Rise in childhood obesity with persistently high rates of undernutrition among urban school-aged Indo-Asian children

BACKGROUND

Childhood obesity is an emerging global public health challenge. Evidence for the transition in nutrition in Indo-Asian developing countries is lacking. We conducted these analyses to determine the trends in nutritional status of school-aged children in urban Pakistan.

METHODS

Data on the nutritional status of children aged 5 to 14 years from two independent population-based representative surveys, the urban component of the National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP; 1990-1994) and the Karachi survey (2004-2005), were analysed. Using normative data from children in the United States as the reference, trends for age- and gender-standardised prevalence (95% CI) of underweight (more than 2 SD below the weight-for-age reference), stunted (more than 2 SD below the height-for-age reference) and overweight and obese (body mass index (BMI) 85(th) percentile or greater) children were compared for the two surveys. The association between physical activity and being overweight or obese was analysed in the Karachi survey using logistical regression analysis.

RESULTS

2074 children were included in the urban NHSP and 1675 in the Karachi survey. The prevalence of underweight children was 29.7% versus 27.3% (p = 0.12), stunting was 16.7% versus 14.3% (p = 0.05), and prevalence of overweight and obese children was 3.0 versus 5.7 (p<0.001) in the NHSP and Karachi surveys, respectively. Physical activity was inversely correlated with being overweight or obese (odds ratio, 95% CI, 0.51, 0.32-0.80 for those who engaged in more than 30 minutes of physical activity versus those engaged in less than 30 minutes' activity).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study highlights the challenge faced by Pakistani school-aged children. There has been a rapid rise in the number of overweight and obese children despite a persistently high burden of undernutrition. Focus on prevention of obesity in children must include strategies for promoting physical activity.

Body radioactivity and radiation dose from 40K in Bangladeshi subjects measured with a whole-body counter

A group of subjects of Bangladeshi adults from both sexes were studied for internal radioactivity and effective dose by measuring the whole-body activity of naturally occurring 40K using a whole-body counter. The mean activity concentration in the whole body and effective dose due to naturally occurring 40K for the average male were found to be 2.0 +/- 0.4 Bq x g(-1) and 100 +/- 26 microSv x y(-1), respectively and those for the average female were 1.7 +/- 0.3 Bq x g(-1) and 100 +/- 20 microSv x y(-1), respectively. The mean activity concentration in the whole body and effective dose for both sexes were 1.9 +/- 0.4 Bq x g(-1) and 100 +/- 25 microSv x y(-1), respectively. The effective dose from 40K for subjects is below the value reported by the UNSCEAR.

Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in a district of Assam, India

Toxoplasmosis is one of the important zoonoses of man and has been known to cause serious problems particularly in females. A study on seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was undertaken amongst the human population in Assam to determine the level of exposure of the population to the infection by using commercial ELISA kits. Of the 241 sera belonging to different age groups, sex and religion and having varying levels of exposure to the animals examined, 23 (9.54%) were positive for toxoplasmosis. No significant difference in the prevalence amongst males and females was observed. Some occupational groups like veterinarians, pet keepers and farmers were found to infect more frequently. Although the overall prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis was relatively low, higher prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis amongst the exposed groups warrants due care by these groups when they are handling the animals.

Smoking habits and beliefs of future physicians of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE

To assess the habits, knowledge and attitudes towards smoking among Pakistani medical students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2004 to July 2005 at three medical colleges using a World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire. A total of 1,029 medical students participated in the study.

RESULTS

The prevalence of smoking was found to be 11.2%. Smoking was more prevalent among males, hostel residents and first year medical students. Almost half of the smokers had tried to quit smoking. A family member or a friend was considered to be the most likely person to help quit smoking. The majority believed that passive smoking was harmful to health and were generally supportive of legislative measures to reduce tobacco use, such as the restriction of smoking in public places and the prohibition of sale of tobacco to children. Lesser but significant numbers thought that there should be a complete ban on smoking advertisements and that the price of tobacco products should be increased.

CONCLUSION

The study shows a high prevalence of tobacco use in future physicians in spite of adequate knowledge about and a satisfactory attitude towards smoking.

Evaluation of removal efficiency of fluoride from aqueous solution using quick lime

Several methods are available to remove fluoride from the aqueous environment but they are not feasible in all places and conditions due to various reasons. In the present work, F(-) has been removed by using activated and ordinary quick lime. The removal of fluoride was 80.6% and the final concentration was 9.7 mg/L at optimum condition from the synthetic solution having initial fluoride concentration of 50 mg/L. Adsorption kinetic study revealed that the adsorption process followed first order kinetics. And the removal process followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The SEM micrographs and XRD studies revealed that the removal of fluoride was mainly due to chemi-sorption and precipitation. However, they can be suitably used to remove fluoride from industrial effluent where the concentration is high. But this method cannot be employed to treat water for domestic purpose, since it cannot bring fluoride within permissible limit and also increases the pH of treated water.