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1. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Food Acquisition Behavior, and Food Insecurity Before and After the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

   https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001946  

   Hosler, Akiko S; Chen, Jiacheng; Arroyo, Mariana Torres; Neff, Roni A; Bozlak, Christine T; Romeiko, Xiaobo X; Feingold, Beth J (January 2024, Journal of Public Health Management & Practice)

   Objectives:To assess changes in food acquisition behavior, food insecurity, and dietary behavior and identify factors associated with fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption during the transitional period (before and after the initial vaccine rollout for all adults) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design:Successive independent samples design. Online surveys were conducted from October 2020 to February 2021 (time 1, before the vaccine rollout) and from October 2021 to December 2021 (time 2, after the vaccine rollout). Descriptive analysis examined changes in food sources, food security, and daily FV consumption in cup equivalents (CEs) from time 1 to time 2. A multivariable logistic regression analysis examined factors associated with FV consumption. Setting:The Capital Region of New York State. Participants:1553 adults 18 years of age and older. Main Outcome Measure:Meeting the 2020-2025 MyPlate daily FV consumption recommendations. Results:There were statistically significant (P< .05) increases in the use of supermarkets, eat-in restaurants, farmers’ markets, and convenience stores from time 1 to time 2. Food insecurity (40.1% vs 39.4%) and FV consumption (2.6 CE vs 2.4 CE) slightly declined but not significantly. Home food procurement such as gardening and foraging (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.08-2.37) and shopping at food co-op/health food stores (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.07-2.49) were significantly associated with the FV outcome, and these relationships were not modified by food security status. Conclusions:The present study highlights the importance of food sources in understanding adult dietary behavior during the transitional period of the pandemic. Continuing efforts to monitor access to food sources, food insecurity, and dietary behavior are warranted as various COVID-related emergency food assistance measures have expired. 

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2. Peak and Per-Step Tibial Bone Stress During Walking and Running in Female and Male Recreational Runners

   https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465211014854  

   Meardon, Stacey A.; Derrick, Timothy R.; Willson, John D.; Baggaley, Michael; Steinbaker, C. Ryan; Marshall, Margaret; Willy, Richard W. (June 2021, The American Journal of Sports Medicine)

   Background:Athletes, especially female athletes, experience high rates of tibial bone stress injuries (BSIs). Knowledge of tibial loads during walking and running is needed to understand injury mechanisms and design safe running progression programs. Purpose:To examine tibial loads as a function of gait speed in male and female runners. Study Design:Controlled laboratory study. Methods:Kinematic and kinetic data were collected on 40 recreational runners (20 female, 20 male) during 4 instrumented gait speed conditions on a treadmill (walk, preferred run, slow run, fast run). Musculoskeletal modeling, using participant-specific magnetic resonance imaging and motion data, was used to estimate tibial stress. Peak tibial stress and stress-time impulse were analyzed using 2-factor multivariate analyses of variance (speed*sex) and post hoc comparisons (α = .05). Bone geometry and tibial forces and moments were examined. Results:Peak compression was influenced by speed ( P < .001); increasing speed generally increased tibial compression in both sexes. Women displayed greater increases in peak tension ( P = .001) and shear ( P < .001) than men when transitioning from walking to running. Further, women displayed greater peak tibial stress overall ( P < .001). Compressive and tensile stress-time impulse varied by speed ( P < .001) and sex ( P = .006); impulse was lower during running than walking and greater in women. A shear stress-time impulse interaction ( P < .001) indicated that women displayed greater impulse relative to men when changing from a walk to a run. Compared with men, women displayed smaller tibiae ( P < .001) and disproportionately lower tibial forces ( P≤ .001-.035). Conclusion:Peak tibial stress increased with gait speed, with a 2-fold increase in running relative to walking. Women displayed greater tibial stress than men and greater increases in stress when shifting from walking to running. Sex differences appear to be the result of smaller bone geometry in women and tibial forces that were not proportionately lower, given the womens’ smaller stature and lower mass relative to men. Clinical Relevance:These results may inform interventions to regulate running-related training loads and highlight a need to increase bone strength in women. Lower relative bone strength in women may contribute to a sex bias in tibial BSIs, and female runners may benefit from a slower progression when initiating a running program. 

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3. ChemML : A machine learning and informatics program package for the analysis, mining, and modeling of chemical and materials data

   https://doi.org/10.1002/wcms.1458  

   Haghighatlari, Mojtaba; Vishwakarma, Gaurav; Altarawy, Doaa; Subramanian, Ramachandran; Kota, Bhargava U.; Sonpal, Aditya; Setlur, Srirangaraj; Hachmann, Johannes (January 2020, WIREs Computational Molecular Science)

   Abstract ChemMLis an open machine learning (ML) and informatics program suite that is designed to support and advance the data‐driven research paradigm that is currently emerging in the chemical and materials domain.ChemMLallows its users to perform various data science tasks and execute ML workflows that are adapted specifically for the chemical and materials context. Key features are automation, general‐purpose utility, versatility, and user‐friendliness in order to make the application of modern data science a viable and widely accessible proposition in the broader chemistry and materials community.ChemMLis also designed to facilitate methodological innovation, and it is one of the cornerstones of the software ecosystem for data‐driven in silico research. This article is categorized under:Software > Simulation MethodsComputer and Information Science > ChemoinformaticsStructure and Mechanism > Computational Materials ScienceSoftware > Molecular Modeling 

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4. Spatial and temporal variability in summertime dissolved carbon dioxide and methane in temperate ponds and shallow lakes

   https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12362  

   Ray, Nicholas E.; Holgerson, Meredith A.; Andersen, Mikkel Rene; Bikše, Jānis; Bortolotti, Lauren E.; Futter, Martyn; Kokorīte, Ilga; Law, Alan; McDonald, Cory; Mesman, Jorrit P.; et al (May 2023, Limnology and Oceanography)

   Abstract Small waterbodies have potentially high greenhouse gas emissions relative to their small footprint on the landscape, although there is high uncertainty in model estimates. Scaling their carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) exchange with the atmosphere remains challenging due to an incomplete understanding and characterization of spatial and temporal variability in CO₂and CH₄. Here, we measured partial pressures of CO₂(pCO₂) and CH₄(pCH₄) across 30 ponds and shallow lakes during summer in temperate regions of Europe and North America. We sampled each waterbody in three locations at three times during the growing season, and tested which physical, chemical, and biological characteristics related to the means and variability ofpCO₂andpCH₄in space and time. Summer means ofpCO₂andpCH₄were inversely related to waterbody size and positively related to floating vegetative cover;pCO₂was also positively related to dissolved phosphorus. Temporal variability in partial pressure in both gases weas greater than spatial variability. Although sampling on a single date was likely to misestimate mean seasonalpCO₂by up to 26%, mean seasonalpCH₄could be misestimated by up to 64.5%. Shallower systems displayed the most temporal variability inpCH₄and waterbodies with more vegetation cover had lower temporal variability. Inland waters remain one of the most uncertain components of the global carbon budget; understanding spatial and temporal variability will ultimately help us to constrain our estimates and inform research priorities. 

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5. Production, labeling, and applications of micro- and nanoplastic reference and test materials

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d4en00767k  

   Crosset-Perrotin, Guillaume; Moraz, Angélique; Portela, Raquel; Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor; Burrueco-Subirà, David; Smith, Casey; Bañares, Miguel A; Foroutan, Hosein; Fairbrother, D Howard (January 2025, Environmental Science: Nano)

   The challenges inherent to the extraction of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) from the environment and the limited range of commercially available MNPs have prompted an increasing number of researchers to generate in-house reference and test MNPs. 

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