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- Rojas-Gomez, A., et al.
(författare)
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Pregnancy homocysteine and cobalamin status predict childhood metabolic health in the offspring
- 2023
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Ingår i: Pediatric Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0031-3998 .- 1530-0447. ; 93:3, s. 633-642
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Inadequate pregnancy cobalamin status has been associated with adverse offspring metabolic health in Indian and Nepalese studies. Studies of pregnancy cobalamin status and mid-childhood health outside of Asia are scarce. Methods Associations between pregnancy fasting plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), cobalamin status (plasma cobalamin, holotranscobalamin (holoTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA)) and mid-childhood metabolic score (MetSco) ((including fat mass index (zFMI), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (zHOMA-IR) and dyslipidemia (zTG - zHDLc)/2) z-scores)) were investigated in a prospective study of 293 mother-child dyads. Results Highest versus low-mid pregnancy tHcy tertile was associated with higher mid-childhood MetSco, specifically with higher child zFMI. Stratifying by sex, the maternal tHcy-child MetSco association was limited to boys and confirmed for zFMI and zHOMA-IR. The maternal tHcy-child zFMI association was not mediated by birth weight z-score. First trimester plasma cobalamin was not associated with child outcomes, but other indicators of cobalamin status were. Lowest versus mid-high plasma holoTC tertile was associated with MetSco (specifically zFMI and zHOMA-IR) and highest versus low-mid plasma MMA tertile with higher MetSco and dyslipidemia in boys. Conclusions Moderately elevated pregnancy tHcy and low cobalamin status were associated with mid-childhood metabolic score in boys. The pregnancy tHcy-child zFMI association was not mediated by birth weight. Impact Fasting plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) during pregnancy and low cobalamin status during early pregnancy are associated with mid-childhood metabolic score and its components in the offspring. These findings were only significant in male offspring. The study provides new evidence that impaired one carbon metabolism during pregnancy is associated with negative health outcomes in the offspring, in a population with low prevalence of cobalamin deficiency. The maternal-offspring associations were observed in the functional markers of cobalamin status (holotranscobalamin and methylmalonic acid) and tHcy, not with plasma cobalamin concentration. Screening for low pregnancy cobalamin status should be considered.
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| 2. |
- Blanco-Pastor, José Luis, et al.
(författare)
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Bees explain floral variation in a recent radiation of Linaria
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. - : Wiley. - 1420-9101 .- 1010-061X. ; 28:4, s. 851-863
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The role of pollinators in floral divergence has long attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists. Although abundant studies have reported the effect of pollinators on flower-shape variation and plant speciation, the influence of pollinators on plant species differentiation during rapid radiations and the specific consequences of shifts among similar pollinators are not well understood. Here, we evaluate the association between pollinators and floral morphology in a closely related and recently diversifying clade of Linaria species (sect. Supinae subsect. Supinae). Our approach combined pollinator observations, functional floral morphometric measures and phylogenetic comparative analyses. The fauna visiting Linaria species was determined by extensive surveys and categorized by a modularity algorithm, and the size and shape of flowers were analysed by means of standard and geometric morphometric measures. Standard measures failed to find relationships between the sizes of representative pollinators and flowers. However, discriminant function analyses of geometric morphometric data revealed that pollination niches are finer predictors of flower morphologies in Linaria if compared with phylogenetic relationships. Species with the most restrictive flowers displayed the most slender spurs and were pollinated by bees with larger proboscides. These restrictive flower shapes likely appeared more than once during the evolutionary history of the study group. We show that floral variation can be driven by shifts between pollinators that have been traditionally included in a single functional group, and discuss the consequences of such transitions for plant species differentiation during rapid radiations. © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.
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