Peter Larsen

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the impact of restaurant menu calorie labels on food choices and intake. METHODS: Participants in a study dinner (n=303) were randomly assigned to either (1) a menu without calorie labels (no calorie labels), (2) a menu with calorie labels (calorie labels), or (3) a menu with calorie labels and a label stating the recommended daily caloric intake for an average adult (calorie labels plus information). Food choices and intake during and after the study dinner were measured. RESULTS: Participants in both calorie label conditions ordered fewer calories than those in the no calorie labels condition. When calorie label conditions were combined, that group consumed 14% fewer calories than the no calorie labels group. Individuals in the calorie labels condition consumed more calories after the study dinner than those in both other conditions. When calories consumed during and after the study dinner were combined, participants in the calorie labels plus information group consumed an average of 250 fewer calories than those in the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Calorie labels on restaurant menus impacted food choices and intake; adding a recommended daily caloric requirement label increased this effect, suggesting menu label legislation should require such a label. Future research should evaluate menu labeling's impact on children's food choices and consumption.

While platelet function has traditionally been described in the context of maintaining vascular integrity, recent evidence suggests that platelets can modulate inflammation in a much more sophisticated and nuanced manner than previously thought. Some aspects of this expanded repertoire of platelet function are mediated via expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs are a family of pattern recognition receptors that recognize pathogen-associated and damage-associated molecular patterns. Activation of these receptors is crucial for orchestrating and sustaining the inflammatory response to both types of danger signals. The TLR family consists of 10 known receptors, and there is at least some evidence that each of these are expressed on or within human platelets. This review presents the literature on TLR-mediated platelet activation for each of these receptors, and the existing understanding of platelet-TLR immune modulation. This review also highlights unresolved methodological issues that potentially contribute to some of the discrepancies within the literature, and we also suggest several recommendations to overcome these issues. Current understanding of TLR-mediated platelet responses in influenza, sepsis, transfusion-related injury and cardiovascular disease are discussed, and key outstanding research questions are highlighted. In summary, we provide a resource-a "researcher's toolkit"-for undertaking further research in the field of platelet-TLR biology.

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), peripheral oxygen saturation (pO2), expired CO2 (CO2), and behavior (using two scales) comparing nitrous oxide/oxygen (N2O) with oxygen (O2) alone in 20 children (mean age 45 +/- 5.1 months) sedated with chloral hydrate (CH) and hydroxyzine in a double-blind crossover design. Administration of CH (40 mg/kg) and hydroxyzine (2 mg/kg) was held constant for each patient visit; however, N2O (50%) was administered during one visit and O2 (100%) at the other in a randomly determined manner. Physiologic and behavioral parameters were collected during eight specific procedural events (e.g., administration of local anesthesia). Data were analyzed with a repeated-measures ANOVA, one-way ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal Wallis ANOVA, and descriptive statistics. There was no statistically significant difference in any physiologic or behavioral parameter as a function of inhalation agent. However, significant differences were found for certain physiological parameters (i.e., HR [F = 5.41, P < 0.001], pO2 [F = 6.04, P < 0.001], and CO2 [F = 2.33, P < 0.027]) and all behavioral measures (% crying [F = 2.82, P < 0.008], % quiet [F = 5.38, P < 0.001], % movement [F = 3.88, P < 0.001], and % struggle [F = 2.83, P < 0.007]) of one scale (Ohio State University Behavioral Rating Scale [OSUBRS]) as a function of procedural events. Although no statistically significant differences were attributable to inhalation agent, evidence suggests that N2O resulted in less crying and struggling and more quiet behaviors than O2. Significant correlations existed between sub-categories of the two behavioral rating scales, suggesting some association between the scales. One may conclude from the results of this study that moderate doses of CH and hydroxyzine in combination with nitrous oxide are not associated with any significant potentiation effects on physiologic parameters compared with the same oral agents with oxygen alone. Certain procedural events (e.g., administration of local anesthesia) do result in patient responses that affect specific behaviors and physiology. Although the effects of N2O may not be statistically significant, generally it produces an attenuation in physiological and behavioral responses as measured under the conditions of this study.

In 48 conscious resting subjects we examined the temporal coupling of heart beat timing and the onset of inspiration (cardioventilatory coupling), and the relationship between coupling and spectral indices of autonomic function. Using the proportional Shannon entropy (SH(alpha)) of the RI(-1) interval (interval between inspiration and the preceding ECG R wave) as a measure of coupling we detected statistically significant coupling in 32 of the 48 subjects. This was confirmed by visual inspection of time series plots of RI intervals, in which coupling was evident as horizontal banding. Coupling resulted in a significant preference for whole number heart rate/respiratory frequency ratios. The strongest coupling was associated with low ventilatory frequency and high heart rate variability in the high (0.15-0.40 Hz) and low (0.04-0.15 Hz) frequency ranges, but was not related to blood pressure variability, or to a spectral measure of baroreflex sensitivity (alpha-index, low frequency range). There was no difference in coupling strength between males and females. We have previously described cardioventilatory coupling in spontaneously breathing anaesthetised subjects. The current study extends those observations by demonstrating that the qualitative features of coupling seen during anaesthesia are also observed in the conscious state. We conclude that the role of coupling in normal physiological respiratory control needs to be more widely explored.