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Objective: To assess non-verbal intelligence and its relationship with nutritional status,nutrient intakes and parents’ education in school-children. Methods: A cross-sectional,observational study was conducted in children between 6-11 years, without any knownchronic disorder or intellectual disability. Data were collected regarding parents’ education,anthropometry and dietary intakes. Non-verbal intelligence was assessed by Raven’sColoured Progressive Matrices (RCPM). Results: In 323 enrolled children (52.9% boys), asignificant positive association was observed between RCPM scores and parents’ education(father’s rs=0.14, mother’s rs=0.22), height Z-scores (rs=0.14) and dietary intakes of zinc(rs=0.14), iron (rs=0.12) and folate (rs=0.14). Conclusion: Height in normal range, higherzinc, iron and folate intakes, and parental higher educational levels were associated withhigher non-verbal intelligence scores
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Objective: To assess height velocity and develop height velocitypercentiles in 5-17-year-old Indian children; and to study themagnitude and age at peak height velocity.Design: Mixed longitudinal study.Setting: Private schools at Pune and Delhi.Participants/patients: 2949 children (1681 boys) belonging toaffluent class aged 5-17 years (1473-Pune, 1476-Delhi).Methods: Annual height and weight measurements from 2007 to2013. Total 13214 height velocity measurements (7724 on boys).Outcome Measures: Height velocity percentiles (3rd, 10th, 25th,50th, 75th, 90th and 97th) constructed using LMS chart maker.Results: Age- and gender-specific height velocity percentileswere generated. Median height velocity in girls decreased from 5to 8 years, increased to a peak of 6.6 cm at 10.5 years and thendeclined to 0.3 cm at 17.5 years. In boys, median height velocityreduced till 10.5, increased to a peak of 6.8 cms at 13.5 years andthen declined to 1cm by 18 years.Conclusions: Height velocity percentiles in 5-17-year-old urbanIndian children were constructed
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Objective: To study longitudinal growth in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Methods: Anthropometry, disease duration, insulin regimens and HbA1C recorded from patients with diabetes enrolled in a specialty clinic. Results: 160 children (75 boys; mean (SD) age 9.4 (3.3) y) were enrolled. 35% children had low (<25th centile) height velocity. Disease duration and HbA1 C affected height velocity (adjusted for puberty). Children on basal-bolus had higher height velocity Z scores than those on a split mix regimen [(0.5(1.6) vs. -0.3(1.4), P<0.05)]. Children diagnosed before 5 years of age had lowest height velocity. Of the children who reached final height, 53% remained below target height. Conclusion: Children with type 1 diabetes mellitus have lower height velocity compared to healthy children; those diagnosed at younger age were at higher risk for growth failure.
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To explore association of dietary-calcium intake and body-composition with blood-pressure, 417 apparently healthy adolescents (218 boys) were studied for anthropometry, blood pressure, body composition and nutrient intakes using standard protocols. Blood pressure correlated negatively with dietary calcium (r= -0.120, P<0.01) and positively with body fat (r=0.56,P<0.001). Low dietary-calcium intakes and high adiposity may increase risk of hypertension in Indian adolescents.
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Objectives: To compare lipid parameters between diabetics and controls and to study association between metabolic control and lipid profile. Methods: Lipid profile and HbA1c were measured (n=80, 39 boys) in diabetic children [age 10.7(3.4) y] and 54 controls, tests repeated after 1 year (in 45 diabetics). Results: Diabetic children had higher mean (SD) LDL-C [95.3(27.7) vs 84.5(26.4) mg/dL], lower HDL-C [48.2 (13.1) vs 53.1(11.9) mg/dl]. Moderate physical activity (P=0.014) protected against high LDL-C levels. HbA1c (P=0.00) predicted total and LDL-C levels. At 1year, 63% showed reduced LDL-C with improving HbA1c; 72% showed increased LDL-C with deteriorated HbA1c. Conclusion: Improving metabolic control is cardinal to reduce cardiometabolic risk; physical activity is beneficial.
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Objective: To create age- and gender-specific Triceps Skinfold Thickness percentile curves for Indian children; and to determine cut-offs for predicting the risk of childhood hypertension. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Multicentric, school-based, 5 major Indian cities Participants: 13375 children (7590 boys) aged 5-17 years Procedure: Data on height, weight, blood pressure, triceps skinfold thickness (using Harpenden Skinfold caliper) were collected. Reference triceps skinfold thickness percentile curves were derived for boys and girls by LMS (lambda-mu-sigma) method. Receiver operating curve analyses were performed to determine the optimal cut-off of triceps skinfold thickness centile for predicting the risk of hypertension. Results: Percentile curves for boys plateau around 13 years whereas for girls the curves increase steadily till the age of 17 years. Median triceps skinfold thickness increased by 7% to 9% till the age of 9 years in boys and girls. After 12 years, median triceps skinfold thickness decreased by 1% to 2% in boys but increased by 3% to 4% in girls. The optimal cut-off percentile yielding maximal sensitivity (68%) and specificity (74-78%) for predicting high blood pressure was the 70th triceps skinfold thickness percentile in both genders. Conclusions: Percentile curves for triceps skinfold thickness developed in the present study would be useful in the assessment of adiposity and the risk of hypertension in Indian children.
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Growth hormone [GH] is licensed for use in children born small for gestational age (SGA) who fail to catch-up. We retrospectively compared the response of twenty children born SGA (who satisfied the auxological criteria) to growth hormone (Group I) versus randomly selected age and sex matched controls from a group of SGA children with growth related complaints, not treated with GH (Group II). After 2 years of GH therapy the HAZ increased from -2.8 to -1.6 in Group I, compared 2.2 to -1.7 in group II (P-value < 0.05). The percentage of pubertal children rose from 55% to 65% in cases versus 60% to 75% in the controls (P>0.05). GH resulted in increase in growth velocity Z-score during the first year and (4.3±0.5 in Group-I versus - 0.5±0.6 in Group-II, P<0.05) second year of treatment (1.7±0.4 in cases versus -0.6±0.7 in controls, P<0.05).Thus, GH improves height of short SGA children without accelerating pubertal progression.
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We have studied the effects of ultraviolet-C (UVC) and Ultraviolet-B (UVB) on growth and pattern formation in Pelmatohydra oligactis. UVC brings about a significant increase in budding in intact hydra while UVB does not exhibit such an effect. Excessive budding could be a response for survival at wavelengths that damage biological tissues. If the head or base piece of a bisected hydra is irradiated and recombined with the unirradiated missing part, regeneration proceeds normally indicating that exposure of a body part with either an intact head or foot to UVC does not influence pattern formation. Most significantly, in the middle piece, but not in the head or the base piece of a trisected hydra, UVC leads to initiation of ectopic feet formation in almost one third of the cases. Thus, UV irradiation interferes with pattern formation in regenerating hydra, possibly by changing positional values, and promotes budding in intact hydra. This is the first report on induction of ectopic feet formation by UV in regenerating hydra and opens up the possibility of using UV irradiation as a tool to understand pattern formation in the enigmatic hydra.