Perceived risk of insect-based foods: An assessment of the entomophagy attitude questionnaire predictive validity

Insects are a promising alternative protein source and their possible integration in the human diet has been extensively studied, also with reference to the degree of consumer acceptability and the main factors determining reluctance among Western consumers. Several studies have also proposed the use of protein meals derived from insects in animal feed as a possible way to promote the development of the insect chain. Consumer attitudes, perceived risks, and intention to eat insect-based foods have been extensively researched, yet the relationships between those factors are still unclear. On a sample of 202 Italian consumers, the present research used the Entomophagy Attitude Questionnaire (EAQ) to analyse the degree of acceptability of insects as food and meat obtained from animals raised on insect-based feeds with a specific focus on the role of attitudes and perceived risk. The research also evaluated the differences in acceptability between different types of animals fed with insects. The results show that the intention to engage in entomophagy is significantly correlated with all three of the EAQ’s subscales, as well as with perceived risk. However, the effect of perceived risk does not significantly improve the predictive validity of EAQ with respect to the intention to eat insect-based food. The results also show that the degree of acceptability for different insect meal-reared animals changes among consumers: beef and pork are characterized by a lower degree of acceptability, while poultry and fish are more accepted by consumers

Downside: The perpetrator of violence in the representations of social and health professionals

Gender-based violence is a widespread phenomenon and pandemic that affects women’s lives. Many interventions have been activated for perpetrators, but the dropout rate is still high. In order to draw up guidelines for responsibly and sustainably dealing with the phenomenon, this study is aimed at investigating the professionals’ perception of the perpetrator as a useful element in designing innovative intervention policies. Open interviews were carried out with welfare and health professionals and the Grounded Theory Methodology was used to analyze the collected data. These results detect attitudes of social health personnel and their feelings of impotence towards gender-based perpetrators because of the emergence of an inevitable repetitiveness of the violent behavior, as well as the “normality of violence” in a patriarchal culture and its “transversality”. This reflective knowledge allows for the opportunity to develop best transformative attitudes toward the phenomenon. According to the results, it is urgent to establish an active and convinced alliance with the healthy part of the man, through specific prevention paths, in order to activate an authentic motivation for change and its sustainability

Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and cancer risk: Results from the EPIC-Italy study

Abstract Factors linked to glucose metabolism are involved in the etiology of several cancers. High glycemic index (GI) or high glycemic load (GL) diets, which chronically raise postprandial blood glucose, may increase cancer risk by affecting insulin-like growth factor. We prospectively investigated cancer risk and dietary GI/GL in the EPIC-Italy cohort. After a median 14.9 years, 5112 incident cancers and 2460 deaths were identified among 45,148 recruited adults. High GI was associated with increased risk of colon and bladder cancer. High GL was associated with: increased risk of colon cancer; increased risk of diabetes-related cancers; and decreased risk of rectal cancer. High intake of carbohydrate from high GI foods was significantly associated with increased risk of colon and diabetes-related cancers, but decreased risk of stomach cancer; whereas high intake of carbohydrates from low GI foods was associated with reduced colon cancer risk. In a Mediterranean population with high and varied carbohydrate intake, carbohydrates that strongly raise postprandial blood glucose may increase colon and bladder cancer risk, while the quantity of carbohydrate consumed may be involved in diabetes-related cancers. Further studies are needed to confirm the opposing effects of high dietary GL on risks of colon and rectal cancers

The Relation Between Participatory Social Practices and Social Representations of Citizenship in Young Adulthood

The concept of citizenship is used both as a synonym of social action when referencing to an active form of citizenship as well as to indicate a form of civic obligation (formal citizenship). According to these premises, citizenship can be formalized in a large number of activities that contribute to building it in different ways. The aim of the present work is to explore how the concepts of citizenship and being a citizen are co-built by Italian young adults. Two groups of young adults are considered (engaged vs. not engaged). Eighty-nine young adults participants aged 18–36 completed a self-administered mixed-method questionnaire. A content and thematic analysis was conducted and a composite representation of citizenship emerged. Results of the present work can clarify the concept of citizenship by exploring how it is cognitively and socially represented in young adults and how this representation changes in engaged and not engaged young adults

International Journal of Cancer / DNA methylation changes measured in pre-diagnostic peripheral blood samples are associated with smoking and lung cancer risk

DNA methylation changes are associated with cigarette smoking. We used the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 array to determine whether methylation in DNA from pre-diagnostic, peripheral blood samples is associated with lung cancer risk. We used a case-control study nested within the EPIC-Italy cohort and a study within the MCCS cohort as discovery sets (a total of 552 case-control pairs). We validated the top signals in 429 case-control pairs from another 3 studies. We identified six CpGs for which hypomethylation was associated with lung cancer risk: cg05575921 in the AHRR gene (p-valuepooled =4 10-17 ), cg03636183 in the F2RL3 gene (p-valuepooled =2 10 - 13 ), cg21566642 and cg05951221 in 2q37.1 (p-valuepooled =7 10-16 and 1 10-11 respectively), cg06126421 in 6p21.33 (p-valuepooled =2 10-15 ) and cg23387569 in 12q14.1 (p-valuepooled =5 10-7 ). For cg05951221 and cg23387569 the strength of association was virtually identical in never and current smokers. For all these CpGs except for cg23387569, the methylation levels were different across smoking categories in controls (p-valuesheterogeneity 1.8 x10 - 7 ), were lowest for current smokers and increased with time since quitting for former smokers. We observed a gain in discrimination between cases and controls measured by the area under the ROC curve of at least 8% (p-values0.003) in former smokers by adding methylation at the 6 CpGs into risk prediction models including smoking status and number of pack-years. Our findings provide convincing evidence that smoking and possibly other factors lead to DNA methylation changes measurable in peripheral blood that may improve prediction of lung cancer risk.(VLID)222024

Assessment of dried blood spots for DNA methylation profiling

Background: DNA methylation reflects health-related environmental exposures and genetic risk, providing insights into aetiological mechanisms and potentially predicting disease onset, progression and treatment response. An increasingly recognised need for large-scale, longitudinally-profiled samples collected world-wide has made the development of efficient and straightforward sample collection and storage procedures a pressing issue. An alternative to the low-temperature storage of EDTA tubes of venous blood samples, which are frequently the source of the DNA used in such studies, is to collect and store at room temperature blood samples using purpose built filter paper, such as Whatman FTA® cards. Our goal was to determine whether DNA stored in this manner can be used to generate DNA methylation profiles comparable to those generated using blood samples frozen in EDTA tubes. Methods: DNA methylation profiles were obtained from matched EDTA tube and Whatman FTA® card whole-blood samples from 62 Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study participants using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. Multiple quality control procedures were implemented, the relationship between the two sample types assessed, and epigenome-wide association studies (EWASs) performed for smoking status, age and the interaction between these variables and sample storage method. Results: Dried blood spot (DBS) DNA methylation profiles were of good quality and DNA methylation profiles from matched DBS and EDTA tube samples were highly correlated (mean r = 0.991) and could distinguish between participants. EWASs replicated established associations for smoking and age, with no evidence for moderation by storage method. Conclusions: Our results support the use of Whatman FTA® cards for collecting and storing blood samples for DNA methylation profiling. This approach is likely to be particularly beneficial for large-scale studies and those carried out in areas where freezer access is limited. Furthermore, our results will inform consideration of the use of newborn heel prick DBSs for research use

Statistical and integrative system-level analysis of DNA methylation data

Epigenetics plays a key role in cellular development and function. Alterations to the epigenome are thought to capture and mediate the effects of genetic and environmental risk factors on complex disease. Currently, DNA methylation is the only epigenetic mark that can be measured reliably and genome-wide in large numbers of samples. This Review discusses some of the key statistical challenges and algorithms associated with drawing inferences from DNA methylation data, including cell-type heterogeneity, feature selection, reverse causation and system-level analyses that require integration with other data types such as gene expression, genotype, transcription factor binding and other epigenetic information