TY - JOUR A1 - Apanasewicz, Anna A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Piosek, Magdalena A1 - Wychowaniec, Patrycja A1 - Babiszewska, Magdalena A1 - Barbarska, Olga A1 - Ziomkiewicz, Anna T1 - Traumatized women’s infants are bigger than children of mothers without traumas JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger N2 - Life history theory predicts that experiencing stress during the early period of life will result in accelerated growth and earlier maturation. Indeed, animal and some human studies documented a faster pace of growth in the offspring of stressed mothers. Recent advances in epigenetics suggest that the effects of early developmental stress might be passed across the generations. However, evidence for such intergenerational transmission is scarce, at least in humans. Here we report the results of the study investigating the association between childhood trauma in mothers and physical growth in their children during the first months of life. Anthropometric and psychological data were collected from 99 mothers and their exclusively breastfed children at the age of 5 months. The mothers completed the Early Life Stress Questionnaire to assess childhood trauma. The questionnaire includes questions about the most traumatic events that they had experienced before the age of 12 years. Infant growth was evaluated based on the anthropometric measurements of weight, length, and head circumference. Also, to control for the size of maternal investment, the composition of breast milk samples taken at the time of infant anthropometric measurements was investigated. The children of mothers with higher early life stress tended to have higher weight and bigger head circumference. The association between infant anthropometrics and early maternal stress was not affected by breast milk composition, suggesting that the effect of maternal stress on infant growth was independent of the size of maternal investment. Our results demonstrate that early maternal trauma may affect the pace of growth in the offspring and, in consequence, lead to a faster life history strategy. This effect might be explained via changes in offspring epigenetics. KW - maternal trauma KW - early life trauma KW - breastfed infant development KW - POLS Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1285 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 359 EP - 374 PB - Schweizerbart science publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boeker, Sonja A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Koziel, Slawomir ED - Hermanussen, Michael ED - Bogin, Barry T1 - Westernization of self-perception in modern affluent Indonesian school children T2 - Human Biology and Public Health N2 - Background Subjective Social Status is used as an important predictor for psychological and physiological findings, most commonly measured with the MacArthur Scale (Ladder Test). Previous studies have shown that this test fits better in Western cultures. The idea of a social ladder itself and ranking oneself “higher” or “lower” is a concept that accords to the Western thinking. Objectives We hypothesize that in a culture where only the elites have adapted to a Western lifestyle, the test results reflect a higher level of accuracy for this stratum. We also expect that self-perception differs per sex. Sample and Methods We implemented the Ladder Test in a study of Indonesian schoolchildren aged between 5 and 13 years (boys N = 369, girls N= 364) from non-private and private schools in Kupang in 2020. Results Our analysis showed that the Ladder Test results were according to the Western expectations only for the private school, as the Ladder Scores significantly decreased with age (LM: p = 0.04). The Ladder Test results are best explained by “Education Father” for the non-private school pupils (p = 0.01) and all boys (p = 0.04), by “School Grades” for the private school cohort (p = 0.06) and by “Household Score” for girls (p =0.09). Conclusion This finding indicates that the concept of ranking oneself “high” or “low” on a social ladder is strongly implicated with Western ideas. A ladder implies social movement by “climbing” up or down. According to that, reflection of self-perception is influenced by culture. KW - self-perception KW - social status KW - westernization KW - cultural dependence Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.4 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boeker, Sonja A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Dental age is an independent marker of biological age JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Biological age markers are a crucial indicator whether children are decelerated in growth tempo. Skeletal maturation is the standard measure. Yet, it relies on exposing children to x-radiation. Dental eruption is a potential, but highly debated, radiation free alternative.  Objectives: We assess the interrelationship between dental eruption and other maturational markers. We hypothesize that dental age correlates with body height and skeletal age. We further evaluate how the three different variables behave in cohorts from differing social backgrounds. Sample and Method: Dental, skeletal and height data from the 1970s to 1990s from Guatemalan boys were converted into standard deviation scores, using external references for each measurement. The boys, aged between 7 and 12, derived from different social backgrounds (middle SES (N = 6529), low-middle SES (N = 736), low SES Ladino (N = 3653) and low SES Maya (N = 4587). Results: Dental age shows only a weak correlation with skeletal age (0.18) and height (0.2). The distinction between cohorts differs according to each of the three measurements. All cohorts differ significantly in height. In skeletal maturation, the middle SES cohort is significantly advanced compared to all other cohorts. The periodically malnourished cohorts of low SES Mayas and Ladinos are significantly delayed in dental maturation compared to the well-nourished low-middle and middle class Ladino children. Conclusion: Dental development is an independent system, that is regulated by different mechanisms than skeletal development and growth. Tooth eruption is sensitive to nutritional status, whereas skeletal age is more sensitive to socioeconomic background. KW - dental eruption KW - biological age KW - skeletal age KW - growth tempo KW - maturation KW - malnutrition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.24 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 3, Summer School Supplement PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - As tall as my peers BT - similarity in body height between migrants and hosts JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology JF - Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: We define migrants as people who move from their place of birth to a new place of residence. Migration usually is directed by "Push-Pull" factors, for example to escape from poor living conditions or to find more prosperous socio-economic conditions. Migrant children tend to assimilate quickly, and soon perceive themselves as peers within their new social networks. Differences exist between growth of first generation and second generation migrants. Methods: We review body heights and height distributions of historic and modern migrant populations to test two hypotheses: 1) that migrant and adopted children coming from lower social status localities to higher status localities adjust their height growth toward the mean of the dominant recipient social network, and 2) social dominant colonial and military migrants display growth that significantly surpasses the median height of both the conquered population and the population of origin. Our analytical framework also considered social networks. Recent publications indicate that spatial connectedness (community effects) and social competitiveness can affect human growth. Results: Migrant children and adolescents of lower social status rapidly adjust in height towards average height of their hosts, but tend to mature earlier, and are prone to overweight. The mean height of colonial/military migrants does surpass that of the conquered and origin population. Conclusion: Observations on human social networks, non-human animal strategic growth adjustments, and competitive growth processes strengthen the concept of social connectedness being involved in the regulation of human migrant growth. KW - growth of migrants KW - community effect on height KW - dominance KW - strategic growth adjustments KW - competitive growth Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2018/0828 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 74 IS - 5 SP - 365 EP - 376 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Fear, violence, inequality and stunting in Guatemala T2 - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Association Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23593 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 33 PB - Wiley Interscience CY - New York, NY [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height JF - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council N2 - 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. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22980 SN - 1042-0533 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 29 IS - 2 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Varea, Carlos A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Human life course biology BT - a centennial perspective of scholarship on the human pattern of physical growth and its place in human biocultural evolution JF - American journal of physical anthropology KW - adolescence KW - childhood KW - life history KW - menopause KW - senescence Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23357 SN - 0002-9483 SN - 1096-8644 VL - 165 IS - 4 SP - 834 EP - 854 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Brinkmann, Stefanie A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The relation between anthropometric measures of the body and back pain of nurses under work-related physical stress T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 4 SP - 490 EP - 491 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska A1 - Pospisil, Christina A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Analysis of longitudinal data of height z-scores in kindergarten children BT - a pilot study JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - 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. KW - Height z-score KW - kindergarten children KW - secular trend KW - strategic growth adjustment KW - social signal Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2017/0708 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 74 IS - 2 SP - 109 EP - 112 PB - Schweizerbart science publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke-Gromberg, Christine A1 - Schüler, Grit A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Digital 2D-photogrammetry and direct anthropometry : a comparing study on test accomplishment and measurement data N2 - The aim of this methodological anthropometric study was to compare direct anthropometry and digital two- dimensional photogrammetry in 18 male and 27 female subjects, aged 24 to 65 years, from Potsdam, Germany. In view of the rising interest in reliable biometric kephalofacial data, we focussed on head and face measurements. Out of 34 classic facial anatomical landmarks, 27 landmarks were investigated both by direct anthropometry and 2D-photogrammetry; 7 landmarks could not be localized by 2D-photogrammetry. Twenty-six kephalofacial distances were analysed both by direct anthropometry and digital 2D-photogrammetry. Kephalofacial distances are on average 7.6% shorter when obtained by direct anthropometry. The difference between the two techniques is particularly evident in total head height (vertex-gnathion) due to the fact that vertex is usually covered by hair and escapes from photogrammetry. Also the distances photographic sellion-gnathion (1.3 cm, i. e. 11.6%) and nasal-gnathion (1.2 cm, i. e. 9.4%) differ by more than one centimetre. Differences below 0.5 cm between the two techniques were found when measuring mucosa-lip-height (2.2%), gonia (3.0%), glabella-stomion (3.9%), and nose height (glabella-subnasal) (4.0%). Only the estimates of forehead width were significantly narrower when obtained by 2D-photogrammetry (-1.4 cm, -13.1%). The methodological differences increased with increasing magnitude of the kephalometric distance. Apart from these limitations, both techniques are similarly valid and may replace each other. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/schweiz/aa U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2010/0012 SN - 0003-5548 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friebel, Francis A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Popular ideas and convictions about factors influencing the growth as well as the adult height of children BT - a German-French comparison JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Common knowledge suggests that growth in height is influenced by nutrition, genetics, health, and environmental and general living conditions. In addition, modern studies showed that also social mobility and dominance within the social group, may significantly affect adolescent growth and final height. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of popular ideas and beliefs about factors influencing the growth on the biology of child and adolescent growth. We hypothesized that these beliefs are culture-specific and age-dependent. We investigated 307 French and 315 German participants of all age-groups. We collected polarising statements by questionnaire that the participants had to agree or disagree on. French participants see a connection between nutrition and the body height of children. This is different in Germany and may be due to the fact that French food culture is more traditional. Genetic factors were generally overestimated and considered as the most important determinants of longitudinal-growth. The participants denied an influence of disease and social status. Participants over 35 years of age considered adult height to be independent of environmental factors. In conclusion, popular beliefs partly depend on culture and appear to change with age as a result of growing experience. KW - nutrition KW - genetics KW - health KW - environmental and general living conditions KW - child growth KW - adolescent growth KW - final height Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0972 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 365 EP - 370 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gasparatos, Nikolaos A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Assessing the applicability of changepoint analysis to analyse short-term growth JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Assessing short-term growth in humans is still fraught with difficulties. Especially when looking for small variations and increments, such as mini growth spurts, high precision instruments or frequent measurements are necessary. Daily measurements however require a lot of effort, both for anthropologists and for the subjects. Therefore, new sophisticated approaches are needed that reduce fluctuations and reveal underlying patterns. Objectives: Changepoints are abrupt variations in the properties of time series data. In the context of growth, such variations could be variation in mean height. By adjusting the variance and using different growth models, we assessed the ability of changepoint analysis to analyse short-term growth and detect mini growth spurts. Sample and Methods: We performed Bayesian changepoint analysis on simulated growth data using the bcp package in R. Simulated growth patterns included stasis, linear growth, catch-up growth, and mini growth spurts. Specificity and a normalised variant of the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) were used to assess the algorithm’s performance. Welch’s t-test was used to compare differences of the mean. Results: First results show that changepoint analysis can detect mini growth spurts. However, the ability to detect mini growth spurts is highly dependent on measurement error. Data preparation, such as ranking and rotating time series data, showed negligible improvements. Missing data was an issue and may affect the prediction quality of the classification metrics. Conclusion: Changepoint analysis is a promising tool to analyse short-term growth. However, further optimisation and analysis of real growth data is needed to make broader generalisations. KW - changepoint analysis KW - changepoint detection KW - performance evaluation KW - mini growth spurt KW - short-term growth Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2023.1.62 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 1 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Gniosdorz, Birgit A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The variability of bone strength and skeletal robustness of young men - how it can be influenced T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 4 SP - 497 EP - 498 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gomula, Aleksandra A1 - Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Koziel, Slawomir T1 - Trends in growth and developmental tempo in boys aged 7 to 18 years between 1966 and 2012 in Poland JF - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council N2 - Objectives: To assess trends in growth in different developmental periods and trends in developmental tempo in Polish boys between 1966 and 2012. Methods: Data on 34 828 boys aged 7 to 18 years were collected during Polish Anthropological Surveys conducted in 1966, 1978, 1988, and 2012. Biological parameters, related to onset of adolescent growth spurt (OGS) and peak height velocity (PHV), were derived from a Preece-Baines 1 model (PB1). Childhood (height at 7 years of age), pre-adolescent (height at OGS) and adolescent growth (adult height minus height at OGS) were identified. Results: Positive secular trend between 1966 and 2012 in adult height accounted for, on average, 1.5 cm/decade, with varying intensity between the Surveys. Decline in both age at OGS and APHV between 1966 and 2012 (1.5 and 1.4 years, respectively) indicated an acceleration in developmental tempo, on average, by 0.3 year/decade. Increases in the contribution to the trend in adult height gained during growth in particular developmental periods between 1966 and 2012 were as followed-childhood: 0.6%, pre-adolescent growth: -3.1%, adolescent growth: 3.1%. Conclusions: Secular trend in developmental tempo and growth among boys reflects changes in living conditions and socio-political aspirations in Poland during nearly 50 years. Acceleration in tempo is already visible at age at OGS, whereas the trend in adult height occurs largely during adolescence, pointing to different regulation of developmental tempo and growth in body height. This finding emphasizes the importance of extending public health intervention into children's growth up until adolescence. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23548 SN - 1042-0533 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 33 IS - 6 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Greil, Holle A1 - Jürgens, Hans Wilhelm A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Schröder, Inge T1 - Anthropometrische Grundlagen für die Entwicklung maßgerechter 3D-Computersimulationen des menschlichen Körpers zum Einsatz bei der Gestaltung körpernaher Umweltelemente Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Greil, Holle A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Body mobility, reaction and concentration in young and elderly adults Y1 - 2000 SN - 953-96073-5-3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Body height in stunted Indonesian children depends directly on parental education and not via a nutrition mediated pathway BT - Evidence from tracing association chains by St. Nicolas House Analysis JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: Multiple linear correlations between parameters can be shown in correlation matrices. Correlations can be ranked, but can also be visualized in network graphs. Yet, translating a correlation matrix into a network graph is not trivial. In view of a popular child game, we propose to name this method St. Nicolas House Analysis. Material and methods: We present a new method (St. Nicolas House Analysis) that helps translating correlation matrices into network graphs. The performance of this and other network reconstruction methods was tested in randomly created virtual scale-free networks, networks consisting of bands or hubs, using balanced classification rate and the F1-Score for correctly predicting existing and non-existing edges. Thereafter we analyzed anthropometric data and information on parental education, obtained from an anthropometric survey in 908 Indonesian boys and 808 Indonesian girls. Seven parameters were analyzed: child height standard deviation score (hSDS), child BMI standard deviation scores (BMI_SDS), mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC), mean thickness of subscapular and triceps skinfold (mean SF), and elbow breadth; as well as maternal and paternal education (years of schooling). The parameters were considered as the nodes of the network; the edges represent the correlations between the nodes. Results: Performance measures, balanced classification rate and the F1-score, showed that St. Nicolas’ House Analysis was superior to methods using sophisticated correlation value thresholds and methods based on partial correlations for analyzing bands and hubs. We applied this method also in an Indonesia data set. Ranking correlations showed the direct association between parental education and child growth. Conclusion: St. Nicolas House Analysis confirmed that growth of Indonesian school children directly depends on maternal education, with no evidence that this effect is mediated by the state of nutrition. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/1027 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 445 EP - 451 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Human growth data analysis and statistics – the 5th Gülpe International Student Summer School JF - Human biology and public health N2 - The Summer School in Gülpe (Ecological Station of the University of Potsdam) offers an exceptional learning opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems. With the guidance of experienced human biologists, statisticians, and programmers, students have the unique chance to analyze their own data and gain valuable insights. This interdisciplinary setting not only bridges different research areas but also leads to highly valuable outputs. The progress of students within just a few days is truly remarkable, especially when they are motivated and receive immediate feedback on their questions, problems, and results. The Summer School covers a wide range of topics, with this year’s focus mainly on two areas: understanding the impact of socioeconomic and physiological factors on human development and mastering statistical techniques for analyzing data such as changepoint analysis and the St. Nicolas House Analysis (SNHA) to visualize interacting variables. The latter technique, born out of the Summer School’s emphasis on gaining comprehensive data insights and understanding major relationships, has proven to be a valuable tool for researchers in the field. The articles in this special issue demonstrate that the Summer School in Gülpe stands as a testament to the power of practical learning and collaboration. Students who attend not only gain hands-on experience but also benefit from the expertise of professionals and the opportunity to engage with peers from diverse disciplines. KW - Summer Schools KW - Statistical Exercise KW - Repetition Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2023.1.70 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 1 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Bilogub, Maria A1 - Lindl, A. C. A1 - Harper, D. A1 - Mansukoski, L. A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Weight and height growth of malnourished school-age children during re-feeding BT - three historic studies published shortly after World War I JF - European journal of clinical nutrition N2 - Background In view of the ongoing debate on "chronic malnutrition" and the concept of "stunting" as "a better measure than underweight of the cumulative effects of undernutrition and infection (WHO)", we translate, briefly comment and republish three seminal historic papers on catch-up growth following re-feeding after severe food restriction of German children during and after World War I. The observations were published in 1920 and 1922, and appear to be of particular interest to the modern nutritionist. Results The papers of Abderhalden (1920) and Bloch (1920) describe German children of all social strata who were born shortly before World War I, and raised in apparently "normal" families. After severe long-standing undernutrition, they participated in an international charity program. They experienced exceptional catch-up growth in height of 3-5 cm within 6-8 weeks. Goldstein (1922) observed 512 orphans and children from underprivileged families. Goldstein described very different growth patterns. These children were much shorter (mean height between -2.0 and -2.8 SDS, modern WHO reference). They mostly failed to catch-up in height, but tended to excessively increase in weight particularly during adolescence. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0274-z SN - 0954-3007 SN - 1476-5640 VL - 72 IS - 12 SP - 1603 EP - 1619 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The impact of social identity and social dominance on the regulation of human growth: A viewpoint T2 - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.14970 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 108 IS - 12 SP - 2132 EP - 2134 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Stunting, starvation and refeeding BT - a review of forgotten 19th and early 20th century literature JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child N2 - Aim: To scrutinize to what extent modern ideas about nutrition effects on growth are supported by historic observations in European populations. Method: We reviewed 19th and early 20th century paediatric journals in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the third largest European library with an almost complete collection of the German medical literature. During a three-day visit, we inspected 15 bookshelf meters of literature not available in electronic format. Results: Late 19th and early 20th century breastfed European infants and children, independent of social strata, grew far below World Health Organisation (WHO) standards and 15-30% of adequately-fed children would be classified as stunted by the WHO standards. Historic sources indicate that growth in height is largely independent of the extent and nature of the diet. Height catch-up after starvation was greater than catch-up reported in modern nutrition intervention studies, and allowed for unimpaired adult height. Conclusion: Historical studies are indispensable to understand why stunting does not equate with undernutrition and why modern diet interventions frequently fail to prevent stunting. Appropriateness and effect size of modern nutrition interventions on growth need revision. KW - Child growth KW - Historic literature KW - Refeeding KW - Stunting KW - Undernutrition Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.14311 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 107 IS - 7 SP - 1166 EP - 1176 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Erofeev, Sergei A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The socio-endocrine regulation of human growth JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child N2 - Aim Growth is a multifarious phenomenon that has been studied by nutritionists, economists, paediatric endocrinologists; archaeologists, child psychologists and other experts. Yet, a unifying theory of understanding growth regulation is still lacking. Method Critical review of the literature. Results We summarise evidence linking social competition and its effect on hierarchies in social structures, with the neuronal networks of the ventromedial hypothalamus and body size. The endocrine signalling system regulating growth hormone, Insulin-like-Growth-Factor1 and skeletal growth, is well conserved in the evolution of vertebrata for some 400 million years. The link between size and status permits adaptive plasticity, competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments also in humans. Humans perceive size as a signal of dominance with tallness being favoured and particularly prevalent in the upper social classes. Conclusion Westernised societies are competitive. People are tall, and "open to change." Social values include striving for status and prestige implying socio-economic domination. We consider the transition of political and social values following revolutions and civil wars, as key elements that interact with the evolutionarily conserved neuroendocrine competence for adaptive developmental plasticity, overstimulate the hypothalamic growth regulation and finally lead to the recent historic increases in average height. KW - competitive growth KW - developmental plasticity KW - evolution KW - growth KW - hormone-releasing hormone KW - strategic growth adjustments Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.16504 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Ruehli, Frank J. A1 - Blaha, Pawel A1 - Boldsen, Jesper L. A1 - van Buuren, Stef A1 - MacIntyre, Matthew A1 - Aßmann, Christian A1 - Ghosh, Arunava A1 - de Stefano, Gian Fra nco A1 - Sonkin, Valentin D. A1 - Tresguerres Hernández, Jesús Ángel Fernández A1 - Meigen, Christof A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Geiger, Cherie L. A1 - Lieberman, Leslie Sue T1 - Growth variation, final height and secular trend : proceedings of the 17th Aschauer Soiree, 7th November 2009 N2 - Growth and body height have always been topics interesting to the public. In particular, the stupendous increase of some 15-19 cm in final adult height during the last 150 years in most European countries (the "secular trend"), the concomitant changes in body and head proportions, the tendency towards early onset of sexual maturation, the changes in the age when final height is being reached, and the very recent trend in body mass index, have generated much scientific literature. The marked plasticity of growth in height and weight over time causes problems. Child growth references differ between nations, they tend to quickly become out of date, and raise a number of questions regarding fitting methods, effects caused by selective drop-out, etc. New findings contradict common beliefs about the primary importance of nutritional and health related factors for secular changes in growth. There appears to be a broad age span from mid-childhood to early adolescence that is characterised by a peculiar insusceptibility. Environmental factors that are known to influence growth during this age span appear to have only little or no impact on final height. Major re- arrangements in height occur at an age when puberty has almost been completed and final height has almost been reached, implying that factors, which drive the secular trend in height, are limited to early childhood and late adolescence. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0018442X U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchb.2010.06.001 SN - 0018-442X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Statistical approaches to developmental and growth data of children and adolescents BT - an editorial to student research conducted during the 3rd international student summer school, July 2019, Potsdam and Gülpe, Germany JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie KW - human growth KW - bone accumulation KW - environmental effects KW - migration KW - socioeconomic status KW - parental education KW - nutrition KW - statistical tools Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1302 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 355 EP - 357 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Human growth data analyses and statistics BT - The 4th Gülpe International Student Summer School JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Students learn by repetition. Repetition is essential, but repetition needs questioning, and questioning the repertoire belongs to the essential tasks of student education. Guiding students to questioning was and is our prime motive to offer our International Student Summer Schools. The data were critically discussed among the students, in the twilight of Just So Stories, common knowledge, and prompted questioning of contemporary solutions. For these schools, the students bring their own data, carry their preliminary concepts, and in group discussions, they may have to challenge these concepts. Catch-up growth is known to affect long bone growth, but different opinions exist to what extent it also affects body proportions. Skeletal age and dental development are considered appropriate measures of maturation, but it appears that both system develop independently and are regulated by different mechanisms. Body weight distributions are assumed to be skewed, yet, historic data disproved this assumption. Many discussions focused on current ideas of global growth standards as a common yardstick for all populations world-wide, with new statistical tools being developed including network reconstruction and evaluation of the reconstructs to determine the confidence of graph prediction methods. KW - Just so stories KW - Summer Schools KW - questioning solutions KW - repetition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.29 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 3, Summer School Supplement PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Ipsen, Josefin A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Assmann, Christian A1 - Quitmann, Julia A1 - Gomula, Aleksandra A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Jasch, Isabelle A1 - Tassenaar, Vincent A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Satake, Takashi A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Nunez, Javier A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Hardeland, Ruediger A1 - Boldsen, Jesper L. A1 - El-Shabrawi, Mortada A1 - Elhusseini, Mona A1 - Barbu, Carmen Gabriela A1 - Pop, Ralucca A1 - Soederhaell, Jani A1 - Merker, Andrea A1 - Swanson, James A1 - Groth, Detlef T1 - Stunted Growth. Proceedings of the 23rd Aschauer Soiree, Held at Aschauhof, Germany, November 7th 2015 T2 - Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews N2 - Twenty-four scientists met at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, to discuss the associations between child growth and development, and nutrition, health, environment and psychology. Meta-analyses of body height, height variability and household inequality, in historic and modern growth studies published since 1794, highlighting the enormously flexible patterns of child and adolescent height and weight increments throughout history which do not only depend on genetics, prenatal development, nutrition, health, and economic circumstances, but reflect social interactions. A Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth Questionnaire was presented to cross-culturally assess health-related quality of life in children. Changes of child body proportions in recent history, the relation between height and longevity in historic Dutch samples and also measures of body height in skeletal remains belonged to the topics of this meeting. Bayesian approaches and Monte Carlo simulations offer new statistical tools for the study of human growth. KW - Adolescent growth KW - Peer group KW - Growth hormone KW - Community effect KW - Body height Y1 - 2016 SN - 1565-4753 VL - 13 SP - 756 EP - 767 PB - Medical Media CY - Netanya ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Sexuelle Reifeentwicklung & Menarchealter : Bedeutung des psychosozialen Umfeldes damals und heute Y1 - 2012 SN - 0179-9185 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Lieberman, L. S. A1 - Schönfeld Janewa, U. A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Ghosh, A. A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Godina, E. A1 - Kaczmarek, M. A1 - El-Shabrawi, M. A1 - Salama, E. E. A1 - Rühli, F. J. A1 - Staub, K. A1 - Woitek, U. A1 - Blaha, Pawel A1 - vanBuurren, S. A1 - Lehmann, A. A1 - Satake, T. A1 - Thodberg, H. H. A1 - Jopp, E. A1 - Kirchengast, S. A1 - Tutkuviene, J. A1 - McIntyre, M. H. A1 - Wittwer-Backofen, U. A1 - Boldsen, J. L. A1 - Martin, D. D. A1 - Meier, J. T1 - Diversity in auxology: between theory and practice Proceedings of the 18th Aschauer Soiree, 13th November 2010 Y1 - 2012 SN - 0003-5548 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Lieberman, Leslie Su A1 - Janewa, V. Schoenfeld A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Ghosh, Arunava A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Kaczmarek, M. A1 - El-Shabrawi, M. A1 - Salama, E. E. A1 - Rühli, Frank J. A1 - Staub, Kaspar A1 - Woitek, U. A1 - Blaha, Pawel A1 - Aßmann, Christian A1 - van Buuren, Stef A1 - Lehmann, A. A1 - Satake, T. A1 - Thodberg, H. H. A1 - Jopp, E. A1 - Kirchengast, S. A1 - Tutkuviene, J. A1 - McIntyre, M. H. A1 - Wittwer-Backofen, U. A1 - Boldsen, Jesper L. A1 - Martin, D. D. A1 - Meier, J. T1 - Diversity in auxology between theory and practice JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Auxology has developed from mere describing child and adolescent growth into a vivid and interdisciplinary research area encompassing human biologists, physicians, social scientists, economists and biostatisticians. The meeting illustrated the diversity in auxology, with the various social, medical, biological and biostatistical aspects in studies on child growth and development. KW - child growth KW - adolescent growth KW - child development KW - height KW - weight KW - body mass KW - socio-economic environment Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2012/0133 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 69 IS - 2 SP - 159 EP - 174 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Pulungan, Aman B. A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Rogol, Alan D. A1 - Pop, Raluca A1 - Swanson, James M. A1 - Sonuga-Barke, Edmund A1 - Reimann, Anna A1 - Siniarska-Wolanska, Anna A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Boldsen, Jesper L. A1 - Tassenaar, (Vincent) A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Liu, Yuk-Chien A1 - Meigen, Christof A1 - Quanjer, Bjorn A1 - Thompson, Kristina A1 - Ozer, Baak Koca A1 - Bryl, Ewa A1 - Mamrot, Paula A1 - Hanc, Tomasz A1 - Koziel, Slawomir A1 - Soderhall, Jani A1 - Gomula, Aleksandra A1 - Banik, Sudip Datta A1 - Roelants, Mathieu A1 - Veldre, Gudrun A1 - Lieberman, Leslie Sue A1 - Sievert, Lynnette Leidy T1 - Meeting Reports BT - The Role of Beliefs and Perception on Body Size. Proceedings of the 26th Aschauer Soiree, Held at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, May 26th, 2018 JF - Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews N2 - Thirty-one scientists met at Aschauhof, Germany to discuss the role of beliefs and self-perception on body size. In view of apparent growth stimulatory effects of dominance within the social group that is observed in social mammals, they discussed various aspects of competitive growth strategies and growth adjustments. Presentations included new data from Indonesia, a cohort-based prospective study from Merida, Yucatan, and evidence from recent meta-analyses and patterns of growth in the socially deprived. The effects of stress experienced during pregnancy and adverse childhood events were discussed, as well as obesity in school children, with emphasis on problems when using z-scores in extremely obese children. Aspects were presented on body image in African-American women, and body perception and the disappointments of menopause in view of feelings of attractiveness in different populations. Secular trends in height were presented, including short views on so called 'racial types' vs bio-plasticity, and historic data on early-life nutritional status and later-life socioeconomic outcomes during the Dutch potato famine. New tools for describing body proportions in patients with variable degrees of phocomelia were presented along with electronic growth charts. Bio-statisticians discussed the influence of randomness, community and network structures, and presented novel tools and methods for analyzing social network data. KW - Body size KW - Social group KW - Social network KW - Body perception KW - Competitive growth strategies KW - Growth adjustment Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17458/per.vol16.2019.hps.mr.26achauersoiree SN - 1565-4753 VL - 16 IS - 3 SP - 383 EP - 400 PB - Medical Media CY - Netanya ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Stature signals status: The association of stature, status and perceived dominance - a thought experiment JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: There is a common perception that tall stature results in social dominance. Evidence in meerkats suggests that social dominance itself may be a strong stimulus for growth. Relative size serves as the signal for individuals to induce strategic growth adjustments. Aim: We construct a thought experiment to explore the potential consequences of the question: is stature a social signal also in humans? We hypothesize that (1) upward trends in height in the lower social strata are perceived as social challenges yielding similar though attenuated upward trends in the dominant strata, and that (2) democratization, but also periods of political turmoil that facilitate upward mobility of the lower strata, are accompanied by upward trends in height. Material and methods: We reanalyzed large sets of height data of European conscripts born between 1856-1860 and 1976-1980; and annual data of German military conscripts, born between 1965 and 1985, with information on height and school education. Results: Taller stature is associated with higher socioeconomic status. Historic populations show larger height differences between social strata that tend to diminish in the more recent populations. German height data suggest that both democratization, and periods of political turmoil facilitating upward mobility of the lower social strata are accompanied by a general upward height spiral that captures the whole population. Discussion: We consider stature as a signal. Nutrition, health, general living conditions and care giving are essential prerequisites for growth, yet not to maximize stature, but to allow for its function as a lifelong social signal. Considering stature as a social signal provides an elegant explanation of the rapid height adjustments observed in migrants, of the hitherto unexplained clustering of body height in modern and historic cohorts of military conscripts, and of the parallelism between changes in political conditions, and secular trends in adult human height since the 19th century. KW - community effect on height KW - secular trend KW - body height KW - social signals KW - strategic growth adjustment Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2016/0698 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 73 SP - 265 EP - 274 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Secular trends in gestational weight gain and parity on birth weight BT - an editorial JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child KW - birth weight KW - gestational weight gain KW - multipara KW - parity KW - primipara KW - secular trend Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15678 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 110 IS - 4 SP - 1094 EP - 1096 PB - Wiley CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Nutrition, size, and tempo JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Nutrition is a prerequisite, but not a regulator of growth. Growth is defined as increase in size over time. The understanding of growth includes an understanding of the binary concept of physical time and individual tempo. Excess food causes tempo acceleration. Food restriction delays tempo. Tempo reflects the pace of life. It is a dynamic physical response to a broad spectrum of social, economic, political, and emotional (SEPE) factors and can affect life expectancy. Variations in tempo create distortions of the z-score patterns of height and weight. Illness or intermediate food shortage lead to intermediate halts in development and create short dips in the z-score patterns. Children who develop throughout life at delayed pace usually run at lower z-scores for height and weight, and show a characteristic adolescent trough; children who develop throughout life at faster than average pace usually run at higher z-scores and show a characteristic adolescent peak in their z-score patterns. During adolescence, almost half of the height variance is due to tempo variation. There is not one tempo for the whole body. Different organ systems grow and mature at different pace. KW - food access KW - physical time KW - SEPS factors KW - pace of life KW - catch-up-growth Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2022.3.37 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2022 IS - 3 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Evidence of chronic undernutrition in late 19th century German infants of all social classes JF - Human biology and public health N2 - 125 years ago, European infants grew differently from modern infants. We show weight gains of 20 healthy children weighed longitudinally from birth to age 1 year, published by Camerer in 1882. The data illustrate the historically prevalent concepts of infant nutrition practiced by German civil servants, lawyers, merchants, university professors, physicians, foresters and farmers. Breastfeeding by the mother was not truly appreciated in those days; children were often breastfed by wet nurses or received bottled milk. Bottle feeding mainly used diluted cow’s milk with some added carbohydrates, without evidence that appropriate amounts of oil, butter or other fatty components were added. French children from 1914 showed similar weight gain patterns suggesting similar feeding practices. The historical data suggest that energy deficient infant formula was fed regularly in the late 19th and early 20th century Europe, regardless of wealth and social class. The data question current concerns that temporarily feeding energy deficient infant formula may warrant serious anxieties regarding long-term cognitive, social and emotional behavioral development. KW - chronic undernutrition KW - breastfeeding KW - historical growth KW - social class KW - translation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2022.2.42 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2022 IS - 2 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Aßmann, Christian T1 - Height and skeletal morphology in relation to modern life style JF - Journal of physiological anthropology N2 - Height and skeletal morphology strongly relate to life style. Parallel to the decrease in physical activity and locomotion, modern people are slimmer in skeletal proportions. In German children and adolescents, elbow breadth and particularly relative pelvic breadth (50th centile of bicristal distance divided by body height) have significantly decreased in recent years. Even more evident than the changes in pelvic morphology are the rapid changes in body height in most modern countries since the end-19th and particularly since the mid-20th century. Modern Japanese mature earlier; the age at take-off (ATO, the age at which the adolescent growth spurt starts) decreases, and they are taller at all ages. Preece-Baines modelling of six national samples of Japanese children and adolescents, surveyed between 1955 and 2000, shows that this gain in height is largely an adolescent trend, whereas height at take-off (HTO) increased by less than 3 cm since 1955; adolescent growth (height gain between ATO and adult age) increased by 6 cm. The effect of globalization on the modern post-war Japanese society ("community effect in height") on adolescent growth is discussed. KW - Pelvic breadth KW - Elbow breadth KW - Growth KW - Adult height KW - Community effect in height Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40101-015-0080-4 SN - 1880-6805 VL - 34 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Bogin, Barry T1 - Student work on trends in infant and child growth BT - an editorial T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger : Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie KW - nutrition KW - impact on growth KW - geographic neighborhood KW - mortality bias KW - limb disproportions KW - physical activity KW - socioeconomic status KW - parental age KW - statistical tools Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/1052 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 363 EP - 364 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Bogin, Barry T1 - Perceiving stunting - Student research and the "Lieschen Muller effect" in nutrition science T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie KW - stunting KW - undernutrition KW - strategic growth adjustments KW - competitive growth KW - community effect on height Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2018/0858 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 74 IS - 5 SP - 355 EP - 358 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Martin, Lidia A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Waxmonsky, James G. A1 - Swanson, James A1 - Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia A1 - Gomula, Aleksandra A1 - Apanasewicz, Anna A1 - Konarski, Jan M. A1 - Malina, Robert M. A1 - Bartkowiak, Sylwia A1 - Lebedeva, Lidia A1 - Suchomlinov, Andrej A1 - Konstantinov, Vsevolod A1 - Blum, Werner A1 - Limony, Yehuda A1 - Chakraborty, Raja A1 - Kirchengast, Sylvia A1 - Tutkuviene, Janina A1 - Jakimaviciene, Egle Marija A1 - Cepuliene, Ramune A1 - Franken, Daniel A1 - Navazo, Bárbara A1 - Moelyo, Annang G. A1 - Satake, Takashi A1 - Koziel, Slawomir ED - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Koziel, Slawomir ED - Hermanussen, Michael ED - Bogin, Barry T1 - Growth, Nutrition and Economy BT - Proceedings of the 27th Aschauer Soiree, held at Krobielowice, Poland, November 16th 2019 T2 - Human Biology and Public Health N2 - Twenty-three scientists met at Krobielowice, Poland to discuss the role of growth, nutrition and economy on body size. Contrasting prevailing concepts, re-analyses of studies in Indonesian and Guatemalan school children with high prevalence of stunting failed to provide evidence for an association between nutritional status and body height. Direct effects of parental education on growth that were not transmitted via nutrition were shown in Indian datasets using network analysis and novel statistical methods (St. Nicolas House Analysis) that translate correlation matrices into network graphs. Data on Polish children suggest significant impact of socioeconomic sensitivity on child growth, with no effect of maternal money satisfaction. Height and maturation tempo affect the position of a child among its peers. Correlations also exist between mood disorders and height. Secular changes in height and weight varied across decades independent of population size. Historic and recent Russian data showed that height of persons whose fathers performed manual work were on average four cm shorter than persons whose fathers were high-degree specialists. Body height, menarcheal age, and body proportions are sensitive to socioeconomic variables. Additional topics included delayed motherhood and its associations with newborn size; geographic and socioeconomic indicators related to low birth weight, prematurity and stillbirth rate; data on anthropometric history of Brazil, 1850-1950; the impact of central nervous system stimulants on the growth of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and pituitary development and growth hormone secretion. Final discussions debated on reverse causality interfering between social position, and adolescent growth and developmental tempo. KW - nutrition KW - stunting KW - socioeconomy KW - education KW - secular changes KW - pubertal timing Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.1 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Pulungan, Aman B. A1 - Bandyopadhyay, Arup Ratan A1 - Ghosh, Jyoti Ratan A1 - Özdemir, Ayşegül A1 - Koca Özer, Başak A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Lebedeva, Lidia A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Tutkuviene, Janina A1 - Budrytė, Milda A1 - Gervickaite, Simona A1 - Limony, Yehuda A1 - Kirchengast, Sylvia A1 - Buston, Peter A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Rösler, Antonia A1 - Gasparatos, Nikolaos A1 - Erofeev, Sergei A1 - Novine, Masiar A1 - Navazo, Bárbara A1 - Dahinten, Silvia A1 - Gomuła, Aleksandra A1 - Nowak-Szczepańska, Natalia A1 - Kozieł, Sławomir T1 - Environment, social behavior, and growth BT - Proceedings of the 30th Aschauer Soiree, held at Krobielowice, Poland, June 18th 2022 JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Twenty-four scientists met for the annual Auxological conference held at Krobielowice castle, Poland, to discuss the diverse influences of the environment and of social behavior on growth following last year’s focus on growth and public health concerns (Hermanussen et al., 2022b). Growth and final body size exhibit marked plastic responses to ecological conditions. Among the shortest are the pygmoid people of Rampasasa, Flores, Indonesia, who still live under most secluded insular conditions. Genetics and nutrition are usually considered responsible for the poor growth in many parts of this world, but evidence is accumulating on the prominent impact of social embedding on child growth. Secular trends not only in the growth of height, but also in body proportions, accompany the secular changes in the social, economic and political conditions, with major influences on the emotional and educational circumstances under which the children grow up (Bogin, 2021). Aspects of developmental tempo and aspects of sports were discussed, and the impact of migration by the example of women from Bangladesh who grew up in the UK. Child growth was considered in particular from the point of view of strategic adjustments of individual size within the network of its social group. Theoretical considerations on network characteristics were presented and related to the evolutionary conservation of growth regulating hypothalamic neuropeptides that have been shown to link behavior and physical growth in the vertebrate species. New statistical approaches were presented for the evaluation of short term growth measurements that permit monitoring child growth at intervals of a few days and weeks. KW - St. Nicolas House Analysis KW - child growth KW - body proportions KW - social network KW - public health KW - migration Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2023.1.59 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 1 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Pulungan, Aman B. A1 - Batubara, Jose R. L. A1 - Julia, Madarina A1 - Bogin, Barry T1 - Response to the correspondence referring to our article "Stunting is not a synonym of malnutrition" (2018EJCN0997RR) by Conny Tanjung, Titis Prawitasari, Damayanti Rusli Sjarif T2 - European journal of clinical nutrition Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0571-1 SN - 0954-3007 SN - 1476-5640 VL - 74 IS - 3 SP - 529 EP - 531 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - New York, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Weick, Stefan A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Severe postwar malnutrition did not have a negative impact on the earnings and subsequent pensions of German men born in 1945-1948 JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child N2 - Aim: Poverty has often been associated with malnutrition, stunted growth, impaired cognitive development and poor earnings. We studied whether these associations were found in German men born and raised shortly after World War II during severe and long-standing nationwide malnutrition. Methods: We analysed German old-age pension payments, as a rough measure of lifetime earnings, in German men born from 1932 to 1960 and compared the at-risk-of-poverty rates of German men born in 1945-1948 versus 1935-1938 and 1955-1958. Results: Substantially fewer women worked during this period and their longer life expectancy makes their pension payments difficult to interpret. We therefore limited our analysis to men. Men born in the 1930s received the highest monthly old-age pensions and these declined slightly in men born from 1945 to 1948, indicating a minute impairment in work-related income in cohorts born shortly after the war. We also found that there was no evidence for increased at-risk-of-poverty rates in men born in 1945-1948 versus those born in 1935-1938 and in 1955-1958. Conclusion: Being born and raised following World War II was associated with a minute work and pension impairment that was not visible in the at-risk-of-poverty rates. These findings question statements associating early childhood nutrition and future lifetime earnings. KW - Brain development KW - Labour market outcome KW - Malnutrition KW - Old-age pension KW - Poverty Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13945 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 106 SP - 1630 EP - 1634 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Janewa, Vanessa Schönfeld A1 - Ghosh, Arnab A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Comparison of BMI and percentage of body fat of Indian and German children and adolescents JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Today, serious health problems as overweight and obesity are not just constricted to the developed world, but also increase in the developing countries (Prentice 2006, Ramachandram et al. 2002). Focusing on this issue, BMI and percentage of body fat were compared in 2094 schoolchildren from two cross-sectional studies from India and Germany investigated in 2008 and 2009. The German children are in all age groups significantly taller, whereas the Indian children show higher values in BMI (e.g. 12 years: Indian: around 22 kg/m(2); German: around 19 kg/m(2)) and in the percentage of body fat (e.g. 12 years: Indian: around 27 %; German: around 18-20%) in most of the investigated age groups. The Indian children have significantly higher BMI between 10 and 13 (boys) respectively 14 years (girls). Indian children showed significant higher percentage of body fat between 10 and 15 years (boys) and between 8 and 16 years (girls). The difference in overweight between Indian and German children was strongest at 11 (boys) and 12 (girls) years: 70 % of the Indian but 20% of the German children were classified as overweight. In countries such as India that undergo nutritional transition, a rapid increase in obesity and overweight is observed. In contrast to the industrialized countries, the risk of overweight in developing countries is associated with high socioeconomic status. Other reasons of the rapid increase of overweight in the developing countries caused by different environmental or genetic factors are discussed. KW - Overweight KW - school children KW - industrial and developing countries Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2012/0170 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 69 IS - 2 SP - 175 EP - 187 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jopp, Eilin A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Prevention and anthropology JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Screening is an important issue in medicine and is used to early identify unrecognised diseases in persons who are apparently in good health. Screening strongly relies on the concept of "normal values". Normal values are defined as values that are frequently observed in a population and usually range within certain statistical limits. Screening for obesity should start early as the prevalence of obesity consolidates already at early school age. Though widely practiced, measuring BMI is not the ultimate solution for detecting obesity. Children with high BMI may be "robust" in skeletal dimensions. Assessing skeletal robustness and in particularly assessing developmental tempo in adolescents are also important issues in health screening. Yet, in spite of the necessity of screening investigations, appropriate reference values are often missing. Meanwhile, new concepts of growth diagrams have been developed. Stage line diagrams are useful for tracking developmental processes over time. Functional data analyses have efficiently been used for analysing longitudinal growth in height and assessing the tempo of maturation. Convenient low-cost statistics have also been developed for generating synthetic national references. KW - screening KW - obesity KW - skeletal robustness KW - developmental tempo Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2014/0384 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 71 IS - 1-2 SP - 135 EP - 141 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ketelhut, Kerstin A1 - Bittmann, Frank A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Mohasseb, Iman A1 - Ketelhut, Reinhard G. T1 - Blutdruck (BP) Body Mass Index (BMI) und motorische Fähigkeiten bei Kindern in Abhängigkeit vom sozialen Status in der frühen Kindheit Y1 - 2003 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ketelhut, Kerstin A1 - Bittmann, Frank A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Morgenstern, Ulrike T1 - Vergleichsuntersuchung über Körpermaße und motorische Fähigkeiten bei Kindern Y1 - 2003 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ketelhut, Kerstin A1 - Mohasseb, Iman A1 - Gericke, Christian A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Ketelhut, Reinhard G. T1 - Verbesserung der Motorik und des kardiovaskulären Risikos durch Sport im frühen Kindesalter Y1 - 2005 UR - http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?src=suche&id=46457 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ketelhut, Kerstin A1 - Mohasseb, Iman A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Ketelhut, Reinhard G. T1 - Regular exercise improves risk profile and motor development in early childhood Y1 - 2004 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Koziel, Slawomir A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Gomula, Alexandra A1 - Swanson, James A1 - Kaczmarek, Maria A1 - El-Shabrawi, Mortada A1 - Elhusseini, Mona A1 - Satake, Takashi A1 - Martinovic Klaric, Irena A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Morkuniene, Ruta A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Sasa, Missoni A1 - Tutkuviene, Janina A1 - Siniarska, Anna A1 - Nieczuja-Dwojacka, Joanna A1 - Nunez, Javier A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Barbieri, Davide T1 - Adolescence - a Transition to Adulthood Proceedings of the 24th Aschauer Soiree, held at Jurata, Poland, November 5th 2016 T2 - Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews N2 - 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. KW - Strategic growth adjustment KW - BMI KW - Growth faltering KW - Secular trend KW - Obesity KW - Growth modelling Y1 - 2017 SN - 1565-4753 VL - 14 IS - 3 SP - 326 EP - 334 PB - Medical Media CY - Netanya ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koziel, Slawomir A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Tutkuviene, Janina A1 - Jakimaviciene, Egle Marija A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Barbieri, Davide A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - El-Shabrawi, Mortada A1 - Elhusseini, Mona A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Pruszkowska-Przybylska, Paulina A1 - El Dash, Hanaa H. A1 - Safar, Hebatalla Hassan A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Swanson, James A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Liu, Yuk-Chien A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Kirchengast, Sylvia A1 - Siniarska, Anna A1 - Nieczuja-Dwojacka, Joanna A1 - Kralik, Miroslav A1 - Satake, Takashi A1 - Harc, Tomasz A1 - Roelants, Mathieu A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Meeting Report: Growth and social environment BT - Proceedings of the 25th Aschauer Soiree, held at Krobielowice, Poland, November 18th 2017 JF - Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews N2 - Twenty-two scientists met at Krobielowice, Poland, to discuss the impact of the social environment, spatial proximity, migration, poverty, but also psychological factors such as body perception and satisfaction, and social stressors such as elite sports, and teenage pregnancies, on child and adolescent growth. The data analysis included linear mixed effects models with different random effects, Monte Carlo analyses, and network simulations. The work stressed the importance of the peer group, but also included historic material, some considerations about body proportions, and growth in chronic liver, and congenital heart disease. KW - Body height KW - Social environment KW - Strategic growth adjustment KW - Competitive growth KW - Community effects on growth Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17458/per.vol15.2018.ksh.mr.GrowthSocialEnvironment SN - 1565-4753 VL - 15 IS - 4 SP - 319 EP - 329 PB - Medical Media CY - Netanya ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lebedeva, Lidia A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Godina, Elena T1 - The network effects on conscripts' height in the central provinces of Russian empire in the middle of XIX century BT - at the beginning of XX century JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: We investigated average body height in the central provinces of the Russian empire in the middle of XIX century in view of the concept of "community effects on height". We analyzed body height correlations between neighboring districts at this time. We added information about secular changes in body height during the 19th century of this territory. Material and methods: The study used height data of conscripts, which were born in the years 1853-1863, and age 21 at the time of measurement. The territory of seven provinces was considered as a network with 105 nodes, each node representing one district with information on average male body height. In order to define neighboring districts three different approaches were used: based on the "common borders" method, based on Euclidean distances (from 60 to 120 km), based on real road connections. Results: Small but significant correlation coefficients were observed between 1st order districts in the network based on Euclidean distance of 100 km (r = 0.256, p-value = 0.006) and based on "the common borders" approach (r = 0.25, p-value = 0.02). Wherein no significant correlations were observed in the network based on road connections and between second order neighbors regardless of the method. Conclusion: Height correlation coefficients between 1st order neighboring districts observed in the Russian districts were very similar to values observed in the Polish study (r = 0.24). The considered Russian territory and the territory of Poland have a lot in common. They consist of both plains without mountains. In contradistinction to Poland the transport infrastructure in Russia was weakly developed in the middle of XIX century. In addition, the mobility of people was limited by serfdom. In this context the absent of significant correlation of second order neighbors can be explained by low population density and lack of migration and communication between the districts. KW - body height KW - correlation KW - conscripts KW - community effect on height KW - Russian empire Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0984 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 371 EP - 377 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Kurvers, Ralf H. J. M. A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Under pressure: human adolescents express a pace-of-life syndrome JF - Behavioral ecology and sociobiology N2 - The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis posits that life-history characteristics, among individual differences in behavior, and physiological traits have coevolved in response to environmental conditions. This hypothesis has generated much research interest because it provides testable predictions concerning the association between the slow-fast life-history continuum and behavioral and physiological traits. Although humans are among the most well-studied species and similar concepts exist in the human literature, the POLS hypothesis has not yet been directly applied to humans. Therefore, we aimed to (i) test predicted relationships between life history, physiology, and behavior in a human population and (ii) better integrate the POLS hypothesis with other similar concepts. Using data of a representative sample of German adolescents, we extracted maturation status for girls (menarche, n = 791) and boys (voice break, n = 486), and a set of health-related risk-taking behaviors and cardiovascular parameters. Maturation status and health-related risk behavior as well as maturation status and cardiovascular physiology covaried in boys and girls. Fast maturing boys and girls had higher blood pressure and expressed more risk-taking behavior than same-aged slow maturing boys and girls, supporting general predictions of the POLS hypothesis. Only some physiological and behavioral traits were positively correlated, suggesting that behavioral and physiological traits might mediate life-history trade-offs differently. Moreover, some aspects of POLS were sex-specific. Overall, the POLS hypothesis shares many similarities with other conceptual frameworks from the human literature and these concepts should be united more thoroughly to stimulate the study of POLS in humans and other animals. Significance statement The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis suggests that life history, behavioral and physiological traits have coevolved in response to environmental conditions. Here, we tested this link in a representative sample of German adolescents, using data from a large health survey (the KIGGs study) containing information on individual age and state of maturity for girls and boys, and a set of health-related risk-taking behaviors and cardiovascular parameters. We found that fast maturing girls and boys had overall higher blood pressure and expressed more risk-taking behavior than same-aged slow maturing girls and boys. Only some behavioral and physiological traits were positively correlated, suggesting that behavioral and physiological traits might mediate life-history trade-offs differently and not necessarily form a syndrome. Our results demonstrate a general link between life history, physiological and behavioral traits in humans, while simultaneously highlighting a more complex and rich set of relationships, since not all relationships followed predictions by the POLS hypothesis. KW - Adolescence KW - Humans KW - Life history KW - Menarche KW - Physiology KW - Risk taking Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2465-y SN - 0340-5443 SN - 1432-0762 VL - 72 IS - 3 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - What does the mean menarcheal age mean?An analysis of temporal pattern in variability in a historical swiss population from the 19th and 20th centuries JF - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council N2 - ObjectivesAge at menarche is one of the most important factors when observing growth and development. The aim of this study was to assess the temporal pattern in variability of menarcheal age for a historic Swiss population from the 19th and 20th centuries. ResultsMean menarcheal age declined from 17.34 years (n=358) around 1830 to 13.80 years (n=141) around 1950. Within-cohort variance decreased from 7.5 to 2.1 year(2). Skewness was negatively correlated with birth year (r=-0.58). ConclusionThis study provided evidence for a secular trend in various statistical parameters for age at menarche since the 19th century. Furthermore, the results of the analysis of temporal pattern in variability revealed that the secular trend in menarcheal age happened in two phases. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:705-713, 2016. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22854 SN - 1042-0533 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 28 SP - 705 EP - 713 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - The variation in age at menarche : an indicator of historic developmental tempo N2 - Ample literature describes the history of the association between the advances in the health and wealth of people, and mortality rates, life expectancy and adult height. Twentynine German studies with n > 200 subjects published since 1848 on menarcheal age, were reanalyzed, and 101 studies from various other European and non-European countries. On average, mean age at menarche declined since the mid-19(th) century. Historic urban samples tended to decline earlier than rural groups, upper class women earlier than working class women. In Germany, minimum values for the age at menarche were seen already between the two World Wars (Leipzig 12.6 years in 1934, Halle 13.3 years in 1939). Values for mean age and SD for age at menarche were strongly associated. With improving historic circumstances, the two parameters declined in parallel. The standard deviation for menarcheal age dropped from over 2.5 years in mid-19th century France to little more or even less than 1 year in most modern countries. In the German studies the correlation between menarcheal age and SD was almost complete with r = 0.96 (y = 0.35x - 3.53). Similar associations between mean age at menarche and SD for age were found in other European countries. The obvious and immediate effects of historic events on menarcheal age, and particularly on the age distribution, indicate that menarche is a sensitive indicator of public health and wealth, and may be an appropriate estimator for the socio-economic background of historic populations. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/schweiz/aa U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2010/0086 SN - 0003-5548 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Evidence of seasonal variation in longitudinal growth of height in a sample of boys from Stuttgart Carlsschule, 1771-1793, using combined principal component analysis and maximum likelihood principle N2 - Recent progress in modelling individual growth has been achieved by combining the principal component analysis and the maximum likelihood principle. This combination models growth even in incomplete sets of data and in data obtained at irregular intervals. We re-analysed late 18th century longitudinal growth of German boys from the boarding school Carlsschule in Stuttgart. The boys aged 6-23 years, were measured at irregular 3-12 monthly intervals during the period 1771-1793. At the age of 18 years, mean height was 1652 mm, but height variation was large. The shortest boy reached 1474 mm, the tallest 1826 mm. Measured height closely paralleled modelled height, with mean difference of 4 mm, SD 7 mm. Seasonal height variation was found. Low growth rates occurred in spring and high growth rates in summer and autumn. The present study demonstrates that combining the principal component analysis and the maximum likelihood principle enables growth modelling in historic height data also. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0018442X U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchb.2009.11.003 SN - 0018-442X ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Tryggvadottir, Laufey A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Menarcheal age and body height in Iceland in the last century T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 4 SP - 507 EP - 508 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maqsood, Arusa A1 - Naumenko, Daniel J. A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Groth, Detlef T1 - No correlation between short term weight gain and lower leg length gain in healthy German children JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: Length-for-age is considered the indicator of choice in monitoring the long-term impact of chronic nutritional deficiency. Aim: We hypothesized that short term increments of body weight cross-correlate with increments of the lower leg length. Sample and methods: We re-analyzed the association between weekly measurements of weight and of lower leg length in 34 healthy German children, aged 2.9-15.9 years. The data are a subset of measurements originally published in 1988 (Hermanussen et al. 1988a). As the growth measurements were often not equally spaced in time due to interposed holidays and illness, the incremental rates for weight and lower leg length were smoothed using spline functions. Autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions were calculated for weight increments and lower leg length increments. Results: Height and weight increments are pulsatile. Autocorrelations indicated that mini growth spurts occur at irregular intervals. Lack of cross-correlations between weight and lower leg length indicated that mini spurts in weight gain do not coincide with mini spurts in length gain even when considering lag times of up to 10 weeks. Short term changes of weight gain and lower leg length gain in healthy children show no temporal association. KW - knemometry KW - short term growth KW - mini growth spurts KW - lower leg length Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1237 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 399 EP - 403 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martin, Lidia A1 - Dorjee, Binu A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Positive influence of parental education on growth of children BT - statistical analysis of correlation between social and nutritional JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger N2 - In nature, dominance is often shown by body size; even in humans many studies report that social status is associated with body height. In today's society, educational status is an important factor for social classification. Since growing children do not have their own educational or social status, they are often affected by the status of their parents. Therefore, the question appears, whether parental educational status measurably affects the growth of a child. If so, is this explainable by the nutritional factors? To test this hypothesis, seven different Indian data sets where reexamined using the St. Nicolas House Analysis. The results show a direct association between parental education and body height (hSDS) of the child, but there was no influence of parental education on the nutritional status. We conclude that education has a direct effect on height that is not mediated via nutrition. KW - parental educational status KW - social classification KW - body height Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1177 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 375 EP - 387 PB - Schweizerbart science publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mohasseb, Iman A1 - Ketelhut, Kerstin A1 - Mohasseb, Iman A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Gericke, Christian A1 - Scholze, J. A1 - Ketelhut, Reinhard G. T1 - Benefit of regular Exercise on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Motor Development in Early Childhood Y1 - 2004 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Koziel, Slawomir A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Sedlak, Petr A1 - Wittwer-Backofen, Ursula A1 - Hess, Volker A1 - Dasgupta, Parasmani A1 - Henneberg, Maciej A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - External skeletal robusticity of children and adolescents BT - European references from birth to adulthood and international comparisons JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology JF - Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: In our modern world, the way of life in nutritional and activity behaviour has changed. As a consequence, parallel trends of an epidemic of overweight and a decline in external skeletal robusticity are observed in children and adolescents. Aim: We aim to develop reference centiles for external skeletal robusticity of European girls and boys aged 0 to 18 years using the Frame Index as an indicator and identify population specific age-related patterns. Methods: We analysed cross-sectional & longitudinal data on body height and elbow breadth of boys and girls from Europe (0-18 years, n = 41.679), India (7-18 years, n = 3.297) and South Africa (3-18 years, n = 4.346). As an indicator of external skeletal robusticity Frame Index after Frisancho (1990) was used. We developed centiles for boys and girls using the LMS-method and its extension. Results: Boys have greater external skeletal robusticity than girls. Whereas in girls Frame Index decreases continuously during growth, an increase of Frame Index from 12 to 16 years in European boys can be observed. Indian and South African boys are almost similar in Frame Index to European boys. In girls, the pattern is slightly different. Whereas South African girls are similar to European girls, Indian girls show a lesser external skeletal robusticity. Conclusion: Accurate references for external skeletal robusticity are needed to evaluate if skeletal development is adequate per age. They should be used to monitor effects of changes in way of life and physical activity levels in children and adolescents to avoid negative health outcomes like osteoporosis and arthrosis. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2018/0826 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 74 IS - 5 SP - 383 EP - 391 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - voice break as the marker of biological age JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child N2 - Aim: We aimed to develop the first references for body height, body weight and body mass index (BMI) for boys based on the individual developmental tempo with respect to their voice break status. Methods: We re-analysed data from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS study) on body height, body weight and body mass index based on the voice break, or mutation, in 3956 boys aged 10-17 years. We used the LMS method to construct smoothed references centiles for the studied variables in premutational, mutational and postmutational boys. Results: Body height, body weight and BMI differed significantly (p < 0.001) between the different stages of voice break. On average, boys were 5.9 cm taller, 5.8 kg heavier and had a 0.7 kg/m(2) higher BMI with every higher stage of voice break. Currently used growth references for chronological age in comparison with maturity-related references led to an average of 5.4% of boys being falsely classified as overweight. KW - Body mass index KW - Developmental tempo KW - Growth reference values KW - Overweight KW - Voice break Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13488 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 105 SP - e459 EP - e463 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Lack of evidence of nutritional influence on height in four low and middle-income countries JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - ‘Nutrition influences height’ has been a common concept for the last decades. Recently, contradictory results occurred when studying the effectiveness of nutritional interventions, questioning the interaction of nutrition and height. Therefore, we hypothesize that, independently of population/country, nutrition does not affect height in children and adolescents. We analyzed data from the study “Young Lives” which was performed in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam to describe the health situation of children. We used linear mixed effect models to analyze the influence of nutrition on height. Furthermore, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test if the commonly assumed hypothetical interaction of height and nutrition can be supported by data from low and middle-income countries. Estimates for nutrition on height of linear mixed effect models were about zero and randomly significant or non-significant in all analyzed countries. Furthermore, SEM led to the rejection of the ‘nutrition influences height’-hypothesis, as data did not support the models based on this hypothesis. We do not find evidence for a nutritional influence on height in children and adolescents from low and middle-income countries. The widespread assumption that inadequate diet is reflected in short stature, which all modern nutritional interventions are based on, needs to be critically reviewed. KW - nutrition KW - height KW - children KW - low and middle-income Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0988 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 421 EP - 432 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Developing differential height, weight and body mass index references for girls that reflect the impact of the menarche JF - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child N2 - Aim Growth is both a matter of amplitude and tempo. We aimed to develop references for body height, body weight and body mass index (BMI) with respect to tempo of maturity. Methods Data obtained from the German KiGGS study (2003-2006) on body height, body weight and presence or absence of the menarche were re-analysed in 3776 girls, aged 10-17years. We developed smoothed centiles for BMI-, body-height- and body-weight-for-age using the LMS method for premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls. Results Body height, body weight and BMI differed significantly between premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls. On average, postmenarcheal girls aged 11-17years were 5.3cm taller and 9.7kg heavier, and their BMI was 2.9kg/m2 higher than in premenarcheal girls of the same calendar age. Conclusion Adolescent BMI rises with calendar age and biological age. New reference charts for adolescent girls aged 10-18years were generated to be inserted into the currently used references to avoid misclassifying underweight and overweight pubertal girls. KW - Body mass index KW - Body mass index reference values KW - Menarche KW - Obesity KW - Overweight Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.12625 SN - 0803-5253 SN - 1651-2227 VL - 103 IS - 7 SP - e312 EP - e316 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Locally structured correlation (LSC) plots describe inhomogeneity in normally distributed correlated bivariate variables T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Background The association between bivariate variables may not necessarily be homogeneous throughout the whole range of the variables. We present a new technique to describe inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables. Methods We consider the correlation of two normally distributed random variables. The 45° diagonal through the origin of coordinates represents the line on which all points would lie if the two variables completely agreed. If the two variables do not completely agree, the points will scatter on both sides of the diagonal and form a cloud. In case of a high association between the variables, the band width of this cloud will be narrow, in case of a low association, the band width will be wide. The band width directly relates to the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. We then determine the Euclidean distances between the diagonal and each point of the bivariate correlation, and rotate the coordinate system clockwise by 45°. The standard deviation of all Euclidean distances, named “global standard deviation”, reflects the band width of all points along the former diagonal. Calculating moving averages of the standard deviation along the former diagonal results in “locally structured standard deviations” and reflect patterns of “locally structured correlations (LSC)”. LSC highlight inhomogeneity of bivariate correlations. We exemplify this technique by analyzing the association between body mass index (BMI) and hip circumference (HC) in 6313 healthy East German adults aged 18 to 70 years. Results The correlation between BMI and HC in healthy adults is not homogeneous. LSC is able to identify regions where the predictive power of the bivariate correlation between BMI and HC increases or decreases, and highlights in our example that slim people have a higher association between BMI and HC than obese people. Conclusion Locally structured correlations (LSC) identify regions of higher or lower than average correlation between two normally distributed variables. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1319 KW - Standard deviation KW - Locally structured standard deviation KW - Locally structured correlation KW - Variance Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-588777 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1319 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Locally structured correlation (LSC) plots describe inhomogeneity in normally distributed correlated bivariate variables JF - Archives of Public Health N2 - Background The association between bivariate variables may not necessarily be homogeneous throughout the whole range of the variables. We present a new technique to describe inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables. Methods We consider the correlation of two normally distributed random variables. The 45° diagonal through the origin of coordinates represents the line on which all points would lie if the two variables completely agreed. If the two variables do not completely agree, the points will scatter on both sides of the diagonal and form a cloud. In case of a high association between the variables, the band width of this cloud will be narrow, in case of a low association, the band width will be wide. The band width directly relates to the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. We then determine the Euclidean distances between the diagonal and each point of the bivariate correlation, and rotate the coordinate system clockwise by 45°. The standard deviation of all Euclidean distances, named “global standard deviation”, reflects the band width of all points along the former diagonal. Calculating moving averages of the standard deviation along the former diagonal results in “locally structured standard deviations” and reflect patterns of “locally structured correlations (LSC)”. LSC highlight inhomogeneity of bivariate correlations. We exemplify this technique by analyzing the association between body mass index (BMI) and hip circumference (HC) in 6313 healthy East German adults aged 18 to 70 years. Results The correlation between BMI and HC in healthy adults is not homogeneous. LSC is able to identify regions where the predictive power of the bivariate correlation between BMI and HC increases or decreases, and highlights in our example that slim people have a higher association between BMI and HC than obese people. Conclusion Locally structured correlations (LSC) identify regions of higher or lower than average correlation between two normally distributed variables. KW - Standard deviation KW - Locally structured standard deviation KW - Locally structured correlation KW - Variance Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00748-4 SN - 0778-7367 SN - 2049-3258 VL - 80 PB - Springer Nature BMC CY - Bruxelles ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Locally structured correlation (LSC) plots describe inhomogeneity in normally distributed correlated bivariate variables JF - Archives of public health = Archives belges de santé publique = Belgisch archief voor volksgezondheid N2 - Background The association between bivariate variables may not necessarily be homogeneous throughout the whole range of the variables. We present a new technique to describe inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables. Methods We consider the correlation of two normally distributed random variables. The 45 degrees diagonal through the origin of coordinates represents the line on which all points would lie if the two variables completely agreed. If the two variables do not completely agree, the points will scatter on both sides of the diagonal and form a cloud. In case of a high association between the variables, the band width of this cloud will be narrow, in case of a low association, the band width will be wide. The band width directly relates to the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. We then determine the Euclidean distances between the diagonal and each point of the bivariate correlation, and rotate the coordinate system clockwise by 45 degrees. The standard deviation of all Euclidean distances, named "global standard deviation", reflects the band width of all points along the former diagonal. Calculating moving averages of the standard deviation along the former diagonal results in "locally structured standard deviations" and reflect patterns of "locally structured correlations (LSC)". LSC highlight inhomogeneity of bivariate correlations. We exemplify this technique by analyzing the association between body mass index (BMI) and hip circumference (HC) in 6313 healthy East German adults aged 18 to 70 years. Results The correlation between BMI and HC in healthy adults is not homogeneous. LSC is able to identify regions where the predictive power of the bivariate correlation between BMI and HC increases or decreases, and highlights in our example that slim people have a higher association between BMI and HC than obese people. Conclusion Locally structured correlations (LSC) identify regions of higher or lower than average correlation between two normally distributed variables. KW - Standard deviation KW - Locally structured standard deviation KW - Locally KW - structured correlation KW - Variance Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00748-4 SN - 0778-7367 SN - 2049-3258 VL - 80 IS - 1 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Musalek, Martin A1 - Kokstejn, Jakub A1 - Papez, Pavel A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska A1 - Koziel, Slawomir T1 - Impact of normal weight obesity on fundamental motor skills in pre-school children aged 3 to 6 years JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - 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. KW - normal weight obesity KW - fundamental motor skills KW - MABC-2 KW - performance KW - pre-school children KW - skinfolds KW - adipose tissue KW - lean mass Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2017/0752 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 74 SP - 203 EP - 212 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Navazo, Bárbara A1 - Oyhenart, Evelia A1 - Dahinten, Silvia A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Decrease of external skeletal robustness (Frame Index) between two cohorts of school children living in Puerto Madryn, Argentina at the beginning of the 21st century JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger N2 - Background: It has been shown that modern life style with reduced physical activity can lead to lower bone accumulation. Also a decline trend in external skeletal robustness in children and young adolescents, measured by the Frame Index (FI), seems to have a parallel trend with the increase in overweight and obesity. Based on these findings we estimate that likely, the FI should be changed after a decade in the Argentinean population as well as in others population of the world. Thereby, the aim of the present study was to describe, using the FI, the pattern of external skeletal robustness in school children aged 6-14 years from two cohorts of Argentina (Puerto Madryn, Chubut) and to compare them with the European reference (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Russia). Methods: Elbow breadth and height of Puerto Madryn school children were collected in two cross-sectional studies conducted between 2001-2006 (cohort 1 = C1) and 2014-2016 (cohort 2 = C2). Percentiles (P) values, for males and females, from C1 and C2 were calculated combining the LMSmethod and its extension. A t-test has been used to compare, by age and sex, the FI values between the Argentinean cohorts and the European reference (ER). Then, in order to know the percentage of the variation of the percentiles values between cohorts, as well as with ER, percent differences between means (PDM%) were employed. Results: FI from Argentinean cohorts differed significantly from ER. Even more, C2 was not only smaller than ER, but also than C1. In males, C1-C2 showed significant differences at 6-8, 11 and 12 years and in females at all ages. Then, respect to ER each Argentinean cohort showed significant differences in males of C1 at 6, 12-14 years and in females at 6 and 11-14 years; and of C2, in both sexes, from 6 to 14 years. The PDM% values for elbow breadth of male were negative in ER-C1 in all percentiles analyzed; in ER-C2 positive (P3 and P50) and negative (P97) and C1-C2 recorded positive values. In females, elbow breadth showed negative values for ER-C1 (P50 and P97), and positive for the remaining values. Finally, height registered, in both sexes, negative values in ER-C1 (except P97 in females), ER-C2 and C1-C2. Conclusions: After ten years of the first study carried on in Puerto Madryn, school children show a negative trend in the external skeletal robustness. Additionally, the children of both Argentinean cohorts have lower values compared to the European reference, and mainly the actual cohort. This situation would be explained, in part, by the progressive increase over time of overweight and obesity as consequence, among others, of the change in the quantity and/or quality of the food that children have access to and with the physical activity they do at school and outside. KW - elbow breadth KW - height KW - skeletal robustness KW - school children KW - Argentina Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1182 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 405 EP - 413 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Niere, Oliver A1 - Spannemann, Lisa A1 - Stenzel, Patrick A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Plasticity of human growth BT - a systematic review on psychosocial factors influencing growth JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: This systematic review aimed at collecting, analyzing and summarizing scientific studies focusing on psychosocial factors that influence linear growth among humans. Methods: The online database "PubMed" was used in order to acquire suitable scientific studies. These studies were evaluated based on clearly defined criteria that determine whether a study was to be excluded or included in the literature review. In the end, a total sum of 36 studies remained, which were carefully analyzed and used to generate an overview of the association between psychosocial factors and linear growth. Results: In the 36 reviewed studies, different social and psychological factors, such as socioeconomic status, parental education or emotional deprivation were set in relation to physical growth among humans. The studies were listed and summarized, depending on the investigated psychosocial factor. A clear association between psychosocial factors and growth could be observed in most of the reviewed studies. Discussion: Based on the results of the reviewed studies it could be concluded that the regulation of linear growth is also subject to different psychosocial factors. The way in which the developing human and the specific social environment interact seemed to have a major impact on linear growth. Statusspecific stress was discussed as one possible explanation for the regulating mechanism of human linear growth. KW - linear growth KW - final body height KW - regulation KW - psychosocial factors KW - social factors KW - psychological factors Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1223 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 431 EP - 443 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Noth, Veronika A1 - Greil, Holle A1 - Lange, Elke A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Strategien zur Handhabung von Verschlüssen im Kleinkind- und Vorschulalter Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Noth, Veronika A1 - Greil, Holle A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Lange, E. T1 - Strategien bei der Handhabung von Verschlüssen im Kleinkind- und Vorschulalter JF - Brandenburgische Umwelt-Berichte : BUB ; Schriftenreihe der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam Y1 - 2001 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-3916 SN - 1434-2375 SN - 1611-9339 VL - 10 SP - 77 EP - 86 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Novina, Novina A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Pulungan, Aman B. A1 - Ismiarto, Yoyos Dias A1 - Andriyana, Yudhie A1 - Biben, Vitriana A1 - Setiabudiawan, Budi T1 - Indonesian National Growth Reference Charts better reflect height and weight of children in West Java, Indonesia, than WHO Child Growth Standards JF - Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology N2 - Objective: The Indonesia Basic Health Research 2018 indicates that Indonesian children are still among the shortest in the world. When referred to World Health Organization Child Growth Standards (WHOCGS), the prevalence of stunting reaches up to 43% in several Indonesian districts. Indonesian National Growth Reference Charts (INGRC) were established in order to better distinguish between healthy short children and children with growth disorders. We analyzed height and weight measurements of healthy Indonesian children using INGRC and WHOCGS. Methods: 6972 boys and 5800 girls (n = 12,772), aged 0-59 months old, from Bandung District were measured. Z-scores of length/height and body mass index were calculated based on INGRC and WHOCGS. Results: Under 5-year-old Indonesian children raised in Bandung are short and slim. Mean height z-scores of boys is -2.03 [standard deviation (SD) 1.31], mean height z-scores of girls is -2.03 (SD 1.31) when referred to WHOCGS indicating that over 50 % of these children are stunted. Bandung children are heterogeneous, with substantial subpopulations of tall children. Depending on the growth reference used, between 9% and 15% of them are wasted. Wasted children are on average half a SD taller than their peers. Conclusion: WHOCGS seriously overestimates the true prevalence of undernutrition in Indonesian children. The present investigation fails to support evidence of undernutrition at a prevalence similar to the over 50% prevalence of stunting (WHOCGS) versus 13.3% (INGRC). We suggest refraining from using WHOCGS, and instead applying INGRC that closely mirror height and weight increments in Bandung children. INGRC appear superior for practical and clinical purposes, such as detecting growth and developmental disorders. KW - Anthropometric measurement KW - Indonesian National Growth Reference Charts KW - World Health Organization Child Growth Standards KW - Bandung District KW - children KW - undernutrition Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4274/jcrpe.galenos.2020.2020.0044 SN - 1308-5727 SN - 1308-5735 VL - 12 IS - 4 SP - 410 EP - 419 PB - Galenos Yayincilik CY - Istanbul ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Parfenteva, Olga A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Zaharova, Maria F. T1 - Influence of the A/T polymorphism of the FTO gene and sport specializations on the body composition of young Russian athletes JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: The polymorphism in FTO gene (rs9939609) is known to be associated with higher BMI and body fat mass content. However, environmental factors can modify this effect. The purpose of the present study was to investigate an association between sport specialization and the rs9939609 SNP in FTO gene in the cohort of professional and amateur young athletes. Methods: A total number of 250 young individuals 8-18 years old living in Moscow or Moscow district participated in the study. Individuals were divided into 3 groups in accordance with their physical activity level: control group (n = 49), amateurs (n = 67) and professionals (n = 137). Amateur and professional athletes were subdivided into groups according to their sport specialization. Quantile regression was used as a regression model, where the dependent (outcome) variable was BMI, along with percentage of body fat mass, and the independent variables (predictors) were the rs9939609 SNP in FTO gene, physical activity (active versus inactive), sport specialization (aerobic, intermittent sports and martial arts), nationality, level of sport experience (in years), gender and percentage of free fat mass content. Results: The regression analysis revealed that physical activity and sport specialization had greater impact compared to FTO allele in the group of physically active individuals. Physical activity, in particular aerobic, had negative associations with body fat mass and BMI. The rs9939609 SNP in FTO gene is associated with physical activity and aerobic activity. The magnitude of association becomes significantly larger at the upper quantiles of the body fat mass distribution. Conclusion: Physical activity and sport specialization explained more variance in body composition of physically active young individuals compared to the FTO polymorphism. Effect of interaction of physical activity, in particular aerobic, with the FTO polymorphism on body composition of young athletes was found. KW - physical activity KW - professional and amateur athletes KW - children and adolescents KW - BMI KW - percentage of fat mass KW - FTO KW - aerobic sports activity KW - quantile regression Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0943 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 401 EP - 408 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pospisil, Christina A1 - Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - No association between nutrition and body height in German kindergarten children BT - a pilot study JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - 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. KW - nutritional components KW - individual body height KW - children KW - Germany Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2017/0704 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 74 IS - 3 SP - 199 EP - 202 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rebekka Mumm, A1 - Reimann, Anna A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Koziel, Slawomir ED - Hermanussen, Michael ED - Bogin, Barry T1 - Estimation of percentage of body fat in field studies – a method based on relative elbow breadth (Frame Index) and BMI T2 - Human Biology and Public Health N2 - Background Over the last 20 years, a decreasing trend in external skeletal robusticity and an increasing trend in overweight and obesity was observed worldwide in adults and children as modern lifestyles in nutritional and activity behavior have changed. However, body mass index (BMI) as a measure for overweight is not an ideal predictor of % body fat (%BF) either in children and adolescents or in adults. On the contrary, it disguises a phenomenon called “hidden obesity”. Objectives We aim to approximate %BF by combining skeletal robusticity and BMI and develop an estimation-based tool to identify normal weight obese children and adolescents. Sample and Methods We analyzed cross-sectional data on height, weight, elbow breadth, and skinfold thickness (triceps and subscapular) of German children aged 6 to 18 years (N=15,034). We used modified Hattori charts and multiple linear regression to develop a tool, the “%BF estimator”, to estimate %BF by using BMI and skeletal robusticity measured as Frame Index. Results Independent of sex and age an increase in BMI is associated with an increase in %BF, an increase in Frame Index is associated with a decrease in %BF. The developed tool “%BF estimator” allows the estimation of %BF per sex and age group after calculation of BMI and Frame Index. Conclusion The “%BF estimator” is an easily applicable tool for the estimation of %BF in respect of body composition for clinical practice, screening, and public health research. It is non-invasive and has high accuracy. Further, it allows the identification of normal weight obese children and adolescents. KW - body fat estimator KW - body composition KW - skeletal robusticity KW - hidden obesity KW - normal weigh obese Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.3 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reimann, Anna A1 - Beyer, Rudolf A1 - Mumm, Rebekka A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Reference tables with centiles of limb to body height ratios of healthy human adults for assessing potential thalidomide embryopathy JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Background: Over 60 years ago the biggest drug catastrophe in Germany took place. The drug thalidomide, sold by the German pharmaceutical company Chemie Grunenthal GmbH starting in 1957 under the name "Contergan", caused severe birth defects in newborns. Chemie Grunenthal withdraw Contergan in 1961. Until nearly 30 years later in 1988 there were already over 10.000 children born with severe birth defects (e.g. dysmelia, amelia, congenital heart defect). Due to the high variability of the birth defects caused by thalidomide, later called thalidomide embryopathy, there is still no detailed information about the proportions of limbs. Aim: The aim is to develop reference centiles for limb measurements of men and women aged 19-70 years old. Method: For the calculation, data of healthy men and women (m = 2984, f = 2838) from former East Germany were used and centiles using the LMS-method were developed. Results: Centile tables for arm and leg length of men and women are presented in the results. The variability is small due to a homogeneous distribution of the measurements. A test with randomly chosen patient data shows that women under 171 cm stature and men under 180 cm stature can be assessed correctly. A severe shortening of limbs can be detected with this method. KW - thalidomide embryopathy KW - contergan KW - anthropometry KW - body proportions Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0981 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 76 IS - 5 SP - 391 EP - 400 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, Katrin A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Decreased external skeletal robustness due to reduced physical activity? JF - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council N2 - Objectives Childhood obesity is a global problem, e.g., due to physical inactivity. External skeletal robustness (Frame-Index) has decreased in German schoolchildren. An association between Frame-Index and physical activity was assumed. Further often body mass index (BMI) is analyzed without reference to bone structure. Therefore, we analyze relationships between Frame-Index, BMI, % body fat, and physical activity. Methods In a cross-sectional study, 691 German children aged 610 years were investigated. BMI, % body fat, Frame-Index, total steps p.w., sports club rate p.w., training time p.d., and TV-time p.d. were determined. Results Total steps (P<0.001), BMI (P<0.001), and % body fat (P=0.024) are positively linked to Frame-Index. Total steps (P<0.001), sports club rate (P=0.001), and training time (P<0.001) are negatively associated with % body fat. Total steps (P=0.017) are negatively linked to BMI. TV-time is positively related to BMI (P<0.001) and % body fat (P<0.001). % Body fat is affected by age (P<0.001), sex (P=0.028), and total steps (P=0.002). BMI is influenced by age (P<0.001), and Frame-Index by sex (P<0.001) and total steps (P=0.029). Principal component analysis indicates an association between BMI and TV-time and Frame-Index and total steps. Conclusions We demonstrate an association between external skeletal robustness and physical activity, which is not captured by in BMI measurements. Children should be physically active in order to maintain skeletal robustness. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 25:404410, 2013. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22389 SN - 1042-0533 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 25 IS - 3 SP - 404 EP - 410 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, Katrin A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Decreased external skeletal robustness due to reduced physical activity? Y1 - 2013 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.22389/pdf ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, Katrin A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Decreased external skeletal robustness in schoolchildren : a global trend? Ten year comparison of Russian and German data Y1 - 2013 UR - http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0068195 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rietsch, Katrin A1 - Godina, Elena A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Decreased External Skeletal Robustness in Schoolchildren - a Global Trend? ; Ten Year Comparison of Russian and German Data JF - PLoS one N2 - Objectives: Obesity and a reduced physical activity are global developments. Physical activity affects the external skeletal robustness which decreased in German children. It was assumed that the negative trend of decreased external skeletal robustness can be found in other countries. Therefore anthropometric data of Russian and German children from the years 2000 and 2010 were compared. Methods: Russian (2000/2010 n = 1023/268) and German (2000/2010 n = 2103/1750) children aged 6-10 years were investigated. Height, BMI and external skeletal robustness (Frame-Index) were examined and compared for the years and the countries. Statistical analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney-Test. Results: Comparison 2010 and 2000: In Russian children BMI was significantly higher; boys were significantly taller and exhibited a decreased Frame-Index (p = .002) in 2010. German boys showed significantly higher BMI in 2010. In both sexes Frame-Index (p = .001) was reduced in 2010. Comparison Russian and German children in 2000: BMI, height and Frame-Index were different between Russian and German children. German children were significantly taller but exhibited a lower Frame-Index (p<.001). Even German girls showed a significantly higher BMI. Comparison Russian and German children in 2010: BMI and Frame-Index were different. Russian children displayed a higher Frame-Index (p<.001) compared with Germans. Conclusions: In Russian children BMI has increased in recent years. Frame-Index is still higher in Russian children compared with Germans however in Russian boys Frame-Index is reduced. This trend and the physical activity should be observed in the future. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068195 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 8 IS - 7 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rietsch, Katrin A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Association between skeletal robustness and physical activity in schoolchildren - First results T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 4 SP - 516 EP - 516 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rösler, Antonia A1 - Gasparatos, Nikolaos A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Practicability and user-friendliness of height measurements by proof of concept APP using Augmented Reality, in 22 healthy children JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Child growth is a dynamic process. When measured at short intervals, children’s growth shows characteristic patterns that can be of great importance for clinical purposes. Objective: To study whether measuring height on a daily basis using an APP is practicable and user-friendly. Methods: Recruitment took place via Snowball Sampling. Thirteen out of 14 contacted families signed up for a study period of 12 weeks with altogether 22 healthy children aged 3 to 13 years (response rate 93%). The study started with a visit to the family home for the setup of the measurement site, conventional height measuring and initial training of the new measurement process. Follow-up appointments were made at four, eight and 12 weeks. The children’s height was measured at daily intervals at their family homes over a period of three months. Results: The parents altogether recorded 1704 height measurements and meticulously documented practicability and problems when using the device. A 93% response rate in recruitment was achieved by maintaining a high motivation within the families. Contact with the principal investigator was permanently available, including open communication, personal training and attendance during the appointments at the family homes. Conclusion: Measuring height by photographic display is interesting for children and parents and can be used for height measurements at home. A positive response rate of 13 out of 14 families with altogether 22 children highlights feasible recruitment and the high convenience and user-friendliness of daily APP-supported height measurements. Daily APP measurements appear to be a promising new tool for longitudinal growth studies. KW - body height KW - guideline KW - augmented reality KW - daily home-made measurements KW - iPhone KW - APP Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2022.2.48 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2022 IS - 2 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rösler, Antonia A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - No evidence of growth impairment after forced migration in Polish school children after World War II JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Migration is omnipresent. It can come hand in hand with emotional stress which is known to influence the growth of children. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse whether type of migration (forced or voluntary) and the geographic direction had influenced the growth of Polish children after World War II. Sample and Methods: A sub dataset of 2,208 individuals between the ages of 2-20, created from data of the 2nd Polish Anthropological Survey carried out in 1966–1969, including anthropometrical data and social and demographic information based on questionnaire, was used to analyse migration effects. Results: No association could be found between the direction of migration and the height of the children. The confidence intervals of the means of all classified migration categories overlap significantly and the effect size of the influence of migration category on height is ds=.140, which is too low to see any effects, even if there were one. Conclusion: Neither forced nor voluntary migration in Poland after World War II led to a change in height in children of migrating families. KW - nutrition KW - stunting KW - socioeconomy KW - education KW - secular changes KW - pubertal timing Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2023.1.68 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 1 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sander, Martha Maria A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Bilateral asymmetry in left handers increased concerning morphological laterality in a recent sample of young adults JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie KW - anthropometry KW - handedness KW - laterality KW - bilateral asymmetry KW - left handers KW - upper extremity KW - reskilling KW - elbow breadth Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2016/0663 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 73 SP - 335 EP - 342 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Bewegungsmuster in Alltagssituationen BT - Ein Altersvergleich JF - Brandenburgische Umwelt-Berichte : BUB ; Schriftenreihe der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam Y1 - 2001 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-3933 SN - 1434-2375 SN - 1611-9339 VL - 10 SP - 94 EP - 99 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Types of Body Shape JF - Auxology : Studying Human Growth and Development Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-510-65278-5 SP - 28 EP - 29 PB - Schweizerbart Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Entwicklung ausgewählter Körpermaße in Bezug zur Körperhöhe (Relativmaße) bei Kindern von der Geburt bis zum 3. Lebensjahr Y1 - 1996 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Körperlänge, Körpermasse und Kopfumfang bei Kindern von der Geburt bis zum 3. Lebensjahr Y1 - 1996 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Variable and Invariable Proportions in the Ontogenesis of the Human Face Y1 - 2013 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The change of skeletal robustness of 6 - 12 years old children in Brandenburg (Germany) - Comparison of body composition 1999 - 2009 Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - How many skeletons do we need? - An evolutionary approach of the change of skeleton measures in school children in the last decade T2 - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Y1 - 2011 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 4 SP - 519 EP - 519 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - The change of skeletal robustness of 6-12 years old children in Brandenburg (Germany) - Comparison of body composition 1999-2009 JF - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - Overweight as a global problem is a challenge to the health systems today and in the future. Detailed information about the development of body composition in children can help to design preventive measures to stop this trend. In the present study 1397 German children aged 6-12 complete years were investigated with anthropometric methods (i.e. height, weight, BMI, skeleton robustness, and percentage of body fat) in 2008/09. The results were compared with a 10 years old identical study. Today, the investigated children are a little bit smaller and the range of BMI and percentage of body fat is increasing. The large decrease of the skeletal robustness especially in the 10(th) and 3(rd) percentile is important. Decrease of physical activity as the most important reason for shrinking skeletal robustness is discussed. KW - school children KW - body composition KW - skeletal robustness Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2011/0095 SN - 0003-5548 VL - 68 IS - 2 SP - 153 EP - 165 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Variable and invariable proportions in the ontogenesis of the human face JF - The journal of craniofacial surgery : an international journal dedicated to the practice of the art and science of craniofacial surgery ; official publication of the American Association of Pediatric Plastic Surgeons N2 - The human face shows individual features and features that are characteristic for sex and age (the loss of childlike characteristics during maturation). The analysis of facial dimensions is essential for identifying individual features also for forensic issues. The analysis of facial proportions was performed on photogrammetric data from front views of 125 children. The data were pooled from 2 different studies. The children's data were obtained from a longitudinal study and reduced by random generator to ensure the data of adults from a separate cross-sectional study. We applied principal component analysis on photogrammetric facial proportions of 169 individuals: 125 children (63 boys and 62 girls) aged 2-7 years and 44 adults (18 men and 26 women) aged 18-65 years. Facial proportions depend on age and sex. Three components described age: (1) proportions of facial height to head height, (2) proportions that involve endocanthal breadth, and (3) bigonial to bizygonial proportions. Proportions that associate with sex are connected with nasal distances and nasal to bizygonial distances. Twenty-three percent of the variance, particularly variance that are connected with proportions of lower and middle face heights to head height, do neither depend on sex nor on age and thus appear useful for screening purposes, eg, for dysmorphic genetic syndromes. KW - Human face KW - face proportions KW - ontogenesis KW - principal component analysis Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1097/SCS.0b013e31826d07a3 SN - 1049-2275 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 237 EP - 241 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - A stature of one meter : how is the variability? Y1 - 2002 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Bewegungsmuster in Alltagssituationen Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Vergleich ausgewählter Bewegungsabläufe beim Menschen in Abhängigkeit vom Alter und Körperbau Y1 - 2001 SN - 3-89873-228-2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Körperbau, Bewegungsmöglichkeiten und Konzentrationsfähigkeit älterer Menschen Y1 - 2000 SN - 3-89712-961-2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Body composition JF - Auxology : Studying Human Growth and Development Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-510-65278-5 SP - 30 EP - 31 PB - Schweizerbart Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Determining body composition in field studies JF - Auxology : Studying Human Growth and Development Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-510-65278-5 SP - 32 EP - 33 PB - Schweizerbart Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Comparative Biology and Human Life History JF - Auxology : Studying Human Growth and Development Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-510-65278-5 SP - 38 EP - 41 PB - Schweizerbart Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Biological age JF - Auxology : Studying Human Growth and Development Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-3-510-65278-5 SP - 44 EP - 47 PB - Schweizerbart Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER -