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Background: After the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments established national lockdowns and social distancing as an effective plan to control this disease. As a result of the lockdown policies, diabetic patients` access to food products, medication, and routine follow-ups is disrupted, making it difficult for them to control their disease. Methods: International databases, including PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus, were searched until April 2022. All observational studies included assessing the impact of lockdown and social distancing on eating habits (as primary outcome), and glycemic and anthropometric indices (as secondary outcomes) of diabetic patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Scale was used to assess the quality rating of the studies. Results: Overall, 22 studies were included in this systematic review, the results of which varied in different communities. In most studies, consumption of grains, fruits, and vegetables was reported to increase. On the other hand, consumption of snacks and sweets was reported to increase in other surveys. During the COVID-19 lockdown, most diabetic patients preferred to cook meals at home, using less takeout, fast foods, and alcoholic drinks. Although the patients mostly improved their eating habits, the glycemic and anthropometric indices were contradictory in different studies. Studies showed that the eating habits of diabetic patients vary from country to country, even in some cases and studies done in the same country showed different results. For example, all the studies done in Japan showed an increase in the consumption of snacks and sweets, leading to weight gain in the patients. However, conflicting results in eating habits have been observed in studies conducted in India. Conclusion: The lockdown policies have led to a beneficial change in the eating habits of diabetic patients to consume more fruits and vegetables and reduce the consumption of animal protein products and alcoholic beverages. While some diabetic patients have increased consumption of snacks and sweets, leading to a disturbance in their glycemic and anthropometric indices control. Understanding the consequences of lockdown and social distancing of the diabetic patient during the COVID-19 pandemic can help public health authorities make better recommendations to improve glycemic control.
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Background: As a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin A plays a crucial role in adipogenesis, lipolysis, insulin resistance, and obesity. However, it is still unclear whether they are associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. The current study aimed to determine the association between serum retinol concentration and the cluster of metabolic syndrome components among children and adolescents. Methods: This nationwide cross-sectional study was performed on 2,518 students aged 7-18 years from the Childhood and Adolescence Surveillance and Prevention of Adult Non- communicable disease (CASPIAN-V) study. Students were selected via multistage cluster sampling method from 30 provinces of Iran in 2015. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association of serum retinol concentration with metabolic syndrome (MetS) components. Results: Overall, the mean (SD) age of study participants was 12.16 (3.04) years, and 44.9% (n = 1,166) of them were girls. The mean serum retinol concentration was 1.48 ± 1.55 µmol/L and vitamin A deficiency was observed among 19.7% (95% CI: 18.2-21.3) of study subjects. The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that increasing serum retinol concentrations were associated with an increased likelihood of developing obesity (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.20), abdominal obesity (OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.14), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.16) and high fasting blood glucose (FBG) (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.35), whereas it was associated with a decreased odds of developing high blood pressure (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.93). Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant association between metabolic syndrome itself and retinol concentration (OR: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.88, 1.18). Conclusion: We found that serum retinol concentration was positively associated with metabolic syndrome components such as obesity, low HDL-C, and high FBG, but not with metabolic syndrome itself.
RESUMO
PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of death from cancer in adults. Recent advances have shown that cancer cells can have some epigenetic changes involved in all stages of cancer. It has also been shown that miR-424 acts as gene expression regulators in many biological processes, including angiogenesis with mediators such as VEGF. In the current study, to identify the potential role of miR-424 in colorectal cancer progression, methylation status of miR-424 promoter region and its expression level have been evaluated. Besides, the correlation between VEGF level and miR-424 expression level has been assessed. METHODS: Methylation status miR-424 promoter was assessed using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). The expression level of miR-424 in human colorectal cancer tissue was analyzed by quantitative PCR. HCT116 cell line was selected to evaluate the correlation between the miR-424 expression level and the promoter's methylation status. VEGF expression, one out of mir-424 targets involved in angiogenesis and cancer progression, was measured by western blot analysis in the pairs of cancer tissues and their adjacent tissues. RESULTS: Our results have revealed that the promoter region of miR-424 is methylated in cancer cells compared to normal cells, leading to downregulation of miR-424 in the colorectal cancer tissues compared to the normal tissues. Also, we found that the expression protein's level of VEGF in the tumor cells is increased compared with normal tissues. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that hypermethylation downregulates miR-424. VEGF expression is upregulated with decreased miR-424 in colorectal cancer, which results in cancer progression.