Karen E. Waldie

Risk factors for obesity in 7-year-old European children: the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study

Objective: To identify risk factors associated with obesity in primary school children, with a particular focus on those which can be modified. To identify critical periods and growth patterns in the development of childhood obesity. Methods: 871 New Zealand European children were enrolled in a longitudinal study at birth and data were collected at birth, 1, 3.5 and 7 years of age. Data collected at 7 years included weight, height, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), television viewing time and a 24 h body movement record (actigraphy). The outcome measure was percentage body fat (PBF), which was calculated at 3.5 and 7 years using BIA. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were carried out using PBF as a continuous variable. Results: Multivariable analysis found maternal overweight/obesity, maternal age, female gender, sedentary activity time and hours of television viewing to be independently associated with PBF at 7 years. Growth variables (birth weight, rapid weight gain in infancy, early (1–3.5 years) and middle childhood (3.5–7 years)) were also independently associated with adiposity at 7 years. There was a strong correlation between PBF at 3.5 years and PBF at 7 years. Conclusions: Many primary school aged children start on the trajectory of obesity in the preschool years, which suggests interventions need to start early. Maternal overweight/obesity, television watching, sedentary activity time and rapid weight gain in infancy, early and middle childhood are risk factors for childhood obesity, and are all potentially modifiable.

Physical and psychological correlates of primary headache in young adulthood: A 26 year longitudinal study

Objectives: To determine if physical and/or psychological risk factors could differentiate between subtypes of primary headache (migraine, tension-type headache (TTH), and coexisting migraine and TTH (combined)) among members of a longitudinal birth cohort study. Methods: At age 26, the headache status of members of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS) was determined using International Headache Society criteria. Headache history and potential physical and psychological correlates of headache were assessed. These factors included perinatal problems and injuries sustained to age 26; and behavioural, personality, and psychiatric disorders assessed between ages 5 to 21. Results: The 1 year prevalences for migraine, TTH, and combined headache at the age of 26 were 7.2%, 11.1%, and 4.3%, respectively. Migraine was related to maternal headache, anxiety symptoms in childhood, anxiety disorders during adolescence and young adulthood, and the stress reactivity personality trait at the age of 18. TTH was significantly associated with neck or back injury in childhood (before the age of 13). Combined headache was related to maternal headache and anxiety disorder at 18 and 21 only among women with a childhood history of headache. Headache status at the age of 26 was unrelated to a history of perinatal complication, neurological disorder, or mild traumatic head injury. Conclusions: Migraine and TTH seem to be distinct disorders with different developmental characteristics. Combined headache may also have a distinct aetiology.

Migraine and cognitive function A life-course study

Objective To investigate the association between migraine and cognitive ability among members of a longitudinal birth cohort study. MethodsHeadache status was determined at age 26 (migraine, tension-type headache [TTH], headache-free control subjects) according to International Headache Society criteria, and data relating to cognitive and academic performance from ages 3 to 26 years were analyzed. ResultsStudy members diagnosed with migraine were subtly but significantly impaired, compared with those with TTH and headache-free control subjects, on tests of verbal ability (especially language reception) from ages 3 to 13, independent of headache history. Performance on other tasks, including reading, arithmetic, motor, and spatial ability, was normal. The association between migraine and verbal functioning also appeared to impact on later academic success. ConclusionFindings suggest that the poorer verbal performance was unlikely to have resulted from cumulative attacks and may be due to developmental factors beginning in utero.

An ERP investigation of the Stroop task: The role of the cingulate in attentional allocation and conflict resolution

The majority of studies support a role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the attentional control necessary for conflict resolution in the Stroop task; however, the time course of activation and the neural substrates underlying the Stroop task remain contentious. We used high-density EEG to record visual-evoked potentials from 16 healthy subjects while performing a manual version of the traditional Stroop colour-word task. Difference waveforms for congruent-control and incongruent-control conditions were similar in amplitude and had a similar spatial distribution in the time window of 260-430 ms post stimulus onset. Source estimation indicated particularly middle cingulate involvement in congruent-control and incongruent-control difference waveforms. In contrast, the difference waveform for the incongruent-congruent contrast was observed later (in the time window of 370-480 ms), had a different spatial distribution, and source estimation indicated that the anterior cingulate underlies this difference waveform. As congruent-control and incongruent-control differences have a similar timeframe and cingulate source, we propose that this indicates early attentional allocation processes. That is, the identification of two sources of information (the word and the colour it is printed in) and the selective attention to one. The later peak in the incongruent-congruent difference wave, originating in anterior cingulate, likely reflects identification (and subsequent resolution) of conflict in the two sources of information.

Cohort Profile: Growing Up in New Zealand

Centre for Longitudinal Research – He Ara ki Mua, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Growing Up in New Zealand, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Department of Public Health, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori), Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, Bioinformatics Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, Auckland Office, Auckland, New Zealand, Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Childhood headache, stress in adolescence, and primary headache in young adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study.

Objectives.—To determine the association between childhood history of headache, adolescent stress, and headache syndromes (determined by International Headache Society criteria) in young adulthood.

Developmental changes in line bisection: a result of callosal maturation?

Normal adults tend to bisect horizontal lines to the left of the objective middle, especially when using the left hand. This bias has been attributed to the dominance of the right hemisphere in spatial attention. The authors investigated the effect of hand use and line position in visual line bisection in right-handed children and adults, classified into 4 different age groups: 10-12, 13-15, 18-21, and 24-53 years (N = 98). All 4 groups showed the characteristic leftward bias when using the left hand. When using the right hand, the youngest group showed a rightward bias, whereas the other 3 groups all showed a leftward bias. This suggests a shift from contralateral to right-hemispheric control during puberty and may reflect maturation of the corpus callosum.

Determinants of early-vs late-onset dental fear in a longitudinal-epidemiological study

A longitudinal investigation of risk factors for early- and late-onset dental fear was conducted. Early-onset dental fear was related to conditioning experiences (indexed via caries level and tooth loss), service use patterns, stress reactive personality and specific beliefs about health professionals. Late-onset dental fear was related to aversive conditioning experiences, irregular service use and an external locus of control. In contrast to recent findings for dental anxiety, personality factors were not strongly related to the onset of dental fear in young adulthood. The key role played by conditioning events in the development of both early- and late-onset dental fear was confirmed. Conditioning events appear to play a different role in the development of dental fear vs dental anxiety. This may reflect important, but largely ignored differences between these two closely-related constructs. Interventions for early-onset dental fear should aim to modify both the dental fear and the personality vulnerabilities that may contribute to the development of dental fear early in the life-course.

The Effect of Callosotomy on Novel Versus Familiar Bimanual Actions: A Neural Dissociation Between Controlled and Automatic Processes?:

The corpus callosum is the large band of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain. Individuals who have had the fibers of these tracts surgically severed by callosotomy are able to draw two different spatial figures simultaneously using the left and right hands, without evidence of interactions in the spatial planning processes. Paradoxically, tasks (e.g., tying shoes) that appear to depend on spatial interactions between the left and right hands, each of which is controlled by a separate cerebral hemisphere, pose little difficulty. How can this be? In the study reported here, we observed that well-learned cooperative actions of the hands remain intact in 2 callosotomy patients, whereas actions novel to these patients are virtually impossible for them to produce without visual guidance. We infer that duplicate memory engrams of well-learned actions can be accessed by both cerebral hemispheres without callosal mediation, whereas callosal interactions are necessary for precise cross-matching of sensory information during spatial planning or perceptual-motor learning.

The effects of pre- and post-natal sunlight exposure on human growth: evidence from the Southern Hemisphere

Several recent studies have reported a causal association between stature and month of birth. Perinatal exposure to sunlight has been suggested as the principal factor underlying this relationship, although the mechanisms involved remain a matter of debate. The longitudinal design of the present study allowed us to directly test the influence of perinatal sunlight exposure (and other meteorological and behavioural factors) on body size at birth and at regular intervals up to age 26. The findings confirmed that pre-natal sunlight is one of the most significant determinants of height. However, the trimester of greatest influence differs depending on the age at which study members were measured.