Abstract
Objective: Parents of overweight and obese children often underestimate the severity of their child’s weight problem, which may influence the parent’s anticipated need for weight loss treatment and parent’s concern for future weight problems in their child. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of individuals who have expressed concern for their child’s weight on: 1) parental perception of their child’s weight; 2) parental concern for future weight problems in their child (C-FWP). Methods: Forty-eight parent-child dyads completed questionnaires reporting individuals who have expressed concern for their child’s weight, parental perception of their child’s weight, and parental C-FWP. Child subjects were 6-12 years old and were overweight or obese (≥85th percentile for BMI). Results: Parents were more likely to accurately perceive their child as overweight if concern was expressed by a primary care pediatrician (PCP) (p=0.0001), family member (p=0.013), grandparent (p=0.042), or spouse/other parent (p=0.013). There was no influence on parent perception of child weight if weight concern was expressed by a school nurse (p=0.302), teacher (p=0.165), or the child’s coach (p=0.392). Expressed concern had no influence C-FWP. Conclusion: PCP’s, family members, grandparents, or spouse/other parents have a significant impact on parent perception of child weight. Accurate parent perception of child weight may help parents recognize the need for lifestyle modifications and to promote healthy weight in their child. PCP’s should anchor parents to the child’s weight status and express concern to the parent when a child is overweight or obese.
Highlights
Standard topoisomerase I and II assays with and without the plant extracts and associated analyses
Extracts of Acacia catechu, Emblica officinalis, Terminalia belerica, Terminalia chebula, Spondias dulcis, completely inhibit human topoisomerase I at 40 μg/mL concentration while Hemidesmus indicus and Dolichos biflorus extracts inhibit partially at the same concentration when included in standard assays
While studying the in vitro effect of the plant extracts on human topoisomerase I, we found that all the extracts from the plants chosen inhibited relaxation of plasmid DNA (Figure 1)
Summary
Methods: Standard topoisomerase I and II assays with and without the plant extracts and associated analyses. Extracts of the same five plants which inhibit human topoisomerase I strongly are known to possess anticancer activity, while the other two are antioxidant only. Spinacia oleracea extract does not significantly inhibit human topoisomerase I and serves as a negative control. Extracts of Acacia catechu, Terminalia chebula and Spondias dulcis show 20–80% inhibition of human topoisomerase I at even 9 μg/mL concentration. All seven plant extracts partially inhibit human topoisomerase II at 120 μg/mL concentration in the decatenation assay. Chebulagic and chebulinic acids purified from Terminalia chebula extract inhibited human topoisomerase I at around 2 μM and 3 μM respectively. Preincubation dilution assays performed with the plant extracts and the two acids purified from Terminalia chebula show the inhibition of human topoisomerase I at even lower concentrations, implying the inhibitor molecules bind the enzyme very tightly due to the preincubations. Conclusions: The nuclear fragmentation leading to apoptosis observed earlier in cancerous cell lines in the presence of such plant extracts may be explained by the inhibition of topoisomerases in addition to modulation
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