Association of Dietary Patterns with Weight Status and Metabolic Risk Factors among Children and Adolescents.

Unhealthy dietary patterns are associated with obesity in children and adolescents. However, few studies have investigated the relationships between dietary patterns and obesity-related metabolic disorders among Asians. We identified dietary patterns in children and adolescents and examined the associations between these patterns and obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome in South Korea. This study is a cross-sectional design. We used baseline data from an intervention study of 435 Korean children and adolescents aged 6-17 years. Insulin resistance was assessed as HOMA-IR ≥ 2.6. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by cardiovascular disease risk factor clustering. Dietary intakes were estimated using 3-day food records. Factor analysis was used to obtain dietary patterns, and we examined the associations between dietary patterns and obesity-related markers adjusted for potential covariates. Three dietary patterns were identified as fast food and soda (FFS), white rice and kimchi (WRK), and oil and seasoned vegetable (OSV) patterns. Compared with participants in the lower intake of FFS pattern, those in the top intake were associated with a higher waist circumference (WC) (ß = 1.55), insulin level (ß = 1.25), and body mass index (BMI) (ß = 0.53) and it was positively associated with HOMA-IR ≥ 2.6 (OR = 2.11; 95% CI: 1.227-3.638) (p < 0.05). WRK pattern was associated with lower weight and higher HDL cholesterol, and the OSV pattern was associated with a lower weight, WC, and insulin level (p < 0.05). The FFS pattern showed a positive relation with WC, serum insulin, and BMI, and the other two dietary patterns indicated a preventive effect of those parameters. The FFS pattern was associated with significantly elevated insulin resistance among children and adolescents.

A 24-week intervention based on nutrition care process improves diet quality, body mass index, and motivation in children and adolescents with obesity.

Higher motivation could support to lead behavioral change for obese children and adolescents. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a nutrition care process (NCP)-based intervention targeted on diet and weight status in moderate to severe obese children and adolescents in Korea. One hundred four subjects (mean age: 10.95 years, body mass index (BMI) ≥97th percentile of age-sex) participated in the present study. Subjects were divided into a usual care group (UG) and a nutrition group (NG). All participants underwent nutrition education 6 times. The NG received individual access and continuous monitoring and setting goals with respect to nutritional problems. Consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrient (HCLN) food was significantly decreased (P < .05) and the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) score also increased with respect to sodium (P < .001). The total self-efficacy score was increased from 9.15 to 10.14 points (P < .01). After 24 weeks, the BMI-z-score decreased from 2.27 to 2.19 in the NG (P < .05); however, no group difference was found. BMI-z-score was negatively associated with self-efficacy (ß = -0.03, P < .019). NCP-based intervention might be helpful to solve dietary problems by enhancing self-efficacy and lower BMI-z-score in moderately to severely obese children and adolescents.

Reduce cell to cell charge interference by virtual ground inclusion in 3-dimensional vertical gate NAND flash memory.

In this work, we propose a structural modification to the 3-dimensional vertical gate NAND flash memory that will reduce the charge interference caused by stored charge on the opposite facing cell. In the barrier oxide structure (BOS), an oxide layer was inserted into the center of the body to physically block the conduction electrons moving to and from the channel regions influenced by the charge stored on either of the Oxide-Nitride-Oxide (ONO) trap layers. In the virtual ground structure (VGS), a highly p-type doped poly silicon layer was inserted to act as a virtual ground to reduce the electric-field changes caused by the stored change on the ONO trap layers. We investigated the I-V characteristics of the different structures using 3-D TCAD simulation tool, depending on the body type (crystalline or poly silicon) at double programming and single programming. We confirmed that the charge interference problem was reduced significantly by the BOS and VGS modifications in the crystalline silicon and high quality poly silicon body structures.

Reduced distribution of threshold voltage shift in double layer NiSi2 nanocrystals for nano-floating gate memory applications.

We report on the fabrication and capacitance-voltage characteristics of double layer nickel-silicide nanocrystals with Si3N4 interlayer tunnel barrier for nano-floating gate memory applications. Compared with devices using SiO2 interlayer, the use of Si3N4 interlayer separation reduced the average size (4 nm) and distribution (+/- 2.5 nm) of NiSi2 nanocrystal (NC) charge traps by more than 50% and giving a two fold increase in NC density to 2.3 x 10(12) cm(-2). The increased density and reduced NC size distribution resulted in a significantly decrease in the distribution of the device C-V characteristics. For each program voltage, the distribution of the shift in the threshold voltage was reduced by more than 50% on average to less than 0.7 V demonstrating possible multi-level-cell operation.