The measurement of sodium excretion in 24-h urine samples is the recommended method to assess dietary salt intake to monitor salt-related public health policies. Ensuring complete collection of 24-h urine samples is important for the accurate assessment of salt intake. We compare the use of the objective biomarker, recovery of para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), to self-reported 24-h urine completeness. Data collected from 868 men and women aged 19–64 years from the England Sodium Survey 2018/2019 (part of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS)) were used to compare self-reported 24-h urine completeness based on a collection duration of 23–25 h, no missed urine collections/voids and a minimum urine volume of > 0·4 L against completeness based on the urinary recovery of oral doses of PABA. Two-thirds (69 %; 561/812) of participants who adhered to the PABA protocol provided a complete 24-h urine collection. Assessed by self-report, 71 % (619/868) of participants provided a complete 24-h urine collection. Sodium excretion was (geometric mean (interquartile range)) 127 (97–170) mmol/24 h with PABA and 126 (97–169) mmol/24 h by self-report; salt intake was 7·40 (5·65–9·94) g/d and 7·38 (4·53–8·83) g/d, respectively. The proportion of participants above the UK-recommended salt intake of 6 g/d was 70 % by both PABA and self-report. This study shows that the use of self-report of 24-h urine collection completeness provides an assessment of sodium excretion and dietary salt intake with the same accuracy as when PABA recovery is used to assess completeness.

Partition regularity over algebraic structures is a topic in Ramsey theory that has been extensively researched by combinatorialists [2, 3, 5, 15]. Motivated by recent work in this area, we investigate the computability-theoretic and reverse-mathematical aspects of partition regularity over algebraic structures—an area that, to the best of our knowledge, has not been explored before. This article focuses on a 1975 theorem by Straus [25], which has played a significant role in many of the results in this field.

In this article, we prove that the set of well-approximable points $W_\varphi (z) = \{x \in X : d (f^n x, z ) < \varphi (n) \mathrm {\ for\ infinite\ } n \in \mathbb {N}^+\}$ in the shrinking targets problems is distributional chaotic of type 1 for systems with a weak form of the exponential specification property. We apply it to transitive Anosov systems, $\beta $-shifts, etc.

This study tested the effects of soil amendment with orange peel powder (Citrus sinensis L.) on Brassica rapa growth, the performance of the aphid Myzus persicae Sulzer, and the foraging behaviour of its parasitoid Aphidius gifuensis Ashmead. Three peel: soil ratios (1:10, 1:15, 1:20 w/w) were compared with an unamended control. The 1:10 amendment significantly reduced seed germination, plant height, leaf size, and fresh weight, while the 1:20 amendment also decreased fresh weight. Aphid nymphal development was significantly delayed in the 1:10 and 1:15 treatments, and adult weight gain was reduced in the 1:15 treatment. Aphid population growth and parasitoid foraging time were unaffected across treatments. The results indicate that orange peel amendments can delay aphid development but also suppress plant growth at higher concentrations, highlighting the need for optimized application rates. This study supports further exploration of orange peel as a sustainable soil amendment in integrated pest management.

The purpose of this work is to develop a version of Forman’s discrete Morse theory for simplicial complexes, based on internal strong collapses. Classical discrete Morse theory can be viewed as a generalization of Whitehead’s collapses, where each Morse function on a simplicial complex $K$ defines a sequence of elementary internal collapses. This reduction guarantees the existence of a CW-complex that is homotopy equivalent to $K$, with cells corresponding to the critical simplices of the Morse function. However, this approach lacks an explicit combinatorial description of the attaching maps, which limits the reconstruction of the homotopy type of $K$. By restricting discrete Morse functions to those induced by total orders on the vertices, we develop a strong discrete Morse theory, generalizing the strong collapses introduced by Barmak and Minian. We show that, in this setting, the resulting reduced CW-complex is regular, enabling us to recover its homotopy type combinatorially. We also provide an algorithm to compute this reduction and apply it to obtain efficient structures for complexes in the library of triangulations by Benedetti and Lutz.

Research into the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) has established links between environmental exposures in early life and later-life health outcomes. Emerging interventions typically focus on improving maternal nutrition and neonatal healthcare practices yet often neglect to assess or enhance subject understanding of potential long-term impacts or to communicate the benefits of maximising parental health prior to conception. This study critically evaluates a survey tool developed to measure knowledge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and early-life contributors to lifelong health. The rationale behind the wording and format of the questions is examined alongside options for coding and statistical interpretation of the data. Considerations for implementation are discussed, illustrated by key findings arising from tracking of the tool’s application in Aotearoa New Zealand over ten years. We demonstrate that the survey tool can be adapted for use in a variety of contexts, producing both quantitative and qualitative baseline data suitable for informing health promotion interventions and monitoring changes in population knowledge. This research also highlights a key difference between awareness of and understanding of scientific concepts and the importance of distinguishing between these when considering public engagement with science.

El surgimiento de la banca en Hispanoamérica durante la década de 1820 tuvo implicaciones en la estabilidad financiera de los nuevos estados independientes y en los modos con los que los actores económicos locales desarrollaban sus negocios. La aparición de novedosos instrumentos de pago, como billetes y cheques bancarios, habilitó transacciones con base en una infraestructura hasta entonces desconocida localmente. Los cheques permitieron el empleo de depósitos y sobregiros como medios para la concreción de pagos, expresando la emergencia del dinero bancario propiamente dicho. Aplicando el Análisis de Redes Sociales sobre la información del archivo bancario, el presente artículo propone explicar los mecanismos que permitieron la difusión de aquel instrumento, propiciando su admisibilidad en la economía de un Estado naciente.