Enhancing indoor air quality -The air filter advantage.

Air pollution has become the world's single biggest environmental health risk, linked to around 7 million deaths in 2012 according to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report. The new data further reveals a stronger link between, indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. The role of air pollution in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, is well known. While both indoor and outdoor pollution affect health, recent statistics on the impact of household indoor pollutants (HAP) is alarming. The WHO factsheet on HAP and health states that 3.8 million premature deaths annually - including stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer are attributed to exposure to household air pollution. Use of air cleaners and filters are one of the suggested strategies to improve indoor air quality. This review discusses the impact of air pollutants with special focus on indoor air pollutants and the benefits of air filters in improving indoor air quality.

Food packaged with toys: an investigation on potential obesogenic effects in Indian children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate, in a large pan Indian sample of school children, whether gadgets (toys) added to food increase food consumption, and if contemporary exposure to TV and/or advertising is a further promoting factor. METHODS: A total of 1,680 Indian children were first randomized to food exposure with or without toy and then to a five-level exposure to TV viewing and advertising according to a 2 × 5 full factorial ad libitum eating design study. The sample size was computed to detect a difference of 20 Kcal of caloric intake (assuming the same standard deviation of 20 Kcal in both groups) between "food with gadget" (Toy) and "food alone" (No Toy) groups in each level of the exposure to TV and advertising factor, given an alpha error equal to 0.05 and a power of 0.90. RESULTS: Mean caloric intake both in "Toy" and "No Toy" group was around 223 Kcal. When considering exposure to TV and advertising, mean values varied negligibly between 222 and 225 Kcal. According to linear models for the effect of gadget and exposure to TV and/or advertising on children's intake, no significant adjusted associations were found, neither as main effects nor as interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Food consumption by children is not influenced by the presence of added toys, even after adjustment for several potential confounding factors. The city where they live and age significantly influences Indian children's caloric intake.

Cross-regional analysis of multiple factors associated with childhood obesity in India: a national or local challenge?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate obesogenic co-causing factors, promoting rise of weight in children, associated to local differences in India. METHODS: Overall 1,680 children, aged 3-11 and balanced by gender, were recruited in school contexts distributed in seven major Indian cities. All children were weighted and measured in order to calculate their BMI. A validated cultural specific questionnaire was administered to children's parents for assessing socio-demographic data, eating habits, physical activity, etc. Furthermore children's brand awareness scores were computed in order to analyze their affiliation towards food-based advertisement. Descriptive statistics of frequencies, duration and intensity of the various factors were performed. Chi-square tests or Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for evaluating significance of differences in factors distribution across Indian cities. RESULTS: Four factors, promoting rise of children's weight, were individuated as associated to urban differences, namely meal times consumed in the family, parents' BMI, brand awareness and physical activity. These aspects exercised a significant impact on children's body size in Kolkata and Chennai. Hyderabad and Mumbai, instead, were the cities where religion played some role in influencing children's weight gain. CONCLUSIONS: Such findings underline the need to frame obesity as a situated phenomenon rather than a national problem. Health policies, implemented in treating and preventing obesity, should be therefore specifically focused on locally situated peculiarities.

Types of food and nutrient intake in India: a literature review.

Nowadays India is undergoing an impressive economic growth accompanied by a very slow decline, almost stagnation, in malnutrition levels. In developing countries, studies on dietary patterns and their relationship with nutritional status are scarce. Over the years some nutritional studies have been performed to explore different types of food consumed in various Indian regions, among different social samples. The aim of the present paper is to review and describe trends in food and nutrition intake patterns in the different states of India. The review was carried out in PubMed, using the advanced research criteria: [food* OR ("meal pattern*") OR ("eating pattern*")] AND ("nutrient intake") AND India*. PubMed research gave back 84 results and out of these, 7 papers due to their focus on food intake and consumption levels in India have been included in this study. Food intake patterns showed that most of the Indians are vegetarians and that food items rich in micronutrients (pulses, other vegetables, fruits, nuts, oilseeds and animal foods) are generally consumed less frequently. Poor and monotonous cereals-based diet may promote inadequate nutrition intakes according to Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) standards.

Physical activity patterns among school children in India.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of physical activity and its relation with socio-demographic variables and eating habits among school-aged children in India. METHODS: The study incorporated secondary analysis of anthropometric measurements and questionnaires on lifestyle and dietary habits of 1,680 school children aged between 3 and 11 y, obtained while carrying out the OBEY-AD project. The inventory contained questions about several variables concerning to physical activity, educational background, lifestyles and eating habits for both children and parents. Questions were organized along specific contents, which could be informative topics, picture choices and multiple answers choices. RESULTS: Prevalence of inactivity was 21% and exhibited significant variations between cities. Physical activity was significantly associated to socio-economic status and consumption of fruits and vegetables. No association could be revealed with children's BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Health-promotion interventions aimed at improving healthy lifestyles in Indian children should focus on population strata with low socio-economic status.

Simultaneous acute appendicitis with right testicular torsion.

We present a child with both acute appendicitis and torsion of the right testis presenting at the same time. Testicular torsion possibly occurring due to vomiting in acute appendicitis so far has not been reported in the literature.