Validation of a Smartphone Application for the Assessment of Dietary Compliance in an Intermittent Fasting Trial.

Accurate dietary analysis of energy, nutrient intake, and meal timing in human studies using traditional dietary assessment methods (e.g., food records) is challenging and time-consuming. The widespread use of smartphones, tablets, and nutrition applications (apps) can overcome some of these problems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of an FDDB smartphone app and food database compared with PRODI®-a professional platform for nutritional counselling using the German Nutrient Database. Dietary records were collected from 10 subjects participating in the crossover intermittent fasting trial for 2 weeks at baseline and during the eating timeframe of 8 h (early or late in the course of the day). The FDDB app and database enabled a quicker and less sophisticated analysis of food composition and timing than the PRODI® software. Good agreement between the methods was found for energy and macronutrient intakes, while the FDDB data on most micronutrients and saturated/unsaturated fat intake were unreliable. In contrast to PRODI®, FDDB provided effective assessment of timely compliance, making it a promising tool for chrononutritional studies. Thus, the FDDB app is comparable to the traditional PRODI® dietary assessment method, and can be effectively used in human dietary trials and medical practice for specific goals.

Mortalidad por sepsis neonatal entre los años 2016 y 2020 en Chile: una mirada nacional / Mortality due to neonatal sepsis between 2016 and 2020 in Chile: a national perspective

Introducción: La sepsis neonatal (SN) es una infección sistémica que ocurre antes de los 90 días de vida y que representa una amenaza potencialmente mortal. Esta investigación busca describir la tendencia de defunción por SN en Chile, durante el periodo 2016-2020. Materiales y métodos: Estudio descriptivo observacional, que incluyó a niños fallecidos por SN (n=249) en el periodo 2016-2020 en Chile según datos del departamento de estadísticas e información de salud de Chile. Las variables estudiadas fueron: año de fallecimiento, grupo etario, sexo, región y agente etiológico. No se requirió comité de ética. Resultados: El 2020 tuvo la menor tasa de mortalidad por SN (0,17) y el 2017 la mayor (0,31). El grupo etario de 0-2 días de nacido tuvo la mayor tasa de mortalidad (0,07), mientras que el grupo de 27-28 días corresponde a la menor (0,00). La región de Antofagasta tuvo la mayor mortalidad (0,44) y la región de Magallanes la menor (0,11). La tasa de mortalidad promedio en hombres corresponde a 0,12 y en mujeres a 0,10. En el 89,16% de los casos no se identificó el agente etiológico. Discusión: La mayor mortalidad en 2017 podría deberse a una proporción más alta de nacimientos pretérmino en dicho año. La mayor cantidad de defunciones a menor edad cronológica estaría relacionada con su inmadurez inmunológica. La no detección del agente etiológico pudo deberse al bajo rendimiento de los hemocultivos. Sin embargo, faltan más investigaciones acerca de la incidencia y mortalidad por sepsis neonatal.

Introduction: Neonatal sepsis (NS) is a systemic infection that occurs before 90 days of life and represents a life-threatening threat. This research seeks to describe the trend of death by NS in Chile, during the period 2016-2020. Materials and methods: Observational descriptive study, which included children who died due to NS (n=249) in the period 2016-2020 in Chile, according to data from the Department of Statistics and Health Information of Chile. The variables studied were: year of death, age group, sex, region and etiological agent. No ethics committee was required. Results: 2020 had the lowest mortality rate due to NS (0.17) and 2017 the highest (0.31). The age group of 0-2 days of birth had the highest mortality rate (0.07), while the group of 27-28 days corresponds to the lowest (0.00). The Antofagasta region had the highest mortality (0.44) and the Magallanes region the lowest (0.11). The average mortality rate in men corresponds to 0.12 and in women to 0.10. In 89.16% of the cases, the etiological agent was not identified. Discussion: The higher mortality in 2017 could be due to a higher proportion of preterm births in that year. The greater number of deaths at a lower chronological age would be related to their immunological immaturity. The non-detection of the etiological agent could be due to the low yield of the blood cultures. However, more research on the incidence and mortality from neonatal sepsis is lacking.