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Objective: Malnutrition continues to be a leading cause of stunted growth in many countries. This study aimed to investigate serum nesfatin-1 and orexin-A levels in underweight children and the potential correlations of these levels with anthropometric and nutritional parameters. Methods: The study enrolled 44 prepubertal children (between 2 and 12 years of age) with thinness grades of 1-3 and 41 healthy age- and gender-matched children. The demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters including nesfatin-1 and orexin-A concentrations were compared between the two groups. The correlations of nesfatin-1 and orexin-A with biochemical and anthropometric parameters were investigated. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were also performed for evaluating nesfatin-1 and orexin-A in distinguishing children with malnutrition from healthy controls. Results: Thyroid-stimulating hormone, vitamin B12 and insulin levels were significantly lower in the study group than controls (p=0.001, p=0.049 and p=0.033, respectively). Mean nesfatin-1 levels in the malnourished group was also significantly lower compared to the healthy controls (3871.2 ± 1608.8 vs. 5515.0 ± 3816.4 pg/mL, p=0.012). No significant difference was observed in the orexin-A levels between the two groups (malnourished vs. control groups: 1135.7 ± 306.0 vs. 1025.7 ± 361.6 pg/mL, p=0.141). Correlation analyses revealed a positive correlation of nesfatin-1 and a negative correlation of orexin-A with body mass index (BMI) z-score. ROC analysis demonstrated that nesfatin-1 and orexin-A cannot be used to distinguish children with malnutrition from healthy controls (AUC: 0.620, p=0.061 for nesfatin-1 and AUC: 0.584, p=0.190 for orexin-A). Conclusion: The positive correlation of nesfatin-1 and the negative correlation of orexin-A with BMI suggest that these neuropeptides may be a part of a protective mechanism in the maintenance of nutritional status and that they may have a role in regulating food intake in undernourished children.

Ob­jec­ti­ve: We aimed to determine the association of thyroid functions with the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in pediatric obese patients. Methods: The study included 109 obese children (aged 9-15 years) and a control group of 44 healthy age and gender-matched children of normal weight. NAFLD was diagnosed by conventional ultrasound examination. We assessed the anthropometric data and serum biochemical parameters including lipid profile, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), fasting glucose and insulin levels and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) levels. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated as a measure of IR. Results: The mean age and gender distributions in the groups were similar (p=0.23). The mean body mass index (BMI) z-scores of obese children with grade 2-3 NAFLD were significantly higher than those of the obese children without hepatic steatosis (p

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school children in Eastern Turkey. Methods: This study included 9048 school children aged 6-18 years. The subjects were classified as overweight and obese, according to the International Obesity Task Force. Results: We found prevalence of overweight of 11.1% in the studied population. It was detected that 2.2% of the population in the study was obese; 2.1% of males and 2.3% of females. While the prevalence of obesity was extremely low before 9 ages and after 15, it reached to high values at puberty and just before pubertal period in boys. The prevalence of overweight was higher in girls and reached to peak point at pubertal ages. Generally, the prevalence of obesity and overweight was slightly higher in girls than in boys, although the boys were more obese in prepubertal ages. Conclusion: Overweight and obesity are concerns for children and adolescents in low socio-economic status regions as well.

Objective: Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4), inhibits IGF actions under a variety of experimental conditions. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), 1.25-hydroxy(OH)vitamin D, IGF-I, IGF-II and transforming growth factor (TGF)-b are the major regulators of IGFBP-4 production in vitro. However, little is known about the in vivo regulation of circulating IGFBP-4 in humans. Methods: We measured serum concentrations of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), PTH, vitamin D, IGF-I, IGFBP-3, and IGFBP-4 in infants (n=22) with nutritional rickets before and after treatment of rickets with vitamin D (300 000 U single dose po). Results: The mean±SD age of the patients was 1.3±1.6 years (range 0.2-3). Serum Ca and P increased, whereas ALP and PTH decreased after treatment (Ca from 6.6±1.4 to 9.5±1.6 mg/dL, P from 3.9±1.4 to 5.4±0.8 mg/dL, ALP from 2590±2630 to 1072±776 IU/mL and PTH from 407±248 to 27.4±20.8 ng/dL, respectively). Vitamin D levels were low (7.8±2.5 ng/mL) and increased after treatment (18.1±4.0 ng/mL, p