A study of eating attitudes and related factors in a sample of first-year female Nutrition and Dietetics students of Harokopion University in Athens, Greece.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate eating attitudes and related factors in a sample of first-year female students of Harokopion University, Nutrition and Dietetics (ND) School. METHOD: The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), a set of 12 male and female figures, and two questionnaires for demographic, clinical and nutritional data were administered to 53 ND students and 54 first-year female students of Athens Technological Institution Health Visitors (HV) School. RESULTS: The ND group scored higher in EAT-26 total score (p=0.05) and Diet subscale (p=0.02) than the HV group. EAT-26 score in the ND group correlated significantly with dinner avoidance (correlation coefficient: 0.3, p=0.02). Logistic regression analysis showed that avoidance of dinner (p=0.03), choosing leaner ideal women figures (p=0.005) and larger self images (p=0.01) were the three factors that could predict high EAT-26 scores in the ND group (EAT-26>or=20). CONCLUSIONS: First-year ND students might have more often disordered eating attitudes as opposed to students from other university programs.

[A study of eating attitudes in Nutrition and Dietetics senior students].

The aim of the study was to investigate eating attitudes and related factors in a sample of senior female students of Harokopeion University, Nutrition and Dietetics Department (ND). The group of ND students was compared to a relative sample of female senior students of Technological Institute of Athens, Health Visitor's School (HV). Sixty five ND and 60 HV female senior students were approached af ter lectures. From the 55 ND and the 46 HV students that were eligible to be included in the study, 44 ND and 37 HV students agreed to participate. Ten ND and 14 HV students were excluded because they were either older than 25 years or suffering from a chronic physical or mental disorder. Eleven ND and 9 HV students refused to participate mainly because the did not wanted to be weighted by the researchers. Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), and two questionnaires for demographic, clinical and nutritional data were administered to all participants. Also each student was asked to pinpoint on a set of 12 male and female figures the figure that was more likely to represent their own body as well as their ideal female and male body. The ND group scored lower in the mean EAT-26 total score (p=0.03) and oral control subscale (p=0.01) than the HV group. EAT-26 score in the ND group correlated positively with self figure (Kendall's tau-b=0.2, p=0.04) and body dissatisfaction (Kendall's tau-b=0.3, p=0.01). The difference between the ideal female figure and the self figure was used as an indication of body dissatisfaction. Logistic regression analysis showed that avoidance of dinner (OR= 0.7, sig=0.03), choosing leaner ideal women figure (OR= 2.1, sig=0.03) and larger self image (OR=0.5, sig=0.001) were the three factors that could predict high EAT-26 total scores (EAT-26 ≥20) in the group of senior female students from both university departments. In conclusion, Nutrition and Dietetics senior female students showed less disordered eating attitudes than senior female Health Visitor's students. Furthermore, the estimation of the ideal female body figure as compared to the perception of the participant's own body figure was significantly related to disordered eating attitudes in the total sample of female university students.

Vascular involvement in diabetic subjects with ischemic foot ulcer: a new morphologic categorization of disease severity.

OBJECTIVES: Arteriographic lesions of diabetic subjects with critical limb ischemia (CLI) and ischemic foot ulcer were reviewed retrospectively, to provide new criteria for stratification of these patients on the basis of their vascular involvement. PATIENTS: In 417 consecutive CLI diabetic subjects with ischemic foot ulcer undergoing lower limb angiography, lesions were defined as stenosis or occlusion, localization, and length (<5 cm, 5-10 cm, >10 cm). In a subgroup of 389 subjects, foot arteries also were evaluated. Patients then were categorized into 7 classes of progressive vascular involvement based on angiographic findings. RESULTS: Of the 2893 found lesions (55% occlusions) 1% were in the iliac arteries, whereas 74% were in below-the-knee (BTK) arteries. Sixty-six % of all BTK lesions were occlusions, and 50% were occlusions >10 cm (p<0.001 vs proximal segments). Occlusions of all BTK were present in 28% of patients, although there was patency of at least one foot artery in 55% of patients. The morphologic Class 4 (two arteries occluded and multiple stenoses of tibial/peroneal and/or femoral/popliteal vessels) was the most common (36%). An inverse correlation between morphologic class and TcPO2 was observed (r=-0.187, p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: In CLI diabetic subjects with ischemic foot ulcer, the vascular involvement is extremely diffuse and particularly severe in tibial arteries, with high prevalence of long occlusions. A new morphologic categorization of these patients is proposed.