The eating model in contemporary Taiwan: Destructuration or a new insight into compressed food modernity in Asia.

In contemporary societies with diverse but often conflicting values attached to eating, it is important to scrutinise what eating well means to a given population. While such attempts have been pioneered, mostly in Western countries, Asia has been rarely explored. Moreover, food scholars in Western countries have called for in-depth analysis of the impacts of food modernisation on our everyday eating models, but empirical data about Asia and its implications for the plurality of food modernisation have been limited. To narrow this knowledge gap, we replicated Ueda's previous survey in Japan by utilising the same web-based questionnaire in a study of the Taiwanese population (n = 920, aged 20-69) to elucidate their eating model across all dimensions; that is, not only meal content but also the temporal, spatial, social, qualitative and affective facets. It was found that, similarly to other parts of the world, the Taiwanese have experienced the so-called 'destructuration' of their eating model, including two out of five habitually skipping meals; one out of four eating out 14 times or more in a week; and three out of five eating alone for breakfast. The destructuration also extended to their dietary norms, which marked a sharp contrast with other countries, such as Japan and France, where many eaters experience dilemmas due to high ideals and reality. We argue that this interesting phenomenon is due to the 'compressed' food modernity that Taiwan experienced. This study is the first attempt to provide comprehensive data about the eating model in Taiwan. Further empirical studies, particularly in other Asian regions, are expected to advance our thinking about a complex relationship between food modernity and well-being.

Targeting PDGF signaling of cancer-associated fibroblasts blocks feedback activation of HIF-1α and tumor progression of clear cell ovarian cancer.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is a gynecological cancer with a dismal prognosis; however, the mechanism underlying OCCC chemoresistance is not well understood. To explore the intracellular networks associated with the chemoresistance, we analyze surgical specimens by performing integrative analyses that combine single-cell analyses and spatial transcriptomics. We find that a chemoresistant OCCC subpopulation with elevated HIF activity localizes mainly in areas populated by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) with a myofibroblastic phenotype, which is corroborated by quantitative immunostaining. CAF-enhanced chemoresistance and HIF-1α induction are recapitulated in co-culture assays, which show that cancer-derived platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) contributes to the chemoresistance and HIF-1α induction via PDGF receptor signaling in CAFs. Ripretinib is identified as an effective receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor against CAF survival. In the co-culture system and xenograft tumors, ripretinib prevents CAF survival and suppresses OCCC proliferation in the presence of carboplatin, indicating that combination of conventional chemotherapy and CAF-targeted agents is effective against OCCC.

Measurement of food poverty (shoku no hinkon) as capability deprivation in high-income countries: operationalisation with single mothers in Japan.

Existing food insecurity instruments are focused largely on the financial constraints associated with acquiring sufficient amounts of food. This narrow focus has resulted in underestimating the true prevalence of food poverty, particularly in high-income countries. Food poverty needs to be defined as capability deprivation, extending from the nutritional to the temporal, spatial, qualitative and affective aspects of eating. In this article, the Alkire-Foster counting approach is evaluated and an alternative method for measuring such multidi-mensional food poverty is proposed. The method is demonstrated by using evidence from interviews with 53 single mothers, the most high-risk social group in Japan. On the basis of an operational definition of food deprivation and poverty cut-offs, 16 mothers (30%) were identified as living in food poverty, followed by a qualitative analysis of their deprivation profiles. The results show that the economically-poor were highly likely to fall into food poverty, but that food poverty also occurred without economic deprivation, notably among the mental or physical illness carriers and long-hour workers. This multidimensional and decomposable measurement tool is effective for identifying food-poor populations not reflected in traditional food insecurity measurement instruments.