Effect of an Educational Intervention on the Promotion of Dietary and Lifestyle Changes for the Prevention of Breast Cancer Among Female Teachers in Selected Schools in Selangor, Malaysia

Breast cancer affects more women in the world today than any other cancer. Epidemiological studies have consistently shown that diet and lifestyle play a substantial role in the development of breast cancer in women. The landmark reports by the World Cancer Research Fund (1997 & 2007) concluded that cancer is largely a preventable disease. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of an educational intervention to modify the nutrition and physical activity related to breast cancer risk among female secondary school teachers in Selangor. This study aimed to improve diet and lifestyle behaviors that included fruit and vegetable intake, the total energy from fat, physical activity and anthropometric indicators. Psychosocial factors (knowledge, attitude, barriers and self-efficacy) were examined for their relationship to change in diet and physical activity. This intervention was developed based on the guidelines of the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF, 1997; 2007) for cancer prevention, as well as the Malaysian Guidelines for Cancer Prevention of The National Cancer Society of Malaysia. A total of 210 female teachers, from eight randomly selected schools in four districts in the state of Selangor, were randomized into the intervention group (n= 108) and the control group (n= 102). The intervention group received a multi-component diet and lifestyle educational program, comprising a one-day seminar, a self-help educational module, face to face diet and lifestyle motivational counselling. The control group received only the self-help educational material after completing the final follow-up assessment. A validated and reliable questionnaire was used to obtain the necessary information, over three time points i.e: baseline, immediate (post-1) intervention and 4-months follow-up (post-2). Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to analyze the data. The teachers were predominantly Malays, Muslims, and married with a mean age of 37 years. At baseline, the mean consumption of fruit and vegetable intakes were two servings per day in both groups, with a high proportion in both groups showing a moderate level of physical activity and body fat percentage. Both groups were at the moderate level for total knowledge and the three subscales of knowledge, attitude, barriers and self-efficacy. The results of the ANOVA - GLM Repeated Measure showed that there was a significant difference within and between the groups (p<0.05) for change in the consumption of fruit and vegetables (+0.68 serving/ day), body fat percentage (-.61%), and the multiple of resting metabolic rates (+210.56 MET), as well as for the time spent for high, moderate and walking activities, where significant changes were found within groups only. A significant difference between the groups (p<0.05) indicated an increase in knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy, as well as a reduction in barriers in the intervention group. No significant change was observed in the control group for the consumption of fruit and vegetables, and body composition, but there was significant increase in knowledge was observed. The change in self-efficacy was found to be predictors for the change in the intake of fruit and vegetables, MET and reduction in the percentage of body fat in the intervention group. The reduction in barriers and the increase in knowledge were found to be the predictors for the reduction in the percentage of body fat. These findings suggest that the strategies used in this intervention study have had some impact in promoting positive changes in the diet and lifestyle behaviours. In conclusion, this study confirmed that apparently healthy and educated women participated in short term intervention can be motivated to increase their dietary intake of fruits and vegetables, improved their physical activity and reduce their body fat percentage

Anharmonic effects in the thermoelectric properties of PbTe

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, 043702 (2014), and may be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4891201In this work, we investigate the crystal anharmonic effects in the thermoelectric properties of n-type PbTe. The lattice thermal transport coefficient is computed by employing an isotropic continuum model for the dispersion relation for acoustic as well as optical phonon branches, an isotropic continuum model for crystal anharmonicity, and the single-mode relaxation time scheme. The electronic components of the transport coefficients in a wide temperature range are calculated using the isotropic-nearly-free- electron model, interaction of electrons with deformation potential of acoustic phonons, and the effect of the band non-parabolicity. It is found that the transverse optical branches play a major role in determining the phonon conductivity and the thermoelectric figure of merit of this material. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

Declaratively Capturing Local Label Correlations with Multi-Label Trees

The goal of multi-label classification is to predict multiple labels per data point simultaneously. Real-world applications tend to have high-dimensional label spaces, employing hundreds or even thousands of labels. While these labels could be predicted separately, by capturing label correlation we might achieve better predictive performance. In contrast with previous attempts in the literature that have modelled label correlations globally, this paper proposes a novel algorithm to model correlations and cluster labels locally. LaCovaC is a multi-label decision tree classifier that clusters labels into several dependent subsets at various points during training. The clusters are obtained locally by identifying the conditionally-dependent labels in localised regions of the feature space using the label correlation matrix. LaCovaC interleaves between two main decisions on the label matrix with training instances in rows and labels in columns: splitting this matrix vertically by partitioning the labels into subsets, or splitting it horizontally using features in the conventional way. Experiments on 13 benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposal achieves competitive performance over a wide range of evaluation metrics when compared with the state-of-the-art multi-label classifiers

Kernel regression estimates of time delays between gravitationally lensed fluxes

Strongly lensed variable quasars can serve as precise cosmological probes, provided that time delays between the image fluxes can be accurately measured. A number of methods have been proposed to address this problem. In this paper, we explore in detail a new approach based on kernel regression estimates, which is able to estimate a single time delay given several datasets for the same quasar. We develop realistic artificial data sets in order to carry out controlled experiments to test of performance of this new approach. We also test our method on real data from strongly lensed quasar Q0957+561 and compare our estimates against existing results.Comment: Updated to match published versio

Ameliorative potential of stem bromelain on lead-induced toxicity in Wistar rats

The present study investigates the protective efficacy of stem bromelain against lead-induced toxicity in male Wistar rats. There were six experimental groups; Group I was negative control, Group II was administered only 20 mg/kg of stem bromelain. Group III and V were orally exposed to 30 mg/kg/day and 60 mg/kg/day of lead acetate, respectively. Group IV and Group VI were exposed to both low and high dose of lead acetate, respectively, and treated with 20 mg/kg stem bromelain. The experimental period was 21 days. The end points evaluated were, lead accumulation in kidney, liver and spleen, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, serum malonaldehyde (MDA) cholesterol and triglycerides levels. Co-administration of stem bromelain with lead markedly reduced the lead accumulation in the kidney and spleen. The treatment of stem bromelain also reduced the serum MDA levels in the group exposed to lower dose of lead and serum triglyceride level in the group exposed to higher dose of lead. The lead-induced modulated levels of serum ALT and AST were also alleviated by bromelain treatment. Our key findings suggest a chelating potential of stem bromelain for combating lead toxicity and oxidative stress. Bromelain represents a novel approach to the treatment of metal toxicity and metabolic disorders with a limited therapeutic window

Awareness of hypertension guidelines among family physicians in primary health care

AbstractBackgroundOnly 14% of patients on treatment achieve the recommended blood pressure target. Guidelines aim to assist clinicians in the management of patients with hypertension.ObjectivesThe primary purpose of the study was to survey family physicians(FPs) in Kuwait about their awareness, and to understand better their reasons for not implementing specific guidance within the WHO/ISH guidelines.MethodsThis study is a cross-sectional survey that was carried out in the five health regions of Kuwait. All PHC physicians who were currently working as FPs were asked to participate in the study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire of clinically oriented questions formulated on the basis of the 1999 World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH), as standard reference.ResultsThe study revealed that 49.1% and 42.1% of FPs were very familiar or somewhat familiar with the guidelines respectively, 92.1% were in agreement, and 79.8% indicated that they always or usually follow these guidelines when treating patients. Regarding the correct choice of the guideline statements, only 8.8% of the FPs choose correctly less than ten of the 20 statements, 64% choose 10 to less than 15, and only 27.2% choose ⩾15 statements. When asked about perceived patient barriers to blood pressure control, 84.0% of the respondents ranked overcrowded clinics as important or most important barrier to blood pressure control while, 87.4% considered lack of patient knowledge as important or most important barrier. Non availability of the drugs in the clinic was considered by 88.4% of the physicians, and poor adherence to antihypertensive drugs by 90.1%.ConclusionThere is a need to establish nationwide educational and quality monitoring programs to facilitate the correct implementation of hypertension guidelines in PHC clinical practices in Kuwait

Experimental investigation on the impact of connate water salinity on dispersion coefficient in consolidated rocks cores during enhanced gas recovery by CO2 injection

Connate water salinity is a vital property of the reservoir and its influence on the displacement efficiency cannot be overemphasised. Despite the numerous analytical literatures on the dispersion behaviour of CO2 in CH4 at different parametric conditions, studies have so far been limited to systematic effects of the process while parameters such as connate water salinity of the reservoir has not been given much attention and this could redefine the CO2-CH4 interactions in the reservoir. This study aims to experimentally determine the effect of connate water salinity on the dispersion coefficient in consolidated porous media under reservoir conditions. A laboratory core flooding experiment depicting the detailed process of the CO2-CH4 displacement using Grey Berea sandstone core sample at a temperature of 50°C and at a pressure of 1300 psig was carried out to determine the optimum injection rate, from 0.2-0.5 ml/min, for the experimentation based on dispersion coefficients and methane recovery in the horizontal orientation. This was established to be 0.3 ml/min. At the same conditions, the effects of connate water saturation of 10% and a salinity of 0 (distilled water), 5, and 10% wt. with a CO2 injection rate of 0.3 ml/min on the dispersion coefficients was investigated. The results from the core flooding process indicated that the dispersion coefficient decreases with increasing salinity, hence the higher the density of the immobile phase (connate water) the lower the dispersion of CO2 into CH4. This is a significant finding given that the inclusion of the connate water and its salinity have an effect on the mixing of the gases in the core sample and should be given importance and included during simulation studies for field scale applications of Enhanced Gas Recovery (EGR). This is the first experimental investigation into the relationship between the connate water salinity and the dispersion coefficient in consolidated porous media. Keywords: Enhanced Gas Recovery; Dispersion Coefficient; Connate water Salinity; CO2 sequestratio

Estocada: Stockage Hybride et Ré-écriture sous Contraintes d'Intégrité

National audienceLa production croissante de données numériques a conduit a l'´ emergence d'une grande variété de systemes de gestion de données (Data Management Systems, ou DMS). Dans ce contexte, les applications a usage intensif de données ont besoin (i) d' accéder a des données hétérogenes de grande taille (" Big Data "), ayant une structure potentiellement complexe, et (ii) de manipuler des données de façon efficace afin de garantir une bonne performance de l'application. Comme ces différents systemes sont spécialisés sur certaines opérations mais sont moins performants sur d'autres, il peut s' avérer essentiel pour une application d'utiliser plusieurs DMS en même temps. Dans ce contexte nous présentons Estocada, une application donnant la possibilité de tirer profit simultanément de plusieurs DMSs et permettant une manipulation efficace et automatique de données de grande taille et hétérogenes, offrant ainsi un meilleur support aux applications a usage intensif de données. Dans Estocada, les données sont reparties dans plusieurs fragments qui sont stockés dans différents DMSs. Pour répondrè a une requêtè a partir de ces fragments , Estocada est basé sur la reecriture de requêtes sous contraintes; cesdernìeres sont utilisées pour représenter les différents modeles de données et la répartition des fragments entre les differents DMSs