The profile of the Greek 'XXL' family.

Objective: To identify Greek families in which all members were overweight or obese (XXL families) and to describe their profile with regard to their socio-economic status and their eating behaviours and practices.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: The metropolitan area of Kavala.

Sociodemographic and dietary risk factors for excess weight in a greek pediatric population living in Kavala, Northern Greece.

The aim of this research was to investigate the strength of potential risk factors (demography, socioeconomics, and nutrition) for childhood overweight or obesity in a pediatric population aged 11 and 12 years old from Kavala, Northern Greece. Auxologic measurements of the children included height and weight. A structured questionnaire concerning the socioeconomic status of the family, anthropometric values (weight and height) and educational status of parents, diet history, dietary habits, the availability and dietary intake of various food products and beverages at home, physical activity, time sleeping, and time watching television was completed by one of the parents of each child at home.

Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia following recurrent mycoplasma pneumonia infections in a child with Down syndrome.

Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) is mainly associated with cold agglutinin syndrome, whereas both cold IgM and warm IgG autoantibodies have been identified in only two cases in the literature. The authors present an 8-year-old boy with Down syndrome, who suffered from recurrent episodes of MP infection, followed by episodes of hemolytic anemia with normal titer of cold agglutinins. The first 6 episodes were sequenced by nonimmune hemolytic anemia, whereas the latter 7 episodes were followed by episodes of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia.