ACTA ENDOCRINOLOGICA (BUC)

Context. The socio-economic and medical burden of obesity represents a continuous challenge for both developing and developed countries. For Romania, the available data on the eating patterns, behavior and other components of lifestyle are scarce. Objective. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Romanian general population and to identify lifestyle patterns characteristic for the Romanian population in terms of eating patterns and physical activity. Design. Cross-sectional, epidemiologic, multicenter non-interventional study Subjects and Methods. Between January 2014 and August 2014 were enrolled 2128 adults by 8 investigators spread in the main historical regions of Romania. The following data: demographic, anthropometric, employment status, education, family history, personal medical history, information on the lifestyle and eating habits. Results. The final population included in the analysis presented here consisted of 2103 participants with no missing information on height and weight. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 31.1% and 21.3%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity was 9.9% in the 18-39 years age group, 30.1% in the 40-59 years age group, 41.6% in the 60- 79 years age group and 24.1% in the ≥80 years age group (p <0.001). Irregular meals together with eating while watching TV were the most frequent unhealthy eating habits of the participants. Conclusions. We found a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the participants enrolled. Our study has important implications for increasing the knowledge on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Romania and associated lifestyle habits.

Context. Scarce data on dietary habits in Eastern European countries is available and reports investigated individual food items and not dietary patterns in these populations Objective. To identify dietary patterns and to explore their association with obesity in a sample from Romanian population. Design. Cross-sectional. Subjects and Methods. This was an analysis of data collected from 1398 adult participants in ORO study. Data on lifestyle, eating habits and food frequency consumption were collected. Results. By principal component analysis we identified 3 dietary patterns explaining 31.4% of the diet variation: High meat/High fat pattern, Western pattern and Prudent pattern. High meat/High fat pattern was associated with male gender, lower educational level, living in a rural, smoking and a higher probability for the presence of obesity (OR 1.2 [95%CI: 1.1-1.4]). Western pattern was associated with younger age, a higher level of physical activity and smoking. Prudent pattern was associated with older age, female gender, a higher level of physical activity, not smoking status and a lower probability for the presence of obesity (OR 0.8 [95%CI: 0.7-0.9]). Conclusions. This study provides for the first-time information on the association between dietary patterns in adults from an Eastern European country and the presence of obesity.

Background. Following recent years, there is an increased body of literature on the connections that might exist between type 2 diabetes mellitus and the efficiency of bariatric surgery in its reversal compared to other medical approaches such as dieting. Aim. To induce experimentally type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats in order to observe the effects of bariatric surgery in the recovery as well as the reestablishment of normal insulin levels in order to extend the findings in house animals. Materials and methods. This study was conducted in three stages: the first consisted in inducing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in 40 young Wistar male rats, by initially feeding them human food high in vegetal fats, oleaginous seeds, simple and complex carbohydrates, sugars, lipids, fats, proteins and fructose for a period of 8 weeks followed by a single low dose of streptozotocin (STZ), administered through intraperitoneal injection. The second stage of the study started when the rats became obese and therefore qualified for the bariatric procedure and the third stage consisted of post-operation supervision and care. The surgical procedure, performed on 10 obese rats, consisted in reducing the size of the stomach by partial gastrectomy of a 1.5 – 2.0 cm wide and 6.5 – 7.5 cm long area on the large curvature. Results. Showed rapid improvements in body weight and blood sugar control after 9 days. Conclusion. After putting the rats on a diet high in carbohydrates, sugars, lipids and fats and administering them STZ, the induction of type 2 diabetes was successful and the partial gastrectomy led to a better blood sugar control. The bariatric procedure provides a faster therapeutic response than conventional diets.

Gangliocytomas are extremely rare tumors, accounting for 0.1-0.5% of all brain tumors. We present a 25 years old woman with several characteristics of restrictive anorexia nervosa in association with a gangliocytoma of pineal region. The patient has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus shortly after birth. A ventriculoperitoneal shunt was initially inserted. At the age of 19 she underwent 2 consecutive occipital craniotomies for a well-defined large mass in the pineal region. Histopathological examination of this tumor revealed a gangliocytoma. Our patient began to reduce her food intake due to the concept that &#8221;the tumor must not be fed&#8221;. After an almost 30 kg weight loss over 5 years, the patient weighs 39 kg at 165 cm height (BMI 14.3 kg/sqm), associated with a 1 year history of secondary amenorrhea and a tumor remnant of 4 cm. The weight loss, amenorrhea and some other psychosocial traits are common for anorexia nervosa. We discuss the difficulty of the differential diagnosis between anorexia nervosa and a hypothalamic eating disorder induced by the pineal gangliocytoma.