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Iron defi ciency anemia is the world's most common defi ciency anemia. Owing to numerous primary and secondary preventive measures, its prevalence in developed countries is continuously and signifi cantly declining, whereas in underdeveloped countries it still poses a major public health problem. The favorable infl uence of iron on early motor development has been known for decades, while its eff ects on linear growth and frequency of infection are still a matter of controversy. Our survey revealed the prevalence of iron defi ciency anemia in the population of Croatian infants to be rather high. Prophylactic supplementation of iron, as suggested by the latest recommendations, does not aff ect linear growth or the incidence of infectious illness, therefore presenting a safe and desirable preventive measure. As the harmful eff ects of iron defi ciency anemia on the children's wellbeing have been established, it is necessary to raise awareness of the importance of its prevention and treatment among parents and primary care pediatricians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article brings a contemporary view on epigenetics in mammalian reproduction and development. The basic epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, posttranslational histone modifi cations and noncoding RNA, without involving the nucleotide sequence of DNA molecule, regulate gene expression and thus cell proliferation, diff erentiation, dediff erentiation and tumorigenesis. Epigenetic drugs and immature embryonic cells have just been introduced in novel therapeutic strategies of human medicine. As epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the mammalian gamete and embryonic development, the experimental animal models described are of highly relevant for monitoring epigenetic changes, in DNA methylation in particular, and their impact on the off spring. Unfavorable environmental eff ects (e.g., maternal malnutrition) may cause phenotype changes in the next few generations, which are transmitted via transgenerational (or intergenerational) epigenetic eff ects, and some of them by yet unknown mechanisms; they seem to be transmitted via gamete to F3 generation that has never been exposed to the noxious agent (e.g., vinclozolin). The new concept of the developmental origin of health and disease points to epigenetic disorder in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes in man (e.g., due to maternal malnutrition during gestation), currently referred to as a "thrifty epigenotype". The harmful environmental factors appear to modify human epigenome, thus specifi c epigenetic modifi cations may serve as exposure markers. The issue of epigenotype heredity and its real role in disease development in the next generations is quite intriguing and important, thus being in the focus of interdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Mmany changes happen during growth and development in an organism as a result of important hormon changes, especially biohumoral ones. These changes make a problem when interpreting biochemical rasults in pediatric population. The most important changes are intensive calcium and phosphorus metabolic turnover in bone tissue with changes in alkaline phosphatase activity as a result of osteoblast activity. The aim of this study was to follow the serum calcium and phosphorus concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity in children 1-15 years old in different growth and development period and of different sexes and to fortify the influence of growth and development dinamics on biohumoral status in healthy male and female children. Material and methods We evaluated 117 healthy children of both sexes from 1-15 years of age and divided them into three age groups: 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15 years. We followed the serum calcium and phosphorus concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity in different groups and in different sexes. Results and conclusion Our investigation found significantly higher values of serum calcium in boys than in girls with no important changens between the age groups and significantly higher values of serum phosphorus in the youngest age group in all children and in different sexes with no important sex differences. Alkaline phosphatase activity followed the growth spurt and was the biggest in 6-10 years group in girls and in 11-15 years group in boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]