The relationships between serum copper levels and overweight/total obesity and central obesity in children and adolescents aged 6-18 years

ObjectiveTo explore the relationships between serum copper levels and overweight/total obesity and central obesity in children and adolescents.MethodsWe included 2,000 children and adolescents from the 2011-2016 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. The multivariable linear model, logistic model and restricted cubic splines were adopted to assess the relationships. Models were adjusted for data release cycle, age, sex, race/ethnicity, ratio of family income to poverty, and dietary intakes of protein, total sugars, total fat, fiber, energy, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, and hours watch television or videos.ResultsThe prevalences of overweight/total obesity and central obesity were 37.38% and 33.40%, respectively. For per-quintile increment in serum copper levels, body mass index increased by 1.06 (0.79-1.33) (kg/m²) and waist circumference increased by 2.43 (1.58-3.27) (cm). The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for overweight/total obesity and central obesity among participants with the highest quintile compared with those with the lowest quintile of serum copper levels were 5.46 (3.31-8.98) and 5.64 (3.31-9.58), respectively. The above-mentioned associations were not modified by age (children: 6-12 years, adolescents: 13-18 years) and sex. Dose-response analysis showed that the odds of overweight/total obesity and central obesity increased with increasing serum copper levels to a level of approximate 140 ug/dL where the association seemed to reach a plateau, respectively.ConclusionsSerum copper levels were positively associated with body mass index and waist circumference, and elevated serum copper levels were associated with higher odds of overweight/total obesity and central obesity in children and adolescents.     

Assessing the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) in a national sample of Danish youth aged 8-16 years

Early identification of anxiety among youth is required to prevent them from going unrecognised and untreated by mental health professionals. A precise identification of the young person's primary difficulty is also required to guide treatment programs. Availability of a valid and easily administrable assessment tool is crucial for identifying youth suffering from anxiety disorders. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). A total of 667 youth from community schools (4(th) through 9(th) grade) across Denmark participated in the study. The psychometric properties of the RCADS-(DAN) resembled those reported in US and Europe. Within scale reliability was excellent with Chronbach's alpha of.96. All subscales also showed good to excellent internal reliability. The study provides convincing evidence that the RCADS-(DAN) is a valid assessment tool for screening anxiety in Danish youth.     

Body build classes as a method for systematization of age-related anthropometric changes in girls aged 7-8 and 17-18 years

A total of 462 schoolgirls aged 7-8 and 17-18 years were examined anthropometrically (45 body measurements and 10 skinfolds) in a cross-sectional study. The data were processed in two age groups: 7-8-year-olds (n = 205) and 17-18-year-olds (n = 257). Relying on average height and weight in the groups, both groups were divided into five body build classes: small, medium, large, pyknomorphous and leptomorphous. In these classes, the differences in all other body measurements were compared, and in both age groups, analogous systematic differences were found in length, width and depth measurements and circumferences. This enabled us to compare proportional changes in body measurements during ten years, using for this ratios of averages of basic measurements and measurement groups in the same body build classes. Statistical analysis by the sign test revealed statistically significant differences between various body build classes in the growth of averages. Girls belonging to the small class differed from the girls of the large class by an essentially greater increase in their measurements. Our results suggest that the growth rate of body measurements of girls with different body build can be studied by the help of body build classification.     

The relationship between sleep and weight in a sample of adolescents

Research to date in young children and adults shows a strong, inverse relationship between sleep duration and risk for overweight and obesity. Fewer studies examining this relationship have been conducted in adolescents. The purpose of the article is to describe the relationship between sleep and weight in a population of adolescents, controlling for demographics, energy intake, energy expenditure, and depression. This is a cross-sectional study of 723 adolescents participating in population-based studies of the etiologic factors related to obesity. We examined the relationship between three weight-related dependent variables obtained through a clinical assessment and three sleep variables obtained through self-report. Average caloric intake from dietary recalls, average activity counts based on accelerometers, and depression were included as covariates and the analysis was stratified by gender and grade level. Our results show that the relationship between sleep duration and BMI is evident in middle-school boys (β = -0.32, s.e. = 0.06: P < 0.001) and girls (β = -0.18, s.e. = 0.08: P = 0.02) but largely absent in high-school students. Differences in sleep patterns have little association with weight in males, but in high-school girls, waking up late on weekends as compared to weekdays is associated with lower body fat (β = -0.80, s.e. = 0.40: P = 0.05) and a healthy weight status (β = -0.28, s.e. = 0.14: P = 0.05). This study adds to the evidence that, particularly for middle-school boys and girls, inadequate sleep is a risk factor for early adolescent obesity. Future research needs to examine the relationship longitudinally and to study potential mediators of the relationship.     

Passive exposure to tobacco smoke in children aged 5-7 years: individual,family, and community factors.

OBJECTIVE--To examine the importance of parental smoking on passive exposure to tobacco smoke in children and the social and geographical patterns of exposure. DESIGN--Cross sectional study. SETTING--Schools in 10 towns in England and Wales; five towns with high adult cardiovascular mortality and five with low rates. SUBJECTS--4043 children aged 5-7 years of European origin. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Salivary cotinine concentration and parents self reported smoking habits. RESULTS--1061 (53.0%) children were exposed to cigarette smoke at home or by an outside carer. Geometric mean cotinine rose from 0.29 (95% confidence interval 0.28 to 0.31) ng/ml in children with no identified exposure to 4.05 (3.71 to 4.42) ng/ml in households where both parents smoked and 9.03 (6.73 to 12.10) ng/ml if both parents smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day. The effect of mothers'' smoking was greater than that of fathers'', especially at high levels of consumption. After adjustment for known exposures geometric mean cotinine concentrations rose from 0.52 ng/ml in social class I to 1.36 ng/ml in social class V (P < 0.0001); and were doubled in high mortality towns compared with the low mortality towns (P = 0.002). In children with no identified exposure similar trends by social class and town were observed and the cotinine concentrations correlated with the prevalence of parental smoking, both between towns (r = 0.69, P = 0.02) and between schools within towns (r = 0.50, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS--Mothers'' smoking is more important that fathers'' despite the lower levels of smoking by mothers. Children not exposed at home had low cotinine concentration, the level depending on the prevalence of smoking in the community.     

Development, problem behavior, and quality of life in a population based sample of eight-year-old children with Down syndrome

Objective

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have delayed psychomotor development. We investigated levels of development, problem behavior, and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in a population sample of Dutch eight-year-old children with DS. Developmental outcomes were compared with normative data of eight-year-old children from the general population.

Method

Over a three-year-period all parents with an eight-year-old child with DS were approached by the national parent organization. Developmental skills were assessed by means of the McCarthy Scales of Children''s Ability. To measure emotional and behavioral problems we used the Child Behavior Checklist. HRQoL was assessed with the TNO-AZL Children''s Quality of Life questionnaire. Analyses of variance were applied to compare groups.

Results

A total of 337 children participated. Mean developmental age was substantially lower than mean calendar age (3.9 years, SD 0.87 and 8.1 years, SD 0.15 respectively). Mean developmental age was significantly lower among boys than girls (3.6 (SD 0.85) and 4.2 years (SD 0.82) respectively; p<0.001). Compared with the general population, children with DS had more emotional and behavioral problems (p<0.001). However on the anxious/depressed scale, they scored significantly more favorably (p<0.001). Significantly lower HRQoL scores for the scales gross motor skills, autonomy, social functioning and cognitive functioning were found (p-values<0.001). Hardly any differences were observed for the scales physical complaints, positive and negative emotions.

Conclusion

Eight-year-old children with DS have an average developmental delay of four years, more often have emotional and behavioral problems, and have a less favorable HRQoL compared with children from the general population.     

Negative associations between corpus callosum midsagittal area and IQ in a representative sample of healthy children and adolescents

Documented associations between corpus callosum size and cognitive ability have heretofore been inconsistent potentially owing to differences in sample characteristics, differing methodologies in measuring CC size, or the use of absolute versus relative measures. We investigated the relationship between CC size and intelligence quotient (IQ) in the NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development sample, a large cohort of healthy children and adolescents (aged six to 18, n = 198) recruited to be representative of the US population. CC midsagittal area was measured using an automated system that partitioned the CC into 25 subregions. IQ was measured using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI). After correcting for total brain volume and age, a significant negative correlation was found between total CC midsagittal area and IQ (r = −0.147; p = 0.040). Post hoc analyses revealed a significant negative correlation in children (age<12) (r = −0.279; p = 0.004) but not in adolescents (age≥12) (r = −0.005; p = 0.962). Partitioning the subjects by gender revealed a negative correlation in males (r = −0.231; p = 0.034) but not in females (r = 0.083; p = 0.389). Results suggest that the association between CC and intelligence is mostly driven by male children. In children, a significant gender difference was observed for FSIQ and PIQ, and in males, a significant age-group difference was observed for FSIQ and PIQ. These findings suggest that the correlation between CC midsagittal area and IQ may be related to age and gender.     

The dermatoglyphics of a Toronto sample of children with XXY,XXYY, and XXX aneuploidies

Dermatoglyphic analyses were carried out on a sample of children with known sex chromosomal aneuploidies (25 XXY, 10 XXX, 1 XXYY). Digital ridge counts and pattern types were determined for each individual. Palm prints and sole patterns were also examined. The results of our study were compared with data from previous studies of sex chromosomal aneuploidies. Our results for the XXY males agree with the findings from other studies with respect to total ridge counts and plantar dermatoglyphics, but not for digital pattern frequencies. Our one example of an XXYY male showed hypothenar patterns similar to those found for this syndrome by other researchers, but neither the digital pattern types nor the unexpectedly high total ridge count conforms to the findings from other studies. Our sample of XXX females falls within the normal XX female range of variation with respect to hypothenar patterns and total ridge count; plantar features show a higher incidence of patterns than previously reported.     

Gender-specific growth patterns for stature,sitting height and limbs length in Croatian children and youth (3 to 18 years of age)

In a cross-sectional study of growth, 5,155 children (2,591 females, 2,564 males) from the town of Zagreb (Croatia) were measured. Four traits of linear dimensionality (stature, sitting height, arm and leg lengths) were studied in the age span of 3 to 18 years. A significant average annual increase of all four anthropometric parameters were observed up to 14 and 15 years of age in girls and 16 years of age in boys, showing that girls had a shorter growing period. In the prepubertal period until 9 years of age, gender differences were negligible. At the age of 10, boys were overgrown by girls in all parameters due to the earlier onset of puberty in girls. The growth gains for girls, when compared with those for boys, show a different pattern across variables. The female growth advantage remained in a two years period for the limbs length, but in a three year period for stature and the longest, for 4 years, for sitting height. The male predominance in size had an onset at the age of 13 for the limbs and in the age of 14 for stature and sitting height. The patterns of sexual dimorphism in stature and sitting height during growing years are similar to those observed in other populations of Europe. Growth of Croatian children and youth is very similar to that of the tallest European populations.     

Body mass index, prevalence of overweight and obesity in Lithuanian children and adolescents, 1985-2002

The study provides the body mass index (BMI), the prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) in Lithuanian children and adolescents, 1985-2002. In the 2000-2002 more than 9000 schoolchildren of 7-18 years old were investigated in the 5 biggest towns and surrounding settlements of Lithuania. These data were compared with the 1985 data. The prevalence of OW and OB was estimated using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-off points. The prevalence of OW in Lithuanian children and adolescents was higher among younger schoolchildren in comparison with older adolescents. OW was lower among the older girls in comparison with the older boys: 4.60%-11.50%/4.80%0-13.62% in the 7-13 years girls/boys, versus 1.50%-6.60%/3.90%-9.50% in the 14-18 years old girls/boys. The prevalence of OW among younger Lithuanian adolescents did not change significantly in the last 15 years, but it slightly decreased in older boys and demonstrably diminished in older adolescent girls. In generally, the prevalence of OW among Lithuanian adolescents is low in comparison with the prevalence of OW in children from the other countries.     

The microbiological transformation of some ent-kaur-16-ene 7-, 15- and 18-alcohols by Gibberella fujikuroi

The effect of the 7-, 15- and 18-hydroxyl groups on the microbiological transformation of some diterpenoids by Gibberella fujikuroi has been studied. An 18-substituent appears to exert an inhibitory effect on transformations involving reaction at the 6β opposition.     

Genetic variability in E6 and E7 genes of human papillomavirus -16, -18, -31 and -33 from HIV-1-positive women in Italy

Among 544 HIV-positive women screened for HPV-DNA between 2003 and 2005, 265 (48.7%) were HPV-positive: 24 (9.1%) harboured HPV-16, 21 (7.9%) HPV-31, 12 (4.5%) HPV-18, 7 (2.6%) HPV-33. E6 and E7 of these HPV types were sequenced to assess their diversity. Ranges of inter- and intra-variant diversity were 1.2-3-3%, and 0.8-1.8 for E6 and 0.6-2.7%, and 0.6-2.0% for E7, respectively. HPV-31, the second most common HPV type, showed the highest diversity for both regions. On the whole, 26 out of 59 mutations were non-synonymous. The variability of these proteins may have implications in HPV vaccine strategies.     

The Kiddie-SADS allows a dimensional assessment of externalizing symptoms in ADHD children and adolescents

Objective of the study was the investigation of the psychometric properties of a scale derived from the Kiddie-SADS used for a dimensional assessment of externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. The scale consists of 26 DSM-IV Kiddie-SADS items for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, 18 items) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD, 8 items). Patients and their mothers were interviewed separately on the patients' symptoms during the last 2 weeks prior to interview. An ADHD-ODD sum score ranging between 0 and 26 was computed reflecting the number of fulfilled diagnostic criteria within the 2-week period under investigation. Interviews were videotaped and re-rated by an independent second rater. Additionally, mothers filled out two questionnaires on their children's symptoms (FBB-HKS, a German ADHD scale based on ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria; strength and difficulties questionnaire, SDQ). We investigated 59 patients affected by AD(H)D according to DSM-IV recruited from our Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (39 males, 20 females; mean age: M=9.66, SD=2.30). Inter-rater correlation regarding the ADHD-ODD scores was r=0.98 with no significant differences in mean sum scores between rater 1 and rater 2. Internal consistency of the ADHD-ODD scale was 0.85 (Cronbach's alpha). Item difficulties and discriminative power of the items also proved to be adequate. Convergent and discriminant validity were indicated by middle to high correlations with mother-ratings of the children's externalizing symptoms and a low correlation with ratings of internalizing symptoms. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor solution mainly covering inattentive, hyperactive and oppositional symptoms. In summary, ADHD and ODD sections of the Kiddie-SADS allow a reliable and valid dimensional assessment of externalizing symptoms in AD(H)D children and adolescents.     

Dietary behaviors as associated factors for overweight and obesity in a sample of adolescents from Aquitaine, France

This study aimed to identify dietary behaviors that might be considered as associated factors for overweight or obesity among French adolescents. Forty-nine of the 536 middle and high schools in Aquitaine (southwest of France) were invited to take part in the study. For each school, participating adolescents were selected using stratification by grade. A self-report questionnaire, including information about sex, age, dietary behaviors, physical and sedentary activities, and parental socioeconomic status (SES), was filled in by adolescents during class. Overweight and obesity were defined according to the age- and sex-specific body mass index cutoff points of the International Obesity Task Force. Multivariate analysis (logistic regression) was used to identify independent dietary factors associated with overweight including obesity and obesity alone (adjustment on sex, age, parental SES, and weight status and adolescents' sedentary activity). In addition to parental SES and weight status and adolescents' sedentary activity, some dietary behaviors are also independently and significantly associated with a higher prevalence of overweight including obesity: absence (OR 1.43, 0.91–2.23) or rare (OR 1.57, 1.23–2.01) breakfast intake (p?<?0.01) and absence (OR 5.03, 3.19–7.92) or rare (OR 1.90, 1.46–2.47) light afternoon meal intake (p?<?0.001). All variables were also significantly and independently associated with obesity alone. This study shows that socioeconomic factors and individual behaviors are associated with overweight or obesity. These results confirm the importance to carry out multifaceted educational actions among adolescents, by promoting physical activity and healthy food choices in order to prevent overweight and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors.     

Changes in BMI and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in Cracow, Poland, 1971-2000.

The aim of this study is to examine changes in prevalence of overweight and obesity, using International Obesity Task Force criteria, in three cohorts of children and youth living in Cracow, Poland, in 1971, 1983 and 2000. Rates of overweight and obesity doubled among boys and girls, from 7.5% and 6.5% in 1971, to 15.2% and 11.8% in the year 2000. The greatest increases in prevalence occurred in the youngest age groups (7-12 years for boys and 7-10 years for girls), increases being less extensive among adolescents, and lowest of all in the oldest age groups (16-18 years in boys and 14-18 years in girls). The absence of a positive secular trend in BMI among adolescent females relative to males may be due to sociocultural pressures associated with transition to a free market economy in Poland. The extent to which girls attempt to achieve the ideal body, as portrayed by media and society more generally, increases across adolescence.