Contribution of parental and school personnel smoking to health risk behaviours among Finnish adolescents

Background  

This study compared parental smoking with school personnel smoking in relation to adolescents' smoking behaviours, alcohol use, and illicit drug use.     

Self‐rated health,symptoms and health behaviour of upper secondary vocational students by field of study

This article examines the self‐rated health, symptoms and health behaviour of upper secondary vocational students in Finland. The data consist of the responses of first‐ and second‐year vocational students (n = 34 554) to the 2013 School Health Promotion Survey. The data were analysed statistically and processed separately for girls and boys. Associations between self‐rated health, symptoms and health behaviour and fields of study were examined by cross‐tabulation. Statistical significance was measured using the chi‐squared test. Self‐rated health, symptoms and health behaviour were found to have a statistically significant association with field of study (p < 0.001). Vocational students in different fields had different experiences of health, different symptoms and different health behaviours. The results complement existing evidence about disparities in well‐being among young people in the context of education.     

Short-term prognosis of occupational asthma in a Finnish population

Background: Causative agents of occupational asthma (OA) are well described in literature but far less is known about factors affecting the outcome of OA. Short duration of exposure, early diagnosis when symptoms appear and further avoidance of exposure have been suggested as good prognostic factors. This study was designed to investigate a short‐term outcome of OA. Methods: The medical records of 47 Caucasian patients from a Finnish population diagnosed with OA in year 2003 were reviewed retrospectively. Employment status at 6‐month follow‐up of all patients was determined. We assessed the following potential predictors of unemployment at follow‐up: the causative agents of OA, asthma medication, spirometry results, smoking status, gender, age, occupation, atopy status, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and time to diagnosis. We calculated odd ratios (ORs) to predict employment status at follow‐up. Results: At the follow‐up examination, 23 persons (49%) were not working. At the time of follow‐up there were no significant differences in pulmonary function between those employed and those who discontinued to work. Atopy at baseline predicted diminished lung function at the 6‐month follow‐up. In addition, atopy was the only prognostic factor and was inversely related to the work discontinuation at the follow‐up [OR 0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04–0.79]. Work continuation as an OA outcome at 6 months could not be predicted by gender, age, occupational status, exposure antigen, smoking habits or duration of symptoms before diagnosis. Conclusions: The socio‐economic short‐term prognosis of OA was relatively poor since half of the patients were not at work at the 6 months follow‐up. Please cite this paper as: Kauppi P, Hannu T, Helaskoski E, Toivio P and Sauni R. Short‐term prognosis of occupational asthma in a Finnish population. Clin Respir J 2011; 5: 143–149.     

Polymorphisms of POR, SULT2A1 and HSD11B1 in children with premature adrenarche

Premature adrenarche (PA) refers to an earlier than normal increase in adrenocortical androgen production. The pathogenesis of PA remains largely unknown. We hypothesized that common polymorphisms at P450 oxidoreductase (POR), steroid sulfotransferase (SULT2A1), or 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD11B1) genes could contribute to the polygenic pathogenesis of PA. We performed a case–control study on the polymorphisms rs1057868 at POR, rs182420 at SULT2A1, and rs12086634 at HSD11B1. The study cohort comprised 73 prepubertal children with PA (defined by clinical signs) and 97 age- and gender-matched healthy controls from a Finnish Caucasian population. Genotype distributions and clinical and metabolic phenotypes were determined. The genotype distributions of the polymorphisms were similar between the study groups. No variant was associated with alterations in serum adrenal steroid concentrations. The minor C variant at SULT2A1 was associated with higher serum sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations (T/T, n = 64 vs T/C&;C/C, n = 33; mean 94 vs 116 nmol/L; P = .001) and a trend for lower dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate/dehydroepiandrosterone ratios in the controls (P = .06), and with higher plasma total cholesterol concentrations in the PA subjects (T/T, n = 42 vs T/C&;C/C, n = 31; 4.0 vs 4.6 mmol/L; P < .001). The minor G variant at HSD11B1 was associated with lower plasma triglyceride concentration in the controls (T/T, n = 65 vs T/G&;G/G, n = 32; 0.61 vs 0.49 mmol/L; P = .013). Common polymorphisms at POR, SULT2A1 or HSD11B1 were not associated with PA in a Finnish Caucasian population.     

Activation of Human V5 Complex and Rolandic Regions in Association with Moving Visual Stimuli

We recorded magnetoencephalographic responses from seven healthy humans during the presentation of stationary and rotating radial gratings. Rotations lasting 1 s evoked movement-specific sustained activity in the parieto-occipitotemporal border area, in agreement with the activation of the V5 complex specialized for the analysis of movement. The source areas of the movement-specific sustained fields were transiently active 100–130 ms after the onsets of both rotating and stationary stimuli, suggesting that movement-related cortical areas respond to any transient changes in the visual environment. Transients were evoked also in other brain areas 60–200 ms after onsets of both stimuli. Four subjects displayed additional motion-related sustained activity in the rolandic region. Sustained activity continued after the stimulus movement in several subjects during perception of the movement aftereffect. The transient activity may evoke visual attention while sustained activity of the V5 complex may be related to the conscious perception of movement.     

Impact of childhood obesity treatment on body composition and metabolic profile

Background  

Childhood obesity is associated with adverse changes in cardiometabolic risk factors. A family-oriented group program stressing a health-promoting lifestyle has been more effective than routine counselling in the treatment of obesity in school children. The aim of the present study was to compare the impact of group program and routine councelling on body composition and metabolic profile, and to evaluate the associations of changes in adiposity with levels of cardiometabolic risk factors.     

Predictive value of health-related fitness tests for self-reported mobility difficulties among high-functioning elderly men and women

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The functional independence of elderly populations deteriorates with age. Several tests of physical performance have been developed for screening elderly persons who are at risk of losing their functional independence. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether several components of health-related fitness (HRF) are valid in predicting the occurrence of self-reported mobility difficulties (MD) among high-functioning older adults. METHODS: Subjects were community-dwelling men and women, born 1917-1941, who participated in the assessment of HRF [6.1-m (20-ft) walk, one-leg stand, backwards walk, trunk side-bending, dynamic back extension, one-leg squat, 1-km walk] and who were free of MD in 1996 (no difficulties in walking 2- km, n=788; no difficulties in climbing stairs, n=647). Postal questionnaires were used to assess the prevalence of MD in 1996 and the occurrence of new MD in 2002. Logistic regression analysis was used as the statistical method. RESULTS: Both inability to perform the backwards walk and a poorer result in it were associated with risk of walking difficulties in the logistic model, with all the statistically significant single test items included. Results of 1-km walk time and one-leg squat strength test were also associated with risk, although the squat was statistically significant only in two older birth cohorts. Regarding stair-climbing difficulties, poorer results in the 1-km walk, dynamic back extension and one-leg squat tests were associated with increased risk of MD. CONCLUSIONS: The backwards walk, one-leg squat, dynamic back extension and 1-km walk tests were the best predictors of MD. These tests are recommended for use in screening high-functioning older people at risk of MD, as well as to target physical activity counseling to those components of HRF that are important for functional independence.