Optimization of approaches to the assessment of some indicators of health condition of children of ethnic Khanties based on the development of standards adapted to them

Objective: to evaluate the efficiency of the assessment of physical and sexual development, and blood pressure indicators of school-age children of the ethnic Khanties using standards developed on this cohort in comparison with the use of standards that are not adapted to them. Material and methods: the authors assessed of physical and sexual development, and blood pressure indicators in 423 ethnic Khanty children aged 7 to 17 years using standards developed on a cohort of children of the Khanty, the alien population of the north, and international standards. Results: statistically significant differences in the results of the assessment of anthropometric data, blood pressure, and sexual development were found using standards developed on different cohorts of children. The application of standards for the alien population of the north and international standards distorts the conclusion about the assessment of the health of children of ethnic Khanty and contributes to the underdiagnoses of obesity, excess body weight, and arterial hypertension, overdiagnoses of nanism, and a delay in sexual development. Conclusion: the presence of features of physical and sexual development, and blood pressure of ethnic Khanty children determines the need in the standards developed on this ethnically isolated cohort of children for individual and population assessment of their health.

Significantly Elevated Levels of Plasma Nicotinamide, Pyridoxal, and Pyridoxamine Phosphate Levels in Obese Emirati Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Water-soluble vitamins like B3 (nicotinamide), B6 (pyridoxine), and B9 (folic acid) are of utmost importance in human health and disease, as they are involved in numerous critical metabolic reactions. Not surprisingly, deficiencies of these vitamins have been linked to various disease states. Unfortunately, not much is known about the physiological levels of B6 vitamers and vitamin B3 in an ethnically isolated group (such as an Emirati population), as well as their relationship with obesity. The aim of the present study was to quantify various B6 vitamers, as well as B3, in the plasma of obese and healthy Emirati populations and to examine their correlation with obesity. A sensitive and robust HPLC-MS/MS-based method was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of five physiologically relevant forms of vitamin B6, namely pyridoxal, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, pyridoxamine phosphate, and pyridoxal phosphate, as well as nicotinamide, in human plasma. This method was used to quantify the concentrations of these vitamers in the plasma of 57 healthy and 57 obese Emirati volunteers. Our analysis showed that the plasma concentrations of nicotinamide, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine phosphate in the obese Emirati population were significantly higher than those in healthy volunteers (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0006, and p = 0.002, respectively). No significant differences were observed for the plasma concentrations of pyridoxine and pyridoxal phosphate. Furthermore, the concentrations of some of these vitamers in healthy Emirati volunteers were significantly different than those published in the literature for Western populations, such as American and European volunteers. This initial study underscores the need to quantify micronutrients in distinct ethnic groups, as well as people suffering from chronic metabolic disorders.

The Impact of Ethnically Matched Animated Agents (Avatars) in the Cognitive Restructuring of Irrational Career Beliefs Held by Young Women

The Believe It! program developed and evaluated by was the first interactive, multimedia, psychological-education intervention deployed on the Internet. In a controlled study, the authors reported that the ethnically diverse cartoon models were partially successful in using cognitive restructuring to promote more reasonable career beliefs among Caucasian middle-school young women. It was not clear if the program's lack of efficacy among minority young women was due to computer literacy factors affected by SES. Subsequently, four studies explored the role of matching or mismatching the ethnicity of animated agents in a graphically enhanced program with young women receiving the cognitive restructuring treatment. Each of the studies used the same four outcome measures (Occupational Sex-Role Questionnaire, Believe It Measure, Career Beliefs Inventory, and the Career Myths Scale) before and after matched and mismatched participants received the Believe It! intervention. analyzed data from African-American participants, Latinas, Asian-Americans, and ethnically isolated Caucasian young women. The current article reports that the results of these four studies are consistent with similar research involving live counselor and client dyads (e.g., ). The Believe It! program had a clear impact on ethnically matched African-American young women, whereas pairings on ethnicity produced, at best, marginally improved outcomes for Latinas, Asian-Americans, and ethnically isolated Caucasian young women.