Urban populations of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are increasing and causing human-wildlife conflict by exploiting anthropogenic resources. Gulls that breed in urban areas rely on varying amounts of terrestrial anthropogenic foods (e.g., domestic refuse, agricultural and commercial waste) to feed themselves. However, with the onset of hatching, many parent gulls switch to sourcing more marine than anthropogenic or terrestrial foods to provision their chicks. Although anthropogenic foods may meet chick calorific requirements for growth and development, some such foods (e.g., bread) may have lower levels of protein and other key nutrients compared to marine foods. However, whether this parental switch in chick diet is driven by chicks\' preference for marine foods, or whether chicks\' food preferences are shaped by the food types provisioned by their parents, remains untested. This study tests whether chick food preferences can be influenced by their provisioned diet by experimentally manipulating the ratio of time for which anthropogenic and marine foods were available (80:20 and vice versa) in the rearing diets of two treatment groups of rescued herring gull chicks. Each diet was randomly assigned to each of the 27 captive-reared chicks for the duration of the study. We tested chicks\' individual food preferences throughout their development in captivity using food arrays with four food choices (fish, cat food, mussels and brown bread). Regardless of the dietary treatment group, we found that all chicks preferred fish and almost all refused to eat most of the bread offered. Our findings suggest that early-life diet, manipulated by the ratio of time the different foods were available, did not influence gull chicks\' food preferences. Instead, chicks developed a strong and persistent preference for marine foods, which appears to match adult gulls\' dietary switch to marine foods upon chick hatching and may reinforce the provisioning of marine foods during chick development. However, whether chicks in the wild would refuse provisioned foods, and to a sufficient extent to influence parental provisioning, requires further study. Longitudinal studies of urban animal populations that track wild individuals\' food preferences and foraging specialisations throughout life are required to shed light on the development and use of anthropogenic resource exploitation.

Acute moderate- to high-intensity exercise, primarily aerobic exercise, has been reported to decrease food reward in brain regions via the hedonic pathways and reduce preference for high-energy or high-fat foods. However, studies examining food reward responses to acute exercise have been limited to measuring food reward only after exercise and less frequently before and after exercise. Therefore, the changes in food reward in response to acute exercise remain unclear. This study investigated the effect of acute running on food reward in healthy young men. Fourteen young healthy men (mean ± standard deviation, age; 23 ± 2 years, body mass index; 21 ± 2 kg/m2) completed two trials (i.e., exercise and control) in a randomised, crossover design. Participants performed a 30-min running bout at 70% of maximal oxygen uptake or sitting rest before and after food reward evaluation with a computer-based food choice behaviour task tool. Food reward was assessed for foods varying in fat content and sweet taste, and there were four assessment parameters: explicit liking, explicit wanting, implicit wanting and frequency of choice of each food category (relative preference). Explicit and implicit wanting, and relative preference for high-fat relative to low-fat foods were reduced after the exercise trial compared to the control trial (trial-by-time interaction, all p ≤ 0.02). Implicit wanting and relative preference for sweet relative to savoury foods were increased after the exercise trial compared to the control trial (trial-by-time interaction, all p ≤ 0.003). These findings indicate that moderate-intensity acute running alters the reward bias away from high fat towards low fat foods and away from savoury towards sweet foods in healthy young men.

OBJECTIVE: In recent years, with the improvement of people\'s living standards and changes in dietary patterns, dietary knowledge and food preference have been playing an increasingly crucial role in health. The aim of our study was to examine the relationship between dietary knowledge, food preference, and long-short term health status among Chinese adults aged 18-70.
METHODS: This study employed cross-sectional data from the 2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey obtained from 4822 adults. We utilized self-assessed health status as an indicator of long-term health status and utilized sickness in the last four weeks as a measure of short-term health status. Taking advantage of ordered probit regression, long-term health status was regressed on all predictors, while the binary logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing short-term health status. The propensity score matching is employed to account for potential selection bias in analysis, thereby increasing the robustness and credibility of results.
RESULTS: The analysis revealed that dietary knowledge and food preference can improve an individual\'s long-term health status significantly. However, there is no evidence to show that short-term health status is affected by food preference. Furthermore, dietary knowledge is negatively associated with short-term health status.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of dietary education and healthy eating habits in improving the long-term health status of Chinese adults. The study suggests implications for public health strategies aimed at enhancing the health and well-being of Chinese adults.

UNASSIGNED: Entertainment media content is often mentioned as one of the roots of children\'s unhealthy food consumption. This might be due to the high quantity of unhealthy foods presented in children\'s media environments. However, less is known about the role of the centrality of food placement, that is, whether foods are interacted with, consumed, verbally mentioned, or appear unobtrusively. We also lack longitudinal research measuring both children\'s unhealthy and healthy food consumption behaviors as outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: The aim is to connect content analytical data based on children\'s actual media diet with panel data in order to explain children\'s food preferences. Moreover, this study not only focuses on the amount of healthy and unhealthy foods children are exposed to, but also on how these foods are presented (ie, centrally or not). Furthermore, we looked at the question of how parental coviewing can diminish (or enhance) the effects of unhealthy (or healthy) food depictions, and we measured healthy and unhealthy consumption as dependent variables.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a 2-wave panel study with children and one of their parents (of 2250 parents contacted, 829 responded, for a response rate of 36.84%; 648 valid cases, ie, parent-child pairs, were used for analysis), with 6 months between the 2 panel waves. We linked the 2-wave panel data for the children and their parents to content analytical data for movies (n=113) and TV series (n=134; 3 randomly chosen episodes per TV series were used) that children were exposed to over the course of 6 months.
UNASSIGNED: There was no significant relationship between exposure to unhealthy food presentation and unhealthy (b=0.008; P=.07) or healthy (b=-0.003; P=.57) food consumption over time. Also, healthy food presentation was unrelated to unhealthy (b=0.009; P=.18) or healthy (b=0.000; P=.99) food consumption over time. However, there was a significant, positive interaction between unhealthy food presentation and presentation centrality on unhealthy food consumption (b=0.000; P=.03), suggesting that the effects of unhealthy food presentation rise with increasing levels of centrality. There was no interaction between unhealthy food presentation and presentation centrality on the consumption of healthy foods (b=0.000; P=.10). Also, exposure to healthy food presentation interacted with centrality (b=-0.001; P=.003). That is, when a healthy product was presented at maximum centrality, it led to less unhealthy food consumption in children. Coviewing did not interact with exposure to unhealthy foods when explaining unhealthy (b=0.003; P=.08) or healthy (b=-0.001; P=.70) food consumption.
UNASSIGNED: We conclude that simply presenting more healthy foods is not sufficient to combat children\'s unhealthy food preferences. Further regulations may be necessary with respect to representations of unhealthy foods in children\'s media.

BACKGROUND: Acute Coronary Syndrome is the most common heart disease and the most significant cause of death and disability-adjusted life years worldwide. Teaching a healthy eating style is one preventive measure to prevent the disease\'s recurrence. This study aimed to determine the effect of healthy nutrition education with the help of traffic light labels on food selection, preference, and consumption in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
METHODS: This randomized, single-blinded clinical trial was conducted with 139 participants (66 in the intervention group and 73 in the control group) from January 2021 to August 2021 in Shaheed Rajaie Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The control group received standard training. The intervention group, besides this, received additional bedside training with an educational poster on traffic light labels from the research team during their final hospitalization days. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire on food selection, preference, and consumption.
RESULTS: The Brunner-Munzel test showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of selection (P = 0.127), preference (P = 0.852), and food consumption (P = 0.846) in the baseline, while after the intervention, there were significant differences in selection (P > 0.001), preference (P > 0.001), and consumption (p < 0.004). Comparing the difference between the two groups in the difference between the before and after scores for selection (p < 0.001), preference (p < 0.001), and food consumption (p = 0.011) with the Brunner-Munzel test indicated a significant difference in all outcome variables.
CONCLUSIONS: Teaching healthy eating styles with the help of traffic light labels affected food selection, preference, and consumption and led to healthier diets in these patients.
BACKGROUND: Clinical trial registration: It was prospectively registered in the Iran Clinical Trials Registration Center on this date 30/10/2020 (IRCT20200927048857N1).

Pollen is a major source of proteins and lipids for bumblebees. The nutritional content of pollen may differ from source plants, ultimately affecting colony development. This study investigated the foraging preferences of Bombus terrestris in regard to four pollen species, i.e., oilseed rape, wild apricot, sunflower, and buckwheat, under laboratory conditions. The results show that B. terrestris diversified their preference for pollens; the bumblebees mostly preferred wild apricot pollen, whereas sunflower pollen was the least preferred. The colonies fed on a mixed four-pollen diet, with a protein-lipid ratio of 4.55-4.86, exhibited better development in terms of the number of offspring, individual body size and colony weight. The colonies fed with buckwheat and sunflower pollens produced a significantly lower number of workers and failed to produce queen and male offspring. Moreover, wild apricot pollen had the richest protein content (23.9 g/100 g) of the four pollen species, whereas oilseed rape pollen had the highest lipid content (6.7 g/100 g), as revealed by the P:L ratios of wild apricot, sunflower, buckwheat, and oilseed rape, which were 6.76, 5.52, 3.50, and 3.37, respectively. Generally, B. terrestris showed feeding preferences regarding different pollens and a mixture of pollens, which ultimately resulted in differences in colony development. The findings of this study provide important baseline information to researchers and developers of nutritive pollen diets for bumblebees.

Objective Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as functional dyspepsia (FD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can exhibit overlapping GI symptoms, including abdominal pain and alterations in bowel habits. The symptoms of GI disorders are commonly considered to be triggered and exacerbated by fatty food intake. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the food preferences of patients with GI disorders. Methods Forty food images (including fatty and light foods) and 20 animal images were selected to evaluate food preferences. The preference score was assessed using a visual analog scale ranging from 1 to 100. GI symptoms were evaluated using the GI Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), and correlations between the GSRS and preference scores were investigated. Results Overall, 22 healthy controls and 23, 29, 27, and 20 patients with FD, IBS, GERD, and IBD, respectively, were enrolled. The preference score for all foods in patients with FD was significantly lower than that in healthy controls and those with IBS, GERD, and IBD (52.9 vs. 66.5 vs. 68.5 vs. 69.1 vs. 70.7, p<0.01). The score of fatty foods was lower in patients with FD than in healthy controls and those with IBS, GERD, and IBD (43.8 vs. 72.3 vs. 77.5 vs. 77.4 vs. 80.7, p<0.01), whereas that of light foods and animal images was not different among the groups. No significant correlation was found between the preference score and symptom severity. Conclusions Patients with FD had a negative preference for foods, particularly fatty foods, independent of the severity of GI symptoms.

The purpose of this project was to use modified methodology and new approaches to determine whether the California two-spotted octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) shows evidence of higher cognitive function as juveniles. This species\' cognitive ability was assessed in ∼4 month old octopus using a food preference test and a learning test (ability to recognize a habitat created from 3D printed rocks and navigate to its hidden food source). Methods for determining associative learning for this species were developed. In addition, potential enhancements to future O. bimaculoides husbandry and study design are discussed.•Enrichment and care methodology for juvenile cephalopods from hatchling to juvenile•In the article we discuss new approaches for studying associative learning, spatial learning, and food preference that can be adapted for various species of cephalopods, and the usage of 3D printing as a habitat re-creation tool in aquaria•We introduce histology methodology for observing and comparing brain development in juvenile cephalopods.

RNA viruses of the genera Ambivirus, Mitovirus, Sclerotimonavirus, and Partitivirus were found in a single isolate of Fusarium graminearum. The genomes of the mitovirus, sclerotimonavirus, and partitivirus were assigned to previously described viruses, whereas the ambivirus genome putatively represents a new species, named Fusarium graminearum ambivirus 1 (FgAV1). To investigate the effect of mycoviruses on the fungal phenotype, the spontaneous loss of mycoviruses during meiosis and the transmission of mycoviruses into a new strain via anastomosis were used to obtain isogenic F. graminearum strains both with and without mycoviruses. Notable effects observed in mycovirus-harboring strains were (i) the suppression of the synthesis of trichothecene mycotoxins and their precursor trichodiene, (ii) the suppression of the synthesis of the defense compound aurofusarin, (iii) the stimulation of the emission of 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, and (iv) the increased attractiveness of fungal mycelia for fungivorous collembolans. The increased attractiveness of mycovirus-infected filamentous fungi to animal predators opens new perspectives on the ecological implications of the infection of fungi with viruses.

Substance use disorder (SUD) affects over 48 million Americans aged 12 and over. Thus, identifying novel chemicals contributing to SUD will be critical for developing efficient prevention and mitigation strategies. Considering the complexity of the actions and effects of these substances on human behavior, a high-throughput platform using a living organism is ideal. We developed a quick and easy screening assay using Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans prefers high-quality food (Escherichia coli HB101) over low-quality food (Bacillus megaterium), with a food preference index of approximately 0.2, defined as the difference in the number of worms at E. coli HB101 and B. megaterium over the total worm number. The food preference index was significantly increased by loperamide, a μ-opioid receptor (MOPR) agonist, and decreased by naloxone, a MOPR antagonist. These changes depended on npr-17, a C. elegans homolog of opioid receptors. In addition, the food preference index was significantly increased by arachidonyl-2\'-chloroethylamide, a cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) agonist, and decreased by rimonabant, a CB1R inverse agonist. These changes depended on npr-19, a homolog of CB1R. These results suggest that the conserved opioid and endocannabinoid systems modulate the food preference behaviors of C. elegans. Finally, the humanoid C. elegans strains where npr-17 was replaced with human MOPR and where npr-19 was replaced with human CB1R phenocopied the changes in food preference by the drug treatment. Together, the current results show that this method can be used to rapidly screen the potential effectors of MOPR and CB1R to yield results highly translatable to humans.