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Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a leading cause of death worldwide. Previous research supports a relationship between vitamin D and TBI outcomes; however, they rely on animal studies. This review aimed to examine the neuroprotective role of vitamin D in humans with TBIs. A search was completed (PubMed and Scopus) following PRISMA guidelines to review publications investigating the relationship between vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and TBI or the effect of vitamin D supplementation on TBI outcomes; 8 studies were identified. Patients had thefollowing ranges: 26-88% deficiency and 62-88% insufficiency compared to 24% and 49% of the general population. Supplementation reduced ventilation duration, improved the quality of consciousness, and significantly improved mini-mental status examination scores. Research showed high percentages VDD/insufficiency in TBI patients. Results remain consistent suggesting a neuroprotective effect of vitamin D. Further research is needed to understand the effect of vitamin D status and supplementation on TBIs.

The importance of the gut microbiome is being explored in relation to multiple facets of health and performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of frequent sweet potato ingestion on alterations of the gut microbiome which might in turn alter cholesterol levels and exercise performance. Thirteen recreationally trained males had fecal and blood samples collected and exercised to fatigue with and without exogenous carbohydrate ingestion prior to and following 42 days of daily sweet potato ingestion. Bacterial communities were extracted from fecal samples and bacterial DNA were sequence. Blood samples were analyzed for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-C, high-density lipoprotein-C, and triglycerides. Performance was analyzed comparing changes in time-to-volitional fatigue with and without carbohydrate ingestion. Changes were observed in microbial abundance following 42 days of sweet potato ingestion but no differences in cholesterol or cycling fatigue with and without carbohydrates.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of selected physical socio-environmental variables on total percent body fat. The sample population consisted of single, LDS, white women attending Brigham Young University (BYU) and California State University at Fullerton (CSUF). Significant data as well as trends that appeared were included in this paper.From the data collected, it was concluded that the sample populations at BYU and CSUF were the same. The incidence of obesity was determined only among individuals attending both universities. The entire sample population mean was 22.19 percent. This percentage did not meet the obesity criteria.Analysis of data indicated a high correlation at the 0.05 level of confidence between total percent body fat and the variables of age, height, and weight.

The general objective of this investigation was to implement and strengthen family orchards for the diversification of the diet and improvement of the consumption of vegetables and fruits available in the communities of the Rinconada and Cuambo. They collaborated in the implementation and strengthening of the family orchards and by means of focal group techniques determined the readiness, seasonal variance, and alimentary habits of the available vegetables and fruits. They made 10 nutritive preparations in each community in participating shops with the foods that were harvested in the orchards and with the help of consistent educational material as 2 three-page leaflets about the “Importanceâ of Iron in the Daily Dietâ and el Importance of Vitamin A in the Daily Diet, mothers were trained. Among the principle results they were able to determine that the women were very interested in having family orchards, since it allowed them to have fresh vegetables without the need of going to the market. The majority of families have gardens and orchards for both vegetables and fruits. In the community of the Rinconada they cultivate yellow carrot, chard, cabbage, and onion. In the community of Cuambo, tomato kidney, pepper, onion paitena, and pickle any time of the year are cultivated. Families from the Rinconada have more orchards with fruit than those of the Cuambo which produce tree tomato, taxo, and blackberries. In Cuambo they produce banana, papaya, watermelon, mango, lime, avocado, guava and custard apple. The vegetables and fruits most ready, determined through focal groups, are the same ones that are produced in the orchards and families from both communities donât have the habit of buying vegetables in the market. In Rinconada, the cultivations are seasonal and the surpluses of the harvests are wasted because they have not applied appropriate elaboration and conservation techniques. All the families in the communities investigated like all the vegetables and fruits that they harvest in their family gardens, the vegetables preferably added to soups and very little to salads. The majority of mothers in these communities know that these foods are important to eat every day if they want to grow strong and prevent illness. However, these mothers donât know how to prepare, for which reason they proceeded to prepare recipes that were adapted to the habits and tastes of the consumers, the same ones that were accepted in the communities, this action helped to increase the consumption of vegetables in the different times of eating, like in lunch and dinner in the two communities, where few families eat breakfast. The consumption of fruits is minimal in Rinconada, and in Cuambo the situation improves as long as they consume it during different times of eating.

The present investigation was carried out in the rural community La Rinconada, located in the canton Ibarra of the province of Imbabura. The field work was developed during 12 months. Previous activities were developed to the rehearsal like socialization of the program; training in areas of: poscosecha of grains, alfalfa cultivation and systems of growth of guinea pigs. The rehearsal lasted 70 days and it was developed in the property of three families of the community. The formulation of diets balanced based on grains of waste of corn, wheat and barley for the growth and increment of weight of guinea pigs, it was the main objective from the investigation. The rehearsal was carried out with 84 weaned male guinea pigs of the improved Creole type, acquired in a farm of guinea pigs, of the province of the Carchi. It was used, experimental design of complete blocks at random (DBCA) with a factorial arrangement A x B + 1 and three repetitions. The factor A it was conformed by three formulations of balanced. The balanced 1 (B1) had as protein source the soy cake, the balanced 2 (B2) had as protein source the bean and the balanced 3 (B3) had as protein source the pea. The factor B it was conformed by two forage types : alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), forage 1 (F1) and the mixture forager pastures and boil of the community forage (F2). The witness treatment T7, was the traditional feeding of guinea pigs, in the community. Was used: kitchen waste, crop waste and boil and pastures of the community. The treatments were seven : T1 (Balanced 1 + alfalfa), T2 (Balanced 1 + pastures and boil of the community), T3 (Balanced 2 + alfalfa), T4 (Balanced 2 + pastures and boil of the community), T5 (Balanced 3 + alfalfa), T6 (Balanced 3 + pastures and boil of the community) and T7 witness treatment (traditional feeding). The evaluated variables were consumption of dry matter, increase of biweekly weight, nutritious conversion, mortality and production costs. The experimental unit was conformed by four weaned male guinea pigs. Of the obtained results it concludes that the Balanced 1 and Balanced 3 were the best. The mixture foragers, pastures and boil of the community presented superior results to those of the alfalfa . The treatment witness (traditional feeding of the community) it is not advisable, the guinea pigs didn't reach characteristic of weight and commercialization or for reproduction. For the results of increment of weight, nutritious conversion, production costs and access to the matters cousins, are recommended to use the diet of the treatment T6 (Balanced 3 + pastures and boil of the community) in the feeding of guinea pigs, in the rural sector of the Andean region of the Ecuador.

This investigation was conducted in the rural community of Cuambo, located in the northeast of Imbabura province, in the Mira river basin of Salina parish, at 1530 meters above sea level and with an average temperature of 19 C. The principal objective of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of four levels of substitution of fish meal for earthworm meal in broiler chicken diets. The fieldwork occurred in two stages over the course of 20 months: A. Creation of the feed: This step lasted from the installation of an earthworm culturing area through the cultivation, harvest, and drying of the worms until obtaining the flour and then the feed with the respective formulas and acquisition of primary materials. B. Cultivation of broiler chickens: This was carried out in a community member's house adapted to function like a chicken coop that had been previously prepared to receive the chicks. The study lasted 7 weeks. A completely random design (CRD) was used with five treatments and five repetitions per treatment, with five chickens per experimental unit. ANOVA, Tukey analysis at 5%, and orthogonal polynomial analysis were used to evaluate the data. The factor under study was the percentage of earthworm flour in a basic diet. The treatments were as follows: T0: Control (Pronaca commercial feed) T1: 100% earthworm meal T2: 75% earthworm meal T3: 50% earthworm meal T4: 25% earthworm meal Analyzed variables: Weekly weight gain, Weekly food conversion, Accumulated food conversion, Total food consumption, Efficiency index, Yield, Organoleptic analysis, Economic analysis. From the results obtained, we conclude that treatment 0 (T0) is the best because it gave the best results in weight gain, food conversion, efficiency index, yield, and cost of production. In the organoleptic analysis T4 received the most points for appearance and flavor; T3 received the most for color, smell, and texture. The treatment with greatest acceptability was T4, with the most points. In production costs, the least expensive was T1, but it is not recommended for use because the chickens had poor results in the studied variables.

In many countries, the health and the development of a great number of people are compromised by the insufficient distribution of micro-nutrients. The deficiency of iron is one of the things that to a large extent contributes to the high rates of death and maternal and childhood mortality, affecting also a great percentage of school aged children. Bolivia, along with the majority of underdeveloped countries, presents high prevalence of anemia in the students. Recent studies confirm that anemia nutrients are a problem of public health of great magnitude to rural and urban level (Fernández et al, 1994). Before this situation the project to UNITE - UMSA through a diagnosis carried out in Viacha (Prov. Ingavi - La Paz) in 1996 on the eating situation and nutrition of families determined that the food sources of iron consumption dropped, for which one of the recommendations of said study was to carry out interventions such as to supplement and to fortify food with iron. In that context, the need to distribute a school breakfast constituted by a food (api or flour of purple corn) fortified with iron has been seen and to measure the effect that has the consumption of that food on the nutritional state of iron in the students. The api is a food that can be fortified with iron, apart from having a good contribution of energy, it is accessible economically to the population of the altiplano Bolivian and is preferred for the children. The distribution of the api fortified with iron would be able to reduce the prevalence of anemia in the students of the rural area. The present study, will measure the effect of the consumption of api fortified with iron on the iron deficiency anemia of the students of the rural area of the region altiplánica Irpa Small, province Ingavi of the department of La Paz.

In Guatemala, nutritional problems are directly related to the difficulty to purchase food fit for human consumption due to low family incomes as well as low nutritional education. This situation motivated the realization of the present study whose main objective was to apply the dietary guidelines for Guatemala in three rural communities of Chiquimula. All three communities were previously aided by Benson Institute efforts to promote changes in eating behavior. The sample was comprised of mothers from the El Pinalito, El Guayabo, and Maraxco communities of the department of Chiquimula. There were eight mothers, four literate and four illiterate, from each community. The study was conducted in three phases. In the first, the access to, availability of, and consumption of food were determined through individual interviews with the mothers being studied. Phase two consisted of determining family diet characteristics through an initial interview with the mothers studied. These data, along with those from the first phase, served to identify foods to include in the graph of dietary guidelines (graph of the family food pot) of each community. This phase also included the development of a training plan on the Dietary Guidelines, which was aimed at the mothers being studied. In the third phase, a training plan was developed taking the data from phase two into account. Seven days after the training, a behavioral test was conducted to determine the feasibility of implementing the seven recommendations of the dietary guidelines. This was done through a final interview with the mothers in the study. The results indicate that families in these communities have a daily consumption of soft drinks and candy that negatively influences their quality of food intake and nutrition. In addition, it was found that the typical food for these families are ticucos (bean tamales), a food resource available to this population. However, the graph of the family pot from each community reflects a monotonous diet which agrees with results from other studies. From the behavioral test results obtained, it was apparent that two to three mothers from each of the three communities had problems following the second recommendation regarding the consumption of vegetables and herbs. Five mothers from both the El Guayabo and Maraxco communities also had problems following the third recommendation which was about fruit consumption. Lastly, one mother from Maraxco could not follow recommendations five or six regarding consumption of milk and consumption of meat, respectively. The inability to follow the second recommendation may be due to the fact that not all members of a family may like herbs and vegetables. Furthermore, the other recommendations that weren’t able to be followed may be due to the fact that the items are not easily accessible due to high prices, low family incomes, low local production, and poor seasonality. At the end of the study, the number of samples from the El Pinalito and El Guayabo villages decreased, affecting the comparison between the three communities. However, the community that adopted the majority of eating behaviors in relation to the dietary guidelines for Guatemala was El Pinalito, followed by El Guayabo, and lastly Maraxco. It was also found that it was more difficult for those with lower education to adopt good eating habits due to their inability to understand the importance of doing so. The same thing happened with the older mothers being studied which may be due to the fact that they have a harder time making changes. It was most difficult for the older illiterate mothers to adopt the changes in eating behavior, compared to the younger literate mothers.

Hypothesis: "By an environmental change in high school vending machines, making water available, students will choose water over the sugar sweetened sodas." This document highlights a case study analysis of vendor-provided refill data for forty-five beverage vending machines at two campus sites in one high school district in 2003 and 2004. The innovative study and publicized negotiated soda contract of a 50:50 (healthy to unhealthy) beverage ratio stipulation became the “Win-Win-WEAN” compromise, in which exposure to healthier beverage options for students might prove to provide the same income opportunity for the school district. An overview of the political climate in California leading to this local advocacy for reduced availability of sodas on school campuses, which began in 1999 before the passage of Senate Bill 19- Pupil Nutrition, Health Achievement Act of October 2001 (SB-19) is also addressed. The quagmire to generate and implement this unique pilot of a 5-year contract stipulating a 50:50 ratio, with strategic placement of qualified healthy beverages in the top slots of the 45 machines, is discussed to give context of the beverage industry practices. The ratio stipulation was intended to target one significant area of empty calories in students’ daily environments in attempt to help reverse the unprecedented obesity epidemic among adolescents. The agreement voted upon by the Santa Maria Joint Union School District’s Board of Trustees in a public meeting, as noted in the minutes of August 14, 2002, was not implemented as originally approved and thus a series of negotiation meetings began, prompting this data analysis. The 50:50 ratio, per SB-19, was not achieved during the performance life of the contract between the school district and the beverage vendor. School district administration fiscal year-end data in March 2005 confirmed that the hypothesis of a net profit sales quota of $60,000 was rejected, as there was a $7,300 shortfall. The data analyzed did determine that the highest selling, single beverage productwas un-flavored (plain) water with a 65% share. This information was contrary to the beverage vendor and school district business superintendents’ pre-conceived ideas that water in the machines would cause them to lose money. In reality water was the highest revenue generator beverage. The $60,000 minimum guaranteed annual commission, which was in actuality a sales quota projection, was still acknowledged as a contractual commitment by the vendor so no actual deficiency in fund payments was experienced by the school district. The profit margin for both water and other products was 40 cents per can. The data analysis showed that water was indeed the highest selling beverage regardless of equipment malfunction, restocking failures, and misrepresentation of drinks as healthy by vending machine placement and clever advertising with label changes for the same beverage. When water was included in the vending machines, students responded with immediate purchasing of water, demonstrating the 4th of five distinct stages of readiness for behavior change as “Action” following the principles of Drs’ Prochaska and Di Clemete’s Trans-Theoretical model. This model outlines different levels toward sustained behavior change and typical timelines of each relative stage of change. Keywords: beverage consumption, sodas, obesity, empty calories.