American Journal of Human Biology最新文献

{"title":"Bone density in postmenopausal women with scoliosis is associated with markers of degenerative joint disease","authors":"Elahe Ganji,&nbsp;Alan Burshell,&nbsp;Amisha Khicha,&nbsp;Katharine M. N. Lee","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24130","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24130","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Bone mineral density (BMD) measured with dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the clinical standard for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and prediction of bone fracture risk. In the aging skeleton, osteoporosis is often concomitantly present with degenerative joint disease (DJD).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In this study, we evaluated tissue-level changes in the differentially loaded concave (CC) and convex (CV) sides of the lumbar spine in a sample of postmenopausal women with scoliosis. We used a cumulative degeneration score to assess osteophyte formation, the severity of sclerotic morphology, and marrow changes as markers of DJD in the lumbar spine and examined the correlation between markers of DJD and BMD.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>More severe osteophyte growth and sclerosis were present on the CC side of the spine. The degenerative score (DS) was higher on the CC side of the lumbar spine compared with the CV side. While CC BMD was positively correlated with CC DS and marrow, CV DS was not correlated with CV BMD. Marrow changes were correlated with DS on the CC lumbar spine.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>These results highlight the importance of mechanoadaptive as well as broader inflammatory processes in the manifestation of degenerative changes and local mineral deposition at the lumbar spine. DXA-based BMD measurement of osteoporosis need to be contextualized within the biomechanical and degenerative conditions of a joint rather than using a strict threshold cutoff.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.24130","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141560284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population expansion, larger, and more homogeneous native American ancestry among Mexican mestizo populations based on 10 X-chromosome STR loci (X-STR decaplex system)","authors":"Christian Mariscal-Ramos,&nbsp;Irán Cortes-Trujllo,&nbsp;Gabriela Martínez-Cortés,&nbsp;Ismael Nuño Arana,&nbsp;Héctor Rangel-Villalobos","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24124","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24124","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objective</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To evaluate the genetic diversity, admixture, genetic relationships, and sex-biased demographic processes in Mexican Mestizo (admixed) populations based on 10 X-chromosome STRs (X-STRs).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We analyzed the X-STRs Decaplex system in 104 Mexican Native Americans to obtain the ancestral reference needed to complete the demographic analyses above mentioned. We included reported Iberian and Latin American (admixed) populations from Central and South America, as well as datasets from Mexican Mestizos based on Y-linked STRs (Y-STRs), autosomal STRs (A-STRs), and mtDNA.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Higher X-linked Native American ancestry was observed among Latin American populations regarding that reported from A-STRs and Y-STRs. The interpopulation differentiation based on ancestry among Mexican Mestizos diminished according to the inheritance pattern: Y-STRs (highest), A-STRs, X-STRs, and mtDNA (lowest). This finding is related to the peculiar admixture process that occurred during and after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico (and most of Latin America), involving a large number of Spanish men (Y-chromosomes) with a lesser proportion of X-chromosomes than autosomes; besides to the limited number of Spanish women (XX) arrived in the Americas in subsequent and shorter periods. Population expansion was detected in Mexican Mestizos from all the country, except those from the southeast region characterized by elevated indigenous ancestry, marginalization, and poorness.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Population growth was detected in most Mexican Mestizos, besides more homogeneous and larger Native American ancestry based on X-linked inheritance than that based on autosomal STRs and Y-STRs.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141560285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Height and integration in proximity networks among Tanzanian Hadza men","authors":"Piotr Fedurek,&nbsp;Dariusz Danel,&nbsp;Athena Aktipis,&nbsp;J. Colette Berbesque,&nbsp;Lee Cronk,&nbsp;E. Jerryson Makambi,&nbsp;Julia Lehmann,&nbsp;Ibrahim Mabulla,&nbsp;Slawomir Koziel","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24129","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24129","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In recent years there has been much interest in investigating the extent to which social status or prestige are related to an individual's degree of integration in social networks. It has been shown that, among hunter-gatherers, social characteristics of an individual based on social status or prestige, such foraging reputation, friendship popularity, and pro-social reputation, can influence the extent to which an individual is embedded in a social network. However, little is known regarding the extent to which height, a physical trait that in Western societies is often associated with social status, is associated in integration in social networks among small-scale hunter gatherers. Here, we investigated the relationship between height and a position an individual occupies in proximity networks among Hadza men (<i>n</i> = 30), hunter-gatherers living in Northern Tanzania. The results of our study show that height is not related to the position an individual maintains in proximity networks. We argue that, in a relatively egalitarian small-scale hunter-gatherer societies such as the Hadza, social interactions driving proximity networks might be influenced by social traits, such as popularity and hunting reputation, rather than physical traits, such as height.</p>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.24129","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141535876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variation in grandmaternal investment in Ukraine","authors":"Sofiya Shreyer","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24128","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24128","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Grandmothers vary in their contributions to grandchildren based on their relatedness and the sex of the child. Maternal grandmothers decrease grandchildren's risk of mortality and increase grandchildren's health more significantly than paternal grandmothers, but limited evidence suggests that paternal grandmothers may invest more in female than male grandchildren.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Aims</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In this study, I test whether contact frequency between grandmothers and grandchildren is influenced by their relatedness (maternal vs paternal) or the sex of the child. This research was carried out in Ukraine because it is neither matrilocal nor patrilocal, and Ukrainian grandmothers are known to provide a high rate of childcare.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study included interviews with 60 grandmothers that asked about contact frequency with grandchildren, relatedness (maternal or paternal), and contact frequency between the grandchild and the other grandmother. A dataset generated for each grandchild (<i>n</i> = 128) included sex, age, and contact frequency with both maternal and paternal grandmothers. Linear mixed models were fit to the data to explore the relationship between grandmother relatedness and contact frequency.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>On average, maternal grandmothers saw their grandchildren 173.8 days/year, while paternal grandmothers saw their grandchildren 87.5 days/year (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). The sex of the child was not a significant factor in determining contact frequency.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In Ukraine, maternal grandmothers have more frequent contact with their grandchildren. This finding supports the idea that grandmaternal investment is an evolutionarily adaptive strategy. However, the bias towards maternal grandmothers may also be explained by a post-socialist cultural context, which necessitates grandmaternal care.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141499614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organ weights and length anthropometry measures at autopsy for sudden infant death syndrome cases and other infant deaths in the Chicago infant mortality study","authors":"Josyf C. Mychaleckyj,&nbsp;Cornelius Normeshie,&nbsp;Keith L. Keene,&nbsp;Fern R. Hauck","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24126","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24126","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Organ weights are a possible diagnostic or pathophysiological clue to distinguishing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases from other infant deaths but suffer from major confounding. Using autopsy data from the Chicago Infant Mortality Study, a majority African-American case–control study of deceased infants under 1 year conducted 1993–96, we assessed differences in the weights of brain, thymus, kidneys, lungs, liver, spleen, total body, and four length anthropometry measures in SIDS-diagnosed infants compared to controls. Using exact and coarsened matching, we ran Bayesian linear models with these anthropometry outcomes and repeated the analyses substituting the corresponding fitted allometrically-scaled organ weight indices to account for body size. After detailed analysis and adjustment for potential confounders, we found that matched SIDS infants were generally bigger than controls, with higher mean brain, liver, spleen, thymus, lung, and total body weights, and higher mean head and chest circumference, crown-heel, crown-rump lengths. SIDS infants also had higher mean thymus, liver, spleen, lung and total body weight indices. The association with thymus weight was proportionately greater in magnitude than any other outcome measure and independent of body size. The results of these more detailed analyses are consistent with recent findings from other studies with differing racial compositions, and substantially confirm the primary organ sites for more detailed mechanistic research into the biological dysregulation contributing to underlying pathophysiology of SIDS.</p>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.24126","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141494156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toddler hair cortisol levels are associated with maternal prenatal depression","authors":"Zaneta M. Thayer,&nbsp;Katherine L. Nemeth,&nbsp;Jade A. Beauregard,&nbsp;Theresa E. Gildner","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24127","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24127","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cortisol is an important metabolic hormone that regulates multiple physiologic systems. Cortisol metabolism is sensitive to early life environments, including that experienced prenatally. Limited research has evaluated factors that predict variation in maternal and offspring toddler hair cortisol, which is important since hair cortisol represents different dynamics of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)-axis function than more common salivary or serum measures.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To address this gap, we longitudinally evaluated whether maternal depression measured in pregnancy and 1 month postnatal was associated with maternal and offspring hair cortisol levels approximately 15 months after birth (<i>n</i> = 46 mothers, 40 toddlers; mean 15.6 months postnatal, SD = 2.9 months).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Mean depression symptoms were highest during the prenatal period. Prenatal, but not postnatal, maternal depression was associated with offspring hair cortisol levels (<i>B</i> = 0.095, <i>p</i> = .01). Maternal hair cortisol was not associated with depression measured at either time point.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>These findings indicate that offspring hair cortisol more than a year after birth is associated with maternal prenatal depression, consistent with previous research in salivary cortisol, suggesting that long-term offspring stress physiology may be influenced by conditions experienced in utero. These findings highlight the potential for hair cortisol—a minimally invasive and easy-to-collect measure— to index toddler HPA-axis dynamics.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141472226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Religious participation is associated with fewer dementia diagnoses among Black people in the United States.","authors":"Eric E Griffith, Paul A Robbins, Bethlehem T Ferede, Keisha L Bentley-Edwards","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24125","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Black people had the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) of any racial/ethnic group in the United States (US) as of 2020. As racial disparities in the prevalence of ADRD are being investigated, more evidence is necessary to determine the pathways and mechanisms that either slow ADRD progression or improve quality of life for those affected. Religion/spirituality (R/S) has been shown to affect health outcomes but has rarely been studied as a possible pathway for reducing ADRD risk. Crucially, Black people also report higher levels of R/S than other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. This research asks if R/S affects ADRD risk among Black adults and if any effects persist after controlling for hypertension.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a secondary data analysis drawing from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal dataset with an oversampling of Black adults.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We used logistic regression analysis to demonstrate how R/S has an ameliorating impact on ADRD risk among Black people, even after controlling for hypertension. Those who never attended religious services had 2.37 higher odds of being diagnosed with ADRD than those who attended more than once a week. Further, as R/S attendance increased, ADRD risk decreased linearly.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings demonstrate the importance that existing cultural networks (e.g., R/S) can have for reducing ADRD burden for Black people and has important implications for the role of R/S in shaping ADRD symptomatology.</p>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":" ","pages":"e24125"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141472314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonal changes in body composition in children from Maya agriculturalists in central Yucatán, Mexico","authors":"Francisco D. Gurri,&nbsp;Wilma Ruiz-García,&nbsp;Mirna I. Vallejo-Nieto,&nbsp;Dolores O. Molina-Rosales","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24121","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24121","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Development policies have aimed to substitute subsistence agriculture for cash crops or other cash generating activities to encourage local farmers to depend on store-bought groceries available year-round instead of seasonal subsistence crops. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that increased dependence on store bought foods has decreased seasonal changes in nutritional status and fat mass in Maya Children from Yucatan, Mexico.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Weight for age (W/A), body mass index (BMI), and tricipital Skinfold <i>z</i> scores in children under the age of 10 years from 14 Maya rural towns with different degrees of development were compared longitudinally between scarcity and abundance seasons using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Height for age (H/A) <i>z</i> scores were also estimated.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Origin of food consumed corresponded to the town's degree of development. Nutritional status (W/Az) and adiposity, BMI, and tricipital <i>z</i> scores were significantly lower during the scarcity season in every community. W/Az, tricipital skinfold <i>z</i>, and H/Az scores were significantly higher in developed than in traditional towns, yet in both types of town W/Az and H/Az scores were below the WHO standard mean. Tricipital skinfold <i>z</i> score was only below the WHO standard amongst traditional towns during the scarcity season.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Increased dependence on store foods failed to eliminate significant losses in body fat during the scarcity season. This failure may be affecting linear growth and promoting a thrifty phenotype that is seen in short and stocky individuals with a tendency to accumulate fat during abundance seasons.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141472315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Protective effects of diversified diets for dietary folate adequacy and serum homocysteine in breastfeeding mothers amid historic drought","authors":"Masako Fujita,&nbsp;Ananyaa Asthana,&nbsp;George Wamwere-Njoroge","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24122","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24122","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The United Nations recommends that women consume ≥5 food groups, also known as the minimum dietary diversity score for women (MDD-W), for nutritional health. This is increasingly unattainable for populations in climate hot zones coping with food insecurity by prioritizing calories over dietary breadth. Breastfeeding mothers may be particularly vulnerable to adverse health impacts of low dietary diversity due to elevated nutritional requirements for lactation. We investigated how the protective effects of MDD-W for folate adequacy varies by MDD-W score and mother–infant life history characteristics.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from breastfeeding mothers (<i>n</i> = 228) in northern Kenya, surveyed during the 2006 Horn-of-Africa drought. Logistic regression models for adequate dietary folate (and vitamins B12 and B6) and normal homocysteine (folate-replete status) evaluated the effect of MDD-W alone and in interaction with infant/maternal characteristics.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>MDD-W (as ordinal or dichotomous variable) was positively associated with adequate folate (and vitamin B12). Having male infant was inversely associated with adequate dietary folate. MDD-W was generally unassociated with homocysteine. However, there was an interaction between MDD-W and sex of the infant. Namely, MDD-W ≥ 3 predicted increased probability of normal homocysteine among mothers with female infants but not male infants.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Diets consisting of three or more food groups may protect adequate folate intake for many breastfeeding mothers. More research is needed to establish what level of dietary diversity would protect against hyperhomocysteinemia during breastfeeding and what factors promote or hinder the benefit of diversified diets on maternal folate nutrition.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.24122","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141460600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing Children's Growth and Motor Development after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from the REACT Project","authors":"William R. Leonard","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.24123","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajhb.24123","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;In this special issue of the &lt;i&gt;American Journal of Human Biology&lt;/i&gt;, Guest Editors Sara Pereira, José Maia, and Peter Katzmarzyk, along with their research collaborators, summarize the initial findings from the REACT Project (“Return-to-Action after the COVID-19 Pandemic”). The REACT Project is a longitudinal study of growth, motor development, and health behaviors carried out among school children ages 6–10 years from Matosinhos, northern Portugal. The primary objectives of this research were to: (1) evaluate children's growth and motor development following the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) track the developmental trajectories of fundamental movement skills (FMS) using a novel technology, the &lt;i&gt;Meu Educativo®&lt;/i&gt; app, in their physical education classes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is the first special issue of the &lt;i&gt;AJHB&lt;/i&gt; to provide findings from a single, pandemic-initiated research project. The eight papers in this issue offer an example of the impressive work being done by human biologists to explore the short and longer-term influences of the pandemic on human health and well-being. The REACT Project's focus on evaluating and promoting healthy patterns of physical growth, activity, and motor development in the wake of the pandemic is particularly salient given the importance of these early-life factors for shaping adult health outcomes and disease risks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sara Pereira et al. (&lt;span&gt;2024b&lt;/span&gt;) open this special issue by providing an overview of the objectives, research design, and methodologies used in the REACT study. The thoughtful and rigorous protocol for the study is allowing the researchers to explore the influence of diverse family, school, and neighborhood factors in shaping children's physical growth, movement skills, fitness, and health behaviors. Such rich insights offer to provide valuable information to both parents and educators on how to effectively promote physical activity and healthy growth and development among school-aged children.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Papers by Donald Hedeker et al. (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) and Fernando Garbeloto et al. (&lt;span&gt;2024b&lt;/span&gt;) highlight the novel analytic and statistical approaches employed in the REACT research project. Hedeker and colleagues offer a detailed and accessible discussion of the utility of multilevel ordinal logistic models for evaluating longitudinal changes in motor development. Garbeloto and colleagues document the utility and reliability of the &lt;i&gt;Meu Educativo®&lt;/i&gt; application for assessing children's FMS levels. This paper showcases how this new tool can be effectively used by researchers, educators, and coaches interested in evaluating patterns of motor development during childhood.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Papers by Sara Pereira et al. (&lt;span&gt;2024a&lt;/span&gt;) and José Maia et al. (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) employ multivariate, multilevel approaches to explore the influence of both individual and school factors in shaping children's body mass indexes (BMI), fitness levels, and motor performance. Pereira and colleagues ","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"36 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.24123","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}