Changes in anthropometry in full-term breastfed newborns and associated factors for the first month

OBJECTIVE

We aim to assess the changes and associated factors in newborn anthropometry in the first month for full-term, healthy, and exclusive-breastfed infants.

METHODS

Neonatal anthropometric measurements were taken on day 5, day 15, and day 30 after delivery. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) analyzed the changes.

RESULTS

From 169 mother-newborn pairs, GEE showed that weight gain during the first month was influenced by maternal body mass index (BMI), delivery type, birth weight, and jaundice after adjusting confounding factors (p < .05). The neonatal length was affected by the smoking status of parents, gestational maternal health problems, maternal height, birth weight, and jaundice (p < .05). Neonatal head circumference was influenced by the smoking status of parents, gestational maternal health problems, maternal BMI, delivery type, maternal height, and birth weight.

CONCLUSION

Adverse perinatal factors including mother's smoke exposure, maternal obesity and diabetes, cesarean birth, and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia influence anthropometry in the first months of life.

AI-ASSISTED emotion analysis during complementary feeding in infants aged 6-11 months

This study aims to explore AI-assisted emotion assessment in infants aged 6-11 months during complementary feeding using OpenFace to analyze the Actions Units (AUs) within the Facial Action Coding system. When infants (n = 98) were exposed to a diverse range of food groups; meat, cow-milk, vegetable, grain, and dessert products, favorite, and disliked food, then video recordings were analyzed for emotional responses to these food groups, including surprise, sadness, happiness, fear, anger, and disgust. Time-averaged filtering was performed for the intensity of AUs. Facial expression to different food groups were compared with neutral states by Wilcoxon Singed test. The majority of the food groups did not significantly differ from the neutral emotional state. Infants exhibited high disgust responses to meat and anger reactions to yogurt compared to neutral. Emotional responses also varied between breastfed and non-breastfed infants. Breastfed infants showed heightened negative emotions, including fear, anger, and disgust, when exposed to certain food groups while non-breastfed infants displayed lower surprise and sadness reactions to their favorite foods and desserts. Further longitudinal research is needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of infants' emotional experiences and their associations with feeding behaviors and food acceptance.

How to Improve Language Development of Preschoolers in Home Care

BACKGROUND/AIM

The home environment is important for early childhood neurodevelopment. The objective of this cross-sectional survey was to research the association between family characteristics and language development in healthy preschoolers under isolated home care.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 115 children aged 5-60 months in isolated home care. The preschool language scale (PLS) assessed the receptive and expressive language scores of children. The scores of PLS were graded into 3 levels: high for the top 20-30%, low for the bottom 20-30%, and moderate for the children in between.

RESULTS

When the covariates including parental education, age of the enrolled child, gender, number of children, and household size were adjusted, multiple logistic regression analysis (Model 1) revealed that excessive paternal screen usage (≥4 hours) had elevated odds ratios for both low receptive and low expressive PLS than counterparts, whereas early initiation (<12 months of age) of book reading significantly declined low expressive PLS compared to late initiation of book reading. Preschoolers having grandparents' social support have a lower odds ratio for low receptive PLS than those having no support. Additionally, after controlling for covariates, all the predictors, including paternal heavy screen usage, late initiation of book reading, and absence of grandparent support (Model 2), increased risks for low expressive language level.

CONCLUSION

Poor language scores in a child might be the outcome of late initiation of book reading in a child, absence of the grandparents' social support for the mother in child-rearing, and excessive paternal television viewing.

Evaluation of video game playing status in school-age children with various variables

Objective

Excessive video game playing has several health implications on children. In this study, we evaluate the factors related to video game use in school-aged children.

Material and Methods

This cross-sectional descriptive study included 160 children aged 6-8 years who applied to outpatient clinics at the Department of Pediatrics at Başkent University Hospital. Each parent completed a structured questionnaire including demographic information, video game use, average daily screen time, and parental habits and concerns about their children's screen use.

Results

The mean age of first video game use was (mean±SD) 2.8±1.1 years. The minimum age for playing video games was 1 year. Male children spent more time playing video games. Both parental age and maternal education level were higher in the group of video gamers compared with non-gamers (p<0.05). Average time spent playing video games was 2.7±1.6 hours/day. The group of video gamers had a considerably younger age for starting watching television and higher rates for other video gamers at home than non-gamers (p=0.036 and p<0001, respectively). The group of video gamers had significantly higher rates for having a computer, tablet, and game console at home compared with non-gamers (p<0.05).

Conclusions

Our study indicates a statistically significant relationship between the age of starting watching television, gender of child, parent's age, maternal education, and the categories of video gaming habits. Developing strategies toward avoiding early screen exposure in children should be taken into consideration, because it is directly related to video gaming habits in children.

Uncoupling protein gene UCP1-3826A/G, UCP2 Ins/Del and UCP3-55C/T polymorphisms in obese Turkish children

BACKGROUND

Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP) 1, 2 and 3 are members of the anion carrier protein family located in the inner mitochondrial membrane. There are various controversial reports on UCP genotypes and obesity in adults and children. This study aims to investigate the link between mostly studied UCP polymorphisms (UCP1-3826A/G, UCP2 Insertion/Deletion (Ins/Del) polymorphism of exon 8, and UCP3-55C/T Polymorphisms) and obesity in Turkish children. Furthermore, the relationships of UCP polymorphisms are also analyzed within the scope of metabolic parameters of obese children.

METHODS

Molecular screening of the UCP1, UCP2, and UCP3 gene polymorphisms was carried out in 189 children aged 6 to 18 years, 102 of who had exogenous obesity (54 girls) and 87 of whom were healthy controls (48 girls). In the obese group, fasting lipids, glucose and insulin levels were measured. In 60 obese children, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed with 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes of sampling for plasma glucose and insulin levels.

RESULTS

The frequency of UCP polymorphisms was similar in obese and non-obese children. In obese children, fasting lipids, glucose and insulin levels were not different among the UCP 1, 2 and 3 genotypes. While no relationship was found between the UCP 1 and 3 genotypes and glucose/insulin levels during OGTT, carriers of the Insertion allele with UCP2 Ins/Del polymorphism had significantly higher 30-minute insulin levels (p=0.018).

CONCLUSIONS

Polymorphisms of the UCP1-3826A/G, UCP2 Ins/Del, and UCP3-55C/T are not associated with obesity and related pathologies in Turkish children. However, the presence of the Ins allele of the UCP2 gene has been found to have an unfavorable influence on early insulin excursion after glucose loading.

MUSCULAR HYPERTROPHY AS ATYPICAL INITIAL PRESENTATION OF HYPOTHYROIDISM

Hypothyroidism is a common endocrine disease with characteristic symptoms and signs such as fatigue, weight gain, intolerance of cold, constipation, depression, mental slowdown and muscle cramps. Myopathic changes are observed in 30-80% of patients with hypothyroidism, but muscular hypertrophy with muscle stiffness has been reported in less than 10% of patients. Hoffmann's syndrome is a specific form of the hypothyroid-associated myopathy, rarely seen. Symptoms of this syndrome include proximal muscle weakness, hypertrophies in extremities, stiffness, muscle cramps, spontaneous muscle pain; and are associated with increased muscle enzymes. These findings can be seen at any time during hypothyroidism. Hofmann's syndrome has a very good prognosis. Its response to hormone replacement therapy is very good. Therefore, in patients with myopathy-like symptoms, considering in the differential diagnosis that the myopathy may be a reflection of hypothyroidism will facilitate the diagnosis and treatment. In this case, we aimed to present together Hashimoto thyroiditis and muscular hypertrophy, which is an atypical presentation of hypothyroidism and rarely seen in the literature, namely Hoffmann's syndrome.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 and malignancy in childhood

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant hereditary neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by multi-system involvement and an increased incidence of both benign and malignant tumors. In this study, we evaluated the clinical presentation and prognosis of NF1 and malignancy. Between 1975 and 2013, 26 (5%) of the 473 patients with NF1 at our center developed non-neurofibroma neoplasms. The patient files of 26 subjects with tumors, other than optic glioma, were analyzed retrospectively to evaluate clinical features and treatment results. The age at diagnosis of NF1 ranged from 3 months to 16 years (median 5.5 years). The age range at tumor diagnosis was 1.5-33 years (median 8 years) in these 26 patients. The tumor histological subtypes included the following: 12 soft-tissue tumors (6 malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), 5 rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) and 1 malignant fibrous histiocytoma), 11 brain tumors (6 low-grade gliomas, 3 high-grade gliomas, and 2 medulloblastoma), 2 neuroblastomas and 1 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Twelve of 26 patients were alive at the time of the study. Although benign brain tumors with NF1 are more common, high-grade brain tumors also occur. Thus, careful and regular follow-up is crucial for early detection of malignancy in NF1 patients.

The evaluation of Nesfatin-1 levels in patients with OSAS associated with metabolic syndrome

PURPOSE

The association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and metabolic syndrome (MS) has been demonstrated in studies and in recent years; the effect of OSAS on insulin resistance independent of the level of obesity is being investigated. Nesfatin-1 is a newly defined 82 amino acid protein with a precursor molecule of NUCB2 (nucleobindin 2). Nesfatin-1 is not only essential in regulation of food ingestion but also important in regulation of some brain functions, autonomic regulation, stress, mental state, and paradoxical sleep. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between OSAS and MS and the MS dependent or independent effect of Nesfatin-1 on this relationship.

METHODS

Patients admitted with clinical signs of OSAS are included. Patients are divided into three groups based on Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) on Polysomnography (PSG) as mild, moderate, and severe OSAS. A total of 59 patients were included the control patients. Several OSAS parameters and laboratory findings which are and are not MS dependent are compared. Nesfatin-1 levels are evaluated in all OSAS patients with and without MS.

RESULTS

There were significantly more males in all groups (p = 0.007). There was no significant difference between groups in terms of Nesfatin-1 levels. Nesfatin-1 levels were significantly lower in MS group compared to non-MS group (p = 0.021).

CONCLUSION

Nesfatin-1 which is known to play a role in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance can be a beneficial target in developing new therapeutic targets for treatment of patients with obesity without any toxic effects in the future.

A statistical experimental design approach for mineralization and detoxification of diethyl phthalate by H2O2/UV-C process

In the present study, a three-factor central composite design (CCD) was implemented to evaluate the major factors (treatment time, initial H2O2 dose and initial diethyl phthalate (DEP) concentration) influencing the H2O2/UV-C treatment of aqueous DEP solution. Significant regression models for total organic carbon (TOC) removal and residual H2O2 concentration were derived using analysis of variance (ANOVA), which were found to be adequate to perform the process variables optimization. According to the applied ANOVA, treatment time (positive effect) and initial H2O2 dose (negative effect after an optimum value) were found to be significant on the H2O2/UV-C process performance. TOC removal efficiencies were enhanced with increasing initial H2O2 dose up to an optimum value, and further increases in H2O2 dose resulted in a decrease in TOC removals due to the hydroxyl radical scavenging effect. When initial H2O2 dose increased from 10 to 30 mM, the TOC removal efficiency improved from 41 to 100% for DEPo of 100 mg/L for treatment time of 50 min. Further increase in initial H2O2 dose to 50 mM decreased the TOC removal efficiency down to 38%. The results of toxicity assessments with Vibrio fischeri on aqueous DEP solutions subjected to H2O2/UV-C treatment revealed complete detoxification at the optimum conditions.