Background: Calcium has been identified as a nutrient which many individuals are lacking in their diets. Furthermore, the calcium intake of low income individuals tends to be lower than their higher income counterparts. The purpose of this research study was to specifically assess the overall calcium intake level and knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding consumption of milk products for low-income female Indiana residents ages 19 and older.

Methods: Women ages 19 and older throughout Indiana and eligible to participate in the Family Nutrition Program (FNP) and/or Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) were recruited by FNP and EFNEP paraprofessionals on a voluntary basis. The study was a cross-sectional baseline analysis of calcium intake and knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about milk products among participants. A three-part survey, including: 1) a pre-validated one-page Short Calcium Questionnaire as well as 2) demographic and 3) behavioral questions, was administered to participants, through face-to-face interviews conducted by paraprofessionals, prior to any milk-related nutrition education lessons. Descriptive statistics as well as chi-square, linear and multivariate regression and ANCOVA were conducted using SPSS software after establishing normality of the data.

Results: The sample (n=673) population was primarily ages 19-50 years old, white, had completed high school, was neither pregnant nor breastfeeding and had 1-2 children. Across all subjects mean daily dietary calcium intake was found to be 1,063 mg (SD = 478 mg), mean daily supplemental calcium was 160 mg (SD = 247 mg), mean total daily calcium was 1,233 mg (SD = 531 mg) and mean consumption of milk and milk equivalents per day was 1.8 cups (SD = 1.1 cups). When examined by age, a significant different (P=0.001) was observed in dietary calcium intake between women ages 19-50 (1,100 mg) and women ages 51 and older (951 mg). No significant differences existed when total calcium intake was compared between age groups. There were no significant differences in calcium intake among women of different races. Significant relationships existed between some, but not all, of the knowledge, attitude and behavior questions and calcium or milk product intake. The more participants liked the taste of milk, the more calcium they consumed in their diet yet, the more concerned they were about their intake or if they had lactose intolerance, the less calcium they consumed in their diet. In addition, participants were less likely to know about the relationship of milk/calcium with blood pressure (68%) and weight management (41%), were unconcerned about their calcium intake (50%), and preferred the taste of reduced fat or whole milk (60%).

Discussion: Based on data collected, women ages 51 and older tend to have lower dietary calcium intakes than younger women, with 70% of older women not meeting the Adequate Intake (AI) compared with 44% younger women not meeting their respective AI for calcium. However, when total calcium intake (dietary and supplemental calcium) was compared among the age groups, a smaller insignificant difference existed between the two groups, indicating that older women may be compensating for a lower dietary intake of calcium by using calcium-containing supplements. Information obtained from knowledge, attitude and behavior questions identified several potential focus areas for educational programming within the representative population.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of protein intake and meal frequency on indices of daily appetite in overweight to obese men while in a longer-term energy restricted state.

METHODS: Eleven males (age 35 to 69y; BMI 26.58 to 35.04kg/m2) who had chronically consumed a 750 kcal/d energydeficit diet with either 1.4g protein·kg-1·d-1 of energy as protein (higher-protein group; HP; n=6) or 0.8g protein·kg-1·d-1 of energy as protein (normal protein; NP; n=5) for a minimum of 6 weeks were tested. In random order on separate weeks, each subject consumed their prescribed diet for three days using a 3 meals/d (at 08:00, 13:00, and 18:00 h) and 6 meals/d pattern (at 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, and 18:00 h). An appetite questionnaire rating their hunger, fullness, and desire to eat on a 1-100 mm scale was completed hourly starting upon waking.

RESULTS: Independent of meal patterning, hunger (P=0.031) and desire to eat (P=0.026) areas under the curve (AUC) were lower and fullness AUC was higher (P=0.028) in the HP group vs. NP group. Hunger AUC tended to be lower for the 6 meal pattern (P=0.08), while desire to eat AUC and fullness AUC were not different between the 3 vs. 6 meal pattern. Protein intake did not influence these responses.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that higher protein intake promotes daily satiety during weight loss. Daily diets consumed in smaller frequent meals may lead to reduced hunger.

Methods: Nineteen young, fit adults (9M, 10F; age 22±1 y; VO2max 55.9±3.0 ml•kg-1•min-1) completed duplicate sessions of: AEx (35 min of cycling at 70% heart rate reserve); REx (35 min, 3 sets at 70% one rep max for five exercises); and no exercise (CON). Perceived hunger was assessed throughout each session. 30 min post-Ex a pasta meal was consumed ad libitum. Total (TEI) and relative (REI) energy intakes were determined [REI = TEI - energy expenditure of exercise (EEEx)].

Results: Hunger was reduced immediately after AEx and returned to CON levels 30 min later, whereas the hunger response after REx was not different than CON (session effect p<0.05). TEI of the pasta meal was higher after AEx and REx than control (897±96, 928±94, 784±89 kcal, respectively; session effect p<0.05). The estimated EEEx of AEx and REx differed (290±7 vs. 80±2 kcal, p<0.05). REI was lower after AEx than REx and CON (607±94, 848±94, 784±89 kcal, p<0.05).

Conclusion: The description that AEx induces anorexia of exercise is not consistent with the increased TEI, but reflects the transient decrease in hunger and lower REI attributable to the EEEx. REx stimulates energy intake and does not induce anorexia of exercise

This research examines the government's projected image of Tanzania and measures its congruency with the image perceived by past visitors to Tanzania. The study utilized the Tanzania Tourist Board and Tanzania Travel and Tourism Online websites as well as 364 blogs on travel to Tanzania between 2003 and 2008 from TravelPod.

This research presents valuable information on the congruency of Tanzania's images and identifies the growing volunteer travel market and the changing perceived image of Tanzania.

Results indicate that there is a relative level of congruency between the projected and perceived images of Tanzania however many visitors are beginning to note the negative effects of tourism on the local communities.

Furthermore, while the government is attempting to project Tanzania as a business and leisure destination, Tanzania is currently only being perceived in online travel blogs as a leisure destination.

This research emphasizes the recommendation that destination marketing organizations continually study the perceived image of their destination and consider the impacts of tourism especially on its environment, economy and culture.

Because of the difficulty of controlling the image perceived by online word-of-mouth, it is imperative that negative images and impacts be promptly addressed to ensure congruency between a destination’s projected image and perceived image.

A projected destination image that is true to itself and true to its targeted consumers is one of the key factors for destination marketing success.

Methods. This study used a cross-sectional design involving the administration of a questionnaire to a child (10 - 13 y) and a questionnaire to the adult responsible for food acquisition and preparation in the child's household. One criterion for inclusion was that parents self-identified as Asian, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic white (NHW). 533 children and 519 parents (517 parent/child dyads) completed questionnaires from 8 states. The respective questionnaires were designed to assess calcium intakes and psychosocial factors related to calcium-rich foods. For this analysis, only children with complete information on age, race/ethnicity, gender, and household composition were included (n=519). All analyses were conducted separately for each race/ethnic group (Asian=53, Hispanic=194, NHW=272). Dependent quantitative variables were compared using multivariate linear regression.

Results. The differences in calcium intakes between those adolescents in grandparent households and those households without grandparents were not significantly different as were the psychosocial factors related to taste preferences for calcium-rich foods and healthy benefits of calcium-rich foods. However, among NHW adolescents, those from grandparent households were less likely to perceive themselves as being intolerant to milk (p=.05).

Conclusions. Small sample sizes within each race/ethnic group may have limited the statistical power to find differences. Among the Asian and Hispanic households, results would suggest that grandparents have little influence with regard to calcium intakes. While the presence of a grandparent in a NHW household may positively influence factors related to enhancing calcium intakes

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), a potent angiogenic factor, has been shown to be regulated by the active form of vitamin D, 1,25- dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D). It has been proposed that 1,25(OH)2D does not directly decrease the expression of VEGF, but rather acts indirectly through Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α), a direct transcriptional regulator of VEGF. 1,25(OH)2D may impact HIF-1α in one of two ways: gene transcription or stability of the protein, which is degraded through the actions of

Prolyl Hydroxylase (PHD). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of 1,25(OH)2D on VEGF, HIF-1α, and PHD mRNA expression in MCF10A breast epithelial cells which are untransformed (LXSN) or which contain the ErbB2 oncogene. ErbB2 is an oncogene that is commonly overexpressed and associated with an increased aggressiveness in breast cancer. The MCF10A are a model of multistage carcinogenesis, models that are important to use when studying cancer prevention. The hypothesis of this study is that 1,25(OH)2D decreases the gene expression of VEGF and HIF-1α, and increases the gene expression of PHD in untransformed breast epithelial cells and breast epithelial cells transfected with ErbB2.

Treatment of LXSN cells with increasing concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D (1 nM, 10 nM, and 100 nM) for 24 hours resulted in increasing concentrations of VEGF mRNA and decreasing concentration of PHD mRNA levels compared to the vehicle control. However, these differences were not significant (p>0.05) except at a high dose of 1,25(OH)2D (100 nM). Increasing doses of 1,25(OH)2D did not significantly alter HIF-1α mRNA abundance (p>0.05) compared to the vehicle control.

Treatment of the ErbB2- containing cells with the same increasing concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D showed no significant difference in the concentration of VEGF or HIF-1α mRNA (p>0.05) compared to the vehicle control. The PHD mRNA expression decreased with increasing concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D, however this was only significant (p>0.05) at the high dose of 1,25(OH)2D (100 nM). These results suggest that in untransformed MCF10A breast epithelial cells, 1,25(OH)2D increases the expression of VEGF mRNA at high doses, but not through an increased expression of HIF-1α mRNA. In the MCF10A breast epithelial cells transfected with ErbB2, 1,25(OH)2D had no significant impact on the expression of VEGF or HIF- 1α mRNA.

The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate a tool to assess frequency of family meals, characteristics of the mealtime environment, and fruit and vegetable consumption in families served by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and the Family Nutrition Program (FNP), the programs targeted by Indiana’s State Nutrition Action Plan (SNAP).

A quantitative survey of family meal assessment questions was pilot tested with a sample of 144 participants in the three programs targeted by SNAP. The survey was then administered to 20 parents of children enrolled in Purdue’s Child Development lab schools to determine test-rest reliability. A qualitative survey on how to efficiently collect participant intervention data was also administered. Six professionals and paraprofessionals representing the targeted populations evaluated the cover information page in a focus group as well as 3 open-ended interviews.

Principal Component Analysis (PCA), paired t-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients, and separate linear regression analysis were completed. The findings indicate most results of questions showed significant test-retest reliability (p<.05).

Increased family meal frequency and a positive family meal environment were both positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake (p< .01).Questions for the final SNAP Family Meal Assessment Tool were selected based on response failure rates, test-retest reliability, and the relationship of family meal measures to fruit and vegetable intake.

In the future, the tool will be administered as a pretest before family meal education and again as a post-test at a follow-up visit. This tool can be easily administered and completed to effectively evaluate the impact of SNAP family meal education.

Delivering health content via multimedia and computer games has several advantages when compared to traditional teaching methods, such as lectures, textbooks, and videos.

Using Conklin 2 multimedia and computer games to deliver health content can allow for interactive learning, which has been shown to be highly effective (9). The fidelity of the messages and content of the lessons can be protected, when health education is delivered with multimedia and computer games. This is particularly important, as it can help prevent the messages and content from transitioning into misinformation or information being dropped entirely due to a teacher’s lack of confidence about a topic. Furthermore, use of these tools in school settings can reduce the burden on teachers since teachers would not need to plan lessons for subject areas outside of their specialty areas.

A systematic evaluation of the student responses to intervention programs that have incorporated games, may help illuminate whether multimedia can contribute positively to children’s comprehension of health content.

Given the emerging interest in video- and computer-games as a mode of delivering health content and information, an effort to identify features of games which may be most important for learning would be useful.

The No Bones About It multi-media intervention using video and games was developed to improve calcium and bone health of middle school students following national science and health educational standards and a behavioral model call the transtheoretical model. An important concept of the transtheoretical model is for the recipients of an intervention to articulate a plan showing willingness to make a commitment to change.

Appropriate health plans for calcium intake as promoted by No Bones About It! would support the contention that multi-media tools can provide a foundation for improving the health practices of early adolescents.

Given that a multimedia intervention would be delivered the same without accommodating potential differences between boys and girls, the purpose of this study was to compare the cognitive outcomes from No Bones About It! between boys and girls. The outcomes Conklin 3 specifically examined were: 1) the acquisition of knowledge about bone health and calcium intake; 2) the ability to articulate the game objectives which addressed how to increase calcium intake; and 3) the ability to articulate a plan of commitment to improve calcium intake.

Subjects: Subjects (n=31; 24 F/ 7 M; aged 22-49 years old), represented BMI ranging from 20-34 kg/m2.

Results: There were no significant differences among the 3 breakfast definitions in breakfast energy intake (BEI), EI not at breakfast, or the time interval between waking and eating. Controlling for age, sex, and physical activity one of the breakfast variables were associated with adiposity (BMI or percent body fat). When breakfast was defined as the first eating occasion after waking, BEI and the time interval between waking and eating had the strongest associations with eating behaviors and patterns. Eating sooner after waking was associated with higher dietary restraint (r= -0.57), and lower snacking/total eating frequencies (r= -0.32/-0.41), but also a higher intake of food away from home (r=0.46) (all p<0.10-<0.05). A higher BEI was also associated with lower total eating frequency (r=-0.36) but had n association with EI not at breakfast.

Conclusion: Despite the inability to detect differences among breakfast definitions, the significant associations found when breakfast was defined as the first eating occasion after waking support this definition as potentially influencing individual eating styles. However, because breakfast was not associated with adiposity, we propose that consuming breakfast earlier in the day may shift the pattern of daily food intake but not total daily energy intake