The association between the changes in lifestyle during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confinement and body weight have not been studied deeply. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine lifestyle changes, such as eating habits and physical activity (PA) patterns, caused by confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze its association with changes in body weight. Seven hundred participants (women, n = 528 and men, n = 172) aged between 18–62 years old of the Chilean national territory participated in the study. Food habits, PA, body weight, and sociodemographic variables were measured through a survey in May and June 2020. The body weight increase presented positive association with the consumption of fried foods ≥ 3 times per week (OR; 3.36, p < 0.001), low water consumption (OR; 1.58, p = 0.03), and sedentary time ≥6 h/day (OR; 1.85, p = 0.01). Conversely, fish consumed (OR; 0.67, p = 0.03), active breaks (OR; 0.72, p = 0.04), and PA ≥ 4 times per week (OR; 0.51, p = 0.001) presented an inverse association with body weight increase. Daily alcohol consumption (OR; 4.77, p = 0.003) was associated with PA decrease. Food habits, PA, and active breaks may be protective factors for weight increase during COVID-19 confinement.

BackgroundDiet is an important environmental factor that interacts with genes to modulate the likelihood of developing disorders in lipid metabolism and the relationship between diet and genes in the presence of other chronic diseases such as obesity. The objective of this study was to analyze the interaction of a high fat diet with the APOA2 (rs3813627 and rs5082), APOA5 (rs662799 and rs3135506) and LEPR (rs8179183 and rs1137101) polymorphisms and its relationship with obesity and dyslipidemia in young subjects.MethodsThe study included 200 young subjects aged 18 to 25 years (100 normal-weight and 100 obese subjects). Dietary fat intake was measured using the frequency food consumption questionnaire. Genotyping of polymorphisms was performed by PCR-RFLP.ResultsIndividuals carrying the APOA5 56 G/G genotype with a high saturated fatty acid consumption (OR = 2.7, p = 0.006) and/or total fat (OR = 2.4, p = 0.018), associated with an increased risk of obesity. We also found that A/G + G/G genotypes of the 668 A/G polymorphism in the LEPR gene with an intake ≥12 g/d of saturated fatty acids, have 2.9 times higher risk of obesity (p = 0.002), 3.8 times higher risk of hypercholesterolemia (p = 0.002) and 2.4 times higher risk of hypertriglyceridemia (p = 0.02), than those with an intake <12 g/d of saturated fatty acids. Similarly, LEPR 668 A/G + G/G carriers with a high fat total intake had 3.0 times higher risk of obesity (p = 0.002) and 4.1 times higher risk of hypercholesterolemia (p = 0.001).ConclusionOur results suggest that dietary fat intake modifies the effect of APOA5 and LEPR polymorphisms on serum triglycerides, cholesterol levels and obesity in young subjects.

The human adenovirus 36 (Ad-36) is causally and correlatively associated in animals and humans, respectively, with increased adiposity and altered metabolic profile. In previous studies, the relationship between Ad-36 seropositivity with obesity was established in adults and children. We evaluated the association of positive antibodies to Ad-36 with obesity and metabolic profile in Mexican children. Seventy-five children with normal-weight and 82 with obesity were studied in this research. All children had a clinic assessment which included weight, height, body circumferences, and skinfold thickness. Laboratory analyzes included triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and glucose and insulin levels. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the antibodies to Ad-36 in the serum samples. The overall Ad-36 seroprevalence was 73.9%. Ad-36 seropositivity had a higher prevalence in obese children than in normal weight group (58.6 versus 41.4%, P = 0.007). Ad-36 seropositivity was associated with obesity (OR = 2.66, P = 0.01) and high-density lipoprotein <40 mg/dL (OR = 2.85, P = 0.03). The Ad-36 seropositive group had greater risk of 4 metabolic abnormalities compared with those children without none alteration. In summary, Ad-36 seropositivity was associated with obesity and low HDL-c levels in the sample of children studied.

The main purpose of the present study was to determine the association of physical activity (PA) patterns prior to COVID-19 confinement with severe respiratory distress consistent with COVID-19 symptoms. Participants were recruited by sending a survey through various social network channels via the snowball method. A voluntary sample of 420 individuals consisting of 199 men and 221 women from the Spanish national territory participated in this study. Some factors, such as being overweight and obese were related to the presence of a greater number of symptoms associated with COVID-19. Interestingly, it was observed that not performing moderate or vigorous PA increased the risk of COVID-19 symptoms. Consequently, when the effect of the practise of PA was evaluated in terms of the number of practises per week and in minutes per practise per week, a protective effect was observed, where moderate PA >150 min per week reported an inverse association with hospitalization for respiratory symptoms

Background: In healthy pregnancies, components of the Renin-Angiotensin system (RAS) are present in the placental villi and contribute to invasion, migration, and angiogenesis. At the same time, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) production is induced after binding of ANG-II to its receptor (AT-1R) in response to hypoxia. As RAS plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19, we hypothesized that angiogenic marker (sFlt-1) and RAS components (ANG-II and ACE-2) may be related to adverse outcomes in pregnant women with COVID-19; Methods: Prospective cohort study. Primary outcome was severe pneumonia. Secondary outcomes were ICU admission, intubation, sepsis, and death. Spearman’s Rho test was used to analyze the correlation between sFlt-1 and ANG-II levels. The sFlt-1/ANG-II ratio was determined and the association with each adverse outcome was explored by logistic regression analysis and the prediction was assessed using receiver-operating-curve (ROC); Results: Among 80 pregnant women with COVID-19, the sFlt-1/ANG-II ratio was associated with an increased probability of severe pneumonia (odds ratio [OR]: 1.31; p = 0.003), ICU admission (OR: 1.05; p = 0.007); intubation (OR: 1.09; p = 0.008); sepsis (OR: 1.04; p = 0.008); and death (OR: 1.04; p = 0.018); Conclusion: sFlt-1/ANG-II ratio is a good predictor of adverse events such as pneumonia, ICU admission, intubation, sepsis, and death in pregnant women with COVID-19.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. Many cytokines have been found to be associated with RA pathogenesis and among them is macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). The aim of this study was to determine whether MIF serum levels are associated with RA course, clinical activity, and clinical biomarkers of the disease. MIF levels were determined in serum samples of 54 RA patients and 78 healthy subjects (HS) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Disease activity was evaluated using the DAS28 score. Patients were subgrouped according to disease activity and years of evolution of disease. Statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS 10.0 and GraphPad Prism 5 software. RA patients presented increased levels of MIF as compared to HS. MIF levels were raised on early stages of RA and tend to decrease according to years of evolution. Moreover, MIF levels positively correlated with rheumatoid factor in RA patients and with C reactive protein in all individuals studied. Our findings suggest that MIF plays a role in early stages of RA.

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Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is a key enzyme in lipid metabolismand is associatedwith obesity, dyslipidemias, hypertension (HTN) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). LPL gene polymorphisms can be related with the development of cardiovascular risk factors. The present study was conducted to analyze the relationship of the HindIII and S447X polymorphisms in LPL gene with cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican families. The study population comprised ninety members of 30 Mexican families, in which an index case had obesity, were included in the study. We evaluated the body composition by bioelectrical impedance. Peripheral blood samples were collected to determine biochemical parameters. Screening for both polymorphisms was made by PCR-RFLPs. In the parents, both polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg’s equilibrium. We found that the genotype T/T of HindIII was associated with diastolic blood pressure ≧ 85 mmHg (OR = 1.1; p = 0.011), whereas the genotype C/C of S447X was associated with systolic blood pressure ≧ 130 mmHg (OR = 1.2; p < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure ≧ 85 mmHg (OR = 1.3; p < 0.001), T2DM (OR = 1.3; p < 0.001) and with increase of total cholesterol (β = 23.6 mg/mL; p = 0.03). These data suggest that the HindIII and S447X LPL gene polymorphisms can confer susceptibility for the development of hypertension and T2DM in Mexican families.