Non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as CVD and type 2 diabetes mellitus are major contributors to the burden of disease. NCD are largely driven by modifiable lifestyle factors including poor diet and insufficient physical activity, and consequently, prevention is a public health priority. Although diet and physical activity levels can be improved via lifestyle interventions, long-term adherence to such interventions remains low, which limits their effectiveness. Thus, it is critical to identify the underlying mechanisms that challenge uptake and adherence to such interventions. The current commentary discusses an important, but underexplored, psychological driver of poor adherence to lifestyle interventions, namely, future discounting, which describes the tendency to prefer smaller, short-term rewards over larger, long-term rewards. For example, in the nutrition domain, future discounting refers to valuing the immediate reward of excessive intake of energy-dense, nutrient-poor, discretionary foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat, and insufficient intake of low-energy, nutrient-dense, whole foods such as vegetables. Prominent theoretical models propose that excessive future discounting is a major contributor to the development of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours. Furthermore, a vast body of evidence suggests that future discounting plays a key role in risk of NCD. Thus, the evidence to date supports the idea that future discounting is an important multi-behaviour target for supporting lifestyle behaviour change; however, this approach has been largely neglected in preventive health efforts. Furthermore, this commentary discusses promising techniques (e.g. Episodic Future Thinking) for disrupting future discounting to promote improved adherence to lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing NCD risk.

The 2020 update of the Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations (CSBPR) for the Secondary Prevention of Stroke includes current evidence-based recommendations and expert opinions intended for use by clinicians across a broad range of settings. They provide guidance for the prevention of ischemic stroke recurrence through the identification and management of modifiable vascular risk factors. Recommendations address triage, diagnostic testing, lifestyle behaviors, vaping, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, other cardiac conditions, antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapies, and carotid and vertebral artery disease. This update of the previous 2017 guideline contains several new or revised recommendations. Recommendations regarding triage and initial assessment of acute transient ischemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke have been simplified, and selected aspects of the etiological stroke workup are revised. Updated treatment recommendations based on new evidence have been made for dual antiplatelet therapy for TIA and minor stroke; anticoagulant therapy for atrial fibrillation; embolic strokes of undetermined source; low-density lipoprotein lowering; hypertriglyceridemia; diabetes treatment; and patent foramen ovale management. A new section has been added to provide practical guidance regarding temporary interruption of antithrombotic therapy for surgical procedures. Cancer-associated ischemic stroke is addressed. A section on virtual care delivery of secondary stroke prevention services in included to highlight a shifting paradigm of care delivery made more urgent by the global pandemic. In addition, where appropriate, sex differences as they pertain to treatments have been addressed. The CSBPR include supporting materials such as implementation resources to facilitate the adoption of evidence into practice and performance measures to enable monitoring of uptake and effectiveness of recommendations.

This article traces the postbellum development and dissemination of the notion of “negro superstition.” By the end of Reconstruction, many whites across the nation, both liberal and conservative, shared in the belief that credulity was the keystone of African American culture. The formulation of superstition as innate racial trait served the conjoined causes of sectional reconciliation and white supremacy, eroding white support for black citizenship. As liberal estimations of black Christianity declined and conservative depictions of African American magical beliefs proliferated, “voodoo” gained traction as a potent imaginary, shorthand for racial atavism, unreason, and dangerous sexuality.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is associated with adverse health outcomes and is found in many canned foods. It is not understood if some BPA contamination can be washed away by rinsing. The objective of this single-blinded crossover experiment was to determine whether BPA exposure, as measured by urinary concentrations, could be decreased by rinsing canned beans prior to consumption. Three types of hummus were prepared from dried beans, rinsed, and unrinsed canned beans. Fourteen healthy participants ate two samples of each hummus over six experimental days and collected spot urine specimens for BPA measurement. The geometric mean BPA levels for dried beans BPA (GM = 0.97 ng/ml, 95%CI = 0.74,1.26) was significantly lower than rinsed (GM = 1.89 ng/ml, 1.37,2.59) and unrinsed (GM = 2.46 ng/ml, 1.44,4.19). Difference-in-difference estimates showed an increase in GM BPA from pre- to post-hummus between unrinsed and rinsed canned beans of 1.39 ng/ml, p-value = 0.0400. Rinsing canned beans was an effective method to reduce BPA exposure.

Parasites sometimes expand their host range and cause new disease aetiologies. Genetic changes can then occur due to host-specific adaptive alterations, particularly when parasites cross between evolutionarily distant hosts. Characterizing genetic variation in Cryptosporidium from humans and other animals may have important implications for understanding disease dynamics and transmission. We analyse sequences from four loci (gp60, HSP-70, COWP and actin) representing multiple Cryptosporidium species reported in humans. We predicted low genetic diversity in species that present unusual human infections due to founder events and bottlenecks. High genetic diversity was observed in isolates from humans of Cryptosporidium meleagridis, Cryptosporidium cuniculus, Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum. A deviation of expected values of neutrality using Tajima's D was observed in C. cuniculus and C. meleagridis. The high genetic diversity in C. meleagridis and C. cuniculus did not match our expectations but deviations from neutrality indicate a recent decrease in genetic variability through a population bottleneck after an expansion event. Cryptosporidium hominis was also found with a significant Tajima's D positive value likely caused by recent population expansion of unusual genotypes in humans. These insights indicate that changes in genetic diversity can help us to understand host-parasite adaptation and evolution.

The flavonoid curcumin is believed to be responsible for the purported health benefits of turmeric. Like other flavonoids, curcumin affects several systemic and central processes involved in neurocognitive aging. We have previously shown that one month administration of a highly bioavailable curcumin extract (Longvida™) improved working memory and reduced fatigue and workload stress in an older, cognitively intact cohort(1). This study focused on the effects of the same extract, focusing on memory tasks subserved by the hippocampus, one of two areas of the adult brain believed to be capable of adult neurogenesis.

Eighty healthy older participants (aged 50–80 years, mean = 68.1, ± SD 6.34) took part in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-groups trial. Volunteers were randomised to receive administration of 400 mg daily Longvida™ (containing 80 mg curcumin) or a matching placebo. Assessment took place at baseline and 4 and 12 weeks thereafter. Outcomes included two tasks evaluating memory processes relevant to hippocampal function. These were i) a human analogue of the widely used rodent Morris Water Maze - the virtual Morris Water Maze (vMWM) and ii) a Mnemonic Similarity task evaluating pattern separation. Measures of mood, cardiovascular function and other blood biomarkers were collected, and a subset of the cohort underwent neuroimaging using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Compared with placebo, there were a number of improvements in the curcumin group. The curcumin group had significantly better performance at 12 weeks on the virtual Morris Water Maze (p = .019). Curcumin was also associated with better performance on a pattern separation task (p = .025). Curcumin was also associated with number of significantly benefits to mood, including, from the Profile of Mood States (POMS), including, at 28 days only, total mood disturbance (p = .006), tension-anxiety (p = .028), confusion-bewilderment (p = .019), anger-Hostility (p = .009). There were also significant benefits to the POMS fatigue scores at both assessments (p ≤ .011). There were no group differences in biomarker levels.

These results confirm that Longvida™ curcumin improves aspects of mood and working memory in a healthy older cohort. The pattern of results is consistent with improvements in hippocampal function and may hold promise for alleviating cognitive decline in populations at risk of pathological cognitive decline.

The miconia (Miconia calvescens) invasion of the East Maui Watershed (EMW) started from a single introduction over 40 yr ago, establishing a nascent patch network spread across 20,000 ha. In 2012, an accelerated intervention strategy was implemented utilizing the Herbicide Ballistic Technology (HBT) platform in a Hughes 500D helicopter to reduce target densities of seven nascent patches in the EMW. In a 14-mo period, a total of 48 interventions eliminated 4,029 miconia targets, with an estimated 33% increase in operations and 168% increase in recorded targets relative to the adjusted means from 2005 to 2011 data (prior to HBT adoption). This sequence of interventions covered a total net area of 1,138 ha, creating a field mosaic of overlapping search coverage (saturation) for each patch (four to eight interventions per patch). Target density reduction for each patch fit exponential decay functions (R2 > 0.88, P < 0.05), with a majority of the target interventions spatially assigned to the highest saturation fields. The progressive decay in target density led to concomitant reductions in search efficiency (min ha−1) and herbicide use rate (grams ae ha−1) in subsequent interventions. Mean detection efficacy (± SE) between overlapping interventions (n = 41) was 0.62 ± 0.03, matching closely with the probability of detection for a random search operation and verifying imperfect (albeit precise) detection. The HBT platform increases the value of aerial surveillance operations with 98% efficacy in target elimination. Applying coverage saturation with an accelerated intervention schedule to known patch locations is an adaptive process for compensating imperfect detection and building intelligence with spatial and temporal relevance to the next operation.

An understanding of environmental factors governing patchy weed distribution in fields could prove to be a valuable tool in weed management. The objectives of this research were to investigate the relationships between weed distribution patterns and environmental properties in two Mississippi soybean fields and to construct models based on those relationships to predict weed distribution. Two months before planting, fields were soil sampled on a 60- by 60-m coordinate grid, and samples were analyzed for calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, zinc, cation exchange capacity, percent organic matter, and soil pH. The relative elevation of each sample location was also recorded. Approximately 8 wk after planting, weed populations were estimated on a 30- by 30-m grid over the soil sample grid. Punctual kriging was used to estimate environmental values at each weed sample location. Discriminant analysis techniques were used to evaluate the associations between environmental characteristics on weed population densities of sample areas within each field. Generally, as sicklepod and pitted morningglory infestations increased, the prediction accuracy of the discriminant functions also increased; however, horsenettle infestations were not closely correlated to the environmental properties. Discriminant functions reasonably predicted presence or absence of sicklepod and pitted morningglory within the field. However, validation of the functions across years within the same field and with data collected from the other field resulted in poor classification of all species infestations. Prediction of weed infestations with environmental properties was specific for each field, year, and species.