Cheek dimples in Greek children and adolescents

In 14141 male and 14141 female Greek children and adolescents ranging in age between seven and fifteen years the presence of cheek dimples was investigated. Neither sex (12.6% in both female and males) nor side differences when expressed unilaterally were observed. There was however a significant increase of dimples with age as well as significantly higher numbers of asymmetric than symmetric expressions in all age groups. With respect to these observations hypotheses of origin of cheek dimples and related effects of age are discussed.     

Effect of consumption of food cooked in aluminium or stainless-steel pots on Bangladeshi children with calcium-deficient rickets: an eight month trial

The putative role of aluminium intake in young Bangladeshi children (1.5 to 4 years of age) with calcium-deficient rickets was evaluated in a non randomised controlled eight month trial. The effects of aluminium or stain-less-steel cooking pots on bone metabolism were assessed by measuring blood calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone, 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D, aminoterminal propeptide of type 1 collagen (PINP), cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (ICTP), aluminium and albumin, and by analysis of wrist radiographs. In both groups, blood alkaline phosphatase, 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D and aluminium decreased significantly, while serum albumin increased (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the nutrition may well be of major importance, whereas the role of aluminium appears to be insignificant.     

Influence of Leptin on Changes in Body Fat during Growth in African American and White Children

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether initial levels or temporal changes in fasting leptin were associated with longitudinal changes in body‐fat mass in children. Research Methods and Procedures: The study group consisted of 85 children (42 white and 43 African American) with a mean initial age of 8.1 ± 0.1 years. The children had between three and six annual visits for repeated measurements of body composition by DXA and fasting leptin level. Fat mass and fasting leptin level were not normally distributed and were log‐transformed. Data were analyzed using SAS Proc mixed growth models, with log fat as the dependent variable. Results: Initial leptin level was a significant predictor of the change in fat mass over time (p < 0.0001), with high initial leptin levels resulting in increased fat gain, independent of initial fat levels. This relationship remained significant when the data were analyzed separately by race (whites, p < 0.0001; African Americans, p = 0.008). The relationship between the initial level of leptin and the change in fat mass was not modified by race, sex, or Tanner Stage. The rate of change in leptin during the study was significantly related to the rate of change in fat mass in African Americans (p = 0.008) but not in whites (p = 0.490). Discussion: In conclusion, high fasting leptin level at the start of the study was significantly associated with increasing fat mass in this cohort, indicating that the children may be developing resistance to the effects of leptin.     

Is Parental Control over Children's Eating Associated with Childhood Obesity? Results from a Population‐Based Sample of Third Graders

Objective: Identifying parental behaviors that influence childhood obesity is critical for the development of effective prevention and treatment programs. Findings from a prior laboratory study suggest that parents who impose control over their children's eating may interfere with their children's ability to regulate intake, potentially resulting in overweight. These findings have been widely endorsed; however, the direct relationship between parental control of children's intake and their children's degree of overweight has not been shown in a generalized sample. Research Methods and Procedures: This study surveyed 792 third‐grade children with diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds from 13 public elementary schools. Parental control over children's intake was assessed through telephone interviews using a state‐of‐the‐art instrument, and children were measured for height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness. Results: Counter to the hypothesis, parental control over children's intake was inversely associated with overweight in girls, as measured by body mass index, r = ?0.12, p < 0.05, and triceps skinfolds, r = ?0.11, p < 0.05. This weak relationship became only marginally significant when controlling for parents’ perceptions of their own weight, level of household education, and children's age. No relationship between parental control of children's intake and their children's degree of overweight was found in boys. Discussion: Previous observations of the influence of parental control over children's intake in middle‐class white families did not generalize to 8‐ to 9‐year‐olds in families with diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The present findings reveal a more complex relationship between parental behaviors and children's weight status.     

Growth of Visceral Fat,Subcutaneous Abdominal Fat,and Total Body Fat in Children

Objective: To examine the patterns of growth of visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, and total body fat over a 3‐ to 5‐year period in white and African American children. Research Methods and Procedures: Children (mean age: 8.1 ± 1.6 years at baseline) were recruited from Birmingham, Alabama, and those with three or more repeated annual measurements were included in the analysis (N = 138 children and 601 observations). Abdominal adipose tissue (visceral and subcutaneous) was measured using computed tomography. Total body fat and lean tissue mass were measured by DXA. Random growth curve modeling was performed to estimate growth rates of the different body fat compartments. Results: Visceral fat and total body fat both exhibited significant growth effects before and after adjusting for subcutaneous abdominal fat and lean tissue mass, respectively, and for gender, race, and baseline age (5.2 ± 2.2 cm²/yr and 1.9 ± 0.8 kg/yr, respectively). After adjusting for total body fat, the growth of subcutaneous abdominal fat was not significant. Whites showed a higher visceral fat growth than did African Americans (difference: 1.9 ± 0.8 cm²/yr), but there was no ethnic difference for growth of subcutaneous abdominal fat or total body fat. There were no gender differences found for any of the growth rates. Discussion: Growth of visceral fat remained significant after adjusting for growth of subcutaneous abdominal fat, implying that the acquisition of the two abdominal fat compartments may involve different physiologic mechanisms. In contrast, growth of subcutaneous abdominal fat was explained by growth in total body fat, suggesting that subcutaneous fat may not be preferentially deposited in the abdominal area during this phase of growth. Finally, significantly higher growth of visceral fat in white compared with African American children is consistent with cross‐sectional findings.     

Assessing the Default Assumption That Children Are Always at Risk

This paper establishes that non-elderly healthy adult animal models commonly display greater susceptibility than young animals to both acute and a wide range of chronic toxic effects from agents representing numerous chemical classes, including pharmaceutical agents and agents typically regulated as environmental/occupational pollutants. While the general belief that the young are likely to be at enhanced risk compared to adults remains the predominant perspective, the not-infrequent occurrence of greater susceptibility in adults raises questions about the utility of a generic default uncertainty factor (UF) for the young and suggests consideration of categorical UFs.     

Not just any ‘Street’ child: Universals and particulars of childhood in North-Cameroonian society

In this article the author looks at childhood in North Cameroon. Using examples from two different ethnic groups in the area, the nomad Islamic Fulbe (Fulani) and the agricultural sedentarized Mafa, she argues that it is important to include children in anthropological analyses. Children's vision on their culture is of scientific and methodological interest. Considering children as “partners in discussion” may give insights into universals of childhood as well as into particularities of cultures. In the second part of the article she discusses the cultural reasons behind the existence of “street children” from both ethnic groups. though both groups treasure and culturally value children enormously. In Mafa society children who have no ritual functions or have less access to land are more likely to end up in the streets. In Fulbe society boys who are begging for money are often the pupils of Islamic teachers, as religious education gives high status in this society.     

Preventing Ultimate Harm as the Justification for Biomoral Modification

Most advocates of biogenetic modification hope to amplify existing human traits in humans in order to increase the value of such traits as intelligence and resistance to disease. These advocates defend such enhancements as beneficial for the affected parties. By contrast, some commentators recommend certain biogenetic modifications to serve social goals. As Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu see things, human moral psychology is deficient relative to the most important risks facing humanity as a whole, including the prospect of Ultimate Harm, the point at which worthwhile life is forever impossible on the planet. These risks can be mitigated, they say, by enhancing moral psychology in novel ways. Persson and Savulescu argue that some parents should modify the underlying biogenetics of their children's moral psychology, if such measures were safe and effective, but they admit these interventions may not decouple humanity from Ultimate Harm. Neither are these modifications the only options, they concede, for addressing risks to humanity. Even with these concessions, saving humanity from itself is a fairly poor reason to modify the moral psychology of children. In most ways, adults would be better candidates, morally speaking, for modifications of psychology. Even then, there is no direct link between morally enhanced human beings and the hoped‐for effect of better protection from Ultimate Harm. Asserting a general duty of all to contribute to the avoidance of Ultimate Harm is a better moral strategy than intervening in the moral psychology of some, even though meeting that duty may involve substantial interference with the free exercise of one's interests.     

Dietary exposure of Finnish children to heavy metal mixture – a cumulative assessment

A preliminary assessment of the cumulative exposure to heavy metals among Finnish preschool children is reported. Cadmium, lead, arsenic,and mercury affect many of the same organs in the human body. The effects are mostly caused by oxidative stress or disruption of enzyme function. The cumulative effects of the heavy metals on the central nervous system and on the kidneys are determined based on national concentration and consumption data, and comparison of the relative toxicity of the heavy metals is based on dose–response values found in the literature. The cumulative effects were assumed to be additive. The main contributors to kidney toxicity among the studied population groups were cadmium and lead, while lead was the main contributor to neurotoxic effects.