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Background: This study aimed to capture public beliefs about living with obesity, examine how these beliefs have changed over time and to explore whether certain characteristics were associated with them in a nationally representative sample of adults from the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and Northern Ireland (NI).Methods: A cross-sectional survey employed a random quota sampling approach to recruit a nationally representative sample of 1046 adults across NI and RoI. Telephone interviews captured information on demographics; health behaviours & attitudes; and beliefs about the consequences of obesity (measured using the Obesity Beliefs Scale). Univariable analyses compared beliefs about the consequences of living with obesity between participants with a self-reported healthy weight and those living with overweight or obesity, and non-responders (those for whom weight status could not be ascertained due to missing data). Multiple linear regression examined associations between obesity-related beliefs and socio-demographics, self-rated health and perceived ability to change health behaviours. Multiple linear regression also compared changes in obesity-related beliefs between 2013 and 2020 in the RoI.Results: Higher endorsement of the negative outcomes of obesity was significantly associated with living with a healthy weight, higher self-rated health, dietary quality and perceived ability to improve diet and physical activity. Those who lived with overweight, with obesity and non-responders were less likely to endorse the negative consequences of obesity. Those living with obesity and non-responders were also more likely to support there is an increased cost and effort in maintaining a healthy weight. Comparison with survey data from 2013 showed that currently, there is a greater endorsement of the health benefits of maintaining a healthy weight (p < 0001), but also of the increased costs associated with it (p < 0001).Conclusion: Beliefs about the consequences of maintaining a healthy body weight are associated with individuals' weight, self-rated health, diet and perceived ease of adoption of dietary and exercise-related improvements. Beliefs about the health risks of obesity and perceived greater costs associated with maintaining a healthy weight appear to have strengthened over time. Present findings are pertinent to researchers and policy makers involved in the design and framing of interventions to address obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ionic composition and pair correlations in fluid phases of realistically salt-free charged colloidal sphere suspensions are calculated in the primitive model. We obtain the number densities of all ionic species in suspension, including low-molecular weight microions, and colloidal macroions with acidic surface groups, from a self-consistent solution of a coupled physicochemical set of nonlinear algebraic equations and non-mean-field liquid integral equations. Here, we study suspensions of colloidal spheres with sulfonate or silanol surface groups, suspended in demineralized water that is saturated with carbon dioxide under standard atmosphere. The only input required for our theoretical scheme are the acidic dissociation constants pKa, and effective sphere diameters of all involved ions. Our method allows for an ab initio calculation of colloidal bare and effective charges, at high numerical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: The importance of a life course approach to childhood obesity has been emphasized; however, few studies can prospectively investigate relationships in three‐generation families. Objective: To prospectively investigate the relationship between grandparental and grandchild waist circumference (WC) at ages 5 and 9 down maternal and paternal lines. Methods: At baseline in the Lifeways Cross‐Generation Cohort, 1094 children were born to 1082 mothers; 585 were examined at age 5 and 298 at age 9. Of the total 589 children with measured WC, data were also available from 745 grandparents. Child WC was standardized for age and sex, and theory‐based hierarchical linear regression was used. Results: Maternal grandmother (MGM) WC was predictive of grandchild WC at both time points. At age 5, grandchild's standardized birth weight (B = 0.266, p = 0.001), mother's means tested eligibility for free medical care (B = 1.029, p = 0.001) and grandchild seeing maternal grandparents daily (B = 0.312, p = 0.048) were significant alongside MGM WC (B = 0.015, p = 0.019). At age 9, only MGM WC (B = 0.022, p = 0.033) and mother's WC (B = 0.032, p = 0.005) were significant. Mediation analysis with mother's WC showed significant direct relationship of MGM and grandchild WC. Conclusions: This prospective cross‐generational cohort shows consistent patterns of association between MGM and grandchild WC, not seen in other grandparental lineages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In automotive fuel cell systems anode fuel re‐circulation is often used to achieve high hydrogen utilization rates which reduces the hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell car, as well as it is an appropriate way to control hydrogen emissions. During operation hydrogen is consumed, while residual gases increase in the previously mentioned hydrogen loop. Besides nitrogen, we have found that CO2 accumulates in the anode loop and concentrations between 150–350 ppm were measured for varying current densities. We attribute this finding to CO2 crossover from the cathode to the anode and subsequent enrichment in the anode loop. To study the effect of this relatively small CO2‐concentration on the cell performance, tests were conducted with a proton exchange membrane (PEM) 45 cm2 single test cell with contaminated hydrogen/air feed. The data clearly indicate that electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO takes place which has a significant impact on the cell performance due to blocked catalyst sites by CO affecting the current density of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). The measurements with hydrogen containing CO2 were matched with hydrogen plus CO measurements to quantify the impact and to determine a "CO‐equivalent concentration" for CO2. Consequences for the operation strategy of fuel cell systems are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]