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What options do children choose for their school lunch? Time-series and cluster analyses of food choice data from a primary school in England
No full textIn England, more than a fifth of 10–11-year-olds live with obesity. Given its detrimental effects on health and well-being, addressing childhood obesity is critical, and understanding how children select foods is crucial to this. This study aimed to investigate children's selection of school lunches. Selection data (>11,000 transactions) for 155 schoolchildren (5–11 years), were collected from a primary school. The school offered three lunch options: meat/fish-based dish (MFD); a vegetarian dish (VEG); and sandwich/jacket potato (SJP). A time-series analysis revealed stable selection at the school population level, with consistent patterns across identical rounds of the menu cycle. There was also no difference in selections for younger and older children, and for pupils entitled to Free School Meals (FSM) and pupils who were not. Cluster analysis revealed four patterns of selection: Cluster 1 (n = 43) with a distinct preference for meat/fish-based dishes (76.8 % MFD, 10.5 % SJP, 12.7 % VEG); Cluster 2 (n = 42) with low selection of vegetarian dishes (50.2 % MFD, 36.8 % SJP, 13.0 % VEG); Cluster 3 (n = 40) with a tendency toward main meals (57.8 % MFD, 12.4 % SJP, 29.8 % VEG); and Cluster 4 (n = 30) with an assorted selection (36.8 % MFD, 27.9 % SJP, 35.3 % VEG). Cluster membership was not associated with age nor FSM entitlement. Findings, such as the stability of children's choices and the relative size of clusters point to the valuable insights afforded by selection data. These offer unique opportunities to examine children's behaviour within a school food environment, including in the longer term and as a means to inform school-based interventions
Rate Coefficients and Branching Ratios for the Reaction of the OH Radical with Formic Acid under Low-Temperature Combustion Conditions and the Fate of the HOCO Product
No full textThe impact of deprivation and neighbourhood food environments on home food environments, parental feeding practices, child eating behaviours, food preferences and BMI: The Family Food Experience Study-London
No full textBackground
Childhood obesity inequalities in England persist despite targeted interventions focused on promoting healthy diets and food environments. This study, part of the Family Food Experience Study-London, aimed to investigate the impact of deprivation and neighbourhood food environments on home food environments, parental feeding practices, child eating behaviours, food preferences, and child BMI.
Methods
Families (n = 728) with primary school-aged children were recruited from four socioeconomically diverse London boroughs in 2022. Data were collected through computer-assisted interviews (30.8% in-person, 69.2% telephone) on home food environment, parental feeding practices, and children’s eating behaviours and food preferences. Deprivation was characterised using a composite measure of family and neighbourhood indicators of socioeconomic position. Neighbourhood food environment exposures were estimated from individualised activity spaces derived from home postcodes and reported commuting patterns. Child BMI was measured objectively. Generalised linear models examined cross-sectional associations between deprivation and neighbourhood food environment with family food-related outcomes, adjusting for school-level clustering, child sex, age and ethnicity.
Results
Greater family deprivation was significantly associated with more ‘obesogenic’ family food practices, child eating behaviours and child BMI. Deprivation was linked to higher food responsiveness (β = -0.12, p = 0.002), emotional overeating (β = -0.11, p < 0.001), and increased desire to drink (β = -0.26, p < 0.001). Parents in more deprived households used more emotional (β = -0.10, p < 0.05), instrumental (β = -0.11, p = 0.003) and pressuring feeding practices (β = -0.14, p < 0.001). Greater deprivation was also associated with a more obesogenic home food environment (β = -0.19, p < 0.001) and lower meal structure (β = 0.17, p < 0.001). Exposure to less healthy neighbourhood food environments around and between home and school were associated with a more obesogenic home food environment (β = -0.07, p < 0.01), but no significant associations were found with feeding practices, child eating behaviours or child BMI.
Conclusions
In this study, family deprivation, rather than neighbourhood food environments, was more strongly linked to obesogenic feeding practices, child eating behaviours and child BMI. Policies focusing on improving neighbourhood food environments will likely be most effective if combined with those addressing systemic issues related to deprivation such as welfare policies (e.g. reforms to benefit caps) or targeted subsidies for healthy food. Future research should examine the independent and accumulative impact that environment and household interventions have on childhood obesity inequalities
Parents’ use of coercive and indulgent feeding practices for children with avid eating behaviour: an Ecological Momentary Assessment study
No full textBackground
Children with avid eating behaviour display high food responsiveness, high emotional overeating and low sensitivity to fullness; behaviours which may increase the risk of obesity and are challenging for parents to manage. This study explores the situational predictors of coercive or indulgent feeding practices among parents of children with avid eating behaviours using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).
Methods
The study involved 109 parents of 3-5-year-old children exhibiting avid eating behaviour. Over 10 days, participants completed EMA surveys via a mobile app to report on their mood, stress, feeding goals, and feeding practices during eating occasions. Multilevel modelling was used to assess how parental mood, goals, and the eating context (e.g., meal versus snack, public versus private setting) influenced feeding practices.
Results
Parents were more likely to use specific coercive or indulgent feeding practices when experiencing higher stress, when aiming to avoid mealtime conflict, and during meals versus snacks. A negative meal atmosphere and a public setting also increased the likelihood of certain indulgent practices. Notably, parents were more likely to report giving their child food to calm them down or help manage their behaviour when the meal atmosphere was perceived as negative and if they aimed to reduce conflict at the meal. The findings highlight that the context of feeding occasions significantly drives the use of coercive or indulgent feeding practices.
Conclusions
Parental stress, goals, and the eating context are key determinants of coercive or indulgent feeding practices with children exhibiting avid eating behaviours. Interventions to support parents should consider these dynamic factors, promoting healthier feeding strategies tailored to real-life contexts
Examining momentary predictors of parental use of structure-based and autonomy support feeding practices with children with avid eating behaviour
No full textExperimental investigation of kerosene single droplet ignition and combustion under simulated high-altitude pressure and temperature conditions
No full textThis study experimentally investigates the ignition and combustion characteristics of single kerosene droplet under simulated high-altitude conditions, focusing on the effects of reduced ambient pressure (100 kPa–20 kPa) and temperature (293 K–253 K). Results show that spark assisted ignition time exhibits a strong inverse power-law dependence on ambient pressure and a non-linear relationship with ambient temperature. At reduced pressures, significantly longer heat accumulation periods are required for ignition, with delayed and more variable ignition behaviour. The combustion process displays distinct stages of droplet swelling, preferential gasification, and disruptive microexplosions, which intensify and become more irregular as pressure decreases. Flame temperature and structure are also strongly pressure-sensitive, with reduced buoyancy at low pressures resulting in more spherical flames and increased flame standoff ratios. While ambient temperature has limited influence on burning rate and microexplosion intensity, it amplifies variability when combined with pressure reduction
ESAFORM benchmark 2024: study on the geometric accuracy of a complex shape with single point incremental forming
No full textThe benchmark 2024 project on Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF), involving 15 research institutes in 13 experimental contributions, provided a unique opportunity to compare experimental outputs from various setups and forming strategies in ISF. This collaboration led to the development of uniform data exchange formats, measurement guidelines, and standardized nomenclature, fostering efficient future collaborations. The project addressed challenges in geometric accuracy when forming a relatively large part (400 × 400 mm) using Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) and focused on multiple common pitfalls in ISF, in particular the tent effect and pillow effect. Additionally, some experiments have been conducted using Two Point and Double Sided Incremental Forming (TPIF and DSIF). By combining the knowledge and experience of all participating institutes, this project aimed to provide insights into effective parameter choice and toolpath strategies, and shows the importance of multi-stage processes to increase the geometric accuracy. Despite the theoretical simplicity of SPIF setups, such multi-stage toolpath strategies directed toward improved geometric accuracy also add some new challenges. The study highlighted the need for multi-stage strategies that focus on local effects, as well as geometric compensation techniques to enhance ISF's industrial applicability. Alternative process variants like TPIF and DSIF, showed promising results, but they also had limitations and presented challenges, emphasizing the importance of predictive simulation tools to further increase geometric accuracy. The scalability of ISF experiments remains a significant challenge, necessitating further research into scale laws for process optimization
Clinical characteristic and outcome of HHV-6 encephalitis after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation: A study of Infectious Disease Working Party of EBMT
No full textHuman herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) is the main cause of viral encephalitis in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). From January 2005 to December 2014, 97 patients with HHV-6 encephalitis were reported in the EBMT registry. The incidence was 0.45% after the first allo-HCT and varied with the type of donor and of stem cell source: sibling donor 0.06%, unrelated donor 0.68%, haploidentical donor 0.51%, cord blood 2.14%, bone marrow 0.20%, peripheral blood 0.44%. HHV-6 encephalitis occurred at a median time of 31 days from allo-HCT (range 16–317 days). With a median follow-up of 5.28 years, the 5-yr OS was 24.7%. The causes of death were: disease relapse/progression 11, infection 23, non-infectious cause 33, not specified 5. Forty-four deaths (61.1%) occurred within 90 days from diagnosis of HHV-6 encephalitis and in 24 HHV-6 encephalitis was considered a contributory cause. Eight-seven patients received treatment mainly with foscarnet or ganciclovir. In multivariate analysis, bone marrow/peripheral blood stem cell source and nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen were significant factors for lower survival. In conclusion, the incidence of HHV-6 encephalitis was low but associated with high mortality irrespective of antiviral treatment. This confirms the need for further research in this setting
Leishmania mexicana pathogenicity requires flagellar assembly but not motility
No full textProtists of the order Trypanosomatida possess a single multifunctional flagellum, which powers cellular displacement and mediates attachment to tissues of the arthropod vector. The kinetoplastid flagellar cytoskeleton consists of a nine-microtubule doublet axoneme; further structural elaborations, which can vary between species and life cycle stages, include the assembly of axonemal dynein complexes, a pair of singlet microtubules and the extra-axonemal paraflagellar rod. The intracellular amastigote forms of Leishmania spp. build a short, non-motile cilium whose function has remained enigmatic. Here, we used a panel of 25 barcoded promastigote cell lines, including mutants lacking genes encoding flagellar assembly proteins, axonemal proteins required for normal motility, or flagellar membrane proteins to examine how these defects impact on their virulence in macrophages and mice. Mutants lacking the intraflagellar transport (IFT) protein 88 were avirulent indicating that assembly of a flagellum is necessary to allow for Leishmania survival in a mammalian host. A similarly severe loss of virulence was observed upon deletion of BBS2, a core component of the BBSome complex, which may act as a cargo adapter for IFT. By contrast, promastigotes that were unable to beat their flagella due to loss of core axonemal proteins could establish and sustain an infection and only showed a small reduction of parasite burden in vivo compared to the parental cell lines. These results confirm that flagellar motility is not necessary for mammalian infection, but flagellum assembly and the integrity of the BBSome are essential for pathogenicity
Cardiovascular inflammaging: Mechanisms, consequences, and therapeutic perspectives
No full textBoth aging and systemic inflammation are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This review summarizes the interrelationship of aging and inflammation—known as inflammaging—and the consequences for cardiovascular health. We discuss mechanisms including epigenetic modification, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, and gut dysbiosis, many of which are themselves interrelated. Increasing understanding of inflammaging provides an array of biomarkers, some of which are now recommended in international guidelines. We also discuss therapeutic strategies aiming to modify the process of inflammaging and improve cardiovascular disease outcomes, either with immunomodulating agents or with therapies targeted at specific mechanisms, such as senolytics, telomerase activators, and pre- and probiotic supplementation. We conclude that inflammaging is a key part of cardiovascular aging and provides encouraging opportunities for new therapies