Longitudinal relationship between adolescents' mental health, energy balance-related behavior, and anthropometric changes.

Energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) are considered the immediate causes of adolescents' body weight increases, but adolescents have identified mental health as a contributor. Cross-sectional studies have reported associations between adolescents' mental health and obesity, but causal relationships and the role of EBRBs within this can only be established using longitudinal studies. This systematic review summarizes the findings of longitudinal studies investigating this relationship, in addition to the role of EBRB in the relationship.

Understanding the dynamics emerging from the interplay among poor mental wellbeing, energy balance-related behaviors, and obesity prevalence in adolescents: A simulation-based study.

Both obesity and poor mental wellbeing have a high prevalence in European youth. Adolescents in six countries identified mental wellbeing factors as main drivers of youth obesity through systems mapping. This study sought to (1) explore the dynamics of the interplay between poor mental wellbeing, energy balance-related behaviors, and adolescent overweight and obesity prevalence and (2) test the effect of intervention point scenarios to reduce adolescent obesity.

Associations between social media, adolescent mental health, and diet: A systematic review.

Social media use is integral to many adolescents' lives. It brings benefits but can also have detrimental effects on both physical and mental health. We conducted a systematic review examining associations between social media use, adolescent mental health (including body image, self-esteem, stress, interpersonal relationships and loneliness, anxiety, and depressive symptoms), and dietary outcomes.

Similar cortical morphometry trajectories from 5 to 9 years in children with perinatal HIV who started treatment before age 2 years and uninfected controls.

Background: Life-long early ART (started before age 2 years), often with periods of treatment interruption, is now the standard of care in pediatric HIV infection. Although cross-sectional studies have investigated HIV-related differences in cortical morphology in the setting of early ART and ART interruption, the long-term impact on cortical developmental trajectories is unclear. This study compares the longitudinal trajectories of cortical thickness and folding (gyrification) from age 5 to 9 years in a subset of children perinatally infected with HIV (CPHIV) from the Children with HIV Early antiRetroviral therapy (CHER) trial to age-matched children without HIV infection.

Environmental issues, economic growth, and fertility rate in developing regions: From theory to robust empirical policies.

The researchers aim to examine the effects of environmental pollutants on the total fertility rate in developing regions and test the validity of an environmental theory. The researchers adopt countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regions as case studies. Environmental issues are captured using carbon dioxide (CO), nitrous oxide (NO) and methane (CH) emissions.

Multimodal magnetic resonance neuroimaging measures characteristic of early cART-treated pediatric HIV: A feature selection approach.

Children with perinatally acquired HIV (CPHIV) have poor cognitive outcomes despite early combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). While CPHIV-related brain alterations can be investigated separately using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( H-MRS), structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and functional MRI (fMRI), a set of multimodal MRI measures characteristic of children on cART has not been previously identified. We used the embedded feature selection of a logistic elastic-net (EN) regularization to select neuroimaging measures that distinguish CPHIV from controls and measured their classification performance via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) using repeated cross validation.

Adolescents' Perspectives on the Drivers of Obesity Using a Group Model Building Approach: A South African Perspective.

Overweight and obesity increase the risk of a range of poor physiological and psychosocial health outcomes. Previous work with well-defined cohorts has explored the determinants of obesity and employed various methods and measures; however, less is known on the broader societal drivers, beyond individual-level influences, using a systems framework with adolescents. The aim of this study was to explore the drivers of obesity from adolescents' perspectives using a systems approach through group model building in four South African schools.

Cortical structural changes related to early antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption in perinatally HIV-infected children at 5 years of age.

ART interruption in children can occur especially in resource-limited settings for reasons including poor adherence, stock-outs, ART intolerance of non-pediatric formulas and pill size, as well as ultimately to test for HIV remission. Although early ART initiation is now standard of care in pediatric HIV management, very little is known on the effect of early ART initiation or subsequent interruption on brain development. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ART interruption on brain cortical thickness (CT) and folding in a subset of children from the Children with HIV Early antiRetroviral therapy (CHER) trial cohort who all started ART before 18 months of age.

Resistance status of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) to four commonly used insecticides for malaria vector control in South-East Nigeria.

Background: Progress made in the control of malaria vectors globally is largely due to the use of insecticides. However, success in the fight against malaria has slowed down or even stalled due to a host of factors including insecticide resistance. The greatest burden of the disease is felt in Africa, particularly Nigeria.

Altered brain morphometry in 7-year old HIV-infected children on early ART.

Even with the increased roll out of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), paediatric HIV infection is associated with neurodevelopmental delays and neurocognitive deficits that may be accompanied by alterations in brain structure. Few neuroimaging studies have been done in children initiating ART before 2 years of age, and even fewer in children within the critical stage of brain development between 5 and 11 years. We hypothesized that early ART would limit HIV-related brain morphometric deficits at age 7.

Predictors of self-reported health among the elderly in Ghana: a cross sectional study.

Background: Self-reported health is a widely used measure of health status across individuals. As the ageing population increases, the health of the elderly also becomes of growing concern. The elderly go through life facing social, economic and financial hardships.