The aggregation of Brucella abortus occurs under microaerobic conditions and promotes desiccation tolerance and biofilm formation

Brucella abortus causes brucellosis mainly in cattle. The infection is transmitted to humans by ingestion of animal products or direct contact with infected material. While the intracellular lifestyle of Brucella is well characterized, its extracellular survival is poorly understood. In nature, bacterial persistence is associated with biofilms, where aggregated cells are protected from adversity. The inability of Brucella abortus to aggregate under aerobiosis and that fact that the replicative niche of Brucella is characterized by microaerobic conditions prompted us to investigate the capacity of this pathogen to aggregate and grow in biofilms under microaerobiotic conditions. The results show that B. abortus aggregates and produces biofilms. The aggregates tolerate desiccation better than planktonic cells do, adhere and displace even in the absence of the lipopolysaccharide-O antigen, flagella, the transcriptional regulator VjbR, or the enzymes that synthesize, transport, and modify cyclic β (1,2) glucan.Fil: Almiron, Marta A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Roset, Mara Sabrina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Sanjuan, Norberto Aníbal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; Argentin

Price promotions on healthier compared with less healthy foods: a hierarchical regression analysis of the impact on sales and social patterning of responses to promotions in Great Britain.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern, but limited evidence, that price promotions contribute to a poor diet and the social patterning of diet-related disease. OBJECTIVE: We examined the following questions: 1) Are less-healthy foods more likely to be promoted than healthier foods? 2) Are consumers more responsive to promotions on less-healthy products? 3) Are there socioeconomic differences in food purchases in response to price promotions? DESIGN: With the use of hierarchical regression, we analyzed data on purchases of 11,323 products within 135 food and beverage categories from 26,986 households in Great Britain during 2010. Major supermarkets operated the same price promotions in all branches. The number of stores that offered price promotions on each product for each week was used to measure the frequency of price promotions. We assessed the healthiness of each product by using a nutrient profiling (NP) model. RESULTS: A total of 6788 products (60%) were in healthier categories and 4535 products (40%) were in less-healthy categories. There was no significant gap in the frequency of promotion by the healthiness of products neither within nor between categories. However, after we controlled for the reference price, price discount rate, and brand-specific effects, the sales uplift arising from price promotions was larger in less-healthy than in healthier categories; a 1-SD point increase in the category mean NP score, implying the category becomes less healthy, was associated with an additional 7.7-percentage point increase in sales (from 27.3% to 35.0%; P < 0.01). The magnitude of the sales uplift from promotions was larger for higher-socioeconomic status (SES) groups than for lower ones (34.6% for the high-SES group, 28.1% for the middle-SES group, and 23.1% for the low-SES group). Finally, there was no significant SES gap in the absolute volume of purchases of less-healthy foods made on promotion. CONCLUSION: Attempts to limit promotions on less-healthy foods could improve the population diet but would be unlikely to reduce health inequalities arising from poorer diets in low-socioeconomic groups.The study was funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (http://prp.dh.gov.uk/) [Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health (PRUN-0409-10109)].This is the final published version of the article. It was originally published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Nakamura R, Suhrcke M, Jebb SA, Pechey R, Almiron-Roig E, Marteau TM, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015, 101, 808-816, doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.094227). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.09422

Factors that determine energy compensation: a systematic review of preload studies.

Insufficient energy compensation after a preload (meal, snack, or beverage) has been associated with excess energy intake, but experimental studies have used heterogeneous methodologies, making energy compensation difficult to predict. The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the relative contributions of two key variables, preload physical form and intermeal interval (IMI), to differences in energy compensation. Forty-eight publications were included, from which percent energy compensation (%EC) data were extracted for 253 interventions (121 liquid, 69 semisolid, 20 solid, and 43 composite preloads). Energy compensation ranged from -370% (overconsumption, mostly of liquids) to 450% (overcompensation). A meta-regression analysis of studies reporting positive energy compensation showed that IMI (as the predominant factor) together with preload physical form and energy contributed significantly to %EC differences, accounting for 50% of the variance, independently from gender and BMI. Energy compensation was maximized when the preload was in semisolid/solid form and the IMI was 30-120 min. These results may assist in the interpretation of studies assessing the relative efficacy of interventions to enhance satiety, including functional foods and weight management products

Development and validation of a new methodological platform to measure behavioral, cognitive, and physiological responses to food interventions in real time

To fully understand the causes and mechanisms involved in overeating and obesity, measures of both cognitive and physiological determinants of eating behavior need to be integrated. Effectively synchronizing behavioral measures such as meal micro-structure (e.g., eating speed), cognitive processing of sensory stimuli, and metabolic parameters, can be complex. However, this step is central to understanding the impact of food interventions on body weight. In this paper, we provide an overview of the existing gaps in eating behavior research and describe the development and validation of a new methodological platform to address some of these issues. As part of a controlled trial, 76 men and women self-served and consumed food from a buffet, using a portion-control plate with visual stimuli for appropriate amounts of main food groups, or a conventional plate, on two different days, in a random order. In both sessions participants completed behavioral and cognitive tests using a novel methodological platform that measured gaze movement (as a proxy for visual attention), eating rate and bite size, memory for portion sizes, subjective appetite and portion-size perceptions. In a sub-sample of women, hormonal secretion in response to the meal was also measured. The novel platform showed a significant improvement in meal micro-structure measures from published data (13 vs. 33% failure rate) and high comparability between an automated gaze mapping protocol vs. manual coding for eye-tracking studies involving an eating test (ICC between methods 0.85; 90% CI 0.74, 0.92). This trial was registered at Clinical Trials.gov with Identifier NCT03610776. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13428-021-01745-9

Understanding the role of temporal variation of environmental variables in predicting Aedes aegypti oviposition activity in a temperate region of Argentina

Environmental variables related to vegetation and weather are some of the most influential factors that impacting Aedes (Stegomya) aegypti, a mosquito vector of dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. In this paper, we aim to develop temporal predictive models for Ae. aegypti oviposition activity utilizing vegetation and meteorological variables as predictors in Córdoba city (Argentina). Eggs were collected using ovitraps placed throughout the city from 2009 to 2012 that were replaced weekly. Temporal generalized linear mixed models were developed with negative binomial distributions of errors that model average number of eggs collected weekly as a function of vegetation and meteorological variables with time lags. The best model included a vegetation index, vapor pressure of water, precipitation and photoperiod. With each unit of increment in vegetation index per week the average number of eggs increased by 1.71 in the third week. Furthermore, each millimeter increase of accumulated rain during 4 weeks was associated with a decrease of 0.668 in the average number of eggs found in the following week. This negative effect of precipitation could occur during abundant rainfalls that fill containers completely, thereby depriving females of oviposition sites and leading them to search for other suitable breeding sites. Furthermore, the average number of eggs increased with the photoperiod at low values of mean vapor pressure; however the average number of eggs decreased at high values of mean vapor pressure, and the positive relationship between the response variable and mean vapor pressure was stronger at low values of photoperiod. Additionally, minimum temperature was associated positively with oviposition activity and that low minimum temperatures could be a limiting factor in Ae. aegypti oviposition activity. Our results emphasize the important role that climatic variables such as temperature, precipitation, and vapor pressure play in Ae. aegypti oviposition activity and how these variables along with vegetation indices can be used to inform predictive temporal models of Ae. aegypti population dynamics that can be used for informing mosquito population control and arbovirus mitigation strategies.Fil: Benitez, Elisabet Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Estallo, Elizabet Lilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Grech, Marta Gladys. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagóica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; ArgentinaFil: Frías Céspedes, Maria. Provincia de Córdoba. Ministerio de Salud; ArgentinaFil: Almiron, Walter Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Robert, Michael A.. Virginia Commonwealth University; Estados UnidosFil: Ludueña Almeida, Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentin

Critical animal and media studies: Expanding the understanding of oppression in communication research

Critical and communication studies have traditionally neglected the oppression conducted by humans towards other animals. However, our (mis)treatment of other animals is the result of public consent supported by a morally speciesist-anthropocentric system of values. Speciesism or anthroparchy, as much as any other mainstream ideologies, feeds the media and at the same time is perpetuated by them. The goal of this article is to remedy this neglect by introducing the subdiscipline of Critical Animal and Media Studies. Critical Animal and Media Studies takes inspiration both from critical animal studies – which is so far the most consolidated critical field of research in the social sciences addressing our exploitation of other animals – and from the normative-moral stance rooted in the cornerstones of traditional critical media studies. The authors argue that the Critical Animal and Media Studies approach is an unavoidable step forward for critical media and communication studies to engage with the expanded circle of concerns of contemporary ethical thinking

Socioeconomic differences in purchases of more vs. less healthy foods and beverages: analysis of over 25,000 British households in 2010.

Socioeconomic inequalities in diet-related health outcomes are well-recognised, but are not fully explained by observational studies of consumption. We provide a novel analysis to identify purchasing patterns more precisely, based on data for take-home food and beverage purchases from 25,674 British households in 2010. To examine socioeconomic differences (measured by occupation), we conducted regression analyses on the proportion of energy purchased from (a) each of 43 food or beverage categories and (b) major nutrients. Results showed numerous small category-level socioeconomic differences. Aggregation of the categories showed lower SES groups generally purchased a greater proportion of energy from less healthy foods and beverages than those in higher SES groups (65% and 60%, respectively), while higher SES groups purchased a greater proportion of energy from healthier food and beverages (28% vs. 24%). At the nutrient-level, socioeconomic differences were less marked, although higher SES was associated with purchasing greater proportions of fibre, protein and total sugars, and smaller proportions of sodium. The observed pattern of purchasing across SES groups contributes to the explanation of observed health differences between groups and highlights targets for interventions to reduce health inequalities

Spatio-temporal dynamics of dengue 2009 outbreak in Córdoba city, Argentina.

During 2009 the biggest dengue epidemic to date occurred in Argentina, affecting almost half the country. We studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of the outbreak in the second most populated city of the country, Córdoba city. Confirmed cases and the results of an Aedes aegypti monitoring during the outbreak were geolocated. The imported cases began in January, and the autochthonous in March. Thirty-three percent of the 130 confirmed cases were imported, and occurred mainly at the center of the city. The autochthonous cases were more frequent in the outskirts, specially in the NE and SE. Aedes aegypti infestation showed no difference between neighborhoods with or without autochthonous cases, neither between neighborhoods with autochthonous vs. imported cases. The neighborhoods with imported cases presented higher population densities. The majority of autochthonous cases occurred at ages between 25 and 44 years old. Cases formed a spatio-temporal cluster of up to 20 days and 12 km. According to a athematical model that estimates the required number of days needed for transmission according to daily temperature, the number of cases begun to fall when more than 15.5 days were needed. This may be a coarse estimation of mean mosquito survival in the area, provided that the study area is close to the global distribution limit of the vector, and that cases prevalence was very low.Fil: Estallo, Elizabet Lilia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Carbajo, Anibal Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental; ArgentinaFil: Grech, Marta Gladys. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Departamento de Biología. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Ecología y Sistemática Animal; ArgentinaFil: Frias Cespedes, M.. Ministerio de Salud de la Provincia de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, L.. Ministerio de Salud de la Provincia de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Lanfri, M. A.. Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales; ArgentinaFil: Ludueña Almeida, Francisco F.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Almiron, Walter Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentin

Subtle changes in the flavour and texture of a drink enhance expectations of satiety

Background: The consumption of liquid calories has been implicated in the development of obesity and weight gain. Energy-containing drinks are often reported to have a weak satiety value: one explanation for this is that because of their fluid texture they are not expected to have much nutritional value. It is important to consider what features of these drinks can be manipulated to enhance their expected satiety value. Two studies investigated the perception of subtle changes in a drink’s viscosity, and the extent to which thick texture and creamy flavour contribute to the generation of satiety expectations. Participants in the first study rated the sensory characteristics of 16 fruit yogurt drinks of increasing viscosity. In study two, a new set of participants evaluated eight versions of the fruit yogurt drink, which varied in thick texture, creamy flavour and energy content, for sensory and hedonic characteristics and satiety expectations. Results: In study one, participants were able to perceive small changes in drink viscosity that were strongly related to the actual viscosity of the drinks. In study two, the thick versions of the drink were expected to be more filling and have a greater expected satiety value, independent of the drink’s actual energy content. A creamy flavour enhanced the extent to which the drink was expected to be filling, but did not affect its expected satiety. Conclusions: These results indicate that subtle manipulations of texture and creamy flavour can increase expectations that a fruit yogurt drink will be filling and suppress hunger, irrespective of the drink’s energy content. A thicker texture enhanced expectations of satiety to a greater extent than a creamier flavour, and may be one way to improve the anticipated satiating value of energy-containing beverages