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White rice and its unrefined form, brown rice, contain numerous compounds that are beneficial to human health. However, the starch content of rice can contribute to obesity, a main risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

We investigated the effect of rice consumption on NAFLD and its underlying molecular mechanism.

We randomly divided 7-week-old male obese Zucker (fa/fa) rats, an animal model of NAFLD, into 3 groups (n=10 each) fed 1 of 3 diets for 10 weeks a control diet (Cont; AIN-93Gdiet; 53% cornstarch), a white rice diet (WR; AIN-93Gdiet with cornstarch replaced with white rice powder), or a brown rice diet (BR; AIN-93Gdiet with cornstarch replaced with brown rice powder). Liver fat accumulation and gene expression related to lipid and vitamin A metabolisms, including retinoic acid (RA) signaling, were analyzed.

Hepatic lipid values were significantly decreased in the BR group compared with the Cont group, by 0.4-fold (P <0.05). The expression of genes related to hepatic fattD could be manifested as increased fatty acid oxidation and VLDL secretion, which are regulated by RA signaling.Mosquito-borne pathogens have spread throughout tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere causing increased burden of disease in the region. Outbreaks of dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, West Nile, and Zika have occurred over the past several years. Mosquito blood-feeding patterns need to be assayed to assist in determining which vertebrates could act as hosts of these mosquito-borne pathogens and which mosquito species could act as vectors. We conducted bloodmeal analyses of mosquitoes collected at Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, a dry tropical forest reserve in Costa Rica. Mosquitoes were collected using backpack aspirators and light, gravid, and resting traps, and then identified morphologically. Blood-fed mosquitoes underwent DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and sequencing of the vertebrate cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase 1 genes to identify vertebrate bloodmeal hosts. Several mosquitoes known to vector pathogens were found including Culex (Melanoconion) erraticus Dyar & Knab (Diptera Culicidae), Cx. (Mel.) pedroi Sirivanakarn & Belkin, Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Skuse, Ae. (Ochlerotatus) scapularis Rondani, Ae. (Och.) serratus Theobald, and Ae. (Och.) taeniorhynchus Wiedemann. The most common bloodmeal hosts were basilisk lizards (Basiliscus vittatus) Wiegmann (Squamata Corytophanidae) in Culex (Linnaeus) species and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Zimmermann (Artiodactyla Cervidae) in Aedes (Meigen) species. These results show the diversity of mosquito species in a tropical dry deciduous forest and identify associations between mosquito vectors and potential pathogen reservoir hosts. Our study highlights the importance of understanding interactions between vector species and their hosts that could serve as predictors for the potential emergence or resurgence of mosquito-borne pathogens in Costa Rica.

There is no consensus on how to define “junk food.” In 2016, Chile implemented the most comprehensive set of obesity-preventive regulations in the world, including criteria to define unhealthy foods.

The objective of this study was to examine the amount of energy, sodium, sugar, and saturated fat consumed by US adults defined as junk food using the Chilean criteria.

We used 2 nationally representative surveys of food intake in 10,001 US adults NHANES 2015-2016 and NHANES 2017-2018. The main outcome measures were the contributions of energy, total sugars, saturated fat, and sodium deriving from junk food sources. selleck inhibitor Mean intake and proportion of energy, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium for junk food overall and each food category were calculated.

Overall, 47% of energy, 75% of total sugar, 46% of sodium, and 48% of saturated fat consumed by US adults derived from junk food sources. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were responsible for more than 40% of total sugar intake deriving from junk foods. Non-Hispaeduce junk food intake, particularly the intake of SSBs, must be expanded to improve the cardiometabolic health equitably in the United States.In the world, the impact of environmental conditions on the number of scorpion events was evaluated in North Africa,Middle East, and the Amazonian region but not in Europe. In mainland France, scorpion species described are Buthus occitanus (Amoreux, 1789), Belisarius xambeui (Simon, 1879) and 4 Euscorpiidae Euscorpius concinnus (Koch, 1837), Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800), Euscorpius tergestinus (Koch, 1837), and Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis (De Geer, 1778). We aimed to describe the impact of environmental conduction on the number of scorpion events. For this, a retrospective multi-center study was conducted with data from the French poison control centers files about scorpion events between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2020. During the study period, 975 incoming calls for scorpion events were recorded and 574 were related to scorpions native to mainland France and Corsica B. occitanus (n = 86), Euscorpiidae species (n = 222), B. xambeui (n = 1), and undetermined species (n = 265). Cases were mostly reported along the Mediterranean coast, along rivers, and in cities with a trading port. The number of scorpion events was linked to the rivers’ water level, rivers’ flow, temperature, sunshine, and pluviometry (P less then 0.05 for all variables). B. occitanus need warmest and driest environment than Euscorpiidae spp. A link between the severity of the envenoming and climatic condition or seasonality was not demonstrated.

Breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of subsequent overweight or obesity, but it is uncertain whether this is a causal relation because most studies have not adequately reduced risk of bias due to confounding.

The aim of this review was to examine whether 1) ever compared with never consuming human milk and 2) different durations of human milk consumption among infants fed human milk are related to later risk of overweight or obesity, with emphasis on sibling-pair and intervention studies.

The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, together with the Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review team, conducted a systematic review of articles relevant to healthy full-term infants in countries with a high or very high level of human development. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and CINAHL; dual-screened the results using predetermined criteria; extracted data from and assessed the risk of bias for each included study; qualitatively synthesized the evidence; developed conclusion statements; and graded the strength of the evidence.