Preferences for nutrients and sensory food qualities identify biological sources of economic values in monkeys.

Value is a foundational concept in reinforcement learning and economic choice theory. In these frameworks, individuals choose by assigning values to objects and learn by updating values with experience. These theories have been instrumental for revealing influences of probability, risk, and delay on choices. However, they do not explain how values are shaped by intrinsic properties of the choice objects themselves. Here, we investigated how economic value derives from the biologically critical components of foods: their nutrients and sensory qualities. When monkeys chose nutrient-defined liquids, they consistently preferred fat and sugar to low-nutrient alternatives. Rather than maximizing energy indiscriminately, they seemed to assign subjective values to specific nutrients, flexibly trading them against offered reward amounts. Nutrient-value functions accurately modeled these preferences, predicted choices across contexts, and accounted for individual differences. The monkeys' preferences shifted their daily nutrient balance away from dietary reference points, contrary to ecological foraging models but resembling human suboptimal eating in free-choice situations. To identify the sensory basis of nutrient values, we developed engineering tools that measured food textures on biological surfaces, mimicking oral conditions. Subjective valuations of two key texture parameters-viscosity and sliding friction-explained the monkeys' fat preferences, suggesting a texture-sensing mechanism for nutrient values. Extended reinforcement learning and choice models identified candidate neuronal mechanisms for nutrient-sensitive decision-making. These findings indicate that nutrients and food textures constitute critical reward components that shape economic values. Our nutrient-choice paradigm represents a promising tool for studying food-reward mechanisms in primates to better understand human-like eating behavior and obesity

Sequential Composition in the Presence of Intermediate Termination (Extended Abstract)

The standard operational semantics of the sequential composition operator gives rise to unbounded branching and forgetfulness when transparent process expressions are put in sequence. Due to transparency, the correspondence between context-free and pushdown processes fails modulo bisimilarity, and it is not clear how to specify an always terminating half counter. We propose a revised operational semantics for the sequential composition operator in the context of intermediate termination. With the revised operational semantics, we eliminate transparency, allowing us to establish a close correspondence between context-free processes and pushdown processes. Moreover,we prove the reactive Turing powerfulness of TCP with iteration and nesting with the revised operational semantics for sequential composition

1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic studies of the ferriheme resonances of three low-spin complexes of wild-type nitrophorin 2 and nitrophorin 2(V24E) as a function of pH

The ferriheme resonances of the low-spin (S = 1/2) complexes of wild-type (wt) nitrophorin 2 (NP2) and its heme pocket mutant NP2(V24E) with imidazole (ImH), histamine (Hm), and cyanide (CN−) as the sixth ligand have been investigated by NMR spectroscopy as a function of pH (4.0–7.5). For the three wt NP2 complexes, the ratio of the two possible heme orientational isomers, A and B, remains almost unchanged (ratio of A:B approximately 1:6 to 1:5) over this wide pH range. However, strong chemical exchange cross peaks appear in the nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy/exchange spectroscopy (NOESY/EXSY) spectra for the heme methyl resonances at low pH (pH* 4.0–5.5), which indicate chemical exchange between two species. We have shown these to be two different exogenous ImH or Hm orientations that are denoted B and B′, with the ImH plane nearly parallel and perpendicular to the ImH plane of the protein-provided His57, respectively. The wt NP2–CN complex also shows EXSY cross peaks due to chemical exchange, which is shown to be a result of interchange between two ruffling distortions of the heme. The same ruffling distortion interchange is also responsible for the ImH and Hm chemical exchange. For the three NP2(V24E) ligand complexes, no EXSY cross peaks are observed, but the A:B ratios change dramatically with pH. The fact that heme favors the A orientation highly for NP2(V24E) at low pH as compared with wt NP2 is believed to be due to the steric effect of the V24E mutation. The existence of the B′ species at lower pH for wt NP2 complexes and the increase in A heme orientation at lower pH for NP2(V24E) are believed to be a result of a change in structure near Glu53 when it is protonated at low pH. 1H{13C} heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC) spectra are very helpful for the assignment of heme and nearby protein side chain resonances

Fat-1 transgenic cattle as a model to study the function of ω-3 fatty acids

ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have been shown to play an important role in health. Enriched with ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids modulate expression of a number of genes with such broad functions as cell proliferation, growth and apoptosis and cell signaling and transduction, these effects, seem to regulate coronary artery disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis, psychiatric disorders and various cancer. In this context, fat-1 transgenic cattle was designed to convert ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acids could form an ideal model to study the effect of ω-3 fatty acids on the above functions. This study focuses on the total genomic difference of gene expression between fat-1 transgenic cattle and wild-type using cDNA microarrays, several genes were found to be overexpressed or suppressed in transgenic cattle relative to wild-type, these discrepancy genes related with lipid metabolism, immunity, inflammation nervous development and fertility

What do we currently know from in vivo bone strain measurements in humans

Introduction It is well accepted that bones adapt to different types of loading, e.g. by various exercises or by disuse, the former being followed by anabolic responses and the latter by bone losses. Literature suggests that specific exercises or training can improve people's bone mass and strength 1 . On the other hand, disuse during space flight was shown to induce a loss of more than 2% in hip trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) per month 2 . Inevitably, bone deformation will be induced by dynamic loading (because the static bone loading rarely happens in vivo, it is not included in this discussion). The effects of the various factors involved in bone loading, which include strain magnitude, strain rate, and the number of loading cycles are well documented Abstract Bone strains are the most important factors for osteogenic adaptive responses. During the past decades, scientists have been trying to describe the relationship between bone strain and bone osteogenic responses quantitatively. However, only a few studies have examined bone strains under physiological condition in humans, owing to technical difficulty and ethical restrictions. The present paper reviews previous work on in vivo bone strain measurements in humans, and the various methodologies adopted in these measurements are discussed. Several proposals are made for future work to improve our understanding of the human musculoskeletal system. Literature suggests that strains and strain patterns vary systematically in response to different locomotive activities, foot wear, and even different venues. The principal compressive, tension and engineering shear strain, compressive strain rate and shear strain rate in the tibia during running seem to be higher than those during walking. The high impact exercises, such as zig-zag hopping and basketball rebounding induced greater principal strains and strain rates in the tibia than normal activities. Also, evidence suggests an increase of tibia strain and strain rate after muscle fatigue, which strongly supports the opinion that muscle contractions play a role on the alteration of bone strain patterns

Irrigation and Drainage in Agriculture: A Salinity and Environmental Perspective

Whereas irrigation and drainage are intended to address the shortage and surplus of soil water, respectively, an important aspect to address is also the management of salinity. Plants have a limited tolerance for soil water salinity, and despite significant gaps in our practical knowledge, an impression of acceptable salinities is available for many crops. To manage soil salinity, the Leaching Requirement is an old, yet useful, concept. In this chapter, we extend this concept for soils with shallow groundwater. Particularly if shallow groundwater is saline, management is needed to avoid capillary rise of this water into the root zone. One of the tools to do so is Climate Adaptive Drainage (CAD), for which many practical gaps in knowledge remain. Also, soil mulching, of which a special case is considered in more detail, i.e., using plastic covers, may be beneficial for many purposes, including improving the water and salt balances of the root zone. However, use of plastics may have significant adverse effects. Due to water shortage, also wastewater may be re-used for irrigation. For this reason, the hazard of sodicity due to elevated Na concentrations in domestic wastewater is highlighted