Preterm infants have significantly longer telomeres than their term born counterparts

There are well-established morbidities associated with preterm birth including respiratory, neurocognitive and developmental disorders. However several others have recently emerged that characterise an `aged' phenotype in the preterm infant by term-equivalent age. These include hypertension, insulin resistance and altered body fat distribution. Evidence shows that these morbidities persist into adult life, posing a significant public health concern. In this study, we measured relative telomere length in leukocytes as an indicator of biological ageing in 25 preterm infants at term equivalent age. Comparing our measurements with those from 22 preterm infants sampled at birth and from 31 term-born infants, we tested the hypothesis that by term equivalent age, preterm infants have significantly shorter telomeres (thus suggesting that they are prematurely aged). Our results demonstrate that relative telomere length is highly variable in newborn infants and is significantly negatively correlated with gestational age and birth weight in preterm infants. Further, longitudinal assessment in preterm infants who had telomere length measurements available at both birth and term age (n = 5) suggests that telomere attrition rate is negatively correlated with increasing gestational age. Contrary to our initial hypothesis however, relative telomere length was significantly shortest in the term born control group compared to both preterm groups and longest in the preterm at birth group. In addition, telomere lengths were not significantly different between preterm infants sampled at birth and those sampled at term equivalent age. These results indicate that other, as yet undetermined, factors may influence telomere length in the preterm born infant and raise the intriguing hypothesis that as preterm gestation declines, telomere attrition rate increases

Measurement of Soil Respiration

peer reviewe

The Constitution of EU territory

This paper offers a contribution to debates around the reconfiguration of political space in the project of European integration. Its specific focus is the Draft Constitution of the European Union, and its problematic understanding of territory. It claims that there is a profound ambiguity between senses of territory in the Draft Constitution, which in part aims to transcend existing territorial divisions and notions of territory, particularly those associated with the nation-state. This is an aspirational sense of Europe as a putative space of values and area of solidarity, illustrated through the ideal of territorial cohesion. On the other hand, territory is being re-inscribed in the Constitution in a 'hard' sense, organized through border controls, jurisdictional limits and a concern with territorial integrity and sovereign rights. In providing a reading of the draft Constitution itself, analysing the tensions and silences within its text, the article seeks to contribute to wider debates concerning the European project and its values, and the contribution social theory and political geography can make to an assessment of them