuously showed no statisical difference. Consequently, daily rations cleared by oysters fed discontinuously were approximately half those cleared by oysters fed continuously. Based on the observed relation between food availability and the valve movements of oysters, a post-ingestive mechanisms of detection of organic seston level is suggested.