Advances in understanding the epidemiology of Fusarium in cereals

Cereal grains contribute more than half of the global daily calorie intake. However, cereal crops are prone to attack by plant pathogens that cause devastating losses estimated in the billions of dollars, threatening global food and economic security. One of the diseases of small grain cereals that is of major economic importance is Fusarium head blight (FHB). It affects all small grain cereals, but major economic losses occur in wheat and barley production. FHB is caused mainly by Fusarium species in the Fusarium graminearum species complex, of which F. graminearum is the predominant causal agent. Understanding the epidemiology of F. graminearum is critical to the development of effective and sustainable FHB management strategies that will reduce or prevent losses. This chapter reviews recent advances in the epidemiology of F. graminearum in cereal crops.

Patient Nutrition and Probiotic Therapy in COVID-19: What Do We Know in 2021?

Background: The main nutritional consequences of COVID-19 include reduced food intake, hypercatabolism, and rapid muscle wasting. Some studies showed that malnutrition is a significant problem among patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, and the outcome of patients with SARS-CoV-2 is strongly associated with their nutritional status. The purpose of this study was to collect useful information about the possible elements of nutritional and probiotic therapy in patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Methods: A narrative review of the literature, including studies published up to 13 September 2021. Results: Probiotics may support patients by inhibiting the ACE2 receptor, i.e., the passage of the virus into the cell, and may also be effective in suppressing the immune response caused by the proinflammatory cytokine cascade. In patients’ diet, it is crucial to ensure an adequate intake of micronutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids (at 2–4 g/d), selenium (300–450 μg/d) and zinc (30–50 mg/d), and vitamins A (900–700 µg/d), E (135 mg/d), D (20,000–50,000 IU), C (1–2 g/d), B6, and B12. Moreover, the daily calorie intake should amount to ≥1500–2000 with 75–100 g of protein. Conclusion: In conclusion, the treatment of gut dysbiosis involving an adequate intake of prebiotic dietary fiber and probiotics could turn out to be an immensely helpful instrument for immunomodulation, both in COVID-19 patients and prophylactically in individuals with no history of infection.

Impact of small-scale irrigation on household food security: evidence from Ethiopia

Background Adamitulu Jido Komoblcha is one of the districts located in lowland areas of the Oromia region with irrigation potentials of 14,000 hectares out of which only 2568 hectares are under small-scale irrigation practices. Though there are a lot of households using irrigation in the study area, the impact that it has brought on the food security of the household is not yet well studied in the area. Several related studies reviewed lack appropriate impact evaluation methods in studying the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security that may result in overestimation or underestimation of the impact. To this end, the main motivation behind this study was to examine whether small-scale irrigation in the study area is creating positive change on household food security or not using the propensity score matching approach. Methodology Both primary and secondary data were collected and used in the study. The primary data were collected from randomly selected 94 irrigation users and 100 non-user households from February to March 2018. Secondary data were collected from a review of different works of literature. Both descriptive statistics and econometric models were applied to analyze the data using Stata software version 13. The study applied the propensity score matching (PSM) model to analyze the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security. In analyzing the impact of small scale irrigation on food security, we have used calorie intake, crop harvest and consumption both from own production and bought from the sale of the crop harvest produced through irrigation as an indicator of food security. Result The study has found that participation in irrigation is positively determined by age, education, land size, access to extension service, and participation in off or non-farm activities. In contrast to this, participation in irrigation is negatively determined by distance from farm plot to water source and distance from the main market. The results of the nearest neighbor and caliper matching estimators show that participation in small-scale irrigation increased the daily calorie intake of the small-scale irrigation users by 643.76 kcal over non-user households. Similarly, it increased their daily calorie intake to 596.43 kcal and 591.74 kcal, respectively, with radius and kernel matching estimators. The result further indicted that irrigation had positive impact on crop production, consumption and revenue generation which all together indicated improvement in food security. The sensitivity analysis test shows that impact results estimated by this study were insensitive to unobserved selection bias which shows it is a real impact of the irrigation. Conclusion It was concluded that irrigation has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Concerned bodies that working on small-scale irrigation development therefore should continue investment in irrigation activities for poverty reduction strategies and scale-up irrigation interventions to the other areas where there is potentially irrigable land.

FoodCalorie: A Mobile Game to Learn Daily Calorie Intake Standard

Mobile games can contribute to learning at greater success. In this paper, the authors have developed and evaluated a novel educational game, named FoodCalorie, to learn food calorie intake standard. The game is aimed to learn calorie values of various traditional foods of Bangladesh and the calorie intake standard that varies with age and gender. They are the first in this field to perform an empirical study on women in Bangladesh to see how game-based learning can contribute to learn food calories. They further analyze and report the impact of participants' age, professions, and smartphone proficiency levels on their learning experience and progression. The study also conforms the finding of existing studies that game-based learning can enhance the learning experience.

Differences in body composition between three groups of students

The purpose of this paper was to confirm whether there is any difference in body composition between the three groups: Group1 – females (N=25) aged 19–21, Group2 – females aged 22–24, (N=27), and Group3 – males aged 19–24 years (N=22). Respectively to determine whether gender and calendar age has an impact on the body composition of women and men. The parameters of the body composition applied in this research were: height of the body (height), body weight (weight), body fat (body fat), muscle mass (muscle), daily calorie intake (kcal), metabolic age (metabolic age), total body water (water), visceral fat (visceral fat) and body mass index (BMI). Measurements were performed at the Faculty of Education in Pristina. The basic statistical and distribution parameters that have been applied in this paper are Minimum, Maximum, Mean, Std. Deviation, Skewness, Kurtosis, max-D, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S). To confirm the differences between the arithmetic mean of the groups the LSD-post hoc test was applied. The results obtained showed that differences were obtained in the arithmetic averages in all parameters of body composition between Group1 and Group2. But a statistically significant difference between these two groups has been gained in the metabolic age variable which shows that from the age of 22 in women begins a decrease in daily physical movements. Also, after processing the results by ANOVA analysis, significant statistical differences were obtained between the groups of females and the group of males, in the arithmetic mean in all variables of body composition p<0.01 (except for the variable of body composition Daily Calorie Intake (Kcal) p>0.38).

Sugar. Is it se¬riously harmful to health?

Sugars are essential for life because they represent the main source of energy for living beings. From the second post-war period their consumption has had a continuous and progressive increase for many reasons. This trend especially with regard to the increasingly significant use of “free” sugars in beverages can pose a serious health risk, in particular for the development of cardiovascular disease, obesity, liver cirrhosis, dementia and diabetes mellitus both of type 1 and 2. The WHO strongly recommends reducing the intake of free sugars, hoping for a reduction to <5% of daily calorie intake, and health policy interventions can help to achieve this goal by changing its free and uncontrolled use. KEY WORDS sugar; health; diabetes; sugar sweetened beverages; cardiovascular risk.

Meal Frequency and Skipping Breakfast Are Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic underhydration and malnutrition can be associated with irreversible renal damage. This study investigated the association of meal frequency and breakfast skipping with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in South Korea. Participants (4370 participants from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VI 2013–2014) were divided into two groups based on meal frequency: ≥ 15 or < 15 meals/week. They were further divided into four groups based on the frequency of breakfast, lunch, and dinner consumed in the previous year. The data were analyzed with complex samples logistic regression. We found that 9.6% of the participants (n = 412) had CKD, which was associated with gender, body mass index, serum fasting glucose, daily calorie intake, hypertension, diabetes, and cerebrovascular accident. Participants consuming <15 meals/week had a higher risk of CKD than those who consumed ≥15 meals/week (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.531, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.209–1.938). Participants who rarely had breakfast showed a higher risk of CKD than those who had breakfast 5–7 times/week (adjusted OR 1.572, 95% CI 1.108–2.231). Our findings suggest that <15 meals/week or skipping breakfast is associated with a higher risk of CKD in the general South Korean population, especially for men or persons aged 42–64 years.

Dietary Daily Sodium Intake Lower than 1500 mg Is Associated with Inadequately Low Intake of Calorie, Protein, Iron, Zinc and Vitamin B1 in Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis

Background: To measure daily sodium intake in patients on chronic hemodialysis and to compare the intake of nutrients, minerals, trace elements, and vitamins in patients who had a daily sodium intake below or above the value of 1500 mg recommended by the American Heart Association. Methods: Dietary intake was recorded for 3 days by means of 3-day diet diaries in prevalent patients on chronic hemodialysis. Each patient was instructed by a dietitian on how to fill the diary, which was subsequently signed by a next of kin. Results: We studied 127 patients. Mean sodium intake (mg) was 1295.9 ± 812.3. Eighty-seven (68.5%) patients had a daily sodium intake <1500 mg (group 1) and 40 (31.5%) ≥ 1500 mg (group 2). Correlation between daily sodium intake and daily calorie intake was significant (r = 0.474 [0.327 to 0.599]; p < 0.0001). Daily calorie intake (kcal/kg/day) was lower in group 1 (21.1 ± 6.6; p = 0.0001) than in group 2 (27.1 ± 10.4). Correlation between daily sodium intake and daily protein intake was significant (r = 0.530 [0.392 to 0.644]; p < 0.0001). The daily protein intake (grams/kg/day) was lower in group 1 (0.823 ± 0.275; p = 0.0003) than in group 2 (1.061 ± 0.419). Daily intake of magnesium, copper, iron, zinc, and selenium was significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2. Daily intake of vitamin A, B2, B3, and C did not differ significantly between group 1 and group 2. Daily intake of vitamin B1 was significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2. Significantly lower was, in group 1 than in group 2, the percentage of patients within the target value with regard to intake of calories (11.5% vs. 37.5%; p = 0.001) and proteins (9.2% vs. 27.5%; p = 0.015) as well as of iron (23% vs. 45%; p = 0.020), zinc (13.8% vs. 53.8%; p = 0.008) and vitamin B1 (8.1% vs. 50%; p < 0.001). Conclusion: A low daily intake of sodium is associated with an inadequately low intake of calorie, proteins, minerals, trace elements, and vitamin B1. Nutritional counselling aimed to reduce the intake of sodium in patients on chronic hemodialysis should not disregard an adequate intake of macro- and micronutrients, otherwise the risk of malnutrition is high.

Daily Calorie Intake, Level of Physical Activity and Morphological Status of Children and Adolescents in Three Cities of Russian Federation

The study is devoted to identifying the intergroup variability of morphological characteristics, body composition, in-dicators of physical activity and nutritional status in modern adolescents of the cities of Elista, Arkhangelsk and Moscow. The increased body weight of Arkhangelsk adolescents of both sexes determines the high values of basal metabolic rates in this group. At the same time, a low level of physical activity has a negative effect on the development of the musculo-skeletal component, that is, increased body weight values are associated in this group to a greater extent with its fat component. Residents of Moscow have intermediate values among the three groups surveyed for most morphological in-dicators and minimum indicators of exchange. However, it is this group that is characterized by the maximum amount of time allocated to physical activity. The results obtained indirectly indicate the presence of a certain level of socio-eco-nomic differences in the surveyed cities.

Effect of Nutritional Intervention Programs on Nutritional Status and Readmission Rate in Malnourished Older Adults with Pneumonia: A Randomized Control Trial

Pneumonia leads to changes in body composition and weakness due to the malnourished condition. In addition, patient family caregivers always have a lack of nutritional information, and they do not know how to manage patients’ nutritional intake during hospitalization and after discharge. Most intervention studies aim to provide nutritional support for older patients. However, whether long-term nutritional intervention by dietitians and caregivers from patients’ families exert clinical effects—particularly in malnourished pneumonia—on nutritional status and readmission rate at each interventional phase, from hospitalization to postdischarge, remains unclear. To investigate the effects of an individualized nutritional intervention program (iNIP) on nutritional status and readmission rate in older adults with pneumonia during hospitalization and three and six months after discharge. Eighty-two malnourished older adults with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia participated. Patients were randomly allocated to either a nutrition intervention (NI) group or a standard care (SC) group. Participants in the NI group received an iNIP according to energy and protein intake requirements in addition to dietary advice based on face-to-face interviews with their family caregivers during hospitalization. After discharge, phone calls were adopted for prescribing iNIPs. Anthropometry (i.e., body mass index, limb circumference, and subcutaneous fat thickness), blood parameters (i.e., albumin and total lymphocyte count), hospital stay, Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) score, target daily calorie intake, total calorie intake adherence rate, and three-major-nutrient intakes were assessed during hospitalization and three and six months after discharge. Both groups received regular follow-up through phone calls. Furthermore, the rate of readmission resulting from pneumonia was recorded after discharge. During hospital stay, the NI group showed significant increases in daily calorie intake, total calorie intake adherence rate, and protein intake compared with the SC group (p < 0.05); however, no significant difference was found in anthropometry, blood biochemical values, MNA-SF scores, and hospital stay. At three and six months after discharge, the NI group showed significantly higher daily calorie intake and MNA-SF scores (8.2 vs. 6.5 scores at three months; 9.3 vs. 7.6 scores at six months) than did the SC group (p < 0.05). After adjusting for sex, the readmission rate for pneumonia significantly decreased by 77% in the NI group compared with that in the SC group (p = 0.03, OR: 0.228, 95% CI: 0.06–0.87). A six-month iNIP under dietitian and patient family nutritional support for malnourished older adults with pneumonia can significantly improve their nutritional status and reduce the readmission rate.