The influence of parental age on timing of puberty: A study in the Danish National Birth Cohort

2021 ◽  
pp. 140349482110197
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Ladehoff Thomsen ◽  
Cecilia Høst Ramlau-Hansen ◽  
Jørn Olsen ◽  
Nis Brix ◽  
Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen ◽  
...  

Aims: Concerns have been raised about the potential negative biological effect of postponed parenthood upon the health of subsequent generations, including reproductive health. This study aimed to estimate if high parental age at birth was associated with accelerated pubertal timing in offspring. Methods: In this large-scale cohort study, 15,819 children born by mothers in the Danish National Birth Cohort from 2000 to 2003 participated in a nationwide puberty cohort (participation rate 71%). Between 2012 and 2018, the children reported half-yearly information on pubertal status using web-based questionnaires from 11 years throughout puberty or 18 years of age. Information on parental age was drawn from nationwide registers. We estimated adjusted mean differences in months for age at attaining the pubertal milestones and pubertal timing overall between the pre-specified parental age groups: 20–29 (reference), 30–34 and advanced parental age groups (35–44 years for mothers and >35 years for fathers). Results: Overall, parental age at birth of the child was not associated with pubertal timing in daughters or sons. For sons of older fathers (>35 years), we observed indications towards slightly earlier pubertal timing in the range of 0.3–2.4 months for nearly all pubertal milestones, but all confidence intervals were wide, and many included the null. Conclusions: We found no strong association between parental age and timing of puberty, and we find it unlikely that the decreasing age in pubertal timing is a result of parental decision to delay childbearing.

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 602-602
Author(s):  
Oliver Huxhold ◽  
Svenja Spuling ◽  
Susanne Wurm

Abstract In recent years many studies have shown that adults with more positive self-perceptions of aging (SPA) increase their likelihood of aging healthily. Other studies have documented historical changes in individual resources and contextual conditions associated with aging. We explored how these historical changes are reflected in birth-cohort differences in aging trajectories of two aspects of SPA – viewing aging as ongoing development or as increasing physical losses. Using large-scale cohort-sequential data assessed across 21 years (N ≈ 19,000), the analyses modeled birth-cohort differences in aging trajectories of SPA from 40 to 85 years of age. The results illustrated differential birth-cohort differences: Later-born cohorts may experience more potential for ongoing development with advancing age than earlier-born cohorts. However, later-born cohorts seem to view their own aging as more negative than earlier-born cohorts during their early forties but may associate their aging less with physical losses after the age of fifty.


Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Hernández-Rodríguez ◽  
Ermengol Sempere-Verdú ◽  
Caterina Vicens-Caldentey ◽  
Francisca González-Rubio ◽  
Félix Miguel-García ◽  
...  

We aimed to identify and compare medication profiles in populations with polypharmacy between 2005 and 2015. We conducted a cross-sectional study using information from the Computerized Database for Pharmacoepidemiologic Studies in Primary Care (BIFAP, Spain). We estimated the prevalence of therapeutic subgroups in all individuals 15 years of age and older with polypharmacy (≥5 drugs during ≥6 months) using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system level 4, by sex and age group, for both calendar years. The most prescribed drugs were proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), statins, antiplatelet agents, benzodiazepine derivatives, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. The greatest increases between 2005 and 2015 were observed in PPIs, statins, other antidepressants, and β-blockers, while the prevalence of antiepileptics was almost tripled. We observed increases in psychotropic drugs in women and cardiovascular medications in men. By patient´s age groups, there were notable increases in antipsychotics, antidepressants, and antiepileptics (15–44 years); antidepressants, PPIs, and selective β-blockers (45–64 years); selective β-blockers, biguanides, PPIs, and statins (65–79 years); and in statins, selective β-blockers, and PPIs (80 years and older). Our results revealed important increases in the use of specific therapeutic subgroups, like PPIs, statins, and psychotropic drugs, highlighting opportunities to design and implement strategies to analyze such prescriptions’ appropriateness.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A86-A86
Author(s):  
Michael Grandner ◽  
Naghmeh Rezaei

Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in societal-level changes to sleep and other behavioral patterns. Objective, longitudinal data would allow for a greater understanding of sleep-related changes at the population level. Methods N= 163,524 deidentified active Fitbit users from 6 major US cities contributed data, representing areas particularly hard-hit by the pandemic (Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Miami). Sleep variables extracted include nightly and weekly mean sleep duration and bedtime, variability (standard deviation) of sleep duration and bedtime, and estimated arousals and sleep stages. Deviation from similar timeframes in 2019 were examined. All analyses were performed in Python. Results These data detail how sleep duration and timing changed longitudinally, stratified by age group and gender, relative to previous years’ data. Overall, 2020 represented a significant departure for all age groups and both men and women (P<0.00001). Mean sleep duration increased in nearly all groups (P<0.00001) by 5-11 minutes, compared to a mean decrease of 5-8 minutes seen over the same period in 2019. Categorically, sleep duration increased for some and decreased for others, but more extended than restricted. Sleep phase shifted later for nearly all groups (p<0.00001). Categorically, bedtime was delayed for some and advanced for others, though more delayed than advanced. Duration and bedtime variability decreased, owing largely to decreased weekday-weekend differences. WASO increased, REM% increased, and Deep% decreased. Additional analyses show stratified, longitudinal changes to sleep duration and timing mean and variability distributions by month, as well as effect sizes and correlations to other outcomes. Conclusion The pandemic was associated with increased sleep duration on average, in contrast to 2019 when sleep decreased. The increase was most profound among younger adults, especially women. The youngest adults also experienced the greatest bedtime delay, in line with extensive school-start-times and chronotype data. When given the opportunity, the difference between weekdays and weekends became smaller, with occupational implications. Sleep staging data showed that slightly extending sleep minimally impacted deep sleep but resulted in a proportional increase in REM. Wakefulness during the night also increased, suggesting increased arousal despite greater sleep duration. Support (if any) This research was supported by Fitbit, Inc.


Author(s):  
Jeong Eun Kim ◽  
Jaeyong Choi ◽  
Chang-Ohk Sung ◽  
Yong Sang Hong ◽  
Sun Young Kim ◽  
...  

AbstractThe global incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) is rapidly rising. However, the reason for this rise in incidence as well as the genomic characteristics of EO-CRC remain largely unknown. We performed whole-exome sequencing in 47 cases of EO-CRC and targeted deep sequencing in 833 cases of CRC. Mutational profiles of EO-CRC were compared with previously published large-scale studies. EO-CRC and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data were further investigated according to copy number profiles and mutation timing. We classified colorectal cancer into three subgroups: the hypermutated group consisted of mutations in POLE and mismatch repair genes; the whole-genome doubling group had early functional loss of TP53 that led to whole-genome doubling and focal oncogene amplification; the genome-stable group had mutations in APC and KRAS, similar to conventional colon cancer. Among non-hypermutated samples, whole-genome doubling was more prevalent in early-onset than in late-onset disease (54% vs 38%, Fisher’s exact P = 0.04). More than half of non-hypermutated EO-CRC cases involved early TP53 mutation and whole-genome doubling, which led to notable differences in mutation frequencies between age groups. Alternative carcinogenesis involving genomic instability via loss of TP53 may be related to the rise in EO-CRC.


Author(s):  
Pamela Wiener ◽  
Christelle Robert ◽  
Abulgasim Ahbara ◽  
Mazdak Salavati ◽  
Ayele Abebe ◽  
...  

Abstract Great progress has been made over recent years in the identification of selection signatures in the genomes of livestock species. This work has primarily been carried out in commercial breeds for which the dominant selection pressures, are associated with artificial selection. As agriculture and food security are likely to be strongly affected by climate change, a better understanding of environment-imposed selection on agricultural species is warranted. Ethiopia is an ideal setting to investigate environmental adaptation in livestock due to its wide variation in geo-climatic characteristics and the extensive genetic and phenotypic variation of its livestock. Here, we identified over three million single nucleotide variants across 12 Ethiopian sheep populations and applied landscape genomics approaches to investigate the association between these variants and environmental variables. Our results suggest that environmental adaptation for precipitation-related variables is stronger than that related to altitude or temperature, consistent with large-scale meta-analyses of selection pressure across species. The set of genes showing association with environmental variables was enriched for genes highly expressed in human blood and nerve tissues. There was also evidence of enrichment for genes associated with high-altitude adaptation although no strong association was identified with hypoxia-inducible-factor (HIF) genes. One of the strongest altitude-related signals was for a collagen gene, consistent with previous studies of high-altitude adaptation. Several altitude-associated genes also showed evidence of adaptation with temperature, suggesting a relationship between responses to these environmental factors. These results provide a foundation to investigate further the effects of climatic variables on small ruminant populations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 2222-2226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Basso ◽  
Kaare Christensen ◽  
Jørn Olsen

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Teresa González-Ramírez ◽  
María Noel Rodríguez-Ayán ◽  
René Landero Hernández

AbstractOne of the most widely used scales for the evaluation of stress is the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and it has been adapted into different languages. However, few studies have presented normative data from large samples, and there do not appear to be any studies of the PSS that provide normative data based on large samples for Mexico. Thus, the goal of this study was to provide normative data regarding gender and different age groups for a sample of 1990 Mexican subjects to validate the factor structure of the construct for this sample. The analysis of the 10- and 14-item versions of the PSS revealed that the scale had adequate reliability and that the factor structure was consistent with previous studies. With respect to the normative data, the means of the different groups ranged from 20.93 to 25.63 for the PSS14 and from 14.52 to 17.73 for the PSS10. We propose that scores within one standard deviation of these means be used as reference values for each group.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyu Lyu ◽  
Hiroki Takikawa

BACKGROUND The availability of large-scale and fine-grained aggregated mobility data has allowed researchers to observe the dynamic of social distancing behaviors at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Despite the increasing attentions paid to this research agenda, limited studies have focused on the demographic factors related to mobility and the dynamics of social distancing behaviors has not been fully investigated. OBJECTIVE This study aims to assist in the design and implementation of public health policies by exploring the social distancing behaviors among various demographic groups over time. METHODS We combined several data sources, including mobile tracking data and geographical statistics, to estimate visiting population of entertainment venues across demographic groups, which can be considered as the proxy of social distancing behaviors. Then, we employed time series analyze methods to investigate how voluntary and policy-induced social distancing behaviors shift over time across demographic groups. RESULTS Our findings demonstrate distinct patterns of social distancing behaviors and their dynamics across age groups. The population in the entertainment venues comprised mainly of individuals aged 20–40 years, while according to the dynamics of the mobility index and the policy-induced behavior, among the age groups, the extent of reduction of the frequency of visiting entertainment venues during the pandemic was generally the highest among younger individuals. Also, our results indicate the importance of implementing the social distancing policy promptly to limit the spread of the COVID-19 infection. However, it should be noticed that although the policy intervention during the second wave in Japan appeared to increase the awareness of the severity of the pandemic and concerns regarding COVID-19, its direct impact has been largely decreased could only last for a short time. CONCLUSIONS At the time we wrote this paper, in Japan, the number of daily confirmed cases was continuously increasing. Thus, this study provides a timely reference for decision makers about the current situation of policy-induced compliance behaviors. On the one hand, age-dependent disparity requires target mitigation strategies to increase the intention of elderly individuals to adopt mobility restriction behaviors. On the other hand, considering the decreasing impact of self-restriction recommendations, the government should employ policy interventions that limit the resurgence of cases, especially by imposing stronger, stricter social distancing interventions, as they are necessary to promote social distancing behaviors and mitigate the transmission of COVID-19. CLINICALTRIAL None


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