Participation in a Virtual Pediatric Intensive Lifestyle Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated adoption of telehealth, yet little is known about the impact of the transition of inperson intensive lifestyle interventions (ILIs) to virtual delivery on participant engagement and attrition. We examined the in-person to virtual transition of Bright Bodies (BB), a well-established, family-based pediatric ILI with demonstrated effectiveness. Methods: Among new participants in their first BB program, we compared engagement (defined as the proportion of classes attended of those available to participants based on enrollment timing) delivered virtually during the pandemic (4/2020 - 3/2022) versus in-person pre-pandemic (1/2018 - 12/2019). We included all participants who enrolled in BB within a sufficient timeframe to attend >10 class days. In stratified analyses, we examined the extent to which engagement in both virtual and in-person periods varied by participants age, sex, season of enrollment, and enrollment timing relative to program start. Results: New participants pre-pandemic (N = 67, in-person) and during-pandemic (N = 73, virtual) had similar baseline characteristics (55% female, mean ± SD age 11.3 ± 2.6 years). We did not observe differences in engagement by age, sex, or season in either virtual or in-person BB programs. While there were no between-group differences in engagement among participants who joined early, enrollment timing was differentially associated with engagement in virtual versus in-person periods (p = 0.048 for interaction between time period and class number of enrollment). Participants in both time periods experienced lower engagement if they enrolled late, but the median proportion of classes attended out of available classes decreased by an additional 5.5% (95% CI: 0.1%, 11.0%) for each class number delay in enrollment timing relative to the program start among participants in the virtual BB as compared to in-person BB. Conclusions: While our analyses are limited by sample size, results did not show meaningful differences in engagement between in-person and virtual BB programs among children who enrolled at the program start;late enrollment negatively affected engagement in both groups but was more pronounced in the virtual BB. Our findings support continued study of virtual pediatric ILIs and ongoing efforts to increase participant engagement in ILIs via telehealth.

Technological performance of cucumber and squash as an opportunity for post-COVID-19 economic recovery

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) are produced on small farms in the Andean tropics. Previously, the only identified use was for salads but, in the last five years, diverse applications have developed. Smoothies, juice and other combined beverages based on cucumber are new products in the food industry. Likewise, dehydrated cucumber and zucchini slices could be a new snack. In particular, transformed vegetables that have healthy kinds of bioactive and phytoterapeutic components could be used in small, local, commercial markets post-COVID-19. Fresh vegetables are not easily marketable, especially with post-COVID-19 limitations in affected latitudes, but dehydrated cucumber and zucchini offer simple processing lines in the farmer-producer-transformer-consumer chain. “Junk food” sees high consumption by children and young people, resulting in poor nutrition and predisposition for obesity and other non-communicable illnesses in future adults. Healthy snacks are required for a radical change in food habits. Fresh cucumber and zucchini slices were dehydrated with two methods: direct convection and irradiance, providing crisp slices. Osmotic dehydration was applied with NaCl2 solutions, from 1 to 3%. Natural flavors, pepper and paprika and sea salt spices, were included in the osmotic solutions to make the flavor of the slices more attractive for consumers. The slice thickness varied from 0.3 to 0.5 cm, providing the most desirable product. The slices flavored with paprika or pepper were accepted by the panel without differences for the zucchini slices, while, for the cucumber slices flavored with sea salt spices, thin slices were preferred because of the texture. According to the results, cucumber and zucchini possess technological aptitude for producing crisp slices with good organoleptic characteristics. Simple technological processing lines should be implemented in medium and small sized food companies, thereby contributing to economic recovery under post-COVID-19 vulnerable commercial production conditions in the tropics. © 2022 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.