BACKGROUND: Childhood overweight develops during`critical periods', but the relationship of body mass index (BMI) patterns during`critical periods' from childhood into adulthood with subsequent overweight and adiposity has not been previously investigated. BMI patterns during early childhood, pubescence and post-pubescence and their independent effects on overweight and body fatness at 35 ± 45 y of age were examined along with birth weight and the effects of adult lifestyle factors. METHODS: BMI parameters describing the timing, velocity minimum (min) and maximum (max) values from 2 to 25 y of age were related to adulthood BMI values and total and percentage body fat (TBF, %BF) at 35 ± 45 y. These data were from 180 males and 158 females in the Fels Longitudinal Study. RESULTS: There was no sex difference in the timing of BMI rebound, but the age of BMI maximum velocity and maximum BMI were both earlier in girls. Children with an earlier BMI rebound had larger BMI values at rebound and at maximum velocity. Children who reached maximum BMI at later age had larger maximum BMI values. Maximum BMI was a strong predictor for adult BMI and in females, a strong predictor of adulthood TBF and %BF. Maximum BMI was closely related to maximum BMI velocity in females and in males, BMI at maximum velocity is a strong predictor of TBF and %BF. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in childhood BMI were related to adult overweight and adiposity more so in females than males. BMI rebound is a signi®cant important period related to overweight at 35 ± 45 y in females but not in males. However BMI patterns during and post-adolescence were more important than the BMI rebound for adulthood TBF and %BF status. There is marked tracking in BMI from approximately 20 y into 35 ± 45 y. The pattern of BMI changes from 2 to 25 y had stronger effects on subsequent adult overweight than birth weight and adult lifestyle variables.

A facile and reproducible method for the synthesis of Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 visible light photocatalyst has been developed to improve the photocatalytic activity and stability of Ag 3 PO 4 . The innovation of this method is to in situ deposit Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles onto the TiO 2 (P25) surface forming a heterostructure. The improved activity of the Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 heterostructured photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation is attributed to the increased surface area and enhanced absorption of MB and RhB. Furthermore, depositing Ag 3 PO 4 onto the surface of TiO 2 facilitates electron-hole separation that leads to the elevated photocatalytic activity. The heterostructured Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 photocatalyst significantly decreases the loading of noble metal Ag from 77 wt% to 47 wt%, thereby significantly reducing the cost for the practical application of Ag 3 PO 4 photocatalyst.

A facile NaBH4/tert-butylamine (TBA) treatment method for the effective removal of PVP from Pt alloy nanoparticles without affecting the particle morphology.

Earth-abundant nickel is a typical non-noble-metal cocatalyst used for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE). Ni nanoparticles, however, tend to aggregate during the hydrogen production process, significantly lowering their PHE activity. To avoid aggregation, we used single atom form Ni and anchored them on vacancies in nitrogen-doped graphene (Ni-NG) as a cocatalyst for PHE. We demonstrated that Ni-NG is a robust and highly active cocatalyst for PHE from water. With only 0.0013 wt % of Ni loading, the PHE activity of composite Ni-NG/CdS photocatalyst improves by 3.4 times compared to that of NG/CdS, and it does not decay even after 10 rounds of 5-hour running. The quantum efficiency of Ni-NG/CdS for PHE reaches 48.2% at 420 nm, one of the highest efficiencies for non-noble-metal-based cocatalysts reported in the literature. Photoluminescence spectral analyses and electrochemical examinations indicated that Ni-NG coupled to CdS serves not only as an electron storage medium to suppress electron–hole recombination but also as an active catalyst for proton reduction reaction. Density functional theory calculations show that the high activity of Ni-NG/CdS composite results from the single Ni atoms trapped in NG vacancies, which significantly reduces the activation energy barrier of the hydrogen evolution reaction. This research may be valuable for developing robust and highly active noble metal free cocatalysts for solar hydrogen production.