Ken K Ong

..Such strategies could be further refined by future studies that address the specific regulation of infant adiposity, and also by studies that explore whether these life-course trajectories are modifiable during adolescence...

..We therefore examined the association between common genetic variation in IGF1 and predisposition to type 1 diabetes, childhood growth and metabolism...

..Our data suggest a complex age- and sex-related regulation of adiponectin secretion or clearance...

..The common C allele of rs314276 in LIN28B has been robustly associated with earlier age at menarche in girls and associated with earlier timing of other pubertal traits in both sexes...

..Formula milk-fed infants show faster rates of growth and weight gain than do breastfed infants, and they have higher concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I)...

..These studies identify variation in LIN28B, a potent and specific regulator of microRNA processing, as the first genetic determinant regulating the timing of human pubertal growth and development...

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..Objective: We aimed to determine which periods of infancy weight gain are related to childhood adiposity and also to age at menarche in UK girls...

..CONCLUSION: Rapid infancy weight gain is consistently associated with increased subsequent obesity risk, but the predictive ability of different weight gain cut-offs needs to be tested...

..Increasing trends towards childhood overweight and its metabolic consequences, and their epidemiological associations with lower birth weight, have led to critical assessments of the benefits and disadvantages of rapid early growth...

..Exploration of these genotype associations in children may provide insights into the timing of weight changes leading to adult obesity...

..We examined associations of variants in these loci with anthropometric traits in children and adolescents...

..Large-scale genome-wide association studies have identified 12 genetic loci that are robustly associated with body mass index (BMI)...

..Polymorphism at the insulin gene (INS) variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) shows variable associations with childhood body mass index (BMI) in different populations...

..A risk score combining birthweight and infant weight gain (or simply infant weight), together with mother's body mass index and sex may allow early stratification of infants at risk of childhood obesity...

..To test the hypothesis that polymorphic variation in the paternally transmitted fetal IGF2 gene is associated with maternal glucose concentrations in the third trimester of pregnancy...

..Our objective was to test the association between rs17782313 and neonatal weight gain in a contemporary population...

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..0 ± 9.1% of control values; P = .9) or e18 (91.4 ± 13.4%; P = .3), suggesting that effects on transplacental glucose transport in these mice are not mediated through changes in maternal glucose concentrations...

..We utilized a twin model to explore these hypotheses...

..Increased GH sensitivity in such children could contribute to links between rapid infancy weight gain and subsequent faster rates of childhood growth and maturation...

..The relationship between age at menarche and cardiovascular disease remains unclear. Two recent studies found an inverse association between age at menarche and all-cause mortality...

..High birth weight is associated with adult body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that birth weight and BMI may partly share a common genetic background...

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..Polymorphic variation in H19 is not associated with significant changes in maternal glucose tolerance in the third trimester of pregnancy...

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..To test this hypothesis we evaluated the effects of fetal disruption of murine H19(Delta13) on maternal glucose concentrations in pregnancy...

..Precocious pubarche (PP) is a clinical entity pointing to adrenal androgen excess from mid-childhood onward and is associated with ovarian androgen excess from puberty onward. It is therefore a strong risk factor for PCOS...

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..Previous studies have reported that polymorphisms in IGF2 are associated with body weight and body mass index (BMI), but the results have been inconsistent...

..As age at menarche is a heritable trait, we hypothesised that age at menarche in the mother may in turn predict her children's early growth and obesity risk...

..Black South African adolescents have relatively little VAT compared to elderly whites, and we therefore provide new ultrasound-based prediction equations for VAT specific to this group...

..Previous studies in U.S. families and a German population suggested GHSR to be a candidate quantitative locus for association with human obesity and growth...

..Several studies reported inverse associations between birth weight and central adiposity in adults. However, few studies investigated the contributions of different abdominal fat compartments...

..The objective of this study was to determine whether different feeding patterns and energy intakes that are provided to infants affect body weight and BMI later in childhood...

..We hypothesised that polymorphisms in the IGF2R gene could alter size at birth and childhood growth...

..Thus, it appears unlikely that variation at LMNA substantially increases the risk of type 2 diabetes or related traits in U.K. Europids...

..Their recognition may help the development of targeted early interventions to prevent the progression towards adult disease...

..We suggest that higher adrenal androgen secretion could contribute to links between early growth and adult disease risks, possibly by enhancing insulin resistance and central fat deposition...

..Future studies should explore their timing of action and potential interactions with markers of antenatal growth restraint...

..Ingenuity and gene-set enrichment pathway analyses identified coenzyme A and fatty acid biosynthesis as biological processes related to menarche timing...

..Trans-generational recurrence of low birth weight, early catch-up weight gain, earlier menarche, and shorter adult stature have been observed in women, and could contribute to the strong heritability in age at menarche...

..The variable associations with androgen-related clinical features could possibly reflect the tissue-specific promoters of the aromatase gene...

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..5-fold greater in males. It is a reliable marker of androgen and antiandrogen effects in rodent reproductive toxicologic studies. Data on AGD in humans are sparse, with no longitudinal data collected during infancy...

..IGF-I is the dominant hormone involved in fetal growth, and low levels have been implicated in neonatal morbidities, such as retinopathy of prematurity...

..Longitudinal growth associations with genetic variants identified for adult BMI may provide insights into the timing of obesity susceptibility...

..We hypothesised that girls with shorter AR gene CAG repeat alleles, and thus greater receptor sensitivity, might benefit more from the addition of low-dose flutamide...

..Here, we describe the biological basis linking childhood obesity to early puberty and consider evidence for a trend towards its earlier onset...

..Rapid early weight gain, obesity and early development may have implications for later health through the development of PCOS and overall association with cancer risk...

..In conclusion, ultrasound is a valid method to estimate visceral fat in epidemiological studies of older men and women when MRI and computed tomography are not feasible...

..We investigated the effects of normal variations in maternal glycemia on birth size and other birth outcomes...

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..To examine the role of androgens on birth weight in genetic models of altered androgen signalling...

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..Infant temperament scores were related to mode of infant milk feeding at age 3 months (breast only; formula milk only; or mixed) with adjustment for infant's age at assessment and an index of deprivation...

..Early postnatal life has been suggested as an important window during which risks for long-term health may be influenced...

..Our results indicate that complex prenatal and postnatal gene-maternal/fetal interactions influence size at birth and childhood risk factors for adult disease...

..Higher levels of these hormones reported in children who exhibited rapid weight gain during infancy may indicate their role in developmental pathways leading to earlier sexual maturation...

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..Of these determinants, improving advice given by health care providers appears the most tractable area for intervention in the short term...

..Variations in formula-feeding practices can have both short- and long-term health consequences. The literature on parents' experiences of bottle-feeding was systematically reviewed to understand how formula-feeding decisions are made...

..Recent studies in other European countries suggest that the prevalence of congenital cryptorchidism continues to increase. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and natural history of congenital cryptorchidism in a UK centre...

..This suggests that fetal genes, and in particular paternally expressed genes, may have significant effects on fetal growth during pregnancies where maternal restraint of fetal growth is less evident...

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..M., Belteki, G., Ong, K. K., Affara, N. A., Constância, M., Dunger, D. B. DNA methylation profiling at imprinted loci after periconceptional micronutrient supplementation in humans: results of a pilot randomized controlled trial...

..We propose that this mechanism is involved in the aetiology of PIH and GDM...

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..Their historical selection could explain high prevalences of type 2 diabetes in some ethnic groups, and their identification could allow targeting of potential interventions...

..The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of a novel educational intervention to increase nutrition knowledge among primary school children...

..Motor proficiency is positively associated with physical activity levels. The aim of this study is to investigate associations between the timing of infant motor development and subsequent sports participation during adolescence...

..Earlier age at menarche is associated with increased BMI and obesity risk from early childhood through to adulthood. We hypothesised that earlier age at menarche would also predict subsequent diabetes risk...

..The higher leptin levels we observed may be due to stimulatory effects of inflammatory cytokines and we postulate that they may contribute to the anorexia, poor weight gain and growth of these children...

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..Lower concordance was associated with longer duration on GH therapy (p<0.005), lack of choice of delivery device (p<0.005) and short prescription durations (p<0.005), and predicted lower height velocities (p<0.05)...

..To understand the potential mechanisms underlying these differences, we assessed insulin sensitivity and body composition in children with classical or nonclassical (late-presenting) CAH compared with normal controls...

..However, young children may not tolerate such intensive insulin regimens. We investigated the effects of glargine in various three-injections-daily insulin combinations on 24-h glucose control in prepubertal children...

..Shorter CAG repeat alleles in Barcelona compared with United Kingdom women could lead to higher prevalences of these conditions...

..It will be important to determine how these differential sensitivities to insulin vary with increasing age...

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..To ascertain whether initial depression of conscious level in children with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is related to hyperosmolality, acidosis or other factors...