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  1. Page LM, Nor SA
    Zootaxa, 2015;3962(1):5-9.
    PMID: 26249377 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3962.1.3
    The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded (DEB 1022720) 'All Cypriniformes Species Inventory' was initiated in 2010 and will be completed in 2015.  It has accelerated the rate of discovery and description of cypriniform fishes, expanded our knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships of cypriniforms, increased the capacity for systematic research in other countries through student training and establishing long-term collaborations, including conferences in Thailand in 2012, Brunei in 2013, Burundi in 2013, and Malaysia in 2014, led to the formation of the Asian Society of Ichthyologists, and made available large numbers of specimens and tissues of freshwater fishes, including many species never before collected, in permanent collections in foreign and U.S. institutions.
  2. Deein G, Tangjitjaroen W, Page LM
    Zootaxa, 2014;3779:341-52.
    PMID: 24871728 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3779.3.2
    Lepidocephalus has been assumed to include only two species and confined to peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia. However, based on records and collections reported herein, the genus contains five species and is most common in the Chao Phraya basin of Thailand. Large rivers seem to be the preferred habitat, and difficulty in collecting these rivers may account for the paucity of specimens in collections. The known range of these five species includes western and southern Borneo, Java, Sumatra, peninsular Malaysia, and central Thailand.
  3. Page LM, Chen WJ, Ciccotto PJ
    Zootaxa, 2018 Sep 13;4476(1):5.
    PMID: 30313338 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4476.1.3
    The Asian Society of Ichthyologists (ASI) was established in February 2014 in Penang, Malaysia following organizational meetings in 2012 in Chiang Mai, Thailand and in 2013 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
  4. Boyd DA, Nithirojpakdee P, Deein G, Vidthayanon C, Grudpan C, Tangjitjaroen W, et al.
    Zootaxa, 2017 Oct 31;4341(2):151-192.
    PMID: 29245684 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4341.2.1
    Acantopsis (Cobitidae) is revised based on analysis of morphological and molecular data. Four of the six available names, A. dialuzona, A. spectabilis, A. octoactinotos, and A. thiemmedhi, are valid, and three new species, A. rungthipae, A. dinema, and A. ioa, are described. All species are described morphologically, distributions are mapped, and relationships are discussed for those for which molecular data (CO1, RAG1) are available. Labial barbels, color pattern, and meristic counts are the most diagnostic features. Although the long snout of Acantopsis is perhaps the most emblematic attribute of the genus, its relative length increases with growth, reducing its taxonomic value. Species can be difficult to identify on the basis of color pattern alone, as habitat and preservation methods appear to strongly influence the color pattern. Despite interspecific overlap of some highly variable traits, each species has a unique set of morphological characteristics that remain observable even when the color pattern is obscured, and some species are restricted to single drainages, greatly simplifying identification. The phylogenetic analyses revealed high molecular divergence between even the most morphologically similar species, with mean uncorrected CO1 p-distances between species ranging from 12.1-15.4%. Species of Acantopsis exhibit significant genetic structuring consistent with recognized freshwater ecoregions. Acanthopsis lachnostoma Rutter 1897, from Swatow, China, is not assignable to Acantopsis.
  5. Boatwright M, Lawrence M, Carriedo A, Slater S, McCoy D, Northcott T, et al.
    PMID: 39620519 DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.8310
    BACKGROUND: The importance of the international food regulatory system to global health, is often overlooked. There are calls to reform this system to promote healthy and sustainable food systems centred on the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the United Nation's (UN's) standard-setting body. Yet this presents a significant political challenge, given Codex has historically prioritized food safety risks over wider harms to public health, and is dominated by powerful food exporting nations and industry groups with a primary interest in trade expansion. To better understand this challenge, we examine who participates and contests Codex standards, using the development of the new Guidelines on Front-of-pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) as a case study.

    METHODS: The study involved: (i) collecting Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) documents (2016-2023); (ii) identification, categorization, and enumeration of actors involved in the development of the Guidelines; and (iii) guided by a constructivist framework, analysis of how actors framed and contested key provisions of the Guidelines.

    RESULTS: Country representation was skewed towards high-income (47.9%). Member state delegations were dominated by non-health ministries (59.8%) and industry actors (16.1%). Industry actors comprised the large majority of observers (84.2%) and civil society actors representing public health interests the least (12.2%). Commercial actors used frames supporting positive FOPNL messages (eg, low in salt) opposing negative ones (eg, "high-in" sugar warnings) and called for product exemptions (eg, sports foods and baby foods). Public health actors used frames supporting simplified FOPNL to reduce consumer confusion, that hold up public health goals, and prevent inappropriate marketing.

    CONCLUSION: Participation in the Guidelines development process suggests stronger preferences for trade facilitation and commerce over public health. Ambitions to reform the international food regulatory system may require an examination of who participates and how to address this asymmetrical representation of interests. These results suggest the need to greatly strengthen public health representation at Codex.

  6. Baker P, Zambrano P, Mathisen R, Singh-Vergeire MR, Escober AE, Mialon M, et al.
    Global Health, 2021 10 26;17(1):125.
    PMID: 34702285 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-021-00774-5
    BACKGROUND: The aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) reduces breastfeeding, and harms child and maternal health globally. Yet forty years after the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (The Code), many countries are still to fully implement its provisions into national law. Furthermore, despite The Code, commercial milk formula (CMF) markets have markedly expanded. In this paper, we adopt the Philippines as a case study to understand the battle for national Code implementation. In particular, we investigate the market and political strategies used by the baby food industry to shape the country's 'first-food system', and in doing so, promote and sustain CMF consumption. We further investigate how breastfeeding coalitions and advocates have resisted these strategies, and generated political commitment for a world-leading breastfeeding policy framework and protection law (the 'Milk Code'). We used a case study design and process tracing method, drawing from documentary and interview data.

    RESULTS: The decline in breastfeeding in the Philippines in the mid-twentieth Century associated with intensive BMS marketing via health systems and consumer advertising. As regulations tightened, the industry more aggressively promoted CMFs for older infants and young children, thereby 'marketing around' the Milk Code. It established front groups to implement political strategies intended to weaken the country's breastfeeding policy framework while also fostering a favourable image. This included lobbying government officials and international organizations, emphasising its economic importance and threats to foreign investment and trade, direct litigation against the government, messaging that framed marketing in terms of women's choice and empowerment, and forging partnerships. A resurgence in breastfeeding from the mid-1980s onwards reflected strengthening political commitment for a national breastfeeding policy framework and Milk Code, resulting in-turn, from collective actions by breastfeeding coalitions, advocates and mothers.

    CONCLUSION: The Philippines illustrates the continuing battle for worldwide Code implementation, and in particular, how the baby food industry uses and adapts its market and political practices to promote and sustain CMF markets. Our results demonstrate that this industry's political practices require much greater scrutiny. Furthermore, that mobilizing breastfeeding coalitions, advocacy groups and mothers is crucial to continually strengthen and protect national breastfeeding policy frameworks and Code implementation.

  7. Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, Ashtree DN, McGuinness AJ, Gauci S, et al.
    BMJ, 2024 Feb 28;384:e077310.
    PMID: 38418082 DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2023-077310
    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the existing meta-analytic evidence of associations between exposure to ultra-processed foods, as defined by the Nova food classification system, and adverse health outcomes.

    DESIGN: Systematic umbrella review of existing meta-analyses.

    DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, as well as manual searches of reference lists from 2009 to June 2023.

    ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort, case-control, and/or cross sectional study designs. To evaluate the credibility of evidence, pre-specified evidence classification criteria were applied, graded as convincing ("class I"), highly suggestive ("class II"), suggestive ("class III"), weak ("class IV"), or no evidence ("class V"). The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations) framework, categorised as "high," "moderate," "low," or "very low" quality.

    RESULTS: The search identified 45 unique pooled analyses, including 13 dose-response associations and 32 non-dose-response associations (n=9 888 373). Overall, direct associations were found between exposure to ultra-processed foods and 32 (71%) health parameters spanning mortality, cancer, and mental, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and metabolic health outcomes. Based on the pre-specified evidence classification criteria, convincing evidence (class I) supported direct associations between greater ultra-processed food exposure and higher risks of incident cardiovascular disease related mortality (risk ratio 1.50, 95% confidence interval 1.37 to 1.63; GRADE=very low) and type 2 diabetes (dose-response risk ratio 1.12, 1.11 to 1.13; moderate), as well as higher risks of prevalent anxiety outcomes (odds ratio 1.48, 1.37 to 1.59; low) and combined common mental disorder outcomes (odds ratio 1.53, 1.43 to 1.63; low). Highly suggestive (class II) evidence indicated that greater exposure to ultra-processed foods was directly associated with higher risks of incident all cause mortality (risk ratio 1.21, 1.15 to 1.27; low), heart disease related mortality (hazard ratio 1.66, 1.51 to 1.84; low), type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 1.40, 1.23 to 1.59; very low), and depressive outcomes (hazard ratio 1.22, 1.16 to 1.28; low), together with higher risks of prevalent adverse sleep related outcomes (odds ratio 1.41, 1.24 to 1.61; low), wheezing (risk ratio 1.40, 1.27 to 1.55; low), and obesity (odds ratio 1.55, 1.36 to 1.77; low). Of the remaining 34 pooled analyses, 21 were graded as suggestive or weak strength (class III-IV) and 13 were graded as no evidence (class V). Overall, using the GRADE framework, 22 pooled analyses were rated as low quality, with 19 rated as very low quality and four rated as moderate quality.

    CONCLUSIONS: Greater exposure to ultra-processed food was associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality outcomes. These findings provide a rationale to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of using population based and public health measures to target and reduce dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for improved human health. They also inform and provide support for urgent mechanistic research.

    SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42023412732.

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