Food environments and association with household food insecurity: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the available literature on the association between characteristics of the food environment and household food insecurity. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. METHODS: Studies published until January 9th, 2023, were searched in the PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, EMBASE and LILACS databases. The included studies were summarized with a narrative synthesis with information on the study location, population studied, prevalence and type of measure/instrument used to assess food (in)security, method of evaluating the food environment and measure between food insecurity and food environment. RESULTS: Twenty-two articles were included. Different methods were used to measure food security and the food environment. Most food insecurity assessment tools assessed the dimension of access to food, more precisely economic access. The dimensions of the food environment most evaluated were food availability and affordability. An association between characteristics of the food environment and food insecurity was found in 18 of these studies. Homes with food insecurity have a greater availability of unhealthy foods, more frequent purchasing of foods in convenience stores and small markets as well as a lower availability of healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. CONCLUSIONS: This review revealed that household food insecurity was associated with the food environment, highlighting the importance of policies to promote healthy diets, especially in vulnerable communities. Few studies were found in the Global South, demonstrating the gap in this knowledge in these locations.

[Ultrastructural aspects of keratinization of the rat oral mucosa. II. Soft palate (author's transl)]. / Aspectos ultra-estruturais da queratinização da mucosa oral do rato. II. Palato mole.

This paper presents a study of the ultrastructure of the epithelium of the soft plate of the rat. General morphology, ratio and localization of ribosomes, filaments, mitocondria, spaces of stratum basale, stratum spinosum and stratum granulosum, are described. The stratum corneum presents modified desmosomes, no organelles and enlarged intercellular spaces. Cornified cells are constituted of a filament-like material, densely packed in an amorphous matrix.

Some histochemical aspects of keratinization of oral, esophageal and gastric membrane of the albino rat.

Using histochemical methods a comparative study was carried out, to identify important substances at the keratinization metabolism. With the results obtained, we may conclude that: a) in the four layers of all regions studied, it was possible to detect the presence of the characteristic active radicals of the amino acids cysteine, cystine and arginine, mainly in the corneus layer; b) the presence of -SH radicals of cysteine in the keratohyalin granules was evident in all regions studied.

Do Schwann cells produce collagen type III?

The fact that collagen from both normal nerve endoneurium and Schwann cell tumours present characteristics of collagen type III, suggests that Schwann cells produce this type of collagen.