The Program in International Nutrition at Cornell University - Spring 2022 Wrap-up
Dear PIN Community,
We are happy to share the last newsletter for Spring 2022 with you. Please see below for a summary of this season in review, including our seminars, podcast episodes and updates.
Thank you for joining us this season! We look forward to your continued engagement and input; your nominations for speakers, suggestions for features, as well as joint programs and exercises are always welcome.
We will send occasional updates during the summer before resuming our weekly schedule in the Fall. Wishing you and your loved ones a healthy and happy summer.
The PIN team (Saurabh, Elizabeth, Sam, Kripa, Erica, Nidhi, Christy, Elena)
Congratulations to our Alumnus!
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mduduzi Mbuya, PhD for being appointed as Director of Knowledge Leadership at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
Spring 2022 Seminar Series
We had an amazing line-up of speakers in the Spring 2022 PIN Seminar series. Catch up on all previous seminars through the PIN channel on Cornell Video On Demand.
Shweta Khandelwal, PhD, MSc - “Public health nutrition in India: Policy implications and way forward”
Corinna Hawkes, PhD - “Addressing dietary inequalities: what will work? A people-centred, systems-based guide to support the design of efficient and equitable policies”
Rolf Klemm, MPH, DrPH - “Finding the ‘gold’ in Golden Rice: Design considerations and challenges in evaluating the nutritional impact of Golden Rice”
Vani Sethi, PhD - “Developing and testing standardized algorithms for delivering antenatal nutrition services through routine health systems, in India”
María Nieves García-Casal, PhD - “Project for a comprehensive reevaluation of WHO haemoglobin cut-offs used to define anaemia”
Md. Munirul Islam, MBBS, PhD - “Zinc Deficiency: In Search of Meaningful Management Strategies”
Shibani Ghosh, PhD - “Nutrition, Agriculture, Health, Food Systems: Evidence and approaches in addressing maternal and infant nutrition”
Jennifer Friedman, MD, PhD - “Treatment of children and pregnant women for schistosomiasis: using evidence to drive policy change”
Reina Engle-Stone, PhD - “Addressing micronutrient deficiencies in West Africa through fortified bouillon”
PIN Podcasts
Catch up on all the episodes below: — pin.transistor.fm
The Program in International Nutrition from Cornell University interviews leaders and rising stars in the field of nutrition and public health.
With 3 seasons and 20+ episodes, the trainee-led PIN podcast has audiences from 50+ countries.
PIN in News - Spring 2022
WHO collaborating center supports global nutrition research | Cornell Chronicle — news.cornell.edu The World Health Organization has selected the Division of Nutritional Sciences to lead systematic reviews and training supporting the development of WHO guidelines and research networks.
The Biofortification Project Combating Child Malnutrition in India - BORGEN — www.borgenmagazine.com Needless to say, child malnutrition in India is a significant health issue requiring innovative solutions. Biofortification is an agricul....
Rapid test delineates diseases with similar symptoms — www.nibib.nih.gov Scientists have developed a single point-of-care assay that identifies malaria, typhoid—or both simultaneously—in just 15 minutes.
RTI International, in Partnership with Cornell University, to Lead Coordinating Center for New NIH Initiative to Personalize Dietary Guidance to Improve Health — www.rti.org This program will harness innovations to study biological responses to foods and dietary routines and develop predictive algorithms for clinical settings.
Portable prostate cancer test may help reach underserved men | Cornell Chronicle — news.cornell.edu Utilizing a test strip and small reader that return results in minutes, a faculty team’s proof-of-concept test could improve access by enabling more screening in community settings.
Publications from PIN
We searched the literature for published research articles, patents, and information from manufacturers of mobile devices, particularly those appropriate for low-resource settings.
We conducted a randomized controlled trial of FeZnPM among 223 children aged 12–18 months who were not severely anemic at baseline (hemoglobin ≥9.0 g/dL). Children were randomized to receive either FeZnPM or conventional non-biofortified pearl millet (CPM) daily for 9 months. Iron status (hemoglobin, serum ferritin), plasma zinc, and anthropometric indicators (length, weight, mid-upper arm circumference, triceps and subscapular skinfolds) were evaluated at enrollment and throughout the trial.
Review of the Impact Pathways of Biofortified Foods and Food Products
We synthesized the evidence on biofortified crops consumption through four Impact Pathways: (1) purchased directly; (2) in informal settings; (3) in formal settings; or (4) in farmer households, from their own production. Twenty-five studies, covering Impact Pathway 1 (five studies), Impact Pathway 2 (three), Impact Pathway 3 (three), Impact Pathway 4 (21) were included.
A multiplexed lateral flow assay (LFA) and a fluorescence optical reader were developed. Assay performance was validated by testing spiked antigens in the buffer, followed by a validation study comparing results with conventional assays (Roche Cobas e411 Elecsys PCT and Siemens ADVIA XPT CRP) in 25 archived remnant human serum samples.
In this observational cohort study, we surveyed pregnancies for adverse birth outcomes at eight hospitals from July, 2014, to July, 2018, and 18 hospitals from August, 2018, to December, 2020, in Botswana to assess four routine supplementation strategies in women presenting before 24 weeks’ gestation: folic acid only, iron only, iron and folic acid supplementation (IFAS), and MMS.
As a secondary outcome of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh, we assessed the effect of electronic job aid-supported nutrition counselling and practical demonstration on EBF. We randomized pregnant women to one of five study arms in the trial and followed mother–child dyads until 2 years of age.
This study describes prepregnancy BMI and GWG of 840,243 women with 2,087,765 weight observations in the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System from 2008 to 2018.