Infant Feeding Outcomes From a Culturally-Adapted Early Obesity Prevention Program for Immigrant Chinese American Parents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a cultural adaptation of an early childhood obesity prevention program promotes healthy infant feeding practices. METHODS: Prospective quasi-experimental study of a community-engaged multiphasic cultural adaptation of an obesity prevention program set at a federally qualified health center serving immigrant Chinese American parent-child dyads (N = 298). In a group of historical controls, we assessed early infant feeding practices (breastfeeding, sugar-sweetened beverage intake) in 6-month-olds and then the same practices alongside early solid food feeding practices (bottle weaning, fruit, vegetable, sugary or salty snack consumption) in 12-month-olds. After implementation, we assessed these practices in an intervention cohort group at 6 and 12 months. We used cross-sectional groupwise comparisons and adjusted regression analyses to evaluate group differences. RESULTS: At 6 months, the intervention group had increased odds of no sugar-sweetened beverage intake (aOR: 5.69 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.65, 19.63], P = .006). At 12 months, the intervention group also had increased odds of no sugar-sweetened beverage intake (aOR: 15.22 [95% CI: 6.33, 36.62], P < .001), increased odds of bottle weaning (aOR: 2.34 [95% CI: 1.05, 5.23], P = .03), and decreased odds of sugary snack consumption (aOR: 0.36 [0.18, 0.70], P = .003). We did not detect improvements in breastfeeding, fruit, vegetable, or salty snack consumption. CONCLUSIONS: A cultural adaptation of a primary care-based educational obesity prevention program for immigrant Chinese American families with low income is associated with certain healthy infant feeding practices. Future studies should evaluate cultural adaptations of more intensive interventions that better address complex feeding practices, such as breastfeeding, and evaluate long-term weight outcomes.

Effects of cinnamon essential oil-loaded Pickering emulsion on the structure, properties and application of chayote tuber starch-based composite films.

The use of non-conventional starch sources to develop biodegradable and bioactive starch-based films have attracted increasing attention recently. In this study, a nonconventional chayote tuber starch (CTS) was functionalized by zein-pectin nanoparticle-stabilized cinnamon essential oil (CEO) Pickering emulsion (ZPCO) to develop a novel bioactive composite films for food packaging application. Results demonstrated that antibacterial ZPCO featuring long-term stability was successfully obtained. FTIR and SEM analyses suggested that ZPCO have favorable dispersibility and compatibility with CTS matrix. With ZPCO increasing, the transmittance, tensile strength, and moisture content of composite films decreased, whereas their elongation at break, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities increased. ZPCO added at an appropriate level (2 %) can improve water-resistance of the films and reduce water vapor permeability. More importantly, ZPCO can achieve a slower sustained-release of CEO from composite films into food simulants. Furthermore, the composite film containing 2 % ZPCO is safe and nontoxic as proved by cell cytotoxicity test, and it can significantly prolong the shelf life of ground beef by showing the lowest total volatile base nitrogen and best acceptable sensory characteristic. Overall, the incorporation of ZPCO into CTS films offers a great potential application as a bioactive material in the food packing.

The Study of Reactive Ion Etching of Heavily Doped Polysilicon Based on HBr/O2/He Plasmas for Thermopile Devices.

Heavily doped polysilicon layers have been widely used in the fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). However, the investigation of high selectivity, anisotropy, and excellent uniformity of heavily doped polysilicon etching is limited. In this work, reactive ion etching of undoped and heavily doped polysilicon-based hydrogen bromide (HBr) plasmas have been compared. The mechanism of etching of heavily doped polysilicon is studied in detail. The final results demonstrate that the anisotropy profile of heavily doped polysilicon can be obtained based on a HBr plasma process. An excellent uniformity of resistance of the thermocouples reached ± 2.11%. This technology provides an effective away for thermopile and other MEMS devices fabrication.