Childhood cognitive ability and physical activity in young adulthood

Objective: Childhood cognitive ability is associated with lifestyle in adulthood, including self-reported physical activity (PA). We examined whether childhood cognitive ability is associated with objectively-measured PA and sedentary time (ST) in young adulthood. Methods: Participants of the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study (n=500) underwent tests of general reasoning, visuo-motor integration, verbal competence and language comprehension at the age of 56 months yielding a general intelligence factor score; at the age of 25 years they wore omnidirectional accelerometers for 9 days (Range=4-10 days) measuring overall daily PA (counts per minute, cpm), ST and light and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (minutes), and completed a questionnaire on occupational, commuting, leisure-time conditioning and non-conditioning PA. Results: After adjustment for sex, age, BMI-for-age SD score at 56 months and mean of valid minutes of measurement period for PA, per each one SD increase in the childhood general intelligence factor score, overall daily PA decreased by -8.99 CPM/day, ST increased by 14.93 minutes/day, time spent in light PA decreased by -14.39 minutes/day, and the odds per each level increase in physical demandingness of the work and in time spent in non-conditioning leisure-time PA decreased by 38% and 31%, respectively (p-values<0.04). These associations were mediated via higher young adulthood level of education. Conclusions: In contrast to expected, in this cohort of young adults with high variability in PA, of whom many were still studying, higher childhood cognitive ability was associated with more objectively-measured and self-reported physical inactivity. Whether these findings persist beyond young adulthood is a subject of further studies

Physical Activity, Body Composition and Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adults

Objective Low physical activity (PA) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in all age groups. We measured intensity and volume of PA and examined the associations between PA and the metabolic syndrome (MS), its components and body composition among young Finnish adults. Research Design and Methods The study comprises 991 men and women born 1985-86, who participated in a clinical study during the years 2009-11 which included assessments of metabolism, body composition and PA. Objectively measured (SenseWear Armband) five-day PA data was available from 737 participants and was expressed in metabolic equivalents of task (MET). Results The prevalence of MS ranged between 8-10%. Higher total mean volume (MET-hours) or intensity (MET) were negatively associated with the risk of MS and separate components of MS, while the time spent at sedentary level of PA was positively associated with MS. Conclusions MS was prevalent in approximately every tenth of the young adults at the age of 24 years. Higher total mean intensity and volume rates as well as longer duration spent at moderate and vigorous PA level had a beneficial impact on the risk of MS. Longer time spent at the sedentary level of PA increased the risk of MS.Peer reviewe

Fetal programming of neuropsychiatric disorders by maternal pregnancy depression: a systematic mini review

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression complicates a large proportion of pregnancies. Current evidence shows numerous harmful effects on the offspring. Reviews, which include depression, concluded that stress has harmful effects on the offspring's outcomes neuro-cognitive development, temperament traits, and mental disorders. OBJECTIVE: This mini review of recent studies, sought to narrow the scope of exposure and identify studies specifically assessing prenatal depression and offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The review included longitudinal, cohort, cross-sectional, clinical, quasi-experimental, epidemiological, or intervention study designs published in English from 2014 to 2018. PARTICIPANTS: Study populations included mother-child dyads, mother-father-child triads, mother-alternative caregiver-child triads, and family studies utilizing sibling comparisons. METHODS: We searched PubMED and Web of Science. Study inclusion and data extraction were based on standardized templates. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). RESULTS: Thirteen studies examining neuropsychiatric outcomes were included. We judged the evidence to be moderate to high quality. CONCLUSIONS: Our review supports that maternal prenatal depression is associated with neuropsychiatric adversities in children.Peer reviewe

Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion : Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion.Peer reviewe

Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion: Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for extraversion:Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion

Alcohol and substance use are associated with altered metabolome in the first trimester serum samples of pregnant mothers

Background: Although the effects of alcohol on metabolic processes in the body have been studied widely, there do not appear to be any previous reports clarifying how substance abuse changes metabolic profiles of pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy. Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the effect of substance abuse, especially alcohol use, on the metabolic profile of pregnant women during the first trimester. Study design: We applied mass spectrometry based non-targeted metabolite profiling of serum collected during routine visit to the hospital between gestational weeks 9 + 0 to 11 + 6 from controls (n = 55), alcohol users (n = 19), drug users (n = 24) and tobacco smokers (n = 40). Results: We observed statistically significantly differences among the study groups in serum levels of glutamate, glutamine, and serotonin (p-values Conclusion: The present study shows that alcohol and drug use were associated with increased glutamate, and decreased glutamine levels, and alcohol use is associated with decreased serotonin levels. This study serves as a proof-of-concept that the metabolite profile of human first trimester serum samples could be used to detect alcohol exposure during pregnancy. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Microbial reduction in wastewater treatment using Fe3+ and Al3+ coagulants and PAA disinfectant

Wastewater is an important source of pathogenic enteric microorganisms in surface water and a major contaminating agent of drinking water. Although primary and secondary wastewater treatments reduce the numbers of microorganisms in wastewater, significant numbers of microbes can still be present in the effluent. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of tertiary treatment for municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) using PIX (FeCl3) or PAX (AlCl3) coagulants and peracetic acid (PAA) the disinfectant to reduce microbial load in effluent. Our study showed that both PIX and PAX efficiently reduced microbial numbers. PAA disinfection greatly reduced the numbers of culturable indicator microorganisms (Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, F-specific RNA coliphages and somatic DNA coliphages). In addition, pathogenic microorganisms, thermotolerant Campylobacter, Salmonella and norovirus GI, were successfully reduced using the tertiary treatments. In contrast, clostridia, Legionella, rotavirus, norovirus GII and adenovirus showed better resistance against PAA compared to the other microorganisms. However, interpretation of PCR analysis results will need further studies to clarify the infectivity of the pathogenic microbes. In conclusion, PIX and PAX flocculants followed by PAA disinfectant can be used as a tertiary treatment for municipal WWTP effluents to reduce the numbers of indicator and pathogenic microorganisms