Community-based interventions targeting multiple forms of malnutrition among adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries:protocol for a scoping review

Background:Adolescent malnutrition is a significant public health challenge in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), with long-term consequences for health and development. Community-based interventions have the potential to address multiple forms of malnutrition and improve the health outcomes of adolescents. However, there is a limited understanding of the content, implementation and effectiveness of these interventions. This scoping review aims to synthesise evidence on community-based interventions targeting multiple forms of malnutrition among adolescents in LMICs and describe their effects on nutrition and health. Methods and analysis:A comprehensive search strategy will be implemented in multiple databases including MEDLINE (through PubMed), Embase, CENTRAL (through Cochrane Library) and grey literature, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 14 July 2023. We will follow the Participants, Concept and Context model to design the search strategy. The inclusion criteria encompass randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies focusing on adolescents aged 10–19 years. Various types of interventions, such as micronutrient supplementation, nutrition education, feeding interventions, physical activity and community environment interventions, will be considered. Two reviewers will perform data extraction independently, and, where relevant, risk of bias assessment will be conducted using standard Cochrane risk-of-bias tools. We will follow the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist while reporting results. Ethics and dissemination:The scope of this scoping review is restricted to publicly accessible databases that do not require prior ethical approval for access. The findings of this review will be shared through publications in peer-reviewed journals, and presentations at international and regional conferences and stakeholder meetings in LMICs.</p

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Inflammatory Dietary Pattern Predicts Dyslipidemia and Anemia in Middle-Aged and Older Taiwanese Adults with Declined Kidney Function: A Cross-Sectional Population Study from 2008 to 2010

Dyslipidemia, anemia, and inflammation are associated with declined kidney function. This study investigated the association of inflammatory dietary pattern with dyslipidemia, anemia, and kidney function biomarkers among middle-aged and older Taiwanese adults with declined kidney function. Biochemical data and food frequency questionnaire were obtained from 41,128 participants with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) &lt;90 mL/min/1.73 m2 and positive urinary protein. Inflammatory dietary pattern was identified by reduced rank regression with C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (N/L) as response variables. Males had higher prevalence of dyslipidemia and higher inflammatory markers, but lower prevalence of anemia and lower eGFR levels compared to females. Inflammatory dietary pattern characterized with low intakes of seafood, grains, vegetables, and fruits but high intakes of meat, eggs, preserved/processed foods, and sugary drinks was associated with an increased risk of dyslipidemia by 21% in males and an increased risk of anemia by 28&ndash;47% in both genders. Furthermore, high consumption of inflammatory dietary pattern was associated with reduced eGFR (males &beta; = &minus;0.85, 95% CI &minus;1.26 to &minus;0.43, females &beta; = &minus;0.53, 95% CI &minus;0.98 to &minus;0.08) and increased N/L and/or CRP in both genders. In conclusion, inflammatory dietary pattern is positively associated with dyslipidemia, anemia, and decreased kidney function in middle-aged and older adults with declined kidney function

Association of Sleep Duration and Insomnia Symptoms with Components of Metabolic Syndrome and Inflammation in Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Metabolic Syndrome in Taiwan

The study determined the association of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with the components of metabolic syndrome and inflammation in middle-aged and older adults with metabolic syndrome in Taiwan. This cross-sectional study used the database compiled in Taiwan between 2004&ndash;2013. A total of 26,016 volunteers aged 35 years and above were selected. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation. Compared with regular sleep duration (6&ndash;8 h/day), short (&lt;6 h/day) or long sleep duration (&gt;8 h/day) and insomnia symptoms significantly increased the odds ratios of high waist circumference, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high triglycerides, high fasting blood glucose, and high C-reactive protein. Insomnia symptoms did not modify the effects of sleep duration on the components of metabolic syndrome and inflammation. Our study suggests that short or long sleep duration and insomnia symptoms may have an adverse effect on metabolic syndrome and inflammation

Synergistic Effects of Regular Walking and Alkaline Electrolyzed Water on Decreasing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress, and Increasing Quality of Life in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes: A Community Based Randomized Controlled Trial

Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) and walking are strongly recommended for ameliorating oxidative stress and inflammation. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information on the combination of both on alleviating inflammation, oxidative stress, and improving the quality of life (QoL). We investigated the synergistic effects of drinking AEW and walking on advanced glycation end products (AGEs), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs), malondialdehyde (MDA), white blood cells (WBCs), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and QoL. In total, 81 eligible patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) were randomly allocated via single blind to four groups: consumed 2 L/day of AEW (n = 20), instructed to walk for 150 min/week (n = 20), received a combination of AEW and walking (n = 20), and continue their habitual diet and activity (n = 21). Data were collected and analyzed before and after 8 weeks of intervention. Our results showed a significant interaction between the group and time, with both AEW and walking independently and synergistically ameliorating AGEs, AOPPs, MDA, NLR and WBCs levels. Moreover, the AEW group had a higher physical and total QoL score. The walking group and the combined group had higher scores in physical, mental and total QoL compared to the control group. The synergistic effect of AEW and regular walking are an advisable treatment for patients with T2DM

Association of kidney function-related dietary pattern, weight status, and cardiovascular risk factors with severity of impaired kidney function in middle-aged and older adults with chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional population study

Abstract Background Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), characterized by impaired kidney function, affects over 1.5 million individuals in Taiwan. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is commonly found in patients with CKD, and the increased prevalence of obesity can have some implications for the risk of both CKD and CVD. Since diet plays an important role in the development of obesity, CVD and CKD, our study was designed to investigate the association of kidney function-related dietary pattern with weight status, cardiovascular risk factors, and the severity of impaired kidney function in middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan. Methods A total of 41,128 participants aged 40 to 95 years old with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 90 mL/min/1.73 m2 and proteinuria were recruited from Mei Jau Health Institute between 2008 and 2010. The kidney function-related dietary pattern was identified using reduced rank regression (RRR) and was known as high consumption of preserved or processed food, meat, organ meats, rice/flour products, and, low consumption of fruit, dark-colored vegetables, bread, and beans. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the association of weight status and cardiovascular risk factors with moderately/severely impaired kidney function (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and the association of dietary pattern with the outcomes aforementioned. Results Moderately/severely impaired kidney function participants were heavier and had higher abnormality of cardiovascular risk factors compared with those with mildly impaired kidney function. Weight status (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.12–1.45, P <  0.001 for obesity) and cardiovascular risk factors (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.31–1.77, P <  0.001 for high total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio and OR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.41–1.72, P <  0.001 for hypercalcemia) were positively associated with increased risk of moderately/severely impaired kidney function. The kidney function-related dietary pattern was correlated with overweight or obese (OR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.89–2.27, P <  0.01) weight status, increased cardiovascular risk by 10–31%, and the risk of moderately/severely impaired kidney function (OR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.02–1.29, P <  0.05). Conclusions The RRR-derived kidney function-related dietary pattern, characterized by high intake of processed and animal foods and low intake of plant foods, predicts the risks for developing cardiovascular disease and moderately/severely impaired kidney function among middle-aged and older adults

Association of Two Indices of Insulin Resistance Marker with Abnormal Liver Function Tests: A Cross-Sectional Population Study in Taiwanese Adults

[[abstract]]Background and objectives: Insulin resistance (IR) is frequently associated with chronic low-grade inflammation and has an important role as a mediator in the development of liver disease. Thus, this study aimed to explore the relationship between two indexes of IR and abnormal liver function parameters. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study obtained data of 41,510 men and 92,357 women aged ≥30 years from a private health screening institute in Taiwan. Two IR indexes namely triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio were used to examine their relationship to predict abnormal liver function parameters (aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)). Results: Positive trend was shown for the association of TyG index in the highest quintile (Q5) and risk of high AST (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.33-1.57), high ALT (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.73-1.97), high GGT (OR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.93-2.15), and high ALP (OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.07-1.19) compared with the median quintile (Q3) in the fully adjusted model. Similarly, participants in the Q5 of the TG/HDL-C ratio were associated with 1.38 (95% CI: 1.27-1.49), 1.71 (95% CI: 1.61-1.82), 1.75 (95% CI: 1.66-1.84), and 1.21 (1.16-1.27) odds for having high AST, ALT, GGT, and ALP respectively. The AUC (95% CI) value of the TyG index for predicting high AST, high ALT, and high GGT was 0.699 (0.692-0.705), 0.738 (0.734-0.742), and 0.752 (0.749-0.755), respectively. Meanwhile, the AUC (95% CI) of the TG/HDL-C ratio for predicting high AST, high ALT, and high GGT was 0.680 (0.673-0.686), 0.738 (0.734-0.742), 0.734 (0.731-0.738), respectively. Conclusions: Our study supported that the TyG index and TG/HDL-C ratio may be useful as non-invasive methods to predict the existence of impaired liver function in the early stage

Combined Low Plant and High Animal Dietary Pattern Is Associated with a Lower Risk of Anemia among Dyslipidemic Adult Women in Taiwan: A Retrospective Study from 2001 to 2015

Anemia and dyslipidemia often occurs in premenopausal women. This study investigated the association between dietary patterns and anemia among dyslipidemic women in Taiwan. This study recruited 22,631 dyslipidemic women aged 20&ndash;45 years between 2001 and 2015. The dietary assessment was collected by a validated food frequency questionnaire. The biochemical data including blood lipids, red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were retrieved from the database. Women with a combined high plant diet (HP) and low animal diet (LA) were associated with a lower prevalence of obesity (11.7%), central obesity (16.0%), high total cholesterol (16.4%), and high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (11.9%), and had lower hemoglobin (12.9 &plusmn; 1.4 g/dL), hematocrit (38.8 &plusmn; 3.6%), and CRP levels (20.6 &plusmn; 31.4 nmol/L). The low plant diet (LP) + high animal diet (HA) pattern was negatively associated with moderate to severe anemia (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.64&ndash;0.92, p = 0.004) compared to the low plant diet (LP) + low animal diet (LA) pattern. However, the HP + LA pattern was positively correlated with moderate to severe anemia (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.04&ndash;1.43, p = 0.015). In conclusion, a low plant and high animal diet plays a role in preventing anemia development among dyslipidemic women

Dietary Patterns in Relation to Components of Dyslipidemia and Fasting Plasma Glucose in Adults with Dyslipidemia and Elevated Fasting Plasma Glucose in Taiwan

Dietary patterns have been proposed to be related to dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia. This study investigated the correlation of dietary patterns with components of dyslipidemia and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) among young and middle-aged adults (aged between 20 and 50 years) with dyslipidemia and abnormal FPG in Taiwan. This cross-sectional study used the database compiled in Taiwan between 2001 to 2010. A total of 13,609 subjects aged between 20 and 50 years were selected. Dyslipidemia was defined primarily according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines with minor modification. Elevated FPG level was defined according to the American Diabetes Association. The factor analysis was conducted to identify three dietary patterns. Higher scores of the meat&#8211;convenience dietary pattern (high intake of deep-fried and processed food, sauces, sugar-added beverages, meat and organ meats, instant noodles, rice or flour cooked in oil, and eggs) had no association with components of dyslipidemia and abnormal FPG. Higher scores of the vegetables&#8211;fruits&#8211;seafood dietary pattern (high intake of vegetables, vegetables with oil or dressing, fruits, seafood, legumes, soy products, and rice or flour products) was inversely associated with hypercholesterolemia and positively associated with hyperglycemia. Higher scores of the dairy&#8211;complex carbohydrate dietary pattern (high intake of dairy products, milk, root crops, jam or honey, and whole grains) was inversely correlated with hypertriglycemia and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. Our results support that the dietary pattern may have a role in the prevention and management of dyslipidemia and abnormal fasting plasma glucose