A genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies new childhood obesity loci

Multiple genetic variants have been associated with adult obesity and a few with severe obesity in childhood; however, less progress has been made in establishing genetic influences on common early-onset obesity. We performed a North American, Australian and European collaborative meta-analysis of 14 studies consisting of 5,530 cases (≥95th percentile of body mass index (BMI)) and 8,318 controls (<50th percentile of BMI) of European ancestry. Taking forward the eight newly discovered signals yielding association with P < 5 × 10(-6) in nine independent data sets (2,818 cases and 4,083 controls), we observed two loci that yielded genome-wide significant combined P values near OLFM4 at 13q14 (rs9568856; P = 1.82 × 10(-9); odds ratio (OR) = 1.22) and within HOXB5 at 17q21 (rs9299; P = 3.54 × 10(-9); OR = 1.14). Both loci continued to show association when two extreme childhood obesity cohorts were included (2,214 cases and 2,674 controls). These two loci also yielded directionally consistent associations in a previous meta-analysis of adult BMI(1).

A Review of the "Digital Turn" in the New Literacy Studies

Digital communication has transformed literacy practices and assumed great importance in the functioning of workplace, recreational, and community contexts. This article reviews a decade of empirical work of the New Literacy Studies, identifying the shift toward research of digital literacy applications. The article engages with the central theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic challenges in the tradition of New Literacy Studies, while highlighting the distinctive trends in the digital strand. It identifies common patterns across new literacy practices through cross-comparisons of ethnographic research in digital media environments. It examines ways in which this research is taking into account power and pedagogy in normative contexts of literacy learning using the new media. Recommendations are given to strengthen the links between New Literacy Studies research and literacy curriculum, assessment, and accountability in the 21st century.

Source apportionment of airborne particulate matter : an overview of Australian and New Zealand studies

Despite the existence of air quality guidelines in Australia and New Zealand, the concentrations of particulate matter have exceeded these guidelines on several occasions. To identify the sources of particulate matter, examine the contributions of the sources to the air quality at specific areas and estimate the most likely locations of the sources, a growing number of source apportionment studies have been conducted. This paper provides an overview of the locations of the studies, salient features of the results obtained and offers some perspectives for the improvement of future receptor modelling of air quality in these countries. The review revealed that because of its advantages over alternative models, Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) was the most commonly applied model in the studies. Although there were differences in the sources identified in the studies, some general trends were observed. While biomass burning was a common problem in both countries, the characteristics of this source varied from one location to another. In New Zealand, domestic heating was the highest contributor to particle levels on days when the guidelines were exceeded. On the other hand, forest back-burning was a concern in Brisbane while marine aerosol was a major source in most studies. Secondary sulphate, traffic emissions, industrial emissions and re-suspended soil were also identified as important sources. Some unique species, for example, volatile organic compounds and particle size distribution were incorporated into some of the studies with results that have significant ramifications for the improvement of air quality. Overall, the application of source apportionment models provided useful information that can assist the design of epidemiological studies and refine air pollution reduction strategies in Australia and New Zealand.

W(h)ither New Age studies? The uses of ethnography in a contested field of scholarship

Since the 1980s, there has existed a field of scholarly inquiry into a range of phenomena termed New Age. The relative lack of ethnographic studies in this field was identified several years ago, in response to research that focused merely on the discourses within alleged key writings. However, the employment of ethnographic methods does not by itself resolve the problems inherent in other modes of research; attention also has to be paid to how ethnography is used in practice. This article examines ethnographies of the New Age in terms of the extent to which they contextualize data within their immediate social frames, by paying attention to actors’ practices and interactions, and to the ways in which beliefs and discourses are constructed and contested. The article demonstrates the strong tendency among New Age ethnographic studies to veer from ‘the social’ and to rest instead on analytically problematic conceptualizations of agency. It argues that epistemological revision is required to form the basis of a more sociologically adequate understanding of the phenomena addressed.

Is the metabolic syndrome a new childhood disease?

Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents have become a major public health problem in recent years throughout the world. The medical consequences of obesity may manifest as an increase in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents putting them at increased risk for future cardiovascular diseases. Obesity can cause insulin resistance and might disturb glucose homeostasis eventually leading to type 2 diabetes in susceptible patients. Insulin resistance is also involved in the pathogenesis of dyslipidemia in obese children characteristically presenting as hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL cholesterol. Even elevated blood pressure might be present in obese kids. Here we present a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome. The diagnostic criteria of the metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents are discussed. Thoughts about pathophysiology and therapeutic options are offered.

New Testament studies V. Bible reading in the early church,

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

New scale studies for the violin /

Mode of access: Internet.

New Testament studies. II.

Mode of access: Internet.

Review of Childhood

Almost 10 years after Childhood and Society (Palgrave, 2nd edn, 2011), Michael Wyness, an associate professor of childhood studies at the University of Warwick, now brings to print a short yet broad introduction to the study of childhood. In particular, this book discusses multiple views about childhood, a concept that for the past two decades has been contested within social sciences’ critical theorizing. On the back cover of the book, William A Corsaro and Alan Prout, well-known scholars from the field, are unanimous in recognizing the value of this new contribution in childhood studies. The interested and attentive reader should not be indifferent to their words and judgment; Wyness’s Childhood is a ‘gem,’ according to Corsaro.

New research literacies for contemporary research into literacy and new media?

The term literacy remains highly contested and debates continue about how literacy might best be researched and to what ends. For some, literacy is simply a matter of acquiring the technical competence which enables people to read and write. Literacy research conducted from this point of view does not usually concern itself with the new media but rather focuses on how people learn to code and decode print text. For others, however, literacy is more complex and involves learning a repertoire of practices for communicating and getting things done in particular social and cultural contexts. Literacy research conducted from this sociocultural point of view accepts that the new media are central to the field because in everyday cultural practice people are using the new media to make meaning, to express themselves and to communicate and work with others. Socio-cultural approaches to literacy research have already provided rich material which has assisted educators to understand literacy practices in everyday use (e.g. Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Barton, Hamilton and Ivanic, 2000) including children’s appropriation of the media in school-based writing (Dyson, 1997). However, the changing semiotic and cultural practices associated with new media and online participation have less frequently been the object of study...