It is inconclusive whether trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and choline and related metabolites, namely trimethylamine (TMA), l-carnitine, betaine and dimethylglycine (DMG), are associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Our objective was to investigate these potential associations. Additionally, we sought to determine the mediating role of TMAO. In this 1:1 age- and sex-matched case–control study, a total of 150 pairs comprising NAFLD cases and healthy controls were identified. According to the fully adjusted model, after the highest tertile was compared with the lowest tertile, the plasma TMAO concentration (OR = 2·02 (95 % CI 1·04, 3·92); P trend = 0·003), l-carnitine concentration (OR = 1·79 (1·01, 3·17); P trend = 0·020) and DMG concentration (OR = 1·81 (1·00, 3·28); P trend = 0·014) were significantly positively associated with NAFLD incidence. However, a significantly negative association was found for plasma betaine (OR = 0. 50 (0·28, 0·88); P trend = 0·001). The restricted cubic splines model consistently indicated positive dose–response relationships between exposure to TMAO, l-carnitine, and DMG and NAFLD risk, with a negative association being observed for betaine. The corresponding AUC increased significantly from 0·685 (0·626, 0·745) in the traditional risk factor model to 0·769 (0·716, 0·822) when TMAO and its precursors were included (l-carnitine, betaine and choline) (P = 0·032). Mediation analyses revealed that 14·7 and 18·6 % of the excess NAFLD risk associated with l-carnitine and DMG, respectively, was mediated by TMAO (the P values for the mediating effects were 0·021 and 0·036, respectively). These results suggest that a higher concentration of TMAO is associated with increased NAFLD risk among Chinese adults and provide evidence of the possible mediating role of TMAO.

During the 1660s and 1670s, the Ottoman Empire reached the peak of its expansion with military invasions of Ukraine and Habsburg Hungary, parts of central Europe that had traditionally been regarded as beyond the Porte's horizons. Many Ukrainians and Hungarians welcomed the Ottomans as liberators; they saw the sultan as a more benevolent ruler than the Russian tsar, the Polish king, and the Habsburg emperor. This article reconstructs the political, social, and religious dimensions of pro-Ottoman hopes as well as the popular revolts that resulted from these hopes. Comparing Ukrainian and Hungarian engagements with the Ottomans reveals the divergent and overlapping aspects of a largely forgotten historical reality, that is, the quest of many Orthodox and Protestant Europeans to consider a Muslim alternative to the Christian empires that oppressed them. The article draws on a treasure trove of little studied sources, both archival and published, in multiple languages.

Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) is a toxic carcinogenic pollutant that might be released by the mining and processing of ultramafic rocks and nickel laterites and which requires permanent removal from the contaminated biosphere. Ultramafic material can also serve as a feedstock for the sequestration of CO2 resulting from the growth of new minerals, raising the intriguing proposition of integrated sequestration of both pollutants, CO2 and chromium, into magnesium carbonates. Such a synergistic process downstream of ore recovery and mineral processing could be an elegant proposition for more sustainable utilisation and management of the Earth's resources. We have therefore carried out an experimental and microanalytical study to investigate potentially suitable carbonate minerals. Uptake of chromium in carbonate phases was determined, followed by identification of the crystalline phases and characterisation of the local structural environment around the incorporated chromium centres. The results suggest that neither nesquehonite nor hydromagnesite have the structural capacity to incorporate Cr6+ or Cr3+ significantly at room temperature. We therefore propose that further research into this technology should focus on laboratory assessments of other phases, such as layered double hyroxides, that have a natural structural capacity to uptake both chromium and CO2.

An inscription carved on the interior corner of the north-west anta of the Temple of Artemis at Sardis records the obligations of a certain Mnesimachos in return for a loan of money he received from the temple funds. Unable or unwilling to pay his loan, Mnesimachos declared his decision to convey his estate to Artemis and accept the conditions of the contract. This estate, including villages, dwellings, and peasant-serfs, had been given to him by King Antigonos Monophthalmos around 300 bce. The present work attempts to focus on the sequence of events in Mnesimachos’ life and their relation to the history and architecture of this important temple. The new reading of these events as a result of the last two decades or excavations at Sardis offers us a synthetic understanding of the Hellenistic history of the city and an insight into Mnesimachos’ willingness to forgo his estate in a financial deal that ultimately tricks the goddess.

We start this review in the sanctuaries of archaic and classical Greece. The book Between Deity and Dedicator is the PhD thesis of Sanne Hoffmann. Hoffmann's aim is to examine terracotta votive figurines through their entire lifecycle, following their journey from production to dedication to deposition within the sanctuary (fifteen of which are chosen, with a preponderance, never really fully explained, towards those of female deities). Theories of object agency and an emerging interest in object biographies are extremely well-chosen as the frameworks in which to discuss a set of objects that were surely imagined to have some sort of efficacy in prompting a response from the deity to whom they were dedicated. It is so often the case that introductions lay out long explanations of theories that are then never again mentioned in the rest of the book as the author gets stuck in to the ‘content’. Here, though, the theory is evoked effectively and explicitly at key parts throughout the thesis.

In the years since the onset of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement—and especially since the Ferguson uprising—scholars have tried to understand how the movement has affected public life in the United States. The scholarship overwhelmingly shows that periods of intense BLM protest have generated high levels of public awareness about systemic racism and increased support for criminal justice reform.1 Police homicides have declined in areas with BLM protests.2 And liberals exposed to BLM protests were more supportive of candidates who condemned systemic racism and supported criminal justice reform in the 2020 elections.3

In this paper, we consider the closed spacelike solution to a class of Hessian quotient equations in de Sitter space. Under mild assumptions, we obtain an existence result using standard degree theory based on a priori estimates.

This year, Aristotle readers could purchase something old and something new for their libraries. The old thing is Diana Quarantotto's edited volume on Aristotle's Physics I, published in 2018 but now finally available in paperback at an affordable price. People will remember that this book includes excellent commentaries on each chapter of Physics, like those by Andrea Falcon, Timothy Clarke, Laura M. Castelli, Lindsay Judson, David Charles, and Isván Bodnár, to name a few. The volume also contains a preface, an illuminating methodological introduction, and a collaborative translation of Aristotle's text. The main takeaway is a balanced appraisal of the importance of Physics I and its introductory role within Aristotle's physical project.

Peach-potato aphids, Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera:Aphididae), and cabbage aphids, Brevicoryne brassicae Linnaeus (Hemiptera:Aphididae), are herbivorous insects of significant agricultural importance. Aphids can harbour a range of non-essential (facultative) endosymbiotic bacteria that confer multiple costs and benefits to the host aphid. A key endosymbiont-derived phenotype is protection against parasitoid wasps, and this protective phenotype has been associated with several defensive enodsymbionts. In recent years greater emphasis has been placed on developing alternative pest management strategies, including the increased use of natural enemies such as parasitoids wasps. For the success of aphid control strategies to be estimated the presence of defensive endosymbionts that can potentially disrupt the success of biocontrol agents needs to be determined in natural aphid populations. Here, we sampled aphids and mummies (parasitised aphids) from an important rapeseed production region in Germany and used multiplex PCR assays to characterise the endosymbiont communities. We found that aphids rarely harboured facultative endosymbionts, with 3.6% of M. persicae and 0% of B. brassicae populations forming facultative endosymbiont associations. This is comparable with endosymbiont prevalence described for M. persicae populations surveyed in Australia, Europe, Chile, and USA where endosymbiont infection frequencies range form 0–2%, but is in contrast with observations from China where M. persicae populations have more abundant and diverse endosymbiotic communities (endosymbionts present in over 50% of aphid populations).

To date, support for independence in older people has been largely focused on achieving practice- and policy-orientated goals such as maintenance of function, remaining in one's own home and reducing the impact of receiving care. Uncertainty about what independence means to older people means that these goals may not align with what matters and should be considered for a more person-centred approach to independence. This study aimed to improve understanding of the meaning and facilitators of independence from older people's perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 community-dwelling people aged 75+, purposively sampled for maximum variance in demographic characteristics. Interviews, conducted by phone or online, were recorded and transcribed. Analysis was conducted using a framework approach to organise, and facilitate comparison of, inductively and deductively generated codes. Patterns were identified and interpreted into themes. Transcripts and themes were reviewed with the research team. Disagreements in interpretations were resolved through discussion. Two themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Older people draw on personal values and experiences to develop unique interpretations of independence’, was underpinned by three concepts: participation, autonomy and control. The concepts reflected patterns identified within participants’ meanings of independence. The second theme, ‘It's not what you have, but how you think about it that creates independence’, represented participants’ shared prioritisation of psychological attributes over physical or environmental resources for maintaining independence. Participation, autonomy and control are shared concepts within older people's diverse interpretations of independence. This paper addresses uncertainty around what independence means to older people and contributes three key concepts that should be considered when operationalising person-centred support for independence.

How do we read Greek literature? In the original language or in translation? With a theoretical lens or without? Bringing in our modern perspectives or trying to track ancient approaches? Identifying with characters or exercising supposed academic detachment? How we read Greek texts affects what we read in those texts. And who we are affects how we read. A number of recent publications prompt us to interrogate our reading practices by drawing on theories ancient and modern and reflecting on who we are and how entangled we are with other entities (from the objects we use to the poetry we embody to the narratives in which we are immersed).

Methyl donor micronutrients might affect muscle strength via DNA methylation. We aimed to evaluate the combined relationship of dietary methyl donor micronutrients containing betaine, choline, methionine, vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and folate on muscle strength. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 267 subjects including 113 men and 154 women. Dietary intake of micronutrients was assessed utilising a validated 168-item semi-quantitative FFQ, and methyl donor micronutrient score (MDMS) was calculated. The muscle strength of the participants was measured using a digital handgrip dynamometer. The association was determined using linear regression analysis. The mean age of participants was 36·8 ± 13·2 years. After taking into account potential confounding variables, there was no significant association between dietary methyl donor micronutrient score (MDMS) and the mean left-hand muscle strength (β: 0·07, se: 0·05, P = 0·07); however, the changes were significant in the mean right-hand muscle strength (β: 0·09, se: 0·04, P = 0·03). There was also a significant positive relationship between mean muscle strength and methyl donors’ intake after fully adjusting for potential confounders (β: 0·08, se: 0·04, P = 0·04). In conclusion, our findings revealed that higher dietary methyl donor micronutrient consumption is associated with enhanced muscle strength. As a result, advice on a higher intake of methyl donor-rich foods including grains, nuts, dairy products and seafood might be recommended by dietitians as a general guideline to adhere to. Additional prospective studies are needed to confirm the findings.

In the Austrian province of Moravia, Jews, most of whom spoke German, continued to participate in and support the German political community until the end of the Habsburg monarchy. Unlike in nearby Bohemia, German liberals in Moravia did not abandon the Jews as the franchise expanded and antisemitism grew. Indeed, the German Progressive Party continued to attract voters in the cities of the province and did not resort to antisemitism in order to do so. Although there were only a small number of Jews in the province—just over 40,000—they played a large role among the voters in the urban curia. After the Moravian Compromise of 1905, when German parties no longer had to compete with Czech parties, Jews often formed the majority of all voters for German parties in the small market towns of the largely Czech-speaking south and central part of the province. The perception of the need for Jewish support in elections created a situation in which the German liberals did not turn to antisemitic politics and the Jewish/German liberal alliance remained strong.