Sleep duration and problem behaviour in 8-year-old children in the Childhood Obesity Project

There is growing evidence that insufficient sleep has negative effects on the mental health of children. The aim of this study is to examine the associations between device-measured sleep duration and internalizing and externalizing problems in 8-year-old children. The study is a secondary analysis of data from the Childhood Obesity Project conducted in five European countries. Nocturnal sleep duration was measured with the SenseWear™ Armband 2. Parents rated their child’s internalizing and externalizing problems on the Child Behaviour Checklist. Behaviour scores were dichotomized at the 90th percentile based on sex- and country-specific z-scores. Logistic regression models were applied to test the associations between sleep duration and behaviour. Data were available for 406 8-year-old children. The average sleep duration was 9.25 h per night (SD: 0.67) with 1464 nights measured in total. The sleep duration recommendation of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for school-aged children (9–12 h) was met by 66.7% of children. One hour of additional sleep per night significantly reduced the risk of having internalizing problems (adjusted OR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.29–0.91). Children who adhered to the sleep duration recommendation had a lower risk for internalizing problems (adjusted OR = 0.45; 95% CI 0.21–0.99). Sleep duration and externalizing problems showed no significant association. Longer sleep duration was associated with a reduced risk of having internalizing problems but not externalizing problems. Results highlight that it is important to ensure adequate sleep duration throughout primary-school years for the optimal emotional health of children. Trial registration number: NCT00338689. Registered: June 19, 2006

Mental performance in 8-year-old children fed reduced protein content formula during the 1st year of life: safety analysis of a randomised clinical trial

In humans, maximum brain development occurs between the third trimester of gestation and 2 years of life. Nutrition during these critical windows of rapid brain development might be essential for later cognitive functioning and behaviour. In the last few years, trends on protein recommendations during infancy and childhood have tended to be lower than that in the past. It remains to be demonstrated that lower protein intakes among healthy infants, a part of being able to reduce obesity risk, is safe in terms of mental performance achievement. Secondary analyses of the EU CHOP, a clinical trial in which infants from five European countries were randomised to be fed a higher or a lower protein content formula during the 1st year of life. Children were assessed at the age of 8 years with a neuropsychological battery of tests that included assessments of memory (visual and verbal), attention (visual, selective, focused and sustained), visual-perceptual integration, processing speed, visual-motor coordination, verbal fluency and comprehension, impulsivity/inhibition, flexibility/shifting, working memory, reasoning, visual-spatial skills and decision making. Internalising, externalising and total behaviour problems were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist 4\u201318. Adjusted analyses considering factors that could influence neurodevelopment, such as parental education level, maternal smoking, child\u2019s gestational age at birth and head circumference, showed no differences between feeding groups in any of the assessed neuropsychological domains and behaviour. In summary, herewith we report on the safety of lower protein content in infant formulae (closer to the content of human milk) according to long-term mental performance

Investigation of the coordination state of aluminum in beta zeolites by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

beta zeolites have been characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Owing to the small crystallite size (20 nm), nearly 90% of the Si and Al content can be estimated from the Si 2p and Al 2p peaks. The chemical state of Al was established by decomposition of the Al KLL Auger transition. Three types of Al could be differentiated: tetrahedral (Al-IV), octahedral (Al-VI), and tricoordinated (Al-III). From the decomposition of the Al KLL peak of a beta zeolite calcined to remove its template, it was found that Al-IV transforms to Al-III and Al-VI. Reversibility of Al-III to Al-IV also occurred when the sample was ammonium-exchanged, confirming Al-27 MAS NMR results

Encéphalite nécrosante chez un chien Bichon Maltais en Belgique

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Méningiome du nerf optique envahissant la cavité crânienne chez un chien

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Liquid phase synthesis of MTBE from methanol and isobutene over acid zeolites and amberlyst-15

The liquid phase synthesis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from methanol and isobutene over II-Beta and US-Y zeolite catalysts was studied in the temperature range 30-120 degrees C. Up to 100 degrees C, commercial II-Beta zeolite samples with small crystal size were more active than acid Amberlyst-15 (reference catalyst) and noticeably more active than US-Y, confirming results obtained under vapour phase conditions. The influence of methanol/isobutene (MeOH/IB) molar ratio, pressure, and space time on the conversion and MTBE selectivity was investigated. At optimized reaction conditions, MTBE yields of 85-90% can be reached with zeolite Ii-Beta as well as Amberlyst-15. On zeolites, side reactions of isobutene are more important than on Amberlyst-15, necessitating operation at MeOH/IB ratios higher than 1:1. For the same reason, at high conversion on Ii-Beta, the MTBE yields are more sensitive to contact time compared to Amberlyst-15. On II-Beta zeolite, no deactivation was observed during a period of more than 50 h on stream at 65 degrees C, 1.4 MPa pressure, and a WHSV of 14 h(-1). The catalytic activity of the zeolites is related to the external specific surface area, and to the concentration of bridging hydroxyls and silanol groups in the mesopores. A zeolite H-Beta sample with a Si/Al ratio of 36 has an optimum silanol and bridging hydroxyl content leading to stoichiometric methanol and isobutene adsorption, highest activity and MTBE yields. (C) 1999 Academic Press

Endocrine and Metabolic Biomarkers Predicting Early Childhood Obesity Risk

There is growing evidence of long-term effects of early dietary intervention in infancy on later obesity risk. Many studies showed reduced risk of obesity with breastfeeding in infancy, which could be related to the reduced protein intake with human milk compared to infant formula. In a randomized controlled trial (Childhood Obesity Project), we were able to show that infant formula with reduced protein content results in lower BMI both at 2 and 6 years. These effects seem to be mediated mainly by branched-chain amino acids which stimulate the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 axis and insulin release. In this trial, we also showed an influence of high-protein diet on larger kidney size, which seems to be partly explained by a significant effect of free IGF-1 on kidney volume. The IGF-1 axis was shown to regulate early growth, adipose tissue differentiation and early adipogenesis in animals and in humans. Leptin and adiponectin can also be regarded as important endocrine regulators of obesity. These markers were tested in observational studies. Leptin seems to be closely correlated with BMI but changes in adiponectin require further exploration. Still, there is a lack of good data or some results are contradictory to indicate the role of either leptin or adiponectin in infancy for determining later obesity risk.0SCOPUS: ar.kinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Hydroisomerization Hydrocracking of Decane Over Al-pillared and Ga-pillared Clays

Synthetic beidellite, natural montmorillonite, and transition metal containing clays were pillared with aluminum and transformed into bifunctional catalysts. The pillared clays with various degrees of tetrahedral substitution have been evaluated as catalysts for isomerisation-hydrocracking of decane. A comparison has been made between the catalytic properties of pillared clays and ultrastable Y zeolites. For decane isomerisation, Al-pillared beidellites and ultrastable Y zeolites are similar catalysts. The activity of the pillared clays follows the sequence of lattice tetrahedral substitution. (C) 1994 Academic Press. In

Rapid growth and childhood obesity are strongly associated with LysoPC(14:0)

Background: Despite the growing interest in the early-origins- of-later-disease hypothesis, little is known about the metabolic underpinnings linking infant weight gain and childhood obesity.0SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and DNA-methylation in children at age 5.5 years: Epigenome-wide-analysis in the European Childhood Obesity Project (CHOP)-study

Mounting evidence links prenatal exposure to maternal tobacco smoking with disruption of DNA methylation (DNAm) profile in the blood of infants. However, data on the postnatal stability of such DNAm signatures in childhood, as assessed by Epigenome Wide Association Studies (EWAS), are scarce. Objectives of this study were to investigate DNAm signatures associated with in utero tobacco smoke exposure beyond the 12th week of gestation in whole blood of children at age 5.5 years, to replicate previous findings in young European and American children and to assess their biological role by exploring databases and enrichment analysis. DNA methylation was measured in blood of 366 children of the multicentre European Childhood Obesity Project Study using the Illumina Infinium HM450 Beadchip (HM450K). An EWAS was conducted using linear regression of methylation values at each CpG site against in utero smoke exposure, adjusted for study characteristics, biological and technical effects. Methylation levels at five HM450K probes in MYO1G (cg12803068, cg22132788, cg19089201), CNTNAP2 (cg25949550), and FRMD4A (cg11813497) showed differential methylation that reached epigenome-wide significance according to the false-discovery-rate (FDR) criteria (q-value<0.05). Whereas cg25949550 showed decreased methylation (-2% DNAm β-value), increased methylation was observed for the other probes (9%: cg12803068; 5%: cg22132788; 4%: cg19089201 and 4%: cg11813497) in exposed relative to non-exposed subjects. This study thus replicates previous findings in children ages 3 to 5, 7 and 17 and confirms the postnatal stability of MYO1G, CNTNAP2 and FRMD4A differential methylation. The role of this differential methylation in mediating childhood phenotypes, previously associated with maternal smoking, requires further investigation.0SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe