Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity and clustered cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents: the HAPPY study

Clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors can occur during childhood and predisposes individuals to cardiometabolic disease. This study calculated clustered cardiometabolic risk in 100 children and adolescents aged 10-14 years (59 girls) and explored differences according to cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels and time spent at different physical activity (PA) intensities. CRF was determined using a maximal cycle ergometer test, and PA was assessed using accelerometry. A cardiometabolic risk score was computed as the sum of the standardised scores for waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein ratio, triglycerides and glucose. Differences in clustered cardiometabolic risk between fit and unfit participants, according to previously proposed health-related threshold values, and between tertiles for PA subcomponents were assessed using ANCOVA. Clustered risk was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the fit group (mean 1.21 ± 3.42) compared to the unfit group (mean -0.74 ± 2.22), while no differences existed between tertiles for any subcomponent of PA. Conclusion These findings suggest that CRF may have an important cardioprotective role in children and adolescents and highlights the importance of promoting CRF in youth

Is the NHS low-calorie diet programme delivered as planned? An observational study examining adherence of intervention delivery to service specification

Summary Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) are chronic conditions with significant personal, societal, and economic impacts. Expanding on existing trial evidence, the NHS piloted a 52‐week low‐calorie diet programme for T2DM, delivered by private providers using total diet replacement products and behaviour change support. This study aimed to determine the extent to which providers and coaches adhered to the service specification outlined by NHS England. An observational qualitative study was conducted to examine the delivery of both one‐to‐one and group‐based delivery of programme sessions. Observations of 122 sessions across eight programme delivery samples and two service providers were completed. Adherence to the service specification was stronger for those outcomes that were easily measurable, such as weight and blood glucose, while less tangible elements of the specification, such as empowering service users, and person‐centred delivery were less consistently observed. One‐to‐one sessions were more successful in their person‐centred delivery, and the skills of the coaches delivering the sessions had a strong impact on adherence to the specification. Overall, the results show that there was variability by provider and delivery mode in the extent to which sessions of the NHS Low‐Calorie Diet Programme reflected the intended service specification. In subsequent programmes it is recommended that one‐to‐one sessions are used, with accompanying peer support, and that providers improve standardised training and quality assurance to ensure specification adherence

Genetic influences on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms from age 2 to 3: A quantitative and molecular genetic investigation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A twin study design was used to assess the degree to which additive genetic variance influences ADHD symptom scores across two ages during infancy. A further objective in the study was to observe whether genetic association with a number of candidate markers reflects results from the quantitative genetic analysis.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>We have studied 312 twin pairs at two time-points, age 2 and age 3. A composite measure of ADHD symptoms from two parent-rating scales: The Child Behavior Checklist/1.5 - 5 years (CBCL) hyperactivity scale and the Revised Rutter Parent Scale for Preschool Children (RRPSPC) was used for both quantitative and molecular genetic analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At ages 2 and 3 ADHD symptoms are highly heritable (<it>h</it>^{<it>2 </it>}<it>= </it>0.79 and 0.78, respectively) with a high level of genetic stability across these ages. However, we also observe a significant level of genetic change from age 2 to age 3. There are modest influences of non-shared environment at each age independently (<it>e</it>^{<it>2 </it>}= 0.22 and 0.21, respectively), with these influences being largely age-specific. In addition, we find modest association signals in <it>DAT1 </it>and <it>NET1 </it>at both ages, along with suggestive specific effects of <it>5-HTT </it>and <it>DRD4 </it>at age 3.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>ADHD symptoms are heritable at ages 2 and 3. Additive genetic variance is largely shared across these ages, although there are significant new effects emerging at age 3. Results from our genetic association analysis reflect these levels of stability and change and, more generally, suggest a requirement for consideration of age-specific genotypic effects in future molecular studies.</p

Two chemically similar stellar overdensities on opposite sides of the plane of the Galaxy

Our Galaxy is thought to have undergone an active evolutionary history dominated by star formation, the accretion of cold gas, and, in particular, mergers up to 10 gigayear ago. The stellar halo reveals rich fossil evidence of these interactions in the form of stellar streams, substructures, and chemically distinct stellar components. The impact of dwarf galaxy mergers on the content and morphology of the Galactic disk is still being explored. Recent studies have identified kinematically distinct stellar substructures and moving groups, which may have extragalactic origin. However, there is mounting evidence that stellar overdensities at the outer disk/halo interface could have been caused by the interaction of a dwarf galaxy with the disk. Here we report detailed spectroscopic analysis of 14 stars drawn from two stellar overdensities, each lying about 5 kiloparsecs above and below the Galactic plane - locations suggestive of association with the stellar halo. However, we find that the chemical compositions of these stars are almost identical, both within and between these groups, and closely match the abundance patterns of the Milky Way disk stars. This study hence provides compelling evidence that these stars originate from the disk and the overdensities they are part of were created by tidal interactions of the disk with passing or merging dwarf galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication in Natur

Interactions between Surround Suppression and Interocular Suppression in Human Vision

Several types of suppression phenomena have been observed in the visual system. For example, the ability to detect a target stimulus is often impaired when the target is embedded in a high-contrast surround. This contextual modulation, known as surround suppression, was formerly thought to occur only in the periphery. Another type of suppression phenomena is interocular suppression, in which the sensitivity to a monocular target is reduced by a superimposed mask in the opposite eye. Here, we explored how the two types of suppression operating across different spatial regions interact with one another when they simultaneously exert suppressive influences on a common target presented at the fovea. In our experiments, a circular target grating presented to the fovea of one eye was suppressed interocularly by a noise pattern of the same size in the other eye. The foveal stimuli were either shown alone or surrounded by a monocular annular grating. The orientation and eye-of-origin of the surround grating were varied. We found that the detection of the foveal target subjected to interocular suppression was severely impaired by the addition of the surround grating, indicating strong surround suppression in the fovea. In contrast, when the interocular suppression was released by superimposing a binocular fusion ring onto both the target and the dichoptic mask, the surround suppression effect was found to be dramatically decreased. In addition, the surround suppression was found to depend on the contrast of the dichoptic noise with the greatest surround suppression effect being obtained only when the noise contrast was at an intermediate level. These findings indicate that surround suppression and interocular suppression are not independent of each other, but there are strong interactions between them. Moreover, our results suggest that strong surround suppression may also occur at the fovea and not just the periphery

Sociological and Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on the Commercialization of the Sciences

Both self-organization and organization are important for the further development of the sciences: the two dynamics condition and enable each other. Commercial and public considerations can interact and "interpenetrate" in historical organization; different codes of communication are then "recombined." However, self-organization in the symbolically generalized codes of communication can be expected to operate at the global level. The Triple Helix model allows for both a neo-institutional appreciation in terms of historical networks of university-industry-government relations and a neo-evolutionary interpretation in terms of three functions: (i) novelty production, (i) wealth generation, and (iii) political control. Using this model, one can appreciate both subdynamics. The mutual information in three dimensions enables us to measure the trade-off between organization and self-organization as a possible synergy. The question of optimization between commercial and public interests in the different sciences can thus be made empirical.Comment: Science & Education (forthcoming

The MACHO Project Large Magellanic Cloud Variable Star Inventory. VIII. The Recent Star Formation History of the LMC from the Cepheid Period Distribution

We present an analysis of the period distribution of $\sim 1800$ Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud, based on data obtained by the MACHO microlensing experiment and on a previous catalogue by Payne-Gaposchkin. Using stellar evolution and pulsation models, we construct theoretical period-frequency distributions that are compared to the observations. These models reveal that a significant burst of star formation has occurred recently in the LMC ($\sim 1.15\times 10^8$ years). We also show that during the last $\sim 10^8$ years, the main center of star formation has been propagating from SE to NW along the bar. We find that the evolutionary masses of Cepheids are still smaller than pulsation masses by $\sim 7$ % and that the red edge of the Cepheid instability strip could be slightly bluer than indicated by theory. There are $\sim 600$ Cepheids with periods below $\sim 2.5$ days cannot be explained by evolution theory. We suggest that they are anomalous Cepheids; a number of these stars are double-mode Cepheids