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Introduction: Public health measures enacted to reduce COVID-19 transmission have affected individuals' lifestyles, mental health, and psychological well-being. To date, little is known how stay-at-home orders have influenced the eating behaviors, weight development, and alcohol consumption of quarantined persons. The CoCo-Fakt cohort study analyzed these parameters and their association with psychological distress and coping strategies. Methods: An online survey was conducted of all persons who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (infected persons [IP]) between December 12, 2020, and January 6, 2021, as well as their close contacts (contact persons [CP]) registered by the public health department of Cologne. 8,075 of 33,699 individuals were included in the analysis. In addition to demographic data, psychological distress, and coping strategies, information on changes in body weight, eating, and drinking behaviors was collected. Results: IP lost 1.2 ± 4.4 kg during the quarantine period, and CP gained 1.6 ± 4.1 kg. The reasons given by IP for weight change were mainly loss of taste and feeling sick, whereas CP were more likely than IP to eat out of boredom. Higher psychological burden and lower coping strategies were associated with both weight gain and loss. Of the 30.8% of participants who changed their alcohol consumption during the quarantine period, CP in particular drank more alcohol (IP 15.2%; CP 47.7%). Significantly less alcohol was consumed by individuals with higher coping scores. Conclusion: In this short but psychologically stressful period of stay-at-home orders, changes in eating and drinking behavior as well as weight development are evident, mainly in high-risk contacts. To avoid possible long-term sequelae, health authorities should take these findings into account during the quarantine period; in particular, general practitioners should consider these findings during follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed cell death occurs in most, if not all life forms. It is used to sculpt tissue during embryogenesis, to remove damaged cells, to protect against pathogen infection and to regulate cell numbers and tissue homeostasis. In animals cell death often occurs by a morphologically and biochemically conserved process called apoptosis. A novel group of cysteine proteases, referred to as caspases, constitute the central component of this process. Caspases are activated following the induction of apoptosis and cleave a variety of cellular substrates, thus giving rise to the characteristic morphological events of apoptosis. Apoptosis is rapid and cell corpses are removed by phagocytosis. Recent work has shown that apoptosis also occurs in Cnidaria and Porifera, thus extending the origin of this evolutionary innovation down to the first metazoan animal phyla. Here, we review several examples of the role of apoptosis in cnidarians and then summarize new results on the subcellular localization of caspases and the control of apoptosis in Hydra. We show by immuncytochemistry that caspases in Hydra are localized in mitochondria. Following induction of apoptosis caspases are released from mitochondria as proenzymes and then activated by proteolytic cleavage in the cytoplasm. We also present evidence that apoptosis in Hydra is dramatically stimulated by inhibitors of PI3-kinase. Since PI3-kinase is a central component of growth factor signaling cascades in higher metazoans, this result suggests that control of apoptosis by growth factors is also evolutionarily conserved. We speculate on the role of growth factors in the evolution of apoptosis.

Introduction: Up to now, there is limited clarity on factors that determine the effectiveness of childhood obesity interventions. Objective: This study intends to uncover individual- and program-level predictors of BMI-SDS and fitness to achieve significant, sustainable health improvements. Methods: Data of 249 children with obesity or overweight who participated in an outpatient multidisciplinary program were analysed and compared to 54 waitlist controls. Linear regression models were used to examine associations between individual- and group-level variables and BMI-SDS and fitness. Results: Among intervention children, BMI-SDS decreased by 0.19 units and physical fitness increased by 11.5%, versus a BMI-SDS decrease of 0.07 and a 1.8% decrease in fitness in the control group. Participants who reported being physically active before the program start achieved greater improvements in BMI-SDS (β = –0.177, p < 0.05) and physical fitness (β = 0.174, p < 0.05) than inactive peers. BMI-SDS decreased significantly more for members of gender-heterogeneous groups (β = 0.194, p < 0.05) with a narrow age range (β = 0.152, p < 0.05). Conclusions: The program under review is effective in counteracting juvenile obesity. The results give reason to believe that forming mixed-gender groups with a small age range and providing increased support for reportedly inactive children may improve program effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper examines planetary defense from the perspective of astronomy, which describe scientifically the global nature of the asteroid threat through direct sky observations, technology, which offers concrete solutions of asteroid deflections, international law, which studies within what legal frames planetary defense and asteroid mining is a feasible effort, and finally political science that explores the normative perception of the whole planetary defense endeavor. The aim of this article is to describe the dynamic between an overtly positivist threat formulation and normative implications of different ways of addressing the threat. Beside planetary defense efforts, it is crucial to focus on industrial capacities useful for asteroid mining because that would lead to a loud voice on international level in discussing future space mining regime. From the theoretical point of view, the topics are interlinked via the cosmopolitan theory of international politics and Welsh School of Critical Security Studies. All these theoretical perspectives accentuate positive security, therefore, potential scientific and industrial capacities of the Czech Republic in the field of asteroid mining and planetary defense are portrayed as humanistic and globally responsible solutions to the asteroid threat. Finally, we argue that proper identification of local research and industrial capacities are not necessarily only useful for scientific and economical interests of a small state but can be used as a foreign policy leverage to prevent super power from usurping the global debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses perspectives on global governance of planetary defence against asteroids under the circumstances of its current conceivable technological solution, namely the relation between technological requirements for such a project and four ideal global governance models. The author first analyses the principles of orbital mechanics and technological solutions of asteroid deflection; he argues that we do not have much chance of dealing with the asteroid threat without the authority of democratic cosmopolitan character responsible for technological development and in-space asteroid deflection infrastructure operation. The topic is studied prevalently on the theoretical level; however, the analysis is also supported by current dynamics and dilemmas of international cooperation of national space agencies and other actors. The article concludes that the discussion of the fundamental threat of asteroid collision with Earth has the potential to stimulate the emergence of an internationally respected cosmopolitan authority focused on particular global threats - it may have a constitutive eff ect on the emergence of international organizations or other political entities or regimes. Th is can have an impact on the current international system of nation states in the so-called semicosmopolitan model as the authority has higher chances to emerge in territories not under control of states - in the outer space. We talk about an environment in which any solutions related to security threats are solvable only in the setting of perfect cooperation. The article argues that to avoid anarchy, the current development of commercial space infrastructure will need a solid regime with global overseeing authority without erratic national governments. Finally, the strategic interests of nation states to participate and avoid exclusion from the elite club will slowly push them to support the semi-cosmopolitan model as it is the only way how to avoid hegemonic government of one powerful nation state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]