Thesis (Ph. D.)--Westfälische Wilhelms--Universität, 1976. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 186-204.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisors: Roger P. Farrar and Hirofumi Tanaka. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Memphis, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-32).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1980. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-49). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 16, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Preterm low birth weight infants remain at risk of impaired growth and developmental delay in childhood, compared with full-term babies. The main aim of the research project was to devise and test a preterm infant feeding strategy (PIFS) for the time from hospital discharge until one-year gestation corrected age (GCA). The strategy recommended the early onset of weaning, the use of foods with a higher energy and protein content than standard milk formula and recommended foods, which are rich sources of iron and zinc. To assess the effectiveness of the preterm infant feeding strategy, 68 preterm infants, mean birth weight 1.47 (SD 0.43) kg and mean gestational age 31.3 (SD 2.9) weeks, were randomised to either the PIFS group (n=37) or a current best practice control group (n=31), for one year. Energy, protein and mineral intakes at three points, zero months GCA, six months GCA and twelve months GCA, were determined from 7-day weighed records. The infants were assessed anthropometrically at the same ages, and blood sampled twice to discover any differences in growth or nutrient status between the groups, which could be a consequence of dietary intake. Analyses of dietary, growth and biochemical data showed the following significant differences between the PIFS intervention group compared with the control group. Improvements in haemoglobin and serum iron levels at six months GCA; increased intakes of energy, protein and carbohydrate at six months GCA and iron at twelve months GCA; enhanced length growth velocity between zero and twelve months GCA. A significant positive effect of treatment on standard deviation length scores and catch-up length growth was also observed. PIFS significantly influenced dietary intakes with consequent beneficial effects on length growth and iron status. This novel strategy should be adopted as the basis of feeding guidelines for preterm infants after hospital discharge.

Background: Diet and exercise have been recommended to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in individuals with obesity. However, the effects of these interventions on muscle remodeling during CRC initiation in individuals who were previously obese is unknown. Since CRC is associated with a high-risk of cachexia, it is important to understand how diet and exercise interventions can impact muscle remodeling in populations at risk of developing CRC-induced cachexia. Our aim was to investigate the effects of weight loss, with or without exercise, on markers of muscle remodeling in a mouse model of CRC. We hypothesized that exercise plus weight loss would increase muscle mass, reduce muscle fibro/fatty tissue, and increase muscle stem/progenitor cell content compared to weight loss alone. Methods: Mice consumed a high-fat diet (HFD) to induce obesity or a control (CON) diet. Subsequently, mice received injections of azoxymethane (AOM) to induce CRC. Then, weight loss was induced in HFD mice by placing them on the CON diet and those mice either remained sedentary (HFD-SED) or completed a treadmill exercise intervention (HFD-EX). Results: After 40 weeks, mice were sacrificed and analyzed for markers of muscle remodeling. HFD-SED and HFD-EX showed weight loss and a loss in percent fat mass when looking at changes between sacrifice and before AOM injections (p<0.05 vs. CON). HFD-SED and HFD-EX had increased lean mass (p<0.05 vs. CON), and HFD-EX had increased tibialis anterior (TA) weight (p<0.05 vs. CON). The proportion of medium-sized fibers increased (p<0.05 vs. HFD-SED and CON) in HFD-EX, but there were no differences in overall cross-sectional area, myonuclei per fiber, or myonuclear domain. HFD-SED had increased fibrosis (p<0.05 vs. HFD-EX and CON) and adiposity (p<0.05 vs. CON). The number of committed (Pax7+MyoD+) satellite cells (SCs) and FAPs was greater in HFD-EX (p<0.05 vs. CON). There were no differences in uncommitted (Pax7+MyoD-) or differentiated (Pax7-MyoD+) SCs. Additionally, nuclear p-NF-κB was reduced following exercise (p<0.05), specifically in the interstitium with a significant decrease in the number of interstitial p-NF-κB cells in the HFD-EX group (p<0.05 vs. CON and HFD-SED). Conclusions: Findings suggest that a HFD, followed by weight loss with exercise, can reduce fibrotic and fatty degeneration of the muscle and improve markers of muscle remodeling. These findings provide the rationale to further examine exercise interventions for maintaining muscle quality during weight loss interventions to reduce CRC-induced cachexia.

Overweight and obesity have significant health and economic consequences for people living in the UK. The psychological factors involved in the development of overweight and obesity are very important and can make a significant contribution to the development of interventions that inform public health policy and services. The current thesis employed three studies to examine the psychological factors that may predict overweight and obesity and contribute to the development of interventions that help to promote long-term weight loss maintenance, which have implications for improving health outcomes and reducing the economic burden. Study One (N=60) employed a 5-day diary to examine overweight and obese individuals' perceived reasons for eating (particularly in relation to unhealthy snacking). Study Two (N=30) was a follow-up to Study One and examined the factors that may predict long-term weight change. Finally, Study Three (N=60) employed an exploratory randomised controlled trial to examine the efficacy of a combined mindfulness plus implementation intentions intervention for promoting physical activity. The results of Study One provided evidence for the existence of reasons for eating unhealthy snacks other than hunger and highlighted the importance of addressing these factors within weight management interventions. Study Two did not conclusively demonstrate that psychological reasons for eating were long-term predictors of weight change, suggesting future research is needed to obtain further information on this complicated issue. This will help to determine whether reasons for eating can indeed predict weight change. The combined intervention in Study Three failed to promote physical activity, but highlighted a number of interesting factors such as task difficulty, unsupportive environments and insufficient motivation that need to be addressed in future research. Ensuring the population maintain a healthy weight and improving long-term health outcomes is very important, and therefore needs to be addressed at multiple levels in order to inform effective public health policy and services.

The personality characteristics of three groups of Weight-Trainers were investigated in order to determine: 1. if Weight-Trainers, as a group differed significantly from the general population; 2. if Weight-Trainers differed from one another when compared on the basis of their motivation for participation; 3. if one group of Weight-Trainers deviated from the norm more than the other groups. Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire was administered to forty-five subjects. Fifteen of these subjects trained as a conditioning activity for another sport, fifteen trained to improve their physique and fifteen trained to increase their strength for Weight Lifting competitions. Results, derived by the methods of an analysis of variance and "t" tests, indicated that: 1. Weight-Trainers, as a group, differ at the one per cent level from the general population on measures of intelligence, character strength, naivete, extroversion and self-sufficiency; 2. Weight-Trainers are a relatively homogeneous group of athletes. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate