Cued to act on impulse: more impulsive choice and risky decision making by women susceptible to overeating after exposure to food stimuli

There is increasing evidence that individual differences in tendency to overeat relate to impulsivity, possibly by increasing reactivity to food-related cues in the environment. This study tested whether acute exposure to food cues enhanced impulsive and risky responses in women classified on tendency to overeat, indexed by scores on the three factor eating questionnaire disinhibition (TFEQ-D), restraint (TFEQ-R) and hunger scales. Ninety six healthy women completed two measures of impulsive responding (delayed discounting, DDT and a Go No-Go, GNG, task) and a measure of risky decision making (the balloon analogue risk task, BART) as well as questionnairemeasures of impulsive behaviour either after looking at a series of pictures of food or visually matched controls. Impulsivity (DDT) and risk-taking (BART) were both positively associated with TFEQ-D scores, but in both cases this effect was exacerbated by prior exposure to food cues. No effects of restraint were found. TFEQ-D scores were also related tomore commission errors on the GNG, while restrained women were slower on the GNG, but neither effect was modified by cue exposure. Overall these data suggest that exposure to food cues act to enhance general impulsive responding in women at risk of overeating and tentatively suggest an important interaction between tendency for impulsive decision making and food cues thatmay help explain a key underlying risk factor for overeating

Campylobacter jejuni transcriptome changes during loss of culturability in water

Background: Water serves as a potential reservoir for Campylobacter, the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. However, little is understood about the mechanisms underlying variations in survival characteristics between different strains of C. jejuni in natural environments, including water. Results: We identified three Campylobacter jejuni strains that exhibited variability in their ability to retain culturability after suspension in tap water at two different temperatures (4°C and 25°C). Of the three strains C. jejuni M1 exhibited the most rapid loss of culturability whilst retaining viability. Using RNAseq transcriptomics, we characterised C. jejuni M1 gene expression in response to suspension in water by analyzing bacterial suspensions recovered immediately after introduction into water (Time 0), and from two sampling time/temperature combinations where considerable loss of culturability was evident, namely (i) after 24 h at 25°C, and (ii) after 72 h at 4°C. Transcript data were compared with a culture-grown control. Some gene expression characteristics were shared amongst the three populations recovered from water, with more genes being up-regulated than down. Many of the up-regulated genes were identified in the Time 0 sample, whereas the majority of down-regulated genes occurred in the 25°C (24 h) sample. Conclusions: Variations in expression were found amongst genes associated with oxygen tolerance, starvation and osmotic stress. However, we also found upregulation of flagellar assembly genes, accompanied by down-regulation of genes involved in chemotaxis. Our data also suggested a switch from secretion via the sec system to via the tat system, and that the quorum sensing gene luxS may be implicated in the survival of strain M1 in water. Variations in gene expression also occurred in accessory genome regions. Our data suggest that despite the loss of culturability, C. jejuni M1 remains viable and adapts via specific changes in gene expression

Cinnamon Baby

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1084/thumbnail.jp

Exploring the diversity of arcobacter butzleri from cattle in the UK using MLST and whole genome sequencing

<div><p><em>Arcobacter butzleri</em> is considered to be an emerging human foodborne pathogen. The completion of an <em>A. butzleri</em> genome sequence along with microarray analysis of 13 isolates in 2007 revealed a surprising amount of diversity amongst <em>A. butzleri</em> isolates from humans, animals and food. In order to further investigate <em>Arcobacter</em> diversity, 792 faecal samples were collected from cattle on beef and dairy farms in the North West of England. <em>Arcobacter</em> was isolated from 42.5% of the samples and the diversity of the isolates was investigated using multilocus sequence typing. An <em>A. butzleri</em> whole genome sequence, obtained by 454 shotgun sequencing of an isolate from a clinically-healthy dairy cow, showed a number of differences when compared to the genome of a human-derived <em>A. butzleri</em> isolate. PCR-based prevalence assays for variable genes suggested some tentative evidence for source-related distributions. We also found evidence for phenotypic differences relating to growth capabilities between our representative human and cattle isolates. Our genotypic and phenotypic observations suggest that some level of niche adaptation may have occurred in <em>A. butzleri</em>.</p> </div

Spode Rose Garden Blooming Border at RHS Tatton.

The Spode Rose Garden is an urban green space development project which Anna Francis has been lead artist on since 2013 with AirSpace Gallery artist collaborators, Glen Stoker and Andrew Branscombe. In 2016 the project achieved its goal of developing the disused garden, after funding from DCLG Pocket Parks enabled the full renovation of the garden. This included setting up a Friends of Spode Rose Garden Group, in order to secure the sustainability of this long term public art project. In 2017, The newly formed Friends of Spode Rose Garden took this urban development project to a national audience by entering a design for RHS Tatton Flower Show, in the blooming border section. Group member Dawn Mayer designed the display, which was then developed and delivered by the group. The design was based on the Spode Heritage Blue Italian pattern, and won a silver gilt medal at RHS Tatton, before being installed in the Spode Rose Garden, later in 2017

Subsystems identified by RAST in isolates 7h1h and RM4018.

<p>Subsystems identified by RAST in isolates 7h1h and RM4018.</p