Obesity, body fat distribution and eye diseases.

Background: The prevalence of obesity, a chronic disease, is increasing, and obesity is now considered a global epidemic. Eye diseases are also increasing worldwide and have serious repercussions on quality of life as well as increasingly high costs for the community. The relationships between obesity and ocular pathologies are not yet well clarified and are not pathologically homogeneous: they seem to be somehow linked to excess body fat, especially to the distribution of adipose tissue and its ectopic deposits.

Obesity paradox and heart failure.

Background: There is scientific consensus that obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including heart failure (HF). However, in CVD, many studies observed greater survival in overweight or class 1 obesity individuals. This counterintuitive observation was termed "obesity paradox" (OP).

Obesity paradox and aging.

Background: In association with the rapid lengthening of life expectancy and the ever-rising prevalence of obesity, many studies explored in the elderly the phenomenon usually defined as the obesity paradox.

Objective And Methods: This article is a narrative overview of seventy-two papers (1999-2019) that investigated the obesity paradox during the aging process. Twenty-nine documents are examined more in detail.

Obesity or obesities? Controversies on the association between body mass index and premature mortality.

Obesity is still defined on the basis of body mass index (BMI) and BMI in itself is generally accepted as a strong predictor of overall early mortality. However, an inverse association between BMI and mortality has been reported in patients with many disease states and in several clinical settings: hemodialysis, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, surgery, etc. This unexpected phenomenon is usually called obesity-survival paradox (OP).

Personality features of obese women in relation to binge eating and night eating.

Personality traits can affect eating behaviors, the development of obesity, and obesity treatment failure. We investigated the personality characteristics and their relation with disordered eating in 586 obese women consecutively seeking treatment at eight Italian medical centers (age, 47.7±9.

The quantity of meal fat influences the profile of postprandial hormones as well as hunger sensation in healthy elderly people.

Background: In healthy elderly people, reduced appetite and the consequent decrease in food intake has been defined as the "anorexia of aging"; this condition may lead to malnutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate how different compositions of macronutrients affect satiety and hunger signals as well as subjective sensations after meals in healthy elderly subjects.

Methods: Experimental controlled study.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Italy (2001-2008): is there a rising obesity epidemic?

Purpose: To provide national, population-based estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Italian population.

Methods: Prevalence estimates of overweight and obesity were calculated in seven waves (2001-2008) of the cross-sectional Multipurpose Household Survey organized by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, which are representative of the general adult Italian population. Sampling weights were used to estimate prevalence figures as well as their standard errors.

Abdominal obesity and subclinical vascular damage in the elderly.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the relationships between metabolic syndrome, its components and arterial stiffness as well as evaluate the waist measurement that would accurately identify subclinical vascular damage.

Methods: Ninety-one participants (16 men) free of cardiovascular diseases with mean age 68.5 +/- 5.

Adipose tissue infiltration in skeletal muscle of healthy elderly men: relationships with body composition, insulin resistance, and inflammation at the systemic and tissue level.

Background: Association between inflammatory markers and intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) has been reported. We hypothesized that subclinical inflammation of adipose tissue surrounding and infiltrating muscle could be related to the metabolic and functional abnormalities of the "aging muscle."

Methods: In 20 healthy elderly men undergoing elective vertebral surgery, IMAT within erector spinae was evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging and body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

In vitro aging of 3T3-L1 mouse adipocytes leads to altered metabolism and response to inflammation.

We used an in vitro model to evaluate the effects of cellular aging and inflammation on the gene expression and protein secretion profiles of adipocytes. 3T3-L1 mouse preadipocytes were cultured according to standard conditions and analyzed at different time points both at the basal state and after an acute stimulation with LPS. The mRNA levels of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP)alpha, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)gamma and S100A1 were maximal during adipocyte differentiation and then significantly decreased.

Longitudinal body composition changes in old men and women: interrelationships with worsening disability.

Background: Few studies have evaluated prospectively age-related body composition changes and their relationships with worsening disability in the elderly population.

Methods: Ninety-seven women and 62 men aged 71.4+/-2.

The anorexia of aging.

Malnutrition in the elderly is one of the greatest threats to health, well-being and autonomy, it is therefore crucial to understand and to contrast the causal factors of inadequate energy intake. This review focuses on the mechanisms of the so-called 'anorexia of aging'. In recent years, it has been shown that elderly subjects have abnormal peripheral signal patterns and alterations in central hypothalamic control relays.

High baseline values of fat mass, independently of appendicular skeletal mass, predict 2-year onset of disability in elderly subjects at the high end of the functional spectrum.

Background And Aims: To evaluate the relation between baseline body composition and 2- year onset of functional limitation in elderly subjects at the high end of the functional spectrum.

Methods: Anthropometric measurements, physical functioning as measured by a modified version of the Activities of Daily Living Scale, and baseline albumin, were evaluated in 145 men and women aged 66-78 years, free of functional limitations, selected from the general population of Verona. In each subject, total body fat mass (FM) and appendicular FFM (ASMM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; the FM (FMI) and ASMM indexes (ASMMI) were also calculated by dividing each body composition variable by height squared.

Interrelations between fat distribution, muscle lipid content, adipocytokines, and insulin resistance: effect of moderate weight loss in older women.

Background: Interrelations between fat distribution, muscle lipid infiltration, adipocytokines, insulin resistance, and moderate weight loss have not been investigated in obese older subjects.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate relations between fat distribution, muscle lipid content, adipocytokines, and insulin resistance in older women and the effects of moderate weight loss.

Design: In 35 healthy women aged 58-83 y, body mass index, waist circumference, sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD), and body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were evaluated.

Unbalanced serum leptin and ghrelin dynamics prolong postprandial satiety and inhibit hunger in healthy elderly: another reason for the "anorexia of aging".

Background: In healthy elderly, a reduction from the appetite and food intake of younger years has been defined as the "anorexia of aging," which may cause malnutrition. Leptin and ghrelin may alter the control of hunger and satiety and thus lead to anorexia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate how aging affects serum leptin and ghrelin concentrations in response to a meal and the relation of those hormones to hunger and satiety sensations.

Delayed postprandial gastric emptying and impaired gallbladder contraction together with elevated cholecystokinin and peptide YY serum levels sustain satiety and inhibit hunger in healthy elderly persons.

Background: Altered gastric and cholecystic motility are risk factors for malnutrition in elderly persons, mainly through impaired satiety-appetite rhythm. Contrasting data have been published about this topic. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in healthy elderly participant, postprandial gastric and cholecystic emptying in relation to serum CCK (cholecystokinin) and PYY (peptide YY), as well as satiety and hunger sensations.

Relationships between leisure-time physical activity, obesity and disability in elderly men.

Background And Aims: Relationships have already been shown between leisure-time physical activity, obesity and body composition in young adults. However, this association needs to be confirmed in the elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between leisure-time physical activity, obesity, preservation of muscle mass and disability in elderly men.

Do oestrogen receptors play a role in the pathogenesis of HIV-associated lipodystrophy?

Epidemiological data show an increased risk of HIV-associated lipodystrophy in women, and sex hormone abnormalities have been reported with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This study, which demonstrates that oestrogen receptor beta expression is significantly reduced in the subcutaneous adipose tissue of HIV-infected lipodystrophic patients, downregulated by HAART regimens including protease inhibitors (PI), and restored after switching from PI, opens perspectives for the investigation of selective oestrogen receptor modifiers for the management of this syndrome.

Obesity and gastro-esophageal acid reflux: physiopathological mechanisms and role of gastric bariatric surgery.

Background: Controversial findings about the relationships between obesity and gastro-esophageal reflux have been reported, as well as about the effects of weight loss and bariatric surgery on reflux. The aims of this study were to evaluate esophageal motility and gastro-esophageal acid circadian patterns in obese patients and to test the effects of vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) on these parameters.

Methods: 14 obese subjects (BMI 36-53 kg/m2), 4 men, 10 women, 27-61 years old, admitted for elective bariatric surgery, underwent clinical evaluation, upper endoscopy, esophageal manometry and gastroesophageal pH monitoring.

Adipocytokines, fat distribution, and insulin resistance in elderly men and women.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between adiponectin and leptin, fat distribution, and insulin resistance in elderly men and women.

Methods: 68 elderly participants (28 men and 40 women) aged 66-77 years, with body mass index (BMI) ranging from 19.83 to 37.