Desaturase Activity Is Associated With Weight Status and Metabolic Risk Markers in Young Children.

Context: Activity of delta-9, delta-6, and delta-5 desaturases (D9D, D6D, D5D) are associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia.

Objective: To investigate the association of estimated desaturase activities with weight status, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia in children, cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Design: The IDEFICS (Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants) cohort study was used, with examinations at baseline (T0) and after 2 years (T1).

Low frequency of cigarette smoking and the risk of head and neck cancer in the INHANCE consortium pooled analysis.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC). To our knowledge, low cigarette smoking (<10 cigarettes per day) has not been extensively investigated in fine categories or among never alcohol drinkers.

Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of individual participant data from 23 independent case-control studies including 19 660 HNC cases and 25 566 controls.

TAS1R3 and UCN2 Transcript Levels in Blood Cells Are Associated With Sugary and Fatty Food Consumption in Children.

Context: New types of dietary exposure biomarkers are needed to implement effective strategies for obesity prevention in children. Of special interest are biomarkers of consumption of food rich in simple sugars and fat because their intake has been associated with obesity development. Peripheral blood cells (PBCs) represent a promising new tool for identifying novel, transcript-based biomarkers.

The influence of aerobic fitness on obesity and its parent-offspring correlations in a cross-sectional study among German families.

Background: Overweight/obesity is an important public health burden worldwide, increasing the risk for the development of cardiovascular diseases or the metabolic syndrome. This risk may be reduced by a good aerobic fitness (AF) that can be improved by physical activity but is also influenced by genetic factors. The aim of this study was to test for familial aggregation of AF measured by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and to estimate its heritability.

Lung cancer among coal miners, ore miners and quarrymen: smoking-adjusted risk estimates from the synergy pooled analysis of case-control studies.

Objectives: Working in mines and quarries has been associated with an elevated lung cancer risk but with inconsistent results for coal miners. This study aimed to estimate the smoking-adjusted lung cancer risk among coal miners and compare the risk pattern with lung cancer risks among ore miners and quarrymen.

Methods: We estimated lung cancer risks of coal and ore miners and quarrymen among 14 251 lung cancer cases and 17 267 controls from the SYNERGY pooled case-control study, controlling for smoking and employment in other at-risk occupations.

[The benefit of large-scale cohort studies for health research: the example of the German National Cohort].

The prospective nature of large-scale epidemiological multi-purpose cohort studies with long observation periods facilitates the search for complex causes of diseases, the analysis of the natural history of diseases and the identification of novel pre-clinical markers of disease. The German National Cohort (GNC) is a population-based, highly standardised and in-depth phenotyped cohort. It shall create the basis for new strategies for risk assessment and identification, early diagnosis and prevention of multifactorial diseases.

Clustering of lifestyle behaviours and relation to body composition in European children. The IDEFICS study.

Background: Dietary patterns, physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours are some of the main behavioural determinants of obesity; their combined influence in children has been addressed in a limited number of studies.

Subjects/methods: Children (16,228) aged 2-9 years old from eight European countries participated in the baseline survey of the IDEFICS study. A subsample of 11,674 children (50.

Association between bone stiffness and nutritional biomarkers combined with weight-bearing exercise, physical activity, and sedentary time in preadolescent children. A case-control study.

Physical activity (PA) and micronutrients such as calcium (Ca), vitamin D (25OHD), and phosphate (PO) are important determinants of skeletal development. This case-control study examined the association of these nutritional biomarkers and different PA behaviours, such as habitual PA, weight-bearing exercise (WBE) and sedentary time (SED) with bone stiffness (SI) in 1819 2-9-year-old children from the IDEFICS study (2007-2008). SI was measured on the calcaneus using quantitative ultrasound.

A rare truncating BRCA2 variant and genetic susceptibility to upper aerodigestive tract cancer.

Deleterious BRCA2 genetic variants markedly increase risk of developing breast cancer. A rare truncating BRCA2 genetic variant, rs11571833 (K3326X), has been associated with a 2.5-fold risk of lung squamous cell carcinoma but only a modest 26% increase in breast cancer risk.

The 12p13.33/RAD52 locus and genetic susceptibility to squamous cell cancers of upper aerodigestive tract.

Genetic variants located within the 12p13.33/RAD52 locus have been associated with lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). Here, within 5,947 UADT cancers and 7,789 controls from 9 different studies, we found rs10849605, a common intronic variant in RAD52, to be also associated with upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) squamous cell carcinoma cases (OR = 1.

IARC monographs: 40 years of evaluating carcinogenic hazards to humans.

Background: Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Programme for the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans has been criticized for several of its evaluations, and also for the approach used to perform these evaluations. Some critics have claimed that failures of IARC Working Groups to recognize study weaknesses and biases of Working Group members have led to inappropriate classification of a number of agents as carcinogenic to humans.

Objectives: The authors of this Commentary are scientists from various disciplines relevant to the identification and hazard evaluation of human carcinogens.

Lung cancer risk among cooks when accounting for tobacco smoking: a pooled analysis of case-control studies from Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and China.

Objectives: To investigate the risk of lung cancer among cooks, while controlling for smoking habits.

Methods: We used data from the SYNERGY project including pooled information on lifetime work histories and smoking habits from 16 case-control studies conducted in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and China.

Results: Before adjustment for smoking, we observed an increased risk of lung cancer in male cooks, but not in female cooks.

SMARCB1-deficient Vulvar Neoplasms: A Clinicopathologic, Immunohistochemical, and Molecular Genetic Study of 14 Cases.

Loss of expression of the SMARCB1 (INI1/BAF47/SNF5) tumor-suppressor protein, originally identified in pediatric malignant rhabdoid tumors, has been noted in significant percentages of epithelioid sarcomas of classical and proximal-type and in myoepithelial carcinomas. Epithelioid sarcoma and myoepithelial carcinoma are very rare in the vulvar region, and few of these cases have been evaluated for SMARCB1 protein loss by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or for SMARCB1 gene alterations by molecular genetic techniques. We studied the clinicopathologic, IHC, and molecular genetic features of 14 SMARCB1-deficient vulvar neoplasms.

Human Papillomavirus 16 E6 Antibodies in Individuals without Diagnosed Cancer: A Pooled Analysis.

Background: The increasing incidence of oropharyngeal cancer in many developed countries has been attributed to human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) infections. Recently, HPV16 E6 serology has been identified as a promising early marker for oropharyngeal cancer. Therefore, characterization of HPV16 E6 seropositivity among individuals without cancer is warranted.

[Individual linkage of primary data with secondary and registry data within large cohort studies - capabilities and procedural proposals].

Some German cohort studies have already linked secondary and registry data with primary data from interviews and medical examinations. This offers the opportunity to obtain more valid information by taking advantage of the strengths of these data synergistically and overcome their individual weaknesses at the same time. The potential and the requirements for linking secondary and registry data with primary data from cohort studies is described generally and illustrated by the example of the "German National Cohort" (GNC).

Risk factors for head and neck cancer in young adults: a pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium.

Background: Increasing incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in young adults has been reported. We aimed to compare the role of major risk factors and family history of cancer in HNC in young adults and older patients.

Methods: We pooled data from 25 case-control studies and conducted separate analyses for adults ≤ 45 years old ('young adults', 2010 cases and 4042 controls) and >45 years old ('older adults', 17700 cases and 22 704 controls).

Incidence of high blood pressure in children - effects of physical activity and sedentary behaviors: the IDEFICS study: High blood pressure, lifestyle and children.

Background/objectives: High blood pressure (HBP) is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and it has a high prevalence in pediatric populations. However, the determinants of the incidence of Pre-HBP and HBP in children are not well known. i) To describe the incidence of HBP in European children; and ii) to evaluate the effect of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) on the Pre-HBP and HBP.

Comparative analysis of portal hepatic infiltrating leucocytes in acute drug-induced liver injury, idiopathic autoimmune and viral hepatitis.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is often caused by innate and adaptive host immune responses. Characterization of inflammatory infiltrates in the liver may improve understanding of the underlying pathogenesis of DILI. This study aimed to enumerate and characterize leucocytes infiltrating liver tissue from subjects with acute DILI (n = 32) versus non-DILI causes of acute liver injury (n = 25).

Objective measures of the built environment and physical activity in children: from walkability to moveability.

Features of the built environment that may influence physical activity (PA) levels are commonly captured using a so-called walkability index. Since such indices typically describe opportunities for walking in everyday life of adults, they might not be applicable to assess urban opportunities for PA in children. Particularly, the spatial availability of recreational facilities may have an impact on PA in children and should be additionally considered.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in European children below the age of 10.

Background: There is a lack of common surveillance systems providing comparable figures and temporal trends of the prevalence of overweight (OW), obesity and related risk factors among European preschool and school children. Comparability of available data is limited in terms of sampling design, methodological approaches and quality assurance. The IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS) study provides one of the largest European data sets of young children based on state-of-the-art methodology.

Reference values of bone stiffness index and C-terminal telopeptide in healthy European children.

Background/objective: Quantitative ultrasound measurements and bone metabolic markers can help to monitor bone health and to detect impaired skeletal development. Population-based reference values for children may serve as a basis for preventive measures to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures in later life. This is the first paper providing age-, sex- and height-specific reference values for bone stiffness index (SI) and serum carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) in healthy, apparently prepubertal children.

Physical fitness reference standards in European children: the IDEFICS study.

Background/objectives: A low fitness status during childhood and adolescence is associated with important health-related outcomes, such as increased future risk for obesity and cardiovascular diseases, impaired skeletal health, reduced quality of life and poor mental health. Fitness reference values for adolescents from different countries have been published, but there is a scarcity of reference values for pre-pubertal children in Europe, using harmonised measures of fitness in the literature. The IDEFICS study offers a good opportunity to establish normative values of a large set of fitness components from eight European countries using common and well-standardised methods in a large sample of children.

Metabolic syndrome in young children: definitions and results of the IDEFICS study.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) using reference standards obtained in European children and to develop a quantitative MetS score and describe its distribution in children.

Design And Methods: Population-based survey in eight European countries, including 18745 children 2.0 to 10.

Percentiles of fasting serum insulin, glucose, HbA1c and HOMA-IR in pre-pubertal normal weight European children from the IDEFICS cohort.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to present age- and sex-specific reference values of insulin, glucose, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and the homeostasis model assessment to quantify insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) for pre-pubertal children.

Methods: The reference population consists of 7074 normal weight 3- to 10.9-year-old pre-pubertal children from eight European countries who participated in at least one wave of the IDEFICS ('identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants') surveys (2007-2010) and for whom standardised laboratory measurements were obtained.

C-reactive protein reference percentiles among pre-adolescent children in Europe based on the IDEFICS study population.

Objectives: C-reactive protein (CRP) is involved in a wide range of diseases. It is a powerful marker for inflammatory processes used for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. We aimed to establish reference values as data on the distribution of serum CRP levels in young European children are scarce.