Obesity and lifestyle behaviours among in-school children in Oman

Background:Many countries are experiencing an increasing prevalence of childhood obesity and this needs to be carefully addressed.Aims:To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity and the sociodemographic factors and lifestyle risk behaviours associated with obesity among in-school children in Al Buraimi Governorate, Oman.Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional study among 714 male and female in-school children aged 6–17 years in 14 government schools in Al Buraimi Governorate, Oman, from April to July 2019. Data were collected on the sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle of the students using a self-administered questionnaire. The students’ height, weight and waist circumference were also measured. The BMI-for-age growth charts cutoff reference standards of the WHO were used to determine weight category. Central obesity was assessed by calculating the waist-to-height ratio, and the waist-toheight ratio cutoff of 0.50 was used to identify central obesity in both boys and girls. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 21, involving both descriptive and inferential statistics.Results:A total of 714 students were included. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12.3% and 16.3% respectively, and 21.4% of the students had central obesity. Lifestyle risk behaviours were significantly associated with student’s age, sex and mother’s education (P < 0.05). Predictors of obesity were: unhealthy eating habits (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 5.20; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.50–10.70), sedentary screen-based activities (AOR = 1.54; 95% CI: 1.05–2.26), inadequate night-time sleep duration (AOR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.34–1.00), sibling obesity (AOR = 2.24; 95% CI: 1.55–3.25), paternal obesity (AOR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.10–2.50) and maternal obesity (AOR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.10–2.45).Conclusion:There is a need for effective health promotion programmes targeting in-school children in Oman, as well as regular monitoring of lifestyle behaviours associated with overweight and obesity among the younger populations. Larger studies are needed to understand the predictors of overweight and obesity among in-school children in Oman and to design relevant school-based interventions to prevent obesity among young Omanis.

Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity.

Prevailing drug resistance in malaria imposes the major roadblock for the existing interventions necessitating the timely need to search for alternative therapies. Ants in Solenopsis spp, termed 'Fire ants', are well known for their aggressive behavior, which leads to the release of toxic venom. Notably, the tribal natives of the malaria-laden densely forested Bastar region, Chhattisgarh, India, use fire ant sting-based therapy to cure malaria-like high fever. Inspired by this, we have collected the fire ants from the forest of Bastar and extracted peptide and alkaloid fractions from ant venom using HPLC and analyzed them by LC/MS-based applications. Evaluation of the anti-malarial efficacy of these peptide fractions demonstrated a significant reduction in the growth of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf 3D7) in vitro, whereas the alkaloid fraction showed a negligible effect. in vitro hemolytic activity confirmed the venom peptide fraction to be non-hemolytic. Additionally, the venom peptide fraction is purely non-toxic to HepG2 cells. Anti-malarial efficiency of the same in Plasmodium berghei ANKA infected mice models showed a drastic reduction in parasitemia representing promising anti-malarial activity. Overall, our study has unraveled the scientific rationale underlying fire ant sting therapy used as a tribal naturotherapy for curing malaria-like fever, thus, introducing a way forward to develop nature-inspired anti-malarial chemotherapeutics.

Effect of biotin and galactose functionalized gelatin nanofiber membrane on HEp-2 cell attachment and cytotoxicity.

In the present study, we prepared a gelatin nanofiber matrix using an electrospinning technique and cross-linked the nanofibers with 10 % glutaraldehyde vapors. The insoluble nanofibers were functionalized with bioactive molecules like biotin (1 %) and galactose (1 %) by adsorption and coelectrospinning. Surface morphology and fiber dimension were analyzed using atomic force microscopy. The amounts of biotin and galactose bound to the nanofibers before and after adsorption were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. Human larynx carcinoma (HEp-2) cell attachment, morphology and cytotoxic characteristics were studied using crystal violet staining and the MTT assay. Cell attachment and viability were highest in biotin- and galactose-embedded nanofibers compared to native nanofibers. Cytotoxicity was less with biotin- and galactose-embedded and adsorbed nanofibers compared to control nanofibers. Hence, we suggest that these biocompatible, nontoxic, biodegradable, functionalized nanofibers could be a potential candidate for application in tissue engineering and scaffold preparation.