Anthropometry and body composition in ethnic Japanese and Caucasian adolescent girls: Considerations on ethnicity and menarche

Objective: This study aimed to compare the various anthropometric and body composition parameters based on the ethnicity and the absence or presence of menarche.Design: A cross-sectional study with incomplete sampling, using the subject as the evaluation unit.Subjects: the final sample of 550 subjects was composed of 122 Japanese and 179 Caucasian premenarcheal adolescents, and 72 Japanese and 177 Caucasian postmenarcheal adolescents.Methods: the variables of body composition were measured through the following methods: bioelectrical impedance analysis, near-infrared interactance (NIR), Slaughter cutaneous skinfold equations and body mass index. Weight, height and sitting height were also evaluated.Results: the Japanese pre- and postmenarcheal girls presented lower weight and height values when compared with the Caucasian girls. in general, the Japanese premenarcheal girls presented less fat and fat-free mass than the premenarcheal Caucasian girls. This fact was demonstrated through NIR results. Conversely, the Japanese postmenarcheal adolescents accumulated more fat than their Caucasian counterparts. However, significant differences were solely encountered in the values of cutaneous skinfold percent body fat. With regard to menarche, it was verified that, regardless of ethnicity, all the anthropometric and body composition variables reached higher values among postmenarcheal adolescents when compared with premenarcheal adolescents.Conclusion: Different results of weight and height between the ethnic groups may bring back the discussion concerning separate growth curves for different ethnic groups. the results of the body composition analysis indicated high adiposity levels among postmenarcheal adolescents.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Postgrad Nutr, BR-04020060 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Prevent Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Postgrad Nutr, BR-04020060 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Prevent Med, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Household and community socioeconomic and environmental determinants of child nutritional status in Cameroon

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition is a leading cause of child mortality in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We examine the household and community level socioeconomic and environmental factors associated with child nutritional status in Cameroon, and changes in the effects of these factors during the 1990s economic crisis. We further consider age-specific effects of household economic status on child nutrition. METHODS: Child nutritional status was measured by weight-for-age (WAZ) and height-for-age (HAZ) z-scores. Data were from Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 1991 and 1998. We used analysis of variance to assess the bivariate association between the explanatory factors and nutritional status. Multivariate, multilevel analyses were undertaken to estimate the net effects of both household and community factors. RESULTS: Average WAZ and HAZ declined respectively from -0.70 standard deviations (SD), i.e. 0.70 SD below the reference median, to -0.83 SD (p = 0.006) and from -1.03 SD to -1.14 SD (p = 0.026) between 1991 and 1998. These declines occurred mostly among boys, children over 12 months of age, and those of low socioeconomic status. Maternal education and maternal health seeking behavior were associated with better child nutrition. Household economic status had an overall positive effect that increased during the crisis, but it had little effect in children under 6 months of age. Improved household (water, sanitation and cooking fuel) and community environment had positive effects. Children living in the driest regions of the country were consistently worst off, and those in the largest cities were best off. CONCLUSION: Both household and community factors have significant impact on child health in Cameroon. Understanding these relationships can facilitate design of age- and community-specific intervention programs

Chd8 mediates cortical neurogenesis via transcriptional regulation of cell cycle and Wnt signaling

De novo mutations in CHD8 are strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder, but the basic biology of CHD8 remains poorly understood. Here we report that Chd8 knockdown during cortical development results in defective neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation that ultimately manifests in abnormal neuronal morphology and behaviors in adult mice. Transcriptome analysis revealed that while Chd8 stimulates the transcription of cell cycle genes, it also precludes the induction of neural-specific genes by regulating the expression of PRC2 complex components. Furthermore, knockdown of Chd8 disrupts the expression of key transducers of Wnt signaling, and enhancing Wnt signaling rescues the transcriptional and behavioral deficits caused by Chd8 knockdown. We propose that these roles of Chd8 and the dynamics of Chd8 expression during development help negotiate the fine balance between neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Together, these observations provide new insights into the neurodevelopmental role of Chd8.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant UH1-MH106018-03

The Perceived Benefits of Height: Strength, Dominance, Social Concern, and Knowledge among Bolivian Native Amazonians

Research in industrial countries suggests that, with no other knowledge about a person, positive traits are attributed to taller people and correspondingly, that taller people have slightly better socioeconomic status (SES). However, research in some non-industrialized contexts has shown no correlation or even negative correlations between height and socioeconomic outcomes. It remains unclear whether positive traits remain attributed to taller people in such contexts. To address this question, here we report the results of a study in a foraging-farming society of native Amazonians in Bolivia (Tsimane’)–a group in which we have previously shown little association between height and socioeconomic outcomes. We showed 24 photographs of pairs of Tsimane’ women, men, boys, and girls to 40 women and 40 men >16 years of age. We presented four behavioral scenarios to each participant and asked them to point to the person in the photograph with greater strength, dominance, social concern, or knowledge. The pairs in the photographs were of the same sex and age, but one person was shorter. Tsimane’ women and men attributed greater strength, dominance, and knowledge to taller girls and boys, but they did not attribute most positive traits to taller adults, except for strength, and more social concern only when women assessed other women in the photographs. These results raise a puzzle: why would Tsimane’ attribute positive traits to tall children, but not tall adults? We propose three potential explanations: adults’ expectations about the more market integrated society in which their children will grow up, height as a signal of good child health, and children’s greater variation in the traits assessed corresponding to maturational stages

Like mother, like child : investigating perinatal and maternal health stress in post-medieval London.

Post-Medieval London (sixteenth-nineteenth centuries) was a stressful environment for the poor. Overcrowded and squalid housing, physically demanding and risky working conditions, air and water pollution, inadequate diet and exposure to infectious diseases created high levels of morbidity and low life expectancy. All of these factors pressed with particular severity on the lowest members of the social strata, with burgeoning disparities in health between the richest and poorest. Foetal, perinatal and infant skeletal remains provide the most sensitive source of bioarchaeological information regarding past population health and in particular maternal well-being. This chapter examined the evidence for chronic growth and health disruption in 136 foetal, perinatal and infant skeletons from four low-status cemetery samples in post-medieval London. The aim of this study was to consider the impact of poverty on the maternal-infant nexus, through an analysis of evidence of growth disruption and pathological lesions. The results highlight the dire consequences of poverty in London during this period from the very earliest moments of life

Neuroanatomical Pattern of Mitochondrial Complex I Pathology Varies between Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depression

BACKGROUND:Mitochondrial dysfunction was reported in schizophrenia, bipolar disorderand major depression. The present study investigated whether mitochondrial complex I abnormalities show disease-specific characteristics. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:mRNA and protein levels of complex I subunits NDUFV1, NDUFV2 and NADUFS1, were assessed in striatal and lateral cerebellar hemisphere postmortem specimens and analyzed together with our previous data from prefrontal and parieto-occipital cortices specimens of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and healthy subjects. A disease-specific anatomical pattern in complex I subunits alterations was found. Schizophrenia-specific reductions were observed in the prefrontal cortex and in the striatum. The depressed group showed consistent reductions in all three subunits in the cerebellum. The bipolar group, however, showed increased expression in the parieto-occipital cortex, similar to those observed in schizophrenia, and reductions in the cerebellum, yet less consistent than the depressed group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:These results suggest that the neuroanatomical pattern of complex I pathology parallels the diversity and similarities in clinical symptoms of these mental disorders

Genetic instability and anti-HPV immune response as drivers of infertility associated with HPV infection

Funding Information: RFBR grant 17–54-30002, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Agreement No. 075–15–2019-1660) to Olga Smirnova. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection common among men and women of reproductive age worldwide. HPV viruses are associated with epithelial lesions and cancers. HPV infections have been shown to be significantly associated with many adverse effects in reproductive function. Infection with HPVs, specifically of high-oncogenic risk types (HR HPVs), affects different stages of human reproduction, resulting in a series of adverse outcomes: 1) reduction of male fertility (male infertility), characterized by qualitative and quantitative semen alterations; 2) impairment of couple fertility with increase of blastocyst apoptosis and reduction of endometrial implantation of trophoblastic cells; 3) defects of embryos and fetal development, with increase of spontaneous abortion and spontaneous preterm birth. The actual molecular mechanism(s) by which HPV infection is involved remain unclear. HPV-associated infertility as Janus, has two faces: one reflecting anti-HPV immunity, and the other, direct pathogenic effects of HPVs, specifically, of HR HPVs on the infected/HPV-replicating cells. Adverse effects observed for HR HPVs differ depending on the genotype of infecting virus, reflecting differential response of the host immune system as well as functional differences between HPVs and their individual proteins/antigens, including their ability to induce genetic instability/DNA damage. Review summarizes HPV involvement in all reproductive stages, evaluate the adverse role(s) played by HPVs, and identifies mechanisms of viral pathogenicity, common as well as specific for each stage of the reproduction process.publishersversionPeer reviewe