BackgroundThe prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents has been rapidly rising in Mainland China in recent decades, both in urban and rural areas. There is an urgent need to develop effective interventions to prevent childhood obesity. Limited rigid data regarding children and adolescent overweight prevention in China are available. A national random controlled school-based obesity intervention program was developed in the mainland of China.Methods/DesignThe study was designed as a national multi-centered cluster randomized controlled trial involving more than 70,000 children and adolescents aged 7–18 years from 7 provinces in China. In each center, about 12–16 primary and secondary schools, with totally at least 10000 participants were randomly selected (Primary: Secondary = 1:1). All of the selected schools were randomly allocated to either intervention or control group (Intervention: Control = 1:1).The multi-components school-based and family-involved scheme was conducted within the intervention group for 9 month, while students in the control group followed their usual health practice. The intervention consisted of four components: a) Create supportive school and family environment, b) Health lifestyles education and related compulsory physical activities, c) Instruct and promote school physical education, d) Self-monitor obesity related behaviors. Four types of outcomes including anthropometric, behavioral, blood chemical and physical fitness were measured to assess the effectiveness of the intervention program.DiscussionThis is the first and largest multi-centered school-based obesity intervention program with the consideration of geographical and social-demographic characteristics of the rapidly increased obesity prevalence of Chinese children and adolescent. The intervention is based on Social Cognitive Theory and Social-Ecological Model of Health, and follows a stepwise approach guided by PRECEDE-PROCEED (P-P) Model and Intervention Map. The results of and lesson learned from this study will help guide future school-based national childhood obesity prevention programs in Mainland China.Trial registrationJanuary 22, 2015; Registration number: NCT02343588
As a main contributing factor to low back pain, intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is the fundamental basis for various debilitating spinal diseases. The pros and cons of current treatment modalities necessitate biological treatment strategies targeting for reversing or altering the degeneration process in terms of molecules or genes. The advances in stem cell research facilitate the studies aiming for possible clinical application of stem cell therapies for IDD. Human NP cells are versatile with cell morphology full of variety, capable of synthesizing extracellular matrix components, engulfing substances by autophagy and phagocytosis, mitochondrial vacuolization indicating dysfunction, expressing Fas and FasL as significant omens of immune privileged sites. Human discs belong to immune privilege organs with functional FasL expression, which can interact with invasive immune cells by Fas-FasL regulatory machinery. IDD is characterized by decreased expression level of FasL with dysfunctional FasL, which in turn unbalances the interaction between NP cells and immune cells. Certain modulation factors might play a role in the process, such as miR-155. Accumulating evidence indicates that Fas-FasL network expresses in a variety of stem cells. Given the expression of functional FasL and insensitive Fas in stem cells (we term as FasL privilege), transplantation of stem cells into the disc may regenerate the degenerative disc by not only differentiating into NP-like cells, increasing extracellular matrix, but also reinforce immune privilege via interaction with immune cells by Fas-FasL network.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.