Search

La producción científica en la Argentina tiene a los organismos nacionales entre los actores principales de su desarrollo. Los estudios de percepción de la ciencia del Observatorio Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (2006 y 2009) muestran que la temática es de interés para la población. Si bien el espacio otorgado por los diarios argentinos a dicha temática aún no está consolidado, el periodismo y la divulgación científica reúnen las dos áreas que definen los tiempos que corren: la ciencia y los medios de comunicación. Por tanto, para conocer la cobertura periodística de las informaciones de ciencia en los diarios representativos de la Patagonia Argentina (Río Negro, El Patagónico, La Opinión Austral y El Sureño), se analizan las notas publicadas durante 2015 vinculadas con la temática. Por otra parte, se analiza la perspectiva de los responsables de los gabinetes de prensa de las universidades nacionales radicadas en las regiones de cada uno de estos medios masivos, para conocer las estrategias implementadas para abrir la agenda local a los temas de ciencia emergentes en cada universidad., Fil: Pichl, Daniel Enrique. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina.

Nutrient and toxicant levels as well as their bioavailability in S. latissima and Ulva species (fenestrata, intestinalis, rigida) were reviewed. Nutritional quality was assessed by nutrient contribution to daily reference intake (DRI) per portion (5 g dry weight), nutrient density score NRF21.3, and comparisons to reference foods. Toxicological assessments comprised tolerable daily intake (TDI)-levels. Based on mean %DRI per portion, S. latissima and Ulva species were good sources (%DRI >15) of calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and vitamin B12. Mean %DRI was <10% for fiber, sodium, and protein. Toxicological concerns were mainly due to iodine (mean %TDI per portion: 3160% for S. latissima and 41–91% for Ulva species). Mean %TDIs for inorganic arsenic, cadmium, and lead were <20% for S. latissima and 9–97%, 6–15%, and 21–46%, for the selected Ulva species, respectively. Bioavailability data were scarce and is, together with nutritional impact of processing, an important aspect to address in future studies., This work was performed with financial support by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) [Grants 2020-03113; 2018-01839 (CirkAlg); 2021-02340 (BlueGreen)].

Algae have gained increasing attention as promising food from both an environmental and nutritional perspective. However, current understanding is still limited. This report summarizes the status of knowledge for this emerging sector, focusing on micro- and macroalgae species most relevant for Europe (particularly Sweden). Environmental impacts, with focus on climate, are evaluated through literature reviews and analysis of existing life cycle assessments (LCAs), and nutritional potential in the form of data compilation and calculation of nutrient density scores. Overall, findings reveal that current data is incomplete and of poor representativeness. Most LCAs are not performed on commercial production, but at pilot or experimental scale, why often only indicative drivers for greenhouse gas emissions may be identified. For microalgae, there is a wide diversity of production systems in different conditions across the globe. Based on the data at hand, energy use is a key hotspot across most studies for this production, driven by the requirements of different types of systems and species, and to location. For macroalgae production, despite poor representativeness of especially green and red macroalgae, key aspects for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions are associated with energy consumption and use of materials for farming such as ropes. No LCA exists on wild harvested macroalgae, representing the largest production volume in Europe (>95%); large-scale wild harvest may also be associated with risks to ecosystems unless suitable management is enforced. Significant data gaps also exist in food composition databases regarding nutrient and heavy metal content in algae (e.g., vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids). When available, nutrient content was found to be highly variable within and across species, but overall, the evaluation of nutritional quality indicated that algae may be a considerable source of minerals and vitamin B12. The contribution of fiber and protein is g, This report represents an output of the research project ‘The role of algae in sustainable food systems- a knowledge synthesis of the nutritional quality and environmental impact’, funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-03113).

BackgroundTo date, a few studies have systematically investigated differences in the clinical spectrum between acquired and idiopathic dystonias. ObjectivesTo compare demographic data and clinical features in patients with adult-onset acquired and idiopathic dystonias. MethodsPatients were identified from among those included in the Italian Dystonia Registry, a multicenter Italian dataset of patients with adult-onset dystonia. Study population included 116 patients with adult-onset acquired dystonia and 651 patients with isolated adult-onset idiopathic dystonia. ResultsComparison of acquired and idiopathic dystonia revealed differences in the body distribution of dystonia, with oromandibular dystonia, limb and trunk dystonia being more frequent in patients with acquired dystonia. The acquired dystonia group was also characterized by lower age at dystonia onset, greater tendency to spread, lower frequency of head tremor, sensory trick and eye symptoms, and similar frequency of neck pain associated with CD and family history of dystonia/tremor. ConclusionsThe clinical phenomenology of dystonia may differ between acquired and idiopathic dystonia, particularly with regard to the body localization of dystonia and the tendency to spread. This dissimilarity raises the possibility of pathophysiological differences between etiologic categories.

This report is the outcome of a consensus-building project to agree on best practices for environmental and nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) methodology, and identify future research needs. The project involved 30 nutritional and environmental LCA researchers from 18 countries. It focused on the assessment of food items (as opposed to meals or diets). Best practice recommendations were developed to address the intended purpose of an LCA study and related modeling approach, choice of an appropriate functional unit, assessment of nutritional value, and reporting nLCA results. An nLCA study should report the quantities of as many essential nutrients as possible and aim to provide information on the nutritional quality and/or health impacts in addition to nutrient quantities. Outstanding issues requiring further research attention include: defining a minimum number of nutrients to be considered in an nLCA study; treatment of nutrients to limit; use of nutrient indexes; further development of Impact Assessment methods; representation of nutritional changes that may occur during subsequent distribution and food preparation in cradle-to-gate nLCA studies; and communication of data uncertainty and variability. More data are required for different regions (particularly developing countries); for the processing, distribution, retail, and consumption life cycle stages; and for food loss and waste. Finally, there is a need to extend nLCA methodology for the assessment of meals and diets, to consider further how to account for the multi-functionality of food in a sustainability framework, and to set nLCA studies within the context of environmental limits. These results provide a robust basis for improving nLCA methodology and applying it to identify solutions that minimize the trade-offs between nourishing populations and safeguarding the environment.

BACKGROUND: Diets combining adequate nutritional quality and low climate impact are highly needed for human and planet health. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to 1) evaluate nutrient density indexes' ability to predict mortality, and 2) assess the effects of diets varying in nutrient density and climate impact on total mortality. METHODS: Dietary data from 49,124 women and 47,651 men aged 35-65 y in the population-based prospective study Västerbotten Intervention Programme (Sweden) were used. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) were estimated using data from life cycle assessments. Fifteen variants of nutrient density indexes were evaluated and the index that best predicted mortality was used to estimate participants' nutrient density. GHGEs and nutrient density were adjusted for energy intakes. Total mortality risk was estimated by Cox proportional hazards models for 4 groups of women and men, respectively, i.e., higher nutrient density, lower climate impact (HNutr/LClim); higher nutrient density, higher climate impact (HNutr/HClim); lower nutrient density, lower climate impact (LNutr/LClim); and lower nutrient density, higher climate impact (LNutr/HClim-reference group). RESULTS: NRF11.3, a Sweden-adapted variant of the Nutrient Rich Foods index, was identified to have the best ability to predict mortality in the study population. Median follow-up times for women and men were 16.0 and 14.7 y, respectively. For women a significantly lower mortality risk was found for HNutr/LClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.96; P = 0.008) and HNutr/HClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.97; P = 0.011) than for LNutr/HClim. Among men LNutr/LClim had a significantly higher mortality risk (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.21; P = 0.033) than LNutr/HClim. CONCLUSIONS: Diets beneficial for both health and climate are feasible and associated with lower mortality risk in women. Further studies are needed to understand how men may transition into diets that are more sustainable from a combined health and climate persp

New methods for combined evaluation of nutritional and environmental aspects of food products are needed to enable a transformation of dietary guidelines integrating both health and environmental perspectives. We evaluated two sustainability aspects; nutrition and climate im-pact, of foods commonly consumed in Sweden and the implications of using parallel or integrated assessments of these two aspects, also discussing the usability and suitability of these food sustain-ability indicators in relation to Swedish dietary guidelines, industry food product development, and consumer communication. There were large differences in both nutrient density and climate impact among the different foods. The parallel assessment easily visualized synergies and trade-offs between these two sustainability aspects for the different foods. Coherence with dietary guidelines was good, and suitability and usability deemed satisfying. The integrated indicator showed better coherence with dietary guidelines than indicators based solely on nutrient density or climate impact; however, the difficulty to interpret the score limits its usability in product development and consumer communication. With both methods, advantageous as well as less advantageous plant-based and animal-based food alternatives were suggested. The two alternative methods evaluated could serve as useful tools to drive individual and societal development towards more sustainable food production and consumption.

Objective: This study examines secular changes in diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in younger and older Swedish adults, since the turn of this century. Setting: The municipality of Gothenburg, in western Sweden. Design: Two cross-sectional health examination surveys were conducted in 2001-04 (T1) and 2014-18 (T2). At both times, an 86-item food frequency questionnaire was embedded in the survey. From the food frequencies and age-standardized portion sizes, GHGE estimates (kg CO2e/year) were calculated. GHGE was modeled as a function of time period and covariates, for five distinct age groups. Participants: Women and men aged 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65-75 were randomly selected from the population registry and recruited for examinations. After exclusion of participants with incomplete dietary data, the analytic sample consisted of 2569 individuals at T1 and 2119 at T2. Results: Lower dietary GHGE scores were observed at T2 compared to T1, in each age group, adjusting for sex, body mass index, and education. The largest differences in GHGE were observed in the youngest age group (circa 30% reduction). Decreasing trends in GHGE from animal-based foods were observed at all ages and were accompanied by smaller increases from plant-based sources in younger groups only. At all ages, GHGE from discretionary foods decreased, and prevalence of overweight remained stable. Conclusions: Optimal dietary trends should support both human health and planetary health. Our results suggest that Swedish adults have moved in this direction, e.g. through less intake of red meat products and stable weight status.

Background The costs and benefits of full lockdown measures are debated. Neurologically impaired children are a vulnerable population with specific needs in terms of protection against infection and access to health services. Objectives We investigated the effects of lockdown on the health of children with neurological disorders and on their access to care during lockdown. Methods Data from 514 children (282 males – 232 females) were collected through physician-administered interviews to investigate: the occurrence of viral-like physical symptoms, the correlation between the risk of developing such symptoms and several demographic and clinical variables, the occurrence of any worsening of the children's neurological conditions during lockdown, and their access to care services during this period. Results 49.1% experienced at least one symptom during the study period, but no child developed severe complications. The prevalence of symptoms was significantly lower during lockdown than during the previous two months. The underlying neurological condition worsened in 11.5% of the patients. Children who regularly left the home during lockdown were greater risk of exhibiting symptoms. During lockdown, 67.7% had a specialist appointment cancelled, 52.6% contacted their paediatrician, and 30.9% contacted their child neuropsychiatrist. Among patients who usually receive rehabilitation, 49.5% continued remotely. Conclusion Lockdown protected children from infections. Telemedicine and telerehabilitation constituted a valid alternative for the care and treatment of these children, but they should not become a widespread and definitive model of care. COVID-19 and other emergency response plans must take into account the specific needs of children with disabilities.

Expressing the environmental impact of foods in relation to the nutritional quality is a promising approach in the search for methods integrating interdisciplinary sustainability perspectives. However, the lack of standardized methods regarding how to include nutrient metrics can lead to unharmonized results difficult to interpret. We evaluated nutrient density indexes by systematically assessing the role of methodological variables with the purpose of identifying the index able to rank foods with the highest coherence with the Swedish dietary guidelines. Among 45 variants of the nutrient density index NRF (Nutrient Rich Food), a Sweden-tailored NRF11.3 index, including 11 desirable nutrients and 3 undesirable nutrients, calculated per portion size or 100 kcal with the application of weighting, ranked foods most coherently with the guidelines. This index is suggested to be suitable as complementary functional unit (FU) in comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies across food categories. The results clarify implications of methodological choices when calculating nutrient density of foods and offer guidance to LCA researchers on which nutrition metric to use when integrating nutritional aspects in food LCA.

Introduction: The study of the environmental impact of dietary patterns in relation to their nutrition quality and health impact is of recent development and great interest for both nutrition and environmental scientists. Preliminary research has been conducted on the potential application of nutrition and health indexes as reference units (i.e. functional units) in the life cycle assessment of foods. Although proposed methods to include nutrition and health aspects exist, more research is needed to increase the scientific quality and societal usefulness of such assessments. Materials and Methods: SLF Healthy Diets is a 20-month project where 64 food items from the FFQ used in the population study “Västerbotten Intervention Programme” (VIP) will be characterized for their nutrition density and matched to the carbon footprint from life cycle assessment studies. Several nutrition density scores will be analyzed, among which the NRF9.3 score, a dietary-dependent NQI score, and a new nutrient index tailored for the Swedish population. Hazard ratios for total mortality will be estimated for 100.000 participants to the VIP study, and associations with reported intake of food products, nutrient density and environmental performance described. Results and Discussion: Multiple results are expected from the project, among which a synthesis of the combined nutritional and environmental performance of the analyzed foods according to different methods, and hence the identification of the best nutritional index to apply in environmental studies. Additionally, the assessment in the VIP cohort of the associations between reported intake of food products and observed health outcomes will evaluate the ability of the suggested nutrition scores to predict the total mortality in the studied population. The present project will allow for more robust quantification and communication of food products’ sustainability performance. Specifically, the project will: develop clear advice on which