@misc{KozielHermanussenGomulaetal.2017, author = {Koziel, Slawomir and Hermanussen, Michael and Gomula, Alexandra and Swanson, James and Kaczmarek, Maria and El-Shabrawi, Mortada and Elhusseini, Mona and Satake, Takashi and Martinovic Klaric, Irena and Scheffler, Christiane and Morkuniene, Ruta and Godina, Elena and Sasa, Missoni and Tutkuviene, Janina and Siniarska, Anna and Nieczuja-Dwojacka, Joanna and Nunez, Javier and Groth, Detlef and Barbieri, Davide}, title = {Adolescence - a Transition to Adulthood Proceedings of the 24th Aschauer Soiree, held at Jurata, Poland, November 5th 2016}, series = {Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews}, volume = {14}, journal = {Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews}, number = {3}, publisher = {Medical Media}, address = {Netanya}, issn = {1565-4753}, pages = {326 -- 334}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Eighteen scientists met at Jurata, Poland, to discuss various aspects of the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This transition is a delicate period facing complex interactions between the adolescents and the social group they belong to. Social identity, group identification and identity signalling, but also stress affecting basal salivary cortisol rhythms, hypertension, inappropriate nutrition causing latent and manifest obesity, moreover, in developing and under-developed countries, parasitosis causing anaemia thereby impairing growth and development, are issues to be dealt with during this period of the human development. In addition, some new aspects of the association between weight, height and head circumference in the newborns were discussed, as well as intrauterine head growth and head circumference as health risk indicators.}, language = {en} } @article{CzernitzkiPospisilMusaleketal.2017, author = {Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska and Pospisil, Christina and Musalek, Martin and Mumm, Rebekka and Scheffler, Christiane}, title = {Analysis of longitudinal data of height z-scores in kindergarten children}, series = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, volume = {74}, journal = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, number = {2}, publisher = {Schweizerbart science publishers}, address = {Stuttgart}, issn = {0003-5548}, doi = {10.1127/anthranz/2017/0708}, pages = {109 -- 112}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Changes in body height throughout extended historic periods are very complex and dynamic processes. Thispilot study aimed to investigate the pattern of longitudinal height z-scores changes in children before and after entering kindergarten. In summer 2016, we measured height and weight of 32 children from 4 groups of two kindergartens aged 3-6 years. All ages were centered according to the age of entry into the kindergarten. For each child we determined mean z-scores for height before and after entering the kindergarten, and assessed the variances for each kindergarten group. Twenty-two children targeted in height z-scores towards average height of their respective kindergarten group, 10 children did not. Due to the small numbers, the convergence in height variance however, remained insignificant (chi-squared independence test, p = 0.127). Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this pilot study.}, language = {en} } @article{BoginSchefflerHermanussen2017, author = {Bogin, Barry and Scheffler, Christiane and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height}, series = {American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council}, volume = {29}, journal = {American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council}, number = {2}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1042-0533}, doi = {10.1002/ajhb.22980}, pages = {11}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Objectives: Average adult height of a population is considered a biomarker of the quality of the health environment and economic conditions. The causal relationships between height and income inequality are not well understood. We analyze data from 169 countries for national average heights of men and women and national-level economic factors to test two hypotheses: (1) income inequality has a greater association with average adult height than does absolute income; and (2) neither income nor income inequality has an effect on sexual dimorphism in height. Methods: Average height data come from the NCD-RisC health risk factor collaboration. Economic indicators are derived from the World Bank data archive and include gross domestic product (GDP), Gross National Income per capita adjusted for personal purchasing power (GNI_ PPP), and income equality assessed by the Gini coefficient calculated by the Wagstaff method. Results: Hypothesis 1 is supported. Greater income equality is most predictive of average height for both sexes. GNI_ PPP explains a significant, but smaller, amount of the variation. National GDP has no association with height. Hypothesis 2 is rejected. With greater average adult height there is greater sexual dimorphism. Conclusions: Findings support a growing literature on the pernicious effects of inequality on growth in height and, by extension, on health. Gradients in height reflect gradients in social disadvantage. Inequality should be considered a pollutant that disempowers people from the resources needed for their own healthy growth and development and for the health and good growth of their children.}, language = {en} } @article{MusalekKokstejnPapezetal.2017, author = {Musalek, Martin and Kokstejn, Jakub and Papez, Pavel and Scheffler, Christiane and Mumm, Rebekka and Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska and Koziel, Slawomir}, title = {Impact of normal weight obesity on fundamental motor skills in pre-school children aged 3 to 6 years}, series = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, volume = {74}, journal = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, publisher = {Schweizerbart}, address = {Stuttgart}, issn = {0003-5548}, doi = {10.1127/anthranz/2017/0752}, pages = {203 -- 212}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Normal weight obesity is defined as having excessive body fat, but normal BMI. Even though previous research revealed that excessive body fat in children inhibited their physical activity and decreased motor performance, there has been only little evidence about motor performance of normal weight obese children. This study aims to establish whether normal weight obese pre-school children aged 3-6 years will have a significantly worse level of fundamental motor skills compared to normal weight non-obese counterparts. The research sample consisted of 152 pre-schoolers selected from a specific district of Prague, the Czech Republic. According to values from four skinfolds: triceps, subscapula, suprailiaca, calf, and BMI three categories of children aged 3-6 years were determined: A) normal weight obese n = 51; B) normal weight non-obese n = 52; C) overweight and obese n = 49. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used for the assessment of fundamental motor skills. Normal weight obese children had significantly higher amount of adipose tissue p < 0.001 than normal weight non-obese children but the same average BMI. Moreover, normal weight obese children did not have significantly less amount of subcutaneous fat on triceps and calf compared to their overweight and obese peers. In majority of MABC-2 tests, normal weight obese pre-schoolers showed the poorest performance. Moreover, normal weight obese children had significantly worse total standard score = 38.82 compared to normal weight non-obese peers = 52.27; p < 0.05. In addition, normal weight obese children had a more than three times higher frequency OR = 3.69 CI95\% (1.10; 12.35) of severe motor deficit performance <= 5th centile of the MABC-2 norm. These findings are strongly alarming since indices like BMI are not able to identify normal weight obese individual. We recommend verifying real portion of normal weight obese children as they are probably in higher risk of health and motor problems than overweight and obese population due to their low lean mass.}, language = {en} } @article{PospisilCzernitzkiScheffler2017, author = {Pospisil, Christina and Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska and Scheffler, Christiane}, title = {No association between nutrition and body height in German kindergarten children}, series = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, volume = {74}, journal = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Anthropologie}, number = {3}, publisher = {Schweizerbart}, address = {Stuttgart}, issn = {0003-5548}, doi = {10.1127/anthranz/2017/0704}, pages = {199 -- 202}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Anthropologists all over the world are discussing influences on individual height including quantity and quality of nutrition. To examine whether a relationship between nutritional components and height can be found this pilot study has been developed. The research samples consisted of 44 children (age 3-6 years) attending two different kindergartens in Germany. Height measurements were taken for each child. Furthermore the parents had to fill out a 24-hour questionnaire to document their children's eating habits during the weekend. In order to standardize the measured height values z-scores were calculated with reference to the average height of the overall cohort. The results of correlation analysis indicate that height is not significantly related to any of the main nutritional components as protein (r = -0.148), carbohydrates (r = 0.126), fat (r = 0.107), fibre (r = -0.289), vitamin (r = 0.050), calcium (r = 0.110), potassium (r = 0.189) and overall calorie intake (r = 0.302). In conclusion, it can be stated that the quality of nutrition may not have a strong influence on individual height. However, due to the small sample size further research should be provided with a larger cohort of children to verify the present results.}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerGreilHermanussen2017, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Greil, Holle and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {The association between weight, height, and head circumference reconsidered}, series = {Pediatric Research}, volume = {81}, journal = {Pediatric Research}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {New York}, issn = {0031-3998}, doi = {10.1038/pr.2017.3}, pages = {825 -- 830}, year = {2017}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Under normal nutritional and health conditions, body height, weight and head circumference are significantly related. We hypothesize that the apparent general association between weight, height, and head circumference of the growing child might be misleading. METHODS: We reanalyzed data of 7,444 boys and 7,375 girls measured in East-Germany between 1986 and 1990, aged from 0 to 7 y with measurements of body length/height, leg length, sitting height, biacromial shoulder breadth, thoracic breadth, thoracic depth, thoracic circumference, body weight, head volume, percentage of body fat, and hip skinfold vertical, using principal component analysis. RESULTS: Strong associations exist between skeletal growth, fat accumulation, and head volume increments. Yet in spite of this general proportionality, skeletal growth, fat acquisition, and head growth exhibit different patterns. Three components explain between almost 60\% and more than 75\% of cumulative variance between birth and age 7 y. Parameters of skeletal growth predominantly load on the first component and clearly separate from indicators of fat deposition. After age of 2 y, head volume loads on a separate third component in both sexes indicating independence of head growth. CONCLUSION: Under appropriate nutritional and health circumstances, nutritional status, body size, and head circumference are not related.}, language = {en} }