Nutritional profile and obesity: results from a random‑sample population‑based study in Córdoba, Argentina

Introduction Obesity is a chronic, heterogeneous, multifactorial disease, which has sharply increased in prevalence in both developed and developing countries. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of obesity and to identify socio-demographic risk factors associated with it, with special emphasis on diet. Methods Nutritional status, demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, and food consumption patterns derived from a Food Frequency Questionnaire were investigated. Exhaustive exploratory analyses were performed in order to describe dietary patterns, and logistic regression models were used for odds ratio estimation. Results The study included 4328 subjects, over 18 years old and resident in Cordoba city. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 34 and 17 %, respectively, with 60 % in men and 45 % in women of BMI ≥ 25. Obesity risk factors were high intake of sodium, refined grains, starchy vegetables, and snacks. A lower risk of overweight and obesity was associated with an adequate, moderate intake of meats, eggs, alcoholic beverages, sugar and sweets, milk, yogurt, and pulses. Conclusions A high intake of snacks, refined grains, starchy vegetables and sodium and low intake of yogurt, milk, pulses, and whole grains seem to be associated with the emergence and high prevalence of obesity in Cordoba, Argentina.publishedVersionFil: Aballay, Laura Rosana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Nutrición. Estadística y Bioestadística; ArgentinaFil: Aballay, Laura Rosana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina.Fil: De la Quintana, Ana Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Nutrición; Argentina.Fil: Díaz, María del Pilar. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Nutrición. Estadística y Bioestadística; Argentina.Fil: Díaz, María del Pilar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina.Fil: Osella, Alberto R. Hospital Saverio de Bellis. Laboratorio de Epidemiologia y Bioestadística; Italia

Measuring fidelity to extreme programming: a psychometric approach

This study assesses the Shodan survey as an instrument for measuring an individual’s or a team’s adherence to the extreme programming (XP) methodology. Specifically, we hypothesize that the adherence to the XP methodology is not a uni-dimensional construct as presented by the Shodan survey but a multidimensional one reflecting dimensions that are theoretically grounded in the XP literature. Using data from software engineers in the University of Sheffield’s Software Engineering Observatory, two different models were thus tested and compared using confirmatory factor analysis: a uni-dimensional model and a four-dimensional model. We also present an exploratory analysis of how these four dimensions affect students’ grades. The results indicate that the four-dimensional model fits the data better than the uni-dimensional one. Nevertheless, the analysis also uncovered flaws with the Shodan survey in terms of the reliability of the different dimensions. The exploratory analysis revealed that some of the XP dimensions had linear or curvilinear relationship with grades. Through validating the four-dimensional model of the Shodan survey this study highlights how psychometric techniques can be used to develop software engineering metrics of fidelity to agile or other software engineering methods