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The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural-geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term persistent physical activity is important in the prevention of chronic diseases, but a large number of people do not participate in physical activity to obtain health benefits. The purpose of this study was to examine the motives and perceived barriers to long-term engagement in leisure time physical activity. Same-sex twin pairs ( N = 16, mean age 60) discordant for physical activity over 30 years were identified from the Finnish Twin Cohort. We evaluated participants' physical activity motivation with the 73-item Recreational Exercise Motivation Measure and assessed barriers to physical activity with a 25-item questionnaire. The characteristics of physical activity motivation and perceived barriers between the active and inactive co-twins were analysed using paired tests. Motives related to the sub-dimensions of enjoyment and physical fitness and psychological state were the most important reasons for participation in physical activity among all the twin individuals analysed. The sub-dimensions mastery (p = 0.018, Cohen's d = 0.76), physical fitness (p = 0.029, Cohen's d = 0.69), and psychological state (p = 0.039, Cohen's d = 0.65) differed significantly between active and inactive co-twins. More than half of the participants reported no reasons for not being physically active. If reasons existed, participation in physical activity was deterred mostly by pain and various health problems. This study found no differences in perceived barriers between active and inactive co-twins. We conclude from our results that the main factors promoting persistent leisure time physical activity were participants' wish to improve or maintain their physical skills or techniques, a feeling that exercise would improve their mental and physical health and that they found the activity enjoyable. This study helps us understand the importance of the role of motives and the minor role of perceived barriers for engagement in persistent physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthcare professionals commonly exhibit negative attitudes toward people with mental disorders. Few international studies have sought to investigate the determinants of stigma. Objective: To conduct an international comparison of pharmacy students' stigma towards people with schizophrenia, and to determine whether stigma is consistently associated with stereotypical attributes of people with schizophrenia. Method: Students (n = 649) at eight universities in Australia, Belgium, India, Finland, Estonia and Latvia completed a seven-item Social Distance Scale (SDS) and six items related to stereotypical attributes of people with schizophrenia. Results: Mean SDS scores were 19.65 (± 3.97) in Australia, 19.61 (± 2.92) in Belgium, 18.75 (± 3.57) in India, 18.05 (± 3.12) in Finland, and 20.90 (± 4.04) in Estonia and Latvia. Unpredictability was most strongly associated with having a high social distance in Australia (β = -1.285), the perception that people will never recover in India (β = -0.881), dangerousness in Finland (β = -1.473) and the perception of being difficult to talk to in Estonia and Latvia (β = -2.076). Unpredictability was associated with lower social distance in Belgium (β = 0.839). Conclusion: The extent to which students held stigmatizing attitudes was similar in each country, however, the determinants of stigma were different. Pharmacy education may need to be tailored to address the determinants of stigma in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for sports-related injuries. The use of insoles, external joint supports, and multi-intervention training programs can reduce sports injuries. Stretching and warm-up programs and modified footwear did not reduce injuries. The evidence indicated mixed results for balance-board training programs, mouth guards, and videos.

This paper provides an overview of the most recent assessment, collected in early midlife, of the FinnTwin12 cohort, a population-based study of Finnish twins born in 1983-1987. The twins were invited to complete an online survey assessing a range of variables, including physical and mental health, alcohol use and problems, other substance use, and early midlife environments (e.g., parenthood). In total, 2,085 individuals (~ 40% of the original sample) completed the survey (551 complete twin pairs, 58.7% female, 37.3% monozygotic, M age = 37.2 years, SD = 1.47 years, age range = 34-39 years). Individuals who participated were more likely to be female, monozygotic, and have higher parental education and less hyperactivity/impulsivity and aggression at age 12 when compared to individuals who were invited but did not participate. Parental alcohol misuse and the twins' alcohol use and misuse at age 14 were not related to study retention. Alcohol misuse in early midlife was positively associated with nicotine dependence, lifetime use of cannabis and other drugs, trauma exposure, and depressive symptoms, and negatively associated with physical health and having biological children. These new data expand upon the wealth of measures collected as part of previous assessments, expanding the scope of work on the etiology and correlates of alcohol misuse within a longitudinal, genetically-informed framework. In addition to these new survey measures, we are planning an in-person assessment to collect physiological measurements and conduct additional in-depth phenotyping on a subset of twins who have been more intensively studied over the years., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Introduction: High body mass index (BMI) in adolescence is a strong predictor of adult obesity. However, the nature of this association is unclear. We investigated how adolescent BMI is associated with adult weight change using longitudinal data from ages 11.5 to 37 years and examined the genetic factors behind these associations., Data and Methods: The study cohort consisted of 1400 Finnish twin individuals (40% males) with 494 complete twin pairs who reported their body mass index (BMI) at five ages: 11.5, 14, 17.5, 24, and 37 years. BMI trajectories (defined as BMI changes (i.e., slope) and BMI at baseline age (i.e., intercept)) were calculated in adulthood (from 17.5 to 37 years of age) using linear mixed-effects models. Polygenic Risk Scores of BMI (PRS BMI ) and genetic twin models were utilised to analyse the role of genetic factors underlying BMI trajectories and their associations with BMI at 11.5 and 14 years of age., Results: Mean BMI increased in adulthood (4.06 kg/m 2 in men and 3.39 kg/m 2 in women). The BMI changes correlated with BMI at the baseline age of 17.5 years (i.e. intercept) (r = 0.24 in men and r = 0.35 in women) as well as with BMI in adolescence (11.5 and 14 years of age). Genetic factors contributed to the BMI changes during adulthood (correlation with PRS BMI r = 0.25 in men and r = 0.27 in women; heritability estimates 0.63 and 0.64 respectively) as well as to their correlations with BMI at the baseline age (r A  = 0.5 in men and 0.54 in women) and BMI during adolescence (at 11.5 and 14 years of age) (r A  = 0.63-0.64)., Conclusion: We found that genetic factors play a role in BMI change in adulthood, and part of this genetic component overlaps with the genetics of BMI in adolescence. Genetic predisposition to high BMI in adolescence is also related to adult weight gain., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. The ethics committee of the Helsinki University Central Hospital District (HUS) approved the most recent data collection (wave 5) (HUS/2226/2021, dated September 22, 2021) and the use of prior collected data. All participants gave their informed written consent when participating in the study., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Early midlife individuals (ages 30-40) experience demographic shifts that may influence the remainder of adult life. Although new or persistent alcohol misuse is common during this period, early midlife is understudied in alcohol use literature. We examined the heritability of alcohol misuse; the associations between alcohol misuse and sociodemographic factors, physical health, and well-being; and whether these associations were robust in cotwin comparisons., Methods: Participants were 1446 Finnish twin pairs and 748 nonpaired Finnish twins with mean age 34 years. The alcohol misuse index was a composite measure of frequency of use, intoxication, heavy episodic drinking, and alcohol problems assessed with the Malmö-modified Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test and the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. Early midlife correlates included relationship status and length, family formation, unemployment status, education level, self-rated health, pain, sleeping difficulties, life satisfaction, psychological health, and other substance use. We employed a sex-limitation model to estimate early midlife heritability. Linear and fixed effects regression models were used for individual and cotwin comparison analyses, respectively., Results: Additive genetic (A) and unique environmental (E) components of alcohol misuse variance differed across sex (Females: A = 62%, E = 38%; Males: A = 49%, E = 51%). In individual-based analyses, higher scores on the alcohol misuse index were associated with lower relationship stability, financial situation, education level, self-rated health, physical fitness, life satisfaction and psychological health, and higher self-reported pain, sleep difficulties, unemployment rates and other substance use (R 2  = 0.008-0.12). Associations remained significant in cotwin comparison analyses (R 2  = 0.004-0.10) except for financial situation and education level., Conclusions: There is evidence of sex differences in the etiological factors that influence early midlife drinking. After controlling for confounding familial factors, associations between alcohol misuse and poorer early midlife functioning largely remained, suggesting that alcohol misuse may play a role in poorer functioning across several outcomes., (© 2024 The Author(s). Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Research Society on Alcohol.)

Introduction: A better understanding of the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) could expedite the development or administration of treatments. Large population biobanks hold the promise to identify individuals at an elevated risk of AD and related dementias based on health registry information. Here, we establish the protocol for an observational clinical recall and biomarker study called TWINGEN with the aim to identify individuals at high risk of AD by assessing cognition, health and AD-related biomarkers. Suitable candidates were identified and invited to participate in the new study among THL Biobank donors according to TWINGEN study criteria., Methods and Analysis: A multi-centre study (n=800) to obtain blood-based biomarkers, telephone-administered and web-based memory and cognitive parameters, questionnaire information on lifestyle, health and psychological factors, and accelerometer data for measures of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. A subcohort is being asked to participate in an in-person neuropsychological assessment (n=200) and wear an Oura ring (n=50). All participants in the TWINGEN study have genome-wide genotyping data and up to 48 years of follow-up data from the population-based older Finnish Twin Cohort (FTC) study of the University of Helsinki. The data collected in TWINGEN will be returned to THL Biobank from where it can later be requested for other biobank studies such as FinnGen that supported TWINGEN., Ethics and Dissemination: This recall study consists of FTC/THL Biobank/FinnGen participants whose data were acquired in accordance with the Finnish Biobank Act. The recruitment protocols followed the biobank protocols approved by Finnish Medicines Agency. The TWINGEN study plan was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (number 16831/2022). THL Biobank approved the research plan with the permission no: THLBB2022_83., Competing Interests: Competing interests: AP is the Chief Scientific Officer of the FinnGen project that is funded by 13 pharmaceutical companies. HR was a full-time employee of Biogen during study planning and manuscript drafting and has stocks at Merck & Co and Biogen. MMF has received development funding from the Regional Council of Northern Savo and Business Finland for a data-driven tool related to memory disorders and healthcare decision tools, Charles River DRS Finland Ltd. and Orion Pharma have donated equipment for nonclinical cognition testing at the University of Eastern Finland. PI-M has received funding from Orion Research Foundation and Helsinki Biomedicum Foundation outside the present work. RK declares funding paid to the institution from Academy of Finland, 27 Government research funding, Saastamoinen Foundation, Vaajasalo foundation and Jane and Aatos Erkko foundation outside the present work; consulting fees from Orion Pharma; payment or honoraria from Angelini Pharma, Jazz Pharma, Lundbeck, Eisai, Orion Pharma, OmaMedical, Takeda, UCB; participation in monitoring or advisory board from Marinus Pharma and UCB; and leadership or fiduciary role in European Academy of Neurology Epilepsy scientific panel management group, European Epilepsy Reference network Epicare Steering Group and International League Against Epilepsy Career Development Commission. RS declares stocks or stock options at Orion Pharma. S-KH declares payment or honoraria and support for attending meetings or travel from Roche, consulting fees and participation in monitoring or advisory board from Novartis. TK declares payment or honoraria from Novartis Finland and Bayer Nordic SE. The authors declare no other competing financial or non-financial Interests., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Purpose: High levels of physical activity have been documented in eating disorder patients. Our aim was to examine whether adolescent leisure-time physical activity is prospectively associated with eating disorders in adolescence and young adulthood., Methods: Finnish twins born in 1983-1987 reported their physical activity frequency at ages 12, 14, and 17. A subsample of participants underwent structured, retrospective interviews for eating disorders at the mean age of 22.4 years. Associations between female twins' physical activity and future eating disorders (571-683 twins/wave) were investigated with the Cox proportional hazards model. To illustrate the physical activity similarity of the co-twins in a twin pair, we used cross-tabulation of eating disorder-discordant twin pairs (13-24 pairs/wave)., Results: After adjusting for several covariates, we found no statistically significant longitudinal association between physical activity and eating disorders. This applied when all eating disorders were combined but also when assessed separately as restrictive and non-restrictive eating disorders. Co-twins' physical activity in adolescence tended to be similar irrespective of their future eating disorder, supporting the results of the regression analysis., Conclusion: We observed no evidence of adolescent physical activity frequency being prospectively associated with eating disorders in female twins. Further longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes and more detailed physical activity data are needed., Level of Evidence: III, evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Personalized interventions aiming to increase physical activity in individuals are effective. However, from a public health perspective, it would be important to stimulate physical activity in larger groups of people who share the vulnerability to be physically inactive throughout adulthood. To find these high-risk groups, we identified 36-year leisure-time physical activity profiles from young adulthood to late midlife in females and males. Moreover, we uncovered which anthropometric-, demographic-, lifestyle-, and health-related characteristics were associated with these physical activity profiles., Methods: We included 2,778 females and 1,938 males from the population-based older Finnish Twin Cohort Study, who responded to health and behavior surveys at the mean ages of 24, 30, 40 and 60. Latent profile analysis was used to identify longitudinal leisure-time physical activity profiles., Results: We found five longitudinal leisure-time physical activity profiles for both females and males. Females' profiles were: 1) Low increasing moderate (29%), 2) Moderate stable (23%), 3) Very low increasing low (20%), 4) Low stable (20%) and 5) High increasing high (9%). Males' profiles were: 1) Low increasing moderate (29%), 2) Low stable very low (26%), 3) Moderate decreasing low (21%), 4) High fluctuating high (17%) and 5) Very low stable (8%). In both females and males, lower leisure-time physical activity profiles were associated with lower education, higher body mass index, smoking, poorer perceived health, higher sedentary time, high blood pressure, and a higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, lower leisure-time physical activity was linked to a higher risk of depression in females., Conclusions: We found several longitudinal leisure-time physical activity profiles with unique changes in both sexes. Fewer profiles in females than in males remained or became low physically active during the 36-year follow-up. We observed that lower education, higher body mass index, and more smoking already in young adulthood were associated with low leisure-time physical activity profiles. However, the fact that several longitudinal profiles demonstrated a change in their physical activity behavior over time implies the potential for public health interventions to improve leisure-time physical activity levels., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Importance: Physical activity is associated with the risk for cognitive decline, but much of the evidence in this domain comes from studies with short follow-ups, which is prone to reverse causation bias., Objective: To examine how length of follow-up, baseline age, physical activity amount, and study quality modify the longitudinal associations of physical activity with cognition., Data Sources: Observational studies of adults with a prospective follow-up of at least 1 year, a valid baseline cognitive measure or midlife cohort, and an estimate of the association of baseline physical activity and follow-up cognition were sought from PsycInfo, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and PubMed, with the final search conducted on November 2, 2022., Study Selection: Two independent researchers screened titles with abstracts and full-text reports., Data Extraction and Synthesis: Two reviewers independently assessed study quality and extracted data. Pooled estimates of association were calculated with random-effects meta-analyses. An extensive set of moderators, funnel plots, and scatter plots of physical activity amount were examined. This study is reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline., Main Outcomes and Measures: Pooled estimates of the associations between physical activity and global cognition, as well as specific cognitive domains, were examined., Results: A total of 104 studies with 341 471 participants were assessed. Analysis of binary outcomes included 45 studies with 102 452 individuals, analysis of follow-up global cognition included 14 studies with 41 045 individuals, and analysis of change in global cognition included 25 studies with 67 463 individuals. Physical activity was associated with a decreased incidence of cognitive impairment or decline after correction for funnel plot asymmetry (pooled risk ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.97-0.99), but there was no significant association in follow-ups longer than 10 years. Physical activity was associated with follow-up global cognition (standardized regression coefficient, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.02-0.03) and change in global cognition (standardized regression coefficient, 0.01; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.02) from trim-and-fill analyses, with no clear dose-response or moderation by follow-up length, baseline age, study quality or adjustment for baseline cognition. The specific cognitive domains associated with physical activity were episodic memory (standardized regression coefficient, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.02-0.04) and verbal fluency (standardized regression coefficient, 0.05; 95% CI, 0.03-0.08)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this meta-analysis of the association of physical activity with cognitive decline, physical activity was associated with better late-life cognition, but the association was weak. However, even a weak association is important from a population health perspective.

Background: Research on device-based physical activity in the oldest-old adults is scarce. We examined accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior in nonagenarians. We also investigated how the accelerometer characteristics associate with nonagenarians' self-reported physical activity, anthropometric, sociodemographic, health and cognitive characteristics., Methods: Nonagenarians from a population-based cohort study (N = 38, mean age 91.2) used accelerometers during the waking hours for seven days. They also participated in a health survey and cognitive telephone interview. The Wald test and Pearson and polyserial correlations were used to analyze the data., Results: The participants' average day consisted of 2931 steps, 11 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and 13.6 hours of sedentary time. Physical activity bouts less than 3 minutes per day and sedentary time bouts of 20-60 minutes per day were the most common. No sex differences were found. Many accelerometer-measured and self-reported physical activity characteristics correlated positively (correlations ≥0.34, p-values <0.05). The low levels of many accelerometer-measured physical activity characteristics associated with low education (correlations ≥0.25, p-values <0.05), dizziness (correlations ≤-0.42, p-values <0.01) and fear of falling (correlations ≤-0.45, p-values <0.01). Fear of falling was also associated with accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior characteristics (correlations -0.42 or ≥0.43)., Conclusions: Nonagenarians were mostly sedentary and low in physical activity, but individual variability existed. Accelerometer-measured and self-reported physical activity had a good consistency. Education, dizziness and fear of falling were consistently related to accelerometer-measured characteristics in nonagenarians., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Aaltonen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: A better understanding of the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) could expedite the development or administration of treatments. Large population biobanks hold the promise to identify individuals at an elevated risk of AD and related dementias based on health registry information. Here, we establish the protocol for an observational clinical recall and biomarker study called TWINGEN with the aim to identify individuals at high risk of AD by assessing cognition, health and AD-related biomarkers. Suitable candidates were identified and invited to participate in the new study among Finnish biobank donors according to TWINGEN study criteria., Methods and Analysis: A multi-center study (n=800) to obtain blood-based biomarkers, telephone-administered and web-based memory and cognitive parameters, questionnaire information on lifestyle, health and psychological factors, and accelerometer data for measures of physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep. A sub-cohort are being asked to participate in an in-person neuropsychological assessment (n=200) and wear an Oura ring (n=50). All participants in the TWINGEN study have genome-wide genotyping data and up to 48 years of follow-up data from the population-based older Finnish Twin Cohort (FTC) study of the University of Helsinki. TWINGEN data will be transferred to Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) biobank and we aim to further to transfer it to the FinnGen study where it will be combined with health registry data for prediction of AD., Ethics and Dissemination: This recall study consists of FTC/THL/FinnGen participants whose data were acquired in accordance with the Finnish Biobank Act. The recruitment protocols followed the biobank protocols approved by Finnish Medicines Agency. The TWINGEN study plan was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (number 16831/2022). THL Biobank approved the research plan with the permission no: THLBB2022&#95;83., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement AP is the Chief Scientific Officer of the FinnGen project that is funded by thirteen pharmaceutical companies. HR was a full-time employee of Biogen during study planning and manuscript drafting and has stocks at Merck & Co. and Biogen Inc. MMF has received development funding from the Regional Council of Northern Savo and Business Finland for a data-driven tool related to memory disorders and healthcare decision tools, Charles River DRS Finland Ltd. and Orion Pharma have donated equipment for nonclinical cognition testing at the University of Eastern Finland. PI-M has received funding from Orion Research Foundation and Helsinki Biomedicum Foundation outside the present work. RK declares funding paid to the institution from Academy of Finland, Government research funding, Saastamoinen Foundation, Vaajasalo foundation and Jane and Aatos Erkko foundation outside the present work; consulting fees from Orion Pharma; payment or honoraria from Angelini Pharma, Jazz Pharma, Lundbeck, Eisai, Orion Pharma, OmaMedical, Takeda, UCB; participation in monitoring or advisory board from Marinus Pharma and UCB; and leadership or fiduciary role in European Academy of Neurology Epilepsy scientific panel management group, European Epilepsy Reference network Epicare Steering Group and International League Against Epilepsy Career Development Commission. RS declares stocks or stock options at Orion Pharma. S-KH declares payment or honoraria and support for attending meetings or travel from Roche, consulting fees and participation in monitoring or advisory board from Novartis. TK declares payment or honoraria from Novartis Finland and Bayer Nordic SE. The authors declare no other competing financial or non-financial Interests.

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare form of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) comprising microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, consumptive thrombocytopenia, and end-organ damage. Risk of end-stage renal disease is increased as HUS usually manifests in native and transplanted kidneys. In transplants, while de novo disease can be seen, recurrent disease is more common. The etiology is variable, being either primary or secondary. aHUS often constitutes a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, which may lead to a considerable delay in the diagnosis and treatment. During the last decades, great progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms and therapeutic options of this devastating condition. We present a case of a 50-year-old female who received her first kidney transplant from her mother at the age of 9 years. She experienced recurrent losses of transplants, and only after the loss of her fourth transplant did the diagnosis of aHUS become evident.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) shows strong continuity over childhood and adolescence and high childhood BMI is the strongest predictor of adult obesity. Genetic factors strongly contribute to this continuity, but it is still poorly known how their contribution changes over childhood and adolescence. Thus, we used the genetic twin design to estimate the genetic correlations of BMI from infancy to adulthood and compared them to the genetic correlations of height., Methods: We pooled individual level data from 25 longitudinal twin cohorts including 38,530 complete twin pairs and having 283,766 longitudinal height and weight measures. The data were analyzed using Cholesky decomposition offering genetic and environmental correlations of BMI and height between all age combinations from 1 to 19 years of age., Results: The genetic correlations of BMI and height were stronger than the trait correlations. For BMI, we found that genetic correlations decreased as the age between the assessments increased, a trend that was especially visible from early to middle childhood. In contrast, for height, the genetic correlations were strong between all ages. Age-to-age correlations between environmental factors shared by co-twins were found for BMI in early childhood but disappeared altogether by middle childhood. For height, shared environmental correlations persisted from infancy to adulthood., Conclusions: Our results suggest that the genes affecting BMI change over childhood and adolescence leading to decreasing age-to-age genetic correlations. This change is especially visible from early to middle childhood indicating that new genetic factors start to affect BMI in middle childhood. Identifying mediating pathways of these genetic factors can open possibilities for interventions, especially for those children with high genetic predisposition to adult obesity., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Genetic and early environmental differences including early health habits associate with future health. To provide insight on the causal nature of these associations, monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for health habits provide an interesting natural experiment. Twin pairs discordant for leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in early adult life is thus a powerful study design to investigate the associations between long-term LTPA and indicators of health and wellbeing. We have identified 17 LTPA discordant twin pairs from two Finnish twin cohorts and summarize key findings of these studies in this paper. The carefully characterized rare long-term LTPA discordant MZ twin pairs have participated in multi-dimensional clinical examinations. Key findings highlight that compared with less active twins in such MZ twin pairs, the twins with higher long-term LTPA have higher physical fitness, reduced body fat, reduced visceral fat, reduced liver fat, increased lumen diameters of conduit arteries to the lower limbs, increased bone mineral density in loaded bone areas, and an increased number of large high-density lipoprotein particles. The findings increase our understanding on the possible site-specific and system-level effects of long-term LTPA., (© 2022 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: We sought to clarify the impact of adolescent alcohol misuse on adult physical health and subjective well-being. To do so, we investigated both the direct associations between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife physical health and life satisfaction and the indirect effects on these outcomes attributable to subsequent alcohol problems., Method: The sample included 2733 twin pairs (32% monozygotic; 52% female) from the FinnTwin16 study. Adolescent alcohol misuse was a composite of frequency of drunkenness, frequency of alcohol use, and alcohol problems at ages 16, 17, and 18.5. The early midlife outcomes included somatic symptoms, self-rated health, and life satisfaction at age 34. The mediators examined as part of the indirect effect analyses included alcohol problems from the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index at ages 24 and 34. Serial mediation and co-twin comparison models were applied and included covariates from adolescence and early midlife., Results: There were weak direct associations between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife physical health and life satisfaction. However, there was stronger evidence for indirect effects, whereby young adult and early midlife alcohol problems serially mediated the relationship between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife somatic symptoms (β = 0.03, 95% CI [0.03, 0.04]), self-rated health (β = -0.02, 95% CI [-0.03, -0.01]), and life satisfaction (β = -0.03, CI [-0.04, -0.02]). These serial mediation effects were robust in co-twin comparison analyses., Conclusions: These results provide evidence that alcohol problems are a primary driver linking adolescent alcohol misuse and poor health outcomes across the lifespan., (© 2022 The Authors. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection remains a major challenge in solid organ transplantation. Ganciclovir has changed the prognosis, but with the expense of possible viral resistance. New antiviral drugs, such as letermovir, have not been studied sufficiently in kidney and pancreas transplant recipients. We reviewed abdominal organ transplants recipients with CMV infection from the national transplant registry and identified patients treated with letermovir from electronic medical records. We report on letermovir treatment in one kidney and three simultaneous pancreas and kidney (SPK) transplant patients with refractory or ganciclovir-resistant CMV infection (UL54/ UL97 mutation). In SPK patients, persistent leukopenia undermined immunosuppressive and antiviral treatment, favoring life-threatening bacterial infections or ganciclovir resistance. All patients achieved viral clearance after letermovir monotherapy of 1.5-6 months. Letermovir was well tolerated and leukopenia resolved. Adjustments of calcineurin inhibitor doses were challenging. One acute rejection occurred because of under immunosuppression. After the end of treatment, recurrent low-grade CMV-DNAemia was common requiring reinitiating antiviral therapy to achieve viral clearance. To conclude, letermovir was a well-tolerated valuable option for the treatment of refractory or resistant CMV infection in kidney and pancreas transplantation., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study examined the impact of high adherence to a neuromuscular training (NMT) warm-up on the risk of lower extremity (LE) injuries in children's soccer. Twenty U11-U14 youth clubs ( n = 92 teams, 1409 players) were randomized into intervention ( n = 44 teams) and control ( n = 48 teams) groups. The intervention group was advised to perform an NMT warm-up 2 to 3 times a week for 20 weeks. Team adherence, injuries, and exposure were registered throughout the follow-up. Primary outcomes were the incidence of soccer-related acute LE injuries and the prevalence of overuse LE injuries. Intervention teams conducted mean 1.7 (SD 1.0) NMT warm-ups weekly through follow-up. The seasonal trend for adherence declined significantly by -1.9% (95% CI -0.8% to -3.1%) a week. There was no difference in the incidence of acute injuries nor the prevalence of overuse LE injuries in high team adherence group ( n = 17 teams) compared to controls. However, the risk for acute noncontact LE injuries was 31% lower in the high team adherence group compared to controls (IRR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.97). In an efficacy analysis ( n = 7 teams), there was a significant reduction of 47% in the rate of noncontact LE injuries (IRR 0.53, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.97). In conclusion, teams conducted NMT warm-up sessions regularly, but with a declining trend. A greater protective effect was seen in teams with the highest adherence to the NMT warm-up.

Introduction: Participation in diverse physical activities has beneficial health effects. However, little is known on how genetic and environmental factors affect this trait. Thus, we examined to what extent these factors explain participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities from late adolescence to adulthood using a twin study design., Methods: The participants were Finnish twins who reported their participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities at ages 17 (n = 5429) and 34 yr (n = 4246). The number of physical activities engaged in was analyzed using applications of structural linear modeling for twin data., Results: On average, the total number of physical activities engaged in during leisure time was slightly over three at both ages and in both sexes, with moderate heritability estimates (40%-58%) from adolescence to adulthood. Environmental factors shared by co-twins (e.g., childhood family environment) influenced only in adolescence, being higher for women. Environmental influences unique to each co-twin explained the remaining variances (34%-57%), being higher at age 34 yr. Participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities correlated moderately between ages 17 and 34 yr (men: rtrait = 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.25-0.35; women: rtrait = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.22-0.31). In addition, genetic influences on participation in physical activities correlated moderately between adolescence and adulthood (rA = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.39-0.64, and 0.44, 95% CI = 0.34-0.55, respectively). These common genetic influences explained 93% of the trait correlations found in men and 85% in women., Conclusions: Genetic and unique environmental influences explain a large proportion of variation in the number of leisure-time physical activities. However, the estimates vary by age and sex. Common genetic background mainly explains the continuity of the participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities between adolescence and adulthood., (Copyright © 2021 by the American College of Sports Medicine.)

Background: Both genetic and environmental influences have been shown to contribute to the association between physical activity and overall academic performance. The authors examined whether leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) shares genetic and environmental variances between spelling, essay writing, reading aloud, reading comprehension, and mathematics in early adolescence. Moreover, they investigated whether genetic polymorphisms associated with physical activity behavior affect these academic skills., Methods: Participants were 12-year-old Finnish twins (n = 4356-4370 twins/academic skill, 49% girls). Academic skills were assessed by teachers, and LTPA was self-reported. Polygenic scores for physical activity behavior were constructed from the UK Biobank. Quantitative genetic modeling and linear regression models were used to analyze the data., Results: The trait correlations between LTPA and academic skills were significant but weak (r = .05-.08). The highest trait correlation was found between LTPA and mathematics. A significant genetic correlation was revealed between LTPA and essay writing (rA = .14). Regarding polygenic scores of physical activity, the highest correlations were found with reading comprehension, spelling, and essay writing, but these results only approached statistical significance (P values = .09-.15)., Conclusions: The authors' results suggest that reading and writing are the academic skills that most likely share a common genetic background with LTPA.

Background: Prevention of sports injuries is essential in youth, as injuries are associated with less future physical activity and thus greater all-cause morbidity., Purpose: To investigate whether a neuromuscular training warm-up operated by team coaches is effective in preventing acute lower extremity (LE) injuries in competitive U11-U14 soccer players., Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1., Methods: Twenty top-level U11 to U14 soccer clubs in Finland were randomized into intervention and control groups and assessed for 20 weeks. Participants included 1403 players (280 female, 1123 male; age range, 9-14 years): 673 players (44 teams) in the intervention group and 730 players (48 teams) in the control group. The intervention group team coaches were introduced to a neuromuscular training warm-up to replace the standard warm-up 2 to 3 times per week. The control teams were asked to perform their standard warm-up. Injury data collection was done via weekly text messages. The primary outcome measure was a soccer-related acute LE injury, and the secondary outcome measure was an acute noncontact LE injury., Results: A total of 656 acute LE injuries occurred: 310 in the intervention group and 346 in the control group. The overall acute LE injury incidence was 4.4 per 1000 hours of exposure in the intervention group and 5.5 per 1000 hours of exposure in the control group, with no significant difference between groups (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.82 [95% CI, 0.64-1.04]). There were 302 acute noncontact LE injuries: 129 in the intervention group (incidence, 1.8 per 1000 hours) and 173 in the control group (2.7 per 1000 hours). A significant reduction in acute noncontact LE injuries of 32% (IRR, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.51-0.93]) was observed in the intervention group compared with the control group. Furthermore, significant reductions in injury incidence in favor of the intervention group were seen in the subanalyses of acute noncontact LE injuries, leading to ≤7 days of time loss and fewer ankle and joint/ligament injuries., Conclusion: A neuromuscular training warm-up operated by team coaches was found to be effective in preventing acute noncontact LE injuries in children's soccer, but this was not seen in all acute LE injuries., Clinical Relevance: We encourage children's soccer coaches and health care professionals to implement neuromuscular training warm-up in youth sports., Registration: ISRCTN14046021 (ISRCTN registry)., Competing Interests: One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: This study was financially supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, by the Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital, and by the Palloilu Säätiö, Tammela, Finland. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Leisure-time physical activity has a complex relationship with low back pain (LBP). Thus, we aimed to investigate whether the diversity of sport activities is associated with the type of LBP. In the FinnTwin16 study, 4246 (55% females) Finnish twins at mean age 34.1 years replied to a health behaviour survey in 2010-2012. Based on the participation in different sport activities, we created two measures of diversity: quantity (i.e. the number of sport activities: 1, 2, 3, 4 and ≥5) and quality (i.e. the type of sport activity: endurance, strength, body care, etc.). Based on the frequency, duration and type of LBP, we created three groups: no history of LBP lasting more than one day, radiating LBP and non-radiating LBP. The associations between the quantity and quality of sport activities and the type of LBP were investigated with logistic regression analyses. Participation in ≥5 sport activities associated with less radiating and non-radiating LBP in analyses pooled across sex (odds ratio 0.46, 95% CI 0.30-0.69 and 0.66, 0.44-0.99, respectively). However, the associations attenuated after adjusting for several confounders. Participation in endurance sports was associated with less radiating (0.58, 0.43-0.76) and non-radiating (0.60, 0.44-0.81) LBP, whereas strength sports and body care only with less radiating LBP (0.76, 0.58-1.00 and 0.26, 0.09-0.74, respectively) adjusted for all sport types. On a sport-specific level, running and cycling were associated with less radiating and non-radiating LBP. In adulthood, the diversity of sport activities, particularly participation in endurance sports, may be associated with less radiating and non-radiating LBP.

Motives for physical activity may vary considerably by age, sex, and the level of physical activity. We aimed to examine motives for physical activity in older men and women with different physical activity levels as well as whether genetic and/or environmental factors explain those motives. Finnish twins (mean age 72.9 years, 262 full twin pairs) self-reported their motives for physical activity. Time spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was monitored using a hip-worn accelerometer. Comparisons between the different physical activity groups of older twins (n = 764-791/motive dimension) were analyzed using the Wald test, and effect sizes were calculated as Cohen's d. Quantitative genetic modeling was used to estimate genetic and environmental contributions. For both sexes, the most frequently reported motives for physical activity were physical fitness, health maintenance, and psychological well-being. Conforming to others' expectations was more important for men than for women (P < .001, Cohen's d = 0.38), while appearance (P = .001 Cohen's d = -0.24) and psychological well-being (P = .02, Cohen's d = -0.17) were highlighted by women. Most of the motive dimensions differed significantly between the physically active and inactive individuals. It was estimated that 5%-42% of the variation in motives was contributed by genetic factors and 58%-95% by environmental factors. The result that environmental factors contribute in a great deal to motives indicates that interventions to motivate physically inactive older individuals to be physically active can be successful. However, personalized interventions are needed because sex and the level of physical activity were found to be associated with older individuals' motives for physical activity., (© 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Physical activity and academic performance are believed to be associated. Though both traits are partially heritable, it remains unclear whether these traits also share a genetic and/or environmental background in common. We aimed to examine to what extent leisure time physical activity and academic performance share genetic and environmental effects from early adolescence to young adulthood., Methods: Participants were Finnish twins (2543-2693 individuals/study wave) who reported their leisure-time physical activity at ages 12, 14, 17, and 24 yr. Academic performance was assessed with teacher-reported grade point averages at ages 12 and 14 yr and by self-reported educational levels at ages 17 and 24 yr. Bivariate quantitative genetic modeling at each age and between different ages was performed to decompose the trait correlation between academic performance and physical activity into genetic and environmental components., Results: The trait correlations between leisure-time physical activity and academic performance were positive, but modest at most (rtrait = 0.08-0.22 in males, and 0.07-0.18 in females). The genetic correlations between leisure-time physical activity and academic performance were higher than the trait correlations (rA = 0.17-0.43 in males, and 0.15-0.25 in females). Common genetic influences explained 43% to 100% of the trait correlations. Environmental influences shared by cotwins between leisure-time physical activity and academic performance were also correlated (rC = 0.27-0.54 in males, and 0.21-0.69 in females) explaining 41% to 100% of the trait correlations. Unique environmental influences were correlated only in females (rE = 0.10-0.15)., Conclusions: Both common genetic background and shared family environment (i.e., familial background) partially account for the associations observed between leisure-time physical activity and academic performance. However, the estimates vary in magnitude by age.