Periodontal disease has significant negative effects on the health and lives of people worldwide, including chronic pain, eating difficulties, social anxiety, economic costs of treatment, and lost productivity (1). Diet is an influential factor in managing periodontal disease (2). However, it is currently unclear whether following UK healthy eating recommendations outlined in the Eatwell Guide (EWG), which is a reference used in public health initiatives and clinical practice in the UK (3), is associated with risk of periodontal disease. To address this knowledge gap, this study examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between adherence to the EWG and the risk of periodontal disease.

This study was conducted using data from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study. EWG adherence scores were created using dietary data from 24-hour dietary questionnaires (Oxford WebQ). Participants were awarded points between 0–5 reflecting the extent to which they adhered to each of the 12 healthy eating recommendations outlined in the EWG (total score range: 0-60). Periodontal disease risk markers were assessed using self-reported oral health questionnaires. Logistic regression models were used to examine cross-sectional associations between levels of EWG adherence (low, medium and high) and odds of periodontal disease. Generalised estimating equations were used to analyse prospective associations. Analyses were adjusted for relevant covariates.

Cross-sectional analyses involving 158,899 participants showed significant associations between higher (odds ratio (OR) [95% Confidence Interval (CI)]: 0.876 [0.848–0.906]) and moderate (OR [95% CI]: 0.958 [0.927–0.989]) adherence to the EWG and lower odds of periodontal disease versus the low-adherence reference group. These results were consistent with prospective analyses (higher adherence: OR [95% CI]: 0.861 [0.834–0.888]; moderate adherence: 0.943 [0.914–0.973]). Results were robust to a range of sensitivity analyses.

Following UK-specific healthy eating recommendations, as outlined in the Eatwell Guide, could help lower the risk of periodontal disease. These findings warrant substantiation in future randomised controlled trials.

This essay reviews the following works:

The Fate of Earthly Things: Aztec Gods and God-Bodies. By Molly H. Bassett. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. 283. $27.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780292760882.

Islands in the Lake: Environment and Ethnohistory in Xochimilco, New Spain. By Richard M. Conway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. vii + 386. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781316518892.

El maíz se sienta para platicar: Códices y formas de conocimiento nahua, más allá del mundo de los libros. By Ana Díaz Álvarez. Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, 2016. Pp. 96. Paperback. ISBN: 9786074173840.

Aztec Antichrist: Performing the Apocalypse in Early Colonial Mexico. By BenLeeming. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2022. Pp. xxxi + 314. $100.00 hardcover, $35.95 paperback, $29.95 eBook. ISBN: 9781646422999.

Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion. By James Maffie. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015. Pp xiv + 592. $36.95 paperback. ISBN 9781607322221.

Indigenous Science and Technology: Nahuas and the World Around Them. By Kelly McDonough. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2024. Pp. 328. $102.00 hardcover, $37.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780816550388.

Sacred Consumption: Food and Ritual in Aztec Art and Culture. By Elizabeth Morán. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 156. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477310694.

Rethinking the Aztec Economy. Edited by Deborah L.Nichols Frances F.Berdan, and Michael E.Smith. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2017. Pp. 310. $65.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780816535514.

In tlahtolli, in amoxtli/La palabra, el libro: Conferencias y estudios inéditos sobre fuentes e historia nahuas. By Luis Reyes García. Edited by Guillermo Goñi and Guilhem Olivier. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2018. ISBN: 9786073012522.

Pilgrimage to Broken Mountain: Nahua Sacred Journeys in Mexico’s Huasteca Veracruzana. By Alan R. Sandstrom and Pamela Effrein Sandstrom. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2023. $34.95 paperback, $97.00 hardcover, $28.95 eBook. ISBN: 9781646423507.

Assessing children’s diets is currently challenging and burdensome. Abbreviated FFQ have the potential to assess dietary patterns in a rapid and standardised manner. Using nationally representative UK dietary intake and biomarker data, we developed an abbreviated FFQ to calculate dietary quality scores for pre-school and primary school-aged children. UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008–2016) weekly consumption frequencies of 129 food groups from 4-d diaries were cross-sectionally analysed using principal component analysis. A 129-item score was derived, alongside a 12-item score based on foods with the six highest and six lowest coefficients. Participants included 1069 pre-schoolers and 2565 primary schoolchildren. The first principal component explained 3·4 and 3·0 % of the variation in the original diet variables for pre-school and primary school groups, respectively, and described a prudent diet pattern. Prudent diet scores were characterised by greater consumption of fruit, vegetables and tap water and lower consumption of crisps, manufactured coated chicken/turkey products, purchased chips and soft drinks for both age groups. Correlations between the 129-item and 12-item scores were 0·86 and 0·84 for pre-school and primary school-aged children, respectively. Bland–Altman mean differences between the scores were 0·00 sd; 95 % limits of agreement were −1·05 to 1·05 and −1·10 to 1·10 sd for pre-school and primary school-aged children, respectively. Correlations between dietary scores and nutritional biomarkers showed only minor attenuation for the 12-item compared with the 129-item scores, illustrating acceptable congruence between prudent diet scores. The two 12-item FFQ offer user-friendly tools to measure dietary quality among UK children.

The maximum and minimum of a sample from a probability distribution are extremely important random variables in many areas of psychological theory, methodology, and statistics. For instance, the behavior of the mean of the maximum or minimum processing time, as a function of the number of component random processing times (n), has been studied extensively in an effort to identify the underlying processing architecture (e.g., Townsend & Ashby, 1983; Colonius & Vorberg, 1994). Little is known concerning how measures of variability of the maximum or minimum change with n. Here, a new measure of random variability, the quantile spread, is introduced, which possesses sufficient strength to define distributional orderings and derive a number of results concerning variability of the maximum and the minimum statistics. The quantile spread ordering may be useful in many venues. Several interesting open problems are pointed out.

The establishment of the Immigration Assessment Authority (‘IAA’) and the Fast Track Processing Regime for certain asylum seekers has posed new and important questions for Australian administrative law, especially in respect of the place, scope and effect of merits review. This article considers the early and formative jurisprudence of the federal courts in relation to ‘Fast Track decisions’ made by the IAA. It concludes that the Fast Track process represents a novel development in Australian public law: a partial review process which is not sufficient to correct the errors of the decision-maker at first instance but which appeared for a time capable of immunising elements of the decision from appeal or direct judicial review. It is, in its intention and current operation, more than a ‘targeted tinkering’ with the mechanics of merits review and of migration law in Australia. It deserves attention as it commences its journey through superior courts and as the regime settles into the Australian administrative law landscape.

Up to 40% of dementia cases could potentially be prevented through targeting modifiable risk factors(1). South Asian communities are at increased risk for dementia, having an earlier onset and greater cumulative life-course exposure to dementia related risk factors(2). Research on dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean Diet(3), has shown promise as a non-pharmacological strategy to reduce cognitive decline. Acculturation and the assimilation of dietary habits to that of the host country can mean that minority ethnic groups require tailored dietary advice to suit their needs(4). Therefore, cultural adaptation of dietary interventions is required to ensure that advice for brain health is culturally relevant. Research concerning which culturally adapted, or country-specific dietary interventions are brain healthy, is currently lacking. The aim of this research was to understand the perceived barriers and facilitators towards dietary change for dementia risk reduction among British South Asians.

Five focus groups were conducted with individuals of South Asian ethnicity (n =38) living in the North East of England. Patient and Public Involvement contributors from preliminary engagement activities supported recruitment from community and voluntary organisations. Data were transcribed and analysed using template analysis(4). This involved deductively analysing the data using relevant a-priori themes; pre-identified themes generated based on previous experience of the research team, and from a broad literature review.

Participants were aged between 26-82 years with the majority being female (n = 26, 68.4%), unemployed (n = 22, 57.9%), Pakistani ethnicity (n = 28, 73.7%), with an education level of college attendance or higher (n = 22, 57.9%). Themes identified included a lack of awareness of dementia, and the link between diet and dementia. Shame and stigma surrounding dementia was highlighted as a major issue that could influence willingness to engage in preventative strategies. Participants reported the main barriers to dietary change as: the influence of religious beliefs; issues with interpretation, accessibility, and lack of culturally appropriate resources; engrained dietary habits; time, cost, and convenience. Generational influences relating to differences in eating habits and awareness of healthy eating were highlighted as both a barrier and facilitator to behaviour change. Peer support strategies and the provision of practical, culturally sensitive dietary advice were viewed as facilitators.

This qualitative study highlights the need to increase awareness surrounding dementia prevention, specifically the role of diet, and to address this in a culturally sensitive way, that supports ethnic minority communities to improve their understanding and willingness to openly talk dementia. These findings will inform the development of a prototype for a dietary intervention, guided by the Medical Research Council guidance for complex interventions, and co-developed with the South Asian community, to explore how dietary advice for dementia prevention can be implemented in a culturally acceptable and feasible way in a community setting.

Synaptotagmin-9 (Syt9) is a Ca2+ sensor mediating fast synaptic release expressed in various parts of the brain. The presence and role of Syt9 in retina is unknown. We found evidence for Syt9 expression throughout the retina and created mice to conditionally eliminate Syt9 in a cre-dependent manner. We crossed Syt9fl/fl mice with Rho-iCre, HRGP-Cre, and CMV-Cre mice to generate mice in which Syt9 was eliminated from rods (rodSyt9CKO), cones (coneSyt9CKO), or whole animals (CMVSyt9). CMVSyt9 mice showed an increase in scotopic electroretinogram (ERG) b-waves evoked by bright flashes with no change in a-waves. Cone-driven photopic ERG b-waves were not significantly different in CMVSyt9 knockout mice and selective elimination of Syt9 from cones had no effect on ERGs. However, selective elimination from rods decreased scotopic and photopic b-waves as well as oscillatory potentials. These changes occurred only with bright flashes where cone responses contribute. Synaptic release was measured in individual rods by recording anion currents activated by glutamate binding to presynaptic glutamate transporters. Loss of Syt9 from rods had no effect on spontaneous or depolarization-evoked release. Our data show that Syt9 acts at multiple sites in the retina and suggest that it may play a role in regulating transmission of cone signals by rods.

Many biological fluids are composed of suspended polymers immersed in a viscous fluid. A prime example is mucus, where the polymers are also known to form a network. While the presence of this microstructure is linked with an overall non-Newtonian response of the fluid, swimming cells and microorganisms similar in size to the network pores and polymer filaments instead experience the heterogeneous nature of the environment, interacting directly with the polymers as obstacles as they swim. To characterise and understand locomotion in these heterogeneous environments, we simulate the motion of an undulatory swimmer through three-dimensional suspensions and networks of elastic filaments, exploring the effects of filament and link compliance and filament concentration up to 20 % volume fraction. For compliant environments, the swimming speed increases with filament concentration to values approximately 10 % higher than in a viscous fluid. In stiffer environments, a non-monotonic dependence is observed, with an initial increase in speed to values 5 % greater than in a viscous fluid, followed by a dramatic reduction to speeds just a fraction of its value in a viscous fluid. Velocity fluctuations are also more pronounced in stiffer environments. We demonstrate that speed enhancements are linked to hydrodynamic interactions with the microstructure, while reductions are due to the filaments restricting the amplitude of the swimmer's propulsive wave. Unlike previous studies where interactions with obstacles allowed for significant enhancements in swimming speeds, the modest enhancements seen here are more comparable to those given by models where the environment is treated as a continuous viscoelastic fluid.

This study was an investigation of the effects of sesquioxide constituents on some mineralogical and physiochemical properties of a Panamanian latosol.

Latosols are soils characterized by high concentrations of iron and aluminum oxides and a general absence of free silica and alkaline earths.

X-ray diffraction studies revealed sesquioxide coatings existed on the surfaces of the clay minerals. Mineralogically, the soil was composed of kaolin, amorphous minerals, hydrated iron and aluminum oxides, free silica, quartz grains, and magnetite. The results of DTA data suggested the presence of amorphous colloids in the soil. This suggestion was subsequently confirmed by selective dissolution analysis which revealed the unexpected presence of 17% amorphous silica in the coarse clay size fraction. Grain size analysis and scanning electron microscopy studies showed that the clay minerals are probably agglomerated by the sesquioxides into silt size clusters. CEC values obtained were primarily attributed to the amorphous colloids rather than the crystalline clay minerals because the sesquioxides probably partially blocked the exchange sites of the clays.

Removal of the iron and aluminum oxides by sodium dithionite citrate-bicarbonate procedures (Mehra and Jackson, 1960), (a) sharpened and exposed previously “masked” X-ray diffraction peaks, (b) disaggregated the clay clusters producing greater amounts of clay size particles, and (c) altered the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) and water retention characteristics of the soil constituents.

This investigation demonstrated that amorphous silica and iron and aluminum oxides greatly influence the properties of this latosol by coating and aggregating the clay minerals. These sesquioxide coatings suppress the ordinary behavioral characteristics of the indigenous clay minerals and consequently the observed behavior of the soil is dominated by the amorphous constituents.