Health claim regulations on foods: impacts on life expectancy in Canada and the United States.

OBJECTIVES: Chronic disease accounts for 70% of deaths globally and causes substantial economic burdens. Research indicates diet can significantly reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Governments regulate health claims that can inform consumers of foods' health attributes and encourage them to consume healthy diets. This paper evaluates how the health status of North Americans has changed over time and after the approval of health claims in Canada and the United States. METHODS: Data were obtained from the OECD Health Statistics database. A logarithmic health status function with country fixed-effects for Canada and the USA is used to evaluate changes in life expectancies over time. RESULTS: The findings indicate the health claims significantly affected female but not male life expectancies. However, both female (0.303%/year) and male (0.611%/year) life expectancies improved over the period, suggesting they are responsive to external health information. CONCLUSION: This paper provides insights and discusses policy options regarding the efficacy of specific health claims in Canada and the USA at nudging consumers to improve health outcomes.

Melamine and other food safety and health scares in China: Comparing households with and without young children.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether household responses to melamine and other recent food safety and health scares in China in recent years differed between households that did or did not have young children (less than six years of age). A consumer survey was conducted in Hohhot, China in September 2009, one year after the melamine contamination of milk was disclosed to the public. Households with young children who were not being breast-fed reported that they had reduced milk consumption by at least 1/3 in the immediate aftermath of the melamine disclosure and 39% reported that they cut out milk consumption altogether. A significantly higher percentage of households with children reported being concerned with the effects of melamine in milk and two communicable diseases: SARS and H1N1 influenza than were those with no children. A significantly higher percentage of households with no young children were concerned with the effects of Trace Sudan in chicken, Clenbuterol in pork, chicken eggs with red yolks, and excess iodine in milk powder than were those with young children. All households that reduced consumption of fluid milk following news of the melamine contamination reported a much greater concern with most food safety and health scares than did households that did not reduce consumption of fluid milk. Survey data revealed that most consumers had a relatively low level of knowledge of the Food Safety Law that went into effect just over three months before this survey was conducted. Households with children also were significantly more concerned about melamine and two communicable diseases, SARS and H1N1 than were households without children.

Melamine in Chinese milk products and consumer confidence.

Chinese consumers were shocked to learn in September 2008 that melamine, a chemical used in plastics, had been found in domestic dairy products and many people, especially young children, were experiencing adverse health impacts including death. A survey of consumers in four districts of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, near where the two largest dairy companies in China are located, was conducted in November 2008. Findings reveal that consumption of fluid milk, yogurt, milk powder and ice cream, and perceptions of the safety of these products, which had plummeted in the days following the contamination announcement, had recovered strongly by the time of the survey. High proportions of respondents expressed high or moderate levels of confidence in the domestic dairy industry and generally were satisfied with corrective and remedial actions taken by the two large Hohhot-based companies, though there was less satisfaction for actions taken by companies located in other parts of the country.

Does adenosine pharmacologically precondition human myocardium during coronary bypass surgery?

AIM: Adenosine (Ado) triggers ischemic preconditioning. We investigated whether Ado provides additional myocardial protection in patients during intermittent aortic cross-clamping (IAC) bypass surgery. METHODS: The placebo group was made of 15 male of 66+/-8 years while the Ado group was made of 19 male of 65+/-10 years. The patients of the Ado group had a 3-vessel heart disease and were treated with elective surgery. With the aortic cross-clamping, Ado or vehicle were infused over 10 min at systemic pressure together with sufficient blood via the aortic root. Blood samples before anaesthesia and onset of ECC, 1 hour after end of surgery, and on day 1 and 2 post-surgery to assess CK-MB and troponin I were performed. Hemodynamic measures (heart rate, left ventricular pressure, max/min pressure rise, central venous pressure) before installation and 15 min after completion of the coronary artery bypass. Different ECGs for electrophysiological analyses were performed. RESULTS: Hemodynamic and laboratory measures revealed no significant advantages of either protocol. Mortality rate was zero in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: The comparable outcome is likely due to cardioprotection provided by both IAC bypass surgery and hypothermia, which might obscure beneficial effects of pharmacological preconditioning in patients with good left ventricular function (ejection fraction >50%). As the benefit might have been marginal, it may well become apparent in a larger study on patients with more severe left ventricular dysfunction.

Population Genetic Analysis of a Global Collection of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, Causal Agent of Tan Spot of Wheat.

ABSTRACT The work presented here is the first major study to analyze the genetic diversity within the worldwide population of the economically important wheat pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis. The genetic structure of field populations of P. tritici-repentis was determined using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers along with sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal DNA. Ninetyseven fungal isolates were collected from naturally infected wheat and wild grass species. The collection of 97 P. tritici-repentis isolates included races 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ND7, and ND8 and was collected from North America, South America, and Europe. Results show no genetic grouping of fungal races nor do results indicate grouping based on geographic location indicating that the population is preferentially outcrossing in nature and that the introduction and spread of this population is either relatively recent or that there has been a constant worldwide flow of this fungus possibly by seed movement between continents.

Female fertility and mating type effects on effective population size and evolution in filamentous fungi.

The idealized individual in many fungal species is a haploid self-sterile hermaphrodite that may be propagated by asexually produced spores or that may reproduce sexually. In field populations, polymorphism occurs for female-sterile/hermaphrodite status, and female-sterile mutants, which function only as males during sexual reproduction, may comprise > 50% of the population. The effective population number may be based on the number of strains of different mating type or the relative frequency of hermaphrodites. The female-sterile mutants are at a selective disadvantage every time sexual reproduction occurs, and must have an advantage during vegetative propagation to persist at a significant frequency. When a high frequency of female-sterile strains is observed in field populations, it indicates that vegetative propagation is a significant component of the fungus' natural history. Depending on the mutation rate to female sterility and the selective advantage of the female-sterile strains during vegetative propagation, the ratio of sexual:asexual generations can range from 1:15 to 1:2300 for species in the Gibberella fujikuroi complex. The relative rarity of sexual reproduction may permit female-sterile strains to accumulate to a level such that local populations could completely lose sexuality and appear as asexual (imperfect) species.

Complementation and Noncomplementation among Nonallelic Mutations Altering Development in SCHIZOPHYLLUM COMMUNE.

Mutations resistant to compounds that alter the development of Schizophyllum commune (cyclic adenosine monophosphate, caffeine and imidazole) were selected. These mutations defined four genes, car (cAMP resistance), caf-1 and caf-2 (caffeine resistance) and imr (imidazole resistance). The mutations were found to be noncomplementing in certain pairs when tested against each other and against two previously isolated developmental mutations, B-con and sep (septateless), in fully compatible, forced heterokaryons. The pattern of complementation in fully compatible diploids showed noncomplementation only between allelic mutations, except for one case, imr vs. car.

Developmental Asymmetries and Knee Injury.

In brief: Major lateral postural asymmetries that develop during the growth period usually prevent young people from participating in certain sports. Minor asymmetries, however, are rarely recognized unless pain or stress indicates a problem. In this study 440 knee injuries associated with minor lateral asymmetries were measured, evaluated, and treated. Knee injuries occurred most often in the short leg (77.5%). Only 21.4% occurred in the long leg, and 1.1% occurred at the sacral base level.

Analysis of chromosomal proteins of fractionated chromatin from rat liver and transplantable hepatocellular carcinomas.

The chromosomal proteins from a number of transplantable hepatocellular carcinomas (THC) induced by a single carcinogen or its derivatives and varying greatly in their growth rates were examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyarcylamide gel electrophoresis. Before extraction and analysis of proteins, chromatin from hepatomas, as well as from normal and regenerating liver was fractionated into rapidly and slowly sedimenting gradient components. Ten non-histone chromosomal proteins (NHCP) present in the tumors and ranging in molecular weight from 220,000 to 55,000, were absent from normal liver. Further, each rapidly growing tumor possessed more non-histone protein bands in the most rapidly sedimenting chromatin fractions than did corresponding, slowly growing tumor fractions. A number of single protein occurrences common only to normal liver and/or rapidly or slowly growing tumors were also found. In contrast, NHCP banding patterns of rapidly growing 70% hepatectomized rat liver were identical to those of non-dividing liver. Of particular interest was the finding that the prototypic "minimal deviation tumor" 9618A varied more in its NHCP-banding pattern when compared to liver than did those tumors which were rapidly growing and poorly differentiated. These studies represent an initial attempt at seeking NHCP which might be uniquely related to the malignant process.