Feeding frozen complementary foods promotes food acceptance in infants: The randomized intervention trial Baby Gourmet.

Infancy may represent a sensitive window for establishing food preferences that could affect the individual's long-term potential to establish healthy eating patterns. Our study was based on the hypothesis that preserving the natural flavor of the ingredients of commercially prepared complementary foods would increase the acceptance of new foods, especially vegetables. Frozen vegetable-based meals for infants were developed to preserve the natural taste of the ingredients better than sterilization of meals in jars. In a 3-month randomized, controlled intervention study, 51 infants were fed either frozen menus (intervention group) or commercial sterilized meals in jars (control group) on at least 5 days per week. Then the acceptability of a known vegetable-based puree was tested in comparison to an unknown puree, measuring the quantities consumed and also the mother's assessment of the infants' liking. In conclusion, the results of this study clearly indicated that infants fed vegetable-based frozen meals for 3 months accepted a new vegetable better than infants fed sterilized commercial meals in jars.

Brain serotonin deficiency affects female aggression.

The neurotransmitter serotonin plays a key role in the control of aggressive behaviour. While so far most studies have investigated variation in serotonin levels, a recently created tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (Tph2) knockout mouse model allows studying effects of complete brain serotonin deficiency. First studies revealed increased aggressiveness in homozygous Tph2 knockout mice in the context of a resident-intruder paradigm. Focussing on females, this study aimed to elucidate effects of serotonin deficiency on aggressive and non-aggressive social behaviours not in a test situation but a natural setting. For this purpose, female Tph2 wildtype (n = 40) and homozygous knockout mice (n = 40) were housed with a same-sex conspecific of either the same or the other genotype in large terraria. The main findings were: knockout females displayed untypically high levels of aggressive behaviour even after several days of co-housing. Notably, in response to aggressive knockout partners, they showed increased levels of defensive behaviours. While most studies on aggression in rodents have focussed on males, this study suggests a significant involvement of serotonin also in the control of female aggression. Future research will show, whether the observed behavioural effects are directly caused by the lack of serotonin or by potential compensatory mechanisms.

High Reproductive Success Despite Queuing - Socio-Sexual Development of Males in a Complex Social Environment.

The start of actual breeding in male social mammals can occur long after individuals attain sexual maturity. Mainly prevented from reproduction by older and dominant males, young males often queue until strong enough to compete for favorable social positions and, in this way, to obtain access to females. However, to what extent maturing males also apply tactics to reproduce before this time is largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to elucidate male socio-sexual development from onset of sexual maturity through first mating success until the achievement of a stable social position in a complex social environment. For this purpose, guinea pigs were used as a model system and reproductive success of males living in large mixed-sex colonies was assessed during their first year of life. As a reference, males in a mixed-sex pair situation were examined. Pair-housed males reproduced for the first time around the onset of sexual maturity whereas colony-housed males did so much later in life and with a considerably higher variance. In colonies, reproductive success was significantly affected by dominance status. Dominance itself was age-dependent, with older males having significantly higher dominance ranks than younger males. Surprisingly, both younger and older colony-housed males attained substantial reproductive success of comparable amounts. Thus, younger males reproduced irrespective of queuing and already before reaching a high social status. This mating success of maturing males was most likely achieved via several reproductive tactics which were flexibly applied with the onset of sexual maturity. The period of socio-sexual development before a stable social position is established may, therefore, be a time during which male mammals use flexible behavioral tactics to achieve reproductive success more frequently than commonly is presumed. In addition, the findings strongly indicate that high behavioral plasticity exists well beyond sexual maturity.

Sensory preferences and discrimination ability of children before and after an obesity intervention.

Sensory preferences and discrimination ability were assessed before and after participating in a long-term outpatient obesity lifestyle intervention for obese children and adolescents ('Obeldicks'). Each subject (N=72; 7-16 years) performed 9 experimental sensory tests (5 paired-comparison preference tests, 4 paired-comparison sensitivity tests). For the examination of the taste categories sweet, salty and sour, sugar, table salt or citric acid were added to suitable customary foods. Fatty foods were included in the tests using cheese and sausage (salami) in the preference tests and milk with different fat content in the sensitivity tests. All tests were conducted at the start of the intervention program, after three and twelve months. For both preference and sensitivity tests, there was no significant difference in experimental test decisions between the three time points.

Reproducibility and reliability of the ankle-brachial index as assessed by vascular experts, family physicians and nurses.

The reliability of ankle-brachial index (ABI) measurements performed by different observer groups in primary care has not yet been determined. The aims of the study were to provide precise estimates for all effects influencing the variability of the ABI (patients' individual variability, intra- and inter-observer variability), with particular focus on the performance of different observer groups. Using a partially balanced incomplete block design, 144 unselected individuals aged > or = 65 years underwent double ABI measurements by one vascular surgeon or vascular physician, one family physician and one nurse with training in Doppler sonography. Three groups comprising a total of 108 individuals were analyzed (only two with ABI < 0.90). Errors for two repeated measurements for all three observer groups did not differ (experts 8.5%, family physicians 7.7%, and nurses 7.5%, p = 0.39). There was no relevant bias among observer groups. Intra-observer variability expressed as standard deviation divided by the mean was 8%, and inter-observer variability was 9%. In conclusion, reproducibility of the ABI measurement was good in this cohort of elderly patients who almost all had values in the normal range. The mean error of 8-9% within or between observers is smaller than with established screening measures. Since there were no differences among observers with different training backgrounds, our study confirms the appropriateness of ABI assessment for screening peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and generalized atherosclerosis in the primary case setting. Given the importance of the early detection and management of PAD, this diagnostic tool should be used routinely as a standard for PAD screening. Additional studies will be required to confirm our observations in patients with PAD of various severities.