Social transmission in the wild can reduce predation pressure on novel prey signals.

Social transmission of information is taxonomically widespread and could have profound effects on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of animal communities. Demonstrating this in the wild, however, has been challenging. Here we show by field experiment that social transmission among predators can shape how selection acts on prey defences.

Corrigendum: The Gambian Bone and Muscle Ageing Study: Baseline Data From a Prospective Observational African Sub-Saharan Study.

[This corrects the article on p. 219 in vol. 8, PMID: 28912754.

The influence of maternal psychosocial circumstances and physical environment on the risk of severe wasting in rural Gambian infants: a mixed methods approach.

Background: Severe wasting affects 16 million under 5's and carries an immediate risk of death. Prevalence remains unacceptably high in sub-Saharan Africa and early infancy is a high-risk period. We aimed to explore risk factors for severe wasting in rural Gambian infants.

Hormonal Correlates and Predictors of Nutritional Recovery in Malnourished African Children.

Background: Malnourished children show variable growth responses to nutritional rehabilitation. We aimed to investigate whether these differences could be explained by variations in growth and energy-regulating hormones.

Methods: Quasi-experimental study: Children aged 6-24 months in rural Gambia were recruited to controls if weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) > -2 (n = 22), moderate acute malnutrition if WHZ < -2 and > -3 (n = 18) or severe acute malnutrition if WHZ < -3 (n = 20).

The Gambian Bone and Muscle Ageing Study: Baseline Data from a Prospective Observational African Sub-Saharan Study.

The Gambian Bone and Muscle Ageing Study is a prospective observational study investigating bone and muscle ageing in men and women from a poor, subsistence farming community of The Gambia, West Africa. Musculoskeletal diseases, including osteoporosis and sarcopenia, form a major part of the current global non-communicable disease burden. By 2050, the vast majority of the world's ageing population will live in low- and middle-income countries with an estimated two-fold rise in osteoporotic fracture.

Impact of fortified versus unfortified lipid-based supplements on morbidity and nutritional status: A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial in ill Gambian children.

Background: Multiple micronutrients (MMN) are commonly prescribed in pediatric primary healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa to improve nutritional status and appetite without evidence for their effectiveness or international clinical guidelines. Community-wide MMN supplementation has shown limited and heterogeneous impact on growth and morbidity. Short-term ready-to-use therapeutic foods in acutely sick children in a hospital setting also had limited efficacy regarding subsequent growth.

Diurnal rhythms of vitamin D binding protein and total and free vitamin D metabolites.

Vitamin D binding protein (DBP) concentration is known to influence the availability and bioactivity of vitamin D metabolites but its diurnal rhythm (DR), its inter-relationships with the DRs of vitamin D metabolites and its influence on free vitamin D metabolite concentrations are not well described. The DRs of plasma total 25(OH)D, total 1,25(OH)D, DBP, albumin and calculated free 25(OH)D and free 1,25(OH)D were measured in men and women aged 60-75 years and resident in the UK (n 30), Gambia (n 31) and China (n 30) with differences in lifestyle, dietary intake and vitamin D status. Blood samples were collected every 4h for 24h and DRs statistically analysed with Fourier regression.

Growth faltering in rural Gambian children after four decades of interventions: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Growth faltering remains common in children in sub-Saharan Africa and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Due to a very slow decline in the prevalence of stunting, the total number of children with stunting continues to rise in sub-Saharan Africa. Identification of effective interventions remains a challenge.

Interindividual Variation in DNA Methylation at a Putative POMC Metastable Epiallele Is Associated with Obesity.

The estimated heritability of human BMI is close to 75%, but identified genetic variants explain only a small fraction of interindividual body-weight variation. Inherited epigenetic variants identified in mouse models named "metastable epialleles" could in principle explain this "missing heritability." We provide evidence that methylation in a variably methylated region (VMR) in the pro-opiomelanocortin gene (POMC), particularly in postmortem human laser-microdissected melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH)-positive neurons, is strongly associated with individual BMI.

Diurnal Rhythms of Bone Turnover Markers in Three Ethnic Groups.

Context: Ethnic groups differ in fragility fracture risk and bone metabolism. Differences in diurnal rhythms (DRs) of bone turnover and PTH may play a role.

Objective: We investigated the DRs of plasma bone turnover markers (BTMs), PTH, and 1,25(OH)2D in three groups with pronounced differences in bone metabolism and plasma PTH.

Oral iron acutely elevates bacterial growth in human serum.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency worldwide and routine supplementation is standard policy for pregnant mothers and children in most low-income countries. However, iron lies at the center of host-pathogen competition for nutritional resources and recent trials of iron administration in African and Asian children have resulted in significant excesses of serious adverse events including hospitalizations and deaths. Increased rates of malaria, respiratory infections, severe diarrhea and febrile illnesses of unknown origin have all been reported, but the mechanisms are unclear.

Periconceptional multiple-micronutrient supplementation and placental function in rural Gambian women: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Maternal micronutrient deficiencies are commonly associated with clinical indicators of placental dysfunction.

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that periconceptional multiple-micronutrient supplementation (MMS) affects placental function.

Design: We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of MMS in 17- to 45-y-old Gambian women who were menstruating regularly and within the previous 3 mo.

Changes in Women's Facial Skin Color over the Ovulatory Cycle are Not Detectable by the Human Visual System.

Human ovulation is not advertised, as it is in several primate species, by conspicuous sexual swellings. However, there is increasing evidence that the attractiveness of women's body odor, voice, and facial appearance peak during the fertile phase of their ovulatory cycle. Cycle effects on facial attractiveness may be underpinned by changes in facial skin color, but it is not clear if skin color varies cyclically in humans or if any changes are detectable.

Widespread seasonal gene expression reveals annual differences in human immunity and physiology.

Seasonal variations are rarely considered a contributing component to human tissue function or health, although many diseases and physiological process display annual periodicities. Here we find more than 4,000 protein-coding mRNAs in white blood cells and adipose tissue to have seasonal expression profiles, with inverted patterns observed between Europe and Oceania. We also find the cellular composition of blood to vary by season, and these changes, which differ between the United Kingdom and The Gambia, could explain the gene expression periodicity.

Progressive influence of body mass index-associated genetic markers in rural Gambians.

Background: In populations of European ancestry, the genetic contribution to body mass index (BMI) increases with age during childhood but then declines during adulthood, possibly due to the cumulative effects of environmental factors. How the effects of genetic factors on BMI change with age in other populations is unknown.

Subjects And Methods: In a rural Gambian population (N=2535), we used a combined allele risk score, comprising genotypes at 28 'Caucasian adult BMI-associated' single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), as a marker of the genetic influence on body composition, and related this to internally-standardised z-scores for birthweight (zBW), weight-for-height (zWT-HT), weight-for-age (zWT), height-for-age (zHT), and zBMI cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Prevalence of rickets-like bone deformities in rural Gambian children.

The aim of this study was to estimate the burden of childhood rickets-like bone deformity in a rural region of West Africa where rickets has been reported in association with a low calcium intake. A population-based survey of children aged 0.5-17.

The coefficient of cyclic variation: a novel statistic to measure the magnitude of cyclic variation.

Background: PERIODIC OR CYCLIC DATA OF KNOWN PERIODICITY ARE FREQUENTLY ENCOUNTERED IN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: for instance, seasonality provides a useful experiment of nature while diurnal rhythms play an important role in endocrine secretion. There is, however, little consensus on how to analysis these data and less still on how to measure association or effect size for the often complex patterns seen.

Results: A simple statistic, readily derived from Fourier regression models, provides a readily-understood measure cyclic variation in a wide variety of situations.

A double blind randomized controlled trial in neonates to determine the effect of vitamin A supplementation on immune responses: The Gambia protocol.

Background: Vitamin A supplementation significantly reduces all-cause mortality when given between 6-59 months of age, but has a null or detrimental effect when given between 1-5 months. Studies of neonatal vitamin A supplementation conducted across Africa and South Asia have produced conflicting findings. These age-pattern variations might result from immunological interactions between vitamin A supplementation and vaccines.

Thymus development and infant and child mortality in rural Bangladesh.

Background: Data from West Africa indicate that a small thymus at birth and at 6 months of age is a strong and independent risk factor for infection-related mortality up to 24 and 36 months of age, respectively. We investigated the association between thymus size (thymic index, TI) in infancy and subsequent infant and child survival in a contemporary South Asian population.

Methods: The study focused on the follow-up of a randomized trial of prenatal nutritional interventions in rural Bangladesh (ISRCTN16581394), with TI measured longitudinally in infancy (at birth and weeks 8, 24 and 52 of age) and accurate recording of mortality up to 5 years of age.

Randomised controlled trial of weekly chloroquine to re-establish normal erythron iron flux and haemoglobin recovery in postmalarial anaemia.

Objective: To determine if low-dose weekly chloroquine (CQ) therapy improves recovery from malaria-associated anaemia.

Design: Proof of concept randomised clinical trial.

Setting: West Kiang District, Lower River Region, The Gambia.

Birth weight, season of birth and postnatal growth do not predict levels of systemic inflammation in Gambian adults.

Objectives: Studies testing whether systemic inflammation might lie on the causal pathway between aberrant fetal and post-natal growth patterns and later cardiovascular disease have been inconclusive, possibly due to the use of single markers of unknown predictive value. We used repeated measures of a comprehensive set of inflammatory markers to investigate the relationship between early life measures and systemic inflammation in an African population.

Methods: Individuals born in three rural villages in The Gambia, and for whom early life measurements were recorded, were traced (n = 320).