Nutrition plays a key role in training for, and competing in, competitive sport, and is essential for reducing risk of injury and illness, recovering and adapting between bouts of activity, and enhancing performance. Consumption of a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) has been demonstrated to reduce risk of various non-communicable diseases and increase longevity. Following the key principles of a MedDiet could also represent a useful framework for good nutrition in competitive athletes under most circumstances, with potential benefits for health and performance parameters. In this review, we discuss the potential effects of a MedDiet, or individual foods and compounds readily available in this dietary pattern, on oxidative stress and inflammation, injury and illness risk, vascular and cognitive function, and exercise performance in competitive athletes. We also highlight potential modifications which could be made to the MedDiet (whilst otherwise adhering to the key principles of this dietary pattern) in accordance with contemporary sports nutrition practices, to maximise health and performance effects. In addition, we discuss potential directions for future research.

Resilience is a cross-disciplinary concept that is relevant for understanding the sustainability of the social and environmental conditions in which we live. Most research normatively focuses on building or strengthening resilience, despite growing recognition of the importance of breaking the resilience of, and thus transforming, unsustainable social-ecological systems. Undesirable resilience (cf. lock-ins, social-ecological traps), however, is not only less explored in the academic literature, but its understanding is also more fragmented across different disciplines. This disparity can inhibit collaboration among researchers exploring interdependent challenges in sustainability sciences. In this article, we propose that the term lock-in may contribute to a common understanding of undesirable resilience across scientific fields.

The Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS) is a new prospective children-of-twins study in the UK, designed to investigate intergenerational associations across child developmental stages. CoTEDS will enable research on genetic and environmental factors that underpin parent–child associations, with a focus on mental health and cognitive-related traits. Through CoTEDS, we will have a new lens to examine the roles that parents play in influencing child development, as well as the genetic and environmental factors that shape parenting behavior and experiences. Recruitment is ongoing from the sample of approximately 20,000 contactable adult twins who have been enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) since infancy. TEDS twins are invited to register all offspring to CoTEDS at birth, with 554 children registered as of May 2019. By recruiting the second generation of TEDS participants, CoTEDS will include information on adult twins and their offspring from infancy. Parent questionnaire-based data collection is now underway for 1- and 2-year-old CoTEDS infants, with further waves of data collection planned. Current data collection includes the following primary constructs: child mental health, temperament, language and cognitive development; parent mental health and social relationships; parenting behaviors and feelings; and other socioecological factors. Measurement tools have been selected with reference to existing genetically informative cohort studies to ensure overlap in phenotypes measured at corresponding stages of development. This built-in study overlap is intended to enable replication and triangulation of future analyses across samples and research designs. Here, we summarize study protocols and measurement procedures and describe future plans.

Cambodia supports populations of three Critically Endangered vulture species that are believed to have become isolated from the rest of the species’ global range. Until recently Cambodia’s vulture populations had remained stable. However a recent spike in the number of reports of the use of poisons in hunting practices suggests the need to re-evaluate the conservation situation in Cambodia. Population trend analysis showed that since 2010 populations of the White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis and Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus have declined, while the Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris may also have started to decline since 2013. These trends are supported by evidence of reduced nesting success. A survey of veterinary drug availability revealed that diclofenac, the non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug responsible for vulture declines in South Asia was not available for sale in any of the 74 pharmacies surveyed. However, a poisoned Slender-billed Vulture tested positive for carbofuran in toxicology tests. This provides the first evidence of a vulture mortality resulting from carbofuran in Cambodia. The findings suggest the urgent need to tackle use of carbamate pesticides in hunting. Proposed conservation actions are: a) prevention of poisoning through national bans on harmful carbamate pesticides and diclofenac and education campaigns to reduce demand and use; b) training of personnel in priority protected areas in detection and response to poisoning incidents; c) maintenance of a safe and reliable food source through vulture restaurants to ensure short-term survival, and d) protection and restoration of large areas of deciduous dipterocarp forests to enable long-term species recovery.

Our current global food system – from food production to consumption, including manufacture, packaging, transport, retail and associated businesses – is responsible for extensive negative social and environmental impacts which threaten the long-term well-being of society. This has led to increasing calls from science–policy organizations for major reform and transformation of the global food system. However, our knowledge regarding food system transformations is fragmented and this is hindering the development of co-ordinated solutions. Here, we collate recent research across several academic disciplines and sectors in order to better understand the mechanisms that ‘lock-in’ food systems in unsustainable states.

Nighttime eating is often associated with a negative impact on weight management and cardiometabolic health. However, data from recent acute metabolic studies have implicated a benefit of ingesting a bedtime snack for weight management. The present study compared the impact of ingesting a milk snack containing either 10 (BS10) or 30 g (BS30) protein with a non-energetic placebo (BS0) 30 min before bedtime on next morning metabolism, appetite and energy intake in mildly overweight males (age: 24·3 (sem 0·8) years; BMI: 27·4 (sem 1·1) kg/m2). Next morning measurements of RMR, appetite and energy intake were measured using indirect calorimetry, visual analogue scales and an ad libitum breakfast, respectively. Bedtime milk ingestion did not alter next morning RMR (BS0: 7822 (sem 276) kJ/d, BS10: 7482 (sem 262) kJ/d, BS30: 7851 (sem 261) kJ/d, P=0·19) or substrate utilisation as measured by RER (P=0·64). Bedtime milk ingestion reduced hunger (P=0·01) and increased fullness (P=0·04) during the evening immediately after snack ingestion, but elicited no effect the next morning. Next morning breakfast (BS0: 2187 (sem 365) kJ, BS10: 2070 (sem 336) kJ, BS30: 2582 (sem 384) kJ, P=0·21) and 24 h post-trial (P=0·95) energy intake was similar between conditions. To conclude, in mildly overweight adults, compared with a non-energetic placebo, a bedtime milk snack containing 10 or 30 g of protein does not confer changes in next morning whole-body metabolism and appetite that may favour weight management.

The Neolithic in north-east Asia is defined by the presence of ceramic containers, rather than agriculture, among hunter-gatherer communities. The role of pottery in such groups has, however, hitherto been unclear. This article presents the results of organic residue analysis of Neolithic pottery from Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Results indicate that early pottery on Sakhalin was used for the processing of aquatic species, and that its adoption formed part of a wider Neolithic transition involving the reorientation of local lifeways towards the exploitation of marine resources.

In this editorial, we challenge the current understanding of “Living Well with Dementia.” Such discourse introduces the possibility of not living well with the condition or even of “living badly with dementia.” Numerous words might be relevant here – grief, pain, anguish, depression – but in this editorial we consciously use the word “suffering.” This term is used for two reasons; one, because it captures the attributes of other more limited words, and, two because the language of “suffering” is contentious, making it suitable for debate. We speak of suffering, not to deny the positive aspects of life with dementia or to concentrate just on the negative, but to redress the balance that is disturbed by a relentlessly positive view of living with the condition. Our aim is to promote a more realistic understanding of the dementia experience, one based on actualities and evidence rather than presumption and sentiment.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is a multifactorial disease that is a leading cause of death in developed countries. Matrix-metalloproteases (MMPs) are part of the disease process, however, assessing their role in disease initiation and progression has been difficult and animal models have become essential. Combining Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) proteolytic beacons activated in the presence of MMPs with 2-photon microscopy allows for a novel method of evaluating MMP activity within the extracellular matrix (ECM). Single and 2-photon spectra for proteolytic beacons were determined in vitro. Ex vivo experiments using the apolipoprotein E knockout angiotensin II-infused mouse model of aneurysm imaged ECM architecture simultaneously with the MMP-activated FRET beacons. 2-photon spectra of the two-color proteolytic beacons showed peaks for the individual fluorophores that enable imaging of MMP activity through proteolytic cleavage. Ex vivo imaging of the beacons within the ECM revealed both microstructure and MMP activity. 2-photon imaging of the beacons in aneurysmal tissue showed an increase in proteolytic cleavage within the ECM (p<0.001), thus indicating an increase in MMP activity. Our data suggest that FRET-based proteolytic beacons show promise in assessing MMP activity within the ECM and will therefore allow future studies to identify the heterogeneous distribution of simultaneous ECM remodeling and protease activity in aneurysmal disease.

The paper describes the development of a short Spanish-language version of the General Well-Being Questionnaire (GWBQ; Cox & Gotts, 1987), based on the 12 items of its Worn Out scale. Research has shown the English-version Worn Out scale to be sensitive to aspects of the design and management of work. This study aimed to test its cross-cultural consistency in a Spanish-language workplace context. The data were collected from a sample of 229 workers in Valencia (Spain). Confirmatory Factor Analyses showed the factorial validity, reliability, and concurrent validity of the new Spanish version to be adequate. The sensitivity of the new measure to safety behavior and the reporting of accidents was also assessed and shown to be good. The new questionnaire extends the usefulness of the parent questionnaire to occupational health psychology research in the Spanish language by offering a short assessment tool appropriate for workplace studies.

This paper discusses the operating range of frequency modulated (FM) radars in the presence of interference. For this purpose, radar- and path loss equations are used to draw the equipotential lines for a given signal-to-interference ratio as a function of the spatial distribution of targets and interferers in order to identify relevant scenario constellations. Further the factors influencing the gain of signal versus deterministic interference are discussed based on measurements and simulations. Finally, the influence of different kinds of interference on the spectrum of a frequency modulated continuous wave radar is shown.