Dietary and physical activity patterns of 8- to 10-year-old urban schoolchildren in Manila,Philippines

This report is the second part of a study on the nutrition of urban schoolchildren in the city of Manila; the first part was on nutritional status. The primary purpose of the study was to gather data that will assist authorities in planning and implementing nutrition education programs focused on the growing problem of obesity and overweight in children. The study included 1,208 children 8 to 10 years of age, who were randomly selected from all public and private schools in the city of Manila. Data on the children's dietary and physical activity patterns, together with information on nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and preferences of the children and their parents, were gathered by interviews and self-administered questionnaires. There were distinct differences in dietary and physical activity patterns between the two groups of children. Children from private schools, who are generally of higher socioeconomic status than those from public schools, tended to consume more total food, more animal foods, fats, and oils, and more beverages, resulting in higher intakes of calories, protein, iron, and vitamin A than public schoolchildren. Moreover, children from private schools were apparently less physically active, were more likely to be driven to school instead of walking, and were more likely to prefer television and computer games over outdoor games. These differences agree with an earlier report on the nutritional status of the children as determined by anthropometry, which showed a higher proportion of overnutrition and a lower proportion of undernutrition among private schoolchildren than among public schoolchildren. Although the emphasis in public schools should be on prevention and control of undernutrition in children, private schools should begin to look at the emerging problem of overnutrition and the role of physical activity programs in the health of children. The information on the knowledge, attitudes, and preferences of the children and their parents showed that parents or guardians, teachers, and television influence the nutritional practices of schoolchildren. These groups should therefore be the major targets for nutrition education programs meant to improve the nutrition and health of schoolchildren.     

Socio-economic status,racial composition and the affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods of a large rural region in Texas

Background  

Little is known about how affordability of healthy food varies with community characteristics in rural settings. We examined how the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables varies with the economic and demographic characteristics in six rural counties of Texas.     

Modelling the effect of gamma irradiation on the inactivation and growth kinetics of psychrotrophic bacteria in squid rings during refrigerated storage. Shelf-life predictions

Psychrotrophic bacteria behaviour, when gamma irradiation is applied with shelf-life extension purposes to a fresh squid product, was modelled. In this regard, the effect of gamma irradiation at 0, 1.8, 3.3 and 5.8 kGy on psychrotrophic microorganisms in vacuum-packed squid (Illex argentinus) rings was analysed during storage at 4–5 °C. First-order kinetics satisfactorily described the radio-induced inactivation of the initial psychrotrophs population. The growth of surviving bacteria during storage was fitted to two empirical models: modified Gompertz model and a polynomial expression dependent on irradiation dose and storage time. In turn, the influence of irradiation dose on kinetic parameters of Gompertz model was described by second order polynomials. Both proposed models satisfactorily described the behaviour of psychrotrophs as affected by gamma irradiation, allowing accurate shelf-life predictions for doses up to 5.3 kGy. Considering the predictions accuracy, complete Gompertz model was preferred and model validation was done for irradiation at 4.8 kGy.     

Up-Regulation of mRNA Ventricular PRNP Prion Protein Gene Expression in Air Pollution Highly Exposed Young Urbanites: Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress,Glucose Regulated Protein 78, and Nanosized Particles

Mexico City Metropolitan Area children and young adults exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants including fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM) vs. clean air controls, exhibit myocardial inflammation and inflammasome activation with a differential right and left ventricular expression of key inflammatory genes and inflammasomes. We investigated the mRNA expression levels of the prion protein gene PRNP, which plays an important role in the protection against oxidative stress and metal toxicity, and the glucose regulated protein 78, a key protein in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling, in ventricular autopsy samples from 30 children and young adults age 19.97 ± 6.8 years with a lifetime of low (n:4) vs. high (n:26) air pollution exposures. Light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies were carried out in human ventricles, and electron microscopy studies were also done in 5 young, highly exposed Mexico City dogs. There was significant left ventricular PRNP and bi-ventricular GRP78 mRNA up-regulation in Mexico City young urbanites vs. controls. PRNP up-regulation in the left ventricle was significantly different from the right, p < 0.0001, and there was a strong left ventricular PRNP and GRP78 correlation (p = 0.0005). Marked abnormalities in capillary endothelial cells, numerous nanosized particles in myocardial ER and in abnormal mitochondria characterized the highly exposed ventricles. Early and sustained cardiac ER stress could result in detrimental irreversible consequences in urban children, and while highly complex systems maintain myocardial homeostasis, failure to compensate for chronic myocardial inflammation, oxidative and ER stress, and particles damaging myocardial organelles may prime the development of pathophysiological cardiovascular states in young urbanites. Nanosized PM could play a key cardiac myocyte toxicity role.     

Scope and Post‐Transformations for the Borane‐Isocyanide Multicomponent Reactions: Concise Access to Structurally Diverse Heterocyclic Compounds

A recently described family of multicomponent reactions (MCRs) involving isocyanides, aldehydes, dipolarophiles and alkylboranes that yield highly substituted aziridines, oxazolidines and pyrrolidines has been studied in detail. In this work the scope of these processes is significantly increased by preparing the borane input through hydroboration of alkenes or organometallic processes, in tandem with the MCR. The aldehyde range is also expanded, and indole‐3‐carbaldehydes yield reactive imines and bis‐indolyloxazolidines, depending on the electron density of the heterocycle. Finally, the obtained adducts constitute an ideal platform to generate structurally diverse compounds using simple post‐condensation modifications. In this way, indole imines undergo stereoselective hydrocyanation and oxazolidines are reductively opened to give amino alcohols. Additionally, palladium‐, ruthenium‐ and gold‐catalyzed processes lead to a variety of complex heterocycles. The methodology is simple, efficient and highly divergent, leading to an array of interesting scaffolds for medicinal chemistry.

     

Ethanol steam reforming kinetics of a Pd–Ag membrane reactor

The ethanol steam reforming reaction carried out in a Pd-based tubular membrane reactor has been modelled via a finite element code. The model considers the membrane tube divided into finite volume elements where the mass balances for both lumen and shell sides are carried out accordingly to the reaction and permeation kinetics. Especially, a simplified “power law” has been applied for the reaction kinetics: the comparison with experimental data obtained by using three different kinds of catalyst (Ru, Pt and Ni based) permitted defining the coefficients of the kinetics expression as well as to validate the model. Based on the Damkohler–Peclet analysis, the optimization of the membrane reformer has been also approached.     

Extrusion of Rice,Bean and Corn Starches: Extrudate Structure and Molecular Changes in Amylose and Amylopectin

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of starch source and amylose content on the expansion ratio, density, and texture of expanded extrudates, as well as to investigate the structural and molecular changes that occur in starch granules as a function of extrusion. The starches employed were rice starches (8%, 20%, and 32% amylose), carioca bean starch (35% amylose), and Hylon V^® corn starch (55% amylose). The extrudates from rice starches containing 20% and 32% amylose exhibited the highest expansion ratio, while, extrudates from Hylon V^® corn starch containing 55% amylose exhibited the lowest expansion ratio. The hardness values of the extrudates with 55% amylose were twice those of the extrudates with 20%, 32%, and 35% amylose. An additional finding was that although the amylopectin promoted the expansion of the gelatinized starch matrix, it failed to strengthen and sustain the walls of the extrudate bubbles during expansion.     

Boosting the photocatalytic hydrogen production of TiO2 by using copper hexacyanocobaltate as co-catalyst

The development of cheap and efficient co-catalysts is crucial to improve the performance of well-known photocatalysts towards the hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, copper hexacyanocobaltate was evaluated for the first time as a potential candidate to be used as co-catalyst coupled with conventional TiO₂. Copper hexacyanocobaltate was formed by chemical precipitation in the presence of TiO₂, without needing further treatments. The composite exhibited paramount performance towards hydrogen generation, surpassing by up to 16 times the behavior reached with bare TiO₂. This composite also overcome the performance of conventional TiO₂ modified with copper and cobalt oxides derived from copper hexacyanocobaltate. The enhanced behavior of TiO₂/Cu₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ composite was promoted by the efficient separation of photogenerated charge carries, and the faster charge transfer from photocatalyst towards species in solution, as it was proved by the photoelectrochemical characterization of the materials. Furthermore, the composite experienced a slight detriment (15%) in its hydrogen production rate after four consecutive photocatalyst tests. This variation was attributed to the slow leaching of copper in the co-catalyst caused by its partial transformation into metal hydroxides, as it was suggested by the ex-situ XPS characterization. Nevertheless, the structural characterization evinced the presence of the Cu₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ in the composite after long-term use. This study should be considered a proof of concept on a reliable route to obtain appropriate composites for hydrogen production using light as primary energy source.     

Study of the reactivity of Double-perovskite type oxide La1−xMxNiO4 (M = Ca or Sr) for chemical looping hydrogen production

La_2-xM_xNiO₄ perovskite oxygen carriers (OC) doped with Ca and Sr (x = 0.05 and 0.20) in the site La were prepared by microwave assisted combustion method and calcined at 800 °C for 2 h. A reactivity study was carried out applying pulses of H₂, O₂ and CH₄. The reactions involved in each step, as well as H₂ production, were studied to evaluate the redox properties of each OC. The crystalline structure, morphology, reduction and oxidation profiles were determined by XRD, SEM and TPR/TPO cycles, respectively. The results indicate that the dopant (Ca or Sr) strongly affect the structure and reactivity of the OC. The increase in dopant concentration increased the degree of crystallinity and the amount of the A₂BO₄ phase formed. The increase in dopant concentration decreased the reducibility of the perovskite. OCs doped with Ca showed higher conversion percentages, and also higher H₂ production. In carriers doped with Sr no coke formation was observed.