Prebiotic supplements and high-protein (HP) diets reduce body weight and modulate intestinal microbiota. Our aim was to elucidate the combined effect of an inulin/oligofructose (FOS) and HP diet on body weight gain, energy metabolism and faecal microbiota. Forty male C57BL/6NCrl mice were fed a control (C) diet for 2 weeks and allocated to a C or HP (40 % protein) diet including no or 10 % inulin/FOS (C + I and HP + I) for 4 weeks. Inulin/FOS was added in place of starch and cellulose. Body weight, food intake, faecal energy and nitrogen were determined. Indirect calorimetry and faecal microbiota analysis were performed after 3 weeks on diets. Body weight gain of HP-fed mice was 36 % lower than HP + I- and C-fed mice (P < 0⋅05). Diet digestibility and food conversion efficiency were higher in HP + I- than HP-fed mice (P < 0⋅01), while food intake was comparable between groups. Total energy expenditure (heat production) was 25 % lower in HP + I- than in C-, HP- and C + I-fed mice (P < 0⋅001). Carbohydrate oxidation tended to be 24 % higher in HP- than in HP + I-fed mice (P < 0⋅05). Faecal nitrogen excretion was 31–45 % lower in C-, C + I- and HP + I- than in HP-fed mice (P < 0⋅05). Faecal Bacteroides–Prevotella DNA was 2⋅3-fold higher in C + I- and HP + I- relative to C-fed mice (P < 0⋅05), but Clostridium leptum DNA abundances was 79 % lower in HP + I- than in HP-fed mice (P < 0⋅05). We suggest that the higher conversion efficiency of dietary energy of HP + I but not C + I-fed mice is caused by higher digestibility and lower heat production, resulting in increased body mass.

Sentences like They tricked him into believing them and They charged him with abandoning them raise interesting issues for selection and control. We show that these two sentences exemplify two distinct classes, subsuming P-gerund constructions that are formed with seven distinct prepositions: implicative vs. nonimplicative constructions. The first class displays a cluster of restrictions, both syntactic and semantic, which are absent from the second class: It resists partial control or embedded lexical subjects, and it bans object drop and movement of the P-gerund phrase. The existence of these two classes, as well as their empirical profiles, follow from Landau’s (2015) theory of control and challenge alternative approaches.

At one point or another, most of us have been accused of not trying our hardest, and most of us have leveled similar accusations at others. The disputes that result are often intractable and raise difficult questions about effort, ability, and will. This essay addresses some of these questions by examining six representative cases in which the accusation is leveled. The questions discussed include (1) what trying one's hardest involves, and (2) the conditions under which complaints about lack of effort are true, and (3) how much their truth matters. One conclusion that emerges is that both the relevant form of effort and the impediments to making it can vary greatly, while another is that trying one's hardest is less important than trying as hard as one could reasonably be expected to try.

Due to the high incidence of COVID-19 case numbers internationally, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of global relevance, advising countries to follow protocols to combat pandemic advance through actions that can reduce spread and consequently avoid a collapse in the local health system. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamics of the evolution of new community cases, and mortality records of COVID-19 in the State of Pará, which has a subtropical climate with temperatures between 20 and 35 °C, after the implementation of social distancing by quarantine and adoption of lockdown. The follow-up was carried out by the daily data from the technical bulletins provided by the State of Pará Public Health Secretary (SESPA). On 18 March 2020, Pará notified the first case of COVID-19. After 7 weeks, the number of confirmed cases reached 4756 with 375 deaths. The results show it took 49 days for 81% of the 144 states municipalities, distributed over an area of approximately 1 248 000 km2 to register COVID-19 cases. Temperature variations between 24.5 and 33.1 °C did not promote the decline in the new infections curve. The association between social isolation, quarantine and lockdown as an action to contain the infection was effective in reducing the region's new cases registration of COVID-19 in the short-term. However, short periods of lockdown may have promoted the virus spread among peripheral municipalities of the capital, as well as to inland regions.

Cyclospora cayetanensis is a parasite causing cyclosporiasis (an illness in humans). Produce (fruits, vegetables, herbs), water and soil contaminated with C. cayetanensis have been implicated in human infection. The objective was to conduct a scoping review of primary research in English on the detection, epidemiology and control of C. cayetanensis with an emphasis on produce, water and soil. MEDLINE® (Web of ScienceTM), Agricola (ProQuest), CABI Global Health, and Food Science and Technology Abstracts (EBSCOhost) were searched from 1979 to February 2020. Of the 349 relevant primary research studies identified, there were 75 detection-method studies, 40 molecular characterisation studies, 38 studies of Cyclospora in the environment (33 prevalence studies, 10 studies of factors associated with environmental contamination), 246 human infection studies (212 prevalence/incidence studies, 32 outbreak studies, 60 studies of environmental factors associated with non-outbreak human infection) and eight control studies. There appears to be sufficient literature for a systematic review of prevalence and factors associated with human infection with C. cayetanensis. There is a dearth of publicly available detection-method studies in soil (n = 0) and water (n = 2), prevalence studies on soil (n = 1) and studies of the control of Cyclospora (particularly on produce prior to retail (n = 0)).

Dynamic spatial theory has been a fruitful approach to understanding economic phenomena involving time and space. However, several central questions still remain unresolved in this field. The identification of the social optimal allocation of economic activity across time and space is particularly problematic, not been ensured yet in economic growth. Developing a monotone method, we study the optimal solution of the spatial Ramsey model. Under fairly general assumptions, we prove the existence of unique social optimum. Considering a numerical implementation of our algorithm, we study the role played by capital mobility in the neoclassical growth environment. With capital irreversibility and economic openness, space allows for transitional dynamics. Moreover, in this context, capital mobility is beneficial as well in terms of social welfare and inequality. We also consider an application of our method to an extension of the spatial Ramsey model for optimal land-use planning.

We have introduced a new low-Reynolds-number microrobot with high 3D maneuverability. Our novel proposed microrobot has a higher rank of the controllability matrix with respect to the previous microswimmers which makes it capable of performing complex motions in space. In this study, governing equations of the microswimmer’s motion have been derived and simulated. Subsequently, we have proposed a cascade optimal control technique to control the swimmer trajectory. In the proposed control scheme, the actuation is provided in a way that an exponential stability on the system trajectory error as well as minimum fluctuations of control signals are achieved.

Force feedback is often beneficial for robotic teleoperation, as it enhances the user’s remote perception. Over the years, many kinesthetic haptic displays (KHDs) have been proposed for this purpose, which have different types of interaction and feedback, depending on their kinematics and their interface with the operator, including, for example, grounded and wearable devices acting either at the joint or operational space (OS) level. Most KHDs in the literature are for the upper limb, with a majority acting at the shoulder/elbow level, and others focusing on hand movements. A minority exists which addresses wrist motions. In this paper, we present the Wearable Delta (W$ \Delta $), a proof-of-concept wearable wrist interface with hybrid parallel–serial kinematics acting in the OS, able to render a desired force directly to the hand involving just the forearm–hand subsystem. It has six degrees of freedom (DoFs), three of which are actuated, and is designed to reduce the obstruction of the range of the user’s wrist. Integrated with positions/inertial sensors at the elbow and upper arm, the W$ \Delta $ allows the remote control of a full articulated robotic arm. The paper covers the whole designing process, from the concept to the validation, as well as a multisubject experimental campaign that investigates its usability. Finally, it presents a section that, starting from the experimental results, aims to discuss and summarize the W$ \Delta $ advantages and limitations and look for possible future improvements and research directions.

Obesity is an epidemic associated with many diseases. The nutraceutical Zingiber officinale (ZO) is a potential treatment for obesity; however, the molecular effects are unknown. Swiss male mice were fed a high-fat diet (59 % energy from fat) for 16 weeks to generate a diet-induced obesity (DIO) model and then divided into the following groups: standard diet + vehicle; standard diet + ZO; DIO + vehicle and DIO + ZO. Those in the ZO groups were supplemented with 400 mg/kg per d of ZO extract (oral administration) for 35 d. The animals were euthanised, and blood, quadriceps, epididymal fat pad and hepatic tissue were collected. DIO induced insulin resistance, proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress and DNA damage in different tissues. Treatment with ZO improved insulin sensitivity as well as decreased serum TAG, without changes in body weight or adiposity index. TNF-α and IL-1β levels were lower in the liver and quadriceps in the DIO + ZO group compared with the DIO group. ZO treatment reduced the reactive species and oxidative damage to proteins, lipids and DNA in blood and liver in obese animals. The endogenous antioxidant activity was higher in the quadriceps of DIO + ZO. These results in the rat model of DIO may indicate ZO as an adjuvant on obesity treatment.