Search results for "twin"
showing 10 items of 435 documents
Genetic and Environmental Influences on BMI From Late Childhood to Adolescence are Modified by Parental Education
2011
To investigate how parental education modifies genetic and environmental influences on variation in BMI during adolescence, self-reported BMI at 11-12, 14, and 17 years of age was collected from a population sample of 2,432 complete Finnish twin pairs born in 1983-1987. Based on parental report, twins were divided to those with high (both parents high school graduates), mixed level (one parent a graduate, the other not), and limited (neither parent a graduate) parental education. Genetic and environmental influences on variation in BMI in different education classes were modeled using twin analysis. Heritability of BMI among 11-12-year-olds with high parental education was 85-87% whereas it…
Externalizing Problem Behaviors and Headache: A Follow-up Study of Adolescent Finnish Twins
2004
Objective.To examine the association of teacher- and parent-rated behavior with headache in a prospective follow-up study of adolescent Finnish twins.Methods.Questionnaire data were collected during 1995–2001 from a nationwide sample of Finnish families of 11-year-old twins who were born 1983–1987 (n = 5393) and again at age of 14. Psychological factors were measured by using parents’ and teachers’ ratings of a 37-item multidimensional rating instrument at the ages of 11 and 14.Results.At age 11, headache frequency (5 categories) was associated with total scales of externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors and adaptive behaviors, assessed by parents, but only with externalizing prob…
Heterozygous nonsense SCN5A mutation W822X explains a simultaneous sudden infant death syndrome.
2008
The sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of both members of a set of healthy twins (simultaneous sudden infant death syndrome (SSIDS)) is defined as a case in which both infants meet the definition of sudden infant death syndrome individually. A search of the world medical literature resulted in only 42 reported cases of SSIDS. We report the case of a pair of identical, male, monozygotic twins, 138 days old, who suddenly died, meeting the full criteria of SSIDS and where a genetic screen was performed, resulting in a heterozygous nonsense SCN5A mutation (W822X) in both twins. Immunohistochemistry was performed on cardiac tissue samples utilizing polyclonal antibodies anti-Na+ CP type V…
Intrauterine growth pattern and birthweight discordance in twin pregnancies: a retrospective study
2013
Background: Twins, compared to singletons, have an increased risk of perinatal mortality and morbidity, due mainly to a higher prevalence of preterm birth and low birthweight. Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is also common and can affect one or both fetuses. In some cases, however, one twin is much smaller than the other (growth discordance). Usually, high birthweight discordance is associated with increased perinatal morbidity. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological features of a population of twins at birth, with particular reference to the interpretation and clinical effects of birthweight discordance. Methods: We evaluated retrospectively the clinical features o…
Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism in an Italian Centre: a 5-years real-life retrospective study
2021
Abstract Introduction Congenital hypothyroidism is an endocrine disease with a significant incidence in the general population (1:2000–1:3000 newborns in Italy) and a different geographical distribution, partially explained by endemic iodine deficiency, genetic traits and autoimmune thyroid diseases. Objectives Aims of this study are: to evaluate the incidence of positive neonatal blood spot screening for CH in western Sicily, identified by the screening centre of the Children Hospital “G. Di Cristina”, ARNAS, Palermo; to evaluate the impact of a lower TSH cutoff in the neonatal blood spot screening for CH. Materials and methods The TSH threshold of the neonatal screening was established as…
Motives for physical activity in older men and women : A twin study using accelerometer-measured physical activity
2019
Motives for physical activity may vary considerably by age, sex, and the level of physical activity. We aimed to examine motives for physical activity in older men and women with different physical activity levels as well as whether genetic and/or environmental factors explain those motives. Finnish twins (mean age 72.9 years, 262 full twin pairs) self-reported their motives for physical activity. Time spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was monitored using a hip-worn accelerometer. Comparisons between the different physical activity groups of older twins (n = 764-791/motive dimension) were analyzed using the Wald test, and effect sizes were calculated as Cohen's d. Quantitative…
Multiple sclerosis in twins from continental Italy and Sardinia: a nationwide study.
2005
Knowledge about the balance between heritable and nonheritable risk in multiple sclerosis (MS) is based on twin studies in high-prevalence areas. In a study that avoided ascertainment limitations and directly compared continental Italy (medium-prevalence) and Sardinia (high-prevalence), we ascertained 216 pairs from 34,549 patients. This gives a twinning rate of 0.62% among MS patients, significantly less than that of the general population. In continental Italy, probandwise concordance was 14.5% (95% confidence interval, 5.1-23.8) for monozygotic and 4.0% (95% confidence interval, 0.8-7.1) for dizygotic twins. Results in Sardinia resemble those in northern populations but in limited number…
Genetic variation in neuromuscular performance.
1973
Using a simple cumulative model of heredity plus environment, based on intrapair differences observed in monozygous (MZ) and dizygous (DZ) twins, the relative contribution of heredity to the interindividual variance in several neuromuscular parameters was determined with 15 pairs of male (8 MZ and 7 DZ) and 14 pairs of female (7 MZ and 7 DZ) twins ranging in age from 10 to 14 years. The data disclosed that in boys the variability in maximal mechanical (anaerobic) power was 99.2% genetically determined under the environmental conditions of the study. The corresponding heritability estimate values for the patellar reflex time and reaction time were 97.5% and 85.7%, respectively. In girls the …
Differences in muscle and adipose tissue gene expression and cardio-metabolic risk factors in the members of physical activity discordant twin pairs
2010
High physical activity/aerobic fitness predicts low morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to identify the most up-regulated gene sets related to long-term physical activity vs. inactivity in skeletal muscle and adipose tissues and to obtain further information about their link with cardio-metabolic risk factors. We studied ten same-sex twin pairs (age range 50-74 years) who had been discordant for leisure-time physical activity for 30 years. The examinations included biopsies from m. vastus lateralis and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue. RNA was analyzed with the genome-wide Illumina Human WG-6 v3.0 Expression BeadChip. For pathway analysis we used Gene Set Enrichment Analysis utilizing…
Teacher-rated aggression and co-occurring behaviors and emotional problems among schoolchildren in four population-based European cohorts
2021
Aggressive behavior in school is an ongoing concern. The current focus is on specific manifestations such as bullying, but the behavior is broad and heterogenous. Children spend a substantial amount of time in school, but their behaviors in the school setting tend to be less well characterized than at home. Because aggression may index multiple behavioral problems, we used three validated instruments to assess means, correlations and gender differences of teacher-rated aggressive behavior with co-occurring externalizing/internalizing problems and social behavior in 39,936 schoolchildren aged 7-14 from 4 population-based cohorts from Finland, the Netherlands, and the UK. Correlations of aggr…