Unhealthy Diet Is Associated With Poor Sleep in Preschool-Aged Children

Unhealthy dietary choices are associated with poor sleep in children through adults. Yet, how diet and sleep are related in early childhood, when diet is reliant on parent choices around food availability, is unknown. The authors aimed to explore how frequency of fruit, vegetable, fast food, and soda consumption are associated with preschool children’s sleep quality. They also considered how parenting factors may impact the relationship between children’s sleep and diet. Actigraphy data were collected from 383 children 33–70 months old. Caregivers reported on child food and beverage frequency, demographics, and health items. Parenting strategies were assessed using the Parenting Scale. Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between sleep and dietary measures with socioeconomic status, race-ethnicity, physical activity, and body mass index as covariates. Shorter nap duration was associated with more frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables (B = –3.6, p = .03). Shorter nighttime and 24-hr sleep durations were associated with more frequent consumption of fast food (B = –6.5, p = .01; B = –5.8, p = .01). Shorter nighttime sleep and later sleep onset were associated with more frequent soda consumption (B = –9.2, p = .01; B = 0.23, p = .001). Use of ineffective parenting strategies was negatively associated with fruit and vegetable consumption (r = –.29, p = .01) and positively associated with soda consumption (r = .25, p = .02) but was unrelated to sleep measures. Thus, ineffective parenting strategies may underlie child access to unhealthy foods, which, in turn, contributes to poor sleep. Encouraging healthier dietary habits and educating caregivers on how to reinforce such practices may lead to better sleep outcomes in early childhood

Comparison of deep-ocean finescale shear at two sites along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Author Posting. © The Author, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 53 (2006): 207-225, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2005.08.021.Four drifting floats were used to measure the magnitude of the vertical derivative of horizontal velocity in waters above the rough bathymetry of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. This derivative is typically the dominant component of the velocity gradient (the shear). Two floats were at the site of the Brazil Basin Tracer Release Experiment (BBTRE) in the South Atlantic, and two were near the site of the Guiana Abyssal Gyre Experiment (GAGE) in the North Atlantic. Floats operated for one year except for one BBTRE float which operated for 100 days. Shear was measured over a vertical span of 9.5 m using drag elements that caused the floats to rotate slowly in response to shear. For each float, the first, second and fourth moments of shear were elevated above levels associated with the Garrett-Munk model internal-wave spectrum. Three of the four floats were tracked as they moved over mountainous terrain, allowing shear intensity to be measured as a function of height above the bottom. A deep BBTRE float showed enhancement of rms shear near the bottom. Floats at both areas provided measurements at 2000 m above the bottom, with differing results: The GAGE site had a lower fourth moment of shear (diapycnal diffusivity proxy) than the BBTRE site. However, application of normalization factors accounting for differences between the sites in bottom roughness, latitude-dependent internal-wave dynamics, and tidal current speeds brings the results into agreement.This work was funded by the National Science Foundation under grants OCE9416014 and OCE9906685

Estuarine Dissolved Organic Carbon Flux From Space: With Application to Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

This study uses a neural network model trained with in situ data, combined with satellite data and hydrodynamic model products, to compute the daily estuarine export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at the mouths of Chesapeake Bay (CB) and Delaware Bay (DB) from 2007 to 2011. Both bays show large flux variability with highest fluxes in spring and lowest in fall as well as interannual flux variability (0.18 and 0.27 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2010 for CB; 0.04 and 0.09 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2011 for DB). Based on previous estimates of total organic carbon (TOCexp) exported by all Mid‐Atlantic Bight estuaries (1.2 Tg C/year), the DOC export (CB + DB) of 0.3 Tg C/year estimated here corresponds to 25% of the TOCexp. Spatial and temporal covariations of velocity and DOC concentration provide contributions to the flux, with larger spatial influence. Differences in the discharge of fresh water into the bays (74 billion m3/year for CB and 21 billion m3/year for DB) and their geomorphologies are major drivers of the differences in DOC fluxes for these two systems. Terrestrial DOC inputs are similar to the export of DOC at the bay mouths at annual and longer time scales but diverge significantly at shorter time scales (days to months). Future efforts will expand to the Mid‐Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine, and its major rivers and estuaries, in combination with coupled terrestrial‐estuarine‐ocean biogeochemical models that include effects of climate change, such as warming and CO2 increase

Influence of aging on the neural correlates of autobiographical, episodic, and semantic memory retrieval

We used fMRI to assess the neural correlates of autobiographical, semantic, and episodic memory retrieval in healthy young and older adults. Participants were tested with an eventrelated paradigm in which retrieval demand was the only factor varying between trials. A spatio-temporal partial least square analysis was conducted to identify the main patterns of activity characterizing the groups across conditions. We identified brain regions activated by all three memory conditions relative to a control condition. This pattern was expressed equally in both age groups and replicated previous findings obtained in a separate group of younger adults. We also identified regions whose activity differentiated among the different memory conditions. These patterns of differentiation were expressed less strongly in the older adults than in the young adults, a finding that was further confirmed by a barycentric discriminant analysis. This analysis showed an age-related dedifferentiation in autobiographical and episodic memory tasks but not in the semantic memory task or the control condition. These findings suggest that the activation of a common memory retrieval network is maintained with age, whereas the specific aspects of brain activity that differ with memory content are more vulnerable and less selectively engaged in older adults. Our results provide a potential neural mechanism for the well-known age differences in episodic/autobiographical memory, and preserved semantic memory, observed when older adults are compared with younger adults

APLC-Optimization: an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph design survey toolkit

We present a publicly available software package developed for exploring apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC) solutions for various telescope architectures. In particular, the package optimizes the apodizer component of the APLC for a given focal-plane mask and Lyot stop geometry to meet a set of constraints (contrast, bandwidth etc.) on the coronagraph intensity in a given focal-plane region (i.e. dark zone). The package combines a high-contrast imaging simulation package HCIPy with a third-party mathematical optimizer (Gurobi) to compute the linearly optimized binary mask that maximizes transmission. We provide examples of the application of this toolkit to several different telescope geometries, including the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and the High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT) testbed. Finally, we summarize the results of a preliminary design survey for the case of a 6~m aperture off-axis space telescope, as recommended by the 2020 NASA Decadal Survey, exploring APLC solutions for different segment sizes. We then use the Pair-based Analytical model for Segmented Telescope Imaging from Space (PASTIS) to perform a segmented wavefront error tolerancing analysis on these solutions.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, SPIE conferenc

Multiple shells around G79.29+0.46 revealed from near-IR to millimeter data

Aiming to perform a study of the warm dust and gas in the luminous blue variable star G79.29+0.46 and its associated nebula, we present infrared Spitzer imaging and spectroscopy, and new CO J=2-->1 and 4-->3 maps obtained with the IRAM 30m radio telescope and with the Submillimeter Telescope, respectively. We have analyzed the nebula detecting multiple shells of dust and gas connected to the star. Using Infrared Spectrograph-Spitzer spectra, we have compared the properties of the central object, the nebula, and their surroundings. These spectra show a rich variety of solid-state features (amorphous silicates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and CO2 ices) and narrow emission lines, superimposed on a thermal continuum. We have also analyzed the physical conditions of the nebula, which point to the existence of a photo-dissociation region.Comment: Received by ApJ 2009 November 20, accepted for publication 2010 February 25, Published 2010 March 2

A conceptual model of an Arctic sea

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): C06010, doi:10.1029/2011JC007652.We propose a conceptual model for an Arctic sea that is driven by river runoff, atmospheric fluxes, sea ice melt/growth, and winds. The model domain is divided into two areas, the interior and boundary regions, that are coupled through Ekman and eddy fluxes of buoyancy. The model is applied to Hudson and James Bays (HJB, a large inland basin in northeastern Canada) for the period 1979–2007. Several yearlong records from instruments moored within HJB show that the model results are consistent with the real system. The model notably reproduces the seasonal migration of the halocline, the baroclinic boundary current, spatial variability of freshwater content, and the fall maximum in freshwater export. The simulations clarify the important differences in the freshwater balance of the western and eastern sides of HJB. The significant role played by the boundary current in the freshwater budget of the system, and its sensitivity to the wind-forcing, are also highlighted by the simulations and new data analyses. We conclude that the model proposed is useful for the interpretation of observed data from Arctic seas and model outputs from more complex coupled/climate models.We thank NSERC and the Canada Research Chairs program for funding. FS acknowledges support from NSF OCE–0927797 and ONR N00014-08-10490.2012-12-2

Global patterns of diapycnal mixing from measurements of the turbulent dissipation rate

The authors present inferences of diapycnal diffusivity from a compilation of over 5200 microstructure profiles. As microstructure observations are sparse, these are supplemented with indirect measurements of mixing obtained from (i) Thorpe-scale overturns from moored profilers, a finescale parameterization applied to (ii) shipboard observations of upper-ocean shear, (iii) strain as measured by profiling floats, and (iv) shear and strain from full-depth lowered acoustic Doppler current profilers (LADCP) and CTD profiles. Vertical profiles of the turbulent dissipation rate are bottom enhanced over rough topography and abrupt, isolated ridges. The geography of depth-integrated dissipation rate shows spatial variability related to internal wave generation, suggesting one direct energy pathway to turbulence. The global-averaged diapycnal diffusivity below 1000-m depth is O(10?4) m2 s?1 and above 1000-m depth is O(10?5) m2 s?1. The compiled microstructure observations sample a wide range of internal wave power inputs and topographic roughness, providing a dataset with which to estimate a representative global-averaged dissipation rate and diffusivity. However, there is strong regional variability in the ratio between local internal wave generation and local dissipation. In some regions, the depth-integrated dissipation rate is comparable to the estimated power input into the local internal wave field. In a few cases, more internal wave power is dissipated than locally generated, suggesting remote internal wave sources. However, at most locations the total power lost through turbulent dissipation is less than the input into the local internal wave field. This suggests dissipation elsewhere, such as continental margins

Nuclear structure and reaction studies at SPIRAL

The SPIRAL facility at GANIL, operational since 2001, is described briefly. The diverse physics program using the re-accelerated (1.2 to 25 MeV/u) beams ranging from He to Kr and the instrumentation specially developed for their exploitation are presented. Results of these studies, using both direct and compound processes, addressing various questions related to the existence of exotic states of nuclear matter, evolution of new "magic numbers", tunnelling of exotic nuclei, neutron correlations, exotic pathways in astrophysical sites and characterization of the continuum are discussed. The future prospects for the facility and the path towards SPIRAL2, a next generation ISOL facility, are also briefly presented.Comment: 48 pages, 27 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics

Molecular Characterization Reveals Diverse and Unknown Malaria Vectors in the Western Kenyan Highlands.

The success of mosquito-based malaria control is dependent upon susceptible bionomic traits in local malaria vectors. It is crucial to have accurate and reliable methods to determine mosquito species composition in areas subject to malaria. An unexpectedly diverse set of Anopheles species was collected in the western Kenyan highlands, including unidentified and potentially new species carrying the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. This study identified 2,340 anopheline specimens using both ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region 2 and mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 loci. Seventeen distinct sequence groups were identified. Of these, only eight could be molecularly identified through comparison to published and voucher sequences. Of the unidentified species, four were found to carry P. falciparum by circumsporozoite enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction, the most abundant of which had infection rates comparable to a primary vector in the area, Anopheles funestus. High-quality adult specimens of these unidentified species could not be matched to museum voucher specimens or conclusively identified using multiple keys, suggesting that they may have not been previously described. These unidentified vectors were captured outdoors. Diverse and unknown species have been incriminated in malaria transmission in the western Kenya highlands using molecular identification of unusual morphological variants of field specimens. This study demonstrates the value of using molecular methods to compliment vector identifications and highlights the need for accurate characterization of mosquito species and their associated behaviors for effective malaria control