Impact of COVID-19 on health risk behaviors in northern California: A cross-sectional survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has been disruptive, unevenly impacting health behaviors in different geographical regions and population groups. We examined how COVID-19 affected perceived changes in physical activity, sleep, and diet and the impact of socio-demographic variables on a calculated health risk behavior score. In this cross-sectional study, 505 residents of northern California completed a web-based survey from August to November of 2020. Chi-square and multivariable linear regression analyses examined the association between socio-demographic variables and the health risk behavior score. Approximately 84 % of respondents experienced at least one unfavorable behavior change after the pandemic, with 49.5 % indicating a reduction in physical activity, 29.7 % a decrease in sleep, 33.1 % an increase in sugary snack consumption, and 29.3 % a decrease in fruit and vegetable intake. Multivariate analyses indicated a higher health risk behavior score (less favorable) for females compared to males (male beta = -0.815, p \u3c 0.0001) and Hispanics compared to Whites (Hispanics beta = 0.396, p = 0.033). The negative changes in health behavior observed in females could be attributed to a higher reduction in fruit and vegetable consumption, and a larger increase in sugary and salty snacks when compared to males. A higher reduction in exercise, sleep, and fruit and vegetable intake were the main drivers of the unfavorable results seen for Hispanics when compared to Whites. Findings highlight the detrimental behavioral changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the disproportionate impact on Hispanics and women. These results are valuable to policymakers to identify ways to support those most affected by the pandemic and its potential long-term effects

Food Insecurity and Food Access during COVID-19 in the San Francisco Bay Area

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted socio-economic stability and food systems in the U.S. and worldwide. To better understand food access challenges and needs of those significantly impacted by the pandemic, an online survey was distributed in the San Francisco Bay Area from August to November of 2020. A total of 726 participants completed the survey who were recruited through paid Facebook ads and community partners outreach. This report features key results from the survey regarding changes in food security rates, food access challenges, and coping strategies used during the pandemic. Some of the key findings include: 1) There was a 63% increase (from 20 to 33%) in food insecurity since the pandemic started, with Hispanics, households with children, and those experiencing any job disruption most disproportionately affected, 2) More than 1 in 5 respondents newly started using food assistance since the pandemic; use of food pantries was the most common, with its use doubling since prior to the pandemic, and 3) Financial support and improving trust in the safety of stores, food, and delivery services were identified as helpful strategies to meet food needs

Bacterial community diversity and variation in spray water sources and the tomato fruit surface

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tomato (<it>Solanum lycopersicum</it>) consumption has been one of the most common causes of produce-associated salmonellosis in the United States. Contamination may originate from animal waste, insects, soil or water. Current guidelines for fresh tomato production recommend the use of potable water for applications coming in direct contact with the fruit, but due to high demand, water from other sources is frequently used. We sought to describe the overall bacterial diversity on the surface of tomato fruit and the effect of two different water sources (ground and surface water) when used for direct crop applications by generating a 454-pyrosequencing 16S rRNA dataset of these different environments. This study represents the first in depth characterization of bacterial communities in the tomato fruit surface and the water sources commonly used in commercial vegetable production.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The two water sources tested had a significantly different bacterial composition. Proteobacteria was predominant in groundwater samples, whereas in the significantly more diverse surface water, abundant phyla also included Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. The fruit surface bacterial communities on tomatoes sprayed with both water sources could not be differentiated using various statistical methods. Both fruit surface environments had a high representation of Gammaproteobacteria, and within this class the genera <it>Pantoea </it>and <it>Enterobacter </it>were the most abundant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Despite the major differences observed in the bacterial composition of ground and surface water, the season long use of these very different water sources did not have a significant impact on the bacterial composition of the tomato fruit surface. This study has provided the first next-generation sequencing database describing the bacterial communities living in the fruit surface of a tomato crop under two different spray water regimes, and therefore represents an important step forward towards the development of science-based metrics for Good Agricultural Practices.</p

Apple skin patterning is associated with differential expression of MYB10

Background: Some apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) varieties have attractive striping patterns, a quality attribute that is important for determining apple fruit market acceptance. Most apple cultivars (e.g. ‘Royal Gala’) produce fruit with a defined fruit pigment pattern, but in the case of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple, trees can produce fruits of two different kinds: striped and blushed. The causes of this phenomenon are unknown. Results: Here we show that striped areas of ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Royal Gala’ are due to sectorial increases in anthocyanin concentration. Transcript levels of the major biosynthetic genes and MYB10, a transcription factor that upregulates apple anthocyanin production, correlated with increased anthocyanin concentration in stripes. However, nucleotide changes in the promoter and coding sequence of MYB10 do not correlate with skin pattern in ‘Honeycrisp’ and other cultivars differing in peel pigmentation patterns. A survey of methylation levels throughout the coding region of MYB10 and a 2.5 Kb region 5’ of the ATG translation start site indicated that an area 900 bp long, starting 1400 bp upstream of the translation start site, is highly methylated. Cytosine methylation was present in all three contexts, with higher methylation levels observed for CHH and CHG (where H is A, C or T) than for CG. Comparisons of methylation levels of the MYB10 promoter in ‘Honeycrisp’ red and green stripes indicated that they correlate with peel phenotypes, with an enrichment of methylation observed in green stripes. Conclusions: Differences in anthocyanin levels between red and green stripes can be explained by differential transcript accumulation of MYB10. Different levels of MYB10 transcript in red versus green stripes are inversely associated with methylation levels in the promoter region. Although observed methylation differences are modest, trends are consistent across years and differences are statistically significant. Methylation may be associated with the presence of a TRIM retrotransposon within the promoter region, but the presence of the TRIM element alone cannot explain the phenotypic variability observed in ‘Honeycrisp’. We suggest that methylation in the MYB10 promoter is more variable in ‘Honeycrisp’ than in ‘Royal Gala’, leading to more variable color patterns in the peel of this cultivar.https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2229-11-9

La educación ambiental en la Argentina: actores, conflictos y políticas públicas

Es preciso comenzar por deconstruir críticamente los cimientos que sostienen los sistemas educativos que promueven estilos de vida insustentables, desafiando sus dispositivos de dominación, así como los discursos y prácticas que los generan. Solo de este modo estaremos construyendo una educación ambiental constitutiva del cambio social; una educación ambiental que empodere a las comunidades organizadas para impedir mediante la insurgencia política, la resistencia cultural, la resiliencia social y el pensamiento decolonial que sus estrategias sean metabolizadas por el sistema. Una educación ambiental que sitúe la reflexión y la práctica pedagógica en problemáticas concretas, que permitan trascender las usuales medidas cosméticas y los granitos de arena que operan como lavados de conciencia que obstruyen la construcción de ciudadanía. Una educación ambiental generadora de sentidos emancipadores que hagan posible diseñar otros mapas simbólicos para guiar nuestras vidas