Sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the EU elderly: a comparative analysis in four countries

Objective: To investigate the sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the elderly in four EU countries. Design: Cross-sectional study. For each country, a regression was performed of a multidimensional index of dietary quality v. sociodemographic variables. Setting In Finland, Finnish Household Budget Survey (1998 and 2006); in Sweden, SNAC-K (2001–2004); in the UK, Expenditure & Food Survey (2006–07); in Italy, Multi-purpose Survey of Daily Life (2009). Subjects: One- and two-person households of over-50s (Finland, n 2994; UK, n 4749); over-50 s living alone or in two-person households (Italy, n 7564); over-60 s (Sweden, n 2023). Results: Diet quality among the EU elderly is both low on average and heterogeneous across individuals. The regression models explained a small but significant part of the observed heterogeneity in diet quality. Resource availability was associated with diet quality either negatively (Finland and UK) or in a non-linear or non-statistically significant manner (Italy and Sweden), as was the preference for food parameter. Education, not living alone and female gender were characteristics positively associated with diet quality with consistency across the four countries, unlike socio-professional status, age and seasonality. Regional differences within countries persisted even after controlling for the other sociodemographic variables. Conclusions: Poor dietary choices among the EU elderly were not caused by insufficient resources and informational measures could be successful in promoting healthy eating for healthy ageing. On the other hand, food habits appeared largely set in the latter part of life, with age and retirement having little influence on the healthiness of dietary choices.

Reconstruction of geomagnetic activity and near-Earth interplanetary conditions over the past 167 yr – Part 1: A new geomagnetic data composite

We present a new composite of geomagnetic activity which is designed to be as homogeneous in its construction as possible. This is done by only combining data that, by virtue of the locations of the source observatories used, have similar responses to solar wind and IMF (interplanetary magnetic field) variations. This will enable us (in Part 2, Lockwood et al., 2013a) to use the new index to reconstruct the interplanetary magnetic field, B, back to 1846 with a full analysis of errors. Allowance is made for the effects of secular change in the geomagnetic field. The composite uses interdiurnal variation data from Helsinki for 1845–1890 (inclusive) and 1893–1896 and from Eskdalemuir from 1911 to the present. The gaps are filled using data from the Potsdam (1891–1892 and 1897–1907) and the nearby Seddin observatories (1908–1910) and intercalibration achieved using the Potsdam–Seddin sequence. The new index is termed IDV(1d) because it employs many of the principles of the IDV index derived by Svalgaard and Cliver (2010), inspired by the u index of Bartels (1932); however, we revert to using one-day (1d) means, as employed by Bartels, because the use of near-midnight values in IDV introduces contamination by the substorm current wedge auroral electrojet, giving noise and a dependence on solar wind speed that varies with latitude. The composite is compared with independent, early data from European-sector stations, Greenwich, St Petersburg, Parc St Maur, and Ekaterinburg, as well as the composite u index, compiled from 2–6 stations by Bartels, and the IDV index of Svalgaard and Cliver. Agreement is found to be extremely good in all cases, except two. Firstly, the Greenwich data are shown to have gradually degraded in quality until new instrumentation was installed in 1915. Secondly, we infer that the Bartels u index is increasingly unreliable before about 1886 and overestimates the solar cycle amplitude between 1872 and 1883 and this is amplified in the proxy data used before 1872. This is therefore also true of the IDV index which makes direct use of the u index values.

Climate-driven spatial mismatches between British orchards and their pollinators: increased risks of pollination deficits

Understanding how climate change can affect crop-pollinator systems helps predict potential geographical mismatches between a crop and its pollinators, and therefore identify areas vulnerable to loss of pollination services. We examined the distribution of orchard species (apples, pears, plums and other top fruits) and their pollinators in Great Britain, for present and future climatic conditions projected for 2050 under the SRES A1B Emissions Scenario. We used a relative index of pollinator availability as a proxy for pollination service. At present there is a large spatial overlap between orchards and their pollinators, but predictions for 2050 revealed that the most suitable areas for orchards corresponded to low pollinator availability. However, we found that pollinator availability may persist in areas currently used for fruit production, but which are predicted to provide sub-optimal environmental suitability for orchard species in the future. Our results may be used to identify mitigation options to safeguard orchard production against the risk of pollination failure in Great Britain over the next 50 years; for instance choosing fruit tree varieties that are adapted to future climatic conditions, or boosting wild pollinators through improving landscape resources. Our approach can be readily applied to other regions and crop systems, and expanded to include different climatic scenarios.

Interpolation of Hilbert and Sobolev spaces: quantitative estimates and counterexamples

This paper provides an overview of interpolation of Banach and Hilbert spaces, with a focus on establishing when equivalence of norms is in fact equality of norms in the key results of the theory. (In brief, our conclusion for the Hilbert space case is that, with the right normalisations, all the key results hold with equality of norms.) In the final section we apply the Hilbert space results to the Sobolev spaces Hs(Ω) and tildeHs(Ω), for s in R and an open Ω in R^n. We exhibit examples in one and two dimensions of sets Ω for which these scales of Sobolev spaces are not interpolation scales. In the cases when they are interpolation scales (in particular, if Ω is Lipschitz) we exhibit examples that show that, in general, the interpolation norm does not coincide with the intrinsic Sobolev norm and, in fact, the ratio of these two norms can be arbitrarily large.

A study on the sensitivities of simulated aerosol optical properties to composition and size distribution using airborne measurements

We present a flexible framework to calculate the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols at a given relative humidity based on their composition and size distribution. The similarity of this framework to climate model parameterisations allows rapid and extensive sensitivity tests of the impact of uncertainties in data or of new measurements on climate relevant aerosol properties. The data collected by the FAAM BAe-146 aircraft during the EUCAARI-LONGREX and VOCALS-REx campaigns have been used in a closure study to analyse the agreement between calculated and measured aerosol optical properties for two very different aerosol types. The agreement achieved for the EUCAARI-LONGREX flights is within the measurement uncertainties for both scattering and absorption. However, there is poor agreement between the calculated and the measured scattering for the VOCALS-REx flights. The high concentration of sulphate, which is a scattering aerosol with no absorption in the visible spectrum, made the absorption measurements during VOCALS-REx unreliable, and thus no closure study was possible for the absorption. The calculated hygroscopic scattering growth factor overestimates the measured values during EUCAARI-LONGREX and VOCALS-REx by ∼30% and ∼20%, respectively. We have also tested the sensitivity of the calculated aerosol optical properties to the uncertainties in the refractive indices, the hygroscopic growth factors and the aerosol size distribution. The largest source of uncertainty in the calculated scattering is the aerosol size distribution (∼35%), followed by the assumed hygroscopic growth factor for organic aerosol (∼15%), while the predominant source of uncertainty in the calculated absorption is the refractive index of organic aerosol (28–60%), although we would expect the refractive index of black carbon to be important for aerosol with a higher black carbon fraction.

On flow reversal boundaries and transpolar voltage in average models of high-latitude convection

The implications of polar cap expansions, contractions and movements for empirical models of high-latitude plasma convection are examined. Some of these models have been generated by directly averaging flow measurements from large numbers of satellite passes or radar scans; others have employed more complex means to combine data taken at different times into large-scale patterns of flow. In all cases, the models have implicitly adopted the assumption that the polar cap is in steady state: they have all characterized the ionospheric flow in terms of the prevailing conditions (e.g. the interplanetary magnetic field and/or some index of terrestrial magnetic activity) without allowance for their history. On long enough time scales, the polar cap is indeed in steady state but on time scales shorter than a few hours it is not and can oscillate in size and position. As a result, the method used to combine the data can influence the nature of the convection reversal boundary and the transpolar voltage in the derived model. This paper discusses a variety of effects due to time-dependence in relation to some ionospheric convection models which are widely applied. The effects are shown to be varied and to depend upon the procedure adopted to compile the model.

An intronic G run within HIV-1 intron 2 is critical for splicing regulation of vif mRNA

Within target T lymphocytes, human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) encounters the retroviral restriction factor APOBEC3G (apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like 3G; A3G), which is counteracted by the HIV-1 accessory protein Vif. Vif is encoded by intron-containing viral RNAs that are generated by splicing at 3' splice site (3'ss) A1 but lack splicing at 5'ss D2, which results in the retention of a large downstream intron. Hence, the extents of activation of 3'ss A1 and repression of D2, respectively, determine the levels of vif mRNA and thus the ability to evade A3G-mediated antiviral effects. The use of 3'ss A1 can be enhanced or repressed by splicing regulatory elements that control the recognition of downstream 5'ss D2. Here we show that an intronic G run (G(I2)-1) represses the use of a second 5'ss, termed D2b, that is embedded within intron 2 and, as determined by RNA deep-sequencing analysis, is normally inefficiently used. Mutations of G(I2)-1 and activation of D2b led to the generation of transcripts coding for Gp41 and Rev protein isoforms but primarily led to considerable upregulation of vif mRNA expression. We further demonstrate, however, that higher levels of Vif protein are actually detrimental to viral replication in A3G-expressing T cell lines but not in A3G-deficient cells. These observations suggest that an appropriate ratio of Vif-to-A3G protein levels is required for optimal virus replication and that part of Vif level regulation is effected by the novel G run identified here.

Activation of the G-protein coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) has different effects on anxiety in male and female mice

The GPR30, a former orphan GPCR, is a putative membrane estrogen receptor that can activate rapid signaling pathways such as extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) in a variety of cells and may contribute to estrogen's effects in the central nervous system. The distribution of GPR30 in the limbic system predicts a role for this receptor in the regulation of learning and memory and anxiety by estrogens. Though acute G-1 treatment is reported to be anxiogenic in ovariectomised female mice and in gonadally intact male mice, the effect of GPR30 activation is unknown in gonadectomised male mice. In this study, we show that an acute administration of G-1 to gonadectomised male mice, but not female mice, was anxiolytic on an elevated plus maze task, without affecting locomotor activity. In addition, though G-1 treatment did not regulate ERK, it was associated with increased estrogen receptor (ER)alpha phosphorylation in the ventral, but not dorsal, hippocampus of males. In the female, G-1 increased the ERK activation solely in the dorsal hippocampus, independent of state anxiety. This is the first study to report an anxiolytic effect of GPR30 activation in male mice, in a rapid time frame that is commensurate with non-genomic signaling by estrogen.

ON NONSYMMETRIC THEOREMS FOR (H, G)-COINCIDENCES

Let X be a compact Hausdorff space, phi: X -> S(n) a continuous map into the n-sphere S(n) that induces a nonzero homomorphism phi*: H(n)(S(n); Z(p)) -> H(n)(X; Z(p)), Y a k-dimensional CW-complex and f: X -> a continuous map. Let G a finite group which acts freely on S`. Suppose that H subset of G is a normal cyclic subgroup of a prime order. In this paper, we define and we estimate the cohomological dimension of the set A(phi)(f, H, G) of (H, G)-coincidence points of f relative to phi.

Dually discrete spaces

A neighbourhood assignment in a space X is a family O = {O-x: x is an element of X} of open subsets of X such that X is an element of O-x for any x is an element of X. A set Y subset of X is a kernel of O if O(Y) = U{O-x: x is an element of Y} = X. We obtain some new results concerning dually discrete spaces, being those spaces for which every neighbourhood assignment has a discrete kernel. This is a strictly larger class than the class of D-spaces of [E.K. van Douwen, W.F. Pfeffer, Some properties of the Sorgenfrey line and related spaces, Pacific J. Math. 81 (2) (1979) 371-377]. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spaces of compact operators on C(2(m) circle plus [0, alpha]) spaces

We classify up to isomorphism the spaces of compact operators K(E, F), where E and F are Banach spaces of all continuous functions defined on the compact spaces 2(m) circle plus [0, alpha], the topological sum of Cantor cubes 2(m) and the intervals of ordinal numbers [0, alpha]. More precisely, we prove that if 2(m) and aleph(gamma) are not real-valued measurable cardinals and n >= aleph(0) is not sequential cardinal, then for every ordinals xi, eta, lambda and mu with xi >= omega(1), eta >= omega(1), lambda = mu < omega or lambda, mu is an element of [omega(gamma), omega(gamma+1)[, the following statements are equivalent: (a) K(C(2(m) circle plus [0, lambda]), C(2(n) circle plus [0, xi])) and K(C(2(m) circle plus [0, mu]), C(2(n) circle plus [0, eta]) are isomorphic. (b) Either C([0, xi]) is isomorphic to C([0, eta] or C([0, xi]) is isomorphic to C([0, alpha p]) and C([0, eta]) is isomorphic to C([0,alpha q]) for some regular cardinal alpha and finite ordinals p not equal q. Thus, it is relatively consistent with ZFC that this result furnishes a complete isomorphic classification of these spaces of compact operators. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Braid groups of non-orientable surfaces and the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence

Let M be a compact, connected non-orientable surface without boundary and of genus g >= 3. We investigate the pure braid groups P,(M) of M, and in particular the possible splitting of the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence 1 -> P(m)(M \ {x(1), ..., x(n)}) hooked right arrow P(n+m)(M) (P*) under right arrow P(n)(M) -> 1, where m, n >= 1, and p* is the homomorphism which corresponds geometrically to forgetting the last m strings. This problem is equivalent to that of the existence of a section for the associated fibration p: F(n+m)(M) -> F(n)(M) of configuration spaces, defined by p((x(1), ..., x(n), x(n+1), ..., x(n+m))) = (x(1), ..., x(n)). We show that p and p* admit a section if and only if n = 1. Together with previous results, this completes the resolution of the splitting problem for surface pure braid groups. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pseudo Focal Points Along Lorentzian Geodesics and Morse Index

Given a Lorentzian manifold (M,g), a geodesic gamma in M and a timelike Jacobi field Y along gamma, we introduce a special class of instants along gamma that we call Y-pseudo conjugate (or focal relatively to some initial orthogonal submanifold). We prove that the Y-pseudo conjugate instants form a finite set, and their number equals the Morse index of (a suitable restriction of) the index form. This gives a Riemannian-like Morse index theorem. As special cases of the theory, we will consider geodesics in stationary and static Lorentzian manifolds, where the Jacobi field Y is obtained as the restriction of a globally defined timelike Killing vector field.

Equivariant Nielsen root theory for G-maps

Let X be a compact Hausdorff space, Y be a connected topological manifold, f : X -> Y be a map between closed manifolds and a is an element of Y. The vanishing of the Nielsen root number N(f; a) implies that f is homotopic to a root free map h, i.e., h similar to f and h(-1) (a) = empty set. In this paper, we prove an equivariant analog of this result for G-maps between G-spaces where G is a finite group. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Application of fuzzy logic for the evaluation of livestock slaughtering

A lógica fuzzy admite infinitos valores lógicos intermediários entre o falso e o verdadeiro. Com esse princípio, foi elaborado neste trabalho um sistema baseado em regras fuzzy, que indicam o índice de massa corporal de animais ruminantes com objetivo de obter o melhor momento para o abate. O sistema fuzzy desenvolvido teve como entradas as variáveis massa e altura, e a saída um novo índice de massa corporal, denominado Índice de Massa Corporal Fuzzy (IMC Fuzzy), que poderá servir como um sistema de detecção do momento de abate de bovinos, comparando-os entre si através das variáveis linguísticas )Muito BaixaM, ,BaixaB, ,MédiaM, ,AltaA e Muito AltaM. Para a demonstração e aplicação da utilização deste sistema fuzzy, foi feita uma análise de 147 vacas da raça Nelore, determinando os valores do IMC Fuzzy para cada animal e indicando a situação de massa corpórea de todo o rebanho. A validação realizada do sistema foi baseado em uma análise estatística, utilizando o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson 0,923, representando alta correlação positiva e indicando que o método proposto está adequado. Desta forma, o presente método possibilita a avaliação do rebanho, comparando cada animal do rebanho com seus pares do grupo, fornecendo desta forma um método quantitativo de tomada de decisão para o pecuarista. Também é possível concluir que o presente trabalho estabeleceu um método computacional baseado na lógica fuzzy capaz de imitar parte do raciocínio humano e interpretar o índice de massa corporal de qualquer tipo de espécie bovina e em qualquer região do País.