published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

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5 pp. / Recommendations for program planners, parents, teachers, school staff, and health professionals who are concerned about children and weight.

2 pp. / The only way to lose fat weight is to consume fewer calories than the body uses. Athletes who successfully lose weight learn how to apply this concept, while maintaining the energy levels required for training.

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Pharmacological blockade of the endocannabinoid system via rimonabant (SR141716) induced a sustained reduction in weight and fatness. Rimonabant-treated mice exhibited reduced metabolizable energy intake and increased daily energy expenditure on days 4-6 of treatment. However, these on the energy budget had disappeared by day 22-24. Rimonabant treatment increased daily physical activity levels throughout the study. These data suggested that rimonabant caused a negative energy balance by acting on both energy intake and expenditure. Melanin-concentrating receptor 1 (MCHR1) antagonism via GW803430 produced similar effects on energy  budget. However, only physical activity during the dark phase was increased by GW803430 treatment. MCHR1 antagonism produced a persistent anti-obesity effect and the initiation of weight loss resulted from a decrease in energy intake and an increase in active energy expenditure. With respect to environmental interventions, non-genetic individual variability in weightgain when fed a high fat diet (HFD) was investigated. I found that weight gain induced by HFD was associated positively with fat mass and fast free mass and negatively with physical activity prior to HFD exposure. Furthermore, fat mass and fat free mass were influenced by lactation litter size via weaning weight and post-weaning growth rate. Finally I used intermittent starvation to test whether the risk of starvation determines the lower intervention point as suggested by the dual intervention pointmodel. Overall, mice exhibited different behavioural and physiological responses to intermittent starvation dependent of the duration of treatment. This work contributes to a better understanding of the regulation of energy balance and provide useful insights for the prevention and treatment of obesity.

This study was an attempt to determine if subjects differing in anxiety, motivation and stress evidence differential weight discrimination performance. The judged difference in weight discrimination will be affected by a preceding series of discriminations.

This study was to develop normative data of isotonic muscular strength in college females using the Spartacus model Universal Gym bench press and leg extension and to control for the influence of body weight. Two hundred and two college age females enrolled in weight training and conditioning classes used the Universal Gym for twelve weeks. Subjects were tested for maximum strength on 2 exercises and their percent body fat was calculated. Pearson-product moment correlations between lean body weight , body weight and the bench press test and the leg extension test were correlated. After statistically controlling for the effects of body weight, percentile ranks were calculated for both tests.

Thesis MMed (Paediatrics), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / INTRODUCTION: Improved survival of VLBW infants is raising several management issues. An example is that of growth and growth monitoring. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the growth of a cohort of VLBW infants born at CMJAH from term CGA to 20 months CGA. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted on 139 VLBW infants (birth weight ≤ 1500g) born at CMJAH between 1 July 2006 and 28 February 2007. RESULTS: Comparison with a term growth reference showed initial growth failure followed by gradual catch up growth but with persistent deficits in length for age. Comparison with international VLBW references showed similar growth for weight and head circumference for age but with deficits in length for age. Growth parameters of the study sample were similar to those of other South African VLBW infants. CONCLUSION: Growth and growth monitoring in VLBW infants is complicated by characteristic growth patterns, high associated morbidity, controversies surrounding ideal growth and lack of an ideal growth reference. Significant deficits in length for age in the study sample may have been due to the large proportion of infants born SGA and the high prevalence of stunting in South African children. Current recommendations for growth monitoring of VLBW infants include the use of a VLBW reference up to two years CGA followed by a term growth reference thereafter