Publications by authors named "RJ Hardy"

Objective: We sought to examine associations between height gain across childhood and adolescence with hip shape in individuals aged 60-64 years from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, a nationally representative British birth cohort.

Methods: Height was measured at ages 2, 4, 6, 7, 11 and 15 years, and self-reported at age 20 years. 10 modes of variation in hip shape (HM1-10), described by statistical shape models, were previously ascertained from DXA images taken at ages 60-64 years.

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In the Multicenter Trial of Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), 4099 infants weighing less than 1251 g at birth underwent sequential ophthalmic examinations, beginning at age 4 to 6 weeks, to monitor the incidence and course of ROP. Overall, 65.8% of the infants developed ROP to some degree; 81.

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Spine shape changes dramatically in early life, influenced by attainment of developmental milestones such as independent walking. Whether these associations persist across life is unknown. Therefore, we investigated associations between developmental milestones and spine shape, as determined using statistical shape models (SSMs) of lumbar spine from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans in 1327 individuals (688 female) at 60 to 64 years in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development.

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Bones' shapes and structures adapt to the muscle and reaction forces they experience during everyday movements. Onset of independent walking, at approximately 12 months, represents the first postnatal exposure of the lower limbs to the large forces associated with bipedal movements; accordingly, earlier walking is associated with greater bone strength. However, associations between early life loading and joint shape have not been explored.

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We aimed to examine whether back pain across adulthood was associated with spine shape at age 60-64 years. Data were from 1405 participants in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, a nationally representative British birth cohort. Back pain was ascertained during nurse interviews at ages 36, 43, 53 and 60-64 years.

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Recognition of the need to manage the water environment in more holistic ways has resulted in the global growth of Integrated Catchment Management (ICM). ICM is characterised by horizontal integration, encouraging interdisciplinary working between traditionally disparate management sectors, alongside vertical integration, characterised by the engagement of communities; central is the promotion of participatory governance and management decision-making. ICM has been translated into policy through, for example, the EU Water Framework Directive and at a national level by policies such as the Catchment Based Approach in England.

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This study investigated associations between measures of adiposity from age 36 and spine shape at 60-64 years. Thoracolumbar spine shape was characterised using statistical shape modelling on lateral dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry images of the spine from 1529 participants of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, acquired at age 60-64. Associations of spine shape modes with: 1) contemporaneous measures of total and central adiposity (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC)) and body composition (android:gynoid fat mass ratio and lean and fat mass indices, calculated as whole body (excluding the head) lean or fat mass (kg) divided by height2 (m)2); 2) changes in total and central adiposity between age 36 and 60-64 and 3) age at onset of overweight, were tested using linear regression models.

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Objective: To examine the associations of body mass index (BMI) across adulthood with hip shapes at age 60-64years.

Methods: Up to 1633 men and women from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development with repeat measures of BMI across adulthood and posterior-anterior dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry bone mineral density images of the proximal femur recorded at age 60-64 were included in analyses. Statistical shape modelling was applied to quantify independent variations in hip mode (HM), of which the first 6 were examined in relation to: i) BMI at each age of assessment; ii) BMI gain during different phases of adulthood; iii) age first overweight.

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The anatomical shape of bones and joints is important for their proper function but quantifying this, and detecting pathological variations, is difficult to do. Numerical descriptions would also enable correlations between joint shapes to be explored. Statistical shape modelling (SSM) is a method of image analysis employing pattern recognition statistics to describe and quantify such shapes from images; it uses principal components analysis to generate modes of variation describing each image in terms of a set of numerical scores after removing global size variation.

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Vegetation is a characteristic feature of shallow aquatic flows such as rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Flow through and above aquatic vegetation canopies is commonly described using a canopy mixing layer analogy which provides a canonical framework for assessing key hydraulic characteristics such as velocity profiles, large-scale coherent turbulent structures and mixing and transport processes for solutes and sediments. This theory is well developed for the case of semi-rigid terrestrial vegetation and has more recently been applied to the case of aquatic vegetation.

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Atomistic formulas are derived for the local densities and fluxes used in the continuum description of energy and momentum transport. Two general methods for the distribution of potential energy among a system's constituent particles are presented and analyzed. The resulting formulas for the heat flux and stress tensor and the equations for energy and momentum transport are exact consequences of the definitions of the densities and the equations of classical mechanics.

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Aims: Antecedent blood pressure (BP) may contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) independent of current BP. Blood pressure is associated with left ventricular mass index (LVMI) which independently predicts CVD. We investigated the relationship between midlife BP from age 36 to 64 and LVMI at 60-64 years.

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Background: Clinical practice evaluates cardiovascular risk based on current risk factor (RF) levels [Blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI) and glycaemic control] largely disregarding previous risk-factor history over the totality of the life course. RFs are related to contemporaneous echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function which in turn are independently related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in cross-sectional studies. However, the effect of lifetime or earlier RF history on future echocardiographic changes has never been systematically examined.

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Background: Overweight and obesity in adulthood are established risk factors for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, but the contribution of overweight in childhood to later cardiovascular risk is less clear. Evidence for a direct effect of childhood overweight would highlight early life as an important target for cardiovascular disease prevention. The aim of this study was to assess whether overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence contribute to excess cardiovascular risk in adults.

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The most common data structures in the biomedical studies have been matched or unmatched designs. Data structures resulting from a hybrid of the two may create challenges for statistical inferences. The question may arise whether to use parametric or nonparametric methods on the hybrid data structure.

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Purpose: To report the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in children <6 years of age born preterm with birth weights <1251 g who developed high-risk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity and who participated in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity trial.

Methods: Surviving children from the cohort of 401 participants who had developed high-risk prethreshold ROP in one or both eyes underwent cycloplegic retinoscopy at 6 and 9 months corrected age and yearly between 2 and 6 years postnatal age. Eyes were randomized to receive treatment at high-risk prethreshold ROP or conventional management with treatment only if threshold ROP developed.

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Purpose: To report the incidence of cataract development by 6 months' corrected age in preterm children who participated in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity study.

Methods: Infants who developed prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in one or both eyes and were determined by the RM-ROP2 model to have a high risk of poor structural outcome without treatment were randomized to receive early treatment (ET), defined as laser photocoagulation at high-risk prethreshold ROP, or to be conventionally managed (CM), receiving treatment only if threshold ROP developed. Data on eyes developing a cataract by 6 months' corrected age were analyzed.

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Objective: To compare Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity outcome with retinal structural outcome at the 6-year follow-up examination of infants randomized in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity study.

Methods: We compared the results in 606 eyes of subjects in whom both functional (visual acuity) and retinal structural assessments were obtained at age 6 years. Visual acuity assessments were performed by masked testers,and retinal examinations were performed by certified ophthalmologists.

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Purpose: To report the clinical characteristics of infants with severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and glaucoma-based on review of the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ETROP) study.

Methods: All infants randomized in the ETROP trial were included. Each infant developed high-risk prethreshold ROP in at least one eye.

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Introduction: There is growing evidence of poor mental health and quality of life among survivors of intensive care. However, it is not yet clear to what extent the trauma of life-threatening illness, associated drugs and treatments, or patients' psychological reactions during intensive care contribute to poor psychosocial outcomes. Our aim was to investigate the relative contributions of a broader set of risk factors and outcomes than had previously been considered in a single study.

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OBJECTIVE To compare Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity outcome with retinal structural outcome at the 6-year follow-up examination of infants randomized in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity study. METHODS We compared the results in 606 eyes of subjects in whom both functional (visual acuity) and retinal structural assessments were obtained at age 6 years. Visual acuity assessments were performed by masked testers, and retinal examinations were performed by certified ophthalmologists.

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Purpose: To present strabismus data for children who participated in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ETROP) randomized trial.

Methods: The prevalence of strabismus, categorized as present or absent, was tabulated for all children with history of high-risk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) who participated in the ETROP randomized trial and were examined at 9 months to 6 years of age. Relationships among strabismus and demographic measures, eye characteristics, and neurodevelopmental factors were analyzed.

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Purpose: We aimed to examine the association between intake of different subgroups of dairy products and blood pressure and incident hypertension 10 years later, adjusting for confounding factors.

Methods: We studied 1,750 British men and women from the 1946 British birth cohort from 1989 to 1999 (age 43 and 53 years, respectively). Diet was assessed by 5-day food diaries using photographs in the estimation of portion size.

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Purpose: To examine the prevalence of astigmatism (≥ 1.00 diopter [D]) and high astigmatism (≥ 2.00 D) from 6 months after term due date to 6 years of age in preterm children with birth weight of less than 1251 g in whom high-risk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) developed and who participated in the Early Treatment for ROP study.

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