How consumption and reward features affect desire for food, consumption intentions, and behaviour.

Understanding the mechanisms that underlie desire and intentions may assist in the search for strategies to promote the selection and consumption of more sustainable and healthier products. Therefore, we conducted two experiments to examine how cognitive representations influence desire and intentions for various savoury dishes. In Experiment 1, 1000 participants were allocated to one of five conditions, listing either the typical, sensory, context, hedonic, or health features of 20 popular dishes to assess cognitive representations, before rating their present moment desire to consume each dish.

How (not) to talk about plant-based foods: using language to support the transition to sustainable diets.

Reducing meat consumption is essential to curb further climate change and limit the catastrophic environmental degradation resulting from the current global food system. However, consumers in industrialised countries are hesitant to reduce their meat intake, often because they find plant-based foods less appealing. Despite the climate emergency, eating meat is still perceived as the norm, and recommended in most national dietary guidelines.

Hurricanes increase tropical forest vulnerability to drought.

Rapid changes in climate and disturbance regimes, including droughts and hurricanes, are likely to influence tropical forests, but our understanding of the compound effects of disturbances on forest ecosystems is extremely limited. Filling this knowledge gap is necessary to elucidate the future of these ecosystems under a changing climate. We examined the relationship between hurricane response (damage, mortality, and resilience) and four hydraulic traits of 13 dominant woody species in a wet tropical forest subject to periodic hurricanes.

Targeting the Ubiquitylation and ISGylation Machinery for the Treatment of COVID-19.

Ubiquitylation and ISGylation are protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) and two of the main events involved in the activation of pattern recognition receptor (PRRs) signals allowing the host defense response to viruses. As with similar viruses, SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, hijacks these pathways by removing ubiquitin and/or ISG15 from proteins using a protease called PLpro, but also by interacting with enzymes involved in ubiquitin/ISG15 machinery. These enable viral replication and avoidance of the host immune system.

Effects of calorie labelling and contextual factors on hypothetical coffee shop menu choices.

This study examined the effects of calorie labelling and two key contextual factors (reflective motivation and habits) on the calorie content of hypothetical coffee-shop menu choices. In one exploratory (n = 70) and one pre-registered (n = 300) laboratory study (Studies 1 and 2 respectively), participants viewed a hypothetical calorie-labelled or non calorie-labelled menuboard and selected their preferred item(s). Coffee shop drinking habits were measured using the Self-Report Habit Index, and reflective motivation (relating to calorie intake) was assessed with three items asking about watching weight, eating healthily, and reading calorie labels.

Crowdsourcing biocuration: The Community Assessment of Community Annotation with Ontologies (CACAO).

Experimental data about gene functions curated from the primary literature have enormous value for research scientists in understanding biology. Using the Gene Ontology (GO), manual curation by experts has provided an important resource for studying gene function, especially within model organisms. Unprecedented expansion of the scientific literature and validation of the predicted proteins have increased both data value and the challenges of keeping pace.

The effect of priming on food choice: A field and laboratory study.

Priming involves the activation of a mental concept in memory which increases the likelihood that it will be assimilated into subsequent information processing. The present study investigates whether exposure to prime stimuli can increase the selection of unhealthy foods, which is an important topic as priming has been found to influence judgements, decisions, and behaviour outside of awareness. Study one was a between-subjects field study which examined the effect of brief exposure to food-related logos on subsequent snack choice.

Crystal structures and hydrogen-bonding analysis of a series of benzamide complexes of zinc(II) chloride.

Ionic co-crystals are co-crystals between organic mol-ecules and inorganic salt coformers. Co-crystals of pharmaceuticals are of inter-est to help control polymorph formation and potentially improve stability and other physical properties. We describe the preparation, crystal structures, and hydrogen bonding of five different 2:1 benzamide or tolu-amide/zinc(II) chloride co-crystal salts, namely, bis-(benzamide-κ)di-chlorido-zinc(II), [ZnCl(CHNO)], di-chlor-ido-bis-(2-methyl-benzamide-κ)zinc(II), [ZnCl(CHNO)], di-chlorido-bis-(3-methyl-benzamide-κ)zinc(II), [ZnCl(CHNO)], di-chlorido-bis-(4-methyl-benzamide-κ)zinc(II), [ZnCl(CHNO)], and di-chlorido-bis-(4-hy-droxy-benzamide-κ)zinc(II), [ZnCl(CHNO)].

Embryonic heart rate correlates with maternal temperature and developmental stage in viviparous snakes.

Interactions between the environment and maternal and embryonic physiology can have critical ramifications for early-life phenotypes and survival in a range of species. A major component of the environment-maternal-embryonic nexus is the regulation of embryonic heart rate, which can have important ramifications for developmental phenology, but remains relatively unexplored in viviparous reptiles. The goal of this study was to test for a relationship between embryonic heart rate and maternal body temperature in two species of viviparous garter snakes.

The Psychosocial Adjustment of Children Born With a Cleft Lip and/or Palate: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses.

Objective: To determine the psychosocial adjustment of children born with a cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P).

Design: Longitudinal analyses of psychosocial outcomes and cross-sectional comparison with published norms.

Setting: Retrospective clinical audit at a UK cleft center.

Gender, financial literacy, and preretirement planning in the UK.

This study uses a two-stage logistic regression model to explore the determinants of retirement planning behavior. A survey of 516 UK women and men of prestate retirement age was used to establish interrelationships between gender, retirement planning, and financial literacy, taking account of attitudinal and expectational variables. Findings confirm lower levels of planning among women, but contrary to previous studies, this study reveals that financial literacy is not significantly related to planning.

The impact of self-imagery on aspects of the self-concept in individuals with high levels of eating disorder cognitions.

Background And Objectives: Low self-esteem has been identified as a maintaining factor in Cognitive Behavioural models of eating disorders and links have been identified between early memories, negative core beliefs and mental imagery. This study explored the impact of positive and negative self-imagery on aspects of the working self (implicit and explicit self-esteem, self-concept clarity and self-discrepancy) and affect.

Methods: Participants with high levels of eating disorder cognitions completed measures of explicit self-esteem, self-concept clarity, self-discrepancy and affect prior to completing a positive or negative self-imagery retrieval task.

Antioxidants Maintain Cellular Redox Homeostasis by Elimination of Reactive Oxygen Species.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced by living cells as normal cellular metabolic byproduct. Under excessive stress conditions, cells will produce numerous ROS, and the living organisms eventually evolve series of response mechanisms to adapt to the ROS exposure as well as utilize it as the signaling molecules. ROS molecules would trigger oxidative stress in a feedback mechanism involving many biological processes, such as apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy.

Dietary grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) improve weaned intestinal microbiota and mucosal barrier using a piglet model.

Proanthocyanidins have been suggested as an effective antibiotic alternative, however their mechanisms are still unknown. The present study investigated the effects of grape seed proanthocyanidins on gut microbiota and mucosal barrier using a weaned piglet model in comparison with colistin. Piglets weaned at 28 day were randomly assigned to four groups treated with a control ration, or supplemented with 250 mg/kg proanthocyanidins, kitasamycin/colistin, or 250 mg/kg proanthocyanidins and half-dose antibiotics, respectively.

The effect of user fee exemption on the utilization of maternal health care at mission health facilities in Malawi.

The Government of Malawi has signed contracts called service level agreements (SLAs) with mission health facilities in order to exempt their catchment populations from paying user fees. Government in turn reimburses the facilities for the services that they provide. SLAs started in 2006 with 28 out of 165 mission health facilities and increased to 74 in 2015.

Interactive X-ray and proton therapy training and simulation.

Purpose: External beam X-ray therapy (XRT) and proton therapy (PT) are effective and widely accepted forms of treatment for many types of cancer. However, the procedures require extensive computerized planning. Current planning systems for both XRT and PT have insufficient visual aid to combine real patient data with the treatment device geometry to account for unforeseen collisions among system components and the patient.

Benefits of Incentives for Breastfeeding and Smoking cessation in pregnancy (BIBS): a mixed-methods study to inform trial design.

Background: Smoking in pregnancy and/or not breastfeeding have considerable negative health outcomes for mother and baby.

Aim: To understand incentive mechanisms of action for smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding, develop a taxonomy and identify promising, acceptable and feasible interventions to inform trial design.

Design: Evidence syntheses, primary qualitative survey, and discrete choice experiment (DCE) research using multidisciplinary, mixed methods.

Unintended consequences of incentive provision for behaviour change and maintenance around childbirth.

Financial (positive or negative) and non-financial incentives or rewards are increasingly used in attempts to influence health behaviours. While unintended consequences of incentive provision are discussed in the literature, evidence syntheses did not identify any primary research with the aim of investigating unintended consequences of incentive interventions for lifestyle behaviour change. Our objective was to investigate perceived positive and negative unintended consequences of incentive provision for a shortlist of seven promising incentive strategies for smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Self-imagery in individuals with high body dissatisfaction: the effect of positive and negative self-imagery on aspects of the self-concept.

Background And Objectives: Cognitive behavioural models of eating disorders highlight low self-esteem as a maintaining factor. This study explored the impact of positive and negative self-imagery on aspects of the working self (implicit and explicit self-esteem and self-concept clarity) in individuals with high body dissatisfaction (an important aspect of eating disorders). The impact of these images on state body satisfaction and affect was also explored.

Active travel intervention and physical activity behaviour: an evaluation.

A physically active lifestyle is an important contributor to individual health and well-being. The evidence linking higher physical activity levels with better levels of morbidity and mortality is well understood. Despite this, physical inactivity remains a major global risk factor for mortality and, consequently, encouraging individuals to pursue physically active lifestyles has been an integral part of public health policy in many countries.

The tougher the better: an economic analysis of increased payment thresholds on the performance of general practices.

We investigate whether and how a change in performance-related payment motivated General Practitioners (GPs) in Scotland. We evaluate the effect of increases in the performance thresholds required for maximum payment under the Quality and Outcomes Framework in April 2006. A difference-in-differences estimator with fixed effects was employed to examine the number of patients treated under clinical indicators whose payment schedules were revised and to compare these with the figures for those indicators whose schedules remained unchanged.

Use of shared faculty in U.S. and Canadian dental schools.

Dental schools are facing substantial financial challenges and a shortage of faculty members. One solution to address these issues has been to hire "shared" faculty members, i.e.

Tackling alcohol misuse: purchasing patterns affected by minimum pricing for alcohol.

Background: Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of health and social harms that increase with the level of consumption. Policy makers are interested in effective and cost-effective interventions to reduce alcohol consumption and associated harms. Economic theory and research evidence demonstrate that increasing price is effective at the population level.