Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a renal disorder that is characterized by massive proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia and edema. One of the main causes of NS is focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), which has extremely poor prognosis. Although steroids and immunosuppressants are the first line of treatment, some FSGS cases are refractory, prompting the need to find new therapeutic strategies. We have previously demonstrated that an optimized combination treatment of mild electrical stimulation (MES) and heat shock (HS) has several biological benefits including the amelioration of the pathologies of the genetic renal disorder Alport syndrome. Here, we investigated the effect of MES + HS on adriamycin (ADR)-induced NS mouse model. MES + HS suppressed proteinuria and glomerulosclerosis induced by ADR. The expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and pro-fibrotic genes were also significantly downregulated by MES + HS. MES + HS decreased the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 and the number of TUNEL-positive cells, indicating that MES + HS exerted anti-apoptotic effect. Moreover, MES + HS activated the Akt signaling and induced the phosphorylation and inhibition of the apoptotic molecule BAD. In in vitro experiment, the Akt inhibitor abolished the MES + HS-induced Akt-BAD signaling and anti-apoptotic effect in ADR-treated cells. Collectively, our study suggested that MES + HS modulates ADR-induced pathologies and has renoprotective effect against ADR-induced NS via regulation of Akt-BAD axis.

Background: Following up children’s health at schools is crucial to ensuring their health and nutrition supply. Cambodia does not have a system for assessing the children’s growth. In this regard, WHO child growth reference might be used to assess child growth in this country. The present study aimed to compare Cambodian primary schoolchildren’s growth in three categories and assess their growth status by reference to the South-East Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS) and WHO references. Methods: This is a case study of primary school children’s growth in Cambodia. Aichi University of Education in Japan conducted physical measurement in some primary schools in Cambodia in three categories: an urban school, a rural school with “school meals”, and a rural school without “school meals”. A total sample size of 9 487 primary schoolchildren was measured from 2015 to 2020. The data were analyzed by a computed formulation of LMS and SPSS statistics version 20. Results: Cambodian primary schoolchildren in the urban school were taller and heavier than those in the rural school with “school meals” and the rural school without “school meals”. The children in the rural school without “school meals” were the shortest and the lightest. The physical growth of the “schoolchildren” in Cambodia was similar to those of the pooled SEANUTS, but far below the WHO references. Conclusion: School meals have a positive influence on children’s growth. SEANUTS growth reference might be fitted to assess child growth in Cambodia, but the WHO reference is not fitted. National child growth curve and reference should be devised to accurately assess children’s growth in Cambodia.

The doubly labeled water (DLW, ²H₂¹⁸O) method for calculating the total production of CO₂ over several days is currently considered to be the most accurate technique for the measurement of total energy expenditure (TEE), and the results obtained using this method have been used to review energy requirements. Presently, there is limited data available on TEE in Japanese children. The objective of this study was to assess the TEE in pre-school Japanese children using the DLW method. We used a cross-sectional population of 140 children (69 boys and 71 girls) aged 3–6 years. TEE was measured using the DLW method over 8 days under free-living conditions. The average weights (kg) of the boys and girls were 15.6 ± 2.5 and 15.0 ± 2.1 for the 3–4 years old and 19.8 ± 3.8 and 19.6 ± 2.7 for the 5–6 years old, respectively. The corresponding TEE (kcal/day) was 1260.9 ± 357.8 and 1265.2 ± 408.0, and 1682.3 ± 489.0 and 1693.1 ± 473.3, respectively, showing a significant difference with respect to age. Furthermore, TEE per body weight (kcal/kg/day) was 83.2 ± 29.2 and 84.9 ± 26.6, and 85.4 ± 23.2 and 86.7 ± 22.6, respectively. However, when TEE was adjusted for body weight or fat-free mass, there were no age or sex differences. We conclude that in Japanese children, TEE in those aged 3–4 years was similar to the current Ministry of Health recommendations. However, TEE in children aged 5–6 years was slightly higher than the recommendations. Based on these findings, the present results obtained from a large number of participants will provide valuable reference data for Japanese children.

This cross-sectional study assessed the nutritional status and dietary quality of 1,527 Cambodian secondary school students, focusing on gender, school type, location, socio-economic status, and maternal education. Data on demographics, BMI, and dietary intakes were collected, and dietary quality was evaluated using the Dietary Quality Index-International (DQI-I). Significant gender differences were found, with boys being older (16.80 ± 1.48 years vs. 16.38 ± 1.47 years, p<0.001), taller (167.83 ± 8.32 cm vs. 158.09 ± 6.10 cm, p<0.001), heavier (57.51 ± 12.55 kg vs. 49.19 ± 8.58 kg, p<0.001), and having higher BMI (20.365 ± 4.056 kg/m² vs. 19.66 ± 3.15 kg/m², p<0.001). Urban students exhibited higher dietary quality indices in variety, adequacy, and overall DQI (all p<0.01) compared to rural students. Private school students had better BMI and DQI score than public school students, with significant differences in height, weight, variety, adequacy, and overall DQI (all p<0.05). Socio-economic status significantly affected weight, BMI, variety, moderation, and overall DQI (all p<0.05). Higher maternal education levels were associated with improved dietary variety, adequacy, and overall DQI (all p<0.001). These findings underscore the need for targeted nutritional interventions and policies to address socio-economic disparities and improve educational opportunities for women, enhancing health outcomes for Cambodian students.

Detection, tracking, and re-identification (ReID) of children wearing similar uniforms in a kindergarten environment is a very complex challenge for computer vision. Traditional surveillance systems or simple convolutional neural network (CNN) models often fail to distinguish children in crowds and occlusions. To address this challenge, this study proposes a novel hybrid framework combining YOLOv8 and Vision Transformer (ViT). Using YOLOv8 for detection and ViT for global feature extraction, we trained the model on a custom dataset of 31,521 images, achieving an overall accuracy of 93.75%, and the public benchmark MOT20 dataset of 28,630 images, achieving an overall accuracy of 96.02%. Our system showed remarkable success in tracking performance, where it achieved 86.7% MOTA and 99.7% IDF1 scores. This high IDF1 score proves that the model is highly effective in preventing identity switch. The main novelty of this study is the behavioral analysis of children beyond the boundaries of surveillance, where we measure walking distance and trajectory, and screen time. Finally, through cross-dataset comparison with the MOT20 public benchmark, we demonstrated that our proposed customized model is much more effective than current state-of-the-art methods in overcoming the domain gap in specific environments such as kindergarten.

Adolescent mental health significantly influences social well-being and academic achievement, yet empirical data remains scarce in Cambodia. This study examined the association between sociodemographic characteristics and mental health status among Cambodian secondary school students using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A cross-sectional survey was conducted from March to April 2024 across five major provinces and Phnom Penh. Using purposive sampling, 1,528 students from urban and rural schools were recruited. Abnormal mental health was reported by 50.56% of females and 52.33% of students whose mothers had only elementary education. T-test and ANOVA analyses revealed significant associations between mental health and gender, school location, school type, and maternal education (p < 0.001), while socioeconomic status showed no significant impact. Findings emphasize that gender and maternal education are primary correlates of psychological well-being. These results necessitate gender-responsive school health programs and decentralized mental health services in rural areas. Furthermore, community initiatives should prioritize maternal health literacy to empower mothers as central caregivers, fostering supportive home environments for student resilience.