Milk is a fundamental food matrix that is widely consumed. Milk fat is important for producing dairy products such as butter, cream, cheese and whole milk powder. Aside from flavour, it has been linked to human health and its chemistry can be modulated by various means towards a more healthy fatty acid profile. Industry and stakeholders have different interests in milk fat, based on specific policies which reflect the type of research and funding initiatives currently performed in different countries. This position paper summarizes the current state-of-the-art with regards to milk fat research and industry as well as stakeholder initiatives, and then highlights new developments based on information gathered from North America (United States and Mexico), Europe (United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Finland), Africa (Egypt), Asia (China and Bangladesh) and Oceania (New Zealand). South America is an important contributor to the dairy industry but will not be considered here and thus this paper must be considered cross-continental rather than global. This manuscript intends to show a wide ‘picture’ of milk fat from different angles in different parts of the globe.

The burden of depression is increasing worldwide, specifically in older adults. Unhealthy dietary patterns may partly explain this phenomenon. In the Spanish PREDIMED-Plus study, we explored (1) the cross-sectional association between the adherence to the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), an a priori-defined high-quality food pattern, and the prevalence of depressive symptoms at baseline (cross-sectional analysis) and (2) the prospective association of baseline PDQS with changes in depressive symptomatology after 2 years of follow-up. After exclusions, we assessed 6612 participants in the cross-sectional analysis and 5523 participants in the prospective analysis. An energy-adjusted high-quality dietary score (PDQS) was assessed using a validated FFQ. The cross-sectional association between PDQS and the prevalence of depression or presence of depressive symptoms and the prospective changes in depressive symptoms were evaluated through multivariable regression models (logistic and linear models and mixed linear-effects models). PDQS was inversely associated with depressive status in the cross-sectional analysis. Participants in the highest quintile of PDQS (Q5) showed a significantly reduced odds of depression prevalence as compared to participants in the lowest quartile of PDQS (Q1) (OR (95 %) CI = 0·82 (0·68, 0·98))). The baseline prevalence of depression decreased across PDQS quintiles (Pfor trend = 0·015). A statistically significant association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms after 2-years follow-up was found (β (95 %) CI = −0·67 z-score (–1·17, −0·18). A higher PDQS was cross-sectionally related to a lower depressive status. Nevertheless, the null finding in our prospective analysis raises the possibility of reverse causality. Further prospective investigation is required to ascertain the association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms along time.

Interactions between smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and biomaterials must not result in phenotype changes as this may generate uncontrolled multiplication processes and occlusions in vascular grafts. The aim of this study was to relate the hydrolytic stability and biocompatibility of polyurethanes (PUs) on SMCs. A higher polycaprolactone (PCL) concentration was found to improve the hydrolytic stability of the material and the adhesion of SMCs. A material with 5% polyethylene glycol, 90% PCL, and 5% pentaerythritol presented high cell viability and adhesion, suggesting a contractile phenotype in SMCs depending on the morphology. Nevertheless, all PUs retained their elastic modulus over 120 days, similar to the collagen of native arteries (~10 MPa). Furthermore, aortic SMCs did not present toxicity (viability over 80%) and demonstrated adherence without any abnormal cell multiplication processes, which is ideal for the function to be fulfiled in situ in the vascular grafts.

Prospective studies assessing the association between fibre intake or fibre-rich food consumption and the risk of CVD have often been limited by baseline assessment of diet. Thus far, no study has used yearly repeated measurements of dietary changes during follow-up. Moreover, previous studies included healthy and selected participants who did not represent subjects at high cardiovascular risk. We used yearly repeated measurements of diet to investigate the association between fibre intake and CVD in a Mediterranean cohort of elderly adults at high cardiovascular risk. We followed-up 7216 men (55–80 years) and women (60–80 years) initially free of CVD for up to 7 years in the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea study (registered as ISRCTN35739639). A 137-item validated FFQ was repeated yearly to assess diet. The primary end point, confirmed by a blinded ad hoc Event Adjudication Committee, was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and stroke. Time-dependent Cox’s regression models were used to estimate the risk of CVD according to baseline dietary exposures and to their yearly updated changes. We found a significant inverse association for fibre (P for trend=0·020) and fruits (P for trend=0·024) in age-sex adjusted models, but the statistical significance was lost in fully adjusted models. However, we found a significant inverse association with CVD incidence for the sum of fruit and vegetable consumption. Participants who consumed in total nine or more servings/d of fruits plus vegetables had a hazard ratio 0·60 (95 % CI 0·40, 0·96) of CVD in comparison with those consuming <5 servings/d.

Patella ferruginea is the most threatened macroinvertebrate in the western Mediterranean, where it is at serious risk of extinction. There is little information on the status of the various populations and most data were published more than 25 years ago. This study provides updated information on the global status of this species, and implications for management and conservation, and tests the hypothesis that population structure can be influenced by collection by people and by the type of substrate. Fifty-five localities were surveyed in Corsica, Sardinia, Tuscany and Sicily, on the islands of Egadi and Pantelleria, and on the Zembra archipelago and Tunisian coasts. The species is extinct on mainland Italy and Sicily but isolated individuals can be found on Egadi and Pantelleria. Populations on Corsica and Sardinia have declined dramatically during the last 25 years. The population in the Zembra archipelago is well preserved, although more widely on Tunisian coasts the species is highly threatened. The information provided here, combined with information from the literature, indicates a strong decline and/or extinction of many populations throughout the western Mediterranean and the presence of healthy populations only in some locations along the north African coast. The species exhibits an increase in density and mean size in areas free of human pressure but the type of substrate (natural or artificial) has no strong influence.

We analyse the creeping flow generated by a spherical particle moving through a viscous fluid with nematic directional order, in which momentum diffusivity is anisotropic and which opposes resistance to bending. Specifically, we provide closed-form analytical expressions for the response function, i.e. the equivalent to Stokes’s drag formula for nematic fluids. Particular attention is given to the rotationally pseudo-isotropic condition defined by zero resistance to bending, and to the strain pseudo-isotropic condition defined by isotropic momentum diffusivity. We find the former to be consistent with the rheology of biopolymer networks and the latter to be closer to the rheology of nematic liquid crystals. These ‘pure’ anisotropic conditions are used to benchmark existing particle tracking microrheology methods that provide effective directional viscosities by applying Stokes’s drag law separately in different directions. We find that the effective viscosity approach is phenomenologically justified in rotationally isotropic fluids, although it leads to significant errors in the estimated viscosity coefficients. On the other hand, the mere concept of directional effective viscosities is found to be misleading in fluids that oppose an appreciable resistance to bending. Finally, we observe that anisotropic momentum diffusivity leads to asymmetric streamline patterns displaying enhanced (reduced) streamline deflection in the directions of lower (higher) diffusivity. The bending resistance of the fluid is found to modulate the asymmetry of streamline deflection. In some cases, the combined effects of both anisotropy mechanisms leads to streamline patterns that converge towards the sphere.

New findings of the scleractinian coral Dendrophyllia laboreli in various localities off the European coast in the Gulf of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar, as well as the Atlantic coast of Morocco, are reported. These new findings redefine the current northernmost known limit of distribution of this species, previously known in African localities from Ghana to the Canary Islands. Some ecological and biogeographical remarks are also included.

High blood pressure (BP) has been ranked as the most important risk factor worldwide regarding attributable deaths. Dietary habits are major determinants of BP. Among them, frequent intake of low-fat dairy products may protect against hypertension. Our aim was to assess the relationship between low-fat dairy product intake and BP levels and their changes after 12-month follow-up in a cohort of asymptomatic older persons at high cardiovascular risk recruited into a large-scale trial assessing the effects of Mediterranean diets on cardiovascular outcomes. Data from 2290 participants, including 1845 with hypertension, were available for analyses. Dairy products were not a specific part of the intervention; thus, data were analysed as an observational cohort. Dietary information was collected with validated semi-quantitative FFQ and trained personnel measured BP. To assess BP changes, we undertook cross-sectional analyses at baseline and at the end of follow-up and longitudinal analyses. A statistically significant inverse association between low-fat dairy product intake and systolic BP was observed for the 12-month longitudinal analysis. In the longitudinal analysis, the adjusted systolic and diastolic BP were significantly lower in the highest quintile of low-fat dairy product intake ( − 4·2 (95% CI − 6·9, − 1·4) and − 1·8 (95% CI − 3·2, − 0·4) mmHg respectively), whereas the point estimates for the difference in diastolic BP indicated a modest non-significant inverse association. Intake of low-fat dairy products was inversely associated with BP in an older population at high cardiovascular risk, suggesting a possible protective effect against hypertension.