Weight-Loss Behaviors of Avoiding Between Meal and Midnight Snack in Teenagers Associated with Gestational Diabetes: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Background: Dietary habits and weight control before pregnancy are important in preventing gestational diabetes. This study aims to examine whether the weight-loss behavior of avoiding between meal and midnight snacks in teenagers is associated with subsequent gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods: A total of 89,227 (85.7% of the total) mother-infant pairs of live births were included in our study of the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS). In the second or third trimesters, participants were asked to report their weight-loss behaviors during their teenage years. Response items included avoidance of meals and midnight snacking. The main outcome of our study was the prevalence of GDM.Results: Overall, 2,066 (2.3%) participants had GDM. Relative to those without GDM, women with GDM were older, were smokers, had a higher prevalence of hypertension, previous cesarean delivery, mental illness, and higher body mass index (BMI). Weight-loss behavior in their teenage years was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (unadjusted crude odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.76–0.91), model 1 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.86; 95% CI: 0.79–0.94), and model 2 (aOR, 0.80; 95% CI: 0.73–0.88). Weight-loss behavior in teens was associated with a decreased risk of GDM in the normal weight [aOR, 0.79; 95% CI: 0.70–0.89) and overweight (aOR, 0.82; 95% CI: 0.69–0.98) groups.Conclusions: The results suggest that weight-loss behaviors of avoiding in-between meals and midnight snacking as teenagers are associated with a decreased risk of developing GDM.

Integrated Proteomics and Metabolomics Analysis of Perirenal Adipose Tissue in Obese Rabbits Treated with a Restricted Diet

In recent years, many people have shown an excess of fat accumulation. Known as obesity, this lesion poses an increased risk for multiple diseases, such as endocrine disease, diabetes, and cancer, and has reached epidemic proportions. Accompanied by the development of obesity, concern over body image and weight loss behavior is a growing social problem and public health threat, causing concern for many health professionals. However, the consequences of rapid weight loss remain largely unclear. Here, we applied an integrated proteomics and metabolomics analysis to investigate the effects of dieting on the proteins and metabolites in obese rabbits. Our study revealed that 343 differentially expressed proteins (136 upregulated and 207 downregulated) and 150 differentially expressed metabolites (91 upregulated and 59 downregulated) were identified. These molecules are mainly involved in the biological processes, including amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and membrane and cytoskeleton reconstruction. The integrated analysis found that mevalonic acid, arachidonic acid, 15(S)-HpETE, cholecalciferol, hydrocortisone, lipoxin B4, lithocholic acid, etc. were associated with multiple pathways, and they may be the key factors to fight inflammation induced by a high-fat diet (HFD). Overall, this study provides further insight into the consequences of dieting-mediated weight loss and may contribute to the prevention and treatment of obesity.

Pyrolysis Reactive Behaviors and Kinetic Characteristics of HSW Vitrinite Coal based on Coats-Redfern and DAEM Models

In this work, the weight loss behavior of vitrinite in hongshiwan coal at different heating rates was investigated by thermogravimetric mass spectrometry (TG-MS). Then Coats-Redfern and DAEM models were established to analyze the kinetics of coal pyrolysis. The results show that the weight loss rate of pyrolysis decreased with the increase of heating rate. When the pyrolysis temperature reaches 400–500°C, the weight loss rate reaches the maximum, which is 0.1593, 0.1539, 0.1478 and 0.1414%/°C respectively at the heating rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20°C/min, With the increase of heating rate, the corresponding temperature peaks of the five pyrolysis gases are shifted to the high temperature direction, and the amount of gas escaping is increasing. The trend of higher heating rate delayed the release of volatile compounds was consistent with TG-DTG results. Two kinetic models both prove that the activation energy of coal pyrolysis increases with the increase of temperature. The maximum activation energy occurs between 600 ℃ and 900 ℃, because the multi condensation of coal tar and the re solidification of semi coke will occur in this temperature range.

Production of Biochar from Biomass

Biochar is a kind of charcoal that’s produced from biomass using pyrolysis technology. As climate change continues to be a growing concern, biochar has been sought for its environmental applications. It is both cost effective and environmentally sound in terms of being a soil additive and renewable fuel. When used as a soil amendment, biochar has been shown to improve water holding capacity and absorb more nutrients. Biochar also sequesters carbon dioxide when applied to soil, and can also be used as a replacement for activated carbon that is prepared from coal. The objectives of this research was to produce biochar from biomass and study biochar’s properties. A thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to measure the weight loss behavior of the wood sample (biomass) as the temperature increased. The biomass was heated to 500 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere and then cooled in nitrogen to prevent combustion of biochar. The overall yield of biochar was 15%. Elemental analysis of biomass shows the composition of the sample to be mostly carbon and oxygen with fewer amounts of hydrogen and nitrogen. Surface area of the prepared biochar was 305 m2/g, which is approximately 100 times the surface area of raw biomass. Biochar’s higher porosity will allow for greater absorption of nutrients when applied to soil.

Pyrolysis characteristics, kinetics, and its product characteristics of grape stem

Grape stem is a kind of agricultural and forestry waste. A fundamental understanding of grape stem pyrolysis behavior and kinetics is essential for its efficient thermochemical conversion. Thermogravimetric infrared spectroscopy and pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, combined with two model-free integral methods: Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) were used to investigate the weight loss behavior, the distribution and content of rapid pyrolysis products, the release law of small molecule pyrolysis gases, and the pyrolysis activation energy during pyrolysis. The results showed that the main pyrolysis reaction temperature ranged from 240 °C to 690 °C. The pyrolysis reaction of grape stems at 200 °C to 700 °C was divided into three stages: 0.15 < α < 0.35, 0.35 < α < 0.65, and 0.65 < α < 0.75, which corresponded to the main pyrolysis stages of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, respectively. The products of rapid pyrolysis at 290 °C were mainly composed of acids and sugars, while the products at 355 °C were mainly phenolics. This study aims to provide a theoretical reference for the pyrolysis gasification test of grape stem.

Body Satisfaction, Performance Perception, and Weight Loss Behavior in Young Female Dancers

OBJECTIVE: To understand the impact of body satisfaction and performance perception on intentional weight loss behavior and body mass index (BMI) in young female dancers. METHODS: Young female dancers who visited an injury prevention center were provided a questionnaire including three questions designed to elicit their body satisfaction, perception of weight toward performance, and any intentional weight loss behavior. Binary responses (yes/no) were compared between the three questions using chi-square analysis. Also, a binary logistic regression was performed to find an indicator for intentional weight loss behaviors. Finally, BMI was compared among subgroups. RESULTS: Data from 43 young female dancers, aged 12-23 yrs, were analyzed. Dancers who were not happy with their weight were more likely to engage with intentional weight loss activity than dancers who were happy with their weight (p=0.002). Those who did not believe that their athletic activities were influenced by their weight were less likely engage with intentional weight loss and more likely to be happy with their weight than dancers who believed that athletic activities were influenced by their weight (p=0.049 and 0.015, respectively). Binary logistic regression indicated female dancers who were not happy with their body weight had nearly 9 times greater odds of intentional weight loss activity (p=0.029). There were no BMI differences among the three subgroups. CONCLUSION: Intentional weight loss behavior is heavily influenced by body satisfaction in young female dancers regardless of their current BMI.

Sociocultural Ideal Internalization, Body Dissatisfaction and Weight Control Behavior among Adolescent Athletes and Non-Athlete Adolescents. Does that Need Education?

Research background and hypothesis. Many young people are concerned about their body size and shape because of the social pressures to conform to a thin body ideal. Athletes face additional pressures related to performance and, for some of them, aesthetic and weight category demands. Modification of body build is often attempted via diet and exercise, so the data were also gathered on attitudes toward eating and weight control – exercising behavior. Research aim was to examine media influence, body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight loss behavior (UWLB) and unhealthy exercising behavior (UEB), risk of eating disorders (DE) in the sample of non-athletic and athletic adolescents. We proposed a hypothesis that adolescents aiming at matching social expectations of body image were more likely to be dissatisfied with their appearance as well as have worse weight control behavior and higher risk of eating disorders. We expected that these associations would not differ among athletic and non-athletic adolescents. Research methods. 11th grade students (n = 805, mean age – 17.23 (0.6) years, 476 (58.9%) females, 233 (28.9%) athletes) filled in anonymous questionnaires, which consisted of Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale (SATAQ-3, Thompson et al., 2004), Body Areas Satisfaction Scale from MBSRQ-AS (Cash, 2004), EAT-26 (Garner et al., 1982) and specially for this study created Unhealthy Weight Loss Behavior Scale. Research results. Nearly half of adolescents reported using at least one UWLB or/and UEB, 87 adolescents (more girls, p < 0.05) full into ED risk group with no differences between athletes and non-athletes (p > 0.05). Media influence did not differ between groups, but non-athletes were more dissatisfied with their body (p < 0.05), had more expressed UWLB (p < 0.05), although adolescents who participated in sports demonstrated more UEB (p < 0.05). Discussion and conclusions. Adolescents who more dramatically internalized the social body standards were more dissatisfied with their appearance, had worse weight control behavior and higher risk for eating disorder. These associations basically did not differ between athletes and non-athletes.Keywords: body dissatisfaction, weight control, adolescence, athletic activities.