Background: The highest prevalence rates of childhood obesity have been observed in developed countries, however, its prevalence is increasing in developing countries as well. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary school children, aged from 6 to 12 years and to estimate risk factors of obesity and overweight, defined by body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Port Said city during the second term of school year 2010/2011. The researcher took the anthropometric measurements inside the nurse's room in the school and gave a questionnaire to the students to be answered by one of the child's parents. The questionnaire included questions related to socioeconomic status, life style (physical activity and eating habits) and family history of overweight and obesity. Results: Eight hundred and fifty-two students participated in this study. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.7% and 13.5% respectively. The rate of obesity was the highest at the age of 7-8 years (grade 2) and decreased with an increase in age, while overweight increased with an increase in age to be the highest at the age of 9-10 (grade 4) and 10-11 (grade 5). Socioeconomic class, faulty dietary habits, sedentary life, low level of physical activity and positive family history of overweight and/or obesity were significantly associated with student's BMI. Conclusion: This study found a relatively high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children aged 6-12 years in Port Said city. Decreased rate of obesity with an increase in age in our study, signifies that faulty feeding habits were the highest at lower ages. ª 2013 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Egyptian Pediatric Association.

Glasses doped with rare earth (RE) ions are widely studied due to the numerous applications of these systems (active media for solid state lasers, optical telecommunication, non‐linear optical materials, electro‐optic devices, etc.). Boron trioxide, B2O3, is a known glass forming oxide with a relative low melting temperature. The addition of a transition metal oxide, such as V2O5, promotes the exhibition of semiconducting properties making these promising systems for several technological applications, such that ones involved in solar energy conversion devices. It is known that alkali borovanadate glasses, like alkali borate glasses themselves, are ionically conducting materials. Despite their importance there are only few studies on these glasses reported on literature. Thus, the alkali‐borovanadate glass system constitutes a family with high interest from the electrical and dielectric point of view. The effect of the increment of alkali quantity in the electrical and dielectric response of these glasses and the physical/structural explanation are questions which will be addressed. In this work, the transparent glass samples with molar composition 0.01Sm2O3‐0.99[0.85B2O3‐(0.15‐x)Li2O‐xV2O5] with x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.35, 0.5 and 2 (mol%) were prepared by conventional melting technique. The prepared samples were fully characterized using different experimental techniques such as, differential thermal analysis (DTA), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), electrical and dielectric measurements. The samples structure, electrical and dielectric properties as a function of vanadium ions content was explored and discussed (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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