Nutrition is an integral part of economic development, since it influences workers' healthand productivity. This study evaluated the usual nutrient intakes and food sources of workingadults. We ...conducted a cross-sectional survey that involved 1264 selected working adults aged 19to 59 years old from randomly selected job sectors. Quantitative dietary data was collected by a 2-day, non-consecutive 24 h recall, while a dietary diversity questionnaire was used to assess the typesand frequency of foods consumed. Physical activity was measured using the World HealthOrganization global physical assessment questionnaire. The prevalence of inadequate intakes,defined as the percentage of adults with intakes less than the estimated average requirements (EAR)or acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges (AMDR) were estimated using the PC-Softwarefor Intake Distribution Estimation (PC-SIDE) program. The mean daily energy intake of workingadults was 1768 kcal/day or 74% of the Estimated Energy Requirements (EER) for this age group.The percentage contribution to the total energy of fats (58%) and proteins (34%) were excessivelyhigh. Consumption of fruits and vegetables was only 30% and 40% of the recommended nutrientintake, respectively. Salt intake was 52% above the adequate intake. Nutrient inadequacy was highin almost all nutrients, including iron (99%), folate (97.9%), riboflavin (95.8%), calcium (94.7%),vitamin C (87.3%), and thiamin (76.6%). The top five food sources of energy included rice (35.6%),pork (15.1%), fats and oils (4.7%), chicken (4.4%), and bread (3.8%). Energy and nutrient intakes ofworking adults is extremely sub-optimal due to the consumption of few nutrient-dense foods. Thismay pose a triple burden of malnutrition if left unsolved.
The quality of foods taken during breakfast could contribute in shaping diet quality. This study determined the regularity of breakfast consumption and breakfast quality based on the food, energy and ...nutrient intakes of Filipinos. Data from the 2018 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) was extracted for analysis. There were 63,655 individuals comprising about 14,013 school-aged children (6-12 years old), 9,082 adolescents (13-18 years old), 32,255 adults (19-59 years old), and 8,305 elderly (60 years old and above). Two-day non-consecutive 24-h food recalls were used to measure food and nutrient intakes. Diet quality was measured using Nutrient-Rich Food Index (NRF) 9.3. The sample was stratified by age group and NRF9.3 tertiles. This study revealed that majority of the population are regular breakfast consumers. However, the breakfast consumed regularly by Filipinos were found to be nutritionally inadequate. And even those classified under Tertile 3 which were assumed as having a better quality of breakfast were still found to have nutrient inadequacies. Thus, the study suggests that Filipinos must consume a healthy breakfast by including nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meat, and milk to provide at least 20-25% of the daily energy and nutrient intakes.
The Salgado and Consolação geosites are located on the Portuguese coast of the West Iberian Margin and represent two Upper Jurassic reference sections of the Amaral Formation interpreted as a ...barrier-lagoon depositional environment within a mixed carbonate platform context. Outcrops exposure and access conditions allow the detailed study of the succession, as well as its use as a geotourism target, and as a particular relevant geoeducation resource. But, in addition, these geosites, due to their geodiversity, can also serve as particularly interesting case study in the deepening of concepts and ideas that are being building geoconservation as an emerging geological science. The objective of the present work is: to discuss the type of geoheritage that Salgado and Consolação geosites represent; to identify and describe the geoheritage contents of the two geosites, as well as to assess, from a qualitative point of view, their values; to use the geoheritage contents of the two geosites to support an educational intervention including fieldtrips; and to frame the concept of palaeogeographic heritage within the broad meaning assigned to geological heritage.
Display omitted
•Concepts and ideas about the palaeogeographic geoheritage type are discussed.•Geoheritage of two upper Jurassic geosites of the Lusitanian Basin is described.•Main geological features are indicated for geoeducational use in fieldtrips.
SUMMARY
We present a seismic ambient noise tomography of the Cape Verde archipelago, located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 600 km west of Senegal. We used 38 seismic broad-band stations that ...continuously recorded for 10 months, in order to construct the first 3-D model of Sv-wave velocities for the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Cape Verde region. We started by computing phase cross-correlations for vertical component recordings using all possible inter-island station pairs. Next, a time–frequency phase-weighted stack was applied to obtain robust Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion curves in the period band between 10 and 24 s. Group-velocity maps at different periods are obtained by inverting the dispersion curves. We then inverted the group-velocity maps to obtain the 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Cape Verde. The final 3-D model extends from 8 km down to 23 km and has a lateral resolution of about 50 km. The crust in the southwestern sector, encompassing Fogo, presents lower S-wave velocities that may be caused by the presence of melt pockets and/or hydrothermal fluids circulation. The uppermost mantle beneath the northwestern sector is characterized by higher S-wave velocities in agreement with previous results obtained from Ps and Sp receiver functions. Those high-velocity anomalies can reflect non-altered crust or remnants of magma chambers or solidified basaltic intrusions, which fed the volcanism in these islands. Our maps revealed the presence of crustal underplating across the entire archipelago, yet stronger beneath the groups Santo Antão—São Vicente—São Nicolau and Fogo—Santiago—Maio.
Abstract
Advances in ultrafast laser technology and nanofabrication have enabled a new class of particle accelerator based upon miniaturized laser-driven photonic structures. However, developing a ...useful accelerator based on this approach requires control of the particle dynamics at field intensities approaching the damage limit. We measure acceleration in a fused silica dielectric laser accelerator driven by fields of up to 9 GV m
−1
and observe a record 1.8 GV m
−1
in the accelerating mode. At these intensities the dielectric is driven beyond its linear response and self-phase modulation changes the phase velocity of the accelerating mode, reducing the average gradient to 850 MeV m
−1
. We show that free-space optics can be used to compensate this dephasing and demonstrate that tailoring the laser phase and amplitude can facilitate optimization of the beam dynamics. This could enable MeV scale energy gain in a single stage and pave the way towards applications in scientific, industrial, and medical fields.
Mainland Portugal, on the southwestern edge of the European continent, is located directly north of the boundary between the Eurasian and Nubian plates. It lies in a region of slow lithospheric ...deformation (<5 mm yr−1), which has generated some of the largest earthquakes in Europe, both intraplate (mainland) and interplate (offshore). Some offshore earthquakes are nucleated on old and cold lithospheric mantle, at depths down to 60 km. The seismicity of mainland Portugal and its adjacent offshore has been repeatedly classified as diffuse. In this paper, we analyse the instrumental earthquake catalogue for western Iberia, which covers the period between 1961 and 2013. Between 2010 and 2012, the catalogue was enriched with data from dense broad-band deployments. We show that although the plate boundary south of Portugal is diffuse, in that deformation is accommodated along several distributed faults rather than along one long linear plate boundary, the seismicity itself is not diffuse. Rather, when located using high-quality data, earthquakes collapse into well-defined clusters and lineations. We identify and characterize the most outstanding clusters and lineations of epicentres and correlate them with geophysical and tectonic features (historical seismicity, topography, geologically mapped faults, Moho depth, free-air gravity, magnetic anomalies and geotectonic units). Both onshore and offshore, clusters and lineations of earthquakes are aligned preferentially NNE–SSW and WNW–ESE. Cumulative seismic moment and epicentre density decrease from south to north, with increasing distance from the plate boundary. Only few earthquake lineations coincide with geologically mapped faults. Clusters and lineations that do not match geologically mapped faults may correspond to previously unmapped faults (e.g. blind faults), rheological boundaries or distributed fracturing inside blocks that are more brittle and therefore break more easily than neighbour blocks. The seismicity map of western Iberia presented in this article opens important questions concerning the regional seismotectonics. This work shows that the study of low-magnitude earthquakes using dense seismic deployments is a powerful tool to study lithospheric deformation in slowly deforming regions, such as western Iberia, where high-magnitude earthquakes occur with long recurrence intervals.
Summary
We explore a recently developed procedure for kinematic inversion based on an elliptical subfault approximation. In this method, the slip is modelled by a small set of elliptical patches, ...each ellipse having a Gaussian distribution of slip. We invert near-field strong ground motion for the 2004 September 28 M
w 6.0 Parkfield, California, earthquake. The data set consists of 10 digital three-component 18-s long displacement seismograms. The best model gives a moment of 1.21 × 1018 N m, with slip on two distinct ellipses, one with a high-slip amplitude of 0.91 m located 20 km northwest of the hypocentre. The average rupture speed of the rupture process is ∼2.7 km s−1. We find no slip in the top 5 km. At this depth, a lineation of small aftershocks marks the transition from creeping above to locked below, in the interseismic period. The high-slip patch coincides spatially with the hypocentre of the 1966 M
w6.0 Parkfield, California, earthquake. The larger earthquakes prior to the 2004 Parkfield earthquake and the aftershocks of the 2004 earthquake (M
w > 3) also lie around this high-slip patch, where our model images a sharp slip gradient. This observation suggests the presence of a permanent asperity that breaks during large earthquakes, and has important implications for the slip deficit observed on the Parkfield segment, which is necessary for reliable seismic hazard assessment.
The island of São Miguel is among the most seismically active areas of the Azores archipelago. This work focuses on the most significant recent swarm, which occurred on February 2018. We set up an ...automated procedure to process continuous full seismic waveform data from local stations to generate high-quality earthquake information on the volcano unrest episode. First, we applied an automated detector software, next we located the detected events and then classified the earthquakes based on their waveform similarity, identifying three families of seismic events. We then extended the catalog by template matching. Finally, we computed moment tensors to investigate the source mechanisms of the largest earthquakes. Our results image the ∼2-week swarm evolution. The activity started with a precursory phase with low rate and low magnitude (ML < 2.0) seismicity and the activation of a deeper structure (∼10-15 km). After ∼1 week, a new earthquake family emerged at shallower depths (∼8–12 km) reaching magnitudes up to ML 3.4. Finally, a third slightly shallower family was activated. Moment tensors show mostly normal faulting mechanisms, striking ∼NW-SE, compatible with the orientation of the regional stress field. A surface deformation transient was recorded by geodetic stations, starting with the swarm, and continuing over the following ∼17 months, corresponding to either inflation or extension around the swarm region. The prolonged surface deformation implies a process that was initiated during the swarm and subsequently accommodated mostly aseismically. We interpret the seismicity observed at the early stage of deformation as indicating episodic fluid injection through the crust, related to the local hydrothermal or magmatic systems. We conclude that the Fogo-Congro region continues to be seismo-volcanically active, with both seismic and aseismic deformation observed and requiring close multidisciplinary monitoring. The proposed methology based on the automated analysis of continuous waveform data provides high-quality imaging of the spatio-temporal evolution of seismicity, which can be used elsewhere in the operational monitoring of seismo-volcanic crises to gain insight into the ongoing deformation processes, improve hazard assessment and help in the development of effective mitigation strategies.
This study evaluated the food and nutrient intakes of selected breastfeeding mothers and identified the top food sources of nutrient intakes.
This is a cross-sectional, non-interventional study ...conducted in one of the private medical centers in Metro Manila, Philippines.
The sample size included 70 mothers of healthy, term, exclusively breastfed infants aged 21-26 days at enrollment. Mothers were scheduled to visit the clinic at days 1, 22, 57, and day 90.Similarly, food diaries were obtained during these periods with a 3-day food record per clinic visit totaling to 12 records per mother at the end of 90 days. At every clinic visit, the records were validated face - to - face by the registered nutritionist - dietitians. An extension of the mother's participation until day 155 was implemented for the collection of clinical outcomes used by Pediatricians. Mean food intakes were calculated. A PC-Software for Intake Distribution Estimation (PC-SIDE) program was used in the estimation of inadequate intakes. Socio-economic status was collected using standard questionnaires. Weight and height were measured using standard techniques to compute for BMI.
Anthropometric results for the breastfeeding mothers reported a mean weight of 56.9 kg (SE = 1.3) and a mean height of 152.4 cm (SE = 0.6). In terms of body mass index (BMI), 8.6% were chronic energy deficient, and 34.3% were overweight while 12.9% were obese. Mean energy intake of breastfeeding mothers was 2516.7 kcal/day, which was 28.6% higher than the EER of 1957 kcal/day. Mean protein intake was 78.4 g/day, which was 37% inadequate while fat intake as percentage of total energy was excessive by 4%. Nutrient inadequacy is high for almost all nutrients: iron (99%), folate (96%), riboflavin (39%), vitamin B6 (63%), vitamin B12 (46%) and thiamine (22%). The top 5-food sources with highest percent contribution to energy are rice (43.1%), bread (8.1%), pork (7.7%), powdered milk (5.9%), and sweet bakery products (5%).
There is a high prevalence of protein and micronutrient inadequacies in the diet of breastfeeding mothers. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high among breastfeeding mothers. These findings might be explained by the low variety and nutrient-poor foods consumed by the breastfeeding mothers. Understanding the major food sources of nutrient intake of breastfeeding mothers could be used to intensify if not craft interventions to address the nutrient gaps. Improving the maternal nutrition may contribute to having quality breastmilk to infants.
Cone snails are slow-moving animals that secure survival by injecting to their prey a concoction of highly potent and stable neurotoxic peptides called conotoxins. These small toxins (~ 10–30 AA) ...interact with ion channels and their diverse structures account for various variables such as the environment and the prey of preference. This study probed the conformational space of
α
-conotoxin PnIB from
Conus pennaceus
by performing all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on the conotoxin in complex solvent systems of water and octanol. Secondary structure analyses showed a uniform conformation for the pure (C100Oc, C100W) and minute (C95Oc, C5Oc) systems. In C50Oc, however, structural changes were observed. The original helices were converted to turns and were shown to happen simultaneously with the elongation of the helix and shortening of end-to-end distance. The transitions complement the orientation of the peptide at the interface. The shift to the broken helix conformation is marked by the rearrangement of solvent molecules to a framework that favors the accumulation of water molecules at residues 6–11 of the H2 region. This promotes specific protein–solvent interactions that facilitate secondary structure transitions. As PnIB has shown favorable binding toward neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, this study may provide insights on this conotoxin’s therapeutic potential.
Graphic abstract
Description: Structural changes in PnIB are accompanied by a simultaneous change in solvent density.
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