Organic food and obesity: factors influencing actual purchase of organic food in COVID-19 pandemic with moderating role of organic food availability

Purpose: Organic food consumption decreases the risk of becoming obese or overweight. This study intends to see the influence of customer perceived value, COVID-19 fear, food neophobia, effort and natural content on the intention to purchase organic food (IPOF) that leads to the actual purchase of organic food (APOF). Moreover, organic food availability is a moderator between IPOF and APOF. Design/methodology/approach: PLS-SEM is used for hypothesis testing. A purposive sampling technique was followed to gather data from organic food consumers in Lahore, Gujranwala and Islamabad and a total of 479 questionnaires were part of the analysis. Findings The outcomes show that customer perceived value, effort and natural content is positively related to IPOF. Despite this, COVID-19 fear and food neophobia are negatively associated with IPOF. IPOF and organic food availability are positively related to APOF. Finally, organic food availability significantly moderated between IPOF and APOF. Practical implications: This study outcome reveals that companies of organic food can recognize customer perceived value, COVID-19 fear, food neophobia, effort, natural content and organic food availability in their decision-making if they determine the actual purchase of organic food. This study offers a valuable policy to companies of organic food to enhance customer's behavior in purchasing organic food in Pakistan. Besides, practitioners and academicians can benefit from this study finding. Originality/value: This initial research integrates customer perceived value, COVID-19 fear, food neophobia, effort, natural content, IPOF and organic food availability to determine APOF in the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, consumption value theory is followed to develop the framework.

Association between diet quality and BMI with side effects of pfizer-biontech COVID-19 vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G titers. (Special Issue: The relationship between nutrition and COVID-19.)

Purpose: The nutritional and anthropometric status can be essential in determining their immune response to vaccines. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the association between diet quality and anthropometric indices with the side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G titer among Kurdish adults. Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022. This paper included data on 115 adults, 20-89 years old, from the Kurdistan region. Dietary information was collected using a short food frequency questionnaire, and diet quality was assessed using a plant-based healthy diet score. A blood test was performed to measure the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobin G (IgG) titer after the vaccination's first and second doses. Findings: Overweight and obese subjects reported more local pain, myalgia, headache, local bruising and local reactions after receiving the first dose of the vaccine (p = 0.04). People on a less healthy diet reported more local pain, myalgia and headache (p = 0.04) and more local bruising and reactions (p = 0.01) after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. On the other hand, the authors observed that those with healthy dietary habits had more IgG titer after the first and second doses of vaccination than those with less healthy dietary habits (p = 0.001). Originality/valueThe results showed that participants with a healthy diet and normal weight status had fewer side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine than obese people and those with a less healthy diet.

Perceived stress negatively affects diet quality and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 lockdown period, in Greece. (Special Issue: The relationship between nutrition and COVID-19.)

Purpose: The pandemic of COVID-19 led to considerable challenges with respect to people's health, dietary behavior and satisfaction with life. This study aims to investigate perceived stress levels, in relation to diet quality and life satisfaction in Greek adults, during the COVID-19 lockdown. Design/methodology/approach: This is a cross-sectional study which took place in Greece in the course of the strict lockdown period, in the third COVID-19 wave. A sample of 2,029 adults aged 18 years and above participated in an online survey. The questionnaire consisted of questions on sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics. The Perceived Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Mediterranean Diet Assessment Tool were also used. Findings: Linear regression has shown that women (p < 0.0001), younger individuals (p < 0.0001), obese individuals (p = 0.047), those with lower levels of satisfaction with life (p < 0.0001) and lower adherence to Mediterranean diet (p = 0.0001) were positively associated with higher levels of stress. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study conducted in Greece aiming at investigating concurrently, levels of perceived stress, with respect to levels of satisfaction with life and diet quality in adults, during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Fast-Food Density on Obesity during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK: A Multi-Timepoint Study on British Cohort Data

Poor food environments are considered to trigger obesity and related health complications by restricting the local food options to predominantly low quality, energy-dense foods. This study investigated the impact of the food environment on obesity with a focus on any changes that might have occurred around the COVID lockdown period in the UK when majority of the population relied on food delivery and the local food environments. The proportion of fast-food retailers in the area and the Retail Food Environment Index (RFEI) were calculated for participants of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) at three timepoints: pre-COVID (2016), the first UK nation-wide lockdown (April–May 2020) and post lockdown (September–October 2020). The association of the food environment and the odds of obesity was estimated through multivariable logistic regression, with adjustments being made for selected socioeconomic variables. A model using the fast-food proportion as the sole predictor estimated that higher fast-food proportion increased the odds of obesity by 2.41 in 2016, 2.89 during the lockdown and 1.34 post lockdown, compared with 1.87, 2.23, and 0.73, respectively, for the same three periods with adjustments being made for select socioeconomic variables. On the other hand, RFEI increased the odds of obesity only slightly at 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03, respectively, with the model with adjustments yielding respective similar values. The fast-food proportion model indicates that proximity to a poor food environment is linked to obesity, especially during the COVID lockdown period, but the impact of a poor-food environment is limited if the RFEI is used as its indicator. The findings will add much needed insights on the UK data and will inform public health planning and policy.

Association between Overweight/Obesity and the Safety and Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to appraise the interrelation between overweight/obesity and the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination by synthesizing the currently available evidence. METHODS: A systematic review of published studies on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in people who were overweight or obese was conducted. Databases including Embase, Medline Epub (Ovid), PsychInfo (Ovid), Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar were searched to identify relevant studies. The databases of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) were also searched for relevant unpublished and gray literature. RESULTS: Fifteen studies were included in the review. All the included studies used observational study designs; there were ten cohort studies and five cross-sectional studies. The sample size of these studies ranged from 21 to 9,171,524. Thirteen studies reported using BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech, USA), four reported using ChAdOx-nCov19 (AstraZeneca, U.K), two were reported using CoronaVac (Sinovac, China), and two were reported using mRNA1273 (Moderna, USA). The efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines have been extensively studied in individuals with overweight/obesity. Most studies have shown that the humoral response decreases with increasing BMI. The available evidence does not conclusively indicate that these vaccines are generally safe in this population. CONCLUSION: While the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine may be less than ideal in people who are overweight or obese, it does not mean that obese people should not be vaccinated, as the vaccine can still provide some protection. There is a lack of evidence for conclusions to be drawn about the safety of the vaccine in the population. This study calls on health professionals, policymakers, caregivers, and all other stakeholders to focus on monitoring the possible adverse effects of injections in overweight/obese people.

Secular change in selected motor performance parameters and BMI in Swiss primary school children from 2014-2021: The Sportcheck+ study.

It is important to monitor secular trends in children's motor performance, as healthy and physically active children are more likely to become healthy and physically active adults. However, studies with regular and standardized monitoring of motor performance in childhood are scarce. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on secular trends is unknown. This study describes secular changes in balancing backwards, jumping sidewards, 20-m sprint, 20-m Shuttle Run Test (SRT) and anthropometric data in 10'953 Swiss first graders from 2014 to 2021. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to estimate secular trends for boys vs. girls, lean vs. overweight and fit vs. unfit children. The potential influence of COVID-19 was also analysed. Balance performance decreased (2.8% per year), whereas we found improvements for jumping (1.3% per year) and BMI (-0.7% per year). 20-m SRT performance increased by 0.6% per year in unfit children. Children affected by COVID-19 measures had an increased BMI and were more overweight and obese, but motor performance was mostly higher. In our sample, secular changes in motor performance show promising tendencies from 2014 to 2021. The effects of COVID-19 mitigation measures on BMI, overweight and obesity should be monitored in additional birth cohorts and follow-up studies.

Corrigendum: Chrononutrition behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship with body weight among college students.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1079069.].

Excess Weight in Relation to Lifestyle Habits in Spanish First-Year University Students: Differences between Pre- and Post-COVID-19-A Serial Cross-Sectional Study Based on uniHcos Project.

The objective of this research was to study the relationship between the body weight and diet, physical activity, and other habits among freshmen students by sex, and to determine whether these habits have changed during the post-era of the COVID-19 pandemic. A serial cross-sectional study with data from 11 Spanish universities was carried out. In total, 10,096 first-year university students (73.2% female, mean age = 19.0 ± 1.5 years) completed an online self-administered questionnaire between 2012 and 2022. For some analyses, questionnaires were categorized by the year in which the survey was filled out as Before COVID-19, Lockdown, and New Normal. In total, 72.9% of participants were within the normal weight range, and 17.7% of men and 11.8% of women were overweight (p < 0.001). The students who did not meet the WHO criteria of physical activity, spent more than 7 h per day sitting, and skipped breakfast had a higher prevalence of obesity (p < 0.05). According to the period of study, the prevalence of overweight/obesity Before COVID-19 was 16.1% (95% CI: 15.4-16.9%), while in Lockdown the prevalence was significantly higher (20.2, 95% CI: 17.1-23.8) and in New Normal it was 18.9% (CI: 15.7-22.5). Moreover, the study suggests that during the Lockdown period, there was a reduction in the practice of physical activity and an increase in the prevalence of a healthy diet. For all these, it is necessary to propose public health interventions that improve the lifestyles of university students.

Investigating factors affecting hospitalization of patients with mucormycosis after contracting COVID-19: a systematic review

Regarding the investigation of the factors related to the hospitalization of patients with Mucormycosis after being infected with Covid-19, several preliminary studies have been conducted in the hospital, but these studies were conducted in a small environment and have a smaller sample size. Therefore, the aim of the present systematic review study is to examine the factors affecting the hospitalization of patients with mucormycosis after being infected with covid-19. Methods: The current systematic review study was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines (preferred reporting items for systematic seviews and meta-analyses). For this study, the keywords "2019-nCoV", "COVID-19", "SARS-CoV-2", "Coronaviruses", "Hospitaliz", "Factor" and "Mucormycosis" in MagIran, SID, ISI, embase databases, ProQuest, PubMed, scopus were searched. Results: diabetes mellitus, old age, high body mass index, kidney disease, high blood pressure and smoking significantly increase the need for hospitalization in patients with mucormycosis after contracting covid-19. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the risk of hospitalization due to Mucormycosis after the covid-19 disease is significantly related to obesity, old age and underlying diseases..

Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in medical decision systems (MDSSs): healthcare systems perspective

The healthcare sector is very interested in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Nevertheless, applying AI applications in scientific contexts is difficult due to explainability issues. Explainable AI (XAI) has been studied as a potential remedy for the problems with current AI methods. The usage of ML with XAI may be capable of both explaining models and making judgments, in contrast to AI techniques like deep learning. Computer applications called medical decision support systems (MDSS) affect the decisions doctors make regarding certain patients at a specific moment. MDSS has played a crucial role in systems' attempts to improve patient safety and the standard of care, particularly for non-communicable illnesses. They have moreover been a crucial prerequisite for effectively utilizing electronic healthcare (EHRs) data. This chapter offers a broad overview of the application of XAI in MDSS toward various infectious diseases, summarizes recent research on the use and effects of MDSS in healthcare with regard to non-communicable diseases, and offers suggestions for users to keep in mind as these systems are incorporated into healthcare systems and utilized outside of contexts for research and development.

Influence of perioperative oral nutritional supplementation on short-term efficacy of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy for obesity patients: a prospective study

Objective: To investigate the effect of perioperative oral nutritional supplementation on the short-term curative effect of obese patients after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Methods: A prospective research method was adopted. The clinical data of 218 obese patients who underwent LSG in Ningxia Medical University General Hospital from January 2018 to December 2021 were selected. The patients who received oral nutritional supplement therapy during the perioperative period were set as the experimental group, and those who received conventional treatment were set as the control group. Observation indicators: (1) Grouping of enrolled patients. (2) Postoperative and follow-up situation. (3) Nutrition-related indicators. (4) Diet compliance. (5) Status of weight loss-related indicators. Follow-up visits were conducted by telephone, We Chat and outpatient visits. The patients were followed up once 30 days after discharge, including albumin (Alb), hemoglobin (Hb), dietary compliance and weight loss-related indicators. The follow-up time will end in February 2022. The measurement data with normal distribution were expressed as x+or-s, and the comparison between groups was performed by independent sample t test. The measurement data is represented by M (range), and the comparison between groups is performed by Mann?Whitney U test. Enumeration data were expressed as absolute numbers or percentages, and the X2 test was used for comparison between groups. Repeated measures data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance. The rank sum test was used to compare the rank data. Results (1) Grouping of the enrolled patients. Screened 218 eligible patients;42 males and 176 females;age (32+or-9) years;body mass index (BMI) (39+or-7) kg/m2. Among the 218 patients, there were 109 cases in the test group and 109 cases in the control group. Gender (male, female), age, BMI, preoperative Alb, and preoperative Hb of patients in the test group were 17 and 92 cases, (33+or-9) years old, (39+or-7) kg/m2, (40.6+or-4.8) g /L, (141.7+or-13.9) g/L;the above indicators in the control group were 25 and 84 cases, (31+or-8) years old, (39+or-8) kg/m2, (40.9+or-4.2) g/L, (142.9+or-9.7) g/L;there was no significant difference in the above (X2=1.89, t=-1.52, 0.51, 0.40, 0.71, P > 0.05). (2) Postoperative and follow-up situation. The first hospitalization time and first hospitalization expenses of the patients in the experimental group were (9.1+or-2.9) d and (3.6+or-0.5) ten thousand yuan respectively;the above indicators of the patients in the control group were (4.9+or-1.0) ten thousand yuan respectively;There were statistically significant differences in the above indicators between the two groups (t=5.58, 12.38, P < 0.05). Among the 218 patients, 119 were followed up, including 62 in the experimental group and 57 in the control group. The 119 patients were followed up for 31.0 (25.0-38.0) days. Among the 218 patients, 14 cases had postoperative complications and led to rehospitalization, including 2 cases in the experimental group, 1 case of nausea and vomiting and 1 case of intestinal obstruction;12 cases in the control group, 10 cases of nausea and vomiting, gastric fistula 2 cases;there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in hospital readmission (X2=7.63, P < 0.05). The time interval between re-admission and first discharge of 14 patients was (22.0+or-6.7) days. (3) Nutrition-related indicators. The Alb and Hb levels of 62 patients in the experimental group who were followed up before operation, before the first discharge, and 1 month after operation were (40.4+or-5.5) g/L, (35.9+or-3.8) g/L, (45.4+or-2.9) g/L, respectively and (140.8+or-13.9) g/L, (130.5+or-16.9) g/L, (147.8+or-17.2) g/L;the above indicators of 57 patients in the control group were (41.2+or-3.9) g/L, (34.2 +or-3.9) g/L, (42.7+or-5.3) g/L and (143.0+or-9.7) g/L, (122.9+or-12.8) g/L, (139.0+or-11.4) g/L;There was a statistically significant difference between the Alb and Hb groups from preoperative to postoperative 1 mont

Effects of Critical Components of Home Office on Ergonomics of Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 has impacted our education system in various ways and to compensate the losses, teachers had to make quick transition from face to face teaching to online mode of teaching. This unexpected transition has entailed challenges and constraints for the health all of us. Objective: To find the effect of critical components of home-office on the ergonomics of workers. Study type, settings and duration: This cross sectional survey was conducted at Riphah International University (all departments), Lahore Grammar School, Lahore and Minhaj University, Lahore from March to June 2020. Methodology: This was a cross sectional survey on computer workers and faculty from educational setups such as university centers in an attempt to determine the effects of critical components of home-office on the ergonomics of the workers. The sample size was calculated to N=80. As per inclusion criteria, workers and members of faculty working on computers from Lahore, had worked from home-office during the lock down for consistent 4 months and the working should be synchronous, were included in this study. REBA questionnaire was used to collect data from the workers in person. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to find the impact of home-office components on the ergonomics of the workers. Results: The study found that 57% of computer workers between 26-30 years had a high risk index for poor ergonomics, with moderate changes in 71.3% of the population. The REBA score represents MSD risk for the job task and the design goal is 4. Conclusion: From this study it was concluded that nearly 70% of the population was having an ergonomically poor posture while working. In addition to that, in nearly half of the population the risk was significant.

Risk factors associated with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in people's lifestyles, mainly in healthy eating habits and behaviors. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the association of eating habits, family eating behaviors, lifestyles, and perception of nutritional status with the risk of overnutrition in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 661 Chilean children and adolescents. The study tool was an online self-report questionnaire taken during the COVID-19 lockdown. We observed overnutrition in 37.5%. Habits such as sleeping the recommended number of hours by age group and having healthy family behaviors decreased the risk of overnutrition by 49.0% (OR= 0.510, p= <0.001) and 10.8% (OR= 0.892, p= 0.01), respectively. Parents' perception of weight gain during the pande-mic, the distortion of nutritional status and the health risk of their children's nutritional status increased 4.8 (OR= 4.846, p= <0.001), 8.5 (OR= 8.580, p= <0.001) and 3.8 (OR= 3.826, p= <0.001) times, respectively, the risk of overnutrition in children and adolescents. In conclusion, the COVID-19 lockdown and school closures may have affected lifestyles. In addition, the role of parents in the perception of nutritional status and family eating behaviors is fundamental since they could be a predictor of the risk of overnutrition. These findings propose further research to design plans and programs to avoid the consequences related to overweight and obesity.Copyright © 2023, Sociedad Chilena de Nutricion Bromatologia y Toxilogica. All rights reserved.

Clinical nutrition or nutrition clinic

Introduction: The diagnosis of malnutrition has had a difficult historical process and its concept has gone through numerous attempts to define it. The word undernourishment and especially the term malnutrition creates a lot of confusion among scholars of the subject. In the last decade, various consensuses have emerged to classify malnutrition associated with diseases together with the burden represented by overweight and obesity in the presence of chronic and acute diseases. Background: To identify how new technologies improve knowledge of nutritional disorders through the description and integration of their body compartments, but they are not available to health teams or patients in various work settings. Findings: Nutrition is a science made up of a set of scientific disciplines that range from exact sciences to political sciences. The application of the clinical method as a modality of the scientific method makes it necessary to consider nutrition also with this vision and not as the last option of the doctor in a diagnostic or therapeutic intervention, contaminated by myths, taboos and cultural prejudices. Clinical medicine provides hard skills acquired in the form of knowledge and skills throughout pre-professional and postgraduate training, which together with soft skills will guarantee successful work, including hostile, toxic and/or chaotic cultural environments. Conclusions: There are tendencies to follow patterns and guides of societies in countries with great financial and technological resources for research, which are not always in line with our realities. The appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed new challenges and serious threats to both people and health systems globally, significantly affecting elderly patients, those with cancer and chronic diseases, along with the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, obesity with that of the Coronavirus.

The effect of Metformin on improving survival among obese and diabetic patients affected with COVID-19: findings of a meta-analysis

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is one of the major non-communicable diseases among patients suffering from COVID-19, which increases the likelihood of hospital admission mortality. While Metformin has been found effective in reducing the mortality associated with COVID-19, there is a need to update the existing meta-analyses and quantitively synthesize the findings regarding the effect of Metformin in reducing mortality. Methods: We undertook a meta-analysis of 21 studies after searching for epidemiological studies systematically in PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, and Science Direct. We used odds ratios and their respective 95% confidence interval (CI) for a binary outcome, which was mortality, to examine the effect of Metformin on mortality. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic and Q-test statistics. We evaluated the publication bias using a funnel plot, which was further confirmed by eager test statistics. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Overall, the findings revealed that Metformin reduced mortality by about 35%, and the results were statistically significant (OR= 0.66;95% CI 0.62 to 0.69;p < 0.05). This revealed that patients who took Metformin had improved survival by more than one-third than those who were not given Metformin. We found a relatively higher heterogeneity with an I2 value of 85.60% (Chi-squared = 138.85). The inverted funnel plot for the findings for the effect of Metformin on mortality was asymmetrical with test statistics for an eager test of -3.64 and a P-value of 0.002. Conclusion: The present updated meta-analysis revealed a positive effect of Metformin in reducing mortality among diabetic patients suffering from COVID-19. However, before implementing Metformin at a larger scale, clinicians and endocrinologists need to assess the risks versus benefits associated with Metformin for diabetic patients of COVID-19. Also, future studies are warranted to investigate the effects of Metformin for non-diabetic patients.

Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of structured programming and a parent intervention to mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the initial feasibility and preliminary efficacy of providing children a free summer day camp and a parent intervention to improve self-regulation and mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain. METHODS: This pilot 2x2 factorial randomized control trial used a mixed-methods design to evaluate providing children a free summer day camp (SCV), a parent intervention (PI), and the combination of these two strategies (SCV+PI) to mitigate accelerated summer body mass index (BMI) gain. Progression criteria for feasibility and efficacy were assessed to determine if a full-scale trial was warranted. Feasibility criteria included recruitment capability (≥80 participants recruited) retention (≥70% participants retained), compliance (≥80% of participants attending the summer program with children attending ≥60% of program days, and ≥80% of participants completing goal setting calls with ≥60% of weeks syncing their child's Fitbit), and treatment fidelity (≥80% of summer program days delivered for ≥9 h/day, and ≥80% of participant texts delivered). Efficacy criteria were assessed via achieving a clinically meaningful impact on zBMI (i.e., ≥0.15). Changes in BMI were estimated using intent-to-treat and post hoc dose-response analyses via multilevel mixed-effects regressions. RESULTS: For recruitment, capability and retention progression criteria were met with a total of 89 families participating and 24 participants randomized to the PI group, 21 randomized to the SCV group, 23 randomized to the SCV+PI group, and 21 randomized to the control. However, fidelity and compliance progression criteria were not achieved due to COVID-19 and lack of transportation. Progression criteria for efficacy was also not achieved as intent-to-treat analyses did not show changes in BMI gain that were clinically meaningful. Post hoc dose-response analyses showed that for each day (0 to 29) of summer programming children attended they gained -0.009 (95CI= -0.018, -0.001) less in BMI z score. CONCLUSIONS: Engagement in both the SCV and PI was not ideal due to COVID-19 and lack of transportation. Providing children with structured summer programming to mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain may be an effective strategy. However, because feasibility and efficacy progression criteria were not met, a larger trial is not warranted until further pilot work is completed to ensure children attend the programming. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial reported herein was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. Trial #: NCT04608188.

Impact of the COVID-19 kindergarten closure on overweight and obesity among 3- to 7-year-old children.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge on the impact of the temporary kindergarten closure policy under COVID-19 in 2020 on childhood overweight and obesity is inadequate. We aimed to examine differences in rates of overweight and obesity from 2018 to 2021 among kindergarten children aged 3-7 years. METHODS: Overweight was defined as body mass index (BMI) > 1 standard deviation (SD) for age and sex, and obesity was defined as BMI > 2 SD for age and sex. Generalized linear mixed modeling was used for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 44,884 children and 71,216 growth data points from all 57 public kindergartens in Jiading District, Shanghai, China were analyzed. The rates of obesity from 2018 to 2021 were 6.9%, 6.6%, 9.5%, and 7.3% in boys and 2.8%, 2.8%, 4.5%, and 3.1% in girls, respectively. The rates of overweight from 2018 to 2021 were 14.3%, 14.3%, 18.2%, and 15.3% in boys and 10.6%, 10.9%, 13.9%, and 11.6% in girls. The rates of obesity and overweight among kindergarten children in 2020 were significantly higher than those in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Compared to 2020, the odds ratios of the obesity rate in 2018, 2019, and 2021 were 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.58-0.77, P < 0.001], 0.72 (95% CI = 0.64-0.80, P < 0.001) and 0.81 (95% CI = 0.72-0.92, P = 0.001), respectively. The odds ratios of the overweight rate in 2018, 2019, and 2021 were 0.75 (95% CI = 0.69-0.82, P < 0.001), 0.78 (95% CI = 0.72-0.84, P < 0.001), and 0.89 (95% CI = 0.81-0.97, P = 0.008), respectively, compared to 2020. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of overweight and obesity significantly increased among kindergarten children in 2020 after the 5-month kindergarten closure. It was critical to provide guidance to caregivers on fostering a healthy lifestyle for children at home under public health emergencies.

Weakened humoral and cellular immune response to the inactivated COVID-19 vaccines in Chinese individuals with obesity/overweight.

Inactivated COVID-19 vaccines have been widely used to vaccinate the Chinese population. However, limited literature exists to explore the effect of obesity on the humoral and cellular immune response to these vaccines. In this study, 132 high BMI (Body mass index) (obesity and overweight, BMI ≥ 24 kg/m2) and 82 normal BMI (BMI < 24 kg/m2) participants were enrolled. Adverse events (AEs), Spike receptor-binding domain IgG antibody (anti-RBD-IgG), neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), and specific B-cell and T-cell responses were evaluated 21-105 days after full-course inactivated COVID-19 vaccination. The overall incidence of adverse events (AEs) was similar in individuals with and without obesity/overweight. No serious vaccine-related AEs occurred. Individuals with obesity/overweight had a reduced seropositivity rate of NAbs compared to those with normal BMI. Anti-RBD-IgG and NAbs titers in the high BMI group were significantly lower than those in the normal BMI group. The frequencies of RBD-specific memory B cells (MBCs) and the numbers of spike-specific TNF-α+ spot-forming cells (SFCs) in individuals with obesity/overweight were reduced compared with those noted in individuals without obesity/overweight. A similar trend of weakened humoral responses was also observed in individuals with central obesity. Our study results suggested that inactivated COVID-19 vaccines were safe and well tolerated but induced poor humoral and cellular immune responses in Chinese individuals with obesity/overweight.

Obesity is a Major Health Problem Threatening the Iraqis- review article

Obesity can be defined as an excessive or abnormal fat accumulation which may impair health. It is recognized as a top public health issue and it is ranked as the 5th foremost cause of death worldwide. The current review set out to summarize the studies which provide basic information about the obesity prevalence in Iraq (adults, children and adolescents);moreover, it set out to address the impact of obesity on multiple health conditions. It is now demonstrated that obesity (dependent upon the duration, distribution, and degree of the excess adipocytes/weight) may progressively exacerbate and/or cause a wide range of comorbidities. This review discusses the contributions of obesity toward the pathogenesis of type II diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and COVID-19 in addition to other diseases.