Factors Influencing Paternal Attachment Among Preterm Infants in an Urban Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The aim of this study is to elucidate factors that may influence paternal attachment to preterm infants in an urban hospital setting. Fathers of preterm infants admitted to a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were eligible for this study. The Paternal Postnatal Attachment Scale (PPAS) is a questionnaire that invokes paternal attachment in five domains: patience, tolerance, pleasure, affection and pride.

Depressive symptoms in adolescent girls at-risk for type 2 diabetes and their parents.

Few studies have characterized the relation between parent's depression symptoms and adolescent's depression symptoms in adolescents at-risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). We evaluated the associations of parental depression symptoms with the depression symptoms and metabolic functioning of adolescent offspring at-risk for T2D. One-hundred sixteen parents and adolescent girls with a family history of diabetes completed surveys of depression symptoms.

Weight-based teasing is associated with gain in BMI and fat mass among children and adolescents at-risk for obesity: A longitudinal study.

Background: Youths with overweight and obesity report frequent instances of weight-based teasing. However, little is known about the prospective associations between weight-based teasing and changes in body composition among youth.

Objective: To assess associations between weight-based teasing and changes in body mass index (BMI) and fat mass in a longitudinal study of youths with, or at-risk for, overweight and obesity.

Relationship of Mindfulness to Distress and Cortisol Response in Adolescent Girls At-Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Altered stress response theoretically contributes to the etiology of cardiometabolic disease. Mindfulness may be a protective buffer against the effects of stress on health outcomes by altering how individuals evaluate and respond to stress. We engaged adolescent girls at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes in a cold-pressor test in order to determine the relationship of dispositional mindfulness to cortisol response and subjective stress, including perceived pain and unpleasantness during the stressor, and negative affect following the stressor.

Evaluating Weight Status and Sex as Moderators of the Association of Serum Leptin with Bone Mineral Density in Children and Adolescents .

Background/aims: Animal studies suggest that leptin may adversely affect bone mineral density (BMD). Clinical studies have yielded conflicting results. We therefore investigated associations between leptin and bone parameters in children.

Excess weight gain prevention in adolescents: Three-year outcome following a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) prevents weight gain in adults with obesity and binge-eating-disorder, and is especially effective among those with increased psychosocial problems. However, IPT was not superior to health education (HE) to prevent excess weight gain at 1-year follow-up in 113 adolescent girls at high-risk for excess weight gain because of loss-of-control eating and high body mass index (BMI; kg/m2; Tanofsky-Kraff et al., 2014).

Associations of adolescent emotional and loss of control eating with 1-year changes in disordered eating, weight, and adiposity.

Objective: Adolescent emotional-eating, referring to eating in response to negative affective states, is frequently reported by those with loss of control (LOC) eating. Although LOC eating has been shown to predict exacerbated disordered eating and excess weight/adiposity gain, the extent to which emotional-eating, either alone or in combination with LOC, predicts adverse outcomes has not been determined. Thus, we examined associations of baseline emotional-eating with changes in disordered eating, BMI, and adiposity over 1-year, and to what degree the presence or absence of baseline LOC moderated these associations.

Pediatric Loss of Control Eating and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Concentrations.

Background: Loss of control (LOC) eating in youth is associated with excess body weight and adiposity. After adjusting for fat mass, youth with LOC eating have higher blood pressure and higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared to youth without LOC eating. Increased inflammation may account for this relationship, although few data have examined this hypothesis.

Emotion dysregulation and loss-of-control eating in children and adolescents.

Objective: To examine the associations among self-reported loss-of-control (LOC) eating, emotion dysregulation, body mass, and objective energy intake among youth. Emotion dysregulation may be 1 individual factor that promotes excess energy intake and increases in body mass among youth with LOC eating.

Method: Children and adolescents (N = 230; 8 to 17 years) enrolled in a nonintervention study completed a structured interview to determine the presence or absence of self-reported LOC eating.

A Randomized Controlled Trial to Prevent Depression and Ameliorate Insulin Resistance in Adolescent Girls at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Prospective data suggest depressive symptoms worsen insulin resistance and accelerate type 2 diabetes (T2D) onset.

Purpose: We sought to determine whether reducing depressive symptoms in overweight/obese adolescents at risk for T2D would increase insulin sensitivity and mitigate T2D risk.

Method: We conducted a parallel-group, randomized controlled trial comparing a 6-week cognitive-behavioral (CB) depression prevention group with a 6-week health education (HE) control group in 119 overweight/obese adolescent girls with mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale [CES-D] ≥16) and T2D family history.

Associations of sleep duration and quality with disinhibited eating behaviors in adolescent girls at-risk for type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Short sleep duration and daytime sleepiness have been associated with an increased risk for the onset of type 2 diabetes in adults. There has been far less attention to the characterization of sleep in adolescents at-risk for diabetes or to the possible behavioral mechanisms, such as disinhibited eating, through which sleep may affect metabolic functioning.

Methods: We evaluated the associations of sleep duration and daytime sleepiness with a multi-modal assessment of disinhibited eating in 119 adolescent girls at-risk for type 2 diabetes based upon being overweight/obese and having a family history of diabetes.

Pressure To Be Thin and Insulin Sensitivity Among Adolescents.

Purpose: Extant research indicates that some of the comorbidities associated with adult obesity may be adversely affected by the stress resulting from negative body image and weight-related stigma. This study examined the association between weight-related pressure and insulin sensitivity in adolescents, who are vulnerable to both weight-based teasing and the onset of metabolic dysregulation.

Methods: Participants were 215 adolescent healthy volunteers (55% female; 59% white; 35% overweight/obese; mean ± standard deviation age = 15.

Cortisol response to an induction of negative affect among adolescents with and without loss of control eating.

Background: Adults with binge eating disorder may have an exaggerated or blunted cortisol response to stress. Yet, limited data exist among youth who report loss of control (LOC) eating, a developmental precursor to binge eating disorder.

Methods: We studied cortisol reactivity among 178 healthy adolescents with and without LOC eating.

A prospective study of adolescent eating in the absence of hunger and body mass and fat mass outcomes.

Objective: Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) refers to the consumption of palatable foods in a sated state. It has been proposed that EAH promotes excess weight gain in youth; yet there are limited prospective data to support this hypothesis. We examined whether EAH at baseline predicted increases in body mass (BMI and BMIz) and fat mass (kg) 1 year later among adolescent boys and girls.

A preliminary examination of Loss of Control Eating Disorder (LOC-ED) in middle childhood.

Loss of Control Eating Disorder (LOC-ED) has been proposed as a diagnostic category for children 6-12years with binge-type eating. However, characteristics of youth with LOC-ED have not been examined. We tested the hypothesis that the proposed criteria for LOC-ED would identify children with greater adiposity, more disordered eating attitudes, and greater mood disturbance than those without LOC-ED.

Insulin resistance, lipodystrophy and cardiometabolic syndrome in HIV/AIDS.

HIV associated insulin resistance, lipodistrophy and cardiometabolic syndrome have been extensively studied and continue to be the scope of much research. There is compelling evidence that both the HIV itself and the therapeutical regimes are major contributors to all of these associated comorbidities. HIV has increasingly been recognized as a disease of accelerated aging, manifested by increased progression of vascular disease and cellular markers of aging.

Blood Pressure over Height Ratios: Simple and Accurate Method of Detecting Elevated Blood Pressure in Children.

Background. Blood pressure (BP) percentiles in childhood are assessed according to age, gender, and height. Objective.

Hyperandrogenism Does Not Influence Metabolic Parameters in Adolescent Girls with PCOS.

Background. Underlying insulin resistance and/or obesity has clearly been implicated in the development of metabolic syndrome in adolescents and young adults with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). It is not clear however what role hyperandrogenism has on the development of metabolic syndrome or its role on those metabolic parameters associated with metabolic syndrome.