Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “HABIT”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Regional dietary habits of French women born between 1925 and 1950.

BACKGROUND: Diseases distributions are not the same all over France. As diet is an important determinant of health it is essential to determine whether there was still a diversity in food habits across French regions. AIM OF THE STUDY: We examined regional differences in dietary habits and nutrient intakes among French women born between 1925 and 1950 participants in the "Etude Epidémiologique auprès des femmes de l'Education Nationale" (E3N) cohort. METHODS: Data were extracted from self-administered dietary history questionnaires completed by 73024 highly educated, middle-aged women between 1993 and 1995. Canonical and cluster analyses were used to identify contiguous areas of homogeneous dietary habits spanning two or more of the 20 French regions. Dietary clusters were described relatively to the entire cohort mean. RESULTS: Eight dietary clusters were identified. The following food items were overconsumed: cooked vegetables in the Mediterranean, fish in the West, fruit in the South-East, and potatoes in the North. The following food items were under-consumed: fish in the East, fruit in the North, and potatoes in the South-East and Mediterranean cluster. Consumption of soup and fruit increased with age, while consumption of pork, horse meat and coffee fell with age. Ethanol intake was highest in the North and lowest in the South-East; the types of alcoholic beverages consumed also varied across clusters. Total energy intake, nutrient intakes, and the contribution of carbohydrates, fat and protein to total energy intake were similar across clusters. Intake of cholesterol and polyunsaturated fatty acids varied across clusters. CONCLUSION: Dietary habits and alcohol consumption show marked regional differences in this population of middle-aged, highly educated French women. Changes in dietary behaviour with age involved few food items and were similar across clusters, suggesting that regional differences in food and beverage consumption persist.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Large deletions within the first intron in VRN-1 are associated with spring growth habit in barley and wheat.

The broad adaptability of wheat and barley is in part attributable to their flexible growth habit, in that spring forms have recurrently evolved from the ancestral winter growth habit. In diploid wheat and barley growth habit is determined by allelic variation at the VRN-1 and/or VRN-2 loci, whereas in the polyploid wheat species it is determined primarily by allelic variation at VRN-1. Dominant Vrn-A1 alleles for spring growth habit are frequently associated with mutations in the promoter region in diploid wheat and in the A genome of common wheat. However, several dominant Vrn-A1, Vrn-B1, Vrn-D1 (common wheat) and Vrn-H1 (barley) alleles show no polymorphisms in the promoter region relative to their respective recessive alleles. In this study, we sequenced the complete VRN-1 gene from these accessions and found that all of them have large deletions within the first intron, which overlap in a 4-kb region. Furthermore, a 2.8-kb segment within the 4-kb region showed high sequence conservation among the different recessive alleles. PCR markers for these deletions showed that similar deletions were present in all the accessions with known Vrn-B1 and Vrn-D1 alleles, and in 51 hexaploid spring wheat accessions previously shown to have no polymorphisms in the VRN-A1 promoter region. Twenty-four tetraploid wheat accessions had a similar deletion in VRN-A1 intron 1. We hypothesize that the 2.8-kb conserved region includes regulatory elements important for the vernalization requirement. Epistatic interactions between VRN-H2 and the VRN-H1 allele with the intron 1 deletion suggest that the deleted region may include a recognition site for the flowering repression mediated by the product of the VRN-H2 gene of barley.

Alleles↗
PubMed1985

The prevalence and the etiology of the initial dummy- and finger-sucking habit.

The prevalence of dummy- and finger-sucking habits, or malocclusions of the type that may be associated with sucking habits, was examined in three different groups: Group A--415 small children from Mnene, Zimbabwe; group B--20 skulls from the Schreiner Collections, Anatomical Institute, Oslo, exhibiting intact deciduous dentitions. The skulls are mainly from the period A.D. 1000 to 1500 and were found in Scandinavia. Group C consisted of 280 young Swedish children. The study indicates that dummy- and finger-sucking habits occur infrequently among the African children other than as a symptom of a disturbance in the normal feeding and/or care in other respects. The investigation of the medieval skull material supports a similar situation among these Scandinavian children. In Sweden most infants are dummy- or finger-suckers. The authors introduce an explanation for the development of the initial sucking habits.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1989

Relationship between serum cholesteryl ester composition, dietary habits and coronary risk factors in middle-aged men.

Serum cholesteryl palmitate, oleate, linoleate and arachidonate were measured using high performance liquid chromatography in 134 men aged 45-64 years, randomly selected from the population of Ghent, Belgium. No relationship was observed between these cholesteryl esters, expressed as a percentage of their total, and age, serum cholesterol, arterial blood pressure, smoking habits and body mass index. Dietary habits were assessed using a 3-day diary method. No relationship was found between dietary habits and serum lipids. Highly significant correlations were observed between diet and the serum cholesteryl esters. In multivariate analyses dietary variables account for significant proportions of the variances of the serum cholesteryl esters. The results indicate that measurements of cholesteryl esters can be used to differentiate on the population level between subgroups with different dietary habits particularly with respect to fat consumption.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1979

Dissociation of a visual discrimination task into incentive, location and response habits.

Rats previously trained to run from a start box, through a choice chamber, approach and displace a white card rather than a black card and enter a goal box in order to avoid footshock sustained damage to either the medial thalamus, occipital cortex or rostral caudoputamen. The retention test disclosed that the avoidance response was abolished by thalamic lesions, the visual discrimination response was abolished by occipital lesions and the card displacement response was abolished by caudatal lesions. These data demonstrate that this visual discrimination task can be fractionated into a least three discrete habits: One is related to the initiation of the response leading to the reward (incentive habit), the second is related to the location of the correct pathway to the reward (location habit) and the third is related to the response necessary to gain access to the reward (response habit).

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Comparison of dietary and smoking habit changes in physical fitness improvers and nonimprovers.

Changes in dietary, smoking, and alcohol intake habits of men who voluntarily increased their physical fitness level (n = 532) were compared with men who did not increase physical fitness (n = 390). These men were middle-aged (average age = 43 years), initially sedentary and free of disease, and had been examined twice at a preventive medicine clinic within a 1- to 6-year period. Subjects were retrospectively assigned to two fitness groups--improvers and nonimprovers--based on changes in treadmill performance between baseline and follow-up examinations. Fifteen lifestyle variables were assessed by questionnaire and evaluated for change. At baseline the two groups were similar in demographic variables and diet, differing significantly only in follow-up interval (P less than 0.001), treadmill time (P less than 0.001), whole milk consumption (P less than 0.003), and smoking (P less than 0.001). At follow-up, positive changes in health habits were seen for both groups. Statistically significant differences in health habit change between the groups were seen only for beef (P less than 0.003) and coffee (P less than 0.003) consumption (consumption of both decreasing in more improvers than nonimprovers). Smokers at baseline were less likely to improve their physical fitness. We concluded that individuals who voluntarily increased their physical fitness level were not more likely to change their dietary and alcohol habits than persons who maintained a more sedentary lifestyle.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Space Station habitability research.

The purpose and scope of the Habitability Research Group within the Space Human Factors Office at the NASA/Ames Research Center is described. Both near-term and long-term research objectives in the space human factors program pertaining to the U.S. manned Space Station are introduced. The concept of habitability and its relevancy to the U.S. space program is defined within a historical context. The relationship of habitability research to the optimization of environmental and operational determinants of productivity is discussed. Ongoing habitability research efforts pertaining to living and working on the Space Station are described.

Environment Design↗
PubMed1980

Strength of drug habits: for heroin, morphine, methadone, alcohol, barbiturates, pentobarbital, benzedrine, cocaine, and marijuana.

The drug habits for 78 confirmed opiate addicts were studied on eight scales from the Process Association Test of Addiction (PATA) for many drug names. Through cluster analysis eight stages of addiction were defined: "to be clean", "to learn about drugs", "to hustle", "to chip" (also "to be high"), to be psychologically dependent or "to need a shot", "to be hooked" "to kick a habit" and "to be in treatment". Associations stimulated by the words heroin and morphine were very similar over the eight stages of addiction in opiate addicts. The subjects were especially inclined to associate morphine and heroin with the most severe level of addiction, "to be hooked". Associations to both methadone and cocaine were elevated at the "hooked" stage, but in other respects associations to these drugs were opposite. Thus, associations to cocaine were focused on the stage of psychological dependence and the lower intermediate stage of addiction, "to chip" and "to be high", whereas associations to methadone suggested a turning away from addiction as indicated by avoidance associations ("to come down" and "to kick a habit") as well as associations to "treatment" and "to be clean". Marijuana, Benzedrine, "goofball" (barbiturates) and alcohol habits were prominent at an intermediate stage of addiction ("to chip" and "to be high"). Avoidance associations were common for Benzedrine and "goofballs" (also pentobarbital) but not for marijuana or alcohol. "Hustling" associations were frequent for marijuana but not for alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Intention to consume seafood--the importance of habit.

The role of habit strength and past behaviour were studied in order to gain a better understanding of seafood consumption behaviour. A sample of Norwegian adults (N=1579) responded to a self-administered questionnaire about seafood consumption habits, past frequency of seafood consumption, and attitude towards and intention to eat seafood. Structural equation modelling revealed that past behaviour and habit, rather than attitudes, were found to explain differences in intention, indicating that forming intention does not necessarily have to be reasoned. The results also indicated that when a strong habit is present, the expression of an intention might be guided by the salience of past behaviour rather than by attitudes. The findings of this study might thus have consequences for dietary interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Overweight and obesity in Canadian adolescents and their associations with dietary habits and physical activity patterns.

PURPOSE: To present recent overweight and obesity prevalence rates for 11-16-year-old Canadian youth and to examine associations between overweight and obesity with dietary habits and leisure-time physical activities. METHODS: Nationally representative sample of 11-16-year-old adolescents (n = 5890) from the Canadian component of the 2001/02 World Health Organization Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey were used. Height, weight, dietary habits, and leisure-time activities were determined from self-report. Age- and gender-specific prevalence rates of overweight and obesity were calculated based on international body mass index cut-points. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association among measures of overweight, obesity, and lifestyle habits. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of 11-16-year-old Canadian youth were overweight (preobese) and 4.6% were obese in 2002. These prevalence rates were greater in boys than girls (p < .001), but did not vary according to age. There were no clear associations observed between dietary habits and measures of overweight and obesity. However, physical activity levels were lower (p < or = .05) and television viewing times were higher (p < .01) in overweight and obese boys and girls than normal-weight youth. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in Canadian youth are high. The results suggest that physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors are strongly related to obesity in Canadian adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Predicting fruit consumption: cognitions, intention, and habits.

OBJECTIVE: To study predictors of fruit intake in a sample of 627 adults. DESIGN: Potential predictors of fruit intake were assessed at baseline, and fruit intake was assessed at two-week follow-up with self-administered questionnaires distributed by e-mail. SETTING: The study was conducted among Dutch adult members of an Internet research panel. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 627 adults aged 18-78. VARIABLES MEASURED: Attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, expected pros and cons, habit strength, intention, and fruit intake. Fruit intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire. ANALYSIS: Hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses. Alpha < .05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Sex, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived pros, different self-efficacy expectations, and habit strength were significantly associated with the intention to eat two or more servings of fruit per day. Age, intentions, and habit strength were significant predictors of consumption of two or more servings of fruit per day. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results confirm that Theory of Planned Behavior constructs predict fruit intake, and that habit strength and different self-efficacy expectations may be additional determinants relevant to fruit intake. Because habitual behavior is considered to be triggered by environmental cues, fruit promotion interventions should further explore environmental change strategies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

An evaluation of study habits of third-year medical students in a surgical clerkship.

BACKGROUND: This study was developed to assess study habits of medical students in a third-year surgical clerkship and to determine the relationship of these study habits to performance outcomes. METHODS: A questionnaire designed to assess medical student study habits was administered at the end of five consecutive 10-week multidisciplinary surgical clerkships. The results of questionnaires from 81 students were analyzed in respect to results on the National Board of Medical Education (NBME) surgical subtest and the multiple stations clinical examination (MSCE) given at the end of each clerkship. RESULTS: Although only 18 of the total 81 students reported studying in formal but self-directed groups, students who reported studying in a group on average scored 4 points higher on the MSCE than those who did not study in a group (P = 0.001). However, no significant differences or correlations were discovered between any of the study habits and the individual results on the NBME. CONCLUSION: Students may benefit from collaborative studying when it comes to clinical experience as demonstrated by improved performance on the MSCE.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

[Neonatal effects of smoking habit during pregnancy and sociodemographic determinants in Barcelona, Spain].

BACKGROUND: Smoking during pregnancy poses a health risk for the fetus which may later extend to the child and adult, with higher probability of respiratory problems. The aim of this study was the to investigate the correlation between smoking during pregnancy and the neonatal characteristics and sociodemographic determinants of smoking habit during pregnancy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Study subjects were 419 mothers and their newborns in Barcelona, Spain. Data on smoking habits were collected using a structured questionnaire. We measured cotinine in umbilical cord blood as a biomarker of exposition to tobacco smoke. Concentrations of cotinine were determined using a radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: 29% interviewed mothers declared daily cigarette consumption during the third trimester of pregnancy, while the biomarker test showed that 34% mothers were smoking at the end of pregnancy. Smoking habit during pregnancy, assessed by means of either the questionnaire or the biomarker, correlated negatively with anthropometric parameters (weight, length and head circumference) of the newborn. The smoking habit was not associated with social class and age, although it was lower in primigravid mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike other European countries, there is a widespread smoking consumption during pregnancy in Spain, regardless of the social class and maternal age. Reduction of both active smoking and exposition to environmental tobacco smoke represent key elements in the prevention of newborns' morbidity and mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

An evaluation of the concurrent discrimination task as a measure of habit learning: performance of amnesic subjects.

Habit learning has been defined as an association between a stimulus and a response that develops slowly and automatically through repeated reinforcement. Concurrent discrimination (CD) learning, in which subjects learn to choose the rewarded objects in a series of pairs, is believed to be an example of habit learning in monkeys. Studies of human amnesic subjects, however, have produced equivocal results, revealing impaired or absent learning on the same CD tasks that monkeys with medial temporal-lobe (MTL) lesions learn normally. One possible explanation for impaired performance in human amnesic subjects is that, unlike monkeys, human subjects use explicit memory to solve CD problems. To test this hypothesis, we administered a 10-object pair CD learning task to two amnesic subjects, HM and PN, and normal control subjects (NCS). Both amnesic subjects have severe anterograde amnesia with little ability to form explicit memories. On the CD task, they demonstrated little or no learning and acquired no explicit knowledge of the task procedures or reward contingencies. In contrast, NCS learned the task quickly and easily using explicit memory strategies. These results suggest that CD tasks cannot be learned by habit in human subjects, and emphasize the discrepancies between the human and monkey literature on habit learning.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Serum fatty acid composition as a marker of eating habits in normal and diabetic subjects.

It is known that the Japanese people have had healthy eating habits, which may explain their low incidence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). In the present study, in order to examine dietary habits such as fish consumption, the serum fatty acids from 190 normal people in their 30s and 50s living in Tokyo were surveyed. Furthermore, the fatty acid composition of 44 patients with DM was studied to clarify the difference in eating habits between normal and diabetic patients. The n-3:n-6 ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids was 0.19 +/- 0.05 for the group in their 30s and 0.27 +/- 0.08 for the group in their 50s (P < 0.01). In patients with DM, the n-3:n-6 ratio was 0.23 +/- 0.05 and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was 6.52 +/- 0.55%. After 4 months of dietary education, the n-3:n-6 ratio had increased to 0.27 +/- 0.06 (P < 0.01) and HbA1c had decreased significantly to 6.16 +/- 0.35% (P < 0.01). These findings indicated that people in their 50s tend to eat a traditional diet, which is abundant in fish oil, whereas people in their 30s, as well as patients with NIDDM in their 50s, appear to eat a diet that includes less fish than the traditional diet. Benefits of fish oil have been reported to be limited due to adverse effects in the glycemic controls in patients with NIDDM. Early instruction of newly diagnosed patients to encourage them to change their eating habits to a more traditional diet, which is abundant in fish, proved to be one of the safe methods for interventions in patients with DM.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

[Influence of doctors' smoking habits on minimal advice for smoking cessation. A survey of 369 general practitioners in the department of Vienne, France].

INTRODUCTION: French doctors' smoking habits may interfere with the effectiveness of smoking prevention measures and particularly when providing minimal advice. OBJECTIVES: To assess the smoking habits of general practitioners in the department of Vienne, France, and to study how they affect minimal advice for smoking cessation. METHOD: 257 general practitioners took part in a phone survey (26.5%) or answered a written questionnaire (73.5%). The questions bore on socio-demographic characteristics, smoking habits and the of minimal advice provided whether partial or whole. Do you smoke? If so, have you ever thought of quitting? RESULTS: The participation rate was 70%. 26% of the participants were current smokers--16 % regular smokers, 10% infrequent smokers, 30% had quit and 44% had never smoke. 44.4% investigated smoking habits as a matter of course, and 41% provided intensive advice for smoking cessation. Doctors who had never smoked gave more advice than those who currently smoked or had quit. DISCUSSION: A comparison with former studies reveals that the number of doctors who smoke has decreased. However, minimal intervention on smoking cessation is put into practice by less than half of the doctors. CONCLUSION: The incidence of smoking among doctors in the Department of Vienne remains too high and minimal intervention on smoking cessation is still insufficient. However, doctors who had never smoked provided minimal advice more often than those who currently smoked or had quit.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

A food frequency questionnaire for youth: psychometric analysis and summary of eating habits in adolescents.

PURPOSE: To examine the reliability and validity of the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ) for adolescents and assess eating habits in the context of the Food Pyramid. METHODS: Subjects were 446 students (81.2% female) attending three middle schools (sixth to eighth grades). Over half (56.9%) were African-American. Reliability was assessed with 48-h and 2-week retests on two subsamples (n = 62) and validity was assessed by comparison with three 24-h recalls on an additional subsample (n = 24) and by factor analysis. The EHQ is a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 83 food items and questions assessing food habits and food preparation style. RESULTS: Internal validity, determined with factor analysis, found that 10 factors explained 81.3% of the variance in eating habits. Overall perfect agreement between food groups reported on the 24-h recall and on the EHQ was 56%. Internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach alpha, ranged from .60 to .89. Test-retest correlations were highest at 48 h, ranging from .46 to .85 for the 10 factors. Adolescents ate more servings of fats and sugars (11.2) and meats (6.0) and fewer breads (5.2) and vegetables (1.6) than recommended in Food Pyramid guidelines. In addition, subjects consumed more high-fat protein than low-fat protein servings. CONCLUSIONS: The EHQ is a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire that has been tested with African-American and white adolescents in the Southeast. It showed that adolescents consume higher than recommended daily servings of fats, sweets, and meats and lower than recommended servings of vegetables and breads.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Marchandiomyces lignicola sp. nov. shows recent and repeated transition between a lignicolous and a lichenicolous habit.

The anamorphic basidiomycete genus Marchandiomyces presently includes two common lichenicolous (lichen-inhabiting) species, M. corallinus and M. aurantiacus (teleomorph Marchandiobasidium aurantiacum). We describe here a new species, M. lignicola sp. nov., that is similar to M. corallinus in the colour of its sclerotia, but differs in having a wood-inhabiting (lignicolous) habit. The phylogenetic position of this lignicolous fungus was compared with the lichenicolous species of Marchandiomyces and related species currently placed in the basidiomycetous families Corticiaceae and Ceratobasidiaceae using parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian analyses of complete sequences of the nuclear small subunit and internal transcribed spacers ribosomal DNA, and a portion of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA. These DNA sequences were obtained from isolated cultures of freshly collected specimens. Significant Bayesian posterior probabilities, as well as maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses, indicate that the new lignicolous species is closely related to M. corallinus, the type species of Marchandiomyces. In most analyses these two species are monophyletic with the lichenicolous M. aurantiacus, although this relationship is not strongly supported. Since M. lignicola is more closely related to M. corallinus than to M. aurantiacus, either a transition to the lignicolous habit occurred recently within an ancestral lichenicolous group or, more likely, transition to the lichenicolous habit arose recently and in parallel from an ancestral lignicolous habit.

Basidiomycota↗