Socio-cultural influences on biology of child and adolescence growth

elementary

BI2_W01, BI2_W05, BI2_U05, BI2_ BI2_K07

This course provides a comprehensive overview on the whole spectrum of auxology, the study of child and adolescent growth. Students get acquainted with the basic features of the human development, its different phases, growth patterns, and the stages of puberty. Basic statistical methods are explained, and the students are given raw data on height and weight of healthy children obtained from one of the large longitudinal European growth studies, for practical exercises. The students get acquainted with historic data, and the typical problems of such data sets.The students learn about the known mechanisms of growth regulation, the physical structure of the growth plate, and the impact of genetics, nutrition and social influences on growth, with particular reference to mechanisms of growth regulation that are known to act in social mammals. In addition, the students are offered relevant literature to practice reading and discussing scientific material.

1. Basics (The biology of child and adolescent growth)

Human growth curve, developmental phases, puberty, Tanner stages, catch-up growth, mini-growth spurts, basics in statistics (longitudinal growth patterns, centiles, height SD scores)

Practical part: calculating centile curves, comparison normal vs. pathological.

Preparing short presentations of auxological material.

All students should try to get their own height and weight data from their mothers. Parental height, sibling height. Etc.

2. Growth in populations (The biology of child and adolescent growth, and Socio-cultural influences on child and adolescent growth)

Worldwide growth, and growth in middle- and low-income countries, aspects of

psychology, social aspects, and politics

Sex difference in growth throughout history

Climate, conscript data, Bergmann’s rule

Practical part: reading different papers, summarizing these readings, and presenting. Discussing the essentials and the pitfalls of these papers

3. Anthropometry and statistical methods (The biology of child and adolescent growth)

Technical errors of the various techniques, knemometry, sampling bias, historic examples e.g. of science lost papers

Sensitivity, specificity, examples Schuluntersuchungen

Height predictions, target height, within community

Practical part: every student produces his own growth curve, target height

calculations etc.

4. Concept of tempo, biological age (The biology of child and adolescent growth)

Biological age, skeletal age, longitudinal growth, hSDS patterns, LMS method,

Associations between height and weight

Body proportions, somatype, pelvic breath, Frame index and some historic changes

Practical part: analysis of data from the Swiss longitudinal growth study

5. Dominance, politics/economy, growth, and animal models (meerkats) (Socio-cultural influences on child and adolescent growth)

Historic data: pitfalls and “lost science”

Practical part: reading century-old papers, discussing formal and textual aspects of

historic material

ll students should try to collect data on height and weight of migrants in their personal environment. Parental height, sibling height. Etc

6. Community effects in height, (Socio-cultural influences on child and adolescent growth)

Network of influences: family, friends, friends, SES

Swiss conscripts, Japanese data, school children, generational growth

Practical part: conscript data or data from the Polish 3-generation study that is

currently in publication

7. Growth and nutrition/environment/hygienia (Socio-cultural influences on child and adolescent growth)

The traditional definition of stunting, historic data, nutrition interventions, own data,

What is the critical window for growth intervention?

Practical part: analysis of Indian growth data

8. Epiphyseal growth plate (The biology of child and adolescent growth)

Endocrinology, igf and social challenges

Practical part: reading and analyzing data from growth therapies: catch-up growth vs.

no catch-up

9. Migrants (Socio-cultural influences on child and adolescent growth)

Historic data, and modern observations

Impact of social integration

Practical part: Student data of migrants

10. Literature seminar as a summary of the past lectures

Intervention studies

teacher-centered reading of two seminal papers, discussing cut-off points for height vs. skinfold

Practical part: reading and preparing critical presentation of given papers (modern

and historic)

Books:

Hermanussen M. Auxology - Studying human growth and development. Schweizerbart. Stuttgart. 2013

Bogin B. Patterns of human growth. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology 23. Cambridge. UK, 1999.

Articles:

Bogin B, Varea C, Hermanussen M, Scheffler C. Human life course biology: A centennial perspective of scholarship on the human pattern of physical growth and its place in human biocultural evolution. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2018 Apr;165(4):834-854.

Perkins JM, Subramanian SV, Davey Smith G, Özaltin E. Adult height, nutrition, and population health. Nutr Rev. 2016 Mar;74(3):149-65.

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). A century of trends in adult human height. Elife. 2016 Jul 26;5. pii: e13410.

Tyrrell J, Jones SE, Beaumont R, Astley CM, Lovell R, Yaghootkar H, Tuke M, Ruth KS, Freathy RM, Hirschhorn JN, Wood AR, Murray A, Weedon MN, Frayling TM. Height, body mass index, and socioeconomic status: mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank. BMJ. 2016 Mar 8;352:i582.

Lartey A. What would it take to prevent stunted growth in children in sub-Saharan Africa? Proc Nutr Soc. 2015 Nov;74(4):449-53.

Hermanussen M, Scheffler C. Stature signals status: The association of stature, status and perceived dominance - a thought experiment. Anthropol Anz. 2016 Nov 1;73(4):265-274.

Hermanussen M, Bogin B, Scheffler C. Stunting, starvation and refeeding: a review of forgotten 19th and early 20th century literature. Acta Paediatr. 2018 Jul;107(7):1166-1176.

Hermanussen M. Auxology: an update. Horm Res Paediatr. 2010;74(3):153-64.

Nabwera HM, Fulford AJ, Moore SE, Prentice AM. Growth faltering in rural Gambian children after four decades of interventions: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Glob Health. 2017 Feb;5(2):e208-e216.

Huchard E, English S, Bell MB, Thavarajah N, Clutton-Brock T. Competitive growth in a cooperative mammal. Nature. 2016 May 26;533(7604):532-4.

The student will be assessed on the basis of:

1. Presence at lectures and exercises

2. Participation in the discussion

3. Own participation in work on the discussed publications

4. Written assessment of the acquired knowledge