ABSTRACT
Background Overweight/obesity in children are a global health issue. Preschool age is an important stage of children's growth and development and dietary behaviors, so it is crucial to explore dietary behavior characteristics and childhood overweight/obesity. Objective To explore the association between dietary behavior characteristics and overweight/obesity in preschool children in Shanghai, and the consistency of children's eating behavior characteristics with their parents'. Methods The children aged 3 to 6 years in 5 kindergartens in Shanghai in 2015 were selected by convenience sampling and surveyed. Their height and weight were measured. Children's and parents' dietary behavior characteristics were self-reported by their parents. According to the weight-for-height recommended by the World Health Organization, excess weight was calculated by the following formula: excess-weight%=[(measured weight - standard weight)/standard weight×100%]; obese is determined at excess-weight% > 20%, overweight: excess-weight% at 10%-20%, normal weight: excess-weight% at −10%-<10%. Chi-squared test and t test were used to compare the differences of demographic and dietary behavior characteristics between overweight/obese and normal weight children. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between dietary behaviors and overweight/obesity. The consistency of dietary behavior characteristics was tested between children and their parents. Results Among the 897 preschool children, 217 (24.2%) were overweight/obese and 680 (75.8%) were of normal weight. The birth weight [(3439±472) g vs. (3361±418) g] and proportion of monthly household income < 10000 yuan (17.1% vs. 10.7%) in the overweight/obese children were significantly higher than those in the normal weight children, and there were no statistical differences in sex, age, gestational age, time of adding complementary foods, outdoor activities after school every day, and parental BMI. After adjusting for potential confounders such as sex, age, household income, outdoor activities after school every day, and parental overweight/obesity, frequently having puffed food (OR=2.46, 95%CI: 1.20-4.95), western-style fast food (OR=3.52, 95%CI: 1.41-8.79), and carbonated drinks (OR=2.92, 95%CI: 1.37-6.13), often eating a lot (OR=1.51, 95%CI: 1.09-2.08) and having a good appetite (OR=2.60, 95%CI: 1.87-3.62), having regular meals (OR=1.48, 95%CI: 1.07-2.03), and fast eating (OR=3.37, 95%CI: 2.10-5.42) were positively associated with children's overweight/obesity (P<0.05). Children's partial/picky eating was inconsistent with fathers' behavior (P<0.05), while the other dietary behaviors were similar with both mothers' and fathers'. Conclusion Eating behavior characteristics of preschool children are associated with overweight/obesity, and affected by their parents. Early identifying dietary behavior problems and improving dietary habits of children might be an effective strategy in preventing and controlling the occurrence and development of obesity in childhood.
ABSTRACT
Speech expression is an important high-level cognitive behavior of human beings. The realization of this behavior is closely related to human brain activity. Both true speech expression and speech imagination can activate part of the same brain area. Therefore, speech imagery becomes a new paradigm of brain-computer interaction. Brain-computer interface (BCI) based on speech imagery has the advantages of spontaneous generation, no training, and friendliness to subjects, so it has attracted the attention of many scholars. However, this interactive technology is not mature in the design of experimental paradigms and the choice of imagination materials, and there are many issues that need to be discussed urgently. Therefore, in response to these problems, this article first expounds the neural mechanism of speech imagery. Then, by reviewing the previous BCI research of speech imagery, the mainstream methods and core technologies of experimental paradigm, imagination materials, data processing and so on are systematically analyzed. Finally, the key problems and main challenges that restrict the development of this type of BCI are discussed. And the future development and application perspective of the speech imaginary BCI system are prospected.