Exploring the relationship between adiposity and fitness in young children

PURPOSE: High levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) may attenuate the association between excessive adiposity and the risks of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. The purpose of this study was to stratify children according to their BMI and adiposity (body fat percentage, BF%) and compare levels of CRF across subgroups. METHODS: This prospective cohort study comprises a cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of data collected at baseline (n=641) and two years later (n=579) on children (7.4-11.6y) attending public school in Denmark. Levels of CRF were measured using the Andersen test, while BF% was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). RESULTS: There were 560 (87.4%) children classified as normal weight according to BMI at baseline, of which 46 (7.4%) were identified as having excessive BF%. These children had significantly lower CRF (mean [95% Confidence Interval]: −63.1m [−100.2,-25.9]) than children with normal BMI and normal BF%; and the effect of BF% on CRF was significantly worse in boys than girls. Overweight children with high BF%, had significantly lower prospective (2 years) CRF levels (−34.4m [−58.0,-10.7]) than children with normal BMI and BF%. Though children who improved their BMI and/or BF% classification over the two year period achieved CRF levels (8.9m [−30.2,47.9]) which were comparable to children with normal BMI and BF% at both measurement time points. CONCLUSION: The CRF levels in children are impacted by BMI and BF%, although BF% appears to play a greater role. This association between BF% and CRF is sex-dependent, with CRF levels in boys being impacted to a greater extent by BF%. Children identified as ‘normal weight’ by BMI but presenting with excessive BF% had significantly lower CRF than ‘normal weight’ children with low BF%

Bilingualism Is Associated with a Delayed Onset of Dementia but Not with a Lower Risk of Developing it: a Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses.

Some studies have linked bilingualism with a later onset of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Not all studies have observed such relationships, however. Differences in study outcomes may be due to methodological limitations and the presence of confounding factors within studies such as immigration status and level of education. We conducted the first systematic review with meta-analysis combining cross-sectional studies to explore if bilingualism might delay symptom onset and diagnosis of dementia, AD, and MCI. Primary outcomes included the age of symptom onset, the age at diagnosis of MCI or dementia, and the risk of developing MCI or dementia. A secondary outcome included the degree of disease severity at dementia diagnosis. There was no difference in the age of MCI diagnosis between monolinguals and bilinguals [mean difference: 3.2; 95% confidence intervals (CI): -3.4, 9.7]. Bilinguals vs. monolinguals reported experiencing AD symptoms 4.7 years (95% CI: 3.3, 6.1) later. Bilinguals vs. monolinguals were diagnosed with dementia 3.3 years (95% CI: 1.7, 4.9) later. Here, 95% prediction intervals showed a large dispersion of effect sizes (-1.9 to 8.5). We investigated this dispersion with a subgroup meta-analysis comparing studies that had recruited participants with dementia to studies that had recruited participants with AD on the age of dementia and AD diagnosis between mono- and bilinguals. Results showed that bilinguals vs. monolinguals were 1.9 years (95% CI: -0.9, 4.7) and 4.2 (95% CI: 2.0, 6.4) older than monolinguals at the time of dementia and AD diagnosis, respectively. The mean difference between the two subgroups was not significant. There was no significant risk reduction (odds ratio: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.68-1.16) in developing dementia among bilinguals vs. monolinguals. Also, there was no significant difference (Hedges' g = 0.05; 95% CI: -0.13, 0.24) in disease severity at dementia diagnosis between bilinguals and monolinguals, despite bilinguals being significantly older. The majority of studies had adjusted for level of education suggesting that education might not have played a role in the observed delay in dementia among bilinguals vs. monolinguals. Although findings indicated that bilingualism was on average related to a delayed onset of dementia, the magnitude of this relationship varied across different settings. This variation may be due to unexplained heterogeneity and different sources of bias in the included studies. Registration: PROSPERO CRD42015019100

European Corn Borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hbn.) Populations in Field Corn, Zea mays (L.) in the North Central United States

A long-range study of the annual changes in corn borer populations in the North Central States was started in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska in 1955 and in Missouri and Ohio in 1956. This investigation was a phase of a broader Regional Project, NC-20, entitled Factors Influencing Corn Borer Populations and was undertaken to measure by standardized procedures the seasonal changes in abundance of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hbn.), under cropping procedures in different locations within, the North Central States. Much valuable information has been accumulated on the abundance and effects of various physical and biotic factors on corn borer populations. Results obtained from 1955 through 1959 are summarized in a regional publication (Chiang et al. 1961). The present compilation and summary is offered as a companion bulletin containing data for the years 1960 through 1964. Although the primary purpose of the present bulletin is to present results for the 1960 to 1964 period, it seemed pertinent to include statements of comparison with the preceding 5-year\u27s work and to analyze in a rather gross way certain aspects of the population changes for the entire 10-year period. Studies of this nature are long-time projects requiring many years of work in order to evaluate population fluctuations and factors influencing them. Hence the examination of the recent 5-year period becomes more meaningful when compared with the previous 5-year period or when considered as a single 10-year period

Coincident Measurement of the Energy Spectra of Doppler-Shifted Annihilation Gamma Quanta and Positron-Induced Secondary Electrons

Preliminary results are presented from a new positron beam system currently under development at the University of Texas at Arlington for the coincident energy measurement of Doppler-shifted annihilation quanta and positron-induced Auger electrons. We report data based on an analysis of the pulses resulting from the detection of positron induced secondary electrons by a micro-channel plate detector in coincidence with the pulses resulting from the detection of associated annihilation gamma rays in a NaI(Tl) gamma detector.Comment: Presented at 18th International Conference on Positron Annihilation, August 19-24, 2018 | Orlando, USA. The following article has been accepted by AIP Conference Proceedings. After it is published, it will be found at https://aip.scitation.org/journal/ap

One Solar Cycle of Heliosphere Observations with the Interstellar Boundary Explorer: Energetic Neutral Hydrogen Atoms Observed with IBEX-Lo from 10 eV to 2 keV

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a NASA satellite in Earth orbit, dedicated to observing both interstellar neutral atoms entering the heliosphere and energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from the interstellar boundaries from roughly 10 eV to 6 keV. This work presents the averaged maps, energy spectra, and temporal variability of heliospheric ENA intensities measured with the IBEX-Lo instrument at 1 au at energies between 10 eV and 2 keV, covering one entire solar cycle from 2009 through 2019. These results expand the range in time and energy for studying the globally distributed ENA flux and the IBEX Ribbon. The observed ENA intensities exceed model predictions, in particular below 500 eV. Moreover, the ENA intensities between 50–200 eV energy show an unexpected rise and fall around the year 2015 in most sky regions

Separation of the Ribbon From Globally Distributed Energetic Neutral Atom Flux Using the First Five Years of \u3ci\u3e IBEX \u3c/i\u3e Observations

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) observes the IBEX ribbon, which stretches across much of the sky observed in energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The ribbon covers a narrow (∼20◦–50◦) region that is believed to be roughly perpendicular to the interstellar magnetic field. Superimposed on the IBEX ribbon is the globally distributed flux that is controlled by the processes and properties of the heliosheath. This is a second study that utilizes a previously developed technique to separate ENA emissions in the ribbon from the globally distributed flux. A transparency mask is applied over the ribbon and regions of high emissions. We then solve for the globally distributed flux using an interpolation scheme. Previously, ribbon separation techniques were applied to the first year of IBEX-Hi data at and above 0.71 keV. Here we extend the separation analysis down to 0.2 keV and to five years of IBEX data enabling first maps of the ribbon and the globally distributed flux across the full sky of ENA emissions. Our analysis shows the broadening of the ribbon peak at energies below 0.71 keV and demonstrates the apparent deformation of the ribbon in the nose and heliotail. We show global asymmetries of the heliosheath, including both deflection of the heliotail and differing widths of the lobes, in context of the direction, draping, and compression of the heliospheric magnetic field. We discuss implications of the ribbon maps for the wide array of concepts that attempt to explain the ribbon’s origin. Thus, we present the five-year separation of the IBEX ribbon from the globally distributed flux in preparation for a formal IBEX data release of ribbon and globally distributed flux maps to the heliophysics community

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors