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Objective. To examine the relationship between respiratory functioning and neuropsychological performance, mood, and frontal-lobe-mediated behaviors in ALS patients. Methods. Forty-four patients with probable or definite ALS (El Escorial criteria) completed comprehensive pulmonary and neuropsychological assessments as part of their baseline neurological evaluation. Based on their full vital respiratory capacity, 24 and 20 patients were classified as having impaired or intact respiration, respectively. Results. Comparable demographic characteristics, neuropsychological performance, and self-reported mood symptoms were found between ALS patients with intact versus impaired respiration. However, more respiratory-impaired patients were reported by their caregivers as having clinically significant impairments in frontal-lobe-mediated behaviors. Nevertheless, declines in behavior were evidenced from pre- to post-ALS symptom onset for both respiratory groups, and exploratory analyses revealed greater executive functioning deficits in patients with bulbar versus limb onset as well as respiratory-impaired patients not receiving pulmonary interventions versus those utilizing such interventions at the time of testing. Conclusions. Results suggest that the respiratory insufficiency of ALS patients may potentially produce irreversible deficits in executive functioning; yet once treated, impairments in more basic cognitive abilities may be less evident.

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Despite the health benefits, vegetable intake in youth remains below recommended levels. The purpose of our study was to compare two methods for increasing vegetable consumption. It was hypothesized that participants randomized to both the exposure-only and the pairing condition would increase their vegetable consumption and increase the variety of vegetables consumed. A total of 78 Mexican-American middle school-aged children from a charter school in Houston, TX, were randomized to a pairing condition (n=40) or an exposure-only condition (n=38) during the Spring 2009 semester. Children in the pairing condition were provided a preferred taste (peanut butter) paired with vegetables weekly at school during a nutrition class for 4 months. Children in the exposure-only condition received vegetables weekly during a nutrition class that covered the same material as the pairing condition. After 4 months, the pairing condition participants demonstrated significant increases in vegetable consumption (F=13.40, P<0.001) as well as variety of vegetables eaten (F=13.69, P<0.001) when compared to those in the exposure-only condition. The findings of this study suggest that the pairing of vegetables with a preferred taste, such as peanut butter, may be an effective technique in increasing consumption, especially in children who report being resistant to eating vegetables.

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OBJECTIVES: To compare the differential efficacy of a weight loss program for Mexican-American children who are overweight, obese, and severely obese. STUDY DESIGN: Study participants were enrolled in an intensive weight loss intervention aimed at improving eating and physical activity behaviors with behavior modification strategies. Participants included 212 children (45% female) between the ages of 9 and 14 (mean = 12.0, standard deviation = 0.7). All participants were classified as overweight, obese, or severely obese. RESULTS: Repeated measures analyses revealed that children in the overweight, obese, and severely obese weight categories differed significantly in standardized body mass index (zBMI) decreases at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months (F = 4.57, P < .01, η(p)(2) = .06). Follow-up paired samples t tests showed a significant change in zBMI from baseline to 3 and 6 months for children in the overweight, obese, and severely obese weight categories. However, at 12 months only the overweight and obese students continued to show significant improvement from baseline in zBMI. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that an intensive behavioral weight loss intervention that has demonstrated efficacy for decreasing zBMI may have incrementally smaller effects for children as weight classification increases.

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