ABSTRACT
Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are rising dramatically in adolescents in parallel with excess weight. The Banishing Obesity and Diabetes in Youth (BODY) Project, is a school-based intervention that medically screens overweight and obese high school students, provides personalized feedback, and connects to appropriate healthcare. Body mass index (BMI) was determined for 1,526 students in one New York City public high school with a school-based health center (SBHC). Overweight and obese students (n = 640) were invited to complete a medical evaluation that included a survey, blood pressure and blood tests. 328/640 (51%) eligible students returned signed parental consent and participated. All participants received a personalized report detailing their results along with specific recommendations on how to improve their health. Parents of participants with results outside healthy ranges (82%; 270/328) were called and mailed referral letters to connect with healthcare services. Project staff reached by telephone 74% (199/270) of those families and 29% (58/199) stated that the report led them to make arrangements to see a healthcare provider. Most students (83%; 273/328) were registered at the SBHC, and we shared their medical results with them so they could follow-up with the students. The BODY Project is a feasible program for urban schools with a SBHC. This may allow effective prevention of T2DM, and CVD from dyslipidemia and hypertension.
Subject(s)
Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/prevention & control , Health Promotion/methods , Obesity/prevention & control , School Health Services , Urban Health Services , Adolescent , Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/etiology , Feasibility Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Mass Screening , New York City , Obesity/complications , Obesity/diagnosis , Overweight/diagnosis , Pilot Projects , Program EvaluationABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent to which nutrition education is implemented in selected counties in New York State elementary schools (kindergarten through fifth grade) and explore how nutrition knowledge is presented in the classroom and what factors support it. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. SETTING: New York State elementary schools in selected counties. PARTICIPANTS: New York State elementary school teachers (n = 137). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hours spent teaching nutrition; nutrition topics, methods of teaching, education resources, and aspects of the school environment that may influence nutrition education. ANALYSIS: Crosstabs with a chi-square statistic and ANOVA. RESULTS: Eighty-three percent of teachers taught some nutrition (9.0 ± 10.5 hours) during the academic year. Teachers taught lessons about finding and choosing healthy food (61%), relationship between diet and health (54%), and MyPyramid (52%) most often. Suburban teachers (12.4 ± 12.5 hours) taught significantly (P = .006) more hours of nutrition than rural teachers (4.2 ± 3.9 hours). Teachers at schools with fewer than 80% nonwhite students taught significantly (P = .02) more (10.4 ± 11.4 hours) compared to schools with greater than 80% nonwhite students (5.6 ± 6.4 hours). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Teachers reported that nutrition education is important and that they are willing to teach nutrition. Efforts should be made that support integrated nutrition topics, methods of instruction, and availability of resources.
Subject(s)
Child Nutrition Sciences/education , Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena/physiology , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Schools , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Chi-Square Distribution , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Ethnicity/psychology , Faculty , Feeding Behavior , Female , Health Education/methods , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , New York , Obesity/prevention & control , Rural Health , Teaching , Urban HealthABSTRACT
Interaction between iron regulatory proteins and iron responsive elements on certain mRNAs is at the core of regulation of intracellular iron homeostasis. Previous results suggested that in cultured cells iron regulatory proteins (IRPs) exist in cytosolic and microsomal subcellular locations and that this distribution is affected by cellular iron status. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the membrane-associated fractions of iron regulatory proteins are specifically in the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi membranes. Confocal microscopy revealed that IRP1 could be co-localized to the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. To examine the intracellular distribution of IRPs biochemically, we used rats fed normal or iron-deficient diets. As expected, the IRPs were found predominantly in the cytosolic fraction. However, subfractionation of crude microsomal preparations revealed IRP1 in the Golgi apparatus. In animals fed an iron-deficient diet, IRP1 was found in the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. To identify the mechanisms and factors involved in the localization of iron regulatory proteins in the cytosol and membrane fractions, cells were treated with a phorbol ester, a protein kinase C inhibitor (chelerythrine), hydrogen peroxide, interleukin-1beta, and 1,2-bis-(o-aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,-N'N'-tetraacetic acid tetraacetoxy-methyl ester. The results indicate that iron-regulatory-protein-binding activity in the membrane fraction can be altered by cell stress or iron status and that phosphorylation plays a role in the translocation. As a result of this study we propose a novel model for intracellular distribution of IRPs and identify differences between the two iron regulatory proteins.