Undernourishment trends and determinants: an ecological study of 76 countries.

OBJECTIVES: Owing to the importance of global commitment to reduce undernourishment, knowing the trend of undernourishment and its associated macro-level factors is of great importance. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the undernourishment trend and its association with several country-level socio-economic and agricultural factors for 76 countries during 1991-2013. STUDY DESIGN: The design of this study is a cross-country ecological study. METHODS: Data on undernourishment and associated factors representing the four dimensions of food security were retrieved from the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank databases for 76 countries during 1991-2013. To define the determinants of undernourishment, countries were classified based on macro-level factors as the independent variables, and the trend of undernourishment was assessed within different tertiles of independent variables for the crude and adjusted model controlling other variables during 1991-2013 using tempo-spatial multilevel regression models. RESULTS: Among all 76 countries and geographical regions, the prevalence of undernourishment had a significant declining trend; however, no significant changes were found in countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia and Yemen and South Asia region during 1991-2013. Countries in the lower categories of which experienced a higher human development index (HDI), literacy rate, as well as a lower under 5-child mortality rate and Gini coefficient experienced a greater decline for undernourishment when compared to others. No significant difference was found for undernourishment trends in countries within different tertiles of the growth of domestic product, percentage of agricultural land, food production index and livestock production index. CONCLUSIONS: The significant difference in the declining trend of undernourishment within countries experiencing better status of the HDI, Gini coefficient literacy rate and child mortality highlights considering the whole food system approach to improve undernourishment, taking into account utility and stability dimension of national food security. More investment in increasing the HDI, health investment, education and equal income distributions might be helpful for reducing undernourishment prevalence.

Trend of fatal poisoning at national and provincial levels in Iran from 1990 to 2015.

OBJECTIVES: Comprehensive and up-to-date data on fatal injury trends are critical to identify challenges and plan priority setting. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of poisoning mortality trends across Iran. STUDY DESIGN: The data were gathered from various resources, including death registration systems, cemetery databases of Tehran and Esfahan, the Demographic and Health Survey of 2000, and three rounds of national population and housing censuses. METHODS: After addressing incompleteness for child and adult death data separately and using a spatio-temporal model and Gaussian process regression, the level and trend of child and adult mortality were estimated. For estimating cause-specific mortality, the cause fraction was calculated and applied to the level and trend of death. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2015, 40,586 deaths due to poisoning were estimated across the country. The poisoning-related age-standardized death rate per 100,000 was estimated to have changed from 3.08 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 2.32-4.11) in 1990 to 0.96 (95% UI: 0.73-1.25) in 2015, and the male/female ratio was 1.35 during 25 years of study with an annual percentage change of -5.4% and -4.0% for women and men, respectively. The annual mortality rate was higher among children younger than 5 years and the elderly population (≥70 years) in the study period. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that mortality from poisoning declined in Iran over the period from 1990 to 2015 and varied by province. Understanding the reasons for the differences of poisoning mortality by province will help in developing and implementing measures to reduce this burden in Iran.

Epidemiology of ankle and foot overuse injuries in sports: A systematic review.

Studies regarding ankle and foot overuse injuries are quite diverse in research methodology, data reporting, and outcomes. The aims of this systematic review were to analyze the methodology of published studies regarding ankle and foot overuse injuries in different sports disciplines and to summarize epidemiological data of ankle and foot overuse injuries. Four electronic databases, PubMed (MEDLINE), EMBASE, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus(®) were systematically searched up to June 2011. A total of 89 articles on 23 sports disciplines were included in this review. Soccer, running, and gymnastics were the most frequently studied sports. Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, and stress fracture were the most frequently studied injuries. Study design and reporting methods were heterogeneous. Most studies suffered from a weak methodology and poor reporting. The most common weaknesses were lack of a clear case definition, describing assessment procedures and reporting sample characteristics. Due to methodological heterogeneity of studies, inter-sports and intra-sports comparisons and meta-analysis were not possible. Methodology of most studies on incidence and prevalence of ankle and foot overuse injuries is insufficient. Based on the results, we recommend authors to clearly define cases, describe assessment procedures and report sample characteristics adequately.

Intravenous Laser Wavelength Irradiation Effect on Interleukins: IL-1α, IL-1ß, IL6 in Diabetic Rats.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The main purpose of this investigation in Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) on diabetic rats is laser wavelength effect on interleukins: IL-1α, IL-1ß, IL6. MATERIALS SUBJECTS AND METHODS: At first, diabetes was induced in Wistar rats by streptozotocin (STZ) injection. Then, by intravenous laser therapy, the rats were irradiated by four continuous wave lasers: IR (λ = 808 nm), Red (λ = 638 nm), Green (λ = 532 nm) and Blue (λ= 450 nm) to compare the related laser wavelength effect on different interleukins. The inflammatory parameters were measured 2,6 and 24 hours after laser therapy from blood samples and plotted for different laser wavelengths. RESULTS: The results show a decrease in all the above parameters by different laser irradiation in comparison to non-radiated diabetic control ones. More importantly with constant laser energy as the laser wavelength decreases, it affects more efficiently on lowering the above parameters. CONCLUSIONS: we can conclude from our data on diabetic rats that in intravenous LLLT, with constant laser energy, shorter wavelengths like Blue (λ= 450 nm) is more effective than longer wavelengths such as Red (λ = 638 nm) and IR (λ = 808 nm) lasers to lower the level of interleukins toward non-diabetic ones.

Running with a minimalist shoe increases plantar pressure in the forefoot region of healthy female runners.

OBJECTIVES: Minimalist running shoes have been proposed as an alternative to barefoot running. However, several studies have reported cases of forefoot stress fractures after switching from standard to minimalist shoes. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate the differences in plantar pressure in the forefoot region between running with a minimalist shoe and running with a standard shoe in healthy female runners during overground running. DESIGN: Randomized crossover design. METHODS: In-shoe plantar pressure measurements were recorded from eighteen healthy female runners. Peak pressure, maximum mean pressure, pressure time integral and instant of peak pressure were assessed for seven foot areas. Force time integral, stride time, stance time, swing time, shoe comfort and landing type were assessed for both shoe types. A linear mixed model was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Peak pressure and maximum mean pressure were higher in the medial forefoot (respectively 13.5% and 7.46%), central forefoot (respectively 37.5% and 29.2%) and lateral forefoot (respectively 37.9% and 20.4%) for the minimalist shoe condition. Stance time was reduced with 3.81%. No relevant differences in shoe comfort or landing strategy were found. CONCLUSIONS: Running with a minimalist shoe increased plantar pressure without a change in landing pattern. This increased pressure in the forefoot region might play a role in the occurrence of metatarsal stress fractures in runners who switched to minimalist shoes and warrants a cautious approach to transitioning to minimalist shoe use.

Study of adjuvant effect of model surfactants from the groups of alkyl sulfates, alkylbenzene sulfonates, alcohol ethoxylates and soaps.

The sodium salts of representatives of anionic surfactants, dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and coconut oil fatty acids, and a nonionic surfactant, dodecyl alcohol ethoxylate, were studied for adjuvant effect on the production of specific IgE antibodies in mice. The surfactants were injected subcutaneously (sc) in concentrations of 1000, 100, 10 or 1 mg/l, respectively, together with 1 microg of ovalbumin (OVA). In addition, groups of mice received OVA in saline (control group) or in Al(OH)(3) (positive adjuvant control group). After the primary immunization the mice were boosted up to three times with OVA (0.1 microg sc) in saline. OVA-specific IgE antibodies were determined by the heterologous mouse rat passive cutaneous anaphylaxis test. The results were confirmed by a specific ELISA method. After the first booster, the Al(OH)(3) group and the 10 mg/l SDS group showed a statistically significant increase in OVA specific IgE levels. After two boosters, a statistically significant suppression in OVA-specific IgE production occurred with SDS (1000 mg/l), SDBS (1000 and 100 mg/l), coconut soap (1000 mg/l) and the alcohol ethoxylate (10 mg/l). This study suggests that a limited number of surfactants possess an adjuvant effect whereas all surfactants at certain levels can suppress specific IgE production.