Increased placental glucose transport rates in pregnant mice carrying fetuses with targeted disruption of their placental-specific Igf2 transcripts are not associated with raised circulating glucose concentrations.

At the beginning of the third week of pregnancy, mouse fetuses with targeted disruption of their paternally-transmitted insulin-like growth factor 2 gene placental-specific transcripts have growth-restricted placentas but normal body weights due to upregulated placental nutrient transport. We assessed whether increased placental glucose transport rates were associated with raised maternal glucose concentrations by performing intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests (ipGTT) in pregnant mice carrying knockout pups and comparing them with mice carrying genotype-matched phenotypically wild type pups. Mean ± SD body weights of affected pups were 95 ± 8% of control values at e16 and 73 ± 7% at e18.

Monitoring head size and growth using the new UK-WHO growth standard.

In order to assess the extent to which children in the UK will follow the UK-WHO head circumference standard, the authors used head circumference data from the Southampton Women's Survey (n=3159) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n=15 208) in children aged 0-36 months, converted into z-scores using both the UK-WHO and UK1990 references. Rapid head growth was defined as crossing upwards through two major centile bands (1.33 SD).

Obesity-susceptibility loci have a limited influence on birth weight: a meta-analysis of up to 28,219 individuals.

Background: High birth weight is associated with adult body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that birth weight and BMI may partly share a common genetic background.

Objective: The objective was to examine the associations of 12 established BMI variants in or near the NEGR1, SEC16B, TMEM18, ETV5, GNPDA2, BDNF, MTCH2, BCDIN3D, SH2B1, FTO, MC4R, and KCTD15 genes and their additive score with birth weight.

Thirty new loci for age at menarche identified by a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies.

To identify loci for age at menarche, we performed a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies in 87,802 women of European descent, with replication in up to 14,731 women. In addition to the known loci at LIN28B (P = 5.4 × 10⁻⁶⁰) and 9q31.

Associations between the pubertal timing-related variant in LIN28B and BMI vary across the life course.

Context: The common C allele of rs314276 in LIN28B has been robustly associated with earlier age at menarche in girls and associated with earlier timing of other pubertal traits in both sexes.

Objective: Our objective was to explore the associations between rs314276, as a marker of earlier pubertal timing, and body mass index (BMI), weight, and height across the life course.

Methods: The rs314276 in LIN28B was genotyped in 1242 men and 1209 women born in 1946 and participating in the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development.

Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index.

Obesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and ∼ 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals.

Meta-analysis identifies 13 new loci associated with waist-hip ratio and reveals sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution.

Waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of body fat distribution and a predictor of metabolic consequences independent of overall adiposity. WHR is heritable, but few genetic variants influencing this trait have been identified. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies for WHR adjusted for body mass index (comprising up to 77,167 participants), following up 16 loci in an additional 29 studies (comprising up to 113,636 subjects).

Genetic susceptibility to obesity and related traits in childhood and adolescence: influence of loci identified by genome-wide association studies.

Objective: Large-scale genome-wide association (GWA) studies have thus far identified 16 loci incontrovertibly associated with obesity-related traits in adults. We examined associations of variants in these loci with anthropometric traits in children and adolescents.

Research Design And Methods: Seventeen variants representing 16 obesity susceptibility loci were genotyped in 1,252 children (mean ± SD age 9.

Role of prenatal characteristics and early growth on pubertal attainment of British girls.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to explore the influence of maternal prenatal characteristics and behaviors and of weight and BMI gain during early childhood on the timing of various puberty outcomes in girls who were enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

Methods: Repeated self-assessments of pubertal development were obtained from approximately 4000 girls between the ages of 8 and 14. Data on prenatal characteristics and weight at birth and 2, 9, and 20 months of age were obtained from questionnaires, birth records, and clinic visits.

Early determinants of obesity.

High rates of overweight and obesity even in very young children argue the case for strategies to prevent overweight from very young ages. Historical studies, prospective birth cohorts, and more recently genetic studies all indicate that the rapid weight gain trajectory to later obesity starts in the first months of life, even from birth. Early puberty and age at menarche are consequences of rapid infant weight gain and childhood overweight, and in turn these adolescent traits are predictive for obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease events in later life.

The role of androgens in fetal growth: observational study in two genetic models of disordered androgen signalling.

Objective: To examine the role of androgens on birth weight in genetic models of altered androgen signalling.

Setting: Cambridge Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) database and the Swedish national screening programme for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).

Patients: (1) 29 girls with XY karyotype and mutation positive complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS); (2) 43 girls and 30 boys with genotype confirmed CAH.

Genetic markers of adult obesity risk are associated with greater early infancy weight gain and growth.

Background: Genome-wide studies have identified several common genetic variants that are robustly associated with adult obesity risk. Exploration of these genotype associations in children may provide insights into the timing of weight changes leading to adult obesity.

Methods And Findings: Children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort were genotyped for ten genetic variants previously associated with adult BMI.

Association between birth weight and visceral fat in adults.

Background: Several studies reported inverse associations between birth weight and central adiposity in adults. However, few studies investigated the contributions of different abdominal fat compartments.

Objective: We examined associations between birth weight and adult visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat in the population-based Fenland study.

Risk factors for obesity in childhood survivors of suprasellar brain tumours: a retrospective study.

Aim: To characterize postdiagnosis changes in body mass index (BMI) among childhood survivors of suprasellar brain tumours, and to determine the risk factors associated with obesity.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 46 children (16 boys and 30 girls) with median (IQR) age of 7.49 (3.

A novel school-based intervention to improve nutrition knowledge in children: cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Improving nutrition knowledge among children may help them to make healthier food choices. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of a novel educational intervention to increase nutrition knowledge among primary school children.

Methods: We developed a card game 'Top Grub' and a 'healthy eating' curriculum for use in primary schools.

Association between a common variant near MC4R and change in body mass index develops by two weeks of age.

Background/aims: The common polymorphism rs17782313 lying 188 kb downstream of the MC4R gene has recently been found to be unequivocally associated with body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk in adults and children. Our objective was to test the association between rs17782313 and neonatal weight gain in a contemporary population.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, hospital-based study using 278 healthy Caucasian newborns [142 girls; gestational age (mean +/- SD) 39.

Anogenital distance from birth to 2 years: a population study.

Background: Anogenital distance (AGD) is sexually dimorphic in rodents and humans, being 2- to 2.5-fold greater in males. It is a reliable marker of androgen and antiandrogen effects in rodent reproductive toxicologic studies.

Determinants of early weaning and use of unmodified cow's milk in infants: a systematic review.

Introduction of complementary foods (weaning) before 4 to 6 months of age and unmodified cow's milk before age 12 months are associated with several health risks. To develop effective interventions to discourage these practices, evidence of their determinants is needed. This systematic review identified documents from seven electronic databases (database inception 2008) and reference lists, and by contacting authors.

Life course variations in the associations between FTO and MC4R gene variants and body size.

The timing of associations between common genetic variants for weight or body mass index (BMI) across the life course may provide insights into the aetiology of obesity. We genotyped variants in FTO (rs9939609) and near MC4R (rs17782313) in 1240 men and 1239 women born in 1946 and participating in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. Birth weight was recorded and height and weight were measured or self-reported repeatedly at 11 time-points between ages 2 and 53 years.

Early age at menarche associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality.

Context: The relationship between age at menarche and cardiovascular disease remains unclear. Two recent studies found an inverse association between age at menarche and all-cause mortality.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between age at menarche and cardiovascular disease risk factors, events, and mortality.

Cumulative effects and predictive value of common obesity-susceptibility variants identified by genome-wide association studies.

Background: Large-scale genome-wide association studies have identified 12 genetic loci that are robustly associated with body mass index (BMI).

Objectives: We examined associations and compared effect sizes of these newly identified obesity susceptibility loci with various anthropometric traits and assessed their cumulative effects and predictive value for obesity risk.

Design: We genotyped 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from each locus in 20,431 individuals (age: 39-79 y) from the population-based European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort.

Raised late pregnancy glucose concentrations in mice carrying pups with targeted disruption of H19delta13.

Objective: We have hypothesized that variation in imprinted growth-promoting fetal genes may affect maternal glucose concentrations in pregnancy. To test this hypothesis we evaluated the effects of fetal disruption of murine H19(Delta13) on maternal glucose concentrations in pregnancy.

Research Design And Methods: Experimental mice were pregnant females that had inherited the disrupted H19(Delta13) from their fathers and were therefore phenotypically wild type due to imprinting; approximately half of their litters were null for H19(Delta13) through maternal inheritance of the disrupted gene.

Ultrasound measurements of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal thickness to predict abdominal adiposity among older men and women.

Accurate measures of visceral and abdominal subcutaneous fat are essential for investigating the pathophysiology of obesity. Classical anthropometric measures such as waist and hip circumference cannot distinguish between these two fat depots. Direct imaging methods such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are restricted in large-scale studies due to practical and ethical issues.

Heritability of childhood weight gain from birth and risk markers for adult metabolic disease in prepubertal twins.

Objective: Associations between size at birth, postnatal weight gain, and potential risk for adult disease have been variably explained by in utero exposures or genetic risk that could affect both outcomes. We utilized a twin model to explore these hypotheses.

Methods: One hundred pairs of healthy twins aged 8.

Infant motor development predicts sports participation at age 14 years: northern Finland birth cohort of 1966.

Background: Motor proficiency is positively associated with physical activity levels. The aim of this study is to investigate associations between the timing of infant motor development and subsequent sports participation during adolescence.

Methods: Prospective observational study.