Stress is known to trigger seizures in patients with epilepsy, highlighting the physiological stress response as a possible therapeutic target for epilepsy treatment. Nevertheless, little is currently known about how a genetic predisposition to epilepsy interacts with the stress response to influence seizure outcome. To address this question, we examined the effect of acute stress on seizure outcome in mice with mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) gene Scn8a. Scn8a mutants display spontaneous spike-wave discharges (SWDs) characteristic of absence epilepsy. We saw that the baseline frequency of SWDs in Scn8a mutants correlates closely with the diurnal activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, with a peak in seizure activity occurring at around the same time as the peak in corticosterone (1700h–1900h). A 20-minute acute restraint stress administered in the morning increases the frequency of spontaneous SWDs immediately following the stressor. Seizure frequency then returns to baseline levels within three hours after stressor exposure, but the subsequent evening peak in seizure frequency is delayed and broadened, changes that persist into the next evening and are accompanied by long-lasting changes in HPA axis activity. Scn8a mutants also show increased anxiety-like behavior in mildly stressful situations. A 20-minute acute restraint stress can also increase the severity and duration of chemically induced seizures in Scn8a mutants, changes that differ from wild-type littermates. Overall, our data show that a voltage-gated sodium channel mutation can alter the behavioral response to stress and can interact with the stress response to alter seizure outcome.

This study aims to examine children’s fruit, vegetable, and added sugar consumption relative to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Heart Association’s recommendations, as well as to compare children’s reported consumption with parental perception of the child’s overall diet quality. Data were drawn from 2 independent, cross sectional panels (2009–10 and 2014–15) of the New Jersey Child Health Study. The analytical sample included 2229 households located in five New Jersey cities. Daily consumption of fruit (cups), vegetables (cups), and added sugars (teaspoons) for all children (3–18 years old) were based on parent reports. Multivariate linear regression analyses estimated children’s adjusted fruit, vegetable, and added sugar consumption across parents’ perception categories (Disagree; Somewhat Agree; and Strongly Agree that their child eats healthy). Although only a small proportion of children meet recommendations, the majority of parents strongly agreed that their child ate healthy. Nonetheless, significant differences, in the expected direction, were observed in vegetable and fruit consumption (but not sugar) across parental perceptional categories for most age/sex groups. Dietary interventions tailored to parents should include specific quantity and serving-size information for fruit and vegetable recommendations, based on their child’s age/sex, and highlight sources of added sugar and their sugar content.

BACKGROUND:The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 supported implementation of school gardens for promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. We examined school garden prevalence over time by school-level factors during the period before and after the implementation of HHFKA. METHODS:Using data from the New Jersey Child Health Study, conducted in 4 low-income New Jersey cities, prevalence of school gardens among K-12 schools (n = 148) was assessed between school year 2010-2011 and 2017-2018. Multivariable analysis estimated changes in garden prevalence over time adjusting for school-level factors. RESULTS:Overall, the sample included 97 elementary and 51 middle/high schools. Multivariable logistic regression showed that compared to 2010-2011 (19%) a higher proportion of schools reported having a garden in 2013-2014 (32%, p = 0.025). Over the entire study period, schools with majority Hispanic student enrollment had approximately half the odds of having a garden compared to schools with majority Black students (p = 0.036). CONCLUSION:School garden prevalence increased in the year immediately following the implementation of the HHFKA but this increase was not sustained over time. Future research should investigate the reasons for this decline and potential disparities by race/ethnicity.

The leading cause of visual impairment is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an irreversible eye disorder that causes permanent blindness. AMD is projected to rise from 196 million to 288 million cases worldwide by 2040. AMD can be caused by high-energy light exposure, which leads to oxidative damage that deforms pigment cells protecting the retina. Like humans, Drosophila melanogaster contain varying amounts of retinal pigment. The purpose and novelty of this research is to ascertain the efficacy of various pigments against blue and UV light, and the relative severity of each light on the retina. Flies were exposed to blue and UV light to induce retinal degeneration, which was quantitatively measured through the FLEYE software by analyzing the irregularity of eye units. Results suggest that more severe retinal degeneration is caused by blue light, followed by UV, then white light across white eyes, red eyes, and sepia eyes (significant p-values of 0.00005, 0.00090, and 0.00014, respectively), and that white eyes undergo the most degeneration when exposed to blue or UV light, followed by red eyes, then sepia eyes (significant p-values of 0.04710 and 0.04765, respectively). However, pigment did not make a significant difference for flies under white light (p-value of 0.06420). Future work could investigate genes or antioxidant supplementation as potential treatments for AMD. This research provides insight into the prominence of high-energy light in inducing retinal degeneration, and the potential for retinal melanin in preventing it, improving the currently limited understanding of AMD.

No abstract