Eating Behaviour among Multi-Ethnic Adolescents in a Middle-Income Country as Measured by the Self-Reported Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire

Background

Escalating weight gain among the Malaysian paediatric population necessitates identifying modifiable behaviours in the obesity pathway.

Objectives

This study describes the adaptation and validation of the Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) as a self-report for adolescents, investigates gender and ethnic differences in eating behaviour and examines associations between eating behaviour and body mass index (BMI) z-scores among multi-ethnic Malaysian adolescents.

Methodology

This two-phase study involved validation of the Malay self-reported CEBQ in Phase 1 (n = 362). Principal Axis Factoring with Promax rotation, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests were performed. In Phase 2, adolescents completed the questionnaire (n = 646). Weight and height were measured. Gender and ethnic differences in eating behaviour were investigated. Associations between eating behaviour and BMI z-scores were examined with complex samples general linear model (GLM) analyses, adjusted for gender, ethnicity and maternal educational level.

Results

Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 35-item, 9-factor structure with ‘food fussiness’ scale split into two. In confirmatory factor analysis, a 30-item, 8-factor structure yielded an improved model fit. Reliability estimates of the eight factors were acceptable. Eating behaviours did not differ between genders. Malay adolescents reported higher Food Responsiveness, Enjoyment of Food, Emotional Overeating, Slowness in Eating, Emotional Undereating and Food Fussiness 1 scores (p<0.05) compared to Chinese and Indians. A significant negative association was observed between BMI z-scores and Food Fussiness 1 (‘dislike towards food’) when adjusted for confounders.

Conclusion

Although CEBQ is a valuable psychometric instrument, adjustments were required due to age and cultural differences in our sample. With the self-report, our findings present that gender, ethnic and weight status influenced eating behaviours. Obese adolescents were found to display a lack of dislike towards food. Future longitudinal and qualitative studies are warranted to further understand behavioural phenotypes of obesity to guide prevention and intervention strategies.     

Association between Obesity and Cardiometabolic Health Risk in Asian-Canadian Sub-Groups

Objectives

To quantify and compare the association between the World Health Organizations’ Asian-specific trigger points for public health action [‘increased risk’: body mass index (BMI) ≥23 kg/m², and; ‘high risk’: BMI ≥27.5 kg/m²] with self-reported cardiovascular-related conditions in Asian-Canadian sub-groups.

Methods

Six cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (2001–2009) were pooled to examine BMI and health in Asian sub-groups (South Asians, Chinese, Filipino, Southeast Asians, Arabs, West Asians, Japanese and Korean; N = 18 794 participants, ages 18–64 y). Multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for demographic, lifestyle characteristics and acculturation measures, was used to estimate the odds of cardiovascular-related health (high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, ‘at least one cardiometabolic condition’) outcomes across all eight Asian sub-groups.

Results

Compared to South Asians (OR = 1.00), Filipinos had higher odds of having ‘at least one cardiometabolic condition’ (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.04–1.62), whereas Chinese (0.63, 0.474–0.9) and Arab-Canadians had lower odds (0.38, 0.28–0.51). In ethnic-specific analyses (with ‘acceptable’ risk weight as the referent), ‘increased’ and ‘high’ risk weight categories were the most highly associated with ‘at least one cardiometabolic condition’ in Chinese (‘increased’: 3.6, 2.34–5.63; ‘high’: 8.9, 3.6–22.01). Compared to normal weight South Asians, being in the ‘high’ risk weight category in all but the Southeast Asian, Arab, and Japanese ethnic groups was associated with approximately 3-times the likelihood of having ‘at least one cardiometabolic condition’.

Conclusion

Differences in the association between obesity and cardiometabolic health risks were seen among Asian sub-groups in Canada. The use of WHO’s lowered Asian-specific BMI cut-offs identified obesity-related risks in South Asian, Filipino and Chinese sub-groups that would have been masked by traditional BMI categories. These findings have implications for public health messaging, especially for ethnic groups at higher odds of obesity-related health risks.     

Infrequent Breakfast Consumption Is Associated with Higher Body Adiposity and Abdominal Obesity in Malaysian School-Aged Adolescents

Unhealthy dietary pattern increases the risk of obesity and metabolic disorders in growing children and adolescents. However, the way the habitual pattern of breakfast consumption influences body composition and risk of obesity in adolescents is not well defined. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess any associations between breakfast consumption practices and body composition profiles in 236 apparently healthy adolescents aged 12 to 19 years. A self-administered questionnaire on dietary behaviour and lifestyle practices and a dietary food frequency questionnaire were used. Body composition and adiposity indices were determined using standard anthropometric measurement protocols and dual energy χ-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Mean age of the participants was 15.3±1.9 years. The majority of participants (71.2%) fell in the normal body mass index (BMI) ranges. Breakfast consumption patterns showed that only half of the participants (50%) were consuming breakfast daily. Gender-specific multivariate analyses (ANCOVA) showed that in both boys and girls, those eating breakfast at least 5 times a week had significantly lower body weight, body mass index (BMI), BMI z-scores, waist circumference, body fat mass and percent body fat (%BF) compared to infrequent breakfast eaters, after adjustment for age, household income, pubertal status, eating-out and snacking practices, daily energy intakes, and daily physical activity levels. The present findings indicate that infrequent breakfast consumption is associated with higher body adiposity and abdominal obesity. Therefore, daily breakfast consumption with healthy food choices should be encouraged in growing children and adolescents to prevent adiposity during these critical years of growth.     

Parental Perception of Weight Status: Influence on Children’s Diet in the Gateshead Millennium Study

Objective

Recognising overweight and obesity is critical to prompting action, and consequently preventing and treating obesity. The present study examined the association between parental perceptions of child weight status and child’s diet.

Methods

Participants were members of the Gateshead Millennium Study. Parental perception of their child’s weight status was assessed using a questionnaire and compared against International Obesity Task Force cut-offs for childhood overweight and obesity when the children were aged 6–8 years old. Diet was assessed at age 6-8years old using the FAST (Food Assessment in Schools Tool) food diary method. The association between parental perception and dietary patterns as defined by Principal Components Analysis, was assessed using multivariate regression after adjustment for child’s gender, child’s weight status, maternal body mass index (BMI), maternal education and deprivation status.

Results

Of the 361 parents who provided complete data on confounders and on their perception of their child’s weight status, 63 (17%) parents perceived their child as being of ‘normal’ weight or ‘overweight’ when they were actually ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, parents who misperceived their child’s weight had children with a lower ‘healthy’ dietary pattern score compared to children whose parents correctly perceived their weight (β = -0.88; 95% CI: -1.7, -0.1; P-value = 0.028). This association was found despite higher consumption of reduced sugar carbonated drinks amongst children whose parents incorrectly perceived their weight status compared to children whose parents perceived their weight correctly (52.4% vs. 33.6%; P-value = 0.005).

Conclusions

In conclusion, children whose parents did not correctly perceive their weight status scored lower on the ‘healthy’ dietary pattern. Further research is required to define parents’ diets based on their perception status and to examine if a child’s or parent’s diet mediates the association between parental perception and child weight.     

Association of Aggression and Non-Suicidal Self Injury: A School-Based Sample of Adolescents

Purpose

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescent has drawn increasing attention because it is associated with subsequent depression, drug abuse, anxiety disorders, and suicide. In the present study, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a school-based sample of Chinese adolescents and to explore the association between aggression and NSSI.

Methods

This study was part of a nationwide study on aggression among adolescents in urban areas of China. A sample of 2907 school students including 1436 boys and 1471 girls were randomly selected in Guangdong Province, with their age ranging from 10 to 18 years old. NSSI, aggression, emotional management and other factors were measured by self-administrated questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the association between aggression and NSSI, after adjustment for participants’ emotional management, and other potential confounding variables.

Results

The one year self-reported prevalence of NSSI was 33.6%. Of them, 21.7% engaged in ‘minor NSSI’, 11.9% in ‘moderate/severe NSSI’. 96.9% of self-injuries engaged in one to five different types of NSSI in the past year. Hostility, verbal and indirect aggression was significantly associated with self-reported NSSI after adjusting for other potential factors both in ‘minor NSSI’ and ‘moderate/severe NSSI’. Hostility, verbal and indirect aggression was significantly associated with greater risk of ‘minor NSSI’ and ‘moderate/severe NSSI’ in those who had poor emotional management ability.

Conclusion

These findings highlight a high prevalence of NSSI and indicate the importance of hostility, verbal and indirect aggression as potentially risk factor for NSSI among Chinese adolescents.     

Benefits of a Ball and Chain: Simple Environmental Enrichments Improve Welfare and Reproductive Success in Farmed American Mink (Neovison vison)

Can simple enrichments enhance caged mink welfare? Pilot data from 756 sub-adults spanning three colour-types (strains) identified potentially practical enrichments, and suggested beneficial effects on temperament and fur-chewing. Our main experiment started with 2032 Black mink on three farms: from each of 508 families, one juvenile male-female pair was enriched (E) with two balls and a hanging plastic chain or length of hose, while a second pair was left as a non-enriched (NE) control. At 8 months, more than half the subjects were killed for pelts, and 302 new females were recruited (half enriched: ‘late E’). Several signs of improved welfare or productivity emerged. Access to enrichment increased play in juveniles. E mink were calmer (less aggressive in temperament tests; quieter when handled; less fearful, if male), and less likely to fur-chew, although other stereotypic behaviours were not reduced. On one farm, E females had lower cortisol (inferred from faecal metabolites). E males tended to copulate for longer. E females also weaned more offspring: about 10% more juveniles per E female, primarily caused by reduced rates of barrenness (‘late E’ females also giving birth to bigger litters on one farm), effects that our data cautiously suggest were partly mediated by reduced inactivity and changes in temperament. Pelt quality seemed unaffected, but E animals had cleaner cages. In a subsidiary side-study using 368 mink of a second colour-type (‘Demis’), similar temperament effects emerged, and while E did not reduce fur-chewing or improve reproductive success in this colour-type, E animals were judged to have better pelts. Overall, simple enrichments were thus beneficial. These findings should encourage welfare improvements on fur farms (which house 60-70 million mink p.a.) and in breeding centres where endangered mustelids (e.g. black-footed ferrets) often reproduce poorly. They should also stimulate future research into more effective practical enrichments.     

The Obesogenic Quality of the Home Environment: Associations with Diet,Physical Activity,TV Viewing,and BMI in Preschool Children

Objectives

The home environment is thought to play a key role in early weight trajectories, although direct evidence is limited. There is general agreement that multiple factors exert small individual effects on weight-related outcomes, so use of composite measures could demonstrate stronger effects. This study therefore examined whether composite measures reflecting the ‘obesogenic’ home environment are associated with diet, physical activity, TV viewing, and BMI in preschool children.

Methods

Families from the Gemini cohort (n = 1096) completed a telephone interview (Home Environment Interview; HEI) when their children were 4 years old. Diet, physical activity, and TV viewing were reported at interview. Child height and weight measurements were taken by the parents (using standard scales and height charts) and reported at interview. Responses to the HEI were standardized and summed to create four composite scores representing the food (sum of 21 variables), activity (sum of 6 variables), media (sum of 5 variables), and overall (food composite/21 + activity composite/6 + media composite/5) home environments. These were categorized into ‘obesogenic risk’ tertiles.

Results

Children in ‘higher-risk’ food environments consumed less fruit (OR; 95% CI = 0.39; 0.27–0.57) and vegetables (0.47; 0.34–0.64), and more energy-dense snacks (3.48; 2.16–5.62) and sweetened drinks (3.49; 2.10–5.81) than children in ‘lower-risk’ food environments. Children in ‘higher-risk’ activity environments were less physically active (0.43; 0.32–0.59) than children in ‘lower-risk’ activity environments. Children in ‘higher-risk’ media environments watched more TV (3.51; 2.48–4.96) than children in ‘lower-risk’ media environments. Neither the individual nor the overall composite measures were associated with BMI.

Conclusions

Composite measures of the obesogenic home environment were associated as expected with diet, physical activity, and TV viewing. Associations with BMI were not apparent at this age.     

Covariance among Multiple Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescents

Purpose

In a diverse group of early adolescents, this study explores the co-occurrence of a broad range of health risk behaviors: alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use; physical inactivity; sedentary computing/gaming; and the consumption of low-nutrient energy-dense food. We tested differences in the associations of unhealthy behaviors over time, and by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Methods

Participants were 8360 students from 16 middle schools in California (50% female; 52% Hispanic, 17% Asian, 16% White, and 15% Black/multiethnic/other). Behaviors were measured with surveys in Spring 2010 and Spring 2011. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess if an underlying factor accounted for the covariance of multiple behaviors, and composite reliability methods were used to determine the degree to which behaviors were related.

Results

The measured behaviors were explained by two moderately correlated factors: a ‘substance use risk factor’ and an ‘unhealthy eating and sedentary factor’. Physical inactivity did not reflect the latent factors as expected. There were few differences in the associations among these behaviors over time or by demographic characteristics.

Conclusions

Two distinct, yet related groups of health compromising behaviors were identified that could be jointly targeted in multiple health behavior change interventions among early adolescents of diverse backgrounds.     

Using the International Classification of Functioning,Disability and Health (ICF) to Describe Children Referred to Special Care or Paediatric Dental Services

Children in dentistry are traditionally described in terms of medical diagnosis and prevalence of oral disease. This approach gives little information regarding a child’s capacity to maintain oral health or regarding the social determinants of oral health. The biopsychosocial approach, embodied in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - Child and Youth version (ICF-CY) (WHO), provides a wider picture of a child’s real-life experience, but practical tools for the application of this model are lacking. This article describes the preliminary empirical study necessary for development of such a tool - an ICF-CY Core Set for Oral Health. An ICF-CY questionnaire was used to identify the medical, functional, social and environmental context of 218 children and adolescents referred to special care or paediatric dental services in France, Sweden, Argentina and Ireland (mean age 8 years ±3.6yrs). International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) diagnoses included disorders of the nervous system (26.1%), Down syndrome (22.0%), mental retardation (17.0%), autistic disorders (16.1%), and dental anxiety alone (11.0%). The most frequently impaired items in the ICF Body functions domain were ‘Intellectual functions’, ‘High-level cognitive functions’, and ‘Attention functions’. In the Activities and Participation domain, participation restriction was frequently reported for 25 items including ‘Handling stress’, ‘Caring for body parts’, ‘Looking after one’s health’ and ‘Speaking’. In the Environment domain, facilitating items included ‘Support of friends’, ‘Attitude of friends’ and ‘Support of immediate family’. One item was reported as an environmental barrier – ‘Societal attitudes’. The ICF-CY can be used to highlight common profiles of functioning, activities, participation and environment shared by children in relation to oral health, despite widely differing medical, social and geographical contexts. The results of this empirical study might be used to develop an ICF-CY Core Set for Oral Health - a holistic but practical tool for clinical and epidemiological use.     

The Relationship between Sleep-Wake Cycle and Cognitive Functioning in Young People with Affective Disorders

Although early-stage affective disorders are associated with both cognitive dysfunction and sleep-wake disruptions, relationships between these factors have not been specifically examined in young adults. Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in those with affective disorders are considerably heterogeneous, and may not relate to cognitive dysfunction in a simple linear fashion. This study aimed to characterise profiles of sleep and circadian disturbance in young people with affective disorders and examine associations between these profiles and cognitive performance. Actigraphy monitoring was completed in 152 young people (16–30 years; 66% female) with primary diagnoses of affective disorders, and 69 healthy controls (18–30 years; 57% female). Patients also underwent detailed neuropsychological assessment. Actigraphy data were processed to estimate both sleep and circadian parameters. Overall neuropsychological performance in patients was poor on tasks relating to mental flexibility and visual memory. Two hierarchical cluster analyses identified three distinct patient groups based on sleep variables and three based on circadian variables. Sleep clusters included a ‘long sleep’ cluster, a ‘disrupted sleep’ cluster, and a ‘delayed and disrupted sleep’ cluster. Circadian clusters included a ‘strong circadian’ cluster, a ‘weak circadian’ cluster, and a ‘delayed circadian’ cluster. Medication use differed between clusters. The ‘long sleep’ cluster displayed significantly worse visual memory performance compared to the ‘disrupted sleep’ cluster. No other cognitive functions differed between clusters. These results highlight the heterogeneity of sleep and circadian profiles in young people with affective disorders, and provide preliminary evidence in support of a relationship between sleep and visual memory, which may be mediated by use of antipsychotic medication. These findings have implications for the personalisation of treatments and improvement of functioning in young adults early in the course of affective illness.     

Emotions as infectious diseases in a large social network: the SISa model

Human populations are arranged in social networks that determine interactions and influence the spread of diseases, behaviours and ideas. We evaluate the spread of long-term emotional states across a social network. We introduce a novel form of the classical susceptible–infected–susceptible disease model which includes the possibility for ‘spontaneous’ (or ‘automatic’) infection, in addition to disease transmission (the SISa model). Using this framework and data from the Framingham Heart Study, we provide formal evidence that positive and negative emotional states behave like infectious diseases spreading across social networks over long periods of time. The probability of becoming content is increased by 0.02 per year for each content contact, and the probability of becoming discontent is increased by 0.04 per year per discontent contact. Our mathematical formalism allows us to derive various quantities from the data, such as the average lifetime of a contentment ‘infection’ (10 years) or discontentment ‘infection’ (5 years). Our results give insight into the transmissive nature of positive and negative emotional states. Determining to what extent particular emotions or behaviours are infectious is a promising direction for further research with important implications for social science, epidemiology and health policy. Our model provides a theoretical framework for studying the interpersonal spread of any state that may also arise spontaneously, such as emotions, behaviours, health states, ideas or diseases with reservoirs.     

Microbial Reprogramming Inhibits Western Diet-Associated Obesity

A recent epidemiological study showed that eating ‘fast food’ items such as potato chips increased likelihood of obesity, whereas eating yogurt prevented age-associated weight gain in humans. It was demonstrated previously in animal models of obesity that the immune system plays a critical role in this process. Here we examined human subjects and mouse models consuming Westernized ‘fast food’ diet, and found CD4⁺ T helper (Th)17-biased immunity and changes in microbial communities and abdominal fat with obesity after eating the Western chow. In striking contrast, eating probiotic yogurt together with Western chow inhibited age-associated weight gain. We went on to test whether a bacteria found in yogurt may serve to lessen fat pathology by using purified Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 6475 in drinking water. Surprisingly, we discovered that oral L. reuteri therapy alone was sufficient to change the pro-inflammatory immune cell profile and prevent abdominal fat pathology and age-associated weight gain in mice regardless of their baseline diet. These beneficial microbe effects were transferable into naïve recipient animals by purified CD4⁺ T cells alone. Specifically, bacterial effects depended upon active immune tolerance by induction of Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells (Treg) and interleukin (Il)-10, without significantly changing the gut microbial ecology or reducing ad libitum caloric intake. Our finding that microbial targeting restored CD4⁺ T cell balance and yielded significantly leaner animals regardless of their dietary ‘fast food’ indiscretions suggests population-based approaches for weight management and enhancing public health in industrialized societies.     

Family and Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Inequalities in Childhood Trajectories of BMI and Overweight: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Background

Socioeconomic inequalities in longitudinal patterning of childhood overweight could cause marked differentials in total burden by adulthood. This study aims to determine timing and strength of the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s body mass index (BMI) in the pre- and primary school years, and to examine socioeconomic differences in overweight trajectories across childhood.

Methods

Participants were 4949 children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. BMI was measured at four biennial waves starting at age 4–5 years in 2004. Developmental trajectories of childhood overweight were identified with latent class analyses. Composite variables of family and neighbourhood SES were used.

Results

Socioeconomic differences in mean BMI z-scores already present at age 4–5 more than doubled by age 10–11 years, reflecting decreasing mean BMI among advantaged rather than increasing means among disadvantaged children. Latent class analysis identified children with ‘stable normal weight’ (68%), and with ‘persistent’ (15%), ‘late-onset’ (14%), and ‘resolving’ overweight (3%). Risks of persistent and late-onset childhood overweight were highest among low SES families (e.g. most disadvantaged quintile: OR_persistent = 2.51, 95%CI: 1.83–3.43), and only partly explained by birth weight and parental overweight. Relationships with neighbourhood SES were weaker and attenuated fully on adjustment for family SES. No socioeconomic gradient was observed for resolving overweight.

Conclusions

Childhood has become the critical period when socioeconomic inequalities in overweight emerge and strengthen. Although targeting disadvantaged children with early overweight must be a top priority, the presence of childhood overweight even among less-disadvantaged families suggests only whole-society approaches will eliminate overweight-associated morbidity.     

Between Difference and Belonging: Configuring Self and Others in Inpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders

Dedicated inpatient care for eating disorders has profound impact on patients'' embodied practices and lived realities. Analyses of inpatients'' accounts have shown that participants endorse complex and conflicting attitudes toward their experiences in eating disorders wards, yet the apparent ambivalence that characterizes inpatient experiences has not been subject to critical examination. This paper examines the narrated experiences of 13 participants (12 women and one man; age 18–38 years at first interview) with past or present anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified, who had been hospitalized in an inpatient eating disorders ward for adults in central Israel. The interviews, which took place in 2005–2006, and again in 2011, were part of a larger longitudinal study exploring the subjective experiences of eating disorders and recovery among Israeli adults. Employing qualitative analysis, this study finds that the participants'' accounts were concerned with dynamics of difference and belonging, as they played out in various aspects of inpatient care, including diagnosis, treatment, relationships with fellow patients and staff, and everyday life in hospital. Notably, participants simultaneously defined themselves as connected to, but also distinct from, the eating disordered others who formed their reference group at the ward. Through negotiating a protectively ambivalent positioning, participants recognized their eating disordered identities and connected with others on the ward, while also asserting their non-disordered individuality and distancing themselves from the potential dangers posed by ‘excessive’ belonging. The paper suggests that this ambivalent positioning can usefully be understood through the anthropological concept of liminality: being both a part of and apart from one''s community.     

Physiological mechanisms for food-hoarding motivation in animals

The study of ingestive behaviour has an extensive history, starting as early as 1918 when Wallace Craig, an animal behaviourist, coined the terms ‘appetitive’ and ‘consummatory’ for the two-part sequence of eating, drinking and sexual behaviours. Since then, most ingestive behaviour research has focused on the neuroendocrine control of food ingestion (consummatory behaviour). The quantity of food eaten, however, is also influenced by the drive both to acquire and to store food (appetitive behaviour). For example, hamster species have a natural proclivity to hoard food and preferentially alter appetitive ingestive behaviours in response to environmental changes and/or metabolic hormones and neuropeptides, whereas other species would instead primarily increase their food intake. Therefore, with the strong appetitive component to their ingestive behaviour that is relatively separate from their consummatory behaviour, they seem an ideal model for elucidating the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying the control of food hoarding and foraging. This review focuses on the appetitive side of ingestive behaviour, in particular food hoarding, attempting to integrate what is known about the neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating this relatively poorly studied behaviour. An hypothesis is formed stating that the direction of ‘energy flux’ is a unifying factor for the control of food hoarding.     

What aspects of autism predispose to talent?

In this paper, we explore the question, why are striking special skills so much more common in autism spectrum conditions (ASC) than in other groups? Current cognitive accounts of ASC are briefly reviewed in relation to special skills. Difficulties in ‘theory of mind’ may contribute to originality in ASC, since individuals who do not automatically ‘read other minds’ may be better able to think outside prevailing fashions and popular theories. However, originality alone does not confer talent. Executive dysfunction has been suggested as the ‘releasing’ mechanism for special skills in ASC, but other groups with executive difficulties do not show raised incidence of talents. Detail-focused processing bias (‘weak coherence’, ‘enhanced perceptual functioning’) appears to be the most promising predisposing characteristic, or ‘starting engine’, for talent development. In support of this notion, we summarize data from a population-based twin study in which parents reported on their 8-year-olds'' talents and their ASC-like traits. Across the whole sample, ASC-like traits, and specifically ‘restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests’ related to detail focus, were more pronounced in children reported to have talents outstripping older children. We suggest that detail-focused cognitive style predisposes to talent in savant domains in, and beyond, autism spectrum disorders.     

Testing synaptic plasticity in dynamic mate choice decisions: N-methyl d-aspartate receptor blockade disrupts female preference

Social behaviours such as mate choice require context-specific responses, often with evolutionary consequences. Increasing evidence indicates that the behavioural plasticity associated with mate choice involves learning. For example, poeciliids show age-dependent changes in female preference functions and express synaptic-plasticity-associated molecular markers during mate choice. Here, we test whether social cognition is necessary for female preference behaviour by blocking the central player in synaptic plasticity, NMDAR (N-methyl d-aspartate receptor), in a poeciliid fish, Xiphophorus nigrensis. After subchronic exposure to NMDAR antagonist MK-801, female preference behaviours towards males were dramatically reduced. Overall activity levels were unaffected, but there was a directional shift from ‘social’ behaviours towards neutral activity. Multivariate gene expression patterns significantly discriminated between females with normal versus disrupted plasticity processes and correlated with preference behaviours—not general activity. Furthermore, molecular patterns support a distinction between ‘preference’ (e.g. neuroserpin, neuroligin-3, NMDAR) and ‘sociality’ (isotocin and vasotocin) gene clusters, highlighting a possible conservation between NMDAR disruption and nonapeptides in modulating behaviour. Our results suggest that mate preference may involve greater social memory processing than overall sociality, and that poeciliid preference functions integrate synaptic-plasticity-oriented ‘preference’ pathways with overall sociality to invoke dynamic, context-specific responses towards favoured males and away from unfavoured males.     

The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations

We consider the evolution of cognition and the emergence of creative behaviour, in relation to vocal communication. We address two key questions: (i) what cognitive and/or social mechanisms have evolved that afford aspects of creativity?; (ii) has natural and/or sexual selection favoured human behaviours considered ‘creative’? This entails analysis of ‘creativity’, an imprecise construct: comparable properties in non-humans differ in magnitude and teleology from generally agreed human creativity. We then address two apparent problems: (i) the difference between merely novel productions and ‘creative’ ones; (ii) the emergence of creative behaviour in spite of high cost: does it fit the idea that females choose a male who succeeds in spite of a handicap (costly ornament); or that creative males capable of producing a large and complex song repertoire grew up under favourable conditions; or a demonstration of generally beneficial heightened reasoning capacity; or an opportunity to continually reinforce social bonding through changing communication tropes; or something else? We illustrate and support our argument by reference to whale and bird song; these independently evolved biological signal mechanisms objectively share surface properties with human behaviours generally called ‘creative’. Studying them may elucidate mechanisms underlying human creativity; we outline a research programme to do so.     

Characteristics of Attempted Suicide by Patients with Schizophrenia Compared with Those with Mood Disorders: A Case-Controlled Study in Northern Japan

Recent reports suggest a lifetime suicide risk for schizophrenia patients of approximately 5%. This figure is significantly higher than the general population suicide risk consequently, detection of those at risk is clinically important. This study was undertaken to define the characteristics of suicide attempts by schizophrenia patients compared with attempts by patients with mood disorders. All patients were diagnosed using the ICD-10 criteria. The study population comprised 65 patients with F2 disorders (schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders), i.e., “the F2 group”, and 94 patients with F3 disorders (mood disorders), i.e., “the F3 group”, who presented in the clinical setting of consultation-liaison psychiatry. The F2 group had a significantly younger mean age and significantly higher ratios of ‘past/present psychiatric treatment’ and ‘more than 3 months interruption of psychiatric treatment’. In contrast, the ratios of ‘physical disorder comorbidity’, ‘alcohol intake at suicide attempt’ and ‘suicide note left behind’ were significantly higher in the F3 group. The F2 group attempted suicide by significantly more serious methods. Furthermore, ‘hallucination-delusion’ was the most prevalent motive in the F2 group and was the only factor that showed a significant association with the seriousness of the method of suicide attempt (OR = 3.36, 95% CI: 1.05–11.33).     

The Association between Primary Tooth Emergence and Anthropometric Measures in Young Adults: Findings from a Large Prospective Cohort Study

Cross sectional studies suggest a link may exist between tooth emergence and obesity. To explore this relationship, we aimed to evaluate the prospective associations between primary tooth emergence and anthropometric measures in young adults. Multivariable linear regression was used to analyse relationships between primary tooth emergence, and anthropometric measures measured at 17.8 years, in 2977 participants (1362 males and 1615 females) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In minimally adjusted models, ‘quintiles of number of paired teeth’ (assessed by questionnaire at 15 months) was positively associated with height [change in height (cm) per quintile increase in ‘number of paired teeth’ (β) = 0.35 (95%CI: 0.18, 0.52) P = 0.0001] and weight [ratio of geometric mean weight per quintile increase in ‘number of paired teeth’ (RGM) = 1.015 (95%CI: 1.010, 1.019) P<0.0001]. The relationship with weight was largely driven by fat mass, which showed an equivalent relationship with ‘quintiles of number of paired teeth’ to that seen for weight [RGM = 1.036 (95%CI: 1.022, 1.051) P<0.0001] (adjusted for height)]. Conversely, no association was seen between ‘quintiles of number of paired teeth’ and lean mass. An increase in ‘quintiles of number of paired teeth’ at age 15 months was associated with a higher Tanner stage at age 13 in girls but not boys, but further adjustment of associations between ‘quintiles of number of paired teeth’ and anthropometric traits for Tanner stage was without effect. Primary tooth emergence is associated with subsequent fat mass, suggesting these could share common constitutive factors, and that early primary tooth emergence may represent a hitherto unrecognised risk factor for the development of obesity in later life.