Age at Puberty and the Emerging Obesity Epidemic

Background: Recent studies have shown that puberty starts at younger ages than previously. It has been hypothesized that the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity is contributing to this trend. The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between prepubertal body mass index (BMI) and pubertal timing, as assessed by age at onset of pubertal growth spurt (OGS) and at peak height velocity (PHV), and the secular trend of pubertal timing given the prepubertal BMI. Methodology/Principal Findings: Annual measurements of height and weight were available in all children born from 1930 to 1969 who attended primary school in the Copenhagen municipality; 156,835 children fulfilled the criteria for determining age at OGS and PHV. The effect of prepubertal BMI at age seven on these markers of pubertal development within and between birth cohorts was analyzed. BMI at seven years was significantly inversely associated with age at OGS and PHV. Dividing the children into five levels of prepubertal BMI, we found a similar secular trend toward earlier maturation in all BMI groups. Conclusion/Significance: The heavier both boys and girls were at age seven, the earlier they entered puberty. Irrespective of level of BMI at age seven, there was a downward trend in the age at attaining puberty in both boys and girls, whic

Viborg Rutebilstation - en kompakt terminal med et dynamisk informationssystem

I forbindelse med planlægningen af en ny rutebilstation i Viborg har Kommunen med støtte fra Trafikministeriet gennemført en række forundersøgelser. Ud fra ønsket om en samlet kvalitetsforbedring for de rejsende samtidig med at arealforbruget til rutebilstationen søges minimeret, har målet med forundersøgelserne været at belyse mulighederne for at udforme rutebilstationen som en kompakt terminal med et moderne informationssystem. I forbindelse med forundersøgelserne er der udarbejdet alternative modeller for terminaludformning, ligesom der er set på følgende elementer vedrørende telematik til trafikafvikling: passagerinformation personaleinformation busprioritering i signalregulerede kryds busprioritering på indfaldsveje koordinering mellem buslinier Disse forundersøgelser har mundet ud i et konkret projekt, som nu er under realisering. Den nye rutebilstation forventes indviet i november 1996

Long-term risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease after removal of the colonic microbiota by colectomy: a cohort study based on the Danish National Patient Register from 1996 to 2014

OBJECTIVES: The hypothesis of the study was that if the gut microbiota is involved in the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs), total colectomy may reduce the long-term risk of CVDs. The aim was therefore to investigate the risk of CVD in patients after a total colectomy compared with patients undergoing other types of surgery, which are not expected to alter the gut microbiota or the CVD risk. SETTING: The Danish National Patient Register including all hospital discharges in Denmark from 1996 to 2014. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (n=1530) aged 45 years and above and surviving 1000 days after total colectomy without CVDs were selected and matched with five control patients who were also free of CVD 1000 days after other types of surgery. The five control patients were randomly selected from each of the three surgical groups: orthopaedic surgery, surgery in the gastrointestinal tract leaving it intact and other surgeries not related to the gastrointestinal tract or CVD (n=22 950). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the first occurring CVD event in any of the seven diagnostic domains (hypertensive disorders, acute ischaemic heart diseases, chronic ischaemic heart disease, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, cerebrovascular diseases and other arterial diseases) and the secondary outcomes were the first occurring event within each of these domains. RESULTS: Estimated by Cox proportional hazard models, the HRs of the composite CVD end point for patients with colectomy compared with the control patients were not significantly reduced (HR=0.94, 95% confidence limits 0.85 to 1.04). Among the seven CVD domains, only the risk of hypertensive disorders was significantly reduced (HR=0.85, 0.73 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Colectomy did not reduce the general risk of CVD, but reduced the risk of hypertensive disorders, most likely due to salt and water depletion induced by colectomy. These results encourage a reappraisal of the associations between gut microbiota and CVD

Delayed age at transfer of adoptees to adoptive parents is associated with increased mortality irrespective of social class of the adoptive parents:a cohort study

Abstract Background Adverse early life experience and development may have long-term health consequences, but later environmental conditions may perhaps protect against the effects of such early life adversities. The aim was to investigate whether cause-specific and overall mortality rates among adoptees are associated with the age at which they were transferred to the adoptive family and whether the social class of the adoptive family modifies this association. Methods A cohort of 10,592 non-familial adoptions (biologically unrelated adoptee and adoptive parents) of Danish-born children formally granted in 1924–47 and with follow-up of total and cause-specific mortality through ages up to 85 years. The rates of death after the age of 16 from all causes combined, all natural causes, all external causes, and suicide were compared according to the age at which adoptees were transferred to their adoptive family by estimating hazard ratios in Cox regression models. Results Death rates from all causes were significantly higher in adoptees transferred between age 1 month and 4 years compared to those transferred immediately after birth with the hazard ratio peaking at 1.19 (95% confidence limit: 1.08 to 1.32) for adoptees transferred between 6 and 11 months. This result was primarily driven by a similar pattern for natural causes of death. For death from external causes and for suicide the hazard ratios were increasing with increasing age at transfer, and tests for trend were statistically significant. The social class of the adoptive family did not significantly modify these associations. Conclusions Transfer to an adoptive family later than at the time of birth may have adverse long-term consequences affecting overall and cause-specific mortality. These effects were not modified by the environment provided by the adoptive family as indicated by the social class of these families

Neonatal Vitamin D Levels in Relation to Risk of Overweight at 7 Years in the Danish D-Tect Case-Cohort Study

Background: Vitamin D level in pregnancy may be associated with risk of overweight in the offspring later in life. Methods: In a case-cohort study based on Danish biobanks and registers we examined the association between 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D) level at birth and overweight at 7 years. Cases of overweight (n = 871) were randomly selected among 7-year-old children from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register (CSHRR) with a BMI above the 90th percentile. The cohort (n = 1,311) was a random sample selected among all Danish children born during the same period. Neonatal 25(OH)D was measured in dried blood spots. Results: 25(OH)D3 exhibited the expected seasonal variation. Median level of 25(OH)D3 was 20.6 (11.9-33.3) nmol/l in the overweight group and 23.4 (13.5-34.3) nmol/l in the cohort. We found no association between neonatal 25(OH)D3 level and risk of overweight at age 7 years, neither in the crude model (OR (CI) 1.00 (0.99; 1.00)) nor in a model adjusted for maternal ethnicity, educational level, civil status, parity, season and year of birth, and offspring ponderal index (OR (CI) 1.00 (0.99; 1.01)). Conclusion: Risk of overweight at 7 years of age was not associated with vitamin D level at birth