The impact of overweight and obesity on health-related quality of life in childhood – results from an intervention study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The negative impact of overweight (including obesity) and related treatment on children's and adolescents' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been shown in few specific samples thus far. We examined HRQoL and emotional well-being in overweight children from an outpatient treatment sample as well as changes of these parameters during treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a cross-sectional design, self-reported HRQoL of 125 overweight (including obese) children who contacted a treatment facility, but had not yet receive treatment, were compared to 172 children from randomly selected schools using independent two-sample t-tests. Additionally, in a longitudinal design, the overweight children were retested by administering the same questionnaire at the end of the intervention (after one year). It included measures such as the body mass index (BMI), the general health item (GHI), the KINDL^R, and the Child Dynamic Health Assessment Scale (ChildDynHA). Comparisons were based on dependent t-tests and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overweight children showed statistically significant impairment in the GHI (Cohen's d = 0.59) and emotional well-being (ChildDynha) (d = 0.33) compared to the school children. With respect to HRQoL, the friends dimension of the KINDL^Rwas significantly impaired in the overweight group (d = 0.33). However, no impairment was found for the total HRQoL score or other KINDL^Rsubdimensions. Regarding the longitudinal part of our study, most of the children improved their BMI, but the majority (87.5%) remained overweight. Nevertheless, the participants' perceived health, emotional well-being, and generic as well as disease-specific HRQoL improved during intervention.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings emphasize the importance of patient-reported outcomes such as HRQoL. Even though overweight and obesity might accompany most of the children throughout their lifetime, the impairment associated with this chronic condition can be considerably reduced. Opportunities of health promotion in overweight/obese children and adolescents are discussed.</p

Przerzut pierwotnego mięsaka serca do mózgu

Primary cardiac sarcomas are exceptionally rare tumours. A brain metastasis of a primary cardiac sarcoma has never been reported before. Although we know lots of primary malignomas spreading to the brain, we never observed cerebral metastases of an atrial spindle cell sarcoma. Cardiac sarcomas are more likely to haematogenously metastasize to the lung or the liver. Here, we describe the case of a young man, who suffered from a cerebral metastasis of a spindle cell sarcoma in the left heart atrium nine years ago. Postoperative whole brain irradiation with 30 Gy was performed. Later on, the patient experienced a local recurrence within the left atrium accompanied by cardiac arrhythmia and mitral valve insufficiency. This case is the very first description of a true cerebral metastasis from a primary heart sarcoma. Therefore, clear treatment paradigms are not established. Further case illustrations and the publication of larger patient series are mandatory, whenever possible.Pierwotne mięsaki serca są wyjątkowo rzadkimi guzami. Dotychczas nie opisano przerzutu pierwotnego mięsaka serca do mózgu. Chociaż wiadomo wiele o przerzutach pierwotnych nowotworów złośliwych do mózgu, to nigdy wcześniej nie opisano przerzutów mięsaka wrzecionowa-tokomórkowego przedsionka do mózgu. Guzy te z większym prawdopodobieñstwem mogą dawać przerzuty drogą krwi do płuc lub wątroby. W pracy opisano przypadek młodego mężczyzny, u którego 9 lat wcześniej wystąpił guz przerzutowy mózgu, którego źródłem był mięsak wrzecionowatokomórkowy lewego przedsionka. Po leczeniu chirurgicznym przeprowadzono napromienianie całego mózgowia dawką 30 Gy. W późniejszym czasie u chorego wystąpiła miejscowa wznowa guza lewego przedsionka, której towarzyszyło migotanie przedsionków i niedomykalność zastawki dwudzielnej. Przedstawiony przypadek jest pierwszym opisem rzeczywistego przerzutu pierwotnego mięsaka serca do mózgu. Nie ma zatem ustalonych zasad postępowania. W miarę możliwości wskazane byłoby publikowanie kolejnych opisów przypadków lub ich serii

Measuring subjective health in children and adolescents: results of the European KIDSCREEN/DISABKIDS Project

Objectives: Currently there is a lack of information regarding the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of healthy as well as chronically ill children on a European level. In 2 European projects questionnaires for the assessment of the HRQoL in children and adolescents have been developed: The KIDSCREEN project aims at a co-operative European development of a standardised screening instrument for children's HRQoL for the implementation in representative national and European health surveys. In the DISABKIDS project a chronic-generic questionnaire as well as modules for specific conditions (e.g. asthma) were developed for children with chronic conditions

Zwischenbericht und Auswertungsmanual zum Projekt "KOMPETENT": (neue Formen arbeitszentrierter Lebensgestaltung ; Kompetenzenentwicklung bei Beschäftigen im IT-Bereich)

Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts "KOMPETENT" werden Fragen zur Lebensgestaltung und Kompetenzentwicklung von ca. 100 Beschäftigten aus dem informationstechnologischen Bereich untersucht. Dabei handelt es sich um die GründerInnen und die MitarbeiterInnen sogenannter "Startups", d.h. relativ junger und in der Regel kleiner Unternehmen aus diesem Bereich. Im Mittelpunkt der Studie steht die Frage, inwieweit sich die These einer zunehmenden Entgrenzung von Berufs- und Privatleben empirisch für jenen Bereich belegen lässt, der häufig als Prototyp neuer Arbeitsformen gilt. Die Autoren führten bisher 73 Interviews durch. Nach einem kurzen Zwischenbericht über das erste Projektjahr stellen sie im vorliegenden Arbeitspapier ein Auswertungsmanual näher vor, das sie auf der Grundlage der ersten zehn ausgewerteten Interviews entwickelt haben. (ICI2

Shorter duration of breastfeeding at elevated exposures to perfluoroalkyl substances

The aim of this study was to determine whether maternal exposure to persistent perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) affect the capability to breastfeed. In two Faroese birth cohorts (N=1,130), concentrations of five PFASs were measured in maternal serum during pregnancy or two weeks after term. Duration of breastfeeding was assessed by questionnaire and clinical interview. In adjusted linear regression models, a doubling of maternal serum PFASs was associated with a reduction in duration of both total and exclusive breastfeeding, most pronounced for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) where a doubling was associated with a reduction in total breastfeeding of 1.4 (95% CI: 0.6; 2.1) months and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) where a doubling was associated with a reduction in exclusive breastfeeding of 0.5 (0.3; 0.7) months. The associations were evident among both primiparous and multiparous women, and thus cannot be explained by confounding from previous breastfeeding

Cell Therapy for Prophylactic Tolerance in Immunoglobulin E-mediated Allergy

AbstractBackgroundTherapeutic strategies for the prophylaxis of IgE-mediated allergy remain an unmet medical need. Cell therapy is an emerging approach with high potential for preventing and treating immunological diseases.We aimed to develop a cell-based therapy inducing permanent allergen-specific immunological tolerance for preventing IgE-mediated allergy.MethodsWild-type mice were treated with allergen-expressing bone marrow cells under a short course of tolerogenic immunosuppression (mTOR inhibition and costimulation blockade). Bone marrow was retrieved from a novel transgenic mouse ubiquitously expressing the major grass pollen allergen Phl p 5 as a membrane-anchored protein (BALB/c-Tg[Phlp5-GFP], here mPhl p 5). After transplantation recipients were IgE-sensitized at multiple time points with Phl p 5 and control allergen.ResultsMice treated with mPhl p 5 bone marrow did not develop Phl p 5-specific IgE (or other isotypes) despite repeated administration of the allergen, while mounting and maintaining a strong humoral response towards the control allergen. Notably, Phl p 5-specific T cell responses and allergic airway inflammation were also completely prevented. Interestingly allergen-specific B cell tolerance was maintained independent of Treg functions indicating deletional tolerance as underlying mechanism.ConclusionThis proof-of-concept study demonstrates that allergen-specific immunological tolerance preventing occurrence of allergy can be established through a cell-based therapy employing allergen-expressing leukocytes

Decay resistance variability of European wood species thermally modified by industrial process

Thermal modification is now considered as a new ecofriendly industrial wood modification process improving mainly the material decay resistance and its dimensional stability. Most industrial thermal treatment processes use convection heat transfer which induces sometimes heterogeneous treatment temperature propagation within the oven and lead to the heterogeneity in treatment efficiency. Thus, it is common that treatment is not completely effective on several stack boards, in a same batch. The aim of this paper was to study the decay resistance variability of various European wood species thermally modified. Thermal modifications were performed around 240°C during 4h, on about 10 m3 of 27 x 152 x 2000 mm3 wood planks placed in an industrial oven having a volume of 20 m3, on the following wood species: spruce, ash, beech and poplar. All of the tests concerning the decay resistance were carried out in the laboratory using untreated beech and pine woods as reference materials. An agar block test was used to determine the resistance of thermally modified woods, leached beforehand according to EN 84 standard or not, to brown-rot and white-rot fungi, according to XP CEN/TS 15083-1. A large selection of treated wood samples was tested in order to estimate the variability of treatment efficiency. Thermal treatment increased the biological durability of all leached and un-leached modified wood samples, compared with native wood species. The treatment temperature of 240°C used in this study is sufficient to reach durability classes ''durable'' or ''very durable'' for the four wood species. However, the dispersion of weight loss values, due to the fungal attacks was very important and showed a large variability of the durability of wood which has been treated in a single batch. These results showed that there is a substantial need to develop process control and² indicator in order to insure that the quality of treated timber is properly evaluated with a view to putting this modified timber on the market under a chain of custody. (Résumé d'auteur

Meeresatlas: Daten und Fakten über unseren Umgang mit dem Ozean

Ohne das Meer gäbe es kein Leben auf unserem Planeten. Es regelt weitgehend das Klima, gibt uns Nahrung und liefert Energie. Darüber hinaus ist es ein wichtiger Verkehrsweg, ein Erholungsraum und ein Quell ästhetischen Vergnügens. Aber das Meer steht unter Stress, denn das alte Prinzip von der „Freiheit der Meere“ hat zu Überfischung, Artenverlust und einer immensen Verschmutzung der Ozeane geführt. Deshalb muss der Umgang mit dem Meer auf nachhaltige und gerechte Grundlagen gestellt werden. Der Meeresatlas 2017 liefert dazu die Daten, Fakten und Zusammenhänge. Er zeigt in zahlreichen Beiträgen und über 50 Grafiken, in welch schlechtem Zustand sich die Weltmeere befinden, warum das so ist und was man tun muss, um die Situation der Ozeane zu verbessern