TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Alt, Christoph
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Aßmann, Christian
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - The impact of physical connectedness on body height in Swiss conscripts
JF  - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie
N2  - Background: Human populations differ in height. Recent evidence suggests that social networks play an important role in the regulation of adolescent growth and adult height. We further investigated the effect of physical connectedness on height.
 Material and methods: We considered Switzerland as a geographic network with 169 nodes (district capitals) and 335 edges (connecting roads) and studied effects of connectedness on height in Swiss conscript from 1884-1891, 1908-1910, and 2004-2009. We also created exponential-family random graph models to separate possible unspecific effects of geographic vicinity.
 Results: In 1884-1891, in 1908-1910, and in 2004-2009, 1st, 2nd and 3rd order neighboring districts significantly correlate in height (p<0.01). The correlations depend on the order of connectedness, they decline with increasing distance. Short stature districts tend to have short, tall stature districts tend to have tall neighbors. Random network analyses suggest direct road effects on height. Whereas in 1884-1891, direct road effects were only visible between 1st order neighbors, direct road effects extended to 2nd and 3rd in 1908-1910, and in 2004-2009, also to 4th order neighbors, and might reflect historic improvements in transportation. The spatial correlations did not significantly change when height was controlled for goiter (1884-1889) and for median per capita income (2006), suggesting direct road effects also in goiter-allowed-for height and income-allowed-for height.
 Conclusion: Height in a district depends on height of physically connected neighboring districts. The association decreases with increasing distance in the net. The present data suggest that people can be short because their neighbors are short; or tall because their neighbors are tall (community effect on growth). Psycho-biological effects seem to control growth and development within communities that go far beyond our current understanding of growth regulation.
KW  - body height
KW  - connectedness
KW  - community effect
KW  - conscripts
KW  - Switzerland
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2014/0466
SN  - 0003-5548
VL  - 71
IS  - 4
SP  - 313
EP  - 327
PB  - Schweizerbart
CY  - Stuttgart
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Groth, Detlef
A1  - Aßmann, Christian
T1  - Height and skeletal morphology in relation to modern life style
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe
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.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 869 
KW  - pelvic breadth
KW  - elbow breadth
KW  - growth
KW  - adult height
KW  - community effect in height
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434814
SN  - 1866-8372
IS  - 869
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  - 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  - Assmann, Christian
A1  - Staub, K.
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - Monte Carlo simulation of body height in a spatial network
JF  - European journal of clinical nutrition
N2  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Recent evidence suggests clustering of human body height. We want to assess the consequences of connectedness in a spatial network on height clustering in an artificial society. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We used an agent-based computer modelling technique (Monte Carlo simulation) and compared simulated height in a spatial network with characteristics of the observed geographic height distribution of three historic cohorts of Swiss military conscripts (conscripted in 1884-1891; 1908-1910; and 2004-2009). RESULTS: Conscript height shows several characteristic features: (1) height distributions are overdispersed. (2) Conscripts from districts with direct inter-district road connections tend to be similar in height. (3) Clusters of tall and clusters of short stature districts vary over time. Autocorrelations in height between late 19th and early 21st century districts are low. (4) Mean district height depends on the number of connecting roads and on the number of conscripts per district. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we were able to generate these natural characteristics in an artificial society. Already 5% height information from directly connected districts is sufficient to simulate the characteristics of natural height distribution. Very similar observations in regular rectangular networks indicate that the characteristics of Swiss conscript height distributions do not so much result from the particular Swiss geography but rather appear to be general features of spatial networks. CONCLUSIONS: Spatial connectedness can affect height clustering in an artificial society, similar to that seen in natural cohorts of military conscripts, and strengthen the concept of connectedness being involved in the regulation of human height.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.45
SN  - 0954-3007
SN  - 1476-5640
VL  - 70
SP  - 671
EP  - 678
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
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  - 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  - 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  - 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  -