Objective: Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is known to be proportional to body weight and to follow allometric scaling principles. We hypothesized that RMR can be predicted from an allometric formula with weight alone as an independent variable. Research Methods and Procedures: An allometric, powerlaw scaling model was fit to RMR measurements obtained from a cohort of patients being treated for weight loss. This, as well as many of the commonly used RMR-predicting formulas, was tested for RMR prediction ability against a large publicly available RMR database. Bland-Altman analysis was used to determine the efficacy of the various RMR-predicting formulas in obese and non-obese subjects. Results: Power law modeling of the RMR-body weight relationship yielded the following RMR-predicting equations: RMR Women ϭ 248 ϫ Weight 0.4356 Ϫ (5.09 ϫ Age) and RMR Men ϭ 293 ϫ Weight 0.4330 Ϫ (5.92 ϫ Age). Partial correlation analysis revealed that age significantly contributed to RMR variance and was necessary to include in RMR prediction formulas. The James, allometric, and Harris-Benedict formulas all yielded reasonable RMR predictions for normal sized and obese subjects.Discussion: A simple power formula relating RMR to body weight can be a reasonable RMR estimator for normal-sized and obese individuals but still requires an age term and separate formulas for men and women for the best possible RMR estimates. The apparent performance of RMR-predicting formulas is highly dependent on the methodology employed to compare the various formulas.

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BackgroundEarly adolescents perceive peers as credible and relatable. Peers therefore have a unique conduit to engage early adolescents in positive health behaviors through nutrition learning such as that recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM).PurposeWe developed an online, peer leader component to an existing in-person preventive nutrition intervention called NutriBee. We reasoned that youth ages 13–18 could create intervention materials that could remain engaging, credible and relatable to younger peers ages 10–12 online. Peer leaders could potentially derive health benefits from their service-learning experience.MethodsFrom 2013–2014 youth could apply online to relate a personal interest to nutrition, an opportunity promoted at NutriBee pilot sites and through social media. The peer leaders with diverse backgrounds honed original ideas into tangible projects with the support of adult subject-matter experts chosen by the youth. Nutrition expertise was provided by NutriBee staff who then also converted the youth-invented projects from various media into an online curriculum.Results19 of 27 (70%) of selected youth from 12 states and diverse backgrounds, created an online curriculum comprising 10% of NutriBee’s 20-hour intervention. All 19 online projects modeled 1 or more of NutriBee’s 10 positive health behaviors; 8 evoked the chemosenses; 6 conveyed food texture; and 13 provided social context. Peer leaders perceived career advancement and service learning benefits. The dose, pedagogic approach, and project content align with the IOM recommendation.ConclusionsYouth created intervention materials which communicate positive health behaviors online in ways peers can adopt. In a customarily sight-sound digital platform, youth leveraged the senses of smell, taste and touch and social context important for food selection. Peer leaders derived health benefit, as indirectly assessed by IOM criteria.

NutriBee successfully extended the impact of an IOM-aligned intervention to club and camp settings to which clinicians can refer at-risk early adolescents.

Parietal cell antibodies were present in 12% of 272 Peruvians presenting for endoscopy. Gender, age, socioeconomic status, ethnic background (Peruvian versus Japanese), and altitude at which the patient lived were not associated with the presence of parietal cell antibodies. No significant relationship could be shown between the presence of parietal cell antibodies and either Helicobacter pylori infection or gastric lesions, including chronic atrophic gastritis. Loss of proper gastric glands was significantly more common in patients who had H. pylori infection than in those in whom no H. pylori was found on biopsy (78 of 114 (85%) versus 14 of 36 (39%); p = 0.002). Our data suggest that, although parietal cell antibodies are present in third-world populations, they are unrelated to H. pylori infection and that pathologic changes associated with this infection are not mediated by the action of parietal cell antibodies on the cells of the stomach.