Substantial variation across geographic regions in the obesity prevalence among 6–8 years old Hungarian children (COSI Hungary 2016)

Abstract Background There have been previous representative nutritional status surveys conducted in Hungary, but this is the first one that examines overweight and obesity prevalence according to the level of urbanization and in different geographic regions among 6–8-year-old children. We also assessed whether these variations were different by sex. Methods This survey was part of the fourth data collection round of World Health Organization (WHO) Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative which took place during the academic year 2016/2017. The representative sample was determined by two-stage cluster sampling. A total of 5332 children (48.4% boys; age 7.54 ± 0.64 years) were measured from all seven geographic regions including urban (at least 500 inhabitants per square kilometer; n = 1598), semi-urban (100 to 500 inhabitants per square kilometer; n = 1932) and rural (less than 100 inhabitants per square kilometer; n = 1802) areas. Results Using the WHO reference, prevalence of overweight and obesity within the whole sample were 14.2, and 12.7%, respectively. According to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference, rates were 12.6 and 8.6%. Northern Hungary and Southern Transdanubia were the regions with the highest obesity prevalence of 11.0 and 12.0%, while Central Hungary was the one with the lowest obesity rate (6.1%). The prevalence of overweight and obesity tended to be higher in rural areas (13.0 and 9.8%) than in urban areas (11.9 and 7.0%). Concerning differences in sex, girls had higher obesity risk in rural areas (OR = 2.0) but boys did not. Odds ratios were 2.0–3.4 in different regions for obesity compared to Central Hungary, but only among boys. Conclusions Overweight and obesity are emerging problems in Hungary. Remarkable differences were observed in the prevalence of obesity by geographic regions. These variations can only be partly explained by geographic characteristics. Trial registration Study protocol was approved by the Scientific and Research Ethics Committee of the Medical Research Council (61158–2/2016/EKU)

Combination of modeling and experiment in structure analysis of intercalated layer silicates

A strategy for the structure analysis of intercalated layer silicates based on a combination of modeling (i.e. force field calculations) and experiment is presented. Modeling in conjunction with experiment enables us to analyze the disordered intercalated structures of layer silicates where conventional diffraction analysis fails. Experiment plays a key role in the modeling strategy and in corroboration of the modeling results. X-ray powder diffraction and IR spectroscopy were found to be very useful complementary experiments to molecular modeling. Molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations were carried out in the Cerius 2 and Materials Studio modeling environments. An overview is given of the structures of layer silicates, especially smectites intercalated with various inorganic and organic guest species. Special attention is paid to the ordering of guests in the interlayer space, as it is important for the practical applications of these intercalates, where the interlayer porosity, photofunctions, etc. must be controlled

Applying Geometric Morphometrics to Digital Reconstruction and Anatomical Investigation

Virtual imaging, image manipulation and morphometric methods are increasingly used in medicine and the natural sciences. Virtual imaging hardware and image manipulation software allows us to readily visualise, explore, alter, repair and study digital objects. This suite of equipment and tools combined with statistical tools for the study of form variation and covariation using Procrustes based analyses of landmark coordinates, geometric morphometrics, makes possible a wide range of studies of human variation pertinent to biomedicine. These tools for imaging, quantifying and analysing form have already led to new insights into organismal growth, development and evolution and offer exciting prospects in future biomedical applications. This chapter presents a review of commonly used methods for digital acquisition, extraction and landmarking of anatomical structures and of the common geometric morphometric statistical methods applied to investigate them: generalised Procrustes analysis to derive shape variables, principal component analysis to examine patterns of variation, multivariate regression to examine how form is influence