Objective: To analyse the association between family structure and adiposity in children. Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of dietary-and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants) study cohort. Setting: Primary schools and kindergartens. Subjects: Children (n 12 350; aged 7?9 (SD 1?8) years) for the cross-sectional analysis and children (n 5236; at baseline: normal weight, aged 5?9 (SD 1?8) years) for the longitudinal study underwent anthropometry. Family structure was analysed as (i) number and type of cohabiting adults and (ii) number of siblings. Results: In the cross-sectional analysis, after controlling for covariates, children living with grandparents had significantly higher BMI Z-score than those Conclusions: The study suggests that an independent association between family structure and childhood obesity exists.

Self-assembly of polyamines -putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), and spermine (Spm) -with phosphate ions was previously described by our group [1]: the intercalation of a phosphate anion between the N-terminal ends of two polyamines determines, by electrostatic interaction, the formation of basic cyclical structures that further aggregate into supramolecular complexes [2] by means of hydrogen bonds, thus producing three different structural classes of molecular aggregates that interact with the genomic DNA [1,3,4]. These compounds were named nuclear aggregates of polyamines (NAPs). Interestingly, other authors have described the phosphate-induced self-assembly of polyamines in a different biological setting [5].Polyamine and phosphate self-aggregation is reputed to be an important phenomenon in directing DNA organization and functions [1]. In our earlier studies, Caco-2 cells were used to assess the biological properties of NAPs, but investigations concerning NAPs extracted from nuclei of many different cell types have also been described [1,3]. However, only preliminary observations concerning the in vitro production of these compounds have been reported [1,3,4]. In addition, the mechanism(s) regulating the supramolecular self-aggregation of polyamines and phosphates and the cooperative action of NAP-DNA aggregates have yet to be defined.For this reason, we determined the conditions necessary for the aggregation of polyamines in a simplified Natural polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) self-assemble in a simulated physiological environment (50 mm sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2), generating in vitro nuclear aggregates of polyamines (ivNAPs). These supramolecular compounds are similar in structure and molecular mass to naturally occurring cellular nuclear aggregates of polyamines, and they share the ability of NAPs to interact with and protect the genomic DNA against nuclease degradation. Three main ivNAP compounds were separated by gel permeation chromatography. Their elution was carried out with 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer supplemented with 150 mm NaCl. Freezing and thawing of selected chromatographic fractions obtained by GPC runs in which the mobile phase was sodium phosphate buffer not supplemented with NaCl yielded three different microcrystallites, specifically corresponding to the ivNAPs, all of which were able to bind DNA. In this study, we demonstrated that in vitro self-assembly of polyamines and phosphates is a spontaneous, reproducible and inexpensive event, and provided the indications for the production of the ivNAPs as a new tool for manipulating the genomic DNA machinery.Abbreviations DLS, dynamic light scattering; EtBr, ethidium bromide; GPC, gel permeation chromatography; ivNAP, in vitro nuclear aggregate of polyamines; NAP, nuclear aggregate of polyamines; Put, putrescine; Spd, spermidine; Spm, spermine.

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of overweight in only children to those with siblings and to explore potential behavioral mediating factors. This study relies upon cross-sectional data collected at survey centers in eight European countries participating in Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS (IDEFICS). The present analysis is based on measured anthropometry and parent or guardian-reported socio-demographic characteristics. Subjects include 12 720 children aged 2–9 years for whom number of siblings was known. Singletons were more likely (odds ratio 1.52, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.34–1.72) to be overweight than their peers with siblings when controlling for factors related to childhood overweight, including survey country, parental education, parental weight, maternal age, child's age, birth weight and gender. The three southernmost countries have over threefold risk of overweight, dominated by Italy, compared with the north-central countries, which is not explained by the prevalence of singleton children. The excess risk of overweight among children without siblings was robustly observed even when considering behavioral mediating factors (playtime, screen time per day, dietary propensities for sugar or fat, parental attitudes towards food rewards and television in the child's bedroom). Among singletons aged 6–9 years, the excess risk of overweight was 1.70 (95% CI: 1.44–2.01) compared with 1.32 (95% CI: 1.10–1.60) in younger singletons.