scholarly journals Session 6: Infant nutrition: future research developments in Europe EARNEST, the early nutrition programming project: EARly Nutrition programming – long-term Efficacy and Safety Trials and integrated epidemiological, genetic, animal, consumer and economic research

2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Fewtrell ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Efficacy And Safety ◽  
Early Nutrition ◽  
The Social ◽  
In Pregnancy

Increasing evidence from lifetime experimental studies in animals and observational and experimental studies in human subjects suggests that pre- and postnatal nutrition programme long-term health. However, key unanswered questions remain on the extent of early-life programming in contemporary European populations, relevant nutritional exposures, critical time periods, mechanisms and the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or reverse programming effects. The EARly Nutrition programming – long-term Efficacy and Safety Trials and integrated epidemiological, genetic, animal, consumer and economic research (EARNEST) consortium brings together a multi-disciplinary team of scientists from European research institutions in an integrated programme of work that includes experimental studies in human subjects, modern prospective observational studies and mechanistic animal work including physiological studies, cell-culture models and molecular techniques. Theme 1 tests early nutritional programming of disease in human subjects, measuring disease markers in childhood and early adulthood in nineteen randomised controlled trials of nutritional interventions in pregnancy and infancy. Theme 2 examines associations between early nutrition and later outcomes in large modern European population-based prospective studies, with detailed measures of diet in pregnancy and early life. Theme 3 uses animal, cellular and molecular techniques to study lifetime effects of early nutrition. Biomedical studies are complemented by studies of the social and economic importance of programming (themes 4 and 5), and themes encouraging integration, communication, training and wealth creation. The project aims to: help formulate policies on the composition and testing of infant foods; improve the nutritional value of infant formulas; identify interventions to prevent and reverse adverse early nutritional programming. In addition, it has the potential to develop new products through industrial partnerships, generate information on the social and economic cost of programming in Europe and help maintain Europe's lead in this critical area of research.

Cetacean culture: Still afloat after the first naval engagement of the culture wars

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Rendell ◽  
Hal Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Culture Wars ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
In The Wild

Although the majority of commentators implicitly or explicitly accept that field data allow us to ascribe culture to whales, dolphins, and other nonhumans, there is no consensus. While we define culture as information or behaviour shared by a population or subpopulation which is acquired from conspecifics through some form of social learning, some commentators suggest restricting this by requiring imitation/teaching, human analogy, adaptiveness, stability across generations, progressive evolution (ratchetting), or specific functions. Such restrictions fall down because they either preclude the attribution of culture to nonhumans using currently available methods, or exclude parts of human culture. The evidence for cetacean culture is strong in some cases, but weak in others. The commentaries provide important information on the social learning abilities of bottlenose dolphins and some interesting speculation about the evolution of cetacean cultures and differences between the cultures of different taxa. We maintain that some attributes of cetacean culture are currently unknown outside humans. While experimental studies, both in the laboratory and in the wild, have an important role in the study of culture in whales and dolphins (for instance in determining whether dolphins have a Theory-of-Mind), the real treasures will be uncovered by long-term observational studies at sea using new approaches and technologies.

scholarly journals Epigenetic regulation of transcription: a mechanism for inducing variations in phenotype (fetal programming) by differences in nutrition during early life?

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1036-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham C. Burdge ◽  
Mark A. Hanson ◽  
Jo L. Slater-Jefferies ◽  
Karen A. Lillycrop
Keyword(s):  
Epigenetic Regulation ◽  
Fetal Programming ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Covalent Modification ◽  
Regulation Of Transcription ◽  
Early Life Environment ◽  
And Function

There is considerable evidence for the induction of different phenotypes by variations in the early life environment, including nutrition, which in man is associated with a graded risk of metabolic disease; fetal programming. It is likely that the induction of persistent changes to tissue structure and function by differences in the early life environment involves life-long alterations to the regulation of gene transcription. This view is supported by both studies of human subjects and animal models. The mechanism which underlies such changes to gene expression is now beginning to be understood. In the present review we discuss the role of changes in the epigenetic regulation of transcription, specifically DNA methylation and covalent modification of histones, in the induction of an altered phenotype by nutritional constraint in early life. The demonstration of altered epigenetic regulation of genes in phenotype induction suggests the possibility of interventions to modify long-term disease risk associated with unbalanced nutrition in early life.

scholarly journals Case Report: Omalizumab for Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria in Pregnancy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang-Lu Liao ◽  
Miao Yu ◽  
Zuo-Tao Zhao ◽  
Marcus Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Disease Activity ◽  
Treatment Option ◽  
Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria ◽  
Efficacy And Safety ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Complete Control ◽  
Safe Treatment Option ◽  
In Pregnancy

Most chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) patients are female, and pregnancy can aggravate the disease activity of patients, but little is known about the efficacy and safety of omalizumab in pregnant CSU patients. We report two pregnant CSU patients treated with omalizumab and review the published information on omalizumab treatment during 11 pregnancies. The outcomes reported on patients with known pregnancies showed they had normal pregnancies and healthy babies as well as complete control of their CSU. The two new cases we reported support the view that omalizumab could be an effective and safe treatment option for pregnant and breastfeeding CSU patients. Further high-quality studies need to be carried out in order to obtain more information on the long-term efficacy and safety of the use of omalizumab during pregnancy in patients with chronic urticaria, including CSU.

scholarly journals General Anesthetic-Induced Neurotoxicity in the Immature Brain: Reevaluating the Confounding Factors in the Preclinical Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ailin Luo ◽  
Xiaole Tang ◽  
Yilin Zhao ◽  
Zhiqiang Zhou ◽  
Jing Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Cell Injury ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Outcome ◽  
Clinical Findings ◽  
Preclinical Studies ◽  
General Anesthetic ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Experimental Findings

General anesthetic (GA) is used clinically to millions of young children each year to facilitate surgical procedures, relieve perioperative stress, and provide analgesia and amnesia. During recent years, there is a growing concern regarding a causal association between early life GA exposure and subsequently long-term neurocognitive abnormalities. To address the increasing concern, mounting preclinical studies and clinical trials have been undergoing. Until now, nearly all of the preclinical findings show that neonatal exposure to GA causally leads to acute neural cell injury and delayed cognitive impairment. Unexpectedly, several influential clinical findings suggest that early life GA exposure, especially brief and single exposure, does not cause adverse neurodevelopmental outcome, which is not fully in line with the experimental findings and data from several previous cohort trials. As the clinical data have been critically discussed in previous reviews, in the present review, we try to analyze the potential factors of the experimental studies that may overestimate the adverse effect of GA on the developing brain. Meanwhile, we briefly summarized the advance in experimental research. Generally, our purpose is to provide some useful suggestions for forthcoming preclinical studies and strengthen the powerfulness of preclinical data.

scholarly journals Early nutrition programming of long-term health

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berthold Koletzko ◽  
Brigitte Brands ◽  
Lucilla Poston ◽  
Keith Godfrey ◽  
Hans Demmelmair
Keyword(s):  
Weight Gain ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Postnatal Life ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Rapid Weight Gain ◽  
Early Nutrition ◽  
Increased Risk

Increasing evidence from the EU Project EARNEST and many other investigators demonstrates that early nutrition and lifestyle have long-term effects on later health and the risk of common non-communicable diseases (known as ‘developmental programming’). Because of the increasing public health importance and the transgenerational nature of the problem, obesity and associated disorders are the focus of the new EU funded project ‘EarlyNutrition’. Currently, three key hypotheses have been defined: the fuel mediated ‘in utero’ hypothesis suggests that intrauterine exposure to an excess of fuels, most notably glucose, causes permanent changes of the fetus that lead to obesity in postnatal life; the accelerated postnatal weight gain hypothesis proposes an association between rapid weight gain in infancy and an increased risk of later obesity and adverse outcomes; and the mismatch hypothesis suggests that experiencing a developmental ‘mismatch’ between a sub-optimal perinatal and an obesogenic childhood environment is related to a particular predisposition to obesity and corresponding co-morbidities. Using existing cohort studies, ongoing and novel intervention studies and a basic science programme to investigate those key hypotheses, project EarlyNutrition will provide the scientific foundations for evidence-based recommendations for optimal nutrition considering long-term health outcomes, with a focus on obesity and related disorders. Scientific and technical expertise in placental biology, epigenetics and metabolomics will provide understanding at the cellular and molecular level of the relationships between early life nutritional status and the risk of later adiposity. This will help refine strategies for intervention in early life to prevent obesity.

scholarly journals Impact of Arginine Nutrition and Metabolism during Pregnancy on Offspring Outcomes

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Ning Hsu ◽  
You-Lin Tain
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Pathway ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Developmental Programming ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Arginine Supplementation ◽  
In Pregnancy

By serving as a precursor for the synthesis of nitric oxide, polyamines, and other molecules with biological importance, arginine plays a key role in pregnancy and fetal development. Arginine supplementation is a potential therapy for treating many human diseases. An impaired arginine metabolic pathway during gestation might produce long-term morphological or functional changes in the offspring, namely, developmental programming to increase vulnerability to developing a variety of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in later life. In contrast, reprogramming is a strategy that shifts therapeutic interventions from adulthood to early-life, in order to reverse the programming processes, which might counterbalance the rising epidemic of NCDs. This review presented the role of arginine synthesis and metabolism in pregnancy. We also provided evidence for the links between an impaired arginine metabolic pathway and the pathogenesis of compromised pregnancy and fetal programming. This was followed by reprogramming strategies targeting the arginine metabolic pathway, to prevent the developmental programming of NCDs. Despite emerging evidence from experimental studies showing that targeting the arginine metabolic pathway has promise as a reprogramming strategy in pregnancy to prevent NCDs in the offspring, these results need further clinical application.

scholarly journals Social determinants of health and survival in humans and other animals

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6493) ◽  
pp. eaax9553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Snyder-Mackler ◽  
Joseph Robert Burger ◽  
Lauren Gaydosh ◽  
Daniel W. Belsky ◽  
Grace A. Noppert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Animal Physiology ◽  
Darwinian Fitness ◽  
Species Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Mortality

The social environment, both in early life and adulthood, is one of the strongest predictors of morbidity and mortality risk in humans. Evidence from long-term studies of other social mammals indicates that this relationship is similar across many species. In addition, experimental studies show that social interactions can causally alter animal physiology, disease risk, and life span itself. These findings highlight the importance of the social environment to health and mortality as well as Darwinian fitness—outcomes of interest to social scientists and biologists alike. They thus emphasize the utility of cross-species analysis for understanding the predictors of, and mechanisms underlying, social gradients in health.

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