Overweight and obesity prevalence in schoolchildren and evaluation of their healthy nutrition knowledge

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate over weight and obesity prevalence and healthy nutrition knowledge in adolescents aged 11-14 years, living in the town of Parvomai in district of Plovdiv.Material and methods: The over weight and obesity prevalence was assessed according to the international cut off points for body mass index for over weight and obesity proposed by Cole et al, 2000. A questionnaire of V. Duleva, 2005 was used for evaluation of healthy nutrition knowledge.Results: The results show that 20% of the studied boys and 12% of the girls are with over weight and obesity. The questionnaire's data show that a considerable part of the adolescents have not good information about healthy nutrition. Conclusion: Recommendations about elaboration of adequate educational programs for nutrition in the schools were made. The aim of this strategy is the development of healthy nutritional behavior in adolescents.Scripta Scientifica Medica 2009; 41(2): 187-189

Major Factors Affecting Incidence of Childhood Thyroid Cancer in Belarus after the Chernobyl Accident: Do Nitrates in Drinking Water Play a Role?

One of the major health consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1986 was a dramatic increase in incidence of thyroid cancer among those who were aged less than 18 years at the time of the accident. This increase has been directly linked in several analytic epidemiological studies to iodine-131 (131I) thyroid doses received from the accident. However, there remains limited understanding of factors that modify the 131Irelated risk. Focusing on post-Chernobyl pediatric thyroid cancer in Belarus, we reviewed evidence of the effects of radiation, thyroid screening, and iodine deficiency on regional differences in incidence rates of thyroid cancer. We also reviewed current evidence on content of nitrate in groundwater and thyroid cancer risk drawing attention to high levels of nitrates in open well water in several contaminated regions of Belarus, i.e. Gomel and Brest, related to the usage of nitrogen fertilizers. In this hypothesis generating study, based on ecological data and biological plausibility, we suggest that nitrate pollution may modify the radiationrelated risk of thyroid cancer contributing to regional differences in rates of pediatric thyroid cancer in Belarus. Analytic epidemiological studies designed to evaluate joint effect of nitrate content in groundwater and radiation present a promising avenue of research and may provide useful insights into etiology of thyroid cancer

Association Between Thyroid and Iron Status of Pregnant Women in Southern Bulgaria

The purpose of this study was to assess the thyroid and iron status of pregnant women on the basis of biochemical indicators and to look for correlation dependences amongst them. A subject of this research were 128 pregnant women from Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria. For the assessment of the iron status the following indicators were examined: hemoglobin (Hb), serum ferritin (SF), soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR), Body iron(mg/kg), defined by the formula:–[log(sTfR/SF)-2.8229]/0.1207. To assess the thyroid status the urinary iodine concentration was examined, and also the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free T4 (FT4). The results demonstrated that more than 1/3 of the examined pregnant women had Hb<110 g/L, and 69% had SF less than 15 µg/L, which is indicative for iron deficiency, 18.5% were with Body iron<0 mg/kg (indicate tissue iron deficiency). During the assessment of the thyroid status on the basis of ioduria it turned out that more than half of the pregnant women (59.3%) had iodine deficiency, 5.8% and respectively 19.0% had deviation in the values of TSH and FT4. In conclusion we can summarize that we have found out significant associations between iron deficiency with pregnant women and deviations in their thyroid status, which provides us with a solid base to continue and deepen the research in this direction

Perceived urban bluespace and noise annoyance in young adults.

Noise annoyance is arguably the most prevalent non-auditory outcome of residential noise exposure. Research on the subject in Bulgaria has suggested that annoyance is associated with considerable socioeconomic costs. At the same time, common intervention strategies fail to achieve sufficient reduction in environmental noise in major agglomerations, where noise levels often exceed safe thresholds. Interaction with bluespace might have the potential to buffer noise annoyance through energetic or perceptual masking of unwanted sounds, or through psychological mechanisms of stress reduction and enhanced perceived control over the sonic environment. However, there has been no research on the subject in Bulgaria. This chapter aimed to examine the association between perceived bluespace and noise annoyance in the living environment. We sampled 720 young Bulgarians (18 - 35 years) from the Medical University of Plovdiv. Perceived bluespace was represented by the mean of responses to five items asking about amount, visibility, accessibility, quality, and time spent in neighborhood bluespace. Noise annoyance due to (1) traffic and (2) neighborhood sources was assessed using validated scales, mimicking the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise 5-point scale. The association between bluespace and noise annoyance was examined using multivariate linear regression modelling. We controlled for sociodemographic and residential factors, as well as for daytime equivalent noise level at the address point, calculated by a land use regression model. Results indicated that more bluespace was associated with significantly lower traffic noise annoyance in men, non-Bulgarians, and those who resided less than 5 years at their current address. As for neighborhood noise annoyance, bluespace seemed to benefit only non-Bulgarians. When perceived greenspace was added to the model, the effect of bluespace was not present anymore, except among non-Bulgarians. In conclusion, perceived greenspace might have greater potential to mitigate noise annoyance than bluespace. Green- and bluespace are oftentimes spatially correlated; therefore, we could not confirm that bluespace was beneficial per se

Multiple pathways link urban green- and bluespace to mental health in young adults.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of scientific literature indicates that urban green- and bluespace support mental health; however, little research has attempted to address the complexities in likely interrelations among the pathways through which benefits plausibly are realized. OBJECTIVES: The present study examines how different plausible pathways between green/bluespace and mental health can work together. Both objective and perceived measures of green- and bluespace are used in these models. METHODS: We sampled 720 students from the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Residential greenspace was measured in terms of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree cover density, percentage of green areas, and Euclidean distance to the nearest green space. Bluespace was measured in terms of its presence in the neighborhood and the Euclidean distance to the nearest bluespace. Mental health was measured with the 12-item form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The following mediators were considered: perceived neighborhood green/bluespace, restorative quality of the neighborhood, social cohesion, physical activity, noise and air pollution, and environmental annoyance. Structural equation modelling techniques were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Higher NDVI within a 300 m buffer around the residence was associated with better mental health through higher perceived greenspace; through higher perceived greenspace, leading to increased restorative quality, and subsequently to increased physical activity (i.e., serial mediation); through lower noise exposure, which in turn was associated with lower annoyance; and through higher perceived greenspace, which was associated with lower annoyance. Presence of bluespace within a 300 m buffer did not have a straightforward association with mental health owing to competitive indirect paths: one supporting mental health through higher perceived bluespace, restorative quality, and physical activity; and another engendering mental ill-health through higher noise exposure and annoyance. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence that having more greenspace near the residence supported mental health through several indirect pathways with serial components. Conversely, bluespace was not clearly associated with mental health

A novel approach to exploring the dark genome and its application to mapping of the vertebrate virus fossil record

Abstract Background Genomic regions that remain poorly understood, often referred to as the dark genome, contain a variety of functionally relevant and biologically informative features. These include endogenous viral elements (EVEs)—virus-derived sequences that can dramatically impact host biology and serve as a virus fossil record. In this study, we introduce a database-integrated genome screening (DIGS) approach to investigate the dark genome in silico, focusing on EVEs found within vertebrate genomes. Results Using DIGS on 874 vertebrate genomes, we uncover approximately 1.1 million EVE sequences, with over 99% originating from endogenous retroviruses or transposable elements that contain EVE DNA. We show that the remaining 6038 sequences represent over a thousand distinct horizontal gene transfer events across 10 virus families, including some that have not previously been reported as EVEs. We explore the genomic and phylogenetic characteristics of non-retroviral EVEs and determine their rates of acquisition during vertebrate evolution. Our study uncovers novel virus diversity, broadens knowledge of virus distribution among vertebrate hosts, and provides new insights into the ecology and evolution of vertebrate viruses. Conclusions We comprehensively catalog and analyze EVEs within 874 vertebrate genomes, shedding light on the distribution, diversity, and long-term evolution of viruses and reveal their extensive impact on vertebrate genome evolution. Our results demonstrate the power of linking a relational database management system to a similarity search-based screening pipeline for in silico exploration of the dark genome