Relationships between overweight, obesity and physical fitness of nine- to twelve-year-old South African children

Background: South African children show the same tendencies in overweight and obesity as children in developed countries a decade ago. Childhood overweight is associated with chronic diseases, early mortality in adulthood and psycho-social effects with lifelong consequences. This study aimed to determine relationships between overweight, obesity and physical fitness of nine- to twelve-year-old South African children. Methods: Anthropometric (body-mass index [BMI], fat percentage) and physical fitness (cardiovascular endurance, body composition, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility) measurements were obtained from 280 children aged nine to twelve years (128 boys, 152 girls) using the Fitnessgram and Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency II. International cut-off points were used to categorise children into normal-weight, overweight or obese categories. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank order correlation and variance of analysis. Results: One in five children was overweight or obese, while girls were twice as likely as boys to be obese. Aerobic capacity and muscle strength, especially leg strength, decreased progressively with an increase in BMI. A progressive but nonsignificant decline was found in muscle endurance with increasing BMI, while flexibility showed the poorest relationships with various degrees of weight. Variance of analysis indicated significant relationships between BMI, cardiovascular endurance and strength (p < 0.05), while different relationships were found when gender was taken into consideration. Conclusions: Health-enhancing physical fitness of young children is negatively affected by overweight and obesity, and intervention strategies are recommended to improve the quality of life of such childre,n but also to prevent early mortality during adulthood.Keywords: overweight; obesity; children; gender; physical fitnes

The effectiveness of digital interventions for increasing physical activity in individuals of low socioeconomic status: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record. All data and code to replicate our analysis are freely available at https://github.com/MarkKelson/REPAIDBACKGROUND: Digital technologies such as wearables, websites and mobile applications are increasingly used in interventions targeting physical activity (PA). Increasing access to such technologies makes an attractive prospect for helping individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES) in becoming more active and healthier. However, little is known about their effectiveness in such populations. The aim of this systematic review was to explore whether digital interventions were effective in promoting PA in low SES populations, whether interventions are of equal benefit to higher SES individuals and whether the number or type of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) used in digital PA interventions was associated with intervention effects. METHODS: A systematic search strategy was used to identify eligible studies from MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and The Cochrane Library, published between January 1990 and March 2020. Randomised controlled trials, using digital technology as the primary intervention tool, and a control group that did not receive any digital technology-based intervention were included, provided they had a measure of PA as an outcome. Lastly, studies that did not have any measure of SES were excluded from the review. Risk of Bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool version 2. RESULTS: Of the 14,589 records initially identified, 19 studies were included in the final meta-analysis. Using random-effects models, in low SES there was a standardised mean difference (SMD (95%CI)) in PA between intervention and control groups of 0.06 (- 0.08,0.20). In high SES the SMD was 0.34 (0.22,0.45). Heterogeneity was modest in both low (I2 = 0.18) and high (I2 = 0) SES groups. The studies used a range of digital technologies and BCTs in their interventions, but the main findings were consistent across all of the sub-group analyses (digital interventions with a PA only focus, country, chronic disease, and duration of intervention) and there was no association with the number or type of BCTs. DISCUSSION: Digital interventions targeting PA do not show equivalent efficacy for people of low and high SES. For people of low SES, there is no evidence that digital PA interventions are effective, irrespective of the behaviour change techniques used. In contrast, the same interventions in high SES participants do indicate effectiveness. To reduce inequalities and improve effectiveness, future development of digital interventions aimed at improving PA must make more effort to meet the needs of low SES people within the target population.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilHealth and Care Research Wales Health Fellowship AwardGW4 AllianceUK Centre for Ageing BetterElizabeth Blackwell InstituteMedical Research CouncilUniversity of BristolCentre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)Alan Turing Institut

Prevalence and Determinants of Obesity among Primary School Children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Childhood obesity has increased dramatically and has become a public health concern worldwide. Childhood obesity is likely to persist through adulthood and may lead to early onset of NCDs. However, there is paucity of data on obesity among primary school children in Tanzania. This study assessed the prevalence and determinants of obesity among primary school children in Dar es Salaam. A cross sectional study was conducted among school age children in randomly selected schools in Dar es Salaam. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were taken using standard procedures. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters (kg/m2). Child obesity was defined as BMI at or above 95th percentile for age and sex. Socio-demographic characteristics of children were determined using a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to determine association between independent variables with obesity among primary school children in Dar es Salaam. A total of 446 children were included in the analysis. The mean age of the participants was 11.1±2.0 years and 53.1% were girls. The mean BMI, SBP and DBP were 16.6±4.0 kg/m2, 103.9±10.3mmHg and 65.6±8.2mmHg respectively. The overall prevalence of child obesity was 5.2% and was higher among girls (6.3%) compared to boys (3.8%). Obese children had significantly higher mean values for age (p=0.042), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (all p<0.001). Most obese children were from households with fewer children (p=0.019) and residing in urban areas (p=0.002). Controlling for other variables, age above 10 years (AOR=3.3, 95% CI=1.5-7.2), female sex (AOR=2.6, 95% CI=1.4-4.9), urban residence (AOR=2.5, 95% CI=1.2-5.3) and having money to spend at school (AOR=2.6, 95% CI=1.4-4.8) were significantly associated with child obesity. The prevalence of childhood obesity in this population was found to be low. However, children from urban schools and girls were proportionately more obese compared to their counterparts. Primary preventive measures for childhood obesity should start early in childhood and address socioeconomic factors of parents contributing to childhood obesity

Recurrent fusions in PLAGL1 define a distinct subset of pediatric-type supratentorial neuroepithelial tumors

Ependymomas encompass a heterogeneous group of central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms that occur along the entire neuroaxis. In recent years, extensive (epi-)genomic profiling efforts have identified several molecular groups of ependymoma that are characterized by distinct molecular alterations and/or patterns. Based on unsupervised visualization of a large cohort of genome-wide DNA methylation data, we identified a highly distinct group of pediatric-type tumors (n = 40) forming a cluster separate from all established CNS tumor types, of which a high proportion were histopathologically diagnosed as ependymoma. RNA sequencing revealed recurrent fusions involving the pleomorphic adenoma gene-like 1 (PLAGL1) gene in 19 of 20 of the samples analyzed, with the most common fusion being EWSR1:PLAGL1 (n = 13). Five tumors showed a PLAGL1:FOXO1 fusion and one a PLAGL1:EP300 fusion. High transcript levels of PLAGL1 were noted in these tumors, with concurrent overexpression of the imprinted genes H19 and IGF2, which are regulated by PLAGL1. Histopathological review of cases with sufficient material (n = 16) demonstrated a broad morphological spectrum of tumors with predominant ependymoma-like features. Immunohistochemically, tumors were GFAP positive and OLIG2- and SOX10 negative. In 3/16 of the cases, a dot-like positivity for EMA was detected. All tumors in our series were located in the supratentorial compartment. Median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 6.2 years. Median progression-free survival was 35 months (for 11 patients with data available). In summary, our findings suggest the existence of a novel group of supratentorial neuroepithelial tumors that are characterized by recurrent PLAGL1 fusions and enriched for pediatric patients

Sun Protection Intervention for Highway Workers: Long-Term Efficacy of UV Photography and Skin Cancer Information on Men’s Protective Cognitions and Behavior

The risk for skin cancer is increased among older males and outdoor workers who have high levels of ultraviolet (UV) exposure. This study was designed to examine the long-term efficacy of UV photography interventions on male outdoor workers, the potential mediators of its impact, and the efficacy of UV photography and skin cancer vs. aging information with this population. One hundred forty-eight male outdoor workers were randomly assigned to one of four intervention conditions or a control condition in a two by two plus one factorial design. The men in the intervention conditions received or did not receive a UV photo of their face and watched either a photoaging or skin cancer educational video. Participants completed pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, and 2-month and 1-year follow-up assessments. Analysis of covariance and structural equation modeling revealed that participants in the UV photography and cancer information interventions reported higher levels of sun protection cognitions, which were significant partial mediators of increases in sun protection behaviors and decreases in skin color. This study provides evidence for effective sun protection interventions on male outdoor workers that may help reduce skin cancer risk

Relationships between different nutritional anthropometric statuses and health-related fitness of South African primary school children

Background A double burden of both under- and over-nutrition exists among South African children. Aim Describe associations between nutritional statuses and health-related fitness test performances. Subjects and methods Height and weight of 10 285 children (6-13 years; n=5604 boys and 4681 girls) were measured and used to calculate: body mass index (BMI), and prevalence of overweight and obesity, stunting, wasting, and underweight. Physical fitness scores for standing long jump, shuttle run, sit-and-reach, sit-up (EUROFIT) and cricket ball throw were assessed. Age and gender specific z-scores were calculated for these variables. Physical fitness for each nutritional status group was compared to children of normal weight. Results Compared to normal weight children, overweight and obese children scored lower on all fitness tests (p Conclusions When compared to normal weight children, both under- and over-nourished children performed poorer on some, but not all, health-related fitness tests. </p

The impact of physical activity and an additional behavioural risk factor on cardiovascular disease, cancer and all-cause mortality: a systematic review

Background Regular physical activity improves overall health, and has the capacity to reduce risk of chronic diseases and death. However, better understanding of the relationship between multiple lifestyle risk behaviours and disease outcomes is pertinent for prioritising public health messaging. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the association between physical inactivity in combination with additional lifestyle risk behaviours (smoking, alcohol, diet, or sedentary behaviour) for cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality. Methods We searched Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Register from 1 January 2010 to 12 December 2017, for longitudinal observational studies of adults (18+ years) in the general population with a publication date of 2010 onwards and no language restriction. Main exposure variables had to include a physical activity measure plus at least one other lifestyle risk factor. In total, 25,639 studies were identified. Titles, abstracts and full-text articles of potentially relevant papers were screened for eligibility. Data was extracted and quality assessment was completed using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results Across the 25 eligible studies, those participants who reported being physically active combined with achieving other health behaviour goals compared to those who were categorised as physically inactive and did not achieve other positive lifestyle goals, were at least half as likely to experience an incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) event, die from CVD, or die from any cause. These findings were consistent across participant age, sex, and study length of follow-up, and even after excluding lower quality studies. We also observed a similar trend among the few studies which were restricted to cancer outcomes. Most studies did not consider epidemiological challenges that may bias findings, such as residual confounding, reverse causality by pre-existing disease, and measurement error from self-report data. Conclusions High levels of physical activity in combination with other positive lifestyle choices is associated with better health outcomes. Applying new approaches to studying the complex relationships between multiple behavioural risk factors, including physical activity, should be a priority.</p

Une analyse multifractale du climat

This work consists of a multifractal analysis of surface air temperature in Western and Eastern Europe. The wavelet leaders method enables us to exhibit the monofractal nature of these signals. Then, we define a climate classification relying on the Zygmund-Hölder spaces and show that it matches the Köppen classification. By doing so, we evidence the existing relation between the regularity of the temperature data (obtained through functional spaces) and the type of climate. Finally, we give a climatic interpretation of these results