Physical activity and clustered cardiovascular disease risk factors in young children: a cross-sectional study (the IDEFICS study)

<p>Background The relevance of physical activity (PA) for combating cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in children has been highlighted, but to date there has been no large-scale study analyzing that association in children aged ≤9 years of age. This study sought to evaluate the associations between objectively-measured PA and clustered CVD risk factors in a large sample of European children, and to provide evidence for gender-specific recommendations of PA.</p> <p>Methods Cross-sectional data from a longitudinal study in 16,224 children aged 2 to 9 were collected. Of these, 3,120 (1,016 between 2 to 6 years, 2,104 between 6 to 9 years) had sufficient data for inclusion in the current analyses. Two different age-specific and gender-specific clustered CVD risk scores associated with PA were determined. First, a CVD risk factor (CRF) continuous score was computed using the following variables: systolic blood pressure (SBP), total triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) ratio, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and sum of two skinfolds (score CRFs). Secondly, another CVD risk score was obtained for older children containing the score CRFs + the cardiorespiratory fitness variable (termed score CRFs + fit). Data used in the current analysis were derived from the IDEFICS (‘Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS’) study.</p> <p>Results In boys <6 years, the odds ratios (OR) for CVD risk were elevated in the least active quintile of PA (OR: 2.58) compared with the most active quintile as well as the second quintile for vigorous PA (OR: 2.91). Compared with the most active quintile, older children in the first, second and third quintiles had OR for CVD risk score CRFs + fit ranging from OR 2.69 to 5.40 in boys, and from OR 2.85 to 7.05 in girls.</p> <p>Conclusions PA is important to protect against clustering of CVD risk factors in young children, being more consistent in those older than 6 years. Healthcare professionals should recommend around 60 and 85 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous PA, including 20 min/day of vigorous PA.</p&gt

Trace element geochemistry as a tool for interpreting microbialites

Microbialites are critical for documenting early life on earth and-possibly elsewhere in the solar system. However, criteria for microbialite identification are controversial. Trace element geochemistry provides two types of information that aid interpretation of putative microbialites. Firstly, because most microbialites-consist of hydrogenous precipitates, trace elements can be used to investigate the fluids in which the structures formed, thus aiding identification of environments of formation. For example, rare earth elements preserved in microbialites have proven very useful in discriminating depositional environments. Secondly, microbes utilize and concentrate a wide range of elements, including many metals. Preservation of such elemental enrichments may provide a valuable biosignature. Although research in this field is relatively young, high precision, in situ measurement of metals in microbialites using techniques such as laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, now with spatial mapping, have identified consistent enrichments in biologically important metals in microbialites. Hence, trace element studies are finding increasing utility in studying microbialites, and so long as diagenesis and the degree to which specific precipitates represent microenvironments are taken into account, trace element inventories may provide important information about depositional settings and, potentially, metabolic processes within biofilms