Amount Of Food Research Articles

A Study on Genetically Engineered Foods: Need, Benefits, Risk, and Current Knowledge.

Food requirements have always been a top priority, and with the exponential growth of the human population, there is an increasing need for large quantities of food. Traditional cultivation methods are not able to meet the current demand for food products. One significant challenge is the shortened shelf-life of naturally occurring food items, which directly contributes to food scarcity. Contaminating substances such as weeds and pests play a crucial role in this issue. In response, researchers have introduced genetically engineered (GE) food as a potential solution. These food products are typically created by adding or replacing genes in the DNA of naturally occurring foods. GE foods offer various advantages, including increased quality and quantity of food production, adaptability to various climatic conditions, modification of vitamin and mineral levels, and prolonged shelf life. They address the major concerns of global food scarcity and food security. However, the techniques used in the production of GE foods may not be universally acceptable due to the genetic alteration of animal genes into plants or vice versa. Additionally, their unique nature necessitates further long-term studies. This study delves into the procedures and growth stages of DNA sequencing, covering the benefits, risks, industrial relevance, current knowledge, and future challenges of GE foods. GE foods have the potential to extend the shelf life of food items, alleviate food shortages, and fulfill the current nutritional food demand.

Response of fruit fly (Drosophila pseudoobscura) to diet manipulation of nutrient density

AbstractCaloric intake can greatly affect many aspects of an organism's life. A deficiency of calories can lead to stress resulting in decreased fecundity, insufficient calories to maintain tissues and increased lifespan. Conversely, increasing caloric density increases fecundity and decreases lifespan. Despite decades of work exploring food quality and quantity on physiology in the model species Drosophila melanogaster Meigan 1830 (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and the melanogaster group in general, relatively little work explores the physiological responses to diet manipulation in other Drosophila species, like the obscura species group. Here, we looked at the effects of five different caloric densities (0.5×, 0.75×, 1.0×, 1.5× and 3.0×) on food intake, body weight, body fat, fecundity and longevity in D. pseudoobscura Frolova & Astaurov, 1929 (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Comparing longevity and fecundity across diets, we found that heavy caloric concentration (3.0×) decreases lifespan and that calorie restriction (0.5× and 0.75×) led to significant decreases in fecundity and body weight. However, calorie concentration did not significantly increase D. pseudoobscura body fat. By expanding our understanding of the physiological responses to diet stress to D. pseudoobscura, we establish the framework for comparative work across Drosophila species. With this information, we can then identify which physiological responses to diet manipulation might be most conserved and comparable across species.

The strategies pursued by urban households to cope with food insecurity: Insights from selected towns in Southern Ethiopia.

Food security has become a major global concern, particularly in urban areas where households are struggling to address the issue of basic necessities mainly food that crucially dictates human health. Overcoming these challenges will require effective management mechanisms to inform policy interventions and enhance resilience at both local and global levels. This study aimed to explore the coping strategies (CS) pursued by urban households in the Southern Ethiopia. Furthermore, the focus is on how households to cope with food insecurity and how using these strategies varies within households. A household survey questionnaire was conducted using a cross-sectional design, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data. A total of 310 household heads were targeted for the required data acquisition with: The coping strategy index (CSI) to capture how people perceive and cope with food insecurity that threatens human health. The results indicate that households used the top seven CS to address the problem of food insecurity: limiting the size of portions at mealtimes (83.9%), depending on less expensive or seasonal foods (68.1%), reducing adult consumption (66.1%), reducing the amount of food consumed (65.8%), purchasing food on credit (60.3%), renting household assets (54.8%), and migrating household members for wage labor (53.5%). Moreover, the finding shows that the frequency of CS used by urban households in response to food insecurity is rated differently as never, rarely, sometimes, and more than 4 times per week. Therefore, targeted support programs for vulnerable groups should be implemented to ensure they receive adequate food during times of food insecurity wherein the victims' health status is imperatively to be bettered.

The Influence of Feeding Practice on the Risk of Stunting in Toddler: A Scoping Review

Child stunting is a serious case that is difficult to overcome because it is caused by poor food quality and the amount of food that does not meet the body's needs during the first two years of life. The purpose of this study is to review the influence of feeding practices and feeding methods on the risk of stunting in children under five. PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines are used to identify key concepts and knowledge gaps. This scoping review used a five-step framework approach. The databases used were PubMed, Wiley Online Library, ScienceDirect, and EBSCO. Manual searches used the Research Rabbit search engine. Based on the search results of 979 articles, ten articles were found that matched the inclusion criteria. Out of the seven themes found, four were in line with WHO's complementary feeding indicators, namely Minimum Meal Frequency (MMF), Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD), Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD), and Introduction of Solid, Semi-Solid or Soft Foods (ISSSF). While the other three themes are a time of first feeding, breastfeeding practices, and feeding methods. Overall, inadequate feeding practices result in child malnutrition, including stunting. Improper nutrition and care during the first 1000 days of birth is detrimental to a child's life, both in the short and long term as malnutrition that occurs at this early stage of life has serious and irreversible consequences. Large-scale studies are recommended to explore the role of IYCF in reducing stunting and qualitative studies to determine barriers and drivers to improve infant and young child feeding practices.

Aquatic food resources in tropical Africa: a comprehensive analysis

Aquatic food production holds great promise as a viable solution to tackle the pressing issue of meeting the protein requirements of the African populace. It plays a crucial role in food security and economic growth, especially in tropical Africa. With a fast-expanding population, there is a growing need for aquatic food sources to provide inexpensive protein and essential nutrients. Despite Africa’s vast aquatic food source supplies and the importance of aquatic food in healthy and sustainable diets, several challenges hinder its full exploitation in the tropical African environment. This study, therefore, aims to assess the existing state of aquatic food resources in Africa, examine the nutritional advantages associated with these foods, and identify the problems that hinder their maximal utilization. The findings highlight the differences in aquatic protein consumption across various countries, emphasizing the importance of considering local factors when formulating nutritional interventions and policies. The comparison between the supply of protein from aquatic sources and land animals across African nations revealed a consistent trend of lower availability of aquatic protein. Africa, in particular, had relatively lower per capita consumption values of animal protein. The continent’s average quantity of land animal food significantly surpassed the average aquatic food supply. This suggests a predominant reliance on land animal sources in African countries to meet dietary protein needs. This finding holds significant importance for policymakers, nutritionists, and stakeholders, highlighting the need for targeted strategies to improve protein accessibility in African countries. Moreover, it calls for attention to address any existing imbalances between the utilization of land and aquatic protein sources in the region.

The Overarching Cost of Beauty in Mauritania

This research paper outlines the risks women in Mauritania - including girls at the extremely young age of five years old - take to secure marriage and appear attractive to those who are male-identifying. Over time, the United States has become more inclusive with a broader spectrum of sizes that they carry in stores. However, not much long ago, the beauty standard in American society was to look as thin as possible (Wiseman et al., 1992). Girls in the United States would undergo dangerous diets, supplements, and bizarre exercises to stay thin, where in Mauritania, their beauty standard revolved around the complete opposite (Wiseman et al., 1992). Instead, girls in Mauritania grew up in environments where the standards of beauty perpetuated obesity. Mauritanian men claimed that skinny women looked like skeletons and they’d prefer not to sleep with “a bag of bones” (Esposito, 2022). Obesity in Mauritania was seen as a status symbol as many people believed larger women were wealthy because their husband had the financial means to gorge her on copious amounts of food. Therefore, women who were looking for potential suitors would try to become as large as possible to appear desirable to other men.

Dissolved organic matter released from beach wrack is source-specific and molecularly highly diverse

AbstractBeach wrack is an important supplier of nutrients and organic matter to sandy beach ecosystems and underlying subterranean estuaries (STEs), producing metabolic hotspots in these otherwise organic carbon- and nutrient-poor environments. To assess the impact of beach wrack type (e.g., marine, terrestrial, plant, animal) and environmental settings (e.g., tidal inundation, precipitation, and solar irradiation) on nutrient and dissolved organic matter (DOM) release, a series of leaching experiments was conducted. Quantities of leached nutrients and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were determined, and DOM molecular composition was investigated using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). Millimolar—to molar amounts of DOC and dissolved nitrogen were released from the beach cast per kg dry weight, with type of wrack and leaching medium (fresh- vs. saltwater) exerting the biggest influences. Exemplary for animal cast, jellyfish leached up to two 100-fold more, mostly organic, nitrogen compared to all other beach wrack types. FT-ICR-MS data of solid-phase extracted DOM indicated that beach wrack releases compounds with putative mono- and oligosaccharide-, amino acid- and vitamin-type molecular formulae, which likely serve as valuable substrate for heterotrophic microorganisms. DOM from the brown seaweed Fucus sp. was more aromatic than seawater DOM and even beach wrack of terrestrial origin, probably from structural components and secondary metabolites such as phlorotannins. We conclude that DOM and nutrient release from beach wrack strongly depends on wrack type and leaching medium, may obscure molecular provenance proxies (e.g., terrestrial indices), and adds a nutritional boost to infiltrating sea- and rainwater which likely impact microbial respiration rates in the STE.

Temporal snacking patterns among Canadian children and adolescents.

Snacking is nearly universal among children but there is growing concern around snacking patterns and energy contribution. This study aimed to characterize temporal snacking patterns among Canadian children and adolescents. A cross-sectional analysis drew on data from 5,209 respondents aged 4 to 18 years from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey Nutrition, using one 24-hour dietary recall. Descriptive statistics estimated proportions of morning, afternoon and evening snackers, the mean caloric contribution of each snacking period to total daily energy intake, and the top food categories consumed as snacks (kcal per capita). Snacking was nearly universal and accounted for one of every four calories consumed. Morning snacks were more popular among children vs. adolescents and contributed significantly less energy than afternoon or evening snacking periods for both age groups (P<0.001). The top food groups consumed as snacks were the same for children and adolescents, although the ranking order varied. Fruits was the leading food group in terms of per capita energy for children, and second for adolescents. Aside from fruits and milks, all other top per capita energy contributors were generally more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods such as cookies, biscuits and cereal bars, and other breads. Among children, morning snacks were higher in desirable nutrients compared with afternoon snacks. Not all snacking periods are equal in terms of energy and nutrients. A better understanding of how time of day may influence the quality of snack foods can inform meal-based guidance and help children achieve the recommended daily amounts of foods and nutrients.

Temporal snacking patterns among Canadian children and adolescents.

Snacking is nearly universal among children but there is growing concern around snacking patterns and energy contribution. This study aimed to characterize temporal snacking patterns among Canadian children and adolescents. A cross-sectional analysis drew on data from 5,209 respondents aged 4 to 18 years from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey Nutrition, using one 24-hour dietary recall. Descriptive statistics estimated proportions of morning, afternoon and evening snackers, the mean caloric contribution of each snacking period to total daily energy intake, and the top food categories consumed as snacks (kcal per capita). Snacking was nearly universal and accounted for one of every four calories consumed. Morning snacks were more popular among children vs. adolescents and contributed significantly less energy than afternoon or evening snacking periods for both age groups (P<0.001). The top food groups consumed as snacks were the same for children and adolescents, although the ranking order varied. Fruits was the leading food group in terms of per capita energy for children, and second for adolescents. Aside from fruits and milks, all other top per capita energy contributors were generally more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods such as cookies, biscuits and cereal bars, and other breads. Among children, morning snacks were higher in desirable nutrients compared with afternoon snacks. Not all snacking periods are equal in terms of energy and nutrients. A better understanding of how time of day may influence the quality of snack foods can inform meal-based guidance and help children achieve the recommended daily amounts of foods and nutrients.

Current challenges on the widespread adoption of new bio-based fertilizers: insights to move forward toward more circular food systems

To meet global food demands sustainably, it is necessary to safeguard finite natural resources and reduce harmful emissions to the environment. Nutrients in biowastes are often not managed appropriately. Instead, they can be recovered, recycled into bio-based fertilizers (BBFs) and reincorporated into food production systems. This review addresses three critical issues for developing and adopting new BBFs, focusing on the European context: (1) BBFs should match the agronomic efficiency of mineral fertilizers. We propose that the agronomic efficiency of BBFs can be increased through pre-treating the inputs in biowaste transformation processes (e.g., anaerobic digestion), chemical treatments of existing BBFs, organo-mineral combinations, and soil placement strategies. (2) Production and use of new BBFs is not free of environmental impacts, and these are influenced by regional conditions. (3) Public perception and end-user preferences play a significant role in the adoption of BBFs. Therefore, it is vital to address the requirements of end-users of BBFs. Our findings indicate that for widespread adoption, BBFs need sufficient and reliable nutrient amounts and crop-adequate ratios, as well as competitive pricing. A key advantage of BBFs over mineral fertilizers is their ability to improve soil fertility. However, farmers also require fertilizers that can be handled and applied with existing machinery and offer the practicality of commercial products. Another important aspect is the willingness of consumers to buy products fertilized with BBFs. Designing and promoting BBFs requires a careful assessment of environmental impacts and regional conditions, as the sustainability of BBFs depends on factors like energy sources and biowaste transport distances. Ultimately, the goal is to promote a circular economy and not just to substitute mineral fertilizers with new products. This review aims to guide researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders by highlighting key innovations and addressing critical barriers.

Clinically Relevant Topics and New Tendencies in Childhood Nutrition during the First 2 Years of Life: A Survey among Primary Care Spanish Paediatricians.

A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among 245 experienced Spanish paediatricians, who completed an online survey based on clinically relevant topics in nutrition during the first two years of life and their recommendations to parents in daily clinical practice. Most participants advise about the choking risk associated with baby-led weaning (BLW) and more than 60% consider that infants can receive an insufficient variety and quantity of nutrients with this practice. The general opinion is that there is a lack of evidence for delaying the introduction of gluten and other allergenic foods in the complementary feeding of healthy infants. Most participants agree/strongly agree that two servings of dairy products are the adequate daily amount in a diversified diet and 93.4% disagree/strongly disagree with the use of vegetal beverages under 1 year of life. There is a general agreement to avoid added salt and sugar before 12 months of life, the consideration that organic foods do not have a better nutritional profile than non-organic ones, and the limitations of vegetarian diets especially for adequate provision of micronutrients. Overall, there is an adequate knowledge of the new trends by paediatricians and younger ones seemed more in favor of them and interested in receiving more information on most topics.

Association between Breakfast Consumption Frequency and Chronic Inflammation in Korean Adult Males: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016-2018.

Skipping breakfast is associated with an increased risk of chronic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to examine the association between breakfast-eating habits and inflammation, using high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) as a marker. A total of 4,000 Korean adult males with no history of myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, or current smoking were included. Data from the 2016-2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for analysis. The frequency of breakfast consumption was assessed through a questionnaire item in the dietary survey section asking participants about their weekly breakfast consumption routines over the past year. Participants were categorized into two groups, namely "0-2 breakfasts per week" and "3-7 breakfasts per week"; hs-CRP concentrations were measured through blood tests. Comparing between the "infrequent breakfast consumption (0-2 breakfasts per week)" and "frequent breakfast consumption (3-7 breakfasts per week)" groups, the mean hs-CRP was found to be significantly higher in the "infrequent breakfast consumption" group, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, physical activity, alcohol consumption, systolic blood pressure, blood pressure medication, fasting blood glucose, and triglycerides (mean hs-CRP: frequent breakfast consumption, 1.36±0.09 mg/L; infrequent breakfast consumption, 1.17±0.05 mg/L; P-value=0.036). Less frequent breakfast consumption was associated with elevated hs-CRP levels. Further large-scale studies incorporating adjusted measures of daily eating patterns as well as food quality and quantity are required for a deeper understanding of the role of breakfast in the primary prevention of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Translation, transcultural adaptation, and convergent validity of the Arabic version of the Mukbang addiction scale

IntroductionThe present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Arabic translation of the Mukbang Addiction Scale (MAS) among Arabic-speaking adults from the general population. Specifically, it aimed to assess the factorial structure through a confirmatory factor analysis, determine the composite reliability through Cronbach alpha and McDonald’s omega scores, assess gender invariance, and evaluate the convergent validity by examining its correlation to eating addiction and psychological distress.MethodsA total of 370 individuals with a mean age of 21.94 ± 2.29 years participated in this study, which was conducted using an online platform. The participants were surveyed on demographic information, mukbang addiction, food addiction, and psychological distress. Translation was conducted using the forward and backward technique.ResultsThe findings demonstrated excellent internal consistency of the Arabic MAS (McDonald’s omega coefficient = 0.93). Confirmatory factor analyses validated the one-factor structure of the scale, while establishing measurement invariance across sex at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. No sex differences were observed in the Mukbang addiction levels. Lastly, the MAS scores were significantly and positively correlated with food addiction and psychological distress, supporting their convergent validity.ConclusionThe current research provides evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the MAS as a self-report method for assessing addictive Mukbang watching. While further validations are needed to corroborate the present findings, this measure can be effectively utilized across different fields, including schools, mental health centers, and researchers aiming to understand this global phenomenon.Plain English SummaryMukbang refers to individuals or hosts consuming large quantities of food while interacting with their audiences through recorded video or a live stream. The Mukbang phenomenon has gained substantial popularity among young individuals over the past years, rising concerns about its potential impact on their eating habits and health, especially when overconsumed. Overconsumption of mukbang content, or Mukbang addiction, aligns with the core features of addiction, including compulsive engagement, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms, making it comparable to other addictive behaviors. Mukbang addiction can lead to detrimental effects on mental and physical health, including neglect of balanced nutrition, disordered eating habits, obesity, feelings of guilt, shame, poor self-esteem, distorted self-images, body dissatisfaction, heightened anxiety or depression, and social isolation. Given these significant impacts, valid and reliable tools are crucial to enable an accurate assessment of Mukbang addiction. This study proposes to translate, adapt and examine the psychometric properties of the Mukbang Addiction Scale (MAS) in a sample of Arabic-speaking individuals from the general population. Findings showed that the six MAS items loaded on a single factor with strong internal consistency and good convergent validity, preliminarily indicating its potential validity and reliability for assessing addictive mukbang-watching among Arabic-speaking individuals.

The parasubthalamic nucleus refeeding ensemble delays feeding initiation and hastens water drinking.

The parasubthalamic nucleus (PSTN) is activated by refeeding after food deprivation and several PSTN subpopulations have been shown to suppress feeding. However, no study to date directly addressed the role of PSTN neurons activated upon food access in the control of ensuing food consumption. Here we identify consumption latency as a sensitive behavioral indicator of PSTN activity, and show that, in hungry mice, the ensemble of refeeding-activated PSTN neurons drastically increases the latency to initiate refeeding with both familiar and a novel, familiar food, but does not control the amount of food consumed. In thirsty mice, this ensemble also delays sucrose consumption but accelerates water consumption, possibly reflecting anticipatory prandial thirst, with again no influence on the amount of fluid consumed. We next sought to identify which subpopulations of PSTN neurons might be driving these latency effects, using cell-type and pathway-specific chemogenetic manipulations. Our results suggest a prominent role of PSTN Tac1 neurons projecting to the central amygdala in the hindrance of feeding initiation. While PSTN Crh neurons also delay the latency of hungry mice to ingest familiar foods, they surprisingly promote the consumption of novel, palatable substances. Furthermore, PSTN Crh neurons projecting to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis accelerate rehydration in thirsty mice. Our results demonstrate the key role of endogenous PSTN activity in the control of feeding and drinking initiation and delineate specific circuits mediating these effects, which may have relevance for eating disorders.

Lévy flights, optimal foraging strategies, and foragers with a finite lifespan

In some recent work, we have introduced some efficiency functionals to account for optimal dispersal strategies of predators in search of food. The optimization parameter in this framework is given by the L\'evy exponent of the dispersal of the predators. In this paper, we apply our model to the case of foragers with finite lifetime (i.e., foragers which need to eat a certain amount of food in a given time, otherwise they die). Specifically, we consider the case in which the initial distribution of the forager coincides with a stationary distribution of the targets and we determine the optimal L\'evy exponent for the associated efficiency functional. Namely, we show that if the Fourier transform of the prey distribution is supported in a sufficiently small ball, then the optimizer is given by a Gaussian dispersal, and if instead the Fourier transform of the prey distribution is supported in the complement of a suitable ball, then the ballistic diffusion provides an optimizer (precise conditions for the uniqueness of these optimizers are also given).

Recurrent Symptomatic Renal Stones Managed by Repeat Open Nephrolithotomy in a Rural Kenyan Hospital

Kidney stone disease (nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis, and renal calculi) is characterized by the formation of both symptomatic and asymptomatic obstructive and non-obstructive calculi in the urinary tract. Calcium oxalate stones are the most common type, related to the consumption of large amounts of oxalate-rich foods. Other stones are made of calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, uric acid, cystine, and struvite. Urolithiasis is increasingly being reported in both urban and rural Kenya. Minimally invasive surgical treatment of symptomatic stones is the current standard of care, but open nephrolithotomy remains a viable option in selected patients. Nonetheless, the rates of stone recurrence remain high, increasing from 15% at 1 year to 50% at 10 years due to multifactorial risk factors. In this study, we report the case of a rural Kenyan patient who underwent the third open nephrolithotomy in 10 years for recurrent symptomatic stones and whose biochemical analysis has guided subsequent preventative dietary efforts against stone recurrence.

Assessing nonpoint source pollution risk in watersheds using a water-functioning zone approach

A thorough understanding of the geographical and spatial attributes of nonpoint source pollution risk in watersheds is crucial for conducting nonpoint source pollutant studies and implementing effective scientific administration strategies. The inclusion of a water-related functioning zone was considered during the nonpoint source's pollution risks assessment procedure. Nevertheless, there has not been a thorough investigation into the potential risk of nonpoint sources of pollution to adequately safeguard the quality of water in watersheds having varying capacities to handle contaminants in the water. This research presents an innovative approach for assessing the risk of nonpoint sources contamination. This allows for a quantitative evaluation of the effect of discharges of pollution from a sub-catchment on the quality of water bodies nearby. The nonpoint source losses of nutrients process, as modeled by the Water and Soil Assessment Tool, had been used to assess the hazard of nonpoint source contamination in Le ‘a River Watersheds. This assessment happened on both yearly and monthly scales. The findings indicated that the risk of nonpoint source contamination exhibits both seasonal and regional variations and is significantly impacted by the ability of the fluid ecosystem. Elevated nonpoint sources pollutants do not always equate to elevated pollutant dangers. On the other hand, a small amount of nutrients in the nonpoint sources does not indicate an insignificant degree of susceptibility to region risk. Furthermore, by utilizing a risk assessment method that considers the capacity of the water's environment, it is possible to identify variations in risk levels that may be overlooked when solely considering nonpoint sources contaminant losses, and fluid functioning zone. This approach allows for precise regulation of nonpoint sources of pollution administration.

Effective remediation of agricultural drainage at three influent strengths by bioaugmented constructed wetlands filled with mixture of iron‑carbon and organic solid substrates: Performance and mechanisms

Agricultural drainage containing a large quantity of nutrients can cause quality deterioration and algal blooming of receiving water bodies, thus needs to be effectively remediated. In this study, iron‑carbon (FeC) composite-filled constructed wetlands (Fe-C-CWs) were employed to treat farmland drainage at three pollution levels, and organic solid substrates (walnut shells) and phosphate-accumulating denitrifying bacteria (Pseudomonas sp. DWP1) were supplemented to enhance the treatment performance. The results showed that the Fe-C-CWs exhibited notably superior removal efficiency for total nitrogen (TN, 52.0–58.2 %), total phosphorus (TP, 67.8–70.2 %) and chemical oxygen demand (COD, 56.7–70.4 %) than the control systems filled solely with gravel (28.5–32.5 % for TN, 33.2–40.5 % for TP and 30.2–55.0 % for COD) at all influent strengths, through driving autotrophic denitrification, Fe-based dephosphorization, and organic degradation processes. The addition of organic substrates and functional bacteria markedly enhanced pollutant removal in the Fe-C-CWs. Furthermore, use of FeC and organic substrates and denitrifier inoculation decreased CO2 and CH4 emissions from the CWs, and reduced global warming potential of the CWs at low influent strength. Pollutant removal efficiencies in the CWs were only marginally impacted by the increasing influent loads except for NO3−-N, and pollutant removal mass was largely increased with the increase of influent strengths. The microbial community in the FeC composite-filled CWs exhibited distinct distribution patterns compared to the gravel-filled CWs regardless of the influent strengths, with obviously higher proportions of dominant genera Trichococcus, Geobacter and Ferritrophicum. Keystone taxa associated with pollutant removal in the Fe-C-filled CWs were identified to be Pseudomonas, Geobacter, Ferritrophicum, Denitratisoma and Sediminibacterium. The developed augmented Fe-C-filled CWs show great promises for remediating agricultural drainage with varied pollutant loads.

Review on Nutritional Potential of Underutilized Millets as a Miracle Grain.

The current situation, which includes changes in eating habits, an increasing population, and the unrestricted use of natural resources, has resulted in a lack of resources that could be used to provide nourishing food to everyone. Natural plant resources are quickly being depleted, so it is necessary to consider new alternatives. In addition to the staple grains of rice and wheat, many other crops are being consumed that need to be utilized to their full potential and have the potential to replace the staple crops. Millets are one of the most important underutilized crops that have the potential to be used as a nutricereal. Millets have a high nutritional value, do not produce acids, do not contain gluten, and can contribute to a healthy diet. Due to a lack of awareness regarding the nutritional value of millets, their consumption is still restricted to the population that adheres to conventional diets and is economically disadvantaged even though millets contain a significant amount of nutrients. Millets are becoming increasingly unpopular due to a lack of processing technologies, food subsidies, and the inconvenience of preparing food with millets. Millets are a Nutricereal rich in carbohydrates, dietary fibers, energy, essential fatty acids, proteins, vitamin B, and minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. These nutrients help to protect against post-translational diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and celiac disease, among others. Millets are beneficial for controlling blood pressure, blood sugar level, and thyroid function; however, despite these functional properties, millets consumption has declined. Utilizing millets and other staple food crops to develop alternative food sources has become a new area of focus for businesses in the food industry. In addition, millet consumption can help foster immunity and health, which is essential in strengthening our fight against malnutrition in children and adolescents. In this article, the authors examine the potential of millets in terms of their nutricereal qualities.

Biogeochemical Markers to Identify Spatiotemporal Gradients of Phytoplankton across Estuaries

The spatiotemporal distribution of phytoplankton in estuaries is indicative of processes and transport across the land–ocean aquatic continuum (LOAC). Estuaries, as biogeochemically and physically active systems, process large amounts of nutrients and organic matter influencing the transformation of ecological functions. The transformation of the water column drives variation in phytoplankton composition, biomass, and their spatial distribution. Understanding the dynamics of nutrients and organic matter is challenging, yet it provides a comprehensive insight into phytoplankton spatiotemporal distribution across estuaries. Multiple studies have been conducted to understand the spatiotemporal distribution of phytoplankton. Recently, phytoplankton photosynthetic pigments, fatty acids and stable isotopes have been widely used to identify and quantify phytoplankton distribution. This review highlights the use of biogeochemical markers to identify phytoplankton functional groups. It also assesses the current understanding of patterns in the spatiotemporal distribution of phytoplankton and the impact of physical and environmental factors on their distribution in estuaries and coastal oceans. The review will also gather information from in situ sampling studies to evaluate the current state of knowledge and identify gaps.