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Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder need special attention for their mental and physical health and education. This study aims to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on them.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on data collected from an online survey. Respondents were the parents or caregivers of autistic children aged 3–18. It measured opinions about the favorable and unfavorable behavioral changes related to their children during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

In total, 131 respondents participated in the study. The mean age of their autistic children was 11.45 ± 4.26 years, of whom 78% were boys. Improved good behaviors during lockdowns included interaction with parents and siblings, eating healthy foods, quality of sleep, eye contact, pointing and asking for something, imitating sounds and phrases, sharing interests, reaction to emotions and empathy with family members, but sleep hours decreased.

Lockdown provided opportunities for examining the behaviors of children with autism taking into account its favorable and unfavorable effects, to improve communicating and behaving with these children.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between weight status and food environments, peer influence and dietary intake among high-school students in Shiraz, Iran.

Applying a case-control design, 406 adolescents (n = 203 overweight or obese and n = 203 normal weight) aged 14–18 years were selected using a multistage cluster random sampling method. Demographic information, physical activity level and anthropometric indices were collected. Dietary intake was determined using a 147-item food frequency questionnaire. Food environment (home and out of home) and peer influence were determined by a validated questionnaire.

The type of food purchased using pocket money was different between adolescents with overweight or obesity and normal weight adolescents (p < 0.001). The out-of-home food environment score was not different between groups, but the home food environment score (p = 0.004) and the peer influence score (p = 0.001) were higher in normal weight adolescents. Adolescents with overweight or obesity consumed higher amounts of carbohydrate (p = 0.006) and lower amounts of protein (p = 0.01) and more sweet junk foods (p = 0.01), nonstarchy vegetables (p = 0.03) and fruits (p = 0.01) compared to the normal weight group.

Home food environment, peer influence, differences in macronutrient intake and dietary patterns may be contributing factors to adolescent weight status.

Prisoners are at greater risk of infectious diseases compared to the general population. While imprisoned, it is often difficult to observe Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) prevention strategies such as social distancing. To the authors’ knowledge, no study has been conducted worldwide to examine the condition of female prisoners with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Women’s Prison (southwest, Iran).

The data for this descriptive cross-sectional study was collected using a checklist including epidemiological information, clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography scan findings of the chest, underlying diseases and the final status of all female prisoners whose COVID-19 test was positive.

This study included 139 female prisoners with COVID-19 with a mean age of 37.19 ± 12.67 years. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension (14.4%), obesity (10.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). The most common symptoms at the onset of the disease were myalgia (59.0%), cough (41.0%) and dyspnea (37.4%). The most common radiological symptoms were ground-glass opacity (12.9%) and atelectasis (7.2%). In terms of extension of involvement, both lungs were involved in 8.6% of patients. In terms of zonal involvement, the lower lobes were more involved (8.6%). In terms of involvement position, the most common was sub-pleural (10.1%). None of the patients died.

Because the incidence, morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the prison population are likely to differ from those of the public. This study sought to investigate the situation of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Prison, Khuzestan Province. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first worldwide study in this regard in women’s prisons.