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Summary: Background: Whilst single chemical exposures are suspected to be obesogenic, the combined role of chemical mixtures in paediatric obesity is not well understood. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the potential associations between chemical mixtures and obesity in a population‐based sample of Canadian children. Methods: We ascertained biomonitoring and health data for children aged 3–11 from the cross‐sectional Canadian Health Measures Survey from 2007 to 2019. Several chemicals of interest were measured in blood or urine and paediatric obesity was defined based on measured anthropometrics. Using quantile‐based G computational analysis, we quantified the effects of three chemical mixtures selected a priori. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic and environmental factors identified through a directed acyclic graph. Results are presented through adjusted relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: We included 9147 children. Of these, 24.1% were overweight or obese. Exposure to the mixture of bisphenol A, acrylamide, glycidamide, metals, parabens and arsenic increased the risk of childhood overweight or obesity by 45% (95% CI 1.09, 1.93), obesity by 109% (95% CI 1.27, 3.42) and central obesity by 82% (95% CI 1.30, 2.56). Conclusions: Our findings support the role of early childhood chemical exposures in paediatric obesity and the potential combined effects of chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Disruption of functional brain connectivity is thought to underlie disorders of consciousness (DOC) and recovery of impaired connectivity is suggested as an indicator of consciousness restoration. We recently found that rhythmic acoustic‐electric trigeminal‐nerve stimulation (i.e., musical stimulation synchronized to electrical stimulation of the trigeminal nerve) in the gamma band can improve consciousness in patients with DOC. Here, we investigated whether these beneficial stimulation effects are mediated by alterations in functional connectivity. Methods: Sixty‐three patients with DOC underwent 5 days of gamma, beta, or sham acoustic‐electric trigeminal‐nerve stimulation. Resting‐state electroencephalography was measured before and after the stimulation and functional connectivity was assessed using phase‐lag index (PLI). Results: We found that gamma stimulation induces an increase in gamma‐band PLI. Further characterization revealed that the enhancing effect is (i) specific to the gamma band (as we observed no comparable change in beta‐band PLI and no effect of beta‐band acoustic‐electric stimulation or sham stimulation), (ii) widely spread across the cortex, and (iii) accompanied by improvements in patients' auditory abilities. Conclusion: These findings show that gamma acoustic‐electric trigeminal‐nerve stimulation can improve resting‐state functional connectivity in the gamma band, which in turn may be linked to auditory abilities and/or consciousness restoration in DOC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood obesity is a predictor of adult obesity and has its roots in the pre-pregnancy or pregnancy period. This review presents an overview of the prenatal risk factors for childhood obesity, which were categorized into 2 groups: biological risk factors (maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain, diabetes in pregnancy, and caesarean section), and environmental and behavioural risk factors (maternal smoking and exposure to obesogens, maternal dietary patterns, maternal intestinal microbiome and antibiotics exposure, and maternal psychosocial stress). Identifying modifiable predisposing prenatal factors for obesity will inform further development of inventions to prevent obesity over the life course, and future directions for research and intervention are discussed. Key words: risk factors, obesity, pregnancy, body mass index, childhood. L'obesite chez l'enfant est un facteur predictif de l'obesite chez l'adulte ayant ses racines dans les periodes de grossesse ou precedant la grossesse. Cet article de synthese presente un apercu des facteurs de risque prenataux pour l'obesite chez l'enfant, que nous avons categorises en 2 groupes : facteurs de risque biologiques (indice de masse corporelle maternel avant la grossesse, prise de poids pendant la grossesse, diabete de grossesse, ainsi que cesarienne) et facteurs de risque environnementaux et comportementaux (tabagisme chez la mere et exposition aux << obesogenes >>, habitudes alimentaires de la mere, microbiome intestinal maternel et prise d'antibiotiques, ainsi que stress psychosocial chez la mere). L'identification de facteurs predisposants modifiables prenataux d'obesite chez Ia mere apportera des donnees pour le developpement a venir d'inventions destinees a la prevention de l'obesite tout au long de la vie, et nous discutons d'avenues pour des recherches et des interventions futures. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : facteurs de risque, obesite, grossesse, indice de masse corporelle, enfance., Introduction Obesity is generally defined as a condition in which the degree of excess body fat has the potential to negatively impact health outcomes (WHO 2017). Body mass index (BMI) [...]