Differential Influences of Parenting Dimensions and Parental Physical Abuse during Childhood on Overweight and Obesity in Adolescents

Besides other explanatory variables, parenting styles and parental violence might also be responsible for setting a path towards overweight/obesity in childhood. While this association has consistently been observed for adults, findings for adolescents still remain scarce and inconsistent. Therefore, the goal of this study is to add evidence on this topic for children and adolescents. Analyses are based on a sample of 1729 German, ninth-grade students. To analyze associations between parenting dimensions and weight status, non-parametric conditional inference trees were applied. Three gender-specific pathways for a heightened risk of overweight/obesity were observed: (1) female adolescents who report having experienced severe parental physical abuse and medium/high parental warmth in childhood; (2) male adolescents who report having experienced low or medium parental monitoring in childhood; and (3) this second pathway for male adolescents is more pronounced if the families receive welfare. The importance of promoting parenting styles characterized by warmth and a lack of physical abuse is also discussed. This is one of only a few studies examining the association of parenting dimensions/parental physical abuse and weight status in adolescence. Future studies should include even more parenting dimensions, as well as parental physical abuse levels, in order to detect and untangle gender-specific effects on weight status

The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic violence in Germany : a comparison of three representative population surveys

Verfügbar in der Sage Public Health Emergency Collection: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9849116/The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound societal and economic effects. Concerns were raised that domestic violence might increase because of the enacted infection control measures. Previous findings on this issue have been contradictory. Since existing studies mainly rely on official reports, administrative data, helpline calls, or retrospective measures, their findings are likely to prove unreliable. Few population-based surveys include pre-pandemic data, limiting their ability to test for causality regarding increasing violence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare findings from population-representative surveys on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the data of N = 3,639 individuals living with a romantic partner and N = 1,313 parents living with at least one of their children from three German representative population surveys, we estimated average marginal effects for the temporal trends (i.e., pre vs. post infection control measures) of domestic violence separately for males and females. To minimize bias across survey waves, inverse probability weighting was used. Results show no statistically significant increase in either physical or psychological forms of IPV or VAC as a result of the implementation of COVID measures. On the contrary, the 1-year prevalence was decreasing for certain forms of violence. Our findings suggest that the assessment of the consequences of infection control measures needs an empirical basis. Further research should be conducted using high-quality data sources. Therefore, the present study should be considered a stepping stone for ongoing research efforts to examine the consequences of pandemic-related infection control measures on the general population

Eigenvector Centrality Mapping for Analyzing Connectivity Patterns in fMRI Data of the Human Brain

Functional magnetic resonance data acquired in a task-absent condition (“resting state”) require new data analysis techniques that do not depend on an activation model. In this work, we introduce an alternative assumption- and parameter-free method based on a particular form of node centrality called eigenvector centrality. Eigenvector centrality attributes a value to each voxel in the brain such that a voxel receives a large value if it is strongly correlated with many other nodes that are themselves central within the network. Google's PageRank algorithm is a variant of eigenvector centrality. Thus far, other centrality measures - in particular “betweenness centrality” - have been applied to fMRI data using a pre-selected set of nodes consisting of several hundred elements. Eigenvector centrality is computationally much more efficient than betweenness centrality and does not require thresholding of similarity values so that it can be applied to thousands of voxels in a region of interest covering the entire cerebrum which would have been infeasible using betweenness centrality. Eigenvector centrality can be used on a variety of different similarity metrics. Here, we present applications based on linear correlations and on spectral coherences between fMRI times series. This latter approach allows us to draw conclusions of connectivity patterns in different spectral bands. We apply this method to fMRI data in task-absent conditions where subjects were in states of hunger or satiety. We show that eigenvector centrality is modulated by the state that the subjects were in. Our analyses demonstrate that eigenvector centrality is a computationally efficient tool for capturing intrinsic neural architecture on a voxel-wise level

Ceramic Femoral Components in Total Knee Arthroplasty - Two Year Follow-Up Results of an International Prospective Multi-Centre Study

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty can be considered as a reliable surgical procedure with a good long-term clinical result. However, implant failure due to particle induced aseptic loosening as well as the aspect of hypersensitivity to metal ions still remains an emerging issue. METHODS: The purpose of this prospective international multi-centre study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes and the reliability of the unconstrained Multigen Plus Total Knee System with a new BIOLOX® delta ceramic femoral component. Cemented total knee arthroplasty was performed on 108 patients (110 knees) at seven hospitals in three countries. Clinical and radiological evaluations were performed preoperatively, and after 3, 12 and 24 months postoperatively using the HSS-, WOMAC-, SF-36-score and standardised X-rays. RESULTS: The mean preoperative HSS-Score amounted to 55.5 ± 11.5 points and improved significantly in all postoperative evaluations (85.7 ± 11.7 points at 24 months). Furthermore, improvements in WOMAC- and SF-36-score were evaluated as significant at all points of evaluation. Radiolucent lines around the femoral ceramic component at 24 months were found in four cases. Progression of radiolucent lines was not seen and no implant loosening was observed. During the 24 month follow-up eight patients underwent subsequent surgery due to reasons unrelated to the implant material. CONCLUSIONS: The observed clinical and radiological results are encouraging for a long-term survival of the ceramic femoral component. Therefore, ceramic implants could be a promising solution not only for patients with allergies against metallic implant materials, but also for the osteoarthritic knee joint. Long-term follow-up is necessary to draw conclusions regarding the superiority of the ceramic knee implants concerning in vivo wear and long-term survivorship

Reaching the 1.5 degree limit: what does it mean for West Antarctica and the global mean sea level?

What are the benefits of limiting the global warming to 1.5 degree with respect to pre-industrial conditions for the vulnerable region of West Antarctica which might be prone to positive feedback mechanisms between ocean circulation, melting of shelf ice and instabilities of the ice sheet? There are indications that West Antarctic ice sheet instabilities have occurred in the Last Interglacial around 125.000 years ago. At that time the polar surface temperature was about 2K warmer than today. The question under which circumstances a tipping point may be reached and if this may happen again is therefore highly relevant, especially since a disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet could cause a global sea level rise between 3 and 5 m. Here we address this question with variable resolution, global coupled ice sheet - shelf ice - ocean - atmosphere multi-century simulations. With our innovative ocean modelling approach in the Finite Element Sea-ice Ocean Model FESOM it is possible to refine the ocean resolution to up to 3 km in the Amundsen Sea and 10 km around the whole Antarctica while keeping it relatively coarse in the order of a couple of hundred km in dynamically not very active regions such as the subtropical regions. This means that we can simulate the feedback between ocean and ice in the relevant regions highly resolved given that the ice sheet model runs at a resolution of 5 to 10 km. Three different emission scenarios are applied up to 2100, two of them limiting the global mean temperature increase to 1.5 ◦ C and 2 ◦ C respectively and one of them assuming business-as-usual conditions (IPCC SRES RCP8.5 scenario). The simulations are extended to 2400 with the greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations kept constant at 2100 levels, respectively, to be able to simulate the long-term implications of different global warming levels

Evaluating stratospheric ozone and water vapour changes in CMIP6 models from 1850 to 2100

Stratospheric ozone and water vapour are key components of the Earth system, and past and future changes to both have important impacts on global and regional climate. Here, we evaluate long-term changes in these species from the pre-industrial period (1850) to the end of the 21st century in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) models under a range of future emissions scenarios. There is good agreement between the CMIP multi-model mean and observations for total column ozone (TCO), although there is substantial variation between the individual CMIP6 models. For the CMIP6 multi-model mean, global mean TCO has increased from ∼300 DU in 1850 to ∼ 305 DU in 1960, before rapidly declining in the 1970s and 1980s following the use and emission of halogenated ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). TCO is projected to return to 1960s values by the middle of the 21st century under the SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, SSP4-3.4, SSP4-6.0, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, and under the SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios TCO values are projected to be ∼ 10 DU higher than the 1960s values by 2100. However, under the SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-1.6 scenarios, TCO is not projected to return to the 1960s values despite reductions in halogenated ODSs due to decreases in tropospheric ozone mixing ratios. This global pattern is similar to regional patterns, except in the tropics where TCO under most scenarios is not projected to return to 1960s values, either through reductions in tropospheric ozone under SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6, or through reductions in lower stratospheric ozone resulting from an acceleration of the Brewer-Dobson circulation under other Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). In contrast to TCO, there is poorer agreement between the CMIP6 multi-model mean and observed lower stratospheric water vapour mixing ratios, with the CMIP6 multi-model mean underestimating observed water vapour mixing ratios by ∼ 0.5 ppmv at 70 hPa. CMIP6 multi-model mean stratospheric water vapour mixing ratios in the tropical lower stratosphere have increased by ∼ 0.5 ppmv from the pre-industrial to the present-day period and are projected to increase further by the end of the 21st century. The largest increases (∼ 2 ppmv) are simulated under the future scenarios with the highest assumed forcing pathway (e.g. SSP5-8.5). Tropical lower stratospheric water vapour, and to a lesser extent TCO, shows large variations following explosive volcanic eruptions. © Author(s) 2021

Climate and air quality impacts due to mitigation of non-methane near-term climate forcers

It is important to understand how future environmental policies will impact both climate change and air pollution. Although targeting near-term climate forcers (NTCFs), defined here as aerosols, tropospheric ozone, and precursor gases, should improve air quality, NTCF reductions will also impact climate. Prior assessments of the impact of NTCF mitigation on air quality and climate have been limited. This is related to the idealized nature of some prior studies, simplified treatment of aerosols and chemically reactive gases, as well as a lack of a sufficiently large number of models to quantify model diversity and robust responses. Here, we quantify the 2015-2055 climate and air quality effects of non-methane NTCFs using nine state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model simulations conducted for the Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP). Simulations are driven by two future scenarios featuring similar increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs) but with weak (SSP3-7.0) versus strong (SSP3-7.0-lowNTCF) levels of air quality control measures. As SSP3-7.0 lacks climate policy and has the highest levels of NTCFs, our results (e.g., surface warming) represent an upper bound. Unsurprisingly, we find significant improvements in air quality under NTCF mitigation (strong versus weak air quality controls). Surface fine particulate matter (PM2:5) and ozone (O3) decrease by 2:20:32 ugm3 and 4:60:88 ppb, respectively (changes quoted here are for the entire 2015-2055 time period; uncertainty represents the 95% confidence interval), over global land surfaces, with larger reductions in some regions including south and southeast Asia. Non-methane NTCF mitigation, however, leads to additional climate change due to the removal of aerosol which causes a net warming effect, including global mean surface temperature and precipitation increases of 0:250:12K and 0:030:012mmd1, respectively. Similarly, increases in extreme weather indices, including the hottest and wettest days, also occur. Regionally, the largest warming and wetting occurs over Asia, including central and north Asia (0:660:20K and 0:030:02mmd1), south Asia (0:470:16K and 0:170:09mmd1), and east Asia (0:460:20K and 0:150:06mmd1). Relatively large warming and wetting of the Arctic also occur at 0:590:36K and 0:040:02mmd1, respectively. Similar surface warming occurs in model simulations with aerosol-only mitigation, implying weak cooling due to ozone reductions. Our findings suggest that future policies that aggressively target non-methane NTCF reductions will improve air quality but will lead to additional surface warming, particularly in Asia and the Arctic. Policies that address other NTCFs including methane, as well as carbon dioxide emissions, must also be adopted to meet climate mitigation goals. © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

AWI-CM3 coupled climate model: description and evaluation experiments for a prototype post-CMIP6 model

We developed a new version of the Alfred Wegener Institute Climate Model (AWI-CM3), which has higher skills in representing the observed climatology and better computational efficiency than its predecessors. Its ocean component FESOM2 (Finite-volumE Sea ice-Ocean Model) has the multi-resolution functionality typical of unstructured-mesh models while still featuring a scalability and efficiency similar to regular-grid models. The atmospheric component OpenIFS (CY43R3) enables the use of the latest developments in the numerical-weather-prediction community in climate sciences. In this paper we describe the coupling of the model components and evaluate the model performance on a variable-resolution (25-125 km) ocean mesh and a 61 km atmosphere grid, which serves as a reference and starting point for other ongoing research activities with AWI-CM3. This includes the exploration of high and variable resolution and the development of a full Earth system model as well as the creation of a new sea ice prediction system. At this early development stage and with the given coarse to medium resolutions, the model already features above-CMIP6-average skills (where CMIP6 denotes Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6) in representing the climatology and competitive model throughput. Finally we identify remaining biases and suggest further improvements to be made to the model