In this issue of the journal, Michaud and colleagues report a 48% increased risk of meningioma in obese individuals compared with individuals with a normal body mass index (BMI). This large prospective cohort study adds weight to the suggested link between BMI and meningioma, thus contributing to the growing number of cancer sites likely associated with body fatness. Although the exact mechanis...

I am disappointed that the recent Q&A article in Clinical Chemistry dealing with assays for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) did not mention that all commercial hCG assays in the US are FDA cleared only for the early detection of pregnancy (1 ). The current situation is very unsatisfactory, because these assays, with the knowledge of the manufacturers, are in widespread use for oncology. What...

The trajectory of an animal's growth in early development has been shown to have long-term effects on a range of life-history traits. Although it is known that individual differences in behaviour may also be related to certain life-history traits, the linkage between early growth or development and individual variation in behaviour has received little attention. We used brief temperature manipu...

Early-life growth patterns predict subsequent disease risk. The ontogenetic development of body composition appears to play a key role in such associations, but details have only recently begun to emerge. Studies in diverse populations consistently associate birthweight with subsequent lean mass. Associations with subsequent adiposity show less consistency, and may be gender-specific, while ass...

OBJECTIVE By age 5 years, offspring of diabetic mothers (ODMs) are heavier and have altered glucose metabolism compared with offspring of mothers without diabetes (non-DMs). This study evaluates the growth pattern of ODMs before the age of 5 years. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Anthropometric measures (z scores) from birth, 1.5 years, and 7.7 years in Pima Indian children were compared by mater...

Health and nutrition modulate postnatal growth. The availability of amino acids and energy, and insulin and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) regulates early growth through the mTOR pathway. Amino acids and glucose also stimulate the secretion of IGF-I and insulin. Postnatal growth induces lasting, programming effects on later body size and adiposity in animals and in human observational stu...

A large and growing body of evidence suggests that the regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation is important in the induction of axon growth. We have examined the subcellular distribution of enzymes regulating tyrosine phosphorylation in early embryonic brain, employing a preparation of isolated growth cone particles (GCPs). Because of the early developmental age and well-characterized nature of ...

British adults who were born small for gestational age (birthweight below the fifth percentile for age at birth) in 1970 have academic difficulties that persist into adolescence. As young adults their professional and economic attainment was found to be lower than that of those born at normal birthweight. These results were obtained in the largest study to date on the long-term educational and ...

The solar system formed 4.5–4.6 billion years ago (Patterson 1956) by collapse of a portion of a molecular cloud of gas and dust rather like the Eagle or Orion nebulae. Some of the star dust from the solar nebula has now been isolated from primitive meteorites. The isotopic compositions of many elements in these grains are vastly different from those of our solar system and provide fingerprints...