Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to assist resilient food production in the Solomon Islands. A case study of Soluve community

<p>The study of indigenous peoples and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) has been of particular interest in recent years. While TEK has been used in areas such as anthropology and conservation biology in the past, little has been done around TEK and resilient food production. The coming years will see the increasing effects of climate change on food production and food security. This research aims to understand and document TEK within the Soluve community in order to understand how people in the community can find ways to be more resilient in the future. In carrying out this research, ten members of the Soluve community were interviewed on food production practices in the light of their knowledge of TEK along with their knowledge of TEK. A thorough search of relevant literature was also central to my research method. The community of Soluve are affected by frequent flooding and rainfall resulting in limited food yields from gardens. The results of my research indicate that TEK is still practised and maintained in the Soluve community in terms of food production. In particular, traditional preservation methods such as smoking and drying in the Motu can help food last longer. Further research is needed, however, on the erosion of TEK, and how the people of Soluve can document this knowledge.</p>

Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to assist resilient food production in the Solomon Islands. A case study of Soluve community

<p>The study of indigenous peoples and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) has been of particular interest in recent years. While TEK has been used in areas such as anthropology and conservation biology in the past, little has been done around TEK and resilient food production. The coming years will see the increasing effects of climate change on food production and food security. This research aims to understand and document TEK within the Soluve community in order to understand how people in the community can find ways to be more resilient in the future. In carrying out this research, ten members of the Soluve community were interviewed on food production practices in the light of their knowledge of TEK along with their knowledge of TEK. A thorough search of relevant literature was also central to my research method. The community of Soluve are affected by frequent flooding and rainfall resulting in limited food yields from gardens. The results of my research indicate that TEK is still practised and maintained in the Soluve community in terms of food production. In particular, traditional preservation methods such as smoking and drying in the Motu can help food last longer. Further research is needed, however, on the erosion of TEK, and how the people of Soluve can document this knowledge.</p>

Towards a Socio-Economic Model for Southwest Asian Cereal Domestication

Mechanisms of selection for domestication traits in cereals and other annual plants are commonly explained from agro-technological and genetic perspectives. Since archaeobotanical data showed that domestication processes were slow and protracted, research focused on genetic constraints and hypothetical ‘non-selective’ management regimes to explain the low selection rates. I argue that these factors only partially explain the observed patterns and develop a model that contextualises the archaeobotanical data in their socio-economic settings. I propose that developments towards individual storage by small household units and the gradual increase in storage capacities with the development of extended households represent key factors for establishing the conditions for selection, as these practices isolated individually managed and stored cereal subpopulations and gradually reduced the need to replenish grain stocks with grains from unmanaged populations. This genetic isolation resulted in stronger and more persistent selection rates and facilitated the genetic fixation of domestication traits on a population level. Moreover, individual storage facilities within buildings reflect gradual developments towards households as the social units that mobilised agricultural labour, which negotiated new sharing principles over cultivated resources and drove the intensification of cultivation practices. In this sense, selection rates and the slow domestication process can be understood as a function of limited food sharing networks and increased labour-inputs into early arable environments—socio-economic processes that also unfolded gradually over a protracted period of time.

Antagonistic effects of chemical mixtures on the oxidative stress response are silenced by heat stress and reversed under dietary restriction

Chemical agents released into the environment can induce oxidative stress in organisms, which is detrimental for health. Although environmental exposures typically include multiple chemicals, organismal studies on oxidative stress derived from chemical agents commonly study exposures to individual compounds. In this work, we explore how chemical mixtures drive the oxidative stress response under various conditions in the nematode C. elegans, by quantitatively assessing levels of gst-4 expression. Our results indicate that naphthoquinone mixtures drive responses differently than individual components, and that altering environmental conditions, such as increased heat and reduced food availability, result in dramatically different oxidative stress responses mounted by C. elegans. When exposed to heat, the oxidative stress response is diminished. Notably, when exposed to limited food, the oxidative stress response specific to juglone is significantly heightened, while identified antagonistic interactions between some naphthoquinone components in mixtures are abolished. This implies that organismal responses to xenobiotics is confounded by environment and stressor interactions. Given the high number of variables under study, and their potential combinations, a simplex centroid design was used to capture such non-trivial response over the design space. This makes the case for the adoption of Design of Experiments approaches as they can greatly expand the experimental space probed in noisy biological readouts, and in combinatorial experiments. Our results also reveal gaps in our current knowledge of the organismal oxidative stress response, which can be addressed by employing sophisticated design of experiments approaches to identify significant interactions.

The Adaptive Evolution and Gigantism Mechanisms of the Hadal “Supergiant” Amphipod Alicella gigantea

Hadal trenches are commonly referred to as the deepest areas in the ocean and are characterized by extreme environmental conditions such as high hydrostatic pressures and very limited food supplies. Amphipods are considered the dominant scavengers in the hadal food web. Alicella gigantea is the largest hadal amphipod and, as such, has attracted a lot of attention. However, the adaptive evolution and gigantism mechanisms of the hadal “supergiant” remain unknown. In this study, the whole-body transcriptome analysis was conducted regarding the two hadal amphipods, one being the largest sized species A. gigantea from the New Britain Trench and another the small-sized species Bathycallisoma schellenbergi from the Marceau Trench. The size and weight measurement of the two hadal amphipods revealed that the growth of A. gigantea was comparatively much faster than that of B. schellenbergi. Phylogenetic analyses showed that A. gigantea and B. schellenbergi were clustered into a Lysianassoidea clade, and were distinct from the Gammaroidea consisting of shallow-water Gammarus species. Codon substitution analyses revealed that “response to starvation,” “glycerolipid metabolism,” and “meiosis” pathways were enriched among the positively selected genes (PSGs) of the two hadal amphipods, suggesting that hadal amphipods are subjected to intense food shortage and the pathways are the main adaptation strategies to survive in the hadal environment. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the gigantism of A. gigantea, small-sized amphipods were used as the background for evolutionary analysis, we found the seven PSGs that were ultimately related to growth and proliferation. In addition, the evolutionary rate of the gene ontology (GO) term “growth regulation” was significantly higher in A. gigantea than in small-sized amphipods. By combining, those points might be the possible gigantism mechanisms of the hadal “supergiant” A. gigantea.

Molecular Detection and Characterization of Pasteurella multocida Infecting Camels in Marsabit and Turkana Counties, Kenya

BackgroundInfection with Pasteurella multocida is abundant in Kenya yet there is scarce information on their genetic diversity. Pasteurella multocida is considered to be one of the normal flora in the respiratory tract of camels and other animals but it becomes pathogenic and causes pasteurellosis when the resistance of the camel body is diminished by harmful environmental influences. Close herding, overwork, limited food supply, and wet climatic conditions are stresses that seem to speed the spread of the infection. Conventional PCR, Multiplex PCR and sequencing were applied to enhance identification of Pasteurella multocida at any level of specificity viz; strain, species, and genus. These molecular tools were applied to confirm the presence and genetic diversity of Pasteurella multocida in 102 blood and 30 nasal swab samples collected from Marsabit and Turkana counties in Kenya. Kmt1 gene was used as the marker gene for Pasteurella multocida and hyaD-hyaC, bcbD, dcbF, ecbJ, and fcbD as marker genes for capsular groups. A study done in northern Kenya noted that in Africa pasteurellosis infections causing death in camels (Camelus dromedarius) have been existing since 1890 though the real cause of this disease remains elusive and needs further study. The study was done to detect Pasteurella multocida and characterize its capsular types by application of molecular biology toolsResultsTwenty one Kenyan isolates were confirmed to be Pasteurella multocida and only capsular group E was detected in both counties. Pasteurella multocida sequences were found to be highly conserved, however isolates detected in Kenya were found to be genetically related to other isolates from African and other parts of the world. ConclusionsThe study confirm that the camels were infected by Pasteurella multocida of capsular type E in Marsabit and Turkana Counties of Kenya. DNA sequences were found to be homologous to Pasteurella multocida thereby confirming that the camels were infected by Pasteurella multocida.

Evaluation of the Diet Tracking Smartphone Application Keenoa™: A Qualitative Analysis

Keenoa™ is a novel Canadian diet application (app) currently used by Canadian dietitians to collect diet-related data from clients. The goal of this study was to evaluate Keenoa™ based on user feedback and compare it to a conventional pen and paper method. One hundred and two participants were recruited and randomly assigned to record their diets using this application for 3 nonconsecutive days. Following this, participants were invited to complete an online “exit” survey. Seventy-two subjects responded, with 50 completing an open-ended question asking for general feedback about the app. Data were reviewed and 3 main themes emerged: strengths, challenges, and future recommendations. Strengths associated with the app consisted of picture recognition software, the additional commentary feature, and the overall pleasant data collection process. Challenges that were identified included inconsistencies with the barcode scanning features, the limited food database, time to enter food details, and software issues. Future recommendations included using a larger food database, pairing dietary intake with physical activity monitoring, and having accessible nutritional data. Despite these limitations, participants preferred using mobile apps to record diet compared with traditional written food diaries.

Pengukuran Antropometri Balita dan Perempuan Usia Subur Pasca Bencana Erupsi Gunung Sinabung di Desa Pertenguhen Kecamatan Simpang Empat Kabupaten Karo

<em>Indonesia is a country that is very prone to natural disasters. Nutritional problems that usually arise in natural disasters are malnutrition in the age group of infants and toddlers who do not get breast milk (ASI) because the child is separated from his mother when a natural disaster occurs. The worsening nutritional status of a group of people due to frequent delays in food aid and limited food availability in evacuation sites can exacerbate existing conditions. Nutrition problem is essentially a public health problem, however, the prevention cannot be done with a medical approach and health services. The cause of the emergence of nutritional problems is multi-factor, therefore the tackling approach involves various related sectors. Emergency nutrition management during a disaster becomes the first priority where food and nutrition services are an integral part of emergency management. Nutrition counseling provided by nutrition officers during a disaster emergency has significant meaning. Extension is an effort to change human behavior, both individuals and society so that it can create mental attitudes and the ability to solve problems it faces in order to improve and maintain good nutrition. The hope of this effort is that people can understand the importance of food and nutrition, so that they are willing to behave and act according to nutritional norms.</em>

Food on the Move: The Impact of Implied Motion in Pictures on Food Perceptions through Anticipated Pleasure of Consumption

To tackle obesity, upgrading the image of healthy food is increasingly relevant. Rather than focusing on long-term benefits, an effective way to promote healthy food consumption through visual advertising is to increase its pleasure perception. We investigate whether implied motion, a popular trend in food pictures, affects food perceptions through anticipated consumption pleasure. Prior research shows that motion affects food perceptions, but these studies focused on limited food categories, using experiments with a single food stimulus, and mainly showing unhealthy food effects. Therefore, we aim to (1) replicate prior findings on the effects of food in motion on appeal, tastiness, healthiness, and freshness perceptions; (2) examine whether these effects differ for healthy and unhealthy food; and (3) investigate whether anticipated pleasure of consumption drives the effects of implied motion on food perceptions. Three between-subjects experiments (N = 626) reveal no evidence for the effectiveness of motion (vs. no motion) across a large variety of food products. We further show no differential effects for healthy versus unhealthy foods. Moreover, implied motion does not increase appeal or taste perceptions through anticipated pleasure. Considering the current replication crisis, these findings provide more nuanced insights into the effectiveness of motion in visual food advertising.

Diet variety mediates the effect of appetite on dietary nutritional insufficiency in patients with heart failure

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): National Institutes of Health R01 NR 009280 & P20 NR 010679 Background Poor appetite is commonly reported in patients with heart failure, which may lead to a diet with limited food variety. Limited food variety, in turn, can result in dietary nutritional insufficiencies. Purpose The purpose of the study was to determine whether the relationship between appetite and dietary nutritional insufficiencies was mediated through diet variety. Methods In this secondary analysis, patients with heart failure rated appetite on a 10-point visual analog scale from 1 to 10. Nutritional insufficiency and diet variety were assessed by a four-day food diary analyzed by Nutrition Data Systems. Nutrition insufficiency was defined as the total number of 18 minerals and vitamins that were insufficient in the diet. Diet variety was calculated as the number of 23 food types consumed over the 4 days. A mediation analysis was conducted controlling for age, gender, New York Heart Association (NYHA), and body mass index using the PROCESS v3.5 macro program with 5,000 bootstrap samples in SPSS. Results A total of 238 patients (mean age 61, SD = 12; male n = 164, 69%; NYHA III/IV, n = 107, 45%) were included. The mean body mass index was 30 kg/m2 (SD = 7). The mean appetite score was 7.5 (SD = 2.3). The mean number of micronutrient insufficiencies was 4.7 (SD = 3.5), and the mean diet variety score was 12.4 (SD = 2.6). Appetite was not directly associated with nutrition insufficiency (effect = -.1802; 95% CI = -.3715, .0111) controlling co-variates. However, there was a significant indirect effect of appetite on nutrition insufficiency through diet variety controlling for covariates (effect = -.0828: 95% CI = -.1585, -.0150). Conclusions Diet variety mediated the association between appetite and dietary micronutrient insufficiency in patients with heart failure. The findings suggest that dietary intervention aimed at increasing patients’ appetite may increase diet variety and enhance the nutritional quality of diets of patients with heart failure.