Sociodemographic and dietary risk factors for excess weight in a greek pediatric population living in Kavala, Northern Greece.

The aim of this research was to investigate the strength of potential risk factors (demography, socioeconomics, and nutrition) for childhood overweight or obesity in a pediatric population aged 11 and 12 years old from Kavala, Northern Greece. Auxologic measurements of the children included height and weight. A structured questionnaire concerning the socioeconomic status of the family, anthropometric values (weight and height) and educational status of parents, diet history, dietary habits, the availability and dietary intake of various food products and beverages at home, physical activity, time sleeping, and time watching television was completed by one of the parents of each child at home. 335 children participated (181 boys and 154 girls), with a mean age of 11.02 ± 0.60 years. The IOTF standards were used for the determination of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 33.73% and 15.82%, respectively. A significantly higher prevalence of obesity was recorded among both fathers and mothers of obese and of overweight children compared with parents of normal-weight children. Obese children had 3 meals or fewer per day in a significantly increased proportion compared with normal-weight or overweight children, whereas their meal duration was significantly reduced compared with both normal and overweight children (16.63 ± 7.15 minutes vs 20.08 ± 9.94 minutes and 19.64 ± 8.38 minutes, P = .007 and P = .02). Finally, 22.64% of obese children spent more than 3 hours per day in front of a screen compared with only 8.93% and 8.85% of normal-weight and overweight children.

Metastatic renal cancer and patient survival as a criterion of treatment response.

Advanced metastatic renal cancer is an incurable disease, unless a successful excision of metastatic lesions can be performed. No effective treatment has yet been found. In the last few years, targeting therapies have been developed. In the past, the main treatment was based on cytokines (interferon-alpha or interleukin-2). Our objective was to determine the median and overall survival in the 66 patients who were studied and reviewed. All had histologically confirmed advanced renal cancer. There were 41 male and 25 female patients, with a median age of 60 years. In 68.18% of the patients, the treatment was mainly interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) given 3 times a week for a median time duration of 6 months (range 3-12 months). Four patients received interleukin-2 (IL-2) and 17 patients received chemotherapy, 15 of whom had hormonal treatment. Eleven patients underwent palliative radiation therapy (in the bone or brain). Seven patients received no treatment apart from supportive care. A partial response was achieved in 11.11% of the patients treated with IFN-alpha. No response was observed in patients treated with chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. The median survival of all the patients was 20 months (95% CI 14.96-25.04). These results are discussed in comparison with the survival results of modern targeting treatment studies. In the latter studies, despite the high response rates (31-40%), the survival was 16.4 months. Our data indicate that the response rate as a criterion is not adequate in determining drug effectiveness.