Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and weight status in children: the role of parental feeding practices

Abstract

The study examines Parental Feeding Practices (PFP) in relation to adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) and children’s weight status. It’s a cross-sectional study of 402 parents (68.4% mothers), with children aged 2–12 years. Parents completed the Comprehensive Parental Feeding Questionnaire and the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents (KIDMED), evaluating children’s adherence to the MD. Logistic regression showed that in children aged 2–<6 years, “emotion regulation/food as reward” and “pressure” decrease MD adherence (OR?=?0.186, p?<?0.0001 and OR?=?0.496, p?=?0.004), and “monitoring” decrease excess body weight (OR?=?0.284, p?=?0.009). In older children (6–12 years), “healthy eating guidance” and “monitoring” increase MD adherence (OR?=?3.262, p?=?0.001 and OR?=?3.147, p?<?0.0001), “child control” decreases MD adherence (OR?=?0.587, p?=?0.049), “pressure” decrease excess body weight (OR?=?0.495, p?<?0.0001) and “restriction” increase excess body weight (OR?=?1.784, p?=?0.015). “Healthy eating guidance” and “monitoring” seem to be the best PFP employed, in terms of children’s MD adherence and weight status.     

Variation of resting energy expenditure after the first chemotherapy cycle in acute leukemia patients

Changes in resting energy expenditure (REE) of cancer patients vary depending on type of tumor, treatment time point and kind of treatment. Little is known about REE of acute leukemia adult patients after treatment, especially with results related to body weight or fat free mass (FFM). This study aimed to assess changes in REE of acute leukemia adult patients before and after the first remission induction. Evaluation of REE was performed by indirect calorimetry and predicted REE was calculated by Harris-Benedict equation. Weight and height were measured and compared to a control group of healthy individuals. FFM was assessed by bioelectrical impedance for adjusting REE values. We evaluated 18 patients and 26 healthy individuals. At diagnosis, patients presented REE, REE/weight, and REE/FFM higher than the controls. Reductions of REE, REE/weight, and REE/FFM were also observed in patients after the first cycle of chemotherapy. The predicted REE for the patients group showed significant lower value compared with measured REE. Before the first cycle of chemotherapy REE was increased but undergoes a reduction after treatment, reaching values similar to the controls. For predictive Harris-Benedict equation, stress factors should be added to avoid underestimation of REE before and after chemotherapy.     

Arachidonic acid-stimulated platelet tests: Identification of patients less sensitive to aspirin treatment

Serum thromboxane-B2 (TxB2), together with arachidonic acid (AA)-induced platelet aggregation, are, at the moment, the most used tests to identify patients displaying high on-aspirin treatment platelet reactivity (HAPR). Both tests are specific for aspirin action on cyclooxygenase-1. While the correlation between serum TxB2 assay and clinical outcome is established, data are conflicting with regard to aspirin treatment and a possible association with AA-stimulated platelet markers and clinical outcome. To understand such discrepancy, we performed a retrospective study to compare both assays. We collected data from 132 patients receiving a daily dose of aspirin (100?mg/day) and data from 48 patients receiving aspirin on alternate days. All Patients who received a daily dose of aspirin were studied for AA-induced platelet aggregation together with serum TxB2 levels and AA-induced TxB2 formation was also studied in 71 patients out of entire population. Consistent with recommendations in the literature, we defined HAPR by setting a cut-off point at 3.1?ng/ml for serum levels of thromboxane B2 and 20% for AA-induced platelet aggregation. According to this cut-off point, we divided our overall population into two groups: (1) TxB2?<?3.1?ng/ml and (2) TxB2?>?3.1?ng/ml. We found low agreement between such tests to identify patients displaying HAPR. Our results show that AA-induced platelet aggregation >20% identify a smaller number of HAPR patients in comparison with TxB2. A good correlation between serum TxB2 and arachidonic acid-induced TxB2 production was found (r?=?0.76619).     

Heterogeneity in amount of growth factors secreted by platelets in platelet-rich plasma samples from alopecia patients

Platelet α-granules release growth factors (GFs) that promote healing and tissue regeneration. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is shown to be beneficial in treating alopecia, and however, clinical response can be inconsistent. Due to several fold enrichment of platelets secreting large quantities of GFs following PRP injections, heterogeneity in amounts of GFs secreted by platelets may contribute to inconsistent clinical responses. Herein, we evaluated factors that could potentially contribute to heterogeneous secretion of GFs by platelets. We measured platelet secretion of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFβ1), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB), epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) in aliquots of de-identified PRP samples from female patients undergoing therapy in the hair disease clinic. Although secretion of GFs by platelets was comparable in PRP samples of patients with non-cicatricial and cicatricial alopecia, a Shapiro-Wilk test for normal distribution indicated significant variability across all patient samples. The amount of GF secreted by platelets was comparable when PRP prepared from two FDA-cleared devices with distinct techniques were compared. We provide evidence of platelets secreting heterogeneous amounts of GFs within each sample as high and low secretion of random factors could be simultaneously detected. These results suggest inherent heterogeneity in secretion of GFs by platelets in patient samples that are not influenced by the device used to prepare PRP. Since some GFs could have antagonistic effects on hair growth, a balance between amounts of growth promoting and inhibiting factors may be crucial in determining clinical response to PRP therapy.