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Determining the factors associated with the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods in the household may help in understanding the varying complexities that contribute to obesity among children and help design interventions to impact children's food consumption behaviors. This study examined factors that are associated with the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods in children's home food environments (HFE). Data was collected from a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 1708 households, with at least one child between 3-18 years of age, located in five low-income New Jersey cities. HFE was assessed based on responses to a set of six items that measured availability of specific healthy and unhealthy foods in the respondent's home. These items contributed to construction of three HFE scales used as dependent variables in these analyses: healthy HFE, unhealthy HFE, and a ratio of healthy to unhealthy foods in the HFE. Independent variables included household socio-demographics, parental perceptions of their own weight and diet health, frequency of family meals, proximity to food outlets, and perception of access to healthy foods in the neighborhood food environment. Significant differences were observed in the HFE by race and ethnicity, with Non-Hispanic black children having fewer healthy foods and Non-Hispanic white children having more unhealthy food items available at home. Parents who reported being overweight or obese had a healthier HFE and those perceiving their own eating as healthy had more healthy and less unhealthy foods in the household. Food-secure households had more unhealthy compared to healthy foods at home. Households located farther from a supermarket had a greater number of unhealthy food items and a lower healthy/unhealthy food availability ratio. Parental perception of better access to fruits and vegetables and low-fat foods was associated with availability of a greater number of healthy food items at home. Overall, the HFE varied by parental and demographic characteristics, parental perceptions about the food environment and the actual features of the built neighborhood food environment.
ContributorsBerry, Andrea (Author) / Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam (Thesis advisor) / Johnston, Carol (Committee member) / Wharton, Christopher (Christopher Mack), 1977- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
We propose a novel solution to prevent cancer by developing a prophylactic cancer. Several sources of antigens for cancer vaccines have been published. Among these, antigens that contain a frame-shift (FS) peptide or viral peptide are quite attractive for a variety of reasons. FS sequences, from either mistake in RNA processing or in genomic DNA, may lead to generation of neo-peptides that are foreign to the immune system. Viral peptides presumably would originate from exogenous but integrated viral nucleic acid sequences. Both are non-self, therefore lessen concerns about development of autoimmunity. I have developed a bioinformatical approach to identify these aberrant transcripts in the cancer transcriptome. Their suitability for use in a vaccine is evaluated by establishing their frequencies and predicting possible epitopes along with their population coverage according to the prevalence of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) types. Viral transcripts and transcripts with FS mutations from gene fusion, insertion/deletion at coding microsatellite DNA, and alternative splicing were identified in NCBI Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) database. 48 FS chimeric transcripts were validated in 50 breast cell lines and 68 primary breast tumor samples with their frequencies from 4% to 98% by RT-PCR and sequencing confirmation. These 48 FS peptides, if translated and presented, could be used to protect more than 90% of the population in Northern America based on the prediction of epitopes derived from them. Furthermore, we synthesized 150 peptides that correspond to FS and viral peptides that we predicted would exist in tumor patients and we tested over 200 different cancer patient sera. We found a number of serological reactive peptide sequences in cancer patients that had little to no reactivity in healthy controls; strong support for the strength of our bioinformatic approach. This study describes a process used to identify aberrant transcripts that lead to a new source of antigens that can be tested and used in a prophylactic cancer vaccine. The vast amount of transcriptome data of various cancers from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project will enhance our ability to further select better cancer antigen candidates.
ContributorsLee, HoJoon (Author) / Johnston, Stephen A. (Thesis advisor) / Kumar, Sudhir (Committee member) / Miller, Laurence (Committee member) / Stafford, Phillip (Committee member) / Sykes, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The evaluation of nutritional status by dietary intake assessment is fundamental to nutrition research. Accurate assessment allows for health professional-moderated diet adjustment in order to promote disease prevention and management. However, dietary intake can be extremely challenging to measure properly as reliability and accuracy are essential. As technology use has become more prevalent in recent years, an assortment of online, web-based diet analysis methods have begun to emerge. Are these modern methods as accurate as the traditional methods? The aim of this study was to compare and contrast diet analyses from a feeding trial in which both subject-coded (using the Automated Self Administered 24 hour recall, or the ASA24) and investigator-coded (using the Food Processor diet analysis program) diet records were available. Sixty-four overweight (body mass index >27-40 kg/m2) members of a campus community between the ages of 20-45 were recruited for an 8-week parallel arm, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of two different pre-dinner meal snacks on satiety, calories consumed, and contribution to modest weight loss. As part of the study requirements, participants completed 3-day food logs at four different times during the trial: pre-trial, and week 1, 4, and 8. Participants also entered their dietary information into the ASA24 website the day after the intake was recorded by hand. Nutrient intake values were compared between the ASA24 records and the handwritten food logs. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistical Analysis version 19.0; bivariate analyses and Spearman correlation analyses were utilized. Energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intakes did correlate significantly between the two methodologies, though both under-reporting and over-reporting were found to exist. Carbohydrate and fiber intakes were under-reported by subjects; retinol, beta-carotene, and vitamin C amounts were over-reported. These results are consistent with previous findings in reporting differences and suggest that the ASA24 is a comparably accurate dietary tracking tool to the traditional diet record method.
ContributorsSchohl, Brooke (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Mayol-Kreiser, Sandra (Committee member) / Wharton, Christopher (Christopher Mack), 1977- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Immunosignaturing is a technology that allows the humoral immune response to be observed through the binding of antibodies to random sequence peptides. The immunosignaturing microarray is based on complex mixtures of antibodies binding to arrays of random sequence peptides in a multiplexed fashion. There are computational and statistical challenges to the analysis of immunosignaturing data. The overall aim of my dissertation is to develop novel computational and statistical methods for immunosignaturing data to access its potential for diagnostics and drug discovery. Firstly, I discovered that a classification algorithm Naive Bayes which leverages the biological independence of the probes on our array in such a way as to gather more information outperforms other classification algorithms due to speed and accuracy. Secondly, using this classifier, I then tested the specificity and sensitivity of immunosignaturing platform for its ability to resolve four different diseases (pancreatic cancer, pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes and panIN) that target the same organ (pancreas). These diseases were separated with >90% specificity from controls and from each other. Thirdly, I observed that the immunosignature of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular complications are unique, consistent, and reproducible and can be separated by 100% accuracy from controls. But when these two complications arise in the same person, the resultant immunosignature is quite different in that of individuals with only one disease. I developed a method to trace back from informative random peptides in disease signatures to the potential antigen(s). Hence, I built a decipher system to trace random peptides in type 1 diabetes immunosignature to known antigens. Immunosignaturing, unlike the ELISA, has the ability to not only detect the presence of response but also absence of response during a disease. I observed, not only higher but also lower peptides intensities can be mapped to antigens in type 1 diabetes. To study immunosignaturing potential for population diagnostics, I studied effect of age, gender and geographical location on immunosignaturing data. For its potential to be a health monitoring technology, I proposed a single metric Coefficient of Variation that has shown potential to change significantly when a person enters a disease state.
ContributorsKukreja, Muskan (Author) / Johnston, Stephen Albert (Thesis advisor) / Stafford, Phillip (Committee member) / Dinu, Valentin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Background: Research in animal models suggests that fish oil ingestion may impair immunity and increase risk for infection. To date there are no studies examining this relationship between fish oil ingestion and risk for infection in humans. Objective: The primary aim of this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-arm study was to examine the effect of 400 mg of EPA and 200 mg of DHA, the main components of fish oil (FO) supplements, on the incidence of symptoms related to upper respiratory tract infections in healthy young females, at a large southwestern university. Design: Healthy young women between 18 and 38 years of age who were non-obese (mean BMI 23.7 ± 0.6 kg/m2) were recruited from an urban southwestern university campus. Subjects were non-vegetarians, non-smokers, and reported consuming less than one serving (3.5 oz) of fish per week. Participants (n=26) were randomized according to age, body weight, BMI, and daily n-3 fatty acid (FA) intake into two groups: FO (one gel capsule of 600 mg EPA/DHA per day) or CO (one placebo gel capsule of 1000 mg coconut oil per day). Participants completed a validated daily cold symptom survey, the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey-21 for 8 weeks. Fasting blood samples measuring TNF-α concentrations were taken at weeks 1 and 8, when 24-hour dietary recalls were also performed. Anthropometric measurements were recorded via bioelectrical impedance at trial weeks 1, 4, and 8. Results: The 8-week trial of FO supplementation did not significantly change the average score for perception of cold symptoms between FO and CO groups (167 ± 71 and 185 ± 56, p=0.418, respectively). Plasma TNF-α levels (pg/mL) did not differ between groups (p=0.482). TNF-α levels were significantly correlated with body weight (r=0.480, p=0.037), BMI (r=0.481, p=0.037, and percent body fat (r=0.511, p=0.025) at baseline. Conclusions: Healthy young women taking a fish oil supplement of 400 mg EPA and 200 mg DHA per day over 8 weeks does not impose unintentional health consequences. These findings do not refute the American Heart Association's current recommendations for all Americans to consume two servings (3.5 oz) of a variety of oily fish per week. Depending on the type of fish, this current recommendation equates to approximately 200-300 mg per day of EPA and DHA n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Additional research is needed to investigate the effects of higher dosages of fish oils on daily cold symptoms.
ContributorsGutierrez, Megan (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Appel, Christy (Committee member) / Martin, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Cancer claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year in US alone. Finding ways for early detection of cancer onset is crucial for better management and treatment of cancer. Thus, biomarkers especially protein biomarkers, being the functional units which reflect dynamic physiological changes, need to be discovered. Though important, there are only a few approved protein cancer biomarkers till date. To accelerate this process, fast, comprehensive and affordable assays are required which can be applied to large population studies. For this, these assays should be able to comprehensively characterize and explore the molecular diversity of nominally "single" proteins across populations. This information is usually unavailable with commonly used immunoassays such as ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) which either ignore protein microheterogeneity, or are confounded by it. To this end, mass spectrometric immuno assays (MSIA) for three different human plasma proteins have been developed. These proteins viz. IGF-1, hemopexin and tetranectin have been found in reported literature to show correlations with many diseases along with several carcinomas. Developed assays were used to extract entire proteins from plasma samples and subsequently analyzed on mass spectrometric platforms. Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometric techniques where used due to their availability and suitability for the analysis. This resulted in visibility of different structural forms of these proteins showing their structural micro-heterogeneity which is invisible to commonly used immunoassays. These assays are fast, comprehensive and can be applied in large sample studies to analyze proteins for biomarker discovery.
ContributorsRai, Samita (Author) / Nelson, Randall (Thesis advisor) / Hayes, Mark (Thesis advisor) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / Ros, Alexandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The unpleasant bitter taste found in many nutritious vegetables may deter people from consuming a healthy diet. We investigated individual differences in taste perception and whether these differences influence the effectiveness of bitterness masking. To test whether phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) `supertasters' also taste salt and sugar with greater intensity, as suggested by Bartoshuk and colleagues (2004), we infused strips of paper with salt water or sugar water. The bitterness rating of the PTC strip had a significant positive linear relationship with ratings of both the intensity of sweet and salt, but the effect sizes were very low, suggesting that the PTC strip does not give a complete picture of tasting ability. Next we investigated whether various seasonings could mask the bitter taste of vegetables and whether this varied with tasting ability. We found that sugar decreased bitterness and lemon decreased liking for vegetables of varying degrees of bitterness. The results did not differ by ability to taste any of the flavors. Therefore, even though there are remarkable individual differences in taste perception, sugar can be used to improve the initial palatability of vegetables and increase their acceptance and consumption.
ContributorsWilkie, Lynn Melissa (Author) / Phillips, Elizabeth D. (Thesis advisor) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Johnston, Carol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Many people with or at risk for diabetes have difficulty maintaining normal postprandial blood glucose levels (120-140 mg/dl). Research has shown that vinegar decreases postprandial glycemia. The purpose of this study was to examine a possible mechanism by which vinegar decreases postprandial glycemia, particularly the effect of vinegar ingestion on gut fermentation. In this parallel arm randomized control trial, the effects of daily ingestion of vinegar on gut fermentation markers were observed among adults at risk for type 2 diabetes in Phoenix, Arizona. Subjects (n=14) were randomly assigned to treatments consisting of a vinegar drink (1.5g acetic acid) or a placebo (2 vinegar pills containing 40mg acetic acid each). All participants were required to consume the vinegar drink (16 oz) or 2 placebo pills every day for 12 weeks. At week 12, participants filled out a questionnaire to report gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and three consecutive breath samples were taken from each subject to measure fasting breath hydrogen (BH2) with a breath analyzer. Fasting BH2 measures for the vinegar drink group (16.1+11.8 ppm) were significantly different than those from the pill group (3.6+1.4) with a partial eta squared of 0.39 (p=0.023). After adjusting for age as a confounding factor (r=0.406) and removing an outlier, fasting BH2 measures for the vinegar drink group (4.3+1.1 ppm) were still significantly different than those from the pill group (3.6+1.4) with a partial eta squared of 0.35 (p=0.045). Participants in both groups reported mild changes in GI symptoms. In conclusion, adults at risk for type 2 diabetes that consume 2 tablespoons of vinegar a day may have increased gut fermentation compared to those who do not consume vinegar.
ContributorsWhite, Serena (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Appel, Christy (Committee member) / Martin, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT This randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover study examined the effects of a preprandial, 20g oral dose of apple cider vinegar (ACV) on colonic fermentation and glycemia in a normal population, with the ultimate intention of identifying the mechanisms by which vinegar has been shown to reduce postprandial glycemia and insulinemia. Fifteen male and female subjects were recruited, ages 20-60y, who had no prior history of gastrointestinal (GI) disease or resections impacting normal GI function, were non-smokers, were non-vegetarian/vegan, were not taking any medications known to alter (glucose) metabolism, and were free of chronic disease including diabetes. Subjects were instructed to avoid exercise, alcohol and smoking the day prior to their trials and to consume a standardized, high-carbohydrate dinner meal the eve prior. There was a one-week washout period per subject between appointments. Breath hydrogen, serum insulin and capillary glucose were assessed over 3 hours after a high-starch breakfast meal to evaluate the impact of preprandial supplementation with ACV or placebo (water). Findings confirmed the antiglycemic effects of ACV as documented in previous studies, with significantly lower mean blood glucose concentrations observed during ACV treatment compared to the placebo at 30 min (p=0.003) and 60 min (p=0.005), and significantly higher mean blood glucose concentrations at 180 min (p=0.045) postprandial. No significant differences in insulin concentrations between treatments. No significant differences were found between treatments (p>0.05) for breath hydrogen; however, a trend was observed between the treatments at 180 min postprandial where breath hydrogen concentration was visually perceived as being higher with ACV treatment compared to the placebo. Therefore, this study failed to support the hypothesis that preprandial ACV ingestion produces a higher rate of colonic fermentation within a 3 hour time period following a high-carbohydrate meal. Due to variations in experiment duration noted in other literature, an additional study of similar nature with an expanded specimen collections period, well beyond 3 hours, is warranted.
ContributorsMedved, Emily M (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Shepard, Christina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The various health benefits of vinegar ingestion have been studied extensively in the<br/>literature. Moreover, emerging research suggests vinegar may also have an effect on mental<br/>health. Beneficial effects of certain diets on mood have been reported, however, the mechanisms<br/>are unknown. The current study aimed to determine if vinegar ingestion positively affects mood<br/>state in healthy young adults. This was a randomized, single blinded controlled trial consisting of<br/>25 subjects. Participants were randomly assigned to either the vinegar group (consumed 2<br/>tablespoons of liquid vinegar diluted in one cup water twice daily with meals) or the control<br/>group (consumed one vinegar pill daily with a meal), and the intervention lasted 4 weeks.<br/>Subjects completed mood questionnaires pre- and post-intervention. Results showed a significant<br/>improvement in CES-D and POMS-Depression scores for the vinegar group compared to the<br/>control. This study suggests that vinegar ingestion may improve depressive symptoms in healthy<br/>young adults.
ContributorsWilliams, Susanna (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Whisner, Corrie (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05