Orthorexia nervosa behavior in a sample of Brazilian dietitians assessed by the Portuguese version of ORTO-15

BACKGROUND: Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is described as an obsessive pathological behavior characterized by a strong preoccupation with healthy eating and the avoidance of foods or ingredients considered unhealthy by the subject. Although it is still not officially recognized as an eating disorder, previous studies have discussed its frequency in some groups and a fifteen-question test (ORTO-15) was developed elsewhere to assess ON behavior. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate ON behavior in a sample of Brazilian dietitians after testing the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of ORTO-15. METHODS: A total of 392 dietitians answered an online version of the test. The answers were analyzed regarding ON tendency, according with the scoring grid proposed by its authors. Exploratory factor analysis was performed and internal consistency was assessed. RESULTS: It was found that three questions of the test presented loadings lower than 0.5. The 12 remaining question formed 3 factors with internal consistency of -0.51, 0.63 and 0.47. The answers of the participants to these questions revealed a tendency to orthorexic behavior, mainly regarding aspects such as: making food choices conditioned by worry about health status, evaluating food rather from nutritional quality than from its taste, believing that consuming healthy food may improve appearance, discrediting the influence of mood on eating behavior and banning food choices considered by them as eating transgressions. CONCLUSION: There is no evidence of the validity and reliability of the ORTO-15 with the initial psychometric evaluation performed. Further analyses are needed. Nevertheless, it was possible to observe a high frequency of orthorexic behavior among the studied Brazilian dietitians. However, additional studies are needed to completely understand dietitians behavior toward ON. (Eat. Weight Disord. 17: e29-c35, 2012). (C) 2012, Editrice Kurtis

The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Eating Disorders: The Psychotherapy group of mothers

Psychotherapeutic interventions that bring about differentiation, separation, individuation and autonomy in the mother-daughter relationship are recommended as treatment for eating disorders. With this goal in mind, a psychotherapy group for mothers was organized in an outpatient program for adolescents with eating disorders at a public institution, as one of the psychotherapeutic approaches in the multidisciplinary treatment of adolescent patients. Evidence suggests that this approach can be relevant and effective in the treatment of eating disorders.

Progress in the mathematical theory of quantum disordered systems

We review recent progress in the mathematical theory of quantum disordered systems: the Anderson transition, including some joint work with Marchetti, the (quantum and classical) Edwards-Anderson (EA) spin-glass model and return to equilibrium for a class of spin-glass models, which includes the EA model initially in a very large transverse magnetic field. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4770066]

Eating behaviors and the social status of families of malnourished children

The objective of this study was to learn about the everyday eating behaviors and the social status of the families of malnourished children. This qualitative study involved eight families. Data were collected by participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed the following themes: family eating; the family's social status and eating during childhood; and the presence of social programs and equipment. The family did not gather for meals and their food consisted basically of different sources of carbohydrates. Fruits and vegetables were very limited and considered to be food choices that did not provide sustenance. Differences were observed between the family's' and the children's' eating habits. Social programs and equipment provided important support, especially regarding the positive attachment with institutions and professionals and following the children's health. The family's social status does not allow the offering of appropriate quantities and quality of food throughout the month, thus compromising the nutritional status of the children, who are deprived of appropriate foods of adequate nutritional value.

Effects of eating disorders on oral fungal diversity

Background. The eating disorders anorexia and bulimia nervosa can cause several systemic and oral alterations related to poor nutrition and induced vomiting; however, the oral microflora of these patients is poorly studied. Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate fungal microflora in the oral cavity of these patients by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Study Design. Oral rinse samples were cultured to assess the prevalence of Candida species, and the isolates were identified by API system. Microorganism counts were compared by the Mann-Whitney test (5%). Ribotyping, a type of molecular analysis, was performed by sequencing the D1/D2 regions of 28S rRNA. Results. Our results demonstrated that the eating disorder group showed higher oral Candida spp. prevalence with culture-dependent methods and higher species diversity with culture-independent methods. Conclusions. Eating disorders can lead to an increased oral Candida carriage. Culture-independent identification found greater fungal diversity than culture-dependent methods. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2012;113:512-517)

Magnetic field induced charge redistribution in artificially disordered quantum Hall superlattices

The photoluminescence from individual quantum wells of artificially disordered weakly coupled multi-layers embedded in wide AlGaAs parabolic wells was investigated in a strong magnetic field. We show that the response of the individual wells is very different from the average response of the multi-layers studied by transport measurements and that photoluminescence represents a local probe of the quantum Hall state formed in three-dimensional electron system. The observed magnetic field induced variations of the in-layer electron density demonstrate the formation of a new phase in the quasi-three-dimensional electron system. The sudden change in the local electron density found at the Landau filling factor nu = 1 by both the magneto-transport and the magneto-photoluminescence measurements was assigned to the quantum phase transition. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2012

Intervention Based Exclusively on Stage- Matched Printed EducationalMaterials Regarding Healthy Eating Does Not Result in Changes to Adolescents' Dietary Behavior

Purpose. To assess the impact of a six-month stage-based intervention on fruit and vegetable intake, regarding perceived benefits and barriers, and self-efficacy among adolescents. Design. Randomized treatment-control, pre-post design. Subjects/ Setting. Schools were randomized between control and experimental groups. 860 adolescents from ten public schools in Bras ' ilia, Federal District, Brazil were evaluated at baseline; 771 (81%) completed the study. Intervention. Experimental group received monthly magazines and newsletters aimed at promotion of healthy eating. Measures. Self-reported fruit and vegetable intake, stages of change, self-efficacy and decisional balance scores were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention in both groups. Analysis. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using the analysis of covariance model (ANCOVA) and repeated measurement analysis by means of weighted least squares. Comparison between the proportions of adolescents who advanced through the stages during the intervention was performed using the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test. Results. After adjusting for sex and age, study variables showed no modifications through the proposed intervention. There was no statistical difference in participant mobility in the intervention and control groups between the stages of change, throughout the study. Conclusion. A nutritional intervention based exclusively on distribution of stage-matched printed educational materials was insufficient to change adolescents' dietary behavior.

Valence band tail states in disordered superlattices embedded in wide parabolic AlGaAs well

Optical properties of intentionally disordered multiple quantum well (QW) system embedded in a wide AlGaAs parabolic well were investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements as functions of the laser excitation power and the temperature. The characterization of the carriers localized in the individual wells was allowed due to the artificial disorder that caused spectral separation of the photoluminescence lines emitted by different wells. We observed that the photoluminescence peak intensity from each quantum well shifted to high energy as the excitation power was increased. This blue-shift is associated with the filling of localized states in the valence band tail. We also found that the dependence of the peak intensity on the temperature is very sensitive to the excitation power. The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence peak energy from each QW was well fitted using a model that takes into account the thermal redistribution of the localized carriers. Our results demonstrate that the band tails in the studied structures are caused by alloy potential fluctuations and the band tail states dominate the emission from the peripheral wells. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4730769]

Eating behavior and nutritional status in patients who underwent coronary angioplasty

Introduction: The identification of stages of dietary change and the factors affecting food choices can direct more effective nutritional intervention against coronary heart disease progression. Objective: Identify the stages of change of eating behavior and its relation with nutritional status, food consumption and previous cardiovascular events in patients who underwent coronary angioplasty. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 200 hospitalized patients from a specialized cardiology hospital, after elective coronary angioplasty. They were applied an algorithm that identifies the provision of change of eating habits for a healthier pattern. Variables measured were stages of change of eating behavior, nutritional status, food consumption and cardiovascular events (previous myocardial infarction or angioplasty). It was realized comparison of averages by analysis of variance or Student's test and Chi-square test for qualitative variables. Value of significance was taken at 5%. Results: The patients were classified in the following stages: 36% maintenance, 26% preparation, 17% precontemplation, 12% action and 9% contemplation. It was observed higher cardiovascular events in maintenance/action group (p = 0.04), higher consumption of calories (p = 0.04), meat/eggs (p = 0.01) and sweets (p = 0.03) in preparation stage, comparing to maintenance group, and no association between nutritional status and stages of change (p = 0.13), although 62% of the individuals in maintenance stage were overweight. Conclusions: This work contributed to identifying the stages of change and conditions that favor changes in eating pattern. Even patients that classified themselves into the maintenance stage need to adjust their eating habits in order to reach a healthy weight.

Comparison of eating attitudes among university students from the five Brazilian regions

Eating attitudes can be defined as beliefs, thoughts, feelings, behavior and relationship with food. They can influence people's food choices and health status. The scope of this paper is to compare eating attitudes of university students from different regions of Brazil and investigate possible associations and correlations with nutritional status, age, individual income and parental education. 2489 female university students in the area of health answered the Eating Attitude Scale - evaluated by total score and 5 sub-scores. The eating attitudes were compared by means of an analysis of covariance. A logistic regression was conducted to evaluate which variables were associated to the scale score. The Northeast presented more restrictive and compensatory practices and the North and Northeast presented less positive feelings about food and worse ideas about normal eating. The score on the scale did not present strong correlation with any of the variables studied, but nutritional status and age were associated with the total score. The profile of university students was similar among regions with the worst response in the North and Northeast regions. It is believed that these data could help to elucidate dietary patterns and nutritional differences among groups.

ESPECTRA: Searching the Bipolar Spectrum in Eating Disorder patients

Abstract Background Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a chronic, recurrent and highly prevalent illness. Despite the need for correct diagnosis to allow proper treatment, studies have shown that reaching a diagnosis can take up to ten years due to the lack of recognition of the broader presentations of BD. Frequent comorbidities with other psychiatric disorders are a major cause of misdiagnosis and warrant thorough evaluation. Methods/Design ESPECTRA (Occurrence of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in Eating Disorder Patients) is a single-site cross-sectional study involving a comparison group, designed to evaluate the prevalence of bipolar spectrum in an eating disorder sample. Women aged 18-45 years will be evaluated using the SCID-P and Zurich criteria for diagnosis and the HAM-D, YOUNG, SCI-MOODS, HCL-32, BIS-11, BSQ, WHOQoL and EAS instruments for rating symptoms and measuring clinical correlates. Discussion The classificatory systems in psychiatry are based on categorical models that have been criticized for simplifying the diagnosis and leading to an increase in comorbidities. Some dimensional approaches have been proposed aimed at improving the validity and reliability of psychiatric disorder assessments, especially in conditions with high rates of comorbidity such as BD and Eating Disorder (ED). The Bipolar Spectrum (BS) remains under-recognized in clinical practice and its definition is not well established in current diagnostic guidelines. Broader evaluation of psychiatric disorders combining categorical and dimensional views could contribute to a more realistic understanding of comorbidities and help toward establishing a prognosis.

The mother-daughter relationship in eating disorders: the psychotherapy group of mothers

Psychotherapeutic interventions that bring about differentiation, separation, individuation and autonomy in the mother-daughter relationship are recommended as treatment for eating disorders. With this goal in mind, a psychotherapy group for mothers was organized in an outpatient program for adolescents with eating disorders at a public institution, as one of the psychotherapeutic approaches in the multidisciplinary treatment of adolescent patients. Evidence suggests that this approach can be relevant and effective in the treatment of eating disorders.

Occurrence of bipolar spectrum disorder and comorbidities in women with eating disorders

Abstract Background Eating disorder (ED) patients often have comorbidities with other psychiatric disorders, especially with mood disorders. Although recent studies suggest an intimate relationship between ED and bipolar disorder (BD), the study on a broader bipolar spectrum definition has not been done in this population. We aimed to study the occurrence of bipolar spectrum (BS) and comorbidities in eating disorder patients of a tertiary service provider. Methods Sixty-nine female patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified were evaluated. The assessment comprised the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), clinical criteria for diagnosis of the Zurich bipolar spectrum. Mann–Whitney tests compared means of continuous variables. The association between categorical variables and the groups was described using contingency tables and analyzed using the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The level of significance alpha was set at 5%. Results The results showed that 68.1% of patients had comorbidity with bipolar spectrum, and this was associated with higher family income, proportion of married people, and comorbidity with substance use. The ED with BS group showed higher rates of substance use comorbidity (40.4%) than the ED without BS group (13.6%). Discussion These results showed that the bipolar spectrum is a common comorbidity in patients with eating disorders and is associated with correlates of clinical importance, notably the comorbidity with substance use. Due to the pattern of similarity between the groups with and without comorbid bipolar spectrum in relation to various outcomes evaluated, the identification of comorbidity can be difficult. However, the precise diagnosis and careful identification of clinical correlates may contribute to future advances in treating these conditions. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the association of other clinical correlates and its possible causal association.