Obesogenic Built Environment: Concepts and Complexities

Obesity is an issue of global concern. Obesity rates have risen rapidly in the recent past with an associated increase in a number of related serious health conditions. While the basic equation behind human obesity seems simple – too much energy consumed, too little energy expended – the causes are complex and multi-factorial, including biological, psychological, sociological and economic influences. Swinburn et al coined the term ‘obesogenic environment’ as the ‘sum of influences, opportunities, or conditions of life’ that promote obesity in individuals or populations (1999), an all-encompassing concept that includes the built environment. While establishing causal pathways between the built environment and obesity has been notoriously difficult, the Foresight report (2007) suggested there was enough expert evidence to implicate the built environment in the obesity crisis – calling for greater consideration of the issue in urban planning

On particle collisions in the gravitational field of the Kerr black hole

Scattering of particles in the gravitational field of Kerr black holes is considered. It is shown that scattering energy of particles in the centre of mass system can obtain very large values not only for extremal black holes but also for nonextremal ones existing in Nature. This can be used for explanation of still unresolved problem of the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays observed in Auger experiment. Extraction of energy after the collision is investigated. It is shown that due to the Penrose process the energy of the particle escaping the hole at infinity can be large. Contradictions in the problem of getting high energetic particles escaping the black hole are resolved.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages, 2 figure

‘I'm not trusted in the kitchen’: food environments and food behaviours of young people attending school and college

Background Food behaviours are important in the context of health and obesity. The aim was to explore the environments and food behaviours of a sample of young people in the North East of England to further understanding of the relationship between eating behaviours and environmental context. Methods Focus groups were conducted with four groups of young people aged 16–20 years (n = 40; 28 male, 12 female) between November 2006 and June 2007. Analysis was informed by grounded theory methods and was an iterative process of identifying themes across the transcripts. Results Topics explored included: their main environment, home food responsibility and cooking, food outside of the home, where food was purchased/obtained and where food was eaten and with whom. Emergent themes included: the value for money in food purchases, time convenience, the car as a means of accessing food and health perceptions. Conclusions The complexities of the food environment were illustrated. This work has highlighted the importance of the home food environment and parents, and indicated the importance of factors such as time and cost in this age group's food choices. The behavioural norms around food behaviours merit further exploration for this population in transition between adolescence and adulthood

Consumption of energy drinks by children and young people: a systematic review examining evidence of physical effects and consumer attitudes

ObjectiveTo update an earlier review, published in 2016, on the health and other outcomes associated with children and young people's consumption of energy drinks (EDs).Study designReview article.Systematic reviewSystematic searches of nine databases (ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, DARE, Embase, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science) retrieved original articles reporting the effects of EDs experienced by children and young people up to the age of 21 years. Searches were restricted by publication dates (January 2016 to July 2022) and language (English). Studies assessed as being weak were excluded from the review. Included studies underwent narrative synthesis.ResultsA total of 57 studies were included. Boys consumed EDs more than girls. Many studies reported a strong positive association between ED consumption and smoking, alcohol use, binge drinking, other substance use and the intentions to initiate these behaviours. Sensation-seeking and delinquent behaviours were positively associated with ED consumption, as were short sleep duration, poor sleep quality and low academic performance. Additional health effects noted in the updated review included increased risk of suicide, psychological distress, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, depressive and panic behaviours, allergic diseases, insulin resistance, dental caries and erosive tooth wear.ConclusionsThis review adds to the growing evidence that ED consumption by children and young people is associated with numerous adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Where feasible and ethical, additional longitudinal studies are required to ascertain causality. The precautionary principle should be considered in regulatory policy and restriction of ED sales to this population

Boundary Effects in Local Inflation and Spectrum of Density Perturbations

We observe that when a local patch in a radiation filled Robertson-Walker universe inflates by some reason, outside perturbations can enter into the inflating region. Generally, the physical wavelengths of these perturbations become larger than the Hubble radius as they cross into the inflating space and their amplitudes freeze out immediately. It turns out that the corresponding power spectrum is not scale invariant. Although these perturbations cannot reach out to a distance inner observer shielded by a de Sitter horizon, they still indicate a curious boundary effect in local inflationary scenarios.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, revtex4, v4: minor typos corrected, twocolumn versio

Vacuum Bubble in an Inhomogeneous Cosmology

We study the propagation of bubbles of new vacuum in a radially inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi background that includes a cosmological constant. This exemplifies the classical evolution of a tunneling bubble through a metastable state with curvature inhomogeneities, and will be relevant in the context of the Landscape. We demand that the matter profile in the LTB background satisfy the weak energy condition. For sample profiles that satisfy this restriction, we find that the evolution of the bubble (in terms of the physically relevant coordinates intrinsic to the shell) is largely unaffected by the prsence of local inhomogeneities. Our setup should also be a useful toy model for capturing the effects of ambient inhomogeneities on an inflating region.Comment: 31 pages, 21(!) figures, v2: minor changes, figures re-sized (might require zoom on some systems), references adde

Comparison of sodium content of meals served by independent takeaways using standard versus reduced holed salt shakers: cross-sectional study

Background Takeaway food has a relatively poor nutritional profile. Providing takeaway outlets with reduced-holed salt shakers is one method thought to reduce salt use in takeaways, but effects have not been formally tested. We aimed to determine if there was a difference in sodium content of standard fish and chip meals served by Fish & Chip Shops that use standard (17 holes) versus reduced-holed (5 holes) salt shakers, taking advantage of natural variations in salt shakers used. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of all Fish & Chip Shops in two local government areas (n = 65), where servers added salt to meals as standard practice, and salt shaker used could be identified (n = 61). Standard fish and chip meals were purchased from each shop by incognito researchers and the purchase price and type of salt shaker used noted. Sodium content of full meals and their component parts (fish, chips, and fish batter) was determined using flame photometry. Differences in absolute and relative sodium content of meals and component parts between shops using reduced-holed versus standard salt-shakers were compared using linear regression before and after adjustment for purchase price and area. Results Reduced-holed salt shakers were used in 29 of 61 (47.5 %) included shops. There was no difference in absolute sodium content of meals purchased from shops using standard versus reduced-holed shakers (mean = 1147 mg [equivalent to 2.9 g salt]; SD = 424 mg; p > 0.05). Relative sodium content was significantly lower in meals from shops using reduced-holed (mean = 142.5 mg/100 g [equivalent to 0.4 g salt/100 g]; SD = 39.0 mg/100 g) versus standard shakers (mean = 182.0 mg/100 g; [equivalent to 0.5 g salt/100 g]; SD = 68.3 mg/100 g; p = 0.008). This was driven by differences in the sodium content of chips and was extinguished by adjustment for purchase price and area. Price was inversely associated with relative sodium content (p < 0.05). Conclusions Using reduced-holed salt shakers in Fish & Chip Shops is associated with lower relative sodium content of fish and chip meals. This is driven by differences in sodium content of chips, making our results relevant to the wide range of takeaways serving chips. Shops serving higher priced meals, which may reflect a more affluent customer base, may be more likely to use reduced-holed shakers

Spherically Symmetric Solutions in Macroscopic Gravity

Schwarzschild's solution to the Einstein Field Equations was one of the first and most important solutions that lead to the understanding and important experimental tests of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. However, Schwarzschild's solution is essentially based on an ideal theory of gravitation, where all inhomogeneities are ignored. Therefore, any generalization of the Schwarzschild solution should take into account the effects of small perturbations that may be present in the gravitational field. The theory of Macroscopic Gravity characterizes the effects of the inhomogeneities through a non-perturbative and covariant averaging procedure. With similar assumptions on the geometry and matter content, a solution to the averaged field equations as dictated by Macroscopic Gravity are derived. The resulting solution provides a possible explanation for the flattening of galactic rotation curves, illustrating that Dark Matter is not real but may only be the result of averaging inhomogeneities in a spherically symmetric background.Comment: 14 pages, added and updated references, some paragraphs rewritten for clarity, typographical errors fixed, results have not change

Effects of acceleration on the collision of particles in the rotating black hole spacetime

We study the collision of two geodesic particles in the accelerating and rotating black hole spacetime and probe the effects of the acceleration of black hole on the center-of-mass energy of the colliding particles and on the high-velocity collision belts. We find that the dependence of the center-of-mass energy on the acceleration in the near event-horizon collision is different from that in the near acceleration-horizon case. Moreover, the presence of the acceleration changes the shape and position of the high-velocity collision belts. Our results show that the acceleration of black holes brings richer physics for the collision of particles.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, The corrected version accepted for publication in EPJ

The Similarity Hypothesis in General Relativity

Self-similar models are important in general relativity and other fundamental theories. In this paper we shall discuss the ``similarity hypothesis'', which asserts that under a variety of physical circumstances solutions of these theories will naturally evolve to a self-similar form. We will find there is good evidence for this in the context of both spatially homogenous and inhomogeneous cosmological models, although in some cases the self-similar model is only an intermediate attractor. There are also a wide variety of situations, including critical pheneomena, in which spherically symmetric models tend towards self-similarity. However, this does not happen in all cases and it is it is important to understand the prerequisites for the conjecture.Comment: to be submitted to Gen. Rel. Gra