ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Recently, it has been hypothesized that Tri-Ponderal Mass Index (TMI) may be a valid alternative to Body Mass Index (BMI) when measuring body fat in adolescents. We aimed to verify whether TMI has better accuracy than BMI in discriminating central obesity and hypertension in adolescents with overweight. METHODS AND RESULTS: This monocentric and retrospective cross-sectional study included 3749 pupils, 1889 males and 1860 females, aged 12-13. BMI (kg/m2) was calculated and expressed as percentiles and as z-scores. TMI (kg/m3) was calculated, and we used pre-defined cut-off previously proposed by Peterson et al.. For central obesity we adopted the Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) discriminatory value of 0.5. Hypertension was defined as blood pressure ≥95th percentile of age- sex-, and height-specific references recommended by NHBPEP Working Group. The discriminant ability of TMI, BMI and BMI z-score, with respect to central obesity and hypertension, was investigated using non-parametric receiver operating characteristic analysis. The overall misclassification rate for central obesity was 8.88% for TMI vs 14.10% for BMI percentiles and vs 14.92% for BMI z-scores (P < 0.001). The overall misclassification rate for hypertension was 7.50% for TMI vs 22.03% for BMI percentiles and vs 25.19% for BMI z-scores (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: TMI is a superior body fat index and it could discriminate body fat distribution more accurately than BMI. This supports the use of TMI, in association with WHtR, to characterize adolescents with overweight and high cardio-metabolic risk. Our analysis needs to be extended to other ethnic groups and replicated in a wider age range and in longitudinal studies.
Subject(s)
Adiposity , Blood Pressure , Body Mass Index , Hypertension/diagnosis , Obesity, Abdominal/diagnosis , Pediatric Obesity/diagnosis , Adolescent , Age Factors , Cardiometabolic Risk Factors , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Humans , Hypertension/epidemiology , Hypertension/physiopathology , Italy/epidemiology , Male , Obesity, Abdominal/epidemiology , Obesity, Abdominal/physiopathology , Pediatric Obesity/epidemiology , Pediatric Obesity/physiopathology , Predictive Value of Tests , Prevalence , Reproducibility of Results , Retrospective Studies , Risk Assessment , Waist-Hip RatioABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Apples are subject to a high degree of fungal diseases, but the use of synthetic fungicides has been questioned because of public safety concerns, social rejection, and the development of resistance in pathogens. Thus, development of new postharvest treatments against apple fungal pathogens is necessary. Most studies have reported their effectiveness, but not all report the effects on the quality and storability of the fruit. In this study, the effects of physical (hot water), chemical (quercetin) and biological (yeast antagonist) microfungal control on the quality of 'Golden Delicious' apple during storage at 2 ± 0.5 °C, and 90 ± 2% of relative humidity, for 2 months were investigated and compared. RESULTS: Heat-treated apples exhibited peel fruit damage (surface browning and internal breakdown disorders) and promoted ripening in the fruit. The quercetin caustic spray caused the development of peel chemical burn in all treated fruit. Both yeast antagonist and quercetin treatments did not affect the apple ripening process but stimulated an increase in ethylene production and in respiratory activity. CONCLUSION: The data indicated that the effects on quality and storability were dependent on the method of treatment used, and antagonistic yeast was the best microfungal control because of it did not cause any disorders or negative effects on apple quality during storage.
