Factors associated with successful dietary changes in an energy-reduced Mediterranean diet intervention: a longitudinal analysis in the PREDIMED-Plus trial

[EN] Purpose Long-term nutrition trials may fail to respond to their original hypotheses if participants do not comply with the intended dietary intervention. We aimed to identify baseline factors associated with successful dietary changes towards an energy-reduced Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) in the PREDIMED-Plus randomized trial. Methods Longitudinal analysis of 2985 participants (Spanish overweight/obese older adults with metabolic syndrome) randomized to the active intervention arm of the PREDIMED-Plus trial. Dietary changes were assessed with a 17-item energy-reduced MedDiet questionnaire after 6 and 12 months of follow-up. Successful compliance was defined as dietary changes from baseline of >= 5 points for participants with baseline scores = 13 points. We conducted crude and adjusted multivariable logistic regression models to identify baseline factors related to compliance. Results Consistent factors independently associated with successful dietary change at both 6 and 12 months were high baseline perceived self-efficacy in modifying diet (OR6-month: 1.51, 95% CI 1.25-1.83; OR12-month: 1.66, 95% CI 1.37-2.01), higher baseline fiber intake (OR6-month: 1.62, 95% CI 1.07-2.46; OR12-month: 1.62, 95% CI 1.07-2.45), having > 3 chronic conditions (OR6-month: 0.65, 95% CI 0.53-0.79; OR12-month: 0.76, 95% CI 0.62-0.93), and suffering depression (OR6-month: 0.80, 95% CI 0.64-0.99; OR12-month: 0.71, 95% CI 0.57-0.88). Conclusion Our results suggested that recruitment of individuals with high perceived self-efficacy to dietary change, and those who initially follow diets relatively richer in fiber may lead to greater changes in nutritional recommendations. Participants with multiple chronic conditions, specifically depression, should receive specific tailored interventions.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. The PREDIMED-Plus trial was supported by the European Research Council (advanced research grant 2014-2019, 340918 to MAM-G as PI) and by the official Spanish Institutions for funding scientific biomedical research, CIBER Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion (CIBERobn) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), through the Fondo de Investigacion en Salud (FIS), which is cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund coordinated by J. S.-S. and J.V., including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI14/00972, PI14/00728, PI14/01471, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00957, PI19/00386, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, PI19/01226, PI19/00781, PI19/01560, PI19/01332, PI20/01802, PI20/00138, PI20/01532, PI20/00456, PI20/00339, PI20/00557, PI20/00886, and PI20/01158); the Especial Action Project entitled Implementacion y evaluacion de una intervencion intensiva sobre la actividad fisica Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus grant, the Recercaixa grant (2013ACUP00194), Grants from the Consejeria de Salud de la Junta de Andalucia, a grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, a SEMERGEN grant, and funds from the European Regional Development Fund (CB06/03; CB12/03), The International Nut & Dried Fruit; and the AstraZeneca Young Investigators Award in Category of Obesity and T2D 2017 to DR. J.S.-S. is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. None of the funding sources took part in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Retrieval of bilingual Spanish-English information by means of a standard automatic translation system

This paper describes our participation in bilingual retrieval (queries in Spanish on documents in English), by means of an information retrieval system based on the vector model. The queries, formulated in Spanish, were translated into English by means of a commercial automatic translation system; the terms extracted from the resulting translations were filtered in order to get rid of empty words and then they were normalised by stemming. Results are poorer than those obtained through monolingual retrieval with the original queries in English slightly above 15%

Association Among Polyphenol Intake, Uric Acid, and Hyperuricemia: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in a Population at High Cardiovascular Risk

Background Dietary polyphenol intake has been associated with a decreased risk of hyperuricemia, but most of this knowledge comes from preclinical studies. The aim of the present study was to assess the association of the intake of different classes of polyphenols with serum uric acid and hyperuricemia. Methods and Results This cross-sectional analysis involved baseline data of 6332 participants. Food polyphenol content was estimated by a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and from the Phenol-Explorer database. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models with serum uric acid (milligrams per deciliter) as the outcome and polyphenol intake (quintiles) as the main independent variable were fitted. Cox regression models with constant follow-up time (t=1) were performed to estimate the prevalence ratios (PRs) of hyperuricemia (>= 7 mg/dL in men and >= 6 mg/dL in women). An inverse association between the intake of the phenolic acid class (beta coefficient, -0.17 mg/dL for quintile 5 versus quintile 1 [95% CI, -0.27 to -0.06]) and hydroxycinnamic acids (beta coefficient, -0.19 [95% CI, -0.3 to -0.09]), alkylmethoxyphenols (beta coefficient, -0.2 [95% CI, -0.31 to -0.1]), and methoxyphenols (beta coefficient, -0.24 [95% CI, -0.34 to -0.13]) subclasses with serum uric acid levels and hyperuricemia (PR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71-0.95]; PR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71-0.95]; PR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.70-0.92]; and PR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.69-0.91]; respectively) was found. The intake of hydroxybenzoic acids was directly and significantly associated with mean serum uric acid levels (beta coefficient, 0.14 for quintile 5 versus quintile 1 [95% CI, 0.02-0.26]) but not with hyperuricemia. Conclusions In individuals with metabolic syndrome, a higher intake of some polyphenol subclasses (hydroxycinnamic acids, alkylmethoxyphenol, and methoxyphenol) was inversely associated with serum uric acid levels and hyperuricemia. Nevertheless, our findings warrant further research.The PREDIMED-Plus trial was supported by the European Research Council (Advanced Research Grant 2013-2018, 340918) to Dr Martinez-Gonzalez, and the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, through the Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud, which is cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund (5 coordinated Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud projects led by Dr. Salas-Salvado and Dr Vidal, including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI14/00972, PI14/00728, PI14/01471, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00957, PI19/00386, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, PI19/01226, PI19/00781, PI19/01560, and PI19/01332), the Especial Action Project titled Implementacion y evaluacion de una intervencion intensiva sobre la actividad fisica Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus grant to Dr Salas-Salvado, the Recercaixa grant to Dr Salas-Salvado (2013ACUP00194), a CICYT (Consejo Interinstitucional de Ciencia y Tecnologia) grant (AGL2016-75329-R), a grant from the Generalitat Valenciana (APOSTD/2019/136 to R.B.) and Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR-2019 to R.E.), grants from the Consejeria de Salud de la Junta de Andalucia (PI0458/2013, PS0358/2016, and PI0137/2018), grants from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2017/017), a SEMERGEN (Sociedad Espanola de Medicos de Atencion Primaria) grant, EU-COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action CA16112, a grant of support to research groups number 35/2011 from the Balearic Islands Government, grants from IDISBA (Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria Islas Baleares), funds from the European Regional Development Fund (CIBEROBN CB06/03 and CB12/03) and from the European Commission (EAT2BENI-CE_H2020_SFS2016), and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU17/06488 and FPU17/00785) contract. The funding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of the data; in the writing of the article, or in the decision to publish the results

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the PREDIMED-Plus randomized clinical trial: Effects on the interventions, participants follow-up, and adiposity

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the implementation of most ongoing clinical trials worldwide including the PREDIMED-Plus study. The PREDIMED-Plus is an ongoing, multicenter, controlled intervention trial, aimed at weight-loss and cardiovascular disease prevention, in which participants were randomized (1:1 ratio) to an intervention group (energy-reduced Mediterranean diet, promotion of physical activity, and behavioral support) or to a control group (Mediterranean diet with usual care advice). When the pandemic began, the trial was in the midst of the planned intervention. The objective of this report was to examine the effects of the pandemic on the delivery of the intervention and to describe the strategies established to mitigate the possible adverse effects of the pandemic lockdown on data collection and adiposity. Methods: We assessed the integrity of the PREDIMED-Plus trial during 5 identified periods of the COVID-19 pandemic determined according to restrictions dictated by the Spanish government authorities. A standardized questionnaire was delivered to each of the 23 PREDIMED-Plus recruiting centers to collected data regarding the trial integrity. The effect of the restrictions on intervention components (diet, physical activity) was evaluated with data obtained in the three identified lockdown phases: pre lockdown, lockdown proper, and post lockdown. Results: During the lockdown (March/2020-June/2021), 4,612 participants (48% women, mean age 65y) attended pre-specified yearly follow-up visits to receive lifestyle recommendations and obtain adiposity measures. The overall mean (SD) of the proportions reported by each center showed that 40.4% (25.4) participants had in-person visits, 39.8% (18.2) participants were contacted by telephone and 35% (26.3) by electronic means. Participants’ follow-up and data collection rates increased across lockdown periods (from ≈10% at onset to ≈80% at the end). Compared to pre-lockdown, waist circumference increased during (0.75 cm [95% CI: 0.60–0.91]) and after (0.72 cm [95% CI: 0.56–0.89]) lockdown. Body weight did not change during lockdown (0.01 kg [95% CI: –0.10 to 0.13) and decreased after lockdown (-0.17 kg [95% CI: –0.30 to –0.04]). Conclusion: Mitigating strategies to enforce the intervention and patient’s follow-up during lockdown have been successful in preserving the integrity of the trial and ensuring its continuation, with minor effects on adiposity.This work was supported by the official Spanish Institutions for funding scientific Biomedical Research, CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (six coordinated FIS projects leaded by JS-S and JVid, including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI14/00972, PI14/00728, PI14/01471, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00957, PI19/00386, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, PI19/01226, PI19/00781, PI19/01560, PI19/01332, PI20/01802, PI20/00138, PI20/01532, PI20/00456, PI20/00339, PI20/00557, PI20/00886, PI20/01158); the Especial Action Project entitled: Implementación y evaluación de una intervención intensiva sobre la actividad física Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus grant to JS-S; the European Research Council (Advanced Research Grant 2014–2019; agreement #340918) granted to MM-G; the Recercaixa (number 2013ACUP00194) grant to JS-S; grants from the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (PI0458/2013, PS0358/2016, PI0137/2018); the PROMETEO/2017/017 and PROMETEO 21/2021 grants from the Generalitat Valenciana; the SEMERGEN grant, and funds from the European Regional Development Fund (CB06/03). Study resulting from the SLT006/17/00246 grant, funded by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya by the call “Acció instrumental de programes de recerca orientats en l’àmbit de la recerca i la innovació en salut.” We thank the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. This publication has been possible with the support of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) (FPU 17/01925). We thank the Fundación Francisco Soria Melguizo for the financial support. JS-S, senior author of this study, is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. IP-G received a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU 17/01925). None of the funding sources took part in the design, collection, analysis, interpretation of the data, or writing the report, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. SN was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Higher versus lower nut consumption and changes in cognitive performance over two years in a population at risk of cognitive decline: a cohort study

Background Tree nuts and peanuts (henceforth, nuts) are nutrient-dense foods rich in neuroprotective components; thus, their consumption could benefit cognitive health. However, evidence to date is limited and inconsistent regarding the potential benefits of nuts for cognitive function. Objective To prospectively evaluate the association between nut consumption and 2-y changes in cognitive performance in older adults at cognitive decline risk. Methods A total of 6,630 participants aged 55 to 75 y (mean age 65.0±4.9 y, 48.4% women) with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome completed a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests at baseline and a 2-y follow-up. Composite cognitive scores were used to assess global, general, attention, and executive function domains. Nut consumption was categorized as <1, ≥1 to <3, ≥3 to <7, and ≥7 servings/wk (1 serving=30 g). Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models were fitted to assess associations between baseline nut consumption and 2-y cognitive changes. Results Nut consumption was positively associated with 2-y changes in general cognitive function (P-trend <0.001). Compared with participants consuming <1 serving/wk of nuts, those categorized as consuming ≥3 to <7 and ≥7 servings/wk showed more favorable changes in general cognitive performance (β z-score [95% CI] = 0.06 [0.00,0.12] and 0.13 [0.06,0.20], respectively). No significant changes were observed in the multivariable-adjusted models for other cognitive domains assessed. Conclusion Frequent nut consumption was associated with a smaller decline in general cognitive performance over 2 y in older adults at risk of cognitive decline. Randomized clinical trials to verify our findings are warranted.The University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, is recognized as a Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence grant CEX2021-001234-M) funded by MICIN/AEI/FEDER, UE)

Gender differences in e-learning satisfaction

In line with recent research, the question this paper raises is whether or not gender differences also exist in e-learning. This study is based on a sample of 1,185 students who are doing on-line courses at the Universidad de Granada in Spain. The main conclusion is that female students are more satisfied than male students with the e-learning subjects that make up the sample. Furthermore, we find that female students assign more importance to the planning of learning, as well as to being able to contact the teacher in various ways.: Gender Studies; Evaluation Methodologies

Assessment of Postural Load during Melon Cultivation in Mediterranean Greenhouses

Health and safety at work directly influence the development of sustainable agriculture. In the agricultural sector, many farm workers suffer musculoskeletal disorders caused by forced posture. The objective of this research is to assess working postures during melon cultivation in Almería-type greenhouses. The Ovako Working Posture Assessment System (OWAS) has been used with pictures of the tasks. The variables studied by multiple correspondence analysis were as follows: Subtask, Posture code, Back, Arms, Legs, Load, Risk, and Risk combination. The OWAS analysis showed that 47.57% of the postures were assessed as risk category 2, 14.32% as risk category 3, 0.47% as risk category 4, and the rest as risk category 1. Corrective measures should be implemented immediately, as soon as possible, or in the near future, depending on the risks detected

Función de la NAT en la regulación de la síntesis rítmica de melatonina en la retina de anfibios : influencia de factores ambientales y endógenos

La arilaquilamina n-acetiltransferasa ha sido considerada la enzima limitante en la ruta de síntesis de melatonina en los vertebrados. El objetivo de la tesis doctoral es el conocimiento del papel que juega esta enzima en la síntesis de melatonina en la retina de los anfibios anuros, su regulación por factores ambientales correlacionándose con los mecanismos endógenos del animal. La nat muestra un ritmo diario en su actividad mostrando apareciendo los valores máximos durante la noche, la exposición a la luz reduce los niveles de la nat hasta valores equivalentes a los basales diurnos. La aparición del ritmo ocular de la actividad nat durante la ontogenia de los anuros coincide con el comienzo de la función visual. Las variaciones estacionales del fotoperiodo y la temperatura determinan el perfil diario de la melatonina y nat ocular. La temperatura regula la amplitud de la oscilación diaria de melatonina, y el fotoperiodo la duración del máximo nocturno. La cinética de la nat muestra una modulación térmica positiva, y una inhibición por exceso de serotonina dependiente de la temperatura, la regulación endogena del ritmo de melatonina y nat se lleva a cabo por medio de la dopamina a través de receptores d2 los mensajeros intracelulares responsables del ritmo de melatonina son el ampc y el calci

Repetitive Movements in Melon Cultivation Workers under Greenhouses

Musculoskeletal disorders cause serious problems that affect workers in many sectors. The objective of this study is the ergonomic analysis of melon cultivation farmers in Almeria-type greenhouses. For this, the rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) method has been applied after carrying out a detailed process of observing the farmers’ tasks. The study shows that 65% of the postures have a very-high-risk level, 26% high, 9% average, and no posture is found with a low risk. They also show that in 69.57% of the postures, the upper limbs are less affected than the others such as the neck, trunk, and lower limbs. Measures are proposed to improve the working conditions for workers

How similar can co-occurring species be in the presence of competition and ecological drift?

If two species live on a single resource, the one with a slight advantage will out-compete the other: complete competitors cannot coexist. This is known as the competitive exclusion principle. If no extinction occurs, it is because evolutionary adaptation to slightly different niches takes place. Therefore, it is widely accepted that ecological communities are assembled by evolutionary differentiation and progressive adaptation of species to different niches. However, some ecologists have recently challenged this classic paradigm highlighting the importance of chance and stochasticity. Using a synthetic framework for community dynamics, here we show that, while deterministic descriptors predict coexistence, species similarity is limited in a more restrictive way in the presence of stochasticity. We analyse the stochastic extinction phenomenon, showing that extinction occurs as competitive overlap increases above a certain threshold well below its deterministic counterpart. We also prove that the extinction threshold cannot be ascribed only to demographic fluctuations around small population sizes. The more restrictive limit to species similarity is, therefore, a consequence of the complex interplay between competitive interactions and ecological drift. As a practical implication, we show that the existence of a stochastic limit to similarity has important consequences in the recovery of fragmented habitats