College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Relationship between Live-In Grandparents and Grandchild’s Health and Well-Being in Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon(MDPI, 2022-12-26) Sheikomar, Olfat B.; Ghattas, Hala; Sahyoun, Nadine R.Grandparents (GP) play influential roles in grandchildren’s health, behavior, and life. However, this relationship has not been examined in the Arab region. This study assesses whether the presence of GP in the household is associated with grandchildren’s health and wellbeing. Health status was determined by a child experiencing chronic health conditions or an acute illness, and wellbeing was determined based on school attendance and child labor. Data were collected through surveys conducted in 2010 and 2015 of representative samples of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. Multivariate logistic regression showed that, even after controlling for potential confounders, including the presence of parents in the household and household food insecurity (FI), the presence of live-in GP was associated with lower odds of children experiencing acute illnesses (OR 0.74 95% CI 0.62–0.92) and higher odds of attending school (OR 2.22 95% CI 1.28–5.33), but not child labor. The presence of GP in the household may be protective to grandchildren’s health status and school attendance in this population.Item The effect of feeding mixed tocopherol oil on body accumulation and immune cell functions in lactating holstein dairy cows(2017) QU, YANG; Moyes, Kasey M; Animal Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Non-α-tocopherol (i.e. β, γ, and δ-tocopherol) supplements are as important as α-tocopherol with regard to maintaining lactating dairy cow health. However, information on non-α-tocopherol bioaccumulation and its effects on immune cell function is not available. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of mixed tocopherol oil supplement (Tmix; i.e. α, β, γ, and δ-tocopherol) on body accumulation and immune cell functions of the lactating Holstein dairy cow. Tissue, tissue mitochondria, blood and milk were collected from lactating dairy cows to measure the concentration of all four tocopherol isoforms via Tmix supplementation. In addition, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) were isolated to investigate the effect of Tmix on its function and immune gene expression. In the first experiment, Tmix increased γ-tocopherol concentrations but did not increase the α-tocopherol concentration in three different types of tissues (i.e. liver, mammary gland and muscle) and liver mitochondria. Within those three different types of tissues, liver showed the highest ability to store tocopherol isoforms (i.e. α- and γ-tocopherol) compared to the other two tissues. Also, amounts of α- and γ-tocopherol were detected in liver mitochondria, but limited amounts were detected in mammary gland mitochondria. In the following experiment, Tmix increased γ-tocopherol concentration in milk and blood as determined via every 8 h and daily measurements. Compared to γ-tocopherol, α-tocopherol showed the highest concentration of the tocopherol isoforms in milk and blood. Limited quantities of β- and δ-tocopherol were detected in milk and blood via Tmix supplementation. In the last experiment, Tmix increased PMN chemotaxis function and did not impair the whole blood respiratory burst response of dairy cows, which might be associated with non-α-tocopherol existing in Tmix. Even though Tmix increased the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in PMN, those are needed during the initial immune activation. Overall, the results of the experiments demonstrated that short-term supplementation with Tmix could compensate γ-tocopherol without altering α-tocopherol in dairy cows. The liver showed the highest capability of accumulating tocopherol isoforms compared to the mammary gland and muscle. In addition, Tmix did not harm immune functions or have any apparent effects on animal health in lactating Holstein dairy cows.Item Electronic Interventions to Improve Health Behaviors in College Students(2014) Schweitzer, Amy; Lei, David K.Y.; Nutrition; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Introduction: In transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, college students are faced with significant challenges to their health habits. Time, independence and stress have been known to result in poor eating and exercise habits which can lead to increased disease risk. Objective: To assess whether an electronic health intervention can improve health habits in college students. Methods: A 24-week diet and physical activity program was delivered by e-mail to 148 college students. The intervention involved weekly tailored, interactive diet and physical activity goals. The control group received non-diet-non-exercise-related health fact sheets. Baseline, 12-week, and 24-week diet and physical activity surveys were completed online. BMI, neck circumference, waist circumference, and percent fat mass (FM%) by bioelectrical impedance analysis were measured at baseline, week 12 and week 24. Results: Students were 18-20 years old 70% female from a diverse college campus (46% Caucasian, 23% Asian, 20% African American, 5% Hispanic, and 6% other). At baseline, 23% were overweight/obese by BMI, 88% reported consuming <5 fruits and vegetables daily, 59% consumed >10% of kcalories from saturated fat, although 91% met or exceeded 150 minutes/week of moderate-vigorous exercise. Seventy-one percent of students completed all study visits. Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant treatment by linear time interaction for saturated fat. A significant change from baseline saturated fat intake was detected between the treatment groups at week 24 (mean change ± standard error 0.7±0.42% of kcal for control and -0.3±0.30% of kcal for intervention). Differences in saturated fat intake between the two treatment groups were more evident in those whose intake exceeded recommendations. BMI, neck circumference, waist circumference, FM%, weekly minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity as well as intake of fruit, vegetables, and added sugar were not significantly different between treatment groups. Conclusion: College students enrolled in an interactive electronic health intervention decreased saturated fat intake compared to control. Furthermore, the decrease observed in the intervention group was mainly due to those whose intake of saturated fat intake was above the recommended 10% of total kcalories. Further development of the electronic intervention program is needed to maximize health benefits in college students.Item An analysis of regulatory decisions on food-use pesticides under the Food Quality and Protection Act(2012) Newcomb, Elisabeth Jo; Cropper, Maureen L; Agricultural and Resource Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To ensure the safety of older pesticides used in the United States, the EPA required the reregistration of pesticide uses which were first introduced before 1984. Using a dataset of reregistration outcomes for 2722 pesticide uses applied to food crops, I analyze the extent to which these decisions were determined by chronic health risks, pesticide expenditures, and other factors. I find that the dietary health risks associated with pesticides are had greater influence on actions to reduce dietary and occupational exposures than on pesticide cancellations. High population dietary risks are associated with higher rates of pesticide cancellations, though these results are insignificant. There is evidence that the EPA was more responsive to child and infant dietary risks: values above the EPA's threshold of concern were more than 10% more likely to be cancelled than those that were not (significant at the 10% level). The effects of cancer risks on EPA actions are more ambiguous, though this may be due to data limitations. The less safe pesticides are for handlers, the more often they are cancelled, but pesticide safety has a more significant correlation with reentry intervals. A one percent decrease in the safety of a pesticide to handlers predicts a reduction in reentry interval of 1.6 days (significant at the 5% level). Expenditures on individual pesticides have a strong relationship with pesticide reregistration, with an additional half million dollars in expenditures predicting a 2% increase in the probability of reregistration (significant at the 1% level). Expenditures are not so correlated with reentry intervals or changes in pesticide tolerances. After accounting for dietary risk and pesticide expenditures, Monsanto and Dow were most likely to have uses reregistered. Though there was some concern that small crops with low pesticide expenditures would suffer extra cancellations, small crop uses were no more likely to be cancelled than large crop uses. Mentions of individual pesticides in the media had no apparent relationship with the outcome of reregistration decisions.Item Dietary Patterns, Metabolic Risk and Survival in Older Adults(2008-10-28) Anderson, Amy Louise; Sahyoun, Nadine R.; Nutrition; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: Recent evidence suggests that older adults' diets can appreciably impact their health. Dietary patterns may better capture the multifaceted effects of diet on health than individual nutrients or foods. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the dietary patterns of a cohort of older adults, and examine relationships with body composition, insulin sensitivity, systemic inflammation, and survival. The influence of a polymorphism in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) gene was considered. Design: The Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study is a prospective cohort study of 3075 older adults. Participants' body composition, genetic variation, glucose metabolism, systemic inflammation, and vital status were evaluated in detail. Food intake was assessed with a modified Block food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and dietary patterns were derived by cluster analysis. Results: Six clusters were identified, including a 'Healthy foods' cluster characterized by higher intake of lowfat dairy products, fruit, whole grains, poultry, fish and vegetables. An interaction was found between dietary pattern and PPAR-γ Pro12Ala genotype in relation to body composition. While Pro homozygotes in the 'Healthy foods' cluster did not differ significantly in body composition from those in other clusters, men with the Ala allele in the 'Healthy foods' cluster had significantly lower adiposity than those in other clusters. The 'Healthy foods' cluster had lower fasting insulin and HOMA-IR values than the 'High-fat dairy products' and 'Breakfast cereal' clusters, while no differences were found in fasting or 2-hour glucose. With respect to inflammation, the 'Healthy foods' cluster had lower levels of IL-6 than the 'High-fat dairy products' and 'Sweets and desserts' clusters, and did not differ in CRP or TNF-α. The 'Healthy foods' cluster also had a lower risk of mortality than the 'High-fat dairy products' and 'Sweets and desserts' clusters, and more years of healthy life and more optimal nutritional status than the other clusters. Conclusion: A dietary pattern consistent with current guidelines to consume relatively high amounts of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, poultry, fish and lowfat dairy products may reduce the metabolic risk and improve the nutritional status, quality of life and survival of older adults.