Use of Linear Programming to Develop Cost-Minimized Nutritionally Adequate Health Promoting Food Baskets

Background Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) are developed to promote healthier eating patterns, but increasing food prices may make healthy eating less affordable. The aim of this study was to design a range of cost-minimized nutritionally adequate health-promoting food baskets (FBs) that help prevent both micronutrient inadequacy and diet-related non-communicable diseases at lowest cost. [br/] Methods Average prices for 312 foods were collected within the Greater Copenhagen area. The cost and nutrient content of five different cost-minimized FBs for a family of four were calculated per day using linear programming. The FBs were defined using five different constraints: cultural acceptability (CA), or dietary guidelines (DG), or nutrient recommendations (N), or cultural acceptability and nutrient recommendations (CAN), or dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations (DGN). The variety and number of foods in each of the resulting five baskets was increased through limiting the relative share of individual foods. [br/] Results The one-day version of N contained only 12 foods at the minimum cost of DKK 27 ((sic)3.6). The CA, DG, and DGN were about twice of this and the CAN cost similar to DKK 81 ((sic)10.8). The baskets with the greater variety of foods contained from 70 (CAN) to 134 (DGN) foods and cost between DKK 60 ((sic)8.1, N) and DKK 125 ((sic)16.8, DGN). Ensuring that the food baskets cover both dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations doubled the cost while cultural acceptability (CAN) tripled it. [br/] Conclusion Use of linear programming facilitates the generation of low-cost food baskets that are nutritionally adequate, health promoting, and culturally acceptable

Линейный алгоритм построения гамильтонова цикла в локально связном графе треугольной решетки

An efficient linear time and space algorithm for finding a hamiltonian cycle in a locally connected triangular grid graph is presented. = Исследуются конечные порожденные подграфы решетки – графы решетки, которые находят многочисленные практические применения в компьютерной графике, вычислительной геометрии и робототехнике, в теории распознавания образов, молекулярной биологии. Изучаются циклические свойства связных локально связных графов треугольной решетки. Приводится новое доказательство того, что все такие графы (за исключением одного) являются гамильтоновыми. На основе данного доказательства описывается эффективный линейный по времени и памяти алгоритм нахождения гамильтонова цикла в рассматриваемом классе графов

Spinal pharmacology of tactile allodynia in diabetic rats

1. Rats develop tactile allodynia to stimulation of the plantar surface of the hindpaw with von Frey filaments within days of the onset of streptozotocin-induced diabetes. This is prevented by insulin and alleviated by systemic lignocaine, but the aetiology is unknown. 2. Using indwelling lumbar intrathecal catheters to deliver pharmacological agents, we have investigated whether tactile allodynia in streptozotocin-diabetic rats is dependent on mechanisms associated with spinal sensitization, by assessing the efficacy of agents that inhibit specific components of spinal nociceptive processing. 3. Dose-dependent inhibition of tactile allodynia in diabetic rats was noted with the N-type calcium channel antagonist SNX 239, the α(2)-adrenoceptor agonist dexmedetomidine, the μ-opioid receptor agonist morphine, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist AP5 and the non-NMDA receptor antagonist NBQX. 4. No effect on tactile allodynia was noted after intrathecal administration of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor ketorolac, the L-type calcium channel inhibitor diltiazem or any vehicle. 5. These data suggest that the tactile allodynia of diabetic rats involves spinal glutamatergic pathways but is not associated with spinal release of nitric oxide or prostaglandins