Sarah Cuschieri

Getting to grips with the obesity epidemic in Europe

Obesity is a global epidemic. It is responsible for increased patient morbidity and mortality. Significant related pathologies including diabetes mellitus compound the overall risks. Obesity is a significant financial burden. This includes direct and indirect medical costs, amounting to millions of euros each year. Multiple European studies have outlined a steady incline in obesity prevalence rates. Tackling obesity is no easy task. Policy makers aiming to reduce obesity rates should adopt an evidence-based approach. This entails adopting both micro- and macro-interventions tweaked to each country’s individual requirements. The ideal way forward would be to tackle obesity from the individual, population-wide and food industry angles. The key towards a successful intervention is for each country to carry out well-planned health examination studies, in an attempt to pin point local risk factors. Having a correct individualized picture, each country can move forward and draw policies and interventional procedures. The aim should be to primarily improve the quality of life. Second, the country’s capital expenditure is also reduced.

Prevalence of obesity in Malta

Obesity is a global epidemic with the Mediterranean island of Malta being no exception. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified Malta as one of the European countries with the highest obesity prevalence.

Diabetes, pre-diabetes and their risk factors in Malta : a study profile of national cross-sectional prevalence study

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus constitutes a global epidemic and a major burden on health care systems across the world. Prevention of this disease is essential, and the development of effective prevention strategies requires validated information on the disease burden and the risk factors. Embarking on a nationally representative cross-sectional study is challenging and costly. Few countries undertake this process regularly, if at all. Method This paper sets out the evidence-based protocol of a recent cross-sectional study that was conducted in Malta. Data collection took place from November 2014 to January 2016. Results This study presents up-to-date national data on diabetes and its risk factors (such as obesity, smoking, physical activity and alcohol intake) that will soon be publicly available. Conclusion This protocol was compiled so that the study can be replicated in other countries. The protocol contains step-by-step descriptions of the study design, including details on the population sampling, the permissions required and the validated measurement tools used.

WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Writing for the media

Writing for the media is a task faced by many professionals at some point during their academic or clinical life. The style and purpose of writing for the media is strikingly different from that of an academic manuscript. When writing for the media, the author presents information and persuades the mass audience about a particular topic or issue. The author needs to bear in mind that information sent out to the media will make todays story but will be yesterdays news, so time is of the essence. The format of newswriting follows an inverted pyramid structure with the most important message taking center stage at the beginning of the article followed by any additional messages. The use of graphics enhances the message. While embracing the concept of modesty, the author needs to present the newsworthy information in a complete, accurate, efficient and precise manner.

The effect of age, gender, TG/HDL-C ratio and behavioral lifestyles on the metabolic syndrome in the high risk Mediterranean Island population of Malta

AIMS Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a public health epidemic, typically with female predominance. The aim was to analyse the effect of gender and age on MetS and its components; analyse effects of lifestyle, diabetes mellitus and identify predictors for MetS including TG/HDL ratio, on a national level in a Mediterranean island. Findings will provide evidence-based data for neighboring countries to aid in combat of this epidemic. METHOD A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Malta (2014-2016) on a randomized adults population sample. Various components of MetS were measured along with lifestyle habits (smoking, alcohol and physical activity) and family history (cardiovascular and diabetes). Both descriptive and statistical analyses were performed. RESULTS A total of 80,788 Maltese adults estimated to suffer from MetS. Males were predominantly affected with significant difference from females. All MetS components were found to be significant predictors along with alcohol habits but not smoking. Neither physical inactivity nor family history of cardiovascular disease, showed any predictive ability for MetS even after adjustment. Elevated triglyceride levels exhibited highest predictive effect on MetS. TG/HDL ratio showed predictive ability in the Maltese population. CONCLUSIONS Males were at higher risk for MetS in Malta. A number of predictors were established but not sedentary lifestyle. TG/HDL ratio may provide to be a good indicator for development of MetS.

WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Writing a research Grant – 2, drafting the proposal

When writing up a grant application, the proposal has to be targeted to the funding source identified and being approached. However, some general rules apply in all cases. Provision of preliminary data may be useful and collaboration with well-known/published colleagues and top centres may also help and may be a prerequisite for some kinds of application. The quality and originality of the science is the main selling point as well as convincing the review board that you/your consortium are the best placed group to do the job. A strong organisational structure showing how the fund will be managed, as well as realistic targeted deliverables and a research timeline will help convince funding bodies/assessment boards of the likelihood that the team can handle the project. Before submission of the grant proposal, a more experienced grant writer should review the proposal. Using a checklist to assess adherence to the funding bodys guidelines and grant submission guidelines is essential prior to submission.

WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Open access unsolicited emails for scholarly work – Young and senior researchers perspectives

The increasing demand on academics and researchers to publish has led to the development of fake journals (also known as predatory journals). Such journals lack peer review and precipitate unfair criticism toward legitimate open access journals. Predatory journals tend to bombard a researchers mailbox on a daily basis, inviting authors to submit a review/manuscript/opinion/short case to their journal while promising expedited publication - against a fee. This study assessed the unsolicited emails received over the period of November 2017 by a young and by a senior researcher. The young researcher received a substantially higher amount of emails (n = 101) compared to the senior researcher (n = 23). The article processing costs for solicited journals received, ranged between

WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Understanding research metrics

49 and

The Effects of Socioeconomic Determinants on Hypertension in a Cardiometabolic At-Risk European Country

3019. These journals are almost all only indexed in Google Scholar and do not display any meaningful journal metrics. Furthermore, the majority of the unsolicited emails were not relevant to the researchers field of study. Therefore authors and readers alike should evaluate emails received with regard to journal legitimacy prior to submission of work to possibly predatory journals.

The Role of Untimed Blood Glucose in Screening for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in a High Prevalent Diabetic Population

Research metrics are quantitative measurements that identify and acknowledge research output while enhancing article, author and journal impact within the academic community. The article impact depends on the number of times that same article is cited by other authors, while an authors impact depends on the number of citations received on the total number of published articles by the same author. With the advancement in technology and the increased availability of open access journals, article-level metrics has become a popular metric. This is the aggregation of the traditional article citations and the article online presence through blogs, tweets and newspapers, which further enhances the authors impact within the academic community. A journals impact will depend on the average number of citations received by the articles published within the journal over a period of time. The academic reputation within the academic community will therefore depend on both article and author metrics and is further enhanced by publishing in high impact journals.