Changes in the PQRST intervals and heart rate variability associated with rewarming in two newborns undergoing hypothermia therapy.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effects of hypothermia therapy and subsequent rewarming on the PQRST intervals and heart rate variability (HRV) in term newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). OBJECTIVES: This study describes the changes in the PQRST intervals and HRV during rewarming to normal core body temperature of 2 newborns with HIE after hypothermia therapy. METHODS: Within 6 h after birth, 2 newborns with HIE were cooled to a core body temperature of 33.5 degrees C for 72 h using a cooling blanket, followed by gradual rewarming (0.5 degrees C per hour) until the body temperature reached 36.5 degrees C. Custom instrumentation recorded the electrocardiogram from the leads used for clinical monitoring of vital signs. Generalized linear mixed models were calculated to estimate temperature-related changes in PQRST intervals and HRV. Results: For every 1 degrees C increase in body temperature, the heart rate increased by 9.2 bpm (95% CI 6.8-11.6), the QTc interval decreased by 21.6 ms (95% CI 17.3-25.9), and low and high frequency HRV decreased by 0.480 dB (95% CI 0.052-0.907) and 0.938 dB (95% CI 0.460-1.416), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Hypothermia-induced changes in the electrocardiogram should be monitored carefully in future studies.

Food advertisements during children's television programming in 2007: Comparison with ads in 1994 and the 2005 dietary recommendations

Childhood overweight and obesity are two major public health problems that are of economic and medical concern in the world today (Lobstein, Baur, & Uauy, 2004). Overweight conditions in childhood are important because they are widely prevalent, serious, and carry lifetime consequences for health and well being (Lobstein et al., 2004). Several studies have shown an association between television viewing and obesity in all age groups (Caroli, Argentieri, Cardone, & Masi, 2004; Harper, 2006; Vandewater & Huang, 2006; Wiecha et al., 2006). One mechanism that potentially links television viewing to childhood obesity is food advertising (Story, 2003). ^ The purpose of this study was to examine the types of foods advertised on children's television programming and to determine if there have been any changes in the number and types of commercials over the last 13 years. In addition, the food content of the advertisements was compared to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines to determine if the foods targeted were consistent with the current recommendations. Finally, each television network was analyzed individually to determine any differences between advertising on cable and regular programming. ^ A descriptive analysis was conducted on the most commonly advertised commercials during children's television programming on Saturday morning from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. A total of 10 major television networks were viewed on three different Saturday mornings during June and July 2007. Commercial advertising accounted for approximately 19% of children's total viewing time. Of the 3,185 commercials, 28.5% were for foods, 67.7% were for non-food items, and 3.8% were PSAs. On average, there were 30 commercial advertisements and PSAs per hour, of which approximately nine were for food. ^ Of the 907 food advertisements, 72.0% were for foods classified in the fats, oils, and sugar group. The next largest group (17.3%) was for restaurant food of which 15.3% were for unhealthy/fast food restaurant fare. The most frequently advertised food product on Saturday morning television was regular cereal, accounting for 43.9% of all food advertisements. ^ Cable and regular programming stations varied slightly in the amount, length, and category of commercials. Cable television had about 50% less commercials and PSAs (1098) than regular programming (2087), but only had approximately 150 minutes less total commercial and PSA time; therefore, cable, in general, had longer commercials than regular programming. Overall, cable programming had more advertisements encouraging increased physical activity and positive nutrition behavior with less commercials focusing on the fats, oils, and sugar groups, compared to regular programming. ^ During the last 13 years, food advertisements have not improved, despite the recent IOM report on marketing foods to children (Institute of Medicine-Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth, 2005), although the frequency of food advertisements has improved slightly. Children are now viewing an average of one food advertisement every 7 minutes, compared to one food advertisement every 5 minutes in 1994 (Kotz & Story, 1994). Therefore, manufacturers are putting a greater emphasis on advertising other products to children. Despite the recent attention to the issue of marketing unhealthy foods to children through television advertisements, not much progress has been noted since 1994. Further advocacy and regulatory issues concerning the content of advertisements during Saturday morning TV need to be explored. ^

Assessment of US Air Force student pilots with intermittent monofixation syndrome on a non-stereoptic dependent flight maneuver in pilot training

The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) and Aeromedical Consult Service (ACS) have developed waiver criteria for pilots with subtle substandard depth perception. This is to allow United States Air Force (USAF) pilots with mild depth perception deficiency to continue flying duties while limiting the risk to flight safety and ensuring the availability of costly human resources. From 1999 to 2005, 166 aviators were given waivers for intermittent monofixation syndrome (IMFS). Of these, 96 were student pilots who performed slightly worse at stereoptic dependent flight maneuvers than student pilots (8,907) with normal depth perception (Lowry, 2006).^ This study's purpose is to evaluate the performance of the extended-trail maneuver, a non-stereoptic dependent flying maneuver, as executed by a cohort of 12 United States Air Force student pilots with intermittent monofixation syndrome versus the cohort of 100 student pilots with normal depth perception. These subjects are extracted from the cohorts examined by Lowry (2006) and the null hypothesis predicts no statistical difference in the performance of the non-stereoptic dependant flight maneuver extended-trail between student pilots with intermittent monofixation syndrome and those without the condition. ^