Jennifer J Ravia

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Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Ravia, J. J., & Watson, R. R. (2008). The correlation between cholesterol oxidation products and eggs. In Eggs and Health Promotion. wiley.
• Ravia, J. J., & Watson, R. R. (2004). Vitamin E retards heart disease in AIDS patients. In AIDS and Heart Disease. CRC Press.
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  When the disease now known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first isolated in the early 1980s, little was known about its cause or subsequent effects. The AIDS disease and the virus that causes it, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), have since been extensively studied. The major debilitating effects of the virus are due to opportunistic infections. While many organ systems sustain damage caused by opportunistic agents, the heart was one of the last to be studied. In many cases, other disorder will give rise to severe symptoms and cause death before the cardiac region has been investigated. In recent years, it has been determined that the number of AIDS and HIV patients suffering from cardiac disorders is larger that previously thought and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is typically referred to as common. Because there is no cure for HIV infection, treatments are based on the alleviation of symptoms and the prolongation of life. If cardiac problems in HIV patients can be successfully treated, their expectancies may increase.

Journals/Publications

• Nojima, A., Ravia, J., & Hongu, N. (2017). Communication Skills Development through Experiential Learning in Nutritional Sciences. The FASEB Journal, 31(S1). doi:10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.975.6
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  Purpose Effective communication skills are recognized as crucial for the successful future career of college graduates. The purpose of this study was to examine the communication skills in undergraduate nutrition students and explore the ideas how Experiential Learning class (i.e. offers undergraduate students work opportunities outside of classroom in addition to the classroom lectures in Nutritional Sciences), could help improving student's communication skills throughout the semester. Methods The 5‐minute surveys were distributed to the students who were taking Experimental Learning class. Most of these students were Junior or Senior in nutrition majors who plan to pursue a career in the field of dietetics. The survey was composed of 21 statements asking about their feeling of public speaking (e.g. enjoy, good at, terrified, tense, etc.) at 3 types of communication events (one‐on‐one, small group, large group – public speaking). In addition, these students were asked to have a 10‐minute face‐to‐face interview conducted by the interviewer (PI) at the end of semester. At the face‐to‐face interview, the students were asked what activities were most effective to improve their communication skills through Experiential Learning class, and what made students gain confidence at public speaking. Data were analyze with descriptive and multiple liner regression. Results 45 students answered the survey both at the beginning and the end of the semester and 24 students volunteered to have the face‐to‐face interview. At the beginning of the semester, 22% of students (n=10) reported high degree of anxiety (e.g., terrified of speaking in public), and 42% of students (n=19) reported moderate degree of anxiety (e.g., I avoid speaking in public, if possible) in public speaking. At the end of semester, numbers of students who had moderate degree of anxiety in public speaking decreased significantly (29%, n=13, p
• Thomson, C. A., Morrow, K. L., Flatt, S. W., Wertheim, B. C., Perfect, M. M., Ravia, J. J., Sherwood, N. E., Karanja, N., & Rock, C. L. (2012). Relationship between sleep quality and quantity and weight loss in women participating in a weight-loss intervention trial. Obesity, 20(Issue 7). doi:10.1038/oby.2012.62
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  Evidence suggests that individuals who report fewer total hours of sleep are more likely to be overweight or obese. Few studies have prospectively evaluated weight-loss success in relation to reported sleep quality and quantity. This analysis sought to determine the association between sleep characteristics and weight loss in overweight or obese women enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of a weight-loss program. We hypothesized that in overweight/obese women, significant weight loss would be demonstrated more frequently in women who report a better Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) Global Score or sleep >7 h/night as compared to women who report a worse PSQI score or sleep ≥7 h/night. Women of ages 45.5 10.4 (mean SD) years and BMI of 33.9 3.3 (n = 245) were randomized and completed PSQI at baseline and 6 months; 198 had weight change assessed through 24 months. At baseline, 52.7% reported PSQI scores above the clinical cutoff of 5. Better subjective sleep quality increased the likelihood of weight-loss success by 33% (relative risk (RR), 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.52-0.86), as did sleeping 7 h/night. A worse Global Score at 6 months was associated with a 28% lower likelihood of continued successful weight loss at 18 months, but unassociated by 24 months. These results suggest that sleep quality and quantity may contribute to weight loss in intervention-based studies designed to promote weight control in overweight/obese adult women. © 2011 The Obesity Society.
• Ravia, J., Thomson, C. A., & Ravia, J. J. (2011). A systematic review of behavioral interventions to promote intake of fruit and vegetables. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(10).
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  Fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake in the United States remains below recommended levels despite evidence of the health benefits of regular consumption. Efforts to increase F/V intake include behavior-based interventions. A systematic review of MEDLINE PubMed and PsycINFO databases (2005-2010) was conducted to identify behavior-based intervention trials designed to promote F/V intake. Using predetermined limits and selection criteria, 34 studies were identified for inclusion. Behavior-based interventions resulted in an average increase in F/V intake of +1.13 and +0.39 servings per day in adults and children, respectively. Interventions involving minority adults or low-income participants demonstrated average increases in daily F/V consumption of +0.97 servings/day, whereas worksite interventions averaged +0.8 servings/day. Achieving and sustaining F/V intake at recommended levels of intake across the population cannot be achieved through behavior-based interventions alone. Thus, efforts to combine these interventions with other approaches including social marketing, behavioral economics approaches, and technology-based behavior change models should be tested to ensure goals are met and sustained.
• Ravia, J., Stephen, R., Ghishan, F., & Collins, J. (2005). Menkes Copper ATPase (Atp7a) is a novel metal-responsive gene in rat duodenum, and immunoreactive protein is present on brush-border and basolateral membrane domains. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(43). doi:10.1074/jbc.M506727200
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  We previously noted strong induction of genes related to intestinal copper homeostasis (Menkes Copper ATPase (Atp7a) and metallothionein) in the duodenal epithelium of iron-deficient rats across several stages of postnatal development (Collins, J. F., Franck, C. A., Kowdley, K. V., and Ghishan, F. K. (2005) Am. J. Physiol., 288, G964-G971). We now report significant copper loading in the livers and intestines of iron-deficient rats. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there is increased intestinal copper transport during iron deficiency. We additionally found that hepatic Atp7b gene expression does not change with iron deficiency, suggesting that liver copper excretion is not altered. We have developed polyclonal antibodies against rat ATP7A, and we demonstrate the specificity of the immunogenic reaction. We show that the ATP7A protein is present on apical domains of duodenal enterocytes in control rats and on brush-border and basolateral membrane domains in iron-deprived rats. This localization is surprising, as previous in vitro studies have suggested that ATP7A traffics between the trans-Golgi network and the basolateral membrane. We further demonstrate that ATP7A protein levels are dramatically increased in brush-border and basolateral membrane vesicles isolated from iron-deficient rats. Other experiments show that iron refeeding partially corrects the hematological abnormalities seen in iron-deficient rats but that it does not ameliorate ATP7A protein induction, suggesting that Atp7a does not respond to intracellular iron levels. We conclude that ATP7A is involved in copper loading observed during iron deficiency and that increased intestinal copper transport is of physiological relevance, as copper plays important roles in overall body iron homeostasis. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.