In 785 mother–child (50% male) pairs from a longitudinal epidemiological birth cohort, we investigated associations between inflammation-related epigenetic polygenic risk scores (i-ePGS), environmental exposures, cognitive function, and child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. We examined prenatal and postnatal effects. For externalizing problems, one prenatal effect was found: i-ePGS at birth associated with higher externalizing problems (ages 7–15) indirectly through lower cognitive function (age 7). For internalizing problems, we identified two effects. For a prenatal effect, i-ePGS at birth associated with higher internalizing symptoms via continuity in i-ePGS at age 7. For a postnatal effect, higher postnatal adversity exposure (birth through age 7) associated with higher internalizing problems (ages 7–15) via higher i-ePGS (age 7). Hence, externalizing problems were related mainly to prenatal effects involving lower cognitive function, whereas internalizing problems appeared related to both prenatal and postnatal effects. The present study supports a link between i-ePGS and child and adolescent mental health.

A large body of research has explored opportunities to mitigate climate change in agricultural systems; however, less research has explored opportunities across the food system. Here we expand the existing research with a review of potential mitigation opportunities across the entire food system, including in pre-production, production, processing, transport, consumption and loss and waste. We detail and synthesize recent research on the topic, and explore the applicability of different climate mitigation strategies in varying country contexts with different economic and agricultural systems. Further, we highlight some potential adaptation co-benefits of food system mitigation strategies and explore the potential implications of such strategies on food systems as a whole. We suggest that a food systems research approach is greatly needed to capture such potential synergies, and highlight key areas of additional research including a greater focus on low- and middle-income countries in particular. We conclude by discussing the policy and finance opportunities needed to advance mitigation strategies in food systems.

Terrestrial gastropods are problematical for radiocarbon (14C) measurement because they tend to incorporate carbon from ancient sources as a result of their dietary behavior. The 14C ecology of the pulmonate land snail, Helix melanostoma in Cyrenaica, northeastern Libya, was investigated as part of a wider study on the potential of using terrestrial mollusk shell for 14C dating of archaeological deposits. H. melanostoma was selected out of the species available in the region as it has the most predictable 14C ecology and also had a ubiquitous presence within the local archaeology. The ecological observations indicate that H. melanostoma has a very homogenous 14C ecology with consistent variations in F14C across sample sites controlled by availability of dietary vegetation. The majority of dated specimens from non-urbanized sample locations have only a small old-carbon effect, weighted mean of 476±48 14C yr, with between ~1% and 9% of dietary F14C from non-organic carbonate sources. Observed instabilities in the 14C ecology can all be attributed to the results of intense human activity not present before the Roman Period. Therefore, H. melanostoma and species with similar ecological behavior are suitable for 14C dating of archaeological and geological deposits with the use of a suitable offset.

Rapid weight gain in infancy and low levels of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) at birth are associated with increased adiposity later in life. The association between placental LCPUFA delivery and weight gain in infancy is poorly understood. We sought to determine the relationships between maternal phenotype, placental fatty acid transporter expression and offspring growth patterns over the first 6 months. Placental tissue and cord blood were collected at term delivery from women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Offspring body composition measurements were recorded 1 day and 6 months after birth. Body mass index (BMI) z-scores were determined using World Health Organization 2006 reference data. Body phenotype patterns were compared among offspring who had an increase in BMI z-score and those who had a decrease. High skinfold thickness at birth and positive change in BMI z-scores during infancy were associated with low neonatal n-3 LCPUFA plasma levels (r=−0.46, P=0.046) and high saturated fatty acids levels (r=0.49, P=0.034). Growth of skinfolds over 6 months of age was associated with placental fatty acid transporter gene expression. Change in BMI z-score in the first 6 months of life correlated with arm muscle area growth, a measure of lean mass (r=0.62, P=0.003), but not with growth in skinfold thickness. Early infancy weight gain was associated with poor plasma LCPUFA status at birth, and fat deposition in infancy was related to changes in placental lipid handling. Thus, neonatal fatty acid profiles may influence the trajectory of infant growth and fat and lean mass deposition.

The first series of radiocarbon dating measurements made at the British Museum Research Laboratory are reported in the following list. The report covers a period during which two instances of radioactive contamination occurred to interrupt dating work, and is consequently a short one.

The second series of radiocarbon measurements made at the British Museum Research Laboratory are reported in the following list. The equipment and method used remain the same as described in our first date list (Barker and Mackey, 1959) and, as stated there, the error terms are not based solely on counting statistics but are widened to include contributions of ±80 years for possible isotopic fractionation effects and ±100 years for the de Vries-effect. Ages are calculated on a half-life of 5568 ± 30 years.

Recently, large-scale trials of behavioural interventions have failed to show improvements in pregnancy outcomes. They have, however, shown that lifestyle support improves maternal diet and physical activity during pregnancy, and can reduce weight gain. This suggests that pregnancy, and possibly the whole periconceptional period, represents a ‘teachable moment’ for changes in diet and lifestyle, an idea that was made much of in the recent report of the Chief Medical Officer for England. The greatest challenge with all trials of diet and lifestyle interventions is to engage people and to sustain this engagement. With this in mind, we propose a design of intervention that aims simultaneously to engage women through motivational conversations and to offer access to a digital platform that provides structured support for diet and lifestyle change. This intervention design therefore makes best use of learning from the trials described above and from recent advances in digital intervention design.

In this study the authors aimed to examine the differentiability of 5 factors that preschool teachers may perceive as essential for successful implementation of inclusive education in regular classrooms. The 5 hypothetically influential factors were teamwork, curriculum, school support, government support, and stakeholders’ attitudes. Teachers from half-day kindergarten and full-day childcare centre settings in Hong Kong with varying teaching experience were surveyed (N = 461). Confirmatory factor analysis defined the 5 distinct factors, all of which displayed high scores (Ms > 4 on a 5-point scale). A 2 (experience: low; high) x 2 (school type: half-day kindergarten; full-day childcare centre settings) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found some subtle group differences. Less experienced teachers found stakeholders’ attitudes to be important, and more so than more experienced teachers, whereas full-day childcare centre teachers found teamwork, curriculum, and stakeholders’ attitudes more important than did half-day kindergarten teachers. The findings imply that whereas all 5 factors are perceived by teachers as important for the success of inclusive education, some factors are of greater concern to teachers working in full-day childcare centres than teachers working in half-day kindergartens. The findings provide advice on how best to allocate limited resources across settings with the intention of promoting inclusive education.

Interpretations of ancient wall-technologies in the Libyan pre-desert are briefly reviewed. The forms, patterns, distributions and geological/geomorphic/hydrologic relationships of walls in a series of study areas are described and interpreted with the aid of a new, non-genetic, ‘wall-technology’ classification. The remarkable hydrological and geomorphic insights of their constructors are clear. Several wall types are shown to have been primarily concerned with functions other than water control, although this aspect is usually dominant. In some cases the location of the walls appears to have been likely to exacerbate the perennial problems of soil erosion and gullying, in others walls appear to have been constructed specifically to control soil erosion. These data have implications for reconstructing past land use and evaluating the degree of success or failure experienced in particular situations.

The sedimentological properties of samples collected from exposures in wadi floors are reported. These studies emphasise the natural variability of erosional and depositional processes in this environment. Some of the sedimentological changes observed appear to be of archaeological significance. They indicate that in the recent geological past, either increased flooding occurring as a result of natural environmental fluctuations, or irrigation practice, has caused the elevation of saline groundwaters in the wadi floor sediments to levels which might have had deleterious effects on the contemporary agricultural system. Sites at the margins of the wadis are more sensitive to such changes than those more centrally located on the wadi floor. No evidence for significant climatic change at the times of the extensive Romano-Libyan occupation of the pre-desert region has been detected. There is, however, evidence of much wetter periods in the more distant past, which have left a legacy of mature soils on the basalt plateaus, which may have been extensively used in the Romano-Libyan period.