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The trends of diversified diets in China have generated a growing number of nutritional health problems, and healthcare investment is bearing a large burden from the diets, hindering the economic progress of the country and its residents toward affluence. This study linked the evolution of the Chinese dietary structure to changes in health expenditures and predicts future dietary patterns and their impact on health costs over the next 30 years. We found that in the past 30 years, the Chinese dietary structure has shifted towards a nutritional surplus type, and the structure of health expenditures has also shown a trend of two increases and one decrease. The consumption of plant-based foods is significant correlated with lower health expenditures, and animal-based foods show a significant impact on increase of health expenditures. Among nutrients, fat is significant correlated with increased health expenditures, whereas calorie intake is significant correlated with lower health expenditures. By 2030, the Chinese dietary structure will still evolve to a high-protein and high-fatty type. This shift will result in a decrease in per capita healthcare expenditure by 41.66 yuan and increases in household, state, personal, and total healthcare expenditures by 76.83 yuan, 18.76 billion yuan, 95.28 billion yuan, and 17.67 billion yuan, respectively. These findings demonstrate that adjusting dietary structures will bring the dual benefits of improved national health status and a favorable cycle of health expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive examination of the differences in food production and the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics from the county scale is an important reference value for improving China's grain production and guaranteeing food security issues. The spatio-temporal pattern and distributional dynamic evolution of China's grain production were investigated based on data from 2 545 county scales from 2000 to 2020, using standard deviation ellipse, three-stage nested Theil index and stochastic Kernel density estimation etc methods. The results showed that, the overall level of China's grain production rose at a slow pace, the growth rate of food production showed an obvious fluctuating trend from 2000 to 2020, and China's grain production would remain stable but the growth rate of fgrain production would decline slightly over a long period of time in the future. In terms of spatial distribution pattern, the center of grain production in China was moving to the northwest, showing the directionality of northeasts-outhwest, and the development dispersion of southeast-northwest. In terms of spatial difference, the overall difference in China's grain production was showing an increasingly high level, and although the contribution rate of county difference in China's grain production had decreased from 49.94% to 29.51%, the county scale was still the most important source of the overall difference. Therefore, spatial differences were mainly dominated by county differences, followed by inter-provincial differences, inter-municipal differences and inter-regional differences, respectively. In terms of spatial effect, China's grain production level showed a growing trend and the possibility of local convergence, and its spatial effect had continuity and had obvious positive correlation spatial effect under different time and county space. In coordination with the development trend and practical needs of China's regional economic structure transformation, the "double cycle" development pattern captured the differences in regional grain production resilience in detail, which was conducive to the formulation of reasonable and effective grain production policies tailored to the local conditions of each region, and was of great significance for steadily breaking through the grain production dilemma and coordinating grain production security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is desirable to predict positive food effect of oral formulations due to food mediated dissolution enhancement of lipophilic drugs. The objective was to assess the ability of in vitro lipolysis to anticipate a positive food effect. Tested formulations included rivaroxaban and itraconazole, where some formulations, but not all, exhibit a positive food effect in vivo in humans. Amorphous solid dispersion formulations of ritonavir, which exhibit a negative food effect in vivo in humans, were also studied. Fe-lipolysis and Fa-lipolysis media representing fed and fasted intestinal conditions were used. Results show frequent agreement between in vitro lipolysis predictions and in vivo human outcomes. For rivaroxaban, food effect of unformulated active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and products were correctly predicted where 2.5 mg and 10 mg strengths did not show any food effect; however, 20 mg did show a positive food effect. For itraconazole, all four products were correctly predicted, with Sporanox, Sempera, and generic capsules having a food effect, but Tolsura not having a positive food effect. For ritonavir, lipolysis predicted a positive food effect for API and Norvir tablet and powder, but Norvir products have negative food effect in vivo in humans. Overall, the lipolysis model showed favorable predictability and merits additional evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to characterize the trophic ecology and test the hypothesis of niche overlap between four sympatric batoid species of the subtropical South Atlantic. Data were collected between 2017 and 2022 from two artisanal fishery communities in southern Brazil. Batoid's stomach contents were identified, separated into categories, and weighed. We calculated the Levins, Pianka's, and Prey-specific index of relative dietary importance (PSIRI) and performed a similarity test using PERMANOVA and the similarity percentage (SIMPER) for niche analysis. We analyzed 229 stomachs of four batoid species, 187 containing foods. All species showed a narrow food niche. The most important diet items for each species were Leptochaela serratorbita and Onuphidae for Dasyatis hypostigma; Nematoda for Pseudobatos horkelii; L. serratorbita, Sicyonia dorsalis and Portunidae for Rioraja agassizii and Achelous spinicarpus and fish for Sympterygia bonapartii. The analyses showed dissimilarity among the species' diets without significant niche overlap. Our results detected the absence of significant niche overlap among batoid species, suggesting other types of niche partitioning and spatiotemporal habitat variation. This information could be considered for local management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food tour television has long allowed Americans to virtually visit domestic and global locations, vicariously tasting "authentic" and "exotic" foods from the comfort of their couches and under the guidance of intrepid hosts. Analyzing the history and evolution of the food tour genre offers a gauge of popular discourse surrounding the construction of taste and the formation of national cuisines. Two recent shows within this genre, Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi and No Passport Required with Marcus Samuelsson, are of particular interest given their thematic focus on migration – a focus missing within earlier food tour shows. In this paper, we ask how migrant narratives are portrayed within this new programming and how the shows and their hosts redefine American eating. We examined the aesthetic decisions, content choices, and actor involvement within the available episodes of each show. We find that Taste the Nation and No Passport Required successfully use their platform to bring attention to the hardships of the migratory journey and migrants' contributions as tastemakers. However, within their redirection of the genre, these shows still frequently resort to problematic tropes of migrant deservingness, melting pot assimilation, and rugged neoliberal individualism characteristic of earlier programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raisins are a nutrient-dense food known for their high content of dietary fiber, antioxidants, and bioactive compounds, including quercetin, which exists predominantly in the form of quercetin glycosides, enhancing their potential health benefits. This study investigates the impact of dietary matrix on quercetin bioavailability by analyzing urinary excretion following consumption of raisins. Employing advanced LC/MS techniques, the study quantified quercetin and its metabolites to evaluate how whole foods influence the absorption and metabolic processing of dietary polyphenols. Initial results indicated a significant increase in urinary quercetin excretion, with concentrations ranging from 21.8 μg/ml to 238.8 μg/ml among participants after consuming raisins. The study showed the role of the food matrix in enhancing quercetin bioavailability, suggesting that the complex interactions within whole foods like raisins could significantly influence the solubility, stability, and absorption of quercetin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses the Patriotic Food Show that took place in St. Louis during World War I. The show aimed to promote food conservation and educate the public on responsible consumption. It featured demonstrations, exhibits, and performances, and was organized by the Women's Central Committee on Food Conservation. The show successfully raised funds and awareness for the cause. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Eating habits formed during adolescence greatly influence the maintenance of health in adulthood. With the recent development of social media and easy access to the Internet, adolescents watch plenty of food videos, particularly Mukbang and Cookbnag(eating show)content. This media genre's impact on food choices has been covered in several studies; however, studies on unhealthy eating habits directly related to adolescents' exposure to eating shows are insufficient. Methods: For this study, we used data from the 18th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in 2022 and finalized 50,451 participants. The extent of exposure to eating show media over the course of a week, as well as the consumption of fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and high caffeinated beverages within that week were measured through self-reporting questionnaires. We classified the participants into two groups based on their frequency of watching eating shows. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between eating show and unhealthy food consumption. Results: For both males and females, eating show exposure was strongly associated with the consumption of fast food (male: OR:1.37, 95% CI:1.26–1.49; female: OR:1.46, 95% CI:1.36–1.57), SSB (male: OR:1.42, 95% CI:1.26–1.60; female: OR:1.51, 95% CI:1.35–1.70), and high caffeinated beverage (male: OR:1.30, 95% CI:1.23–1.37; female: OR:1.24, 95% CI:1.18–1.31). It was observed that both sexes were more likely to frequently eat unhealthy food than students who did not watch eating shows. Conclusion: Among Korean adolescents, students exposed to eating shows, which primarily aim to entertain, were more likely to consume fast food, SSBs, and high caffeinated beverages. Therefore, this study's findings suggest that eating show could influence adolescents' food choices, highlighting the need for interest in emerging cultures and corresponding health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence and the underlying machine learning (ML) methods are increasingly finding their way into our working world. One of these areas is sales planning, where machine learning is used to leverage a variety of different input parameters such as prices, promotions, or the weather, to forecast sales, and therefore directly affects the production of products and goods. To satisfy the goal of environmental sustainability as well as address short shelf life, the food industry represents an interesting application field for the use of ML for optimizing sales planning. Within this paper, we will examine the design, and especially the application, of ML methods in the food industry and show the current challenges that exist in the use of such concepts and technologies from the end-user's point of view. Our study of a smaller bakery company shows that there are enormous challenges in setting up the appropriate infrastructure and processes for the implementation of ML, that the output quality of ML processes does not always match the perceived result quality, and that trust in the functioning of the algorithms is the most important criterion for using ML processes in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Resistant starch (RS) has been shown to manipulate food digestion and nutrient metabolism as well as being important in promoting gut health. However, the presence of RS varies across diverse food systems depending upon process conditions. To investigate this, chickpeas, potatoes, arrowroots, unripe bananas and oats were subjected to boiling and pressure cooking at various cooking durations and the RS% was determined. After 45 min of boiling and 15 min of pressure cooking, RS% of chickpeas increased by ~29% and ~41%, respectively. Increasing the cooking time, together with boiling and pressure cooking, led to higher RS% in chickpeas, mainly due to the retrogradation of starch after gelatinisation. In contrast, boiling and pressure cooking led to a reduction in RS% for potatoes, arrowroots, unripe bananas and oats, while a further decrease was encountered with the increase in processing time. After 45 min of boiling, RS% of potatoes, arrowroots, unripe bananas, and oats were reduced by 58%, 22%, 80% and 70%, respectively. After 15 min of pressure cooking, RS% of potatoes, arrowroots and unripe bananas were reduced by 41%, 22% and 83%, respectively. This was mainly due to the disruption of the ordered structure of starch molecules during thermal processing in the presence of water. This study clearly elucidates the impact of boiling and pressure cooking on RS% as a function of processing time and type of RS source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading nutrition facts labels is a competency for which training is given in several nutrition education programs, especially in obesity outreach workshops. The Top Trumps-style card game is commonly used in obesity prevention educational programs to engage participants in reading nutrition facts labels; however, the success of TV cooking shows among children and teenagers has not been explored for educational purposes. This paper is a descriptive study of developing a gamified activity as part of the one-time outreach workshop facilitated by the Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center (OCRC) in Brazil. By playing the MestreChef Nutritional (MCN) game, participants followed similar rules as the corresponding TV cooking show. They were challenged to decide to select food items, calculate dietary food intake, and prepare a recipe to visualize the proportion of macronutrients contained in daily diets. The analysis of the nutritional dietary table completed by participants revealed to be a rich source of information, and we identified in our cohort that selecting an adequate number of food items and making healthy food choices was not concerning. However, their lack of competency in performing mathematical reasoning, particularly in calculating serving sizes and converting grams of macronutrients into calories, was evident. Moreover, facilitators of the workshops agreed that the MCN game presents definitively more didactic effectiveness and playability than the Foods Top Trumps, a former game used in the outreach workshops. The MCN game nourishes the engagement of the participants in learning nutrition-related concepts and may be an efficient didactic resource to improve nutrition knowledge in outreach activities when an alternative method is required to stimulate reading nutrition facts labels. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: Reading nutrition facts labels is a typical activity promoted in obesity prevention educational programs. By playing the MestreChef Nutritional, participants can immerse in the context of a food TV show game to have the first contact with reading nutrition facts labels for a learning purpose. However, the game can reveal the participant's limitations in mathematical reasoning despite the didactic potential of the game in promoting obesity-related physiology concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the impact of safety nets on food insecurity in households with people with disabilities (PWD) in Nigeria. Using data from the 2019 Nigeria General Household Survey, we assessed the risk of experiencing food insecurity among households and the moderating role of safety nets using households without PWDs as a reference. PWD households were three times more likely to experience severe food insecurity compared to households without PWDs. The impact of the safety net program on the risk of food insecurity showed that receiving social benefits had little effect among households with disabled members experiencing severe food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent obesity and diabetes environmental interventions such as eliminating food deserts, restricting proliferation of food swamps, and improving park access are essential. In the United States, however, studies that examine the food and park access relationship with obesity and diabetes using both global and local regression are lacking. To guide county, state, and federal policy in combating obesity and diabetes, there is a need for cross-scale analyses to identify that relationship at national and local levels. This study applied spatial regression and geographically weighted regression to the 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States. Global regression show food deserts exposure and density of fast-food restaurants have non-significant association with obesity and diabetes while park access has a significant inverse association with both diseases. Geographically weighted regression that takes into account spatial heterogeneity shows that, among southern states that show high prevalence of obesity and diabetes, Alabama and Mississippi stand out as having opportunity to improve park access. Results suggest food deserts exposure are positively associated with obesity and diabetes in counties close to Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee while density of fast-food restaurants show positive association with two diseases in counties of western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. These findings will help policymakers and public health agencies in determining which geographic areas need to be prioritized when implementing public interventions such as promoting healthy food access, limiting unhealthy food options, and increasing park access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) has the largest range among the genus Podarcis. Although there are a number of studies on its diet, data on regional level remains insufficient, particularly from a purely ecological perspective. We investigated 194 individual faecal samples of P. muralis obtained from two localities in western Bulgaria with the aim of clarifying the composition of the trophic spectrum of the species, as well as the intra-population characteristics in terms of age and sex. In one study site, we compared the realized trophic niche (prey items from the faecal pellets) with the fundamental (invertebrates collected via pit-fall traps exposure). We confirmed that P. muralis is an opportunist in terms of feeding and has a very wide trophic spectrum including several taxa, which have not been reported until now as a part of the species' diet. We revealed differences in feeding behavior between subadults and adults, as well as between males and females. Adults have higher diversity in the food spectrum compared to subadults. According to sexes, females have more varied diet. We also report for the first time for the species six cases of keratophagy. Also, we identified a relatively frequent occurrence of saurophagy (n = 16), including in females and subadults, for which this phenomenon has not been recorded so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current observational study aims to determine the extent to which main food safety principles are addressed in Slovenian cooking shows and whether the type of main actor or television channel significantly impacts adherence to good hygiene practices. In general, our results show that food handling presented to the audience in Slovenian TV cooking shows often deviates from the main food safety recommendations. A comparison between amateur and professional chefs has shown notable but statistically insignificant differences. While in the area of personal hygiene, more deviations were found among amateur than among professional chefs (p = 0.011), we can observe the opposite in the area of preparation practices, albeit with insignificant difference (p = 0.884). The current study provides further evidence that there is a large gap between what viewers see and what they should have seen in television cooking shows from a food safety perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species are embedded in a network of trophic interactions known as a food web. We propose to measure functional diversity of an ecosystem from a network perspective. Our approach is based on the concept of regular equivalence (REGE), which can quantify the similarity in species trophic roles in a food web. Using the outcome of REGE analysis, we define three REGE-based functional diversity indices. First is the average dissimilarity in species trophic roles, second is the optimal number of trophic role groups, and the third is the degree of evenness that species are partitioned into trophic role groups. We quantified these three REGE-based functional diversity indices for 92 aquatic food webs and compared the results with that from random food webs. We found that most food webs had higher average trophic role dissimilarity and more trophic role groups than random food webs. However, real food webs and random food webs showed no difference in the evenness of species partition into trophic role groups. We also determined the relationship between REGE-based functional diversity and the structural properties of food webs. We found that food webs with high functional diversity were those with sparse network organization, highly modular structure, or low network cohesion. Furthermore, we also investigated the relationship between our REGE-based functional diversity indices and their trait-based and interaction-based counterparts; their weak-to-moderate correlation suggests our REGE-based approach offers a complementary view to functional diversity of an ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies about collegiate food insecurity show its prevalence as a national issue that disproportionately affects students from marginalized groups. This study further contextualizes this work, examining the ways that multiply-marginalized students navigate systems of privilege and opportunity at selective, normatively affluent universities to meet food needs and pursue personal goals. Findings from this multi-institutional qualitative study highlight asset-based approaches by which students leverage institutional interest in their marginal identities as navigational strategies. Conclusions point to the value of "student pathways navigation" as a conceptual and analytic approach to understanding how students manage collegiate environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory predicts that organisms should diversify their offspring when faced with a stressful environment. This prediction has received empirical support across diverse groups of organisms and stressors. For example, when encountered by Caenorhabditis elegans during early development, food limitation (a common environmental stressor) induces the nematodes to arrest in a developmental stage called dauer and to increase their propensity to outcross when they are subsequently provided with food and enabled to develop to maturity. Here we tested whether food limitation first encountered during late development/early adulthood can also induce increased outcrossing propensity in C. elegans. Previously well‐fed C. elegans increased their propensity to outcross when challenged with food limitation during the final larval stage of development and into early adulthood, relative to continuously well‐fed (control) nematodes. Our results thus support previous research demonstrating that the stress of food limitation can induce increased outcrossing propensity in C. elegans. Furthermore, our results expand on previous work by showing that food limitation can still increase outcrossing propensity even when it is not encountered until late development, and this can occur independently of the developmental and gene expression changes associated with dauer. Caenorhabditis elegans increase their propensity to outcross in response to food limitation encountered during late development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In highly developed countries, more and more people use culinary services. Cooking at home, for the family, is giving way to culinary services. Consumers either order food home or use the offers of restaurants and bars. Consumers' choice of culinary form may be influenced by cooking television programs. Many TV stations broadcast cooking programs. This study examined the impact of television culinary programs on consumer behavior in the restaurant services market. The article examines the interplay of emotional responses, personality traits, and culinary preferences to understand how TV cooking programs influence dining decisions. The study was conducted using the CAWI method, which involved 742 respondents. The study, conducted between May 2021 and April 2022, was addressed to people who visited restaurants presented in the Polish culinary TV show titled "Kitchen Revolutions". The study revealed that almost 3/4 of the respondents chose restaurants based on the program's recommendations. Although there was a strong emotional connection with this program—nearly half of the respondents expressed delight in the taste of snacks and main courses—this did not always translate into an increased frequency of eating meals away from home. Only every third respondent said that the program influenced their gastronomic behavior. The research hypotheses examined the extent to which culinary TV shows influence the frequency of visits to restaurants, the perceived quality of life, and the influence on consumers with specific personality traits. The results partially supported the hypothesis that cooking programs on television encourage people to eat out more often, but the perceived impact on quality of life and on some personality traits was less clear. The article contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior in the food service market by highlighting the complex dynamics of emotional reactions, personality traits, and the impact of culinary television programs. The findings have practical implications for the restaurant industry, suggesting a focus on emotional impact, food quality and presentation, and targeting marketing strategies towards consumers who are open to new experiences and ready to experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the potential impact of climate finance (cf) on food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa (ssa) as climate change continues to create food scarcity and increase food prices. The study analyses data from 43 ssa countries between 2006 and 2018 using a panel fixed effect model with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors andmethods of moments quantile regressions (mmqr). The findings indicate that countries in ssa that receive more cf, improve their fight against corruption, have good rainfall patterns, experience reduced extreme temperatures, have depreciated currencies, larger populations and higher gdp growth, reduce food imports, increase domestic food supply, and demonstrate high governance and social readiness are likely to experience stable or reduced food prices. Based on these results, the study recommends that ssa governments prioritise anticorruption efforts to earn donor trust and increase cf, ultimately leading to lower food prices in the sub-region. Further, the findings indicate that good rainfall patterns reduce food prices: this shows the need for ssa countries to invest in policies that lead to reliablewater supply as irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The present study investigated the movement patterns of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. We found that the swing was an important state in the motion mode of sea cucumbers to regulate the movement direction, and the motion state did not change the direction of movement. In addition, food cues caused changes in the movement state of sea cucumbers, and the movement in the presence of food was directed rather than random and significantly affected swaying behavior. These novel findings provide new insights into the regulation of movement direction in eyeless organisms. Regulating movement direction is essential in the locomotion of animals. Sea cucumbers, as eyeless animals, do not have eyes for the perception of the surrounding environment and food. They have a unique way of swinging their bodies when a food cue is detected, although they lack an important perceptual tool. The present study investigated the movement patterns of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus in the absence of a food cue (experiment 1) and in the presence of a food cue (experiment 2). In experiment 1, we found that the movement of sea cucumbers was close to a linear motion (motion linearity 0.91 ± 0.01). In experiment 2, sea cucumbers most frequently adjusted the movement direction when being exposed to food (84 times/216 min), indicating that sea cucumbers adjusted the direction of movement in the swing state but not the motion state. In experiment 2, we found significantly lower time in the immobility state in the sea cucumbers in the presence of food cues compared to that of those without being exposed to food cues, and the frequency of the motion state in response to food cues was 1.6 times than that of those without food cue. This suggests that food cues cause the change in motion state in sea cucumbers. Swing frequency was 1.7 times higher in sea cucumbers exposed to food cues than that of those not exposed to food cues. Further, sea cucumbers in the presence of food showed significantly better performances in swing angle and swing velocity compared to those not exposed to food cues. This suggests that food cue significantly affects the swing state of sea cucumbers. Notably, the present study described the movement patterns of sea cucumbers when they detected food cues, and other factors (such as the detection of predators) need to be further studied. The present study provides new insights into the regulation of movement direction in eyeless organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioactive compounds obtained from Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi extracts are traditionally employed in folk medicine for the treatment of diseases. The fruits and leaves of this plant are rich in terpenes and phenolic compounds, which gives it antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Even though the pink pepper shares some sensory aspects of the traditional peppers, it does not belong to the same family, which is why it can be considered as a fake pepper. Recent advances in the food area showed that pink pepper extracts are an interesting alternative for applications such as natural preservatives and flavoring. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of pink pepper extraction properties and possible applications. Moreover, we wish to demonstrate an effective bioactive activity of pink pepper when applied in different areas. Overall, multifunctional extracts can be produced from pink pepper tree, showing great market potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connections between labour migration and food security of left‐behind households are still poorly understood. Using data from two waves of a longitudinal survey conducted among ever‐married women in rural Mozambique, we employ multi‐level ordered logit and negative binomial regressions to examine over time three possible pathways linking men's migration and its economic success to food security of left‐behind households—agricultural investment, household material assets and women's local gainful employment. Our analyses find a significant positive association between migration's success, proxied by remittances, and food security and show that this association is largely mediated by household's possession of material assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers are showing increasing awareness of the concept of 'functional foods': foods that can provide health benefits in addition to their nutritional value. There is particular demand for foods with a high antioxidant and phenolic content, which may improve cardiovascular health, reduce inflammation, and slow or prevent the onset of chronic, non-communicable diseases. However, there is a lack of comprehensive databases using consistent analytical protocols to analyze the antioxidant and phenolic content of different food types, particularly in regional areas such as Australia. Over the past four years, our laboratory has analyzed over 1000 food-related samples using several antioxidant capacity assays (ferric reducing antioxidant power—FRAP—and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity—CUPRAC), as well as the total phenolic content (TPC) using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. Here, we provide a summary of these data by different food types to inform researchers, policy planners, nutritionists, and consumers about the typical levels of antioxidants and total phenolics found across a range of Australian foodstuffs, particularly grains. The highest antioxidant and phenolic contents were typically found in native Australian fruits, while grains, nuts, and non-native fruits showed lower antioxidant and phenolic contents. Spices, processed foodstuffs, and non-fruit native Australian foods showed an intermediate content. Furthermore, medicinally used plants showed a much higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity compared to non-medicinal plants. Finally, we present correlations between the various analytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to determine the genotyping diversity and hemolytic properties of 24 strains of Cronobacter spp. (15 Cronobacter sakazakii, 6 Cronobacter malonaticus, 2 Cronobacter turicensis, and 1 Cronobacter condimenti) isolated from commercial ready-to-eat leaf vegetables, sprouts, nuts, and dried fruits. The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method was used to determine the sequence types (ST) and clonal complexes (CC) of these strains. The study demonstrated the high genotypic diversity of the Cronobacter genus bacteria isolated from plant-based foods. Five novel sequence types (804, 805, 806, 807, and 808) and the presence of novel alleles in the ppsA, gltB, gyrB, and infB loci were detected. In total, 16 of the 24 strains were assigned to the sequence types ST99, ST258, ST17, ST648, ST21, ST494, and ST98. One C. sakazakii strain (s12) isolated from alfalfa sprouts was assigned to the clonal complex CC4, which encompasses strains often associated with severe infections leading to meningitis in infants. In addition, 87.5% and 16.7% of the Cronobacter spp. strains showed β-hemolysis of equine and sheep red blood cells, respectively. The presence of the pathogenic species C. sakazakii, C. malonaticus, and C. turicensis in ready-to-eat plant-derived food products shows they are potential sources of infection, especially to those with compromised immunity, which substantiates their further multi-faceted characterization. The significance of this study may prove useful not only in epidemiological investigations, but also in assessing the risk of infections caused by the presence of Cronobacter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mating alters nutritional and energetic needs which result in behavioural and physiological changes related to reproduction. But little is known as to how mating influences sex specific food preferences in ladybird beetle, Propylea dissecta (Mulsant). To explore this, 10-day old adults were subjected to different time mating interruption treatments, i.e., no mating, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 min and complete mating (211 ± 8.1 min) and post mating they were then provided with food choice (i.e., Aphis craccivora, conspecific eggs, and heterospecific eggs) separately in Petri dish. Results show that on increase in mating duration females showed altered food choice whereas it was found to be insignificant in males. However, in both the sexes time to consume first prey was decreased on increase in mating duration possibly to cope with high energy expenditure and to fulfil their instant food requirements. Our results indicate that mating modulates sex-specific food preference in ladybird beetle, P. dissecta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global political economy is organized around the pursuit of economic growth. Yet scholars of International Political Economy (IPE) have been surprisingly slow to address its wide-ranging implications and, thus, to advance debates about post-growth alternatives. The premise of the article is that for IPE to deepen its grasp of the escalation of contemporary socioecological crises both analytically and normatively, it needs to put the growth question front and center. To problematize the pursuit of economic growth from an IPE perspective, we bring together research on green growth, post-growth/degrowth, sustainability transitions and socioecological transformation. More specifically, we develop an analytical framework that revolves around four pathways of reorganization toward socioecological sustainability: (1) modification, (2) substitution, (3) conversion and (4) prefiguration. We use illustrative examples from the plastics and food sectors to show how the post-growth pathways of conversion and prefiguration could interact to trigger change for sustainability. Notably, our discussion reveals that conversion, which requires a strong state for developing post-growth institutions, is the least traveled pathway in both sectors. This insight points to a strategic priority for post-growth proponents and an urgent research agenda for IPE scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel has become a synonym of living memorable and enjoyable experiences. Co-creation centralizes tourists' role in the creation of value that results from the interaction with other destination stakeholders and the physical environment. Within the wider destination experience, the growing interest tourists show regarding the food and wine experience is notorious, due to its distinctive, multisensory and engaging nature. However, conceptual and empirical studies on co-creation of experiences in food and wine contexts are still scarce. To address this gap, this conceptual study presents an integrative literature review of 118 articles focusing on co-creation in tourism experiences, aiming at understanding what conceptual and empirical studies have been developed in the field, and identifying the most representative dimensions of tourism co-creation, both in general tourism experience and in food and wine experiences, in particular. Based on study findings, a critical analysis is presented along with a novel framework and definition of co-creative tourism experiences, with particular relevance to food and wine tourism. Key dimensions of co-creation in food and wine experiences, namely interaction, engagement, participation and personalization, are identified as relevant for promoting involving and immersive experiences. Theoretical and managerial contributions to destination managers and local stakeholders are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The development of feeding protocols and the study of gastric evacuation or passage of food through the digestive tract is essential to generate information on the digestive physiology of organisms, as they help to quantify the daily ration to avoid any poor diet. In this sense, the present work aims to demonstrate some basic aspects of the fish Dormitator latifrons digestive physiology by evaluating the transit of food through the intestinal tract as a function of time. In a completely randomized standard design, juveniles of D. latifrons were fed ad libitum with commercial pellets. Five conditioned organisms were sacrificed every hour after a single feeding. The food bolus was collected at each sampling point, using polynomial regression models to analyze the passage of food through time in the digestive tract. The passage of food showed a nonlinear behavior in time, being the simple exponential decay model of two parameters (R2 = 0.630; P < 0.0001) the best to explain the evacuation of food through the digestive tract. This knowledge will generate better feeding protocols for this species with commercial importance and aquaculture potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile , is one of the most damaging and widespread invasive ant species worldwide. A thorough understanding of their learning ability could be critical to improving control efforts. We conducted a systematic investigation of olfactory learning and route learning in Argentine ants. The ants showed rapid route learning after only one visit, and rapid odour learning and a long-lasting long-term memory after only one exposure to food cues. Food flavour information was transferred efficiently between ants in the nest, driving preference: naïve ants housed with ants fed on flavoured food showed a strong preference for that odour after 24 h. Overall, L. humile were found to be outstanding learners. This, coupled with efficient intranidal information transfer and strong pheromonal recruitment, may help explain their ability to discover and then dominate resources. However, these strengths could potentially be used against them, by exploiting learning and information transfer to improve control efforts. • Argentine ants are highly damaging, but their learning ability is poorly understood. • Argentine ants form long-lasting odour and route memories extremely rapidly. • Information transfer in nests strongly influences naïve ant preference for an odour. • Their extraordinary memory may allow their preferences to be manipulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the heterogeneity and incomplete information present in various domain knowledge graphs, the alignment of distinct source entities that represent an identical real-world entity becomes imperative. Existing methods focus on cross-lingual knowledge graph alignment, and assume that the entities of knowledge graphs in the same language are unique. However, due to the ambiguity of language, heterogeneous knowledge graphs in the same language are often duplicated, and relationship triples are far less than those of cross-lingual knowledge graphs. Moreover, existing methods rarely exclude noisy entities in the process of alignment. These make it impossible for existing methods to deal effectively with the entity alignment of domain knowledge graphs. In order to address these issues, we propose a novel entity alignment approach based on domain-oriented embedded representation (DomainEA). Firstly, a filtering mechanism employs the language model to extract the semantic features of entities and to exclude noisy entities for each entity. Secondly, a Structural Aggregator (SA) incorporates multiple hidden layers to generate high-order neighborhood-aware embeddings of entities that have few relationship connections. An Attribute Aggregator (AA) introduces self-attention to dynamically calculate weights that represent the importance of the attribute values of the entities. Finally, the approach calculates a transformation matrix to map the embeddings of distinct domain knowledge graphs onto a unified space, and matches entities via the joint embeddings of the SA and AA. Compared to six state-of-the-art methods, our experimental results on multiple food datasets show the following: (i) Our approach achieves an average improvement of 6.9% on MRR. (ii) The size of the dataset has a subtle influence on our approach; there is a positive correlation between the expansion of the dataset size and an improvement in most of the metrics. (iii) We can achieve a significant improvement in the level of recall by employing a filtering mechanism that is limited to the top-100 nearest entities as the candidate pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing food craving is nearly ubiquitous and has several negative pathological impacts prompting an increase in recent craving-related research. Food cue-reactivity tasks are often used to study craving, but most paradigms ignore the individual food preferences of participants, which could confound the findings. We explored the neuropsychological correlates of food craving preference using psychophysical tasks on human participants considering their individual food preferences in a multisensory food exposure set-up. Participants were grouped into Liked Food Exposure (LFE), Disliked Food Exposure (DFE), and Neutral Control (NEC) based on their preference for sweet and savory items. Participants reported their momentary craving for the displayed food stimuli through the desire scale and bidding scale (willingness to pay) pre and post multisensory exposure. Participants were exposed to food items they either liked or disliked. Our results asserted the effect of the multisensory food exposure showing a statistically significant increase in food craving for DFE participants postexposure to disliked food items. Using computational models and statistical methods, we also show that the desire for food does not necessarily translate to a willingness to pay every time, and instantaneous subjective valuation of food craving is an important parameter for subsequent action. Our results further demonstrate the role of parietal N200 and centro-parietal P300 in reversing food preference and possibly point to the decrease of inhibitory control in up-regulating craving for disliked food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manas, H.M.; Ghosh, S.; Rohit, P.; Rajesh, K.M.; Abdussamad, E.M.; Satishkumar, M.; Pokkathappada, A.A.; Rathinam, M.M., and Divipala, I., 2023. Feeding aspects of dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus, 1758), exploited from Indian waters. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(4), 675–684. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. The common dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus, is one of the top predatory fish in pelagic waters, landed all along the Indian coast. The present study was conducted to gain a holistic knowledge of the food and feeding habits of the common dolphinfish from Indian waters. Around 2559 specimens were studied, of which 65.8% were male and 34.2% were female. The species fed on several prey items encountered in all months, scads being the dominant group and the highest preference in fishes >60 cm total length (TL). Fishes of TL <45 cm mainly fed on whitebaits; those 45–60 cm fed on crabs and scads, indicating a shift in prey preference with change in body size and the species being opportunistic feeders, preferring abundant prey species in the environment. August to March showed similar food preferences and overlapping of prey items. This study will help us understand the trophodynamics of the common dolphinfish, allowing policy makers to formulate unified management and conservation measures for sustainable exploitation of the species from Indian waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented spikes in food insecurity. In California, food banks, which were already facing high demand for emergency food assistance, rallied federal, state and local resources to help meet the challenges of the pandemic. Our study draws on interviews with food banks and their partners approximately one year into the pandemic to learn how they responded to enormous challenges in staffing, procurement, distribution and infrastructure. These interviews captured lessons for resilience planning and food security policy that might otherwise have been lost. We found an encouraging story of resilience, and a story of how government agencies and community networks can work together to create and strengthen food security policies, even under the most dire circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gyermekgyógyászat is the property of Semmelweis Kiado and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Chinese Institute of Food Science & Technology is the property of Journal of Chinese Institute of Food Science & Technology Periodical Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) from heat-treated foods show toxicity, but the mechanisms of toxicity and removal of CQDs have not been elucidated. In this study, CQDs were purified from roasted coffee beans through a process of concentration, dialysis and lyophilization. The physical properties of CQDs, the degree and mechanism of toxicity and the removal method were studied. Our results showed that the size of CQDs roasted for 5 min, 10 min and 20 min were about 5.69 ± 1.10 nm, 2.44 ± 1.08 nm and 1.58 ± 0.48 nm, respectively. The rate of apoptosis increased with increasing roasting time and concentration of CQDs. The longer the roasting time of coffee beans, the greater the toxicity of CQDs. However, the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK was not able to inhibit CQDs-induced apoptosis. Moreover, CQDs affected the pH value of lysosomes, causing the accumulation of RIPK1 and RIPK3 in lysosomes. Treatment of coffee beans with a pulsed electric field (PEF) significantly reduced the yield of CQDs. This indicates that CQDs induced lysosomal-dependent cell death and increased the rate of cell death through necroptosis. PEF is an effective way to remove CQDs from roasted coffee beans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic dogs have been shown to engage in interspecific communication with their owners using a flexible repertoire of signals (i.e., gaze, vocalizations, and postures). This ability is influenced by ontogenetic development as well as breed selection. Different aspects of this phenomenon have been studied using the out of reach/hidden object task in which a piece of food is shown to the dog and then hidden in an unreachable spot by the experimenter. Dogs' behavioral displays toward the target and the owner (ignorant about the location of the food) have been observed. The complex communicative behavior dogs exhibit in this context is defined as showing behavior and includes attention-getting components directed toward the owner, and directional components directed toward the target. No study has investigated the ontogenetic development of this behavior. In the current study, we compared the showing behavior in 4–6 month old puppies and 2–11 year old adults in an out of reach task involving the hiding of a food reward in one of two cabinets. Dogs were exposed to three conditions: (1) Owner with Food (OF), (2) Owner No Food (ONF), and (3) Alone with food (AF). Dogs showed more gaze alternations when both the food and the owner were present confirming the intentional and referential nature of this behavior. Contrary to our expectations, we found no differences between the showing behaviors of 4–6 month old puppies and adult dogs. This study provides interesting preliminary evidence of showing behavior in puppies. Further studies are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing this communicative behavior (i.e., breed, level of training). Furthermore, longitudinal studies should be performed from the age of 2 months up to 1 and 2 years to better clarify the influence of development and experience on showing behavior in domestic dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critics trolled Abrams by circulating an old political ad showing her cooking on a gas stove (Kliegman, [13]), and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) began pressing Rewiring America and other anti-gas environmental and consumer advocacy groups about funding and their participation in research linking gas stoves to childhood asthma that may impact federal rulemaking (Kaminksy, 2023). Perhaps induction technology advocates should redefine the culture war and tackle the real cultural problem: dethroning the gas stove as the all-too-banal kitchen trophy and replacing it with induction as the under-the-radar cooktop of choice among chefs who know. Alice Waters, Jon Kung, Stacey Abrams, and other induction stove advocates must play the cool, happy warriors facing down antagonists and rally around induction's gains for sustainability, indoor air quality, more temperate cooking conditions, child safety, precision heat, easy clean up, and the sheer joy and convenience of cooking. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Tourism Tribune / Lvyou Xuekan is the property of Tourism Institute of Beijing Union University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Simple Summary: Todarodes pacificus is an important cephalopod. This study analyzed the migration path and feeding ecology of T. pacificus by the stable isotope values of the proostracum of the gladius. This result showed that T. pacificus in the East China Sea migrated to low latitudes and nearshore areas during their life history, and the trophic level of their food exhibited no large changes during migration. T. pacificus in the Sea of Japan migrated to high latitudes and offshore areas during their life history, and the trophic level of their food decreased during migration. When the proostracum grew to 120 mm from the distal end, T. pacificus in both areas began to migrate. This study provides a scientific basis for further study on the fishery ecology and life history of T. pacificus. The Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus) is an important cephalopod in the northwest Pacific Ocean. In this study, the proostracum of the gladius of T. pacificus samples collected by Chinese squid fishing vessels in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan in August and December 2018 were continuously cut, and stable isotope values of the cut fragments were used to analyze the migration path and feeding ecology of T. pacificus. The results showed that when the proostracum grew to 120 mm from the distal end, T. pacificus began to migrate. In the East China Sea, T. pacificus migrated to low latitudes and nearshore areas, and the trophic level of their food showed no large changes during migration. In the Sea of Japan, T. pacificus migrated to high latitudes and offshore areas, and the trophic level of their food showed a decreasing trend during migration. There was no significant difference in migration or feeding ecology between females and males, but the competitive capacity of the females may be stronger than that of the males. The results provided a scientific basis for the scientific management and development of T. pacificus resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]