Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on depressed mood

Background: The debate over a role for n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) in depressed mood continues.

Effects of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on depressed mood: Systematic review of published trials.

Background: Greater dietary intakes of n–3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n–3 PUFAs) may be beneficial for depressed mood. Objective: This study aimed to systematically review all published randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of n–3 PUFAs on depressed mood. Design: Eight medical and health databases were searched over all years of records until June 2006 for trials that exposed participants to n–3 PUFAs or fish, measured depressed mood, were conducted on human participants, and included a comparison group. Results: Eighteen randomized controlled trials were identified; 12 were included in a meta-analysis. The pooled standardized difference in mean outcome (fixed-effects model) was 0.13 SDs (95% CI: 0.01, 0.25) in those receiving n–3 PUFAs compared with placebo, with strong evidence of heterogeneity (I2 = 79%, P <0.001). The presence of funnel plot asymmetry suggested that publication bias was the likely source of heterogeneity. Sensitivity analyses that excluded one large trial increased the effect size estimates but did not reduce heterogeneity. Metaregression provided some evidence that the effect was stronger in trials involving populations with major depression—the difference in the effect size estimates was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.05, 1.41; P = 0.04), but there was still considerable heterogeneity when trials that involved populations with major depression were pooled separately (I2 = 72%, P <0.001). Conclusions: Trial evidence that examines the effects of n–3 PUFAs on depressed mood is limited and is difficult to summarize and evaluate because of considerable heterogeneity. The evidence available provides little support for the use of n–3 PUFAs to improve depressed mood. Larger trials with adequate power to detect clinically important benefits are required.

The New Face of Global Hollywood: Black Hawk Down and the Politics of Meta-Sovereignty

This paper uses Ridley Scott’s 2001 film blockbuster Black Hawk Down to examine the claim that popular film is the ‘newest component of sovereignty’. While the topic of the film – the 1993 UN/US intervention in Somalia – lends itself to straightforward politicisation, this paper is equally interested in the film’s production history and its reception by global audiences. While initial reactions to the film focused on its ideological commitments (e.g. racism, collusion between Hollywood and the Pentagon, post-11 September patriotism), these readings continually posed an imagined ‘America’ against ‘the world’. This paper argues that Black Hawk Down is not about sovereignty as traditionally conceived, that is, about national interest shaping global affairs. Rather, Black Hawk Down articulates, and is articulated by, a new and emerging global order that operates through inclusion, management and flexibility. Drawing on recent theoretical debates over this new logic of rule, this paper illustrates how Black Hawk Down invoked much more diffuse, complex and deterritorialized categories than national sovereignty. In effect, Scott’s film goes beyond traditional notions of sovereignty altogether: its production, signification and reception deconstruct simple notions of ‘America’ and ‘the world’ in favour of what Hardt and Negri call ‘Empire’, what Zizek calls ‘post-politics’, and what we refer to as ‘meta-sovereignty’.

Dioxygenase-catalysed Oxidation of Disubstituted Benzene Substrates: Benzylic Monohydroxylation versus Aryl cis-Dihydroxylation and the Meta Effect

Biotransformations of a series of ortho-, meta- and para-substituted ethylbenzene and propylbenzene substrates have been carried out, using Pseudomonas putida UV4, a source of toluene dioxygenase (TDO). The ortho- and para-substituted alkylbenzene substrates yielded, exclusively, the corresponding enantiopure cis-dihydrodiols of the same absolute configuration. However, the meta isomers, generally, gave benzylic alcohol bioproducts, in addition to the cis-dihydrodiols (the meta effect). The benzylic alcohols were of identical (R) absolute configuration but enantiomeric excess values were variable. The similar (2R) absolute configurations of the cis-dihydrodiols are consistent with both the ethyl and propyl groups having dominant stereodirecting effects over the other substituents. The model used earlier, to predict the regio- and stereo-chemistry of cis-dihydrodiol bioproducts derived from substituted benzene substrates has been refined, to take account of non-symmetric subsituents like ethyl or propyl groups. The formation of benzylic hydroxylation products, from meta-substituted benzene substrates, without further cis-dihydroxylation to yield triols provides a further example of the meta effect during toluene dioxygenase-catalysed oxidations.

Depressed mood and dietary fish intake: Direct relationship or indirect relationship as a result of diet and lifestyle?

Previous studies have suggested an association between depressed mood and the dietary intake of fish. In all cases, however, dietary fish intake has been considered at the exclusion of all other aspects of the diet. This analysis investigates associations between depressed mood and dietary fish intake, while also concurrently investigating intake of a number of other dietary components. The analysis is conducted on data from 10,602 men from Northern Ireland and France screened for inclusion into the PRIME cohort study. Depressed mood was assessed using a self-report questionnaire based on the Welsh Pure Depression sub-scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, diet was assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire, and limited demographics were also measured. Using regression, depressed mood is initially inversely associated with dietary fish intake. On inclusion of all other dietary variables, the strength of this relationship reduces but remains, and significant associations with a number of other foods are also found. On additional inclusion of all demographic variables, the strength of the above relationships again reduces, and associations with various measures of socio-economic status and education are also significant. These findings suggest that depressed mood is associated with fish intake both directly, and indirectly as part of a diet that is associated with depression and as part of a lifestyle that is associated with depression. Additional support for these conclusions is also provided in the pattern of associations between depressed mood and diet in the two countries. The relative contributions of fish intake to depressed mood both directly and indirectly are yet to be determined. However, while diet is not measured and until lifestyle can be adequately measured, the potential roles of diet and lifestyle in the association between depressed mood and dietary fish intake should not be ignored.