Overweight and Obesity Coexist with Thinness among Lao's Urban Area Adolescents

Nutritional status and high adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Colombian school children and teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic according to sex

The current COVID-19 pandemic has generated a series of changes in the daily routines of people, including children and teenagers, in an unprecedented way, which constitutes a global challenge in public health. Social isolation has been a prophylactic measure to prevent the spread of the virus; however, it has generated negative impacts on the physical and emotional health of parents, caregivers, children and teenagers around the world. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic at the level of nutritional status, dietary and behavioural patterns of elementary school children and teenagers in a small town of Colombia. Anthropometric parameters such as BMI Z-score, waist circumference and waist/height ratio were evaluated in 266 school children and teenagers. A questionnaire with socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle characteristics and the KIDMED were applied to learn about nutritional aspects. A total of 102 students (38⋅3 %) were classified as having altered nutritional status, being 39 (14⋅7 %) classified as overweight and 36 (13⋅5 %) with obesity. The prevalence of high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was 12 %, 95 % CI (0⋅08, 0⋅16). Overweight was more prevalent in women (26/39, 66⋅7 %; P = 0⋅0439), and obesity was discreetly more frequent in men (19/36, 52⋅7 %; P = 0⋅7193). We observed a worrying nutritional, dietary and behavioural situation in the children and teenagers studied during the confinement associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This unveils the need to establish strategies and/or public policies in our town that help to promote an adequate biopsychosocial development of the paediatric patient and their family group.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of N-substituted indole-thiazolidinedione analogues as potential pancreatic lipase inhibitors

Pancreatic Lipase (PL) is a key enzyme responsible for the digestion of 50%-70% of dietary triglycerides, hence its inhibition is considered as a viable approach for the management of obesity. A series of indole-TZD hybrid analogues were synthesized, characterized and evaluated for their PL inhibitory activity. Knoevenagel condensation of various substituted indole-3-carboxaldehyde with substituted thiazolidinediones resulted in the formation of titled analogues. Analogues 6d and 6e exerted potent PL inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ -6.19 and 8.96 µM, respectively). Further, these analogues exerted a competitive mode of PL inhibition. Moreover, molecular modelling studies were in agreement with the in vitro results (Pearson's r = .8682, p < .05). The fluorescence spectroscopic analysis further supported the strong binding affinity of these analogues with PL. A molecular dynamics study (20 ns) indicated that these analogues were stable in a dynamic environment. Thus, the present study highlighted the potential role of indole-thiazolidinedione hybrid analogues as potential PL inhibitors and further optimization might result in the development of new PL inhibitory lead candidates.