Maternal weight, smoking, and diabetes provided early predictors of longitudinal body mass index growth patterns in childhood.

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting overweight growth development using extended body mass index (BMI) data combined with birth and maternal records from Finnish national registries.

Methods: The longitudinal data consist of growth measurements of 7372 from six birth cohorts in Finland: 1974 (n = 1109), 1981 (n = 983), 1991 (n = 607), 1994-1995 (n = 829), 2001 (n = 821), and 2003-2004 (n = 3023). Anthropometric data were collected from birth to age 15 years from the health records.

Experiences from harvest-driven conservation: Management of Amazonian river turtles as a common-pool resource.

Understanding what causes variability in the outcomes of common-pool resources management and governance has important policy implications for biodiversity conservation, in particular for the conservation of wild plants and animals subject to harvest. We report an exploratory study focusing on Amazonian river turtles as a common-pool resource under harvest-driven conservation and management efforts in Peru. Based on document analysis, literature review and a series of interviews, we describe the management program as a social process and identify the most important governance and management outcomes achieved (increased turtle abundance and benefits for harvesters, harvester formalization), factors hindering and facilitating the program implementation (four natural and three societal factors), and key governance actions behind the program outcomes (awareness and capacity building, crafting and enforcing rules).

Payments for Improved Ecostructure (PIE): Funding for the Coexistence of Humans and Wolves in Finland.

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is a source of concern and a cause of damage to people's livelihoods. In Finland, as in most countries, actual damages are compensated according to the real lost value. However, often, the suffered damages are larger than what is compensated, and worries and fears are not accounted for at all.

Bird diversity, birdwatching tourism and conservation in Peru: a geographic analysis.

In the face of the continuing global biodiversity loss, it is important not only to assess the need for conservation, through e.g. gap analyses, but also to seek practical solutions for protecting biodiversity.

Transcription factor GATA-4 is abundantly expressed in childhood but not in adult liver tumors.

Objectives: Transcription factor GATA-4 is expressed in early fetal liver and essential for organogenesis. It is also implicated in carcinogenesis in several endoderm-derived organs. Hepatoblastoma (HB), the most common malignant pediatric liver tumor, has features of fetal liver including extramedullary hematopoiesis.

Allocating logging rights in Peruvian Amazonia--does it matter to be local?

Background: The fate of tropical forests is a global concern, yet many far-reaching decisions affecting forest resources are made locally. We explore allocation of logging rights using a case study from Loreto, Peruvian Amazonia, where millions of hectares of tropical rainforest were offered for concession in a competitive tendering process that addressed issues related to locality.

Methodology/principal Findings: After briefly presenting the study area and the tendering process, we identify and define local and non-local actors taking part in the concession process.

Toddlers get slimmer while adolescents get fatter--BMI distribution in five birth cohorts from four decades in Finland.

Aim: To investigate the trends in the size of Finnish children in five birth cohorts from four decades.

Methods: This is a retrospective longitudinal growth pattern study on children representing five birth cohorts: 1974, 1981, 1991, 1995 and 2001 from the city of Tampere and three rural municipalities. Growth data were collected from birth to 15 years of age, except in birth cohorts 1995 and 2001 until 12 and 5 years.

Change in prevalence of overweight and obesity in Finnish children - comparison between 1974 and 2001.

Objective: To analyse the possible changes in the prevalence of overweight and obesity comparing birth cohorts from four different decades in Finland.

Design: A retrospective longitudinal growth study.

Methods: The subjects representing five birth cohorts: 1974 (n = 1109), 1981 (n = 987), 1991 (n = 586), 1995 (n = 856) and 2001 (n = 766) in the city of Tampere and three rural municipalities in Finland.

Parents underestimate their child`s overweight.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate parents' ability to perceive the weight status of their children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 5 (n = 310) and 11-year-old (n = 296) children. The height, weight and waist circumference were measured.

Risk of hyperammonemic coma in the puerperium: two cases of women with diagnosed and undiagnosed deficiency of urea cycle enzymes.

Deficiencies of urea cycle enzymes are rare metabolic disorders. Inadequate function of these enzymes may in worst cases lead to hyperammonemic encephalopathy and death. The danger of urea cycle enzyme deficiencies is that previously healthy adults with no prior medical history suggesting these deficiencies may suddenly develop life-threatening complications during prolonged catabolic situations such as delivery or surgery.

Tropical timber rush in Peruvian Amazonia: spatial allocation of forest concessions in an uninventoried frontier.

Land-use allocation has important implications for the conservation and management of tropical forests. Peru's forestry regime has recently been reformed and more than 7 million ha has been assigned as forest concessions. This potentially has a drastic impact on the land-use practices and species composition of the assigned areas.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in 5- and 12-year-old Finnish children in 1986 and 2006.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and the trends of overweight and obesity in Finnish 5- and 12-year-old children in 1986 and 2006.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Subjects And Methods: Anthropometric data were collected retrospectively from health examinations in Tampere and in three rural municipalities.

Hereditary urea cycle diseases in Finland.

Aim: To estimate the incidence of urea cycle diseases (UCDs) in Finland and determine the course of the various disorders as well as the outcome.

Methods: The original data were collected in the years 1998-2001. The diagnoses made after 2001, as well as the current status of the patients, were updated by surveys in the spring of 2007.

Diet does not explain the high prevalence of dyslipidaemia in paediatric renal transplant recipients.

Dyslipidaemia exists frequently after renal transplantation (RTx) and promotes atherosclerosis. In this study, we examined the association between daily intake of nutrients and serum lipids after paediatric RTx. We studied 45 children with acceptably functioning kidney grafts and adequately completed food records at a median age of 10.

Current strategies for the treatment of hereditary tyrosinemia type I.

Hereditary tyrosinemia type I (HT-I) is the most common of the three known diseases caused by defects in tyrosine metabolism. This type of tyrosinemia is caused by a mutation in the gene coding for fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase; several mutations in this gene have been identified. The main clinical features of HT-I are caused by hepatic involvement and renal tubular dysfunction.

Cholesterol absorption and synthesis in pediatric kidney, liver, and heart transplant recipients.

Background: Hypercholesterolemia after organ transplantation is common. Previously, we observed higher serum total cholesterol (TC) concentrations in our pediatric kidney than liver or heart transplant recipients. To find an explanation to the observed difference, our kidney recipients' cholesterol synthesis and absorption efficiency was compared to those of liver and heart recipients.

Expanding screening for rare metabolic disease in the newborn: an analysis of costs, effect and ethical consequences for decision-making in Finland.

Aim: Currently, the only metabolic disorder that newborns are screened for in Finland is congenital hypothyroidism. A proposal to start a pilot study on screening for other rare metabolic diseases using tandem mass spectrometry prompted a health technology assessment project on the effect and costs of expanded newborn screening programme options.

Method: A modelling study using data from current published studies, healthcare registers and expert opinion.

Tramadol premedication in operative extraction of the mandibular third molar: a placebo-controlled crossover study.

Anxiolytic drugs are widely used for premedication in oral surgery. Since anxiety is usually associated with the fear of pain, we tested the effects of the analgesic tramadol in premedication before operative extraction of the mandibular third molar under local anesthesia. In a double-blind crossover study, 20 patients were randomized to receive 100 mg oral tramadol or placebo 1 h before operation.

Insulin resistance, LDL particle size, and LDL susceptibility to oxidation in pediatric kidney and liver recipients.

Background: Dyslipidemia is common after solid organ transplantation. We have described hypertriglyceridemia in about 50% of our pediatric kidney, and in about 30% of our liver recipients. The aim of the present study was to find out whether this post-transplantation hypertriglyceridemia after pediatric solid organ transplantation is associated with insulin resistance and the occurrence of small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL).

Studies of LDL particle size and susceptibility to oxidation and association with glucose metabolism in children after heart transplantation.

Background: Increased concentrations of serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol are common after heart transplantation (HTx). These abnormalities may promote transplant vascular disease and atherosclerosis, especially if LDL is small, dense, and oxidized. There have been no previous studies of LDL particle size and LDL susceptibility to oxidation in children after HTx.

Serum lipids in children 3 to 5 years after kidney, liver, and heart transplantation.

Although dyslipidemia is common after solid organ transplantation (Tx), there are few long-term studies in children. We investigated the prevalence of dyslipidemia up to 5 years after Tx in 125 children on triple immunosuppression with one of three different well-functioning grafts, kidney, liver, and heart, and 181 controls. Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TG) concentrations were measured annually.