Background: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet seems to be inversely associated with C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration. A 14-point Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) has been developed to assess dietary compliance. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether each of the MEDAS questions as well as their final score were associated with the levels of CRP in general Spanish population. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 1411 subjects (mean age 61 years, 43.0% males) randomly selected from the general population. CRP levels were determined by a commercial ELISA kit. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by the 14-point MEDAS. Results: There was an inverse correlation between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the CRP concentration, even after adjusting by age, gender, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, body mass index, statin treatment and hypertension treatment (p = 0.041). Subjects who consume ≥2 servings of vegetables per day (p = 0.003), ≥3 pieces of fruit per day (p = 0.003), ≥1 serving of butter, margarine, or cream per day (p = 0.041) or ≥3 servings of fish/seafood per week (p = 0.058) had significantly lower levels of CRP. Conclusions: Adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet measured by a simple questionnaire is associated with lower CRP concentration. However, this association seems to be particularly related to a higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and fish.

Measurements of the phase delay of the current and force on a ring floated on a commonly available Thomson's jumping ring apparatus were performed for phase angles from 12°to 88°. The force and phase data show excellent agreement with a linear inductive model. We find that the demonstration, as usually performed with large highly conducting rings, operates in the inductance-dominated regime at 60-Hz line frequency. Stroboscopic photographs of the jumping ring, for both room-temperature and 78-K rings, confirm that the same time-averaged inductive phase lag mechanism, not an electrical transient, accounts for the jump height. We introduce a simple room-temperature demonstration that illustrates the importance of the phase lag: Despite its greater weight, a stack of thin rings will float higher than a single ring as the inductive phase lag comes to dominate the parallel resistance of the combined rings.

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