La piramide del estilo de vida saludable para niños y adolescentes

Introduction: Increasing evidence demonstrates that risk factors for chronic diseases are established during childhood and adolescence. Consensus about the need to increase prevention efforts makes the adoption of a healthy lifestyle seem desirable from early childhood onwards. After reviewing educational tools for children and adolescents aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle, it was recognized that there was a need to develop a simple educational tool specifically designed for these age groups. Methods: Development of the healthy lifestyle pyramid for children and adolescents. Results: We propose a three-dimensional, truncated and staggered pyramid with 4 faces and a base, which introduces a completely new concept that goes beyond other published pyramids. Each of the faces is oriented towards achieving a different goal. Two faces (faces 1 and 2) are formulated around achieving a goal on a daily basis (daily food intake, face 1, and daily activities, face 2). Face 3 is an adaptation of the traditional food guide pyramid, adapted to children’s energy, nutritional and hydration needs. Face 4 deals with both daily and life-long habits. On the base of the pyramid, there is advice about adequate nutrition alternating with advice about physical activity and sports. Conclusion: The Healthy Lifestyle Pyramid© is specifically developed for children and adolescents according to current scientific knowledge and evidence-based data and includes easy-to-follow advice and full colour pictures. Following these guidelines should improve health and reduce risk factors, promoting enjoyable and appropriate development towards adulthood.Introducción: En la actualidad, existe evidencia científica de que los factores de riesgo de enfermedades crónicas se establecen durante la infancia y la adolescencia. La adopción de un estilo de vida saludable parece deseable desde edades tempranas existiendo un consenso cada vez mayor hacia la prevención. Al revisar las herramientas educativas existentes para niños y adolescentes dirigidas a la mejora de la adquisición de un estilo de vida saludable, se advirtió de la necesidad de desarrollar un instrumento educativo desarrollado específicamente para estos grupos de edad. Métodos: Desarrollo de la pirámide de estilo de vida saludable para los niños y adolescentes. Resultados: Nuestra propuesta trata de una pirámide tridimensional con 4 caras y una base, truncada y escalonada, introduciendo un nuevo concepto que va más allá de lo publicado en otras pirámides. Cada una de las caras se orienta hacia la consecución de un objetivo. Las dos primeras caras (caras 1 y 2) se han formulado con el fin de lograr un objetivo sobre una base diaria (alimentación diaria, la cara 1, frente a las actividades diarias la cara 2). La Cara 3 es una adaptación de la tradicional pirámide de alimentos, adecuada a las necesidades de energía, nutrientes e hidratación de los niños. La Cara 4 muestra los hábitos de higiene y salud que se deben mantener durante toda la vida. En la base de la pirámide, se alternan mensajes sobre la nutrición adecuada con mensajes relacionados con la actividad física y el deporte. Conclusión: La Pirámide del Estilo de Vida Saludable© se ha desarrollado específicamente para niños y adolescentes, teniendo en cuenta los actuales conocimientos científicos. Incluye mensajes fáciles de entender e imágenes a todo color. El seguimiento de estas directrices debería contribuir a mejorar la salud y a la reducción de los factores de riesgo en la edad adulta, al tiempo que se divierten y crecen de una manera aconsejable.The pyramid has been edited with the support of Coca-Cola España. The pyramid can be downloaded at EXERNET (www.spanishexernet.com), supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education. Reproduction permitted with the citation of this article

Analysis of 3800-year-old Yersinia pestis genomes suggests Bronze Age origin for bubonic plague

该论文通过对青铜器时代的两个鼠疫杆菌分离株进行测序，深入剖析了鼠疫杆菌的历史。德国、俄罗斯、中国和瑞士等多国研究员共同参与了研究。这篇论文的第一作者是德国马克斯-普朗克研究所的考古遗传学专家Maria Spyrou。她和同事从俄罗斯墓穴中埋葬的九名古代人的牙齿样本入手，发现有两人感染鼠疫杆菌。之后，他们从这些个体中分离出距今约3800年的病原菌。在这项新研究中，研究人员利用液相捕获和Illumina鸟枪法测序技术，对青铜器时代的一名男子（RT5）的鼠疫杆菌和人类宿主序列进行测序，其中鼠疫杆菌基因组的平均覆盖度达到32倍。同时，他们还对另一名感染个体（RT6）的分离株进行测序，平均覆盖度为1.9倍。系统发育分析表明，RT5和RT6分离株是共同谱系的一部分，这个谱系的祖先是史上三次瘟疫大流行的罪魁祸首。除了众所周知的中世纪欧洲瘟疫大流行，鼠疫杆菌还曾造成公元6世纪的查士丁尼瘟疫和19世纪的中国大规模鼠疫。 马克斯-普朗克人类历史科学研究所的古病理学专家Kirsten Bos表示，这些结果表明“具有传播潜力的瘟疫存在的时间比我们想象得更久。”Bos是这篇论文的通讯作者之一。【Abstract】The origin of Yersinia pestis and the early stages of its evolution are fundamental subjects of investigation given its high virulence and mortality that resulted from past pandemics. Although the earliest evidence of Y. pestis infections in humans has been identified in Late Neolithic/Bronze Age Eurasia (LNBA 5000–3500y BP), these strains lack key genetic components required for flea adaptation, thus making their mode of transmission and disease presentation in humans unclear. Here, we reconstruct ancient Y. pestis genomes from individuals associated with the Late Bronze Age period (~3800 BP) in the Samara region of modern-day Russia. We show clear distinctions between our new strains and the LNBA lineage, and suggest that the full ability for flea-mediated transmission causing bubonic plague evolved more than 1000 years earlier than previously suggested. Finally, we propose that several Y. pestis lineages were established during the Bronze Age, some of which persist to the present day.We thank Cosimo Posth, Marcel Keller, Michal Feldman and Wolfgang Haak for useful insights to the manuscript, as well as Alexander Immel and Stephen Clayton for computational support. In addition, we are thankful to Guido Brandt, Antje Wissgott and Cäcilia Freund for laboratory support. M.A.S., A.H., K.I.B. and J.K. were supported by the ERC starting grant APGREID, and by the Max Planck Society. C.C.W. was supported by the Max Planck Society and the Nanqiang Outstanding Young Talents Program of Xiamen University. D.K. was supported by a Marie Heim-Vögtlin grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation

Bird pollination of Canary Island endemic plants

The Canary Islands are home to a guild of endemic, threatened bird pollinated plants. Previous work has suggested that these plants evolved floral traits as adaptations to pollination by flower specialist sunbirds, but subsequently they appear to be have co-opted passerine birds as sub-optimal pollinators. To test this idea we carried out a quantitative study of the pollination biology of three of the bird pollinated plants, Canarina canariensis (Campanulaceae), Isoplexis canariensis (Veronicaceae) and Lotus berthelotii (Fabaceae), on the island of Tenerife. Using colour vision models, we predicted the detectability of flowers to bird and bee pollinators. We measured pollinator visitation rates, nectar standing crops, as well as seed set and pollen removal and deposition. These data showed that the plants are effectively pollinated by non-flower specialist passerine birds that only occasionally visit flowers. The large nectar standing crops and extended flower longevities (>10days) of Canarina and Isoplexis suggests that they have evolved bird pollination system that effectively exploits these low frequency non-specialist pollen vectors and is in no way suboptimal. Seed set in two of the three species was high, and was significantly reduced or zero in flowers where pollinator access was restricted. In L. berthelotii, however, no fruit set was observed, probably because the plants were self incompatible horticultural clones of a single genet. We also show that, while all three species are easily detectable for birds, the orange Canarina and the red Lotus (but less so the yellow-orange Isoplexis) should be difficult to detect for insect pollinators without specialised red receptors, such as bumblebees. Contrary to expectations if we accept that the flowers are primarily adapted to sunbird pollination, the chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis) was an effective pollinator of these species

Analysis of 3800-year-old Yersinia pestis genomes suggests Bronze Age origin for bubonic plague

© 2018 The Author(s). The origin of Yersinia pestis and the early stages of its evolution are fundamental subjects of investigation given its high virulence and mortality that resulted from past pandemics. Although the earliest evidence of Y. pestis infections in humans has been identified in Late Neolithic/Bronze Age Eurasia (LNBA 5000-3500y BP), these strains lack key genetic components required for flea adaptation, thus making their mode of transmission and disease presentation in humans unclear. Here, we reconstruct ancient Y. pestis genomes from individuals associated with the Late Bronze Age period (~3800 BP) in the Samara region of modern-day Russia. We show clear distinctions between our new strains and the LNBA lineage, and suggest that the full ability for flea-mediated transmission causing bubonic plague evolved more than 1000 years earlier than previously suggested. Finally, we propose that several Y. pestis lineages were established during the Bronze Age, some of which persist to the present day

Community-curated and standardised metadata of published ancient metagenomic samples with AncientMetagenomeDir

Ancient DNA and RNA are valuable data sources for a wide range of disciplines. Within the field of ancient metagenomics, the number of published genetic datasets has risen dramatically in recent years, and tracking this data for reuse is particularly important for large-scale ecological and evolutionary studies of individual taxa and communities of both microbes and eukaryotes. AncientMetagenomeDir (archived at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3980833) is a collection of annotated metagenomic sample lists derived from published studies that provide basic, standardised metadata and accession numbers to allow rapid data retrieval from online repositories. These tables are community-curated and span multiple sub-disciplines to ensure adequate breadth and consensus in metadata definitions, as well as longevity of the database. Internal guidelines and automated checks facilitate compatibility with established sequence-read archives and term-ontologies, and ensure consistency and interoperability for future meta-analyses. This collection will also assist in standardising metadata reporting for future ancient metagenomic studies

Valores de referencia para leptina, cortisol, insulina y glucosa entre los adolescentes europeos y su asociación con adiposidad: Estudio Helena

Background and Objective: Adequate concentrations of leptin, cortisol, and insulin are important for a suitable metabolism and development during adolescence. These hormones jointly with glucose play a major role in fat metabolism and development of childhood obesity. Our main objective was to quantify biomarkers as leptin, cortisol, insulin and glucose status in European adolescents to contribute to establish reference ranges. Methods: A representative sample of 927 adolescents (45% males, 14.9±1.2 years for the overall population) from ten European cities of the HELENA study was used to obtain fasting blood samples for these biomarkers. The percentile distributions were computed by sex and age and percentiles were associated with BMI classification. Results: Serum leptin concentration in adolescents varied significantly according to BMI, sex and age (all p<0.001). Cortisol presented a tendency to increase with age, both for females and males, while insulin and glucose were stable with age. Leptin and insulin were highest in obese adolescents (p<0.001), whilst cortisol and glucose did not vary with BMI. Percentiles 5, 25, 50, 75 and 95, 26.70 and 65.33 ng/ml for leptin; 5.00, 8.11, 11.14, 15.00 and 24.51 μg/dl for cortisol and 3.65, 6.15, 8.52, 11.90 and 20.53 μlU/ml for insulin. Conclusions: In adolescents, leptin, cortisol, insulin and glucose concentrations are differently affected by age, sex and BMI. Establishment of reference ranges (percentiles) of these biomarkers would be of great interest when pediatricians have to assess the trend of an adolescent to develop obesity years after.Objetivo: Concentraciones adecuadas de leptina, cortisol e insulina son importantes para un metabolismo normal durante la adolescencia, puesto que valores alterados de estas hormonas, junto con la glucosa, se asocian con el desarrollo de la obesidad infantil. Nuestro principal objetivo fue cuantificar estos marcadores en adolescentes europeos con el fin de establecer rangos de referencia. Métodos: Muestras de sangre procedentes de 927 adolescentes en ayunas (14,9 ± 1,2 años, 45% varones, estudio HELENA), fueron analizadas para cuantificar la leptina, cortisol, insulina y glucosa. Las distribuciones de percentiles se determinaron teniendo en cuenta el sexo y la edad. También se estudió la asociación entre percentiles y la clasificación del IMC. Resultados: La concentración de leptina en suero variaba significativamente con el IMC, el sexo y la edad (todos p<0,001). El cortisol presentó una tendencia a aumentar con la edad, tanto para varones como mujeres, mientras que la insulina y la glucosa eran estables con la edad. La leptina y la insulina fueron más altas en los adolescentes obesos (p <0,001), mientras que el cortisol y glucosa no variaron con el IMC. Los percentiles 5, 25, 50, 75 y 95, para los valores de hormonas fueron, respectivamente: 1.27, 4.06, 11.54, 26.70 y 65.33 ng/ml para la leptina; 5.00, 8.11, 11.14, 15.00 y 24.51 μg/dl para el cortisol y 3.65, 6.15, 8.52, 11.90 y 20.53 μlU/ml de insulina.The HELENA study has taken place with the financial support of the European Community Sixth RTD Framework Programme (Contract FOODCT- 2005-007034). This study was also supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation AGL2007-29784-E

Stone Age Yersinia pestis genomes shed light on the early evolution, diversity, and ecology of plague

The bacterial pathogenYersinia pestisgave rise to devastating outbreaks throughouthuman history, and ancient DNA evidence has shown it afflicted human populations asfar back as the Neolithic.Y. pestisgenomes recovered from the Eurasian Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (LNBA) period have uncovered key evolutionary steps that led to itsemergence from aYersinia pseudotuberculosis-like progenitor; however, the number ofreconstructed LNBA genomes are too few to explore its diversity during this criticalperiod of development. Here, we present 17Y. pestisgenomes dating to 5,000 to 2,500y BP from a wide geographic expanse across Eurasia. This increased dataset enabled usto explore correlations between temporal, geographical, and genetic distance. Ourresults suggest a nonflea-adapted and potentially extinct single lineage that persistedover millennia without significant parallel diversification, accompanied by rapid dis-persal across continents throughout this period, a trend not observed in other pathogensfor which ancient genomes are available. A stepwise pattern of gene loss provides fur-ther clues on its early evolution and potential adaptation. We also discover the presenceof theflea-adapted form ofY. pestisin Bronze Age Iberia, previously only identified inin the Caucasus and the Volga regions, suggesting a much wider geographic spread ofthis form ofY. pestis. Together, these data reveal the dynamic nature of plague’s forma-tive years in terms of its early evolution and ecology

Actividad física, ejercicio y deporte en la lucha contra la obesidad infantil y juvenil

El propósito del presente documento es proponer desde el grupo de expertos en ejercicio físico y salud de EXERNET (Red Española de Investigación en Ejercicio Físico y Salud) una serie de recomendaciones sobre la práctica de la actividad física y deportiva que a nivel individual, familiar e institucional ayuden a prevenir y tratar la obesidad infantil y juvenil, basadas en la evidencia científi ca actual