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AbstractObjective: The marked increase in the prevalence of obesity in the United States has recently been attributed to the increased fructose consumption. To determine if and how fructose might promote obesity in an animal model, we measured body composition, energy intake, energy expenditure, substrate oxidation, and several endocrine parameters related to energy homeostasis in mice consuming fructose.Research Methods and Procedures: We compared the effects of ad libitum access to fructose (15% solution in water), sucrose (10%, popular soft drink), and artificial sweetener (0% calories, popular diet soft drink) on adipogenesis and energy metabolism in mice.Results: Exposure to fructose water increased adiposity, whereas increased fat mass after consumption of soft drinks or diet soft drinks did not reach statistical significance (n = 9 each group). Total intake of energy was unaltered, because mice proportionally reduced their caloric intake from chow. There was a trend toward reduced energy expenditure and increased respiratory quotient, albeit not significant, in the fructose group. Furthermore, fructose produced a hepatic lipid accumulation with a characteristic pericentral pattern.Discussion: These data are compatible with the conclusion that a high intake of fructose selectively enhances adipogenesis, possibly through a shift of substrate use to lipogenesis.

The storage and transport of gases in coal is of tremendous importance in the utilisation of coalbeds, and in particular the recovery of methane. There is also increasing interest in the use of coal mines as sites for carbon dioxide sequestration to alleviate the potentially harmful effects of global warming. This paper demonstrates the use of magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of gas transport in coal. The presence of significant structural heterogeneities in the coal was observed. Dynamical effects displayed a broad range of time constants ranging from minutes to days.

Climate change is accelerating plant developmental transitions coordinated with the seasons in temperate environments. To understand the importance of these timing advances for a stable life history strategy, we constructed a full life cycle model of Arabidopsis thaliana. Modelling and field data reveal that a cryptic function of flowering time control is to limit seed set of winter annuals to an ambient temperature window which coincides with a temperature-sensitive switch in seed dormancy state. This coincidence is predicted to be conserved independent of climate at the expense of flowering date, suggesting that temperature control of flowering time has evolved to constrain seed set environment and therefore frequency of dormant and non-dormant seed states. We show that late flowering can disrupt this bet-hedging germination strategy. Our analysis shows that life history modelling can reveal hidden fitness constraints and identify non-obvious selection pressures as emergent features.

Air pollution in China is becoming more serious especially for the particular matter (PM) because of rapid economic growth and fast expansion of urbanization. To solve the growing environment problems, daily PM2.5 and PM10 concentration data form January 1, 2015, to August 23, 2016, in Kunming and Yuxi (two important cities in Yunnan Province, China) are used to present a new hybrid model CI-FPA-SVM to forecast air PM2.5 and PM10 concentration in this paper. The proposed model involves two parts. Firstly, due to its deficiency to assess the possible correlation between different variables, the cointegration theory is introduced to get the input-output relationship and then obtain the nonlinear dynamical system with support vector machine (SVM), in which the parameters c and g are optimized by flower pollination algorithm (FPA). Six benchmark models, including FPA-SVM, CI-SVM, CI-GA-SVM, CI-PSO-SVM, CI-FPA-NN, and multiple linear regression model, are considered to verify the superiority of the proposed hybrid model. The empirical study results demonstrate that the proposed model CI-FPA-SVM is remarkably superior to all considered benchmark models for its high prediction accuracy, and the application of the model for forecasting can give effective monitoring and management of further air quality.

AbstractDecisions in the environmental and in particular the climate domain are burdened with uncertainty. Here, we focus on uncertainties faced by individuals when making decisions about environmental behavior, and we use the statistical sampling framework to develop a classification of different sources of uncertainty they encounter. We then map these sources to different public policy strategies aiming to help individuals cope with uncertainty when making environmental decisions.

Previously, it has been reported that energy consumed as alcohol prior to lunch does not result in subsequent reductions in voluntary food intake, and in some situations alcohol can increase subsequent appetite. The present study extends these findings by examining the effects of beliefs about alcohol content. Eighteen unrestrained men ate lunch 20 min after a preload of either water, an alcoholic beer or a non-alcoholic beer matched for energy content. Food intake was significantly less following the non-alcoholic beer than after alcohol or water, but when preload energy was included subjects had a higher overall energy intake on the day they consumed alcohol compared with both water and no-alcohol conditions. There were no significant differences in hunger or fullness ratings following the three drinks before or after the test meal, but the specific relationship between rated hunger and intake within the test meal was altered by the drink manipulation. The rate at which hunger decreased, and fullness increased, was slower after alcohol than after water or no-alcohol. The drinks did not alter the pleasantness of the test meal or increase hunger at the start of eating. When contrasted with previous work, these data confirm that alcohol consumed before lunch fails to reduce subsequent food intake, but also suggests that changes in rated appetite are influenced by beliefs about alcohol content.

In January 2019, the EAT–Lancet Commission defined a universal reference diet to promote human and environmental health. However, in doing so, the potential consequences for brain health were not considered. Whilst plant-based diets are generally associated with better cognitive and affective outcomes, those that severely limit animal products are not. Therefore, the potential ramifications of the EAT–Lancet diet on cognition, mood, and heart rate variability were considered (N = 328). Adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) was associated with having a better mood, focused attention, working and episodic memory, and higher heart rate variability. However, when the EAT–Lancet diet was considered, the effects were either smaller or not significant. Cluster analysis identified a dietary style characterised by a strong adherence to the EAT–Lancet recommendation to limit meat intake, representing a sixth of the present sample. This group had a lower Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR); did not meet the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for a range of nutrients including protein, selenium, zinc, iron, and folate; and reported a poorer mood. These data highlight the potential unintended consequences of the EAT–Lancet recommendations for nutritional adequacy and affective health in some individuals. There is a need to better optimise the EAT–Lancet diet to support brain health. As we move towards more sustainable diets, these findings emphasise the need to consider how such diets might affect the brain.

The temporal overlap of phenological stages, phenological synchrony, crucially influences ecosystem functioning. For flowering, among-individual synchrony influences gene flow. For leaf-out, it affects interactions with herbivores and competing plants. If individuals differ in their reaction to the ongoing change in global climate, this should affect population-level synchrony. Here, we use climate-manipulation experiments, Pan-European long-term (>15 years) observations, and common garden monitoring data on up to 72 woody and herbaceous species to study the effects of increasing temperatures on the extent of leaf-out and flowering synchrony within populations. Warmer temperatures reduce in situ leaf-out and flowering synchrony by up to 55%, and experiments on European beech provide a mechanism for how individual differences in day-length and/or chilling sensitivity may explain this finding. The rapid loss of reproductive and vegetative synchrony in European plants predicts changes in their gene flow and trophic interactions, but community-wide consequences remain largely unknown.Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that all the issues have been addressed (<xref ref-type="decision-letter" rid="SA1">see decision letter</xref>).