The food neophobia scale [FNS; Appetite 19 (1992) 105] has been used to assess willingness to try new foods in studies conducted around the world. Although it is tempting to compare FNS scores across these studies, appropriate psychometric analyses are required to validate the scale and allow cross-cultural comparisons. These analyses were pursued in the current study using confirmatory factor ...

Flavanol-rich cocoa products have been reported to lower blood pressure. It has been suggested that theobromine is partially responsible for this effect. We tested whether consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa drinks with natural or added theobromine could lower peripheral and central blood pressure. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled 3-period crossover trial we assigned 42 healthy individuals ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two-hour exposure to a forest environment on cytokine, anti-oxidant and stress levels among university students and to compare the results to those measured in urban environments. Forty-one subjects were recruited. For our crossover design, subjects were divided into two groups based on similar demographic characteristics. Group A remai...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There is currently little evidence on effective interventions for poststroke apraxia of speech. We report outcomes of a trial of self-administered computer therapy for apraxia of speech. METHODS Effects of speech intervention on naming and repetition of treated and untreated words were compared with those of a visuospatial sham program. The study used a parallel-group, ...

In numerous species, the formation of meiotic crossovers is largely under the control of a group of proteins known as ZMM. Here, we identified a new ZMM protein, HEI10, a RING finger-containing protein that is well conserved among species. We show that HEI10 is structurally and functionally related to the yeast Zip3 ZMM and that it is absolutely required for class I crossover (CO) formation in ...

PURPOSE This prospective, randomized, double-masked, crossover trial was conducted to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of progressive addition lenses (PALs) compared with single-vision lenses (SVLs) on myopia progression in Japanese children. METHODS Ninety-two children fulfilling the inclusion criteria (age: 6-12 years, spherical equivalent refractive errors: -1.25 to -6.00 D) were random...

A double-blind crossover trial was conducted of thyrotropin releasing hormone treatment in six patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Patients received 4 mg of thyrotropin releasing hormone intramuscularly daily during the two-week treatment period. Although three patients reported subjective improvement, objective evaluation failed to demonstrate therapeutic effectiveness of thyrotropin ...