Pediatric obesity and development of the penis and testis.

PURPOSE: Pediatric obesity is increasing in many countries as socioeconomic status improves and the consumption of high calorie food increases. Thus, effect of obesity on genital development is an important topic. This study aimed to determine relationships of body mass index (BMI) with penile parameters and testicular volume in pediatric patients without penile or testicular abnormalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from 1,499 male pediatric patients from our center were analyzed. Patients with penile or testicular abnormalities were excluded. Their age ranged from 2 to 18 years. These patients were divided into two groups based on their BMI: normal BMI (5th-85th percentile) and high BMI (≥85th percentile). Factors used in analysis included age, anthropometric indicators, baseline penile length (BPL), stretched penile length (SPL), penile circumference (PC), and mean testicular volume. These same parameters were analyzed for different age groups. RESULTS: Pediatric patients with normal BMI showed longer BPL and SPL than patients with high BMI (p<0.05). However, PC and mean testicular volumes showed no significant difference between the two groups. BPL was significantly longer in the normal BMI group starting at ten years of age. SPL was significantly longer in the normal BMI group starting at eleven years of age. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that having a higher BMI during childhood has a negative effect on penile length. However, there was no significant relationship between BMI and PC or testicular volume.

Effectiveness of cellulose and chitosan nanomaterial coatings with essential oil on postharvest strawberry quality.

Polysaccharide materials, including bagasse cellulose nanocrystals (BCNCs), chitosan nanofibers (ChNFs), and sodium alginate (SA), were blended with oregano essential oil (OEO) to make single- and multi-polysaccharide edible coating suspensions. The prepared suspensions were spray-coated on strawberry surface to form thin films with thickness varying from about 570 to 790 nm for single-polysaccharide coatings and 690-930 nm for multi-polysaccharide coatings. The coatings made with multi-polysaccharide were more effective in inhibiting fungal growth compared with single-polysaccharide coatings. Strawberry treated with SA/BCNC/ChNF/OEO formulation had only 10.8 % weight loss after nine days of storage. In contrast, uncoated and single-polysaccharide coated strawberries had >37.0 % and 28.6 % weight loss, respectively. In addition, the SA/BCNC/ChNF/OEO coating retained desired moisture, respiration rate, stiffness, firmness, and appearance properties of strawberry due to its gas barrier properties resulting from the entangled matrix structure. These results suggest that the multi-polysaccharide suspensions with OEO have a high potential for application as edible coatings for retarding senescence of strawberries.