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Objective: to evaluate the incompleteness of Mortality Information System (Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade - SIM) data on deaths from external causes (ECs) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2000-2019., Methods: This was an ecological study, using SIM data on all deaths from external causes and, specifically, from transport accident, homicides, suicides and falls; the analysis of the trend of incompleteness was performed by means of Prais-Winsten regression, with a 5% significance level., Results: A total of 146,882 deaths were evaluated; sex (0.1%), place of death (0.1%) and age (0.4%) showed the lowest incompleteness in 2019; the proportion of incompleteness showed a decreasing trend for the place of death and schooling, an increasing trend for marital status and a stable trend for age and race/skin color, among all types of death evaluated., Conclusion: the variables analyzed reached a high degree of completion; with the exception of marital status and schooling, for which unsatisfactory scores persisted for deaths from ECs, both total and by subgroups.

While classically linked to memory, the hippocampus is also a feeding behavior modulator due to its multiple interconnected pathways with other brain regions and expression of receptors for metabolic hormones. Here we tested whether variations in insulin sensitivity would be correlated with differential brain activation following exposure to palatable food cues, as well as with variations in implicit food memory in a cohort of healthy adolescents, some of whom were born small for gestational age (SGA). Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) was positively correlated with activation in the cuneus, and negatively correlated with activation in the middle frontal lobe, superior frontal gyrus and precuneus when presented with palatable food images versus non-food images in healthy adolescents. Additionally, HOMA-IR and insulinemia were higher in participants with impaired food memory. SGA individuals had higher snack caloric density and greater chance for impaired food memory. There was also an interaction between the HOMA-IR and birth weight ratio influencing external eating behavior. We suggest that diminished insulin sensitivity correlates with activation in visual attention areas and inactivation in inhibitory control areas in healthy adolescents. Insulin resistance also associated with less consistency in implicit memory for a consumed meal, which may suggest lower ability to establish a dietary pattern, and can contribute to obesity. Differences in feeding behavior in SGA individuals were associated with insulin sensitivity and hippocampal alterations, suggesting that cognition and hormonal regulation are important components involved in their food intake modifications throughout life., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study assesses the quality of the SIM and SINASC information systems in coverage, incompleteness and consistency aspects, as well as the contribution of the linkage for data retrieval. It includes all live births and infant deaths in Rio Grande do Sul from 2000 to 2014. The records were paired by deterministic linkage through the DNV number and, in its absence, by probabilistic linkage. SINASC's coverage rose from 72.2% in 2000 to 98.9%, namely a 37% increase in the number of matched records. All variables in SINASC presented excellent incompleteness throughout the period, except for the number of dead children and maternal occupation. SIM presented poor or very poor incompleteness for most of the variables until 2003. Although it improved, in 2014, six variables still presented regular or poor incompleteness. The linkage procedure greatly reduced the incompleteness for most variables. There was a great variability in terms of consistency: while for gender this percentage was over 97% throughout the period, for another five variables it was still less than 75% in 2014. SINASC presented high coverage level and excellent incompleteness. Problems related to consistency persist. This study shows the linkage technic efficiency to retrieve missing information.

Background: The A3669G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene NR3C1 is associated with altered tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids (GCs). GCs modulate the food reward circuitry and are implicated in increased intake of palatable foods, which can lead to the metabolic syndrome and obesity. We hypothesized that presence of the G variant of the A3669G SNP would affect preferences for palatable foods and alter metabolic, behavioural, and neural outcomes., Methods: One hundred thirty-one adolescents were genotyped for the A3669G polymorphism, underwent anthropometric assessment and nutritional evaluations, and completed behavioural measures. A subsample of 74 subjects was followed for 5 years and performed a brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm to verify brain activity in response to food cues., Results: Sugar and total energy consumption were lower in A3669G G allele variant carriers. On follow-up, this group also had reduced serum insulin concentrations, increased insulin sensitivity, and lower anxiety scores. Because of our unbalanced sample sizes (31/37 participants non-G allele carriers/total), our imaging data analysis failed to find whole brain-corrected significant results in between-group t-tests., Conclusion: These results highlight that a genetic variation in the GR gene is associated, at the cellular level, with significant reduction in GC sensitivity, which, at cognitive and behavioural levels, translates to altered food intake and emotional stress response. This genetic variant might play a major role in decreasing risk for metabolic and psychiatric diseases., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective:: The aim of the present study was to assess children and adolescents with mild and severe anxiety disorders for their performance in attention, verbal episodic memory, working memory, visuoconstructive skills, executive functions, and cognitive global functioning and conduct comparative analyses with the performance of children free from anxiety disorders., Methods:: Our sample comprised 68 children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (41 with current diagnoses of anxiety disorders and 27 controls) selected from a larger cross-sectional community sample of adolescents. Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders were categorized into two groups on the basis of anxiety severity (mild or severe). All participants underwent a neuropsychological assessment battery to evaluate attention, verbal episodic memory, working memory, visuoconstructive skills, and executive and cognitive functions., Results:: No differences were found in any neuropsychological tests, with the single exception that the group with mild anxiety had better performance on the Digit Span backward test compared to subjects with severe anxiety and to controls (p = 0.041; η2 = 0.11)., Conclusions:: Not only might anxiety disorders spare main cognitive functions during adolescence, they may even enhance certain working memory processes.

Background: Children born after intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), especially girls, show an increased intake of palatable foods in several developmental stages, which likely contributes to their increased risk for obesity later. Recently, neuroimaging studies suggested that musical exposure activates the mesolimbic region, which is also involved in the processing of food rewards., Aims: We evaluated the impact of musical intervention in mother/infant pairs on feeding behavior during childhood with regard to birth weight., Study Design: Cohort study., Subjects: A total of 28 children exposed to a structured musical intervention in early life were invited for an anthropometric and nutritional evaluation, and were compared to a communitarian age-matched sample., Outcome Measures: A series of general linear models adjusted for socioeconomic status and maternal education were constructed to evaluate the interaction between music exposure, birth weight, and sex on the consumption of different types of foods, measured using a food frequency questionnaire., Results: There was an interaction between birth weight, sex, and musical intervention on the consumption of sugar during childhood (Wald=7.87, df=2, p=0.02); control participants consumed more sugar as birth weight decreased (B=-8.673, p<0.0001). No such effect was found for the girls exposed to musical intervention (B=3.352, p=0.15) or for boys (exposed B=2.870, p=0.44; non-exposed B=3.706, p=0.236). The absence of other effects suggests that this finding is specific for sweet foods., Conclusion: Early music intervention in mother/infant pairs may moderate the effects of IUGR on palatable food preference in girls., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)