Excessive recreational computer use and food consumption behaviour among adolescents

INTRODUCTION: Using the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data, we explore the association between excessive recreational computer use and specific food consumption behavior among California's adolescents aged 12-17. METHOD: The adolescent component of CHIS 2005 measured the respondents' average number of hours spent on viewing TV on a weekday, the average number of hours spent on viewing TV on a weekend day, the average number of hours spent on playing with a computer on a weekday, and the average number of hours spent on playing with computers on a weekend day. We recode these four continuous variables into four variables of "excessive media use," and define more than three hours of using a medium per day as "excessive." These four variables are then used in logistic regressions to predict different food consumption behaviors on the previous day: having fast food, eating sugary food more than once, drinking sugary drinks more than once, and eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables. We use the following variables as covariates in the logistic regressions: age, gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, household poverty status, whether born in the U.S., and whether living with two parents. RESULTS: Having fast food on the previous day is associated with excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R.=1.38, p<0.01). Having sugary food more than once is associated with excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R.=1.50, p<0.001). Having sugary drinks more than once is associated with excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R.=1.41, p<0.01), excessive weekday recreational computer use (O.R.=1.38, p<0.05), and excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R.=1.43, p<0.001). Finally, having more than five servings of fruits and vegetables on the previous day is negatively associated with all four media use variables: excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R.=0.64, p<0.001), excessive weekday recreational computer use (O.R.=0.68, p<0.01), excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R.=0.80, p<0.05), and excessive weekend recreational computer use (O.R.=0.78, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Excessive recreational computer use independently predicts undesirable eating behaviors that could lead to overweight and obesity. Preventive measures ranging from parental/youth counseling to content regulations might be addressing the potential undesirable influence from excessive computer use on eating behaviors among children and adolescents

Molecular cloning of a novel <em>bioH</em> gene from an environmental metagenome encoding a carboxylesterase with exceptional tolerance to organic solvents

BACKGROUND: BioH is one of the key enzymes to produce the precursor pimeloyl-ACP to initiate biotin biosynthesis de novo in bacteria. To date, very few bioH genes have been characterized. In this study, we cloned and identified a novel bioH gene, bioHx, from an environmental metagenome by a functional metagenomic approach. The bioHx gene, encoding an enzyme that is capable of hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters of fatty acids, was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 using the pET expression system. The biochemical property of the purified BioHx protein was also investigated. RESULTS: Screening of an unamplified metagenomic library with a tributyrin-containing medium led to the isolation of a clone exhibiting lipolytic activity. This clone carried a 4,570-bp DNA fragment encoding for six genes, designated bioF, bioHx, fabG, bioC, orf5 and sdh, four of which were implicated in the de novo biotin biosynthesis. The bioHx gene encodes a protein of 259 aa with a calculated molecular mass of 28.60 kDa, displaying 24-39% amino acid sequence identity to a few characterized bacterial BioH enzymes. It contains a pentapeptide motif (Gly(76)-Trp(77)-Ser(78)-Met(79)-Gly(80)) and a catalytic triad (Ser(78)-His(230)-Asp(202)), both of which are characteristic for lipolytic enzymes. BioHx was expressed as a recombinant protein and characterized. The purified BioHx protein displayed carboxylesterase activity, and it was most active on p-nitrophenyl esters of fatty acids substrate with a short acyl chain (C4). Comparing BioHx with other known BioH proteins revealed interesting diversity in their sensitivity to ionic and nonionic detergents and organic solvents, and BioHx exhibited exceptional resistance to organic solvents, being the most tolerant one amongst all known BioH enzymes. This ascribed BioHx as a novel carboxylesterase with a strong potential in industrial applications. CONCLUSIONS: This study constituted the first investigation of a novel bioHx gene in a biotin biosynthetic gene cluster cloned from an environmental metagenome. The bioHx gene was successfully cloned, expressed and characterized. The results demonstrated that BioHx is a novel carboxylesterase, displaying distinct biochemical properties with strong application potential in industry. Our results also provided the evidence for the effectiveness of functional metagenomic approach for identifying novel bioH genes from complex ecosystem

A scaling law for distinct electrocaloric cooling performance in low-dimensional organic, relaxor and anti-ferroelectrics.

Electrocaloric (EC) materials show promise in eco-friendly solid-state refrigeration and integrable on-chip thermal management. While direct measurement of EC thin-films still remains challenging, a generic theoretical framework for quantifying the cooling properties of rich EC materials including normal-, relaxor-, organic- and anti-ferroelectrics is imperative for exploiting new flexible and room-temperature cooling alternatives. Here, we present a versatile theory that combines Master equation with Maxwell relations and analytically relates the macroscopic cooling responses in EC materials with the intrinsic diffuseness of phase transitions and correlation characteristics. Under increased electric fields, both EC entropy and adiabatic temperature changes increase quadratically initially, followed by further linear growth and eventual gradual saturation. The upper bound of entropy change (∆Smax) is limited by distinct correlation volumes (V cr ) and transition diffuseness. The linearity between V cr and the transition diffuseness is emphasized, while ∆Smax = 300 kJ/(K.m3) is obtained for Pb0.8Ba0.2ZrO3. The ∆Smax in antiferroelectric Pb0.95Zr0.05TiO3, Pb0.8Ba0.2ZrO3 and polymeric ferroelectrics scales proportionally with V cr-2.2, owing to the one-dimensional structural constraint on lattice-scale depolarization dynamics; whereas ∆Smax in relaxor and normal ferroelectrics scales as ∆Smax ~ V cr-0.37, which tallies with a dipolar interaction exponent of 2/3 in EC materials and the well-proven fractional dimensionality of 2.5 for ferroelectric domain walls

Excellent combination of HPLC-RSD-DAD-ESI/MS and HSCCC experiments to screen and identify radical scavengers from Neo-Taraxacum siphonanthun

Our previous research found that the crude extract of Neo-T. siphonanthun exhibited an effective DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity. In this study an online rapid screening method, high-performance liquid chromatography-radical scavenging detection-diode array detector-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-RSD- DAD-ESI/MS) system, was developed for screening individual antioxidants from the most active fraction. Accordingly, three isomeric derivatives were detected. The target active compounds were isolated by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) with the purity over 99%, and were identified as luteolin-3'-O-&#946;-D-glucopyranoside (1), luteolin-7-O-&#946;-D-glucopyranoside (2) and luteolin-4'-O-&#946;-D-glucopyranoside (3) by analysis of its off-line nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. Antioxidant activity of three compounds was assessed by off-line DPPH assay, and all of them showed potent activity

Sharp kinetic acceleration potentials during mediated redox catalysis of insulators

Redox mediators could catalyse otherwise slow and energy-inefficient cycling of Li-S and Li-O 2 batteries by shuttling electrons/holes between the electrode and the solid insulating storage materials. For mediators to work efficiently they need to oxidize the solid with fast kinetics yet the lowest possible overpotential. Here, we found that when the redox potentials of mediators are tuned via, e.g., Li + concentration in the electrolyte, they exhibit distinct threshold potentials, where the kinetics accelerate several-fold within a range as small as 10 mV. This phenomenon is independent of types of mediators and electrolyte. The acceleration originates from the overpotentials required to activate fast Li + /e – extraction and the following chemical step at specific abundant surface facets. Efficient redox catalysis at insulating solids requires therefore carefully considering the surface conditions of the storage materials and electrolyte-dependent redox potentials, which may be tuned by salt concentrations or solvents

A scaling law for distinct electrocaloric cooling performance in low-dimensional organic, relaxor and anti-ferroelectrics

Electrocaloric (EC) materials show promise in eco-friendly solid-state refrigeration and integrable on-chip thermal management. While direct measurement of EC thin-films still remains challenging, a generic theoretical framework for quantifying the cooling properties of rich EC materials including normal-, relaxor-, organic- and anti-ferroelectrics is imperative for exploiting new flexible and room-temperature cooling alternatives. Here, we present a versatile theory that combines Master equation with Maxwell relations and analytically relates the macroscopic cooling responses in EC materials with the intrinsic diffuseness of phase transitions and correlation characteristics. Under increased electric fields, both EC entropy and adiabatic temperature changes increase quadratically initially, followed by further linear growth and eventual gradual saturation. The upper bound of entropy change (∆Smax) is limited by distinct correlation volumes (V cr ) and transition diffuseness. The linearity between V cr and the transition diffuseness is emphasized, while ∆Smax = 300 kJ/(K.m3) is obtained for Pb0.8Ba0.2ZrO3. The ∆Smax in antiferroelectric Pb0.95Zr0.05TiO3, Pb0.8Ba0.2ZrO3 and polymeric ferroelectrics scales proportionally with V cr −2.2, owing to the one-dimensional structural constraint on lattice-scale depolarization dynamics; whereas ∆Smax in relaxor and normal ferroelectrics scales as ∆Smax ~ V cr −0.37, which tallies with a dipolar interaction exponent of 2/3 in EC materials and the well-proven fractional dimensionality of 2.5 for ferroelectric domain walls

Chinese National Income, ca. 1661–1933

In recent decades, national income has become increasingly important as a measure of a nation’s economic health. In this study, we used a wide array of primary and secondary sources to arrive at values of the Chinese per capita gross domestic product (GDP) during the period of 1661–1933. We found a persistent decline in the per capita GDP between the 17th and 19th centuries, followed by a period of stagnation. This pattern, which shows up in many Asian countries, with the exception of Japan, provides a basis for improving our understanding of the patterns of global economic convergence and divergence

Chinese National Income, ca. 1661–1933

In recent decades, national income has become increasingly important as a measure of a nation’s economic health. In this study, we used a wide array of primary and secondary sources to arrive at values of the Chinese per capita gross domestic product (GDP) during the period of 1661–1933. We found a persistent decline in the per capita GDP between the 17th and 19th centuries, followed by a period of stagnation. This pattern, which shows up in many Asian countries, with the exception of Japan, provides a basis for improving our understanding of the patterns of global economic convergence and divergence