C-Reactive Protein Is Associated with Physical Fitness in Breast Cancer Survivors.

Background: Physical fitness (PF) is an expression of the physiological functioning of multiple body components. PF is an important prognostic factor in terms of cardiovascular mortality, cancer mortality, and all-cause mortality. PF has been related to some biomarkers in the general population but not in breast cancer survivors (BCS). Purpose: To evaluate the effects of PF on biomarkers potentially related to physical activity (PA) in a sample of BCS. Methods: Cross-sectional study. A total of 84 BCS (mean age 54) who had finished their treatment were recruited. Different components of PF were evaluated, namely body composition (anthropometry), cardiorespiratory fitness (one-mile walk test), muscular (handgrip and sit-to-stand timed test), and motor (gait speed) components. Sexual hormones, inflammation, and insulin resistance biomarkers were measured. Results: C-Reactive Protein (CRP) was associated with every component of physical fitness: cardiorespiratory fitness (p-value = 0.002), muscular (sit-to-stand timed test, p-value = 0.002) and motor (gait speed, p-value = 0.004) components, and body composition (body mass index, p-value = 0.003; waist, p-value < 0.000; and waist-to-hip index, p-value = 0.012). CRP also was associated with "poor physical condition," a constructed variable that encompasses all components of physical fitness (p-value < 0.001). Insulin was associated with cardiorespiratory fitness and gait speed (p-values = 0.002 and 0.024, respectively). Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 was negatively associated with waist perimeter and waist-to-hip ratio. Conclusions: CRP can also be considered an indicator of poor PF in BCS. Implications for cancer survivors: in case of elevation of CRP indicating cardiovascular risk, health professionals should recommend lifestyle changes to improve BCS physical condition.

Observing the Unobservable: Migrant Selectivity and Agentic Individuality Among Higher Education Students in China and Europe.

The research in migrant selectivity largely overlooks the broader institutional processes that shape the extent to which migrants from different backgrounds are indeed positively selected. This is particularly true in the case of highly skilled migrants, whose selection may not be conditioned by migration but by education. This paper deals with this limitation by studying individual characteristics, which are often treated as unobserved selectivity, among a specific flow of educational migrants in Europe, namely, Chinese higher education students. To do so, we use a unique representative multi-country dataset of about 8,000 Chinese international students and their native-born counterparts in China, the UK, and Germany. Our evidence rules out positive selection of migrants on individuality traits such as ambition, creativity, or being a risk-taker or independently minded. This supports our argument that the prevalence of agentic models of individuality is embedded in tertiary education on a global level.

Avoiding selection bias without random assignment? The effect of breastfeeding on cognitive outcomes in China.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies suggest that some of the health benefits traditionally attributed to breastfeeding may be overstated due to selection bias problems, since typically breastfeeding is more prevalent in more resourceful households. In this paper we argue that an important antidote against selection bias consists in analyzing data from contexts in which breastfeeding is not normativised, or where it is not systematically associated to socioeconomic advantage and best parenting practices. We estimate the effect of breastfeeding on the cognitive outcomes of Chinese children. METHODS: We use observational data from a representative sample of children aged 10-15 from the China Family Panel Study. We estimate province fixed effect linear regression models to predict the impact of breastfeeding on test scores. RESULTS: Our paper shows that there are no advantages in the results obtained by breastfed children when compared with those who were not breastfed, regardless of the duration of breastfeeding. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the cognitive benefits associated to breastfeeding can be attributed to flaws inherent to the research designs usually adopted.

Does Living in a Fatherless Household Compromise Educational Success? A Comparative Study of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills.

This study addresses the relationship between various family forms and the level of cognitive and non-cognitive skills among 15- to 16-year-old students. We measure cognitive skills using standardized scores in mathematics; non-cognitive abilities are captured by a composite measure of internal locus of control related to mathematics. A particular focus lies on father absence although we also examine the role played by co-residence with siblings and grandparents. We use cross-nationally comparable data on students participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment's release for 2012. By mapping inequalities by family forms across 33 developed countries, this study provides robust cross-country comparable evidence on the relationship of household structure with both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. The study produces three key results: first, the absence of fathers from the household as well as co-residence with grandparents is associated with adverse outcomes for children in virtually all developed countries. Second, this is generally true in terms of both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, although the disadvantage connected to both family forms is notably stronger in the former than in the latter domain. Finally, there is marked cross-national diversity in the effects associated with the presence in the household of siblings and especially grandparents which furthermore differs across the two outcomes considered.