BIRTH WEIGHT, WEIGHT GAIN, AND OBESITY AMONG CHILDREN IN URUGUAY: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY SINCE BIRTH.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of birth weight and subsequent weight gain on children being overweight and obese in serial assessments of Uruguayan children living at urban areas. METHODS: We used secondary data of pediatric anthropometric measurements and health and socioeconomic characteristics of families that were included in a longitudinal and prospective nationally representative survey ("Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud"). The associations of conditional weight gain, being overweight and obesity were tested through correlation coefficients. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were performed to calculate the effect of birth weight on childhood obesity and were adjusted for covariates. RESULTS: For macrosomic babies, there was an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 70% compared with non-macrosomic babies, when we adjusted for sex, exclusive breastfeeding duration, and household income. The correlation between weight gain and the body mass index for age indicated that the greatest (positive) difference in Z score between measurements increased the obesity levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that ensuring optimal birth weight and monitoring and controlling posterior weight gain represent the first steps toward primary prevention of childhood obesity.

Birth weight, weight gain, and obesity among children in uruguay: a prospective study since birth / Peso ao nascer, ganho ponderal e obesidade em crianças no uruguai: estudo prospectivo desde

ABSTRACT Objective: To examine the effect of birth weight and subsequent weight gain on children being overweight and obese in serial assessments of Uruguayan children living at urban areas. Methods: We used secondary data of pediatric anthropometric measurements and health and socioeconomic characteristics of families that were included in a longitudinal and prospective nationally representative survey ("Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud"). The associations of conditional weight gain, being overweight and obesity were tested through correlation coefficients. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were performed to calculate the effect of birth weight on childhood obesity and were adjusted for covariates. Results: For macrosomic babies, there was an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 70% compared with non-macrosomic babies, when we adjusted for sex, exclusive breastfeeding duration, and household income. The correlation between weight gain and the body mass index for age indicated that the greatest (positive) difference in Z score between measurements increased the obesity levels. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that ensuring optimal birth weight and monitoring and controlling posterior weight gain represent the first steps toward primary prevention of childhood obesity.

RESUMO Objetivo: Analisar o efeito do peso ao nascer e do ganho ponderal subsequente em crianças com sobrepeso e obesidade com base em avaliações consecutivas de crianças uruguaias vivendo em áreas urbanas. Métodos: Foram utilizados dados secundários de medidas antropométricas pediátricas, além de características de saúde e socioeconômicas de famílias incluídas em um inquérito prospectivo e longitudinal de representatividade nacional ("Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud"). As associações entre ganho ponderal condicional, sobrepeso e obesidade foram testadas por meio de coeficientes de correlação. Modelos de regressão logística binária multivariada foram construídos para calcular o efeito do peso ao nascer sobre a obesidade infantil e ajustados por covariáveis. Resultados: Bebês macrossômicos tiveram um aumento de 70% na prevalência de sobrepeso e obesidade em comparação a bebês não-macrossômicos, quando ajustado por sexo, duração do aleitamento materno exclusivo e renda familiar. A correlação entre ganho ponderal e índice de massa corporal para idade mostrou que a maior diferença (positiva) de escore z entre as medições aumentou os níveis de obesidade. Conclusões: Os achados deste estudo sugerem que garantir o peso ideal ao nascer e monitorar e controlar o ganho ponderal subsequente são os primeiros passos para a prevenção primária da obesidade infantil.

[Depressive symptomatology and psychological well-being among Chilean university students]. / Sintomatologia depresiva y bienestar psicológico en estudiantes universitarios chilenos.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life and psychological well-being are readily hampered by depression. The changes that students face during college life impact their psychological health and well-being, including the emergence of mental health problems like depression Aim: To determine the relationship between depressive symptoms, sociodemographic parameters and psychological well-being in undergraduate university students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Five hundred eighty university students of both sexes, from the Metropolitan and IX Regions of Chile answered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA) and the Ryff's psychological well-being scale. RESULTS: Twenty eight percent of respondents had clinically significant depressive symptoms, and these were more frequent in women. There was an inverse and statistically significant relationship between psychological well-being and depressive symptoms. This fact was especially marked in dimensions of autonomy, positive relationships with others and purpose in life. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high frequency of depressive symptoms among these students. We discuss whether psychological well-being and depressive symptomatology represent two extremes within a continuum or they are two independent dimensions that can account for differential causal mechanisms linked to mental health and illness.

Sintomatologia depresiva y bienestar psicológico en estudiantes universitarios chilenos / Depressive symptomatology and psychological well-being among Chilean university students

Background: Quality of life and psychological well-being are readily hampered by depression. The changes that students face during college life impact their psychological health and well-being, including the emergence of mental health problems like depression Aim: To determine the relationship between depressive symptoms, sociodemographic parameters and psychological well-being in undergraduate university students. Material and Methods: Five hundred eighty university students of both sexes, from the Metropolitan and IX Regions of Chile answered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA) and the Ryff's psychological well-being scale. Results: Twenty eight percent of respondents had clinically significant depressive symptoms, and these were more frequent in women. There was an inverse and statistically significant relationship between psychological well-being and depressive symptoms. This fact was especially marked in dimensions of autonomy, positive relationships with others and purpose in life. Conclusions: There is a high frequency of depressive symptoms among these students. We discuss whether psychological well-being and depressive symptomatology represent two extremes within a continuum or they are two independent dimensions that can account for differential causal mechanisms linked to mental health and illness.

Psychotherapy and Genetic Neuroscience: An Emerging Dialog.

Recent research in psychiatric genetics has led to a move away from simple diathesis-stress models to more complex models of psychopathology incorporating a focus on gene-environment interactions and epigenetics. Our increased understanding of the way biology encodes the impact of life events on organisms has also generated more sophisticated theoretical models concerning the molecular processes at the interface between "nature" and "nurture." There is also increasing consensus that psychotherapy entails a specific type of learning in the context of an emotional relationship (i.e., the therapeutic relationship) that may also lead to epigenetic modifications across different therapeutic treatment modalities. This paper provides a systematic review of this emerging body of research. It is concluded that, although the evidence is still limited at this stage, extant research does indeed suggest that psychotherapy may be associated with epigenetic changes. Furthermore, it is argued that epigenetic studies may play a key role in the identification of biomarkers implicated in vulnerability for psychopathology, and thus may improve diagnosis and open up future research opportunities regarding the mechanism of action of psychotropic drugs as well as psychotherapy. We review evidence suggesting there may be important individual differences in susceptibility to environmental input, including psychotherapy. In addition, given that there is increasing evidence for the transgenerational transmission of epigenetic modifications in animals and humans exposed to trauma and adversity, epigenetic changes produced by psychotherapy may also potentially be passed on to the next generation, which opens up new perspective for prevention science. We conclude this paper stressing the limitations of current research and by proposing a set of recommendations for future research in this area.

Self-Knowledge Dim-Out: Stress Impairs Metacognitive Accuracy.

Modulation of frontal lobes activity is believed to be an important pathway trough which the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response impacts cognitive and emotional functioning. Here, we investigate the effects of stress on metacognition, which is the ability to monitor and control one's own cognition. As the frontal lobes have been shown to play a critical role in metacognition, we predicted that under activation of the HPA axis, participants should be less accurate in the assessment of their own performances in a perceptual decision task, irrespective of the effect of stress on the first order perceptual decision itself. To test this prediction, we constituted three groups of high, medium and low stress responders based on cortisol concentration in saliva in response to a standardized psycho-social stress challenge (the Trier Social Stress Test). We then assessed the accuracy of participants' confidence judgments in a visual discrimination task. As predicted, we found that high biological reactivity to stress correlates with lower sensitivity in metacognition. In sum, participants under stress know less when they know and when they do not know.

Estudio multicéntrico para la validación de la versión en español del Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale / Validation of the Spanish version of the Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale

Background: The Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) is a self-administered low cost psychometric instrument with excellent levels of temporal reliability and validity. Aim: To adapt and validate the EDDS in Chile. Material and Methods: Thefactorial structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability ofthe Spanish-language version of the EDDS was analyzed in a sample of1964 university and high school students. The concurrent validity was tested in a sample of 50 primary care patients with ED and 59 controls, comparing its results with those of a structured psychiatric interview (CIDI). Results: The EDDS showed a high internal consistency, moderate test-retest reliability, an appropriate factorial structure (in women) and an excellent convergent validity. Also, the diagnosis of ED obtained with the EDDS is moderately consistent with the structured psychiatric interview. Conclusions: The Spanish-language version of the EDDS showed a satisfactory psychometric behavior and a good capacity for detecting ED, according to the DSM criterion.

[Validation of the Spanish version of the Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale]. / Estudio multicéntrico para la validación de la versión en español del Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale.

BACKGROUND: The Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) is a self-administered low cost psychometric instrument with excellent levels of temporal reliability and validity. AIM: To adapt and validate the EDDS in Chile. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The factorial structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Spanish-language version of the EDDS was analyzed in a sample of 1964 university and high school students. The concurrent validity was tested in a sample of 50 primary care patients with ED and 59 controls, comparing its results with those of a structured psychiatric interview (CIDI). RESULTS: The EDDS showed a high internal consistency, moderate test-retest reliability, an appropriate factorial structure (in women) and an excellent convergent validity. Also, the diagnosis of ED obtained with the EDDS is moderately consistent with the structured psychiatric interview. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish-language version of the EDDS showed a satisfactory psychometric behavior and a good capacity for detecting ED, according to the DSM criterion.

Evidencia serológica de ehrlichiosis humana en Ancash, Perú / Serological evidence of human ehrlichiosis in Ancash, Perú

Se desarrolló y estandarizó una prueba de inmunofluorescencia indirecta para detección de IgG e IgTotal para el diagnóstico de Ehrlichiosis humana. Se utilizó como antígeno, a células DH82 infectadas con Ehrlichia chaffeensis cepa Sapulpa, se consideró una dilución de 1/64 como positivo. Se evaluó 130 sueros de pacientes febriles negativos para Rickettsiosis y enfermedad de Carrión procedentes de Ancash, que ingresaron al Instituto Nacional de Salud entre los años 2004 a 2006. Se encontró que 12 (9,2%) sueros fueron positivos a Ehrlichiosis. Teniendo en cuenta que es una enfermedad emergente y con el desarrollo de esta prueba, es recomendable iniciar estudios epidemiológicos y de vigilancia de la Ehrlichiosis en el Perú.

We developed and standardized an indirect immunofluorescence test for detection of IgG and IgTotal for diagnosing human Ehrlichiosis. It was used as antigen to DH82 infected cells with Ehrlichia chaffeensis Sapulpa strain; it was considered a dilution of 1/64 as positive. We evaluated sera from 130 febrile patients negative for Rickettsiosis and Carrion disease from Ancash, who entered at Instituto Nacional de Salud (Lima, Peru) between 2004 and 2006. We found that 12 (9.2%) sera were positive for Ehrlichiosis. Given that Ehrlichiosis is an emerging disease and with the development of this test, it should start monitoring and epidemiological studies of Ehrlichiosis in Peru.