The association of feeding behavior with the resistance and tolerance to parasites in recently diverged sticklebacks

Divergent natural selection regimes can contribute to adaptive population divergence, but can be sensitive to human-mediated environmental change. Nutrient loading of aquatic ecosystems, for example, might modify selection pressures by altering the abundance and distribution of resources and the prevalence and infectivity of parasites. Here, we used a mesocosm experiment to test for interactive effects of nutrient loading and parasitism on host condition and feeding ecology. Specifically, we investigated whether the common fish parasite Gyrodactylus sp. differentially affected recently diverged lake and stream ecotypes of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We found that the stream ecotype had a higher resistance to Gyrodactylus sp. infections than the lake ecotype, and that both ecotypes experienced a cost of parasitism, indicated by negative relationships between parasite load and both stomach fullness and body condition. Overall, our results suggest that in the early stages of adaptive population divergence of hosts, parasites can affect host resistance, body condition, and diet.

Confirmation of the existence of alloparasitoids in nature - host relationships of an Australian Coccophagus species that parasitizes mealy bugs

Heteronomous hyperparasitoids are parasitic wasps with sex-related host relationships that are unique to a group of genera in the chalcidoid family Aphelinidae. Females are primary parasitoids of various sedentary bugs (mainly, scale insects, mealy bugs, and whiteflies). Males, in contrast, are hyperparasitic, and they frequently develop at the expense of female conspecifics. Alloparasitoids constitute a special category of heteronomous hyperparasitoids, for their males never develop through female conspecifics. The existence of alloparasitic host relationships and the utility of the category 'alloparasitoid' have both been questioned. Here, we present results that confirm the existence of the alloparasitic way of life among heteronomous aphelinids. We investigated an undescribed species of Coccophagus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), an Australian parasitoid that attacks the introduced lantana mealy bug, Phenacoccus parvus Morrison (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae), in Queensland. A year-long field survey regularly returned large numbers of female Coccophagus spec. near gurneyi individuals from P. parvus (total n = 4212), but only few males (n = 11). Males emerged from samples only when the encyrtid parasitoid Anagyrus diversicornis (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was present in samples in relatively high numbers. Laboratory oviposition tests confirmed that A. diversicornis is a male host and showed that males do not develop at the expense of conspecific females. Other studies show that males are attracted in numbers to virgin females held in cages above mealy bug-infested Lantana montevidensis (Spreng.) Briq. (Verbenaceae) in the field, demonstrating that they are common in the population as a whole. This confirms that the males need hosts other than conspecific females and that their usual hosts are present outside of the lantana/P. parvus system. The implications of these results for developing a realistic classification of heteronomous host relationships are discussed.

Controlling feeding practices:cause or consequence of early child weight?

INTRODUCTION. The exertion of control during child feeding has been associated with both underweight and overweight during childhood. What is as-yet unclear is whether controlling child feeding practices causally affect child weight or whether the use of control may be a reactive response to concerns about high or low child weight. The aims of this study were to explore the direction of causality in these relationships during infancy. METHODS. Sixty-two women gave informed consent to take part in this longitudinal study that spanned from birth to 2 years of child age. Mothers completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire at 1 year, and their children were weighed at 1 and 2 years of age. Child weight scores were converted into standardized z scores that accounted for child age and gender. RESULTS. Controlling for child weight at 1 year, the use of pressure to eat and restriction at 1 year significantly predicted lower child weight at 2 years. CONCLUSIONS. Controlling feeding practices in infancy have an impact on children's weight at 2 years. The use of restrictive child feeding practices during infancy predicts lower child weight at age 2 years, which may reinforce mothers' use of this strategy in the longer term despite its potential association with disinhibition and greater child weight in later childhood.

Retrospective reports of child feeding practices, current eating behaviors, and BMI in college students

Research concerning child feeding practices has focused on children and adolescents, and little is known about how feeding practices used in childhood relate to eating behaviors and weight status in early adulthood. We assessed college students' and their parents' retrospective reports of child feeding practices used when the students were in middle childhood. We also assessed the college students' current reports of their eating behaviors using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES), and measured their current BMI. Results showed that college students' and their parents' reports about previous parental use of child feeding practices were not correlated. Parent reports of their own use of child feeding practices were more related to students' eating behaviors and BMI than were students' recollections about feeding practices used by their parents. An analysis of gender effects showed that there were positive correlations between parental child feeding practices, BMI, and emotional eating for female students. These relationships did not exist for male students. The results suggest that child feeding practices recollected by parents are linked to the development of emotional eating and weight status of women in early adulthood.

Sibling eating behaviours and differential child feeding practices reported by parents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the intra-familial relationships between parental reports of feeding practices used with siblings in the same family, and to evaluate whether differences in feeding practices are related to differences in siblings' eating behaviours. Eighty parents of two sibling children completed measures assessing their feeding practices and child eating behaviours. Parents reported using greater restrictive feeding practices with children who were fussier and desired to drink more than their sibling. Parents reported using more pressure to eat with siblings who were slower to eat, were fussier, emotionally under-ate, enjoyed food less, were less responsive to food, and were more responsive to internal satiety cues. Restriction and pressure to eat appear to be part of the non-shared environment which sibling children experience differently. These feeding practices may be used differently for children in the same family in response to child eating behaviours or other specific characteristics.

Maternal symptoms of depression are related to observations of controlling feeding practices in mothers of young children

Maternal depression can impair parenting practices and has been linked with less sensitive feeding interactions with children, but existing research is based on self-reports of feeding practices. This study examined relationships between maternal self-reported symptoms of depression with observations of mothers' child feeding practices during a mealtime. Fifty-eight mothers of 3-and 4-year-old children were video recorded eating a standardized lunch. The recording was then coded for instances of maternal controlling feeding practices and maternal vocalizations using the Family Mealtime Coding System. Mothers also provided information on current symptoms of depression and anxiety. Mothers who reported greater symptoms of depression were observed to use more verbal and physical pressure for their child to eat and to offer more incentives or conditions in exchange for their child eating. Mothers also used more vocalizations with their child about food during the observed mealtime when they had greater symptoms of depression. There was no link between symptoms of depression and observations of maternal use of restriction. Symptoms of depression are linked with observations of mothers implementing a more controlling, less sensitive feeding style with their child. Health professionals working with families in which mothers have symptoms of depression may benefit from receiving training about the possible impact of maternal depression on child-feeding practices, and mothers with symptoms of depression may benefit from guidance regarding its potential impact on their child-feeding interactions ©2013 American Psychological Association.

Do obsessive compulsive symptoms mediate the relationship between maternal eating psychopathology and restrictive feeding practices?

Objective: Symptoms of maternal eating disorders have been linked with the use of maladaptive restrictive child feeding practices. However, how these symptoms impact upon restriction in child feeding is poorly understood. The aims of this research were to assess whether symptoms of obsessive compulsiveness, which are often comorbid with eating disorder symptoms, mediate the relationships between maternal eating disorder symptoms and the use of restrictive feeding practices. Method: A total of 128 mothers of children aged 2-6 years completed measures of their restrictive feeding practices, symptoms of eating disorders, and obsessive compulsiveness. Results: Maternal restriction was positively correlated with symptoms of drive for thinness, bulimia, and checking and cleaning obsessions and compulsions. Cleaning obsessions and compulsions mediated the relationships between maternal drive for thinness and feeding restriction. Conclusion: Cleaning obsessions and compulsions may help to explain the relationships between some symptoms of maternal eating disorders and the use of restrictive feeding practices. © 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Maternal core beliefs and children's feeding problems

Background: Although maternal mental health problems have been implicated in the exacerbation of childhood feeding difficulties, little research has assessed the contribution of broader maternal cognitions to these problems. The current study examined gender differences in the relationships between mothers' core beliefs and children's feeding problems. Methods: One hundred and three mothers of girls and 93 mothers of boys (age range, 7-64 months) completed the Young Schema Questionnaire and the Child Feeding Assessment Questionnaire. Results: While controlling for child age, a clear link between maternal core beliefs and perceived feeding difficulties emerged for mothers of girls. In particular, abandonment, failure to achieve, dependence and incompetence, enmeshment and defectiveness, and shame beliefs were associated with increased reports of feeding problems in girls. In contrast, emotional deprivation and subjugation beliefs were associated with maternal reports of food fussiness and food refusal in boys. Conclusions: There appears to be a clear role for maternal core beliefs in the reporting of feeding difficulties in children, and the specificity of these links differs depending on the gender of the child. Further research is required to establish the direction of causality and the specificity of these relationships. © 2005 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Eating behaviours of preadolescent children over time:stability, continuity and the moderating role of perceived parental feeding practices

The links between childhood eating behaviours and parental feeding practices are well-established in younger children, but there is a lack of research examining these variables in a preadolescent age group, particularly from the child's perspective, and longitudinally. This study firstly aimed to examine the continuity and stability of preadolescent perceptions of their parents' controlling feeding practices (pressure to eat and restriction) over a 12 month period. The second aim was to explore if perceptions of parental feeding practices moderated the relationship between preadolescents' eating behaviours longitudinally. Two hundred and twenty nine preadolescents (mean age at recruitment 8.73 years) completed questionnaires assessing their eating behaviours and their perceptions of parental feeding practices at two time points, 12 months apart (T1 and T2). Preadolescents' perceptions of their parental feeding practices remained stable. Perceptions of restriction and pressure to eat were continuous. Perceptions of parental pressure to eat and restriction significantly moderated the relationships between eating behaviours at T1 and T2. The findings from this study suggest that in a preadolescent population, perceptions of parental pressure to eat and restriction of food may exacerbate the development of problematic eating behaviours.

Allatotropin: An Ancestral Myotropic Neuropeptide Involved in Feeding

Background Cell-cell interactions are a basic principle for the organization of tissues and organs allowing them to perform integrated functions and to organize themselves spatially and temporally. Peptidic molecules secreted by neurons and epithelial cells play fundamental roles in cell-cell interactions, acting as local neuromodulators, neurohormones, as well as endocrine and paracrine messengers. Allatotropin (AT) is a neuropeptide originally described as a regulator of Juvenile Hormone synthesis, which plays multiple neural, endocrine and myoactive roles in insects and other organisms. Methods A combination of immunohistochemistry using AT-antibodies and AT-Qdot nanocrystal conjugates was used to identify immunoreactive nerve cells containing the peptide and epithelial-muscular cells targeted by AT in Hydra plagiodesmica. Physiological assays using AT and AT- antibodies revealed that while AT stimulated the extrusion of the hypostome in a dose-response fashion in starved hydroids, the activity of hypostome in hydroids challenged with food was blocked by treatments with different doses of AT-antibodies. Conclusions AT antibodies immunolabeled nerve cells in the stalk, pedal disc, tentacles and hypostome. AT-Qdot conjugates recognized epithelial-muscular cell in the same tissues, suggesting the existence of anatomical and functional relationships between these two cell populations. Physiological assays indicated that the AT-like peptide is facilitating food ingestion. Significance Immunochemical, physiological and bioinformatics evidence advocates that AT is an ancestral neuropeptide involved in myoregulatory activities associated with meal ingestion and digestion.