The Mediterranean Dietary (MedDiet) Pattern has been linked to many beneficial health effects. This review summarizes the main findings of a prospective cohort study, the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort, specifically focused on MedDiet and the risk of major chronic disease. It is an open cohort in which 22,786 Spanish university graduates have participated since 1999 until February 2018. Data on diet, lifestyle and clinical diagnosis are collected at baseline and every two years. After reviewing 21 publications from the SUN cohort on the effects of the MedDiet, we conclude that this cohort has provided good evidence that a high MedDiet adherence is associated with a reduced incidence of all-cause mortality, fatal and non-fatal major cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, depression, cognitive decline, and nephrolithiasis. An inverse dose-response relationship was found for many of these associations. The MedDiet was also associated with lower average heart rate, a mitigation of the harmful effects of overweight/obesity on the risk of CVD, and an attenuation of the effects of obesity on type 2 diabetes. A suggestion that the MedDiet may enhance fertility was also found.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) tropism can be assessed using phenotypic assays, but this is quite laborious, expensive, and time-consuming and can be made only in sophisticated laboratories. More accessible albeit reliable tools for testing of HIV-1 tropism are needed in view of the prompt introduction of CCR5 antagonists in clinical practice. Bioinformatics tools based on V3 sequences might help to predict HIV-1 tropism; however, most of these methods have been designed by taking only genetic information derived from HIV-1 subtype B into consideration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of several genotypic tools to predict HIV-1 tropism in non-B subtypes, as data on this issue are scarce. Plasma samples were tested using a new phenotypic tropism assay (Phenoscript-tropism; Eurofins), and results were compared with estimates of coreceptor usage using eight different genotypic predictor softwares (Support Vector Machine [SVM], C4.5, C4.5 with positions 8 to 12 only, PART, Charge Rule, geno2pheno coreceptor, Position-Specific Scoring Matrix X4R5 [PSSM X4R5 ], and PSSM sinsi ). A total of 150 samples were tested, with 115 belonging to patients infected with non-B subtypes and 35 drawn from subtype B-infected patients, which were taken as controls. When non-B subtypes were tested, the concordances between the results obtained using the phenotypic assay and distinct genotypic tools were as follows: 78.8% for SVM, 77.5% for C4.5, 82.5% for C4.5 with positions 8 to 12 only, 82.5% for PART, 82.5% for Charge Rule, 82.5% for PSSM X4R5 , 83.8% for PSSM sinsi , and 71.3% for geno2pheno. When clade B viruses were tested, the best concordances were seen for PSSM X4R5 (91.4%), PSSM sinsi (88.6%), and geno2pheno (88.6%). The sensitivity for detecting X4 variants was lower for non-B than for B viruses, especially in the case of PSSM sinsi (38.4% versus 100%, respectively), SVM wetcat (46% versus 100%, respectively), and PART (30% versus 90%, respectively). In summary, while inferences of HIV-1 coreceptor usage using genotypic tools seem to be reliable for clade B viruses, their performances are poor for non-B subtypes, in which they particularly fail to detect X4 variants.

Background & aims A potential protection against COVID-19 infection by a high-quality dietary pattern is to be expected given the biological plausibility supporting the beneficial effects of adequate nutrition on the immune system. However, knowledge on the relationship between long-term maintained healthy dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, and the risk of SARS-2-Cov infection is still sparse. We longitudinally assessed this association in a well-known Mediterranean cohort. Methods We assessed 9677 participants from the SUN Project, a prospective cohort of middle-aged university graduates in Spain. We inquired about a positive result in a COVID-19 diagnostic test during the months of February to December 2020. After excluding health professionals (HP), 5194 participants were included in the statistical analyses (mean age: 52.6, SD: 12.4; 55.2% women). Food habits were assessed at baseline using a previously validated semiquantitative 136-item food frequency questionnaire. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (cumulative average of 2 repeated measurements separated 10 years apart) was assessed using the 0-to-9 Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS). We used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for incident COVID-19 according to the MDS. Results Among 5194 non-HP participants, 122 reported to have received a diagnosis of COVID-19 based on a specific diagnostic test. Participants with intermediate adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MDS ≥4 & <7) had a significantly lower odds of developing COVID-19 (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.50, 95% CI, 0.34–0.73), and those with the highest adherence (MDS ≥ 7) exhibited the lowest risk (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.36, 0.16–0.84, p for trend < 0.001) as compared with participants with MDS ≤3. This inverse association remained robust within subgroups and in sensitivity analyses. Notwithstanding, no significant associations were observed for health professionals (p for interaction = 0.06). Conclusion In conclusion, better adherence to the Mediterranean diet may be associated with a lower risk of COVID-19. Our results are applicable only to persons who are not health professionals.

The available large prospective studies supporting an inverse association between better adherence to the Mediterranean diet and lower mortality have mainly included older adults. It is not clear whether this inverse association is also present among younger individuals at lower mortality risk. Our aim was to assess the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and total mortality in middle-aged adults from the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project. We followed 15,535 Spanish university graduates for a mean of 6.8 y. Their mean age was 38 ± 12 y, 59.6% were females, and all were initially free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. A validated FFQ was used to assess dietary habits. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was categorized into 3 groups according to the Mediterranean Diet Score (low, 0-2 points; moderate, 3-5 points; and high, 6-9 points). The outcome variable was total mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate HR and 95% CI. We adjusted the estimates for sex, age, years of university education, BMI, smoking, physical activity, television watching, history of depression and baseline hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. We observed 125 deaths during 105,980 person-years of follow-up. The fully adjusted HR for moderate and high adherence were 0.58 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.99; P = 0.05) and 0.38 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.70; P = 0.002), respectively. For each 2-point increment in the Mediterranean Diet Score, the HR of death was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.58, 0.91; P = 0.006). Among highly educated, middle-aged adults, adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced risk of death.

Objectives: Our aim was to investigate the association between sleeping hours at night and during the siesta and the incidence of obesity in a Mediterranean cohort. Methods: After a median of 6.5 years of follow-up, we included 10,532 or 9,470 participants without chronic disease or obesity at baseline for analyzing the association between the incidence of obesity and nocturnal sleep duration or having siesta. Sleeping hours and siesta were assessed at baseline. Weight was recorded at baseline and every 2 years during the follow-up. The outcome was the incidence of obesity during follow-up among participants with initial BMI <30 kg/m². Results: During follow-up we observed 446 new cases of obesity in the analysis of nocturnal sleep duration. Sleeping less than 5 h at night was associated with a higher risk of becoming obese compared to sleeping between 7 and <8 h (HR 1.94; 95% CI 1.19-3.18; p for quadratic trend = 0.06) after adjusting for potential confounders. During follow-up, we observed 396 incident cases of obesity in the analysis of siesta. Those who took a siesta for 30 min/day had a 33% lower risk of becoming obese (HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.46-0.96; p for quadratic trend = 0.13) compared to those who did not take siesta. Conclusion: Our results suggest that short nocturnal sleep duration could be a modifiable risk factor for obesity. It is possible that this association may be stronger among men and subjects who experienced previous weight gain. Additionally, siesta might be a novel and independent protective factor for obesity; however, confirmatory studies are needed.

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Background: The choice of a birth control method is influenced by socio-cultural and personal factors. We explored the perceived influences in women's choice of a birth control method in five European countries (Germany, France, the U.K., Romania and Sweden), where contraception is widely used.Study design: Cross-sectional study of 1137 randomly selected women, aged 18-49 years.An anonymous, 31-item questionnaire related to birth control methods was used. Logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with partner participation in choice of a contraceptive.Results: Oral contraceptives were mainly used in Germany (54.3%), France (50.5%) and Sweden (34.6%) and condoms in the UK (29.6%) and Romania (22.9%). Sweden showed the highest use of intrauterine devices (19%). Romania had the lowest use of contraception.Oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices use were frequently suggested by providers instead of by women. Choosing the method with the partner was associated with age (OR=0.97, 95%CI 0.94-0.99), university graduate (OR=1.59, 95%CI 1.01-2.29), married (OR=1.52, 95%CI 1.01-2.29) and with using a method that requires partner's cooperation (OR=8.18,).Conclusions: Hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices are commonly recommended by providers rather than requested by women. Partner preferences are taken into account when his cooperation in the use of the method is needed. As fertility care is a male and female issue, there is still more room for actively involving both women and men in choice of a birth control method.

Overweight/obesity, CVD and type 2 diabetes are strongly associated with nutritional habits. High consumption of fried foods might increase the risk of these disorders. However, it is not clear whether the use of vegetables oils for cooking increases the risk of chronic diseases. We systematically searched for published studies that assessed the association between vegetable oil consumption including fried food consumption and the risk of overweight/obesity or weight gain, T2DM or the metabolic syndrome, and CVD or hypertension in the following databases: PubMed; Web of Science; Google Scholar. Keywords such as 'fried food' or 'vegetable oil' or 'frying' or 'frying oils' or 'dietary fats' and 'weight gain' or 'overweight' or 'obesity' or 'CHD' or 'CVD' or 'type 2 diabetes' or 'metabolic syndrome' were used in the primary search. Additional published reports were obtained through other sources. A total of twenty-three publications were included based on specific selection criteria. Based on the results of the studies included in the present systematic review, we conclude that (1) the myth that frying foods is generally associated with a higher risk of CVD is not supported by the available evidence; (2) virgin olive oil significantly reduces the risk of CVD clinical events, based on the results of a large randomised trial that included as part of the intervention the recommendation to use high amounts of virgin olive oil, also for frying foods; and (3) high consumption of fried foods is probably related to a higher risk of weight gain, though the type of oil may perhaps modify this association.