Process Evaluation of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Souls: A Church-Based Health Intervention Program in Baltimore City.

Process evaluation of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Souls: a church-based health intervention program in Baltimore City.

Health Educ Res. 2013 Mar 22;
Wang HE, Lee M, Hart A, Summers AC, Anderson Steeves E, Gittelsohn J

Soaring obesity rates in the United States demand comprehensive health intervention strategies that simultaneously address dietary patterns, physical activity, psychosocial factors and the food environment. Healthy Bodies, Healthy Souls (HBHS) is a church-based, community-participatory, cluster-randomized health intervention trial conducted in Baltimore City to reduce diabetes risk among urban African Americans by promoting healthy dietary intake, increased physical activity and improvement to the church food environment. HBHS was organized into five 3-8-week phases: Healthy Beverages, Healthy Desserts, Healthy Cooking, Healthy Snacking and Eating Out and Physical Activity. A three-part process evaluation was adopted to evaluate implementation success: an in-church instrument to assess the reach, dose delivered and fidelity of interactive sessions; a post-intervention exposure survey to assess individual-level dose received in a sample of congregants and an evaluation form to assess the church food environment. Print materials were implemented with moderate to high fidelity and high dose. Program reach was low, which may reflect inaccuracies in church attendance rather than study implementation issues. Intervention components with the greatest dose received were giveaways (42.0-61.7%), followed by taste tests (48.7-53.7%) and posters (34.3-65.0%). The dose received of general program information was moderate to high. The results indicate successful implementation of the HBHS program. HubMed – eating

Papaya preparation (Caricol®) in digestive disorders.

Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2013 Feb 25; 34(4): 38-46
Muss C, Mosgoeller W, Endler T

OBJECTIVE: Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is used as a natural remedy in abnormal digestion in tropical and industrialized countries. Besides this wide distribution little evidence has been produced with reference to its physiological effect in humans and the proof of efficacy. Former clinical observations had revealed positive effects for patients with constipation, heartburn, and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after eating papaya preparations. In line with these former positive clinical observations, we studied the clinical effects of the papaya preparation Caricol® in a double blind placebo controlled study design. METHODS: In this study the participants were volunteers, with chronic (prevailing) indigestions and dysfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract. During the trial the intake of the substance of intent and placebo was 20 ml daily for 40 days. The endpoints were the frequency of 22 symptoms recorded before and after the documented intake recorded by questionnaire. RESULTS: The symptoms “Constipation”, “Bloating”, and “Heartburn” were defined as primary and frequency of “painful (straining) bowel movements” as secondary endpoint. The participation ended after the intake period within two days (“early returnees”). Wash out effects were observed in “late returnees”, who returned with a delay of 8.6 (±5.95 days). In the verum group early returnees revealed statistically significant improvements of the symptoms “constipation” and “bloating”. The analysis of “heartburn” felt short of significant improvement because of the small number of included cases with this criteria (N=13, p=0.114). None of the significant benefits were observed after the washout phase. CONCLUSION: We conclude from these results, that the papaya preparation (Caricol®) contributes to the maintenance of digestive tract physiology. It ameliorates various functional disturbances, like symptoms of IBS. The mechanism of this digestive tract physiology support is discussed. HubMed – eating

Psychiatric disorders among women and men in assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. The Danish National ART-Couple (DANAC) cohort: protocol for a longitudinal, national register-based cohort study.

BMJ Open. 2013; 3(3):
Schmidt L, Hageman I, Hougaard CØ, Sejbaek CS, Assens M, Ebdrup NH, Pinborg A

INTRODUCTION: There are complex causal associations between mental disorders, fertility treatment, fertility treatment outcome and infertility per se. Eating disorders cause endocrine disturbances, anovulation and thereby infertility, and research has shown that infertility as well as unsuccessful assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment are potential risk factors for developing a depression on a long-term basis. Despite the fact that worldwide more than 400 000 ART treatment cycles are performed every year, the causal associations between mental disorders, use of medication for mental disorders and ART treatment in both sexes have only been sparsely explored. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: The main objective of this national register-based cohort study is to assess women’s and men’s mental health before, during, and after ART treatment in comparison with the mental health in an age-matched population-based cohort of couples with no history of ART treatment. Furthermore, the objective is to study the reproductive outcome of ART treatment among women who have a registered diagnosis of a mental disorder or have used medication for mental disorders prior to ART treatment compared with women in ART treatment without a mental disorder. We will establish the Danish National ART-Couple (DANAC) cohort including all women registered with ART treatment in the Danish in vitro fertilisation Register during 1994-2009 (N=42 915) and their partners. An age-matched population-based comparison cohort of women without ART treatment (n=215 290) and their partners will be established. Data will be cross-linked with data from national registers on psychiatric disorders, medical prescriptions for mental disorders, births, causes of deaths and sociodemographic data. Survival analyses and other statistical analyses will be conducted on the development of mental disorders and use of medication for mental disorders for women and men both prior to and after ART treatment. HubMed – eating

The Local Show: Eating Disorders – March 28 at 7pm – On Thursday, March 28th at 7:00pm, THE LOCAL SHOW presents a special episode on the important topic of eating disorders. Producer Cara Myers profiles Thalia …