Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Growth And Nutrition (growth + and_nutrition)
Selected AbstractsA Genetic Study of the Ghrelin and Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor (GHSR) Genes and StatureANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 1 2009M. Gueorguiev Summary Growth and nutrition are interrelated and influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. We studied whether common variants in ghrelin and ghrelin receptor (GHSR) genes could play a role in stature variation in the general population and in families ascertained for obesity. Selected tagging SNPs in the ghrelin and GHSR genes were genotyped in 263 Caucasian families recruited for childhood obesity (1,275 subjects), and in 287 families from a general population (1,072 subjects). We performed familial testing for associations in the entire population and in a sub-set of the samples selected for a case-control study. In the case-control study for height (cases were selected from the obese cohort with mean ZH = 3.17 ± 0.15 confidence interval (CI) versus controls with mean ZH 0.14 ± 0.09), we found an association with a 2 base-pair intronic deletion in the GHSR gene (rs10618418) (p = 0.006, odds ratio (OR) 1.86, 95% CI [1.26;2.74] under additive model), although when adjusting for BMI, the association disappeared (p = 0.06). Individuals carrying no deletion or who were heterozygous were significantly more frequent among the tall obese population (52% vs. 36% in controls, p = 0.007, OR 1.97, 95%CI [1.22;3.18]). However, the association was not maintained after correcting for multiple testing. Familial association testing of the ghrelin and GHSR genes and their interaction testing failed to show that any combination of SNPs had any significant effect. Thus, our results suggest that common variants of the ghrelin and GHSR genes are not major contributors to height variation in a French population. [source] Manipulation of flooding and arbuscular mycorrhiza formation influences growth and nutrition of two semiaquatic grass speciesFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2000S. P. Miller Abstract 1Two semiaquatic grasses, Panicum hemitomon Schultes and Leersia hexandra Schwartz, were grown for 12 weeks in sterilized soil in experimental mesocosms, with and without the addition of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal inoculum (as nonsterilized soil), under the following rooting-zone flood regimes: waterlogged (W), free-draining (D), beginning W and ending D (W,D), and beginning D and ending W (D,W). The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether these controlled water regimes affected both colonization of wetland grasses by AM fungi and the effects of the colonization on various plant parameters. 2Water regime, addition of inoculum, and their interaction were highly significant effects on total and proportion of root length colonized by AM fungi. Trends were very similar for the two grass species. Colonization was less and plants smaller in the W and W,D than in the D and D,W treatments. The viability of mycorrhiza at the end of the experiment, as measured by vital staining techniques, was not affected by changes in water level. 3Colonized plants in all water level treatments showed an improvement in phosphorus (P) nutrition over noncolonized plants. Colonized grasses of both species gained consistently more P per plant and had greater tissue P concentrations, with the greatest P concentration in the most heavily colonized plants (from the D and D,W treatments). 4The effect of flooding on the mycorrhizal association depended largely on the extent to which the association was already established when the flooding occurred. Flooding reduced the initiation of colonization either directly or indirectly, but once the fungi were established in the roots they were able to maintain and expand with the growing root system. [source] The French longitudinal study of growth and nutrition: data in adolescent males and femalesJOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 6 2002M. Deheeger Abstract Objectives To assess nutritional intake, growth parameters, physical activity and television viewing in French adolescents. Method A longitudinal study of dietary intake and anthropometric data recorded in the same children (n = 94) from 10 to 16 years of age is presented here. Results Energy intake increased from age 10,16 years in boys, whereas it decreased in girls from the age of 14. Height and weight increased in both males and females over the same period of time. Energy intake was positively associated with age at menarche. Nutritional intake, such as fat and calcium, did not meet recommendations for French adolescents. Height was higher than reference values, but the difference was not significant for girls between 14 and 16 years. Overweight (BMI > 97th percentile of the French reference) was found to be 13,14% between age 10 and 16 years. Time watching TV/computer increased with age from 1.4 to 2.2 h day,1 from 10 to 16 years. Active children had nutritional intake closer to recommendations. Conclusion In conclusion, this study shows that during adolescence, some nutritional variations can be explained by normal individual growth processes. Low intake of calcium in girls and sedentary lifestyle are of particular concern. [source] Children's work, earnings, and nutrition in urban Mexican shantytownsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Alexandra Brewis For many children living in conditions of urban poverty, earning money can provide additional resources to them and their families, and this raises interesting questions about the potential biological consequences (costs and benefits) of children's work in ,modern' settings. This study uses time allocation, ethnographic, dietary, and anthropometric data collected with 96 urban Mexican shantytown children (aged 8,12 years) and their older and younger siblings (aged 1,18 years) to test hypotheses related to the effects of children's cash earning and cash contributions to their households for their own and their sibs' nutritional status. Regression models show that children's contributions to household income and the time they allocate to working outside the home makes no difference to their own or their younger siblings' nutritional status assessed anthropometrically. Dietary quality, based on food recalls, is worse in working than non-working children, even taking household income into account. Children's allocation of time to work and their cash contributions to the household do however significantly improve the weight of their older siblings, especially sisters. This suggests children's work in urban ecologies might have different constraints and opportunities for their own and siblings' growth and nutrition than typically observed in subsistence settings. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Growth and market integration in Amazonia: A comparison of growth indicators between Shuar, Shiwiar, and nonindigenous school childrenAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Aaron D. Blackwell We describe and compare the growth of three groups of juveniles, aged 0,18, who experience different degrees of market integration and acculturation in the Ecuadorian Amazon. These include 1,384 indigenous Shuar from the Upano Valley of Ecuador and surrounding areas, 570 nonindigenous colono (or colonist) children from the same area, and 42 Shiwiar from the interior of Ecuador. We use differences between these populations in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) z -scores to assess the effects of changing subsistence patterns on Shuar growth and nutrition. Although, for all three groups, mean height-for-age z -scores were negative, Shuar z -scores were significantly lower than either colono or Shiwiar z -scores. Mean weight-for-age z -scores were also negative for Shuar and colono juveniles, while mean BMI-for-age and weight-for-height z -scores were greater than zero for all three groups. Using NHANES standards, 41% of male and 38% of female Shuar were classified as stunted, versus 16% of male and 20% of female colonos. Compared to Shuar, colonos were three times less likely to be stunted (OR = 0.33, P < 0.01) and Shiwiar were eight times less likely to be stunted (OR = 0.13, P = 0.01). These differences suggest that changes in diet have negatively affected Shuar growth and nutrition. Am. J. Hum. Biol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Pre- and post-discharge feeding of very preterm infants: impact on growth and bone mineralizationCLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY AND FUNCTIONAL IMAGING, Issue 4 2003Sangita Kurl Summary In this prospective study we examined (1) how the nutritional status of very preterm infants, judged by growth measures and biochemical values, evolved during the initial hospitalization; (2) the effect of feeding on growth after discharge from hospital; and (3) the risk factors associated with low lumbar bone mineral content (BMC) later in infancy. Sixty-four former preterm infants had their lumbar spine (L2,L4) BMC assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry when they weighed between 5 and 7 kg. Predicted BMC values were calculated based on our previously reported reference lumbar BMC data. These values were used to convert the preterm infants' BMC values into percentages. The extremely preterm group (gestational age ,28 weeks) had significantly more respiratory morbidity and longer duration of hospital stay than the more mature infants. Both groups developed growth retardation and malnutrition during the hospital stay. Exclusive breastfeeding after discharge from hospital supported linear catch-up growth and weight gain but was associated with a 7·0 (1·2,41·7)-fold risk of having low BMC values. The other factors associated with the risk of having low BMC values later in infancy were low serum phosphate levels at 6 weeks, with a 7·8 (1·6,37·0)-fold risk, and male gender, with a 4·3 (1·2,16·1)-fold risk. Appropriately designed interventional studies are needed to improve the growth and nutrition of these infants during initial hospitalization. In order to improve the postdischarge nutrition, we suggest that the amount and duration of multicomponent human milk fortification should be studied further to provide individualized nutrition throughout the catch-up growth period until the end of the first year of life. [source] | |||||||||||||