Changes in weight and body composition in a school population post-restart of alternating academic activity after quarantine by COVID-19.

Objective: To determine the change in the anthropometric parameters of the child and adolescent population, which occurred during pandemic period in boys and girls between 8 and 17 years of age, after the resumption of alternating academic activity. Material(s) and Method(s): There were included 130 students from 8 to 17 years of age, through bioimpedatiometry using the InBody 170 scale, taking weight, lean mass, percentage of fat mass and total fat mass, height in cm with an InBody brand ultrasonic stadiometer. Result(s): It was found presence of excess weight in 36.1% of the population with predominance of overweight in females and obesity in males, lean mass 36.15% was below the range for age, being more frequent in the group of men than in women, total fat mass 40.76% was above the range for age and in percentage of total body fat 59.23% above the range for age, men showed greater body fat mass than women. Conclusion(s): Obesity and overweight in the school population in Colombia has grown notably in the pospandemic era, not only because of an increase in body weight that was greater than the ENSIN 2015 and a greater increase compared to that reported between 2010 and 2015 attributed to an abnormal body composition, with a high predominance of fat mass that exposes to an increased cardiometabolic risk related to the presence of lipotoxicity.Copyright © 2022 Sociedad Colombiana de Cardiologia y Cirugia Cardiovascular.

Obesity and COVID-19: insights from two pandemics.

This review article discusses the pathophysiological mechanisms of the development of coronavirus infection in obese patients. It has been shown that obesity is considered as the most important risk factor for the development of many comorbid diseases, including severe forms and deaths as a result of a new coronavirus infection. The higher incidence and severity of a new coronavirus infection in obese patients is based on a complex of factors, the main of which are an increase in cardiovascular risk, including a tendency to thrombosis, a decrease in the efficiency of the respiratory system, impaired immune response, and the presence of chronic inflammatory state. The article discusses non-drug approaches and issues of pharmacological therapy in patients with obesity in the context of a pandemic of a new coronavirus infection. It is shown that the implementation of national quarantine measures has led to an increase in physical inactivity, the level of stress and a change in the eating behavior of the population, closing a vicious circle and contributing to an increase in body weight. For this reason, the efforts of physicians of therapeutic specialties should be directed primarily to increasing resistance to infection among obese patients and combating physical inactivity. The main groups of drugs that can be used to combat lipotoxicity are listed. It was noted that infectious disease doctors and endocrinologists can use those groups of drugs that affect the most vulnerable pathogenetic triggers for the development of obesity and comorbidities: hunger and satiety processes, decreased insulin sensitivity, development of lipotoxicity and chronic inflammation. It has been proven that the range of positive effects of new antihyperglycemic drugs from the groups of type 1 glucagon-like peptide agonists and type 2 sodium-glucose transporter inhibitors, combined with a well-studied efficacy and safety profile, represents a new opportunity for the treatment of obesity in the context of a coronavirus infection pandemic.Copyright © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Obesity and COVID-19: insights from two pandemics.

This review article discusses the pathophysiological mechanisms of the development of coronavirus infection in obese patients. It has been shown that obesity is considered as the most important risk factor for the development of many comorbid diseases, including severe forms and deaths as a result of a new coronavirus infection. The higher incidence and severity of a new coronavirus infection in obese patients is based on a complex of factors, the main of which are an increase in cardiovascular risk, including a tendency to thrombosis, a decrease in the efficiency of the respiratory system, impaired immune response, and the presence of chronic inflammatory state. The article discusses non-drug approaches and issues of pharmacological therapy in patients with obesity in the context of a pandemic of a new coronavirus infection. It is shown that the implementation of national quarantine measures has led to an increase in physical inactivity, the level of stress and a change in the eating behavior of the population, closing a vicious circle and contributing to an increase in body weight. For this reason, the efforts of physicians of therapeutic specialties should be directed primarily to increasing resistance to infection among obese patients and combating physical inactivity. The main groups of drugs that can be used to combat lipotoxicity are listed. It was noted that infectious disease doctors and endocrinologists can use those groups of drugs that affect the most vulnerable pathogenetic triggers for the development of obesity and comorbidities: hunger and satiety processes, decreased insulin sensitivity, development of lipotoxicity and chronic inflammation. It has been proven that the range of positive effects of new antihyperglycemic drugs from the groups of type 1 glucagon-like peptide agonists and type 2 sodium-glucose transporter inhibitors, combined with a well-studied efficacy and safety profile, represents a new opportunity for the treatment of obesity in the context of a coronavirus infection pandemic.Copyright © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Mitochondria-Lipid-droplet interaction: Where Mitochondrial Dynamics Meet Bioenergetics

Mitochondria surrounding lipid droplets (Peri-Droplet Mitochondria;PDM) maintain a unique proteome which is not equilibrated with the rest of the mitochondrial population. We find that PDM remain stationary and elongated on lipid droplets, fuel lipid droplet expansion, and do not fuse with cytosolic mitochondria. Compared to cytosolic mitochondria, PDM have higher capacity to metabolize pyruvate but reduced capacity to oxidize fatty acids. We reveal for the first time the mechanism by which the elongated mitochondrial shape of PDM differentiate their fuel preference from that of cytosolic mitochondria. We find that mitochondrial elongation reduces fatty acid utilization by inhibiting CPT1 activity. On the other hand, we find that mitochondrial fragmentation, such as observed in NASH, increases mitochondrial lipid utilization and may act as a compensatory mechanism to reduce lipotoxicity. Indeed, inhibition of fission in a model of NASH exacerbated NASH phenotype. We developed a cell-based imaging for the quantification of mitochondria-lipid droplet association and identified a set of small molecules that detach mitochondria from lipid droplets (PDM-Detachers). New unpublished data demonstrate PDM detachers induce lipolysis and lipid droplet shrinkage. Using these tools we assessed the role of lipid droplets in SARS-CoV2 expansion. We find that proliferation of various coronaviruses can be strongly inhibited by PDM-detachers and enhanced by attaching mitochondria to lipid droplets. We demonstrate that PDM can be found in humans. We studied adipose tissue from pheochromocytoma patients, a model of white adipose browning characterized by enhanced capacity for energy expenditure. Remarkably, bioenergetic changes associated with browning were primarily localized to PDM. Similar changes were found in a mouse model of re-browning, where PDM increased in whitened brown adipose tissue upon reducing housing temperature. Copyright © 2022

The Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Impairs Lipid Metabolism and Increases Susceptibility to Lipotoxicity: Implication for a Role of Nrf2.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients show lipid metabolic alterations, but the mechanism remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the Spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) impairs lipid metabolism in host cells. We generated a Spike cell line in HEK293 using the pcDNA vector carrying the Spike gene expression cassette. A control cell line was generated using the empty pcDNA vector. Gene expression profiles related to lipid metabolic, autophagic, and ferroptotic pathways were investigated. Palmitic acid (PA)-overload was used to assess lipotoxicity-induced necrosis. As compared with controls, the Spike cells showed a significant increase in lipid depositions in cell membranes as well as dysregulation of expression of a panel of molecules involving lipid metabolism, autophagy, and ferroptosis. The Spike cells showed an upregulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a multifunctional transcriptional factor, in response to PA. Furthermore, the Spike cells exhibited increased necrosis in response to PA-induced lipotoxicity compared to control cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner via ferroptosis, which could be attenuated by the Nrf2 inhibitor trigonelline. We conclude that the Spike protein impairs lipid metabolic and autophagic pathways in host cells, leading to increased susceptibility to lipotoxicity via ferroptosis which can be suppressed by a Nrf2 inhibitor. This data also suggests a central role of Nrf2 in Spike-induced lipid metabolic impairments.

Effects of Potential Micro- and Macro-nutrients in Combatting COVID-19.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gain insight on the effect of some recently studied nutrients and nutritional markers on the COVID-19 disease course. RECENT FINDINGS: In vitro studies indicate that SCFAs do not interfere with SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Observational studies indicate that eating processed or red meat three or more times per week had overall higher risk of pneumonia. Studies suggest that markers of regular outdoor physical activity (high HDL, lack of vitamin D deficiency, lack of obesity, etc.) prevent severe complications of COVID-19. SUMMARY: Although no definitive nutrients were found to significantly alter the COVID-19 disease course, some therapeutic candidates such as calcium, vitamin D, and albumin were surmised. Other nutrients that modulate serum lipid levels, cytokine levels, and albumin levels may hold promise for prevention of morbid or fatal outcomes related to COVID-19, as does the reduction of red or processed meat consumption.

Obesity cardiomyopathy: evidence, mechanisms, and therapeutic implications.

The prevalence of heart failure is on the rise and imposes a major health threat, in part, due to the rapidly increased prevalence of overweight and obesity. To this point, epidemiological, clinical, and experimental evidence supports the existence of a unique disease entity termed "obesity cardiomyopathy," which develops independent of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and other heart diseases. Our contemporary review evaluates the evidence for this pathological condition, examines putative responsible mechanisms, and discusses therapeutic options for this disorder. Clinical findings have consolidated the presence of left ventricular dysfunction in obesity. Experimental investigations have uncovered pathophysiological changes in myocardial structure and function in genetically predisposed and diet-induced obesity. Indeed, contemporary evidence consolidates a wide array of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the etiology of obesity cardiomyopathy including adipose tissue dysfunction, systemic inflammation, metabolic disturbances (insulin resistance, abnormal glucose transport, spillover of free fatty acids, lipotoxicity, and amino acid derangement), altered intracellular especially mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis, oxidative stress, autophagy/mitophagy defect, myocardial fibrosis, dampened coronary flow reserve, coronary microvascular disease (microangiopathy), and endothelial impairment. Given the important role of obesity in the increased risk of heart failure, especially that with preserved systolic function and the recent rises in COVID-19-associated cardiovascular mortality, this review should provide compelling evidence for the presence of obesity cardiomyopathy, independent of various comorbid conditions, underlying mechanisms, and offer new insights into potential therapeutic approaches (pharmacological and lifestyle modification) for the clinical management of obesity cardiomyopathy.

Obesity ­ a risk factor for increased COVID­19 prevalence, severity and lethality (Review).

Coronaviruses (CoVs), enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses, are a group of viruses that cause infections in the human respiratory tract, which can be characterized clinically from mild to fatal. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS­CoV­2) is the virus responsible. The global spread of COVID­19 can be described as the worst pandemic in humanity in the last century. To date, COVID­19 has infected more than 3,000,000 people worldwide and killed more than 200,000 people. All age groups can be infected from the virus, but more serious symptoms that can possibly result in death are observed in older people and those with underlying medical conditions such as cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. Novel data report more severe symptoms and even a negative prognosis for the obese patients. A growing body of evidence connects obesity with COVID­19 and a number of mechanisms from immune system activity attenuation to chronic inflammation are implicated. Lipid peroxidation creates reactive lipid aldehydes which in a patient with metabolic disorder and COVID­19 will affect its prognosis. Finally, pregnancy­associated obesity needs to be studied further in connection to COVID­19 as this infection could pose high risk both to pregnant women and the fetus.