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Source at https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101900. Differences in health status by socioeconomic position (SEP) tend to be more evident at older ages, suggesting the involvement of a biological mechanism responsive to the accumulation of deleterious exposures across the lifespan. DNA methylation (DNAm) has been proposed as a biomarker of biological aging that conserves memory of endogenous and exogenous stress during life. We examined the association of education level, as an indicator of SEP, and lifestyle-related variables with four biomarkers of age-dependent DNAm dysregulation: the total number of stochastic epigenetic mutations (SEMs) and three epigenetic clocks (Horvath, Hannum and Levine), in 18 cohorts spanning 12 countries. The four biological aging biomarkers were associated with education and different sets of risk factors independently, and the magnitude of the effects differed depending on the biomarker and the predictor. On average, the effect of low education on epigenetic aging was comparable with those of other lifestyle-related risk factors (obesity, alcohol intake), with the exception of smoking, which had a significantly stronger effect. Our study shows that low education is an independent predictor of accelerated biological (epigenetic) aging and that epigenetic clocks appear to be good candidates for disentangling the biological pathways underlying social inequalities in healthy aging and longevity.

BACKGROUND: Social inequalities in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity are well-established, but less is known about when the social gradient first emerges and how it evolves across childhood and adolescence.OBJECTIVE: This study examines maternal education differentials in children's body mass trajectories in infancy, childhood and adolescence using data from four contemporary European child cohorts.METHODS: Prospective data on children's body mass index (BMI) were obtained from four cohort studies-Generation XXI (G21-Portugal), Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) infant and child cohorts, and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS-UK)-involving a total sample of 41,399 children and 120,140 observations. Children's BMI trajectories were modelled by maternal education level using mixed-effect models.RESULTS: Maternal educational inequalities in children's BMI were evident as early as three years of age. Children from lower maternal educational backgrounds were characterised by accelerated BMI growth, and the extent of the disparity was such that boys from primary-educated backgrounds measured 0.42 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.24, 0.60) heavier at 7 years of age in G21, 0.90 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.60, 1.19) heavier at 13 years of age in GUI and 0.75 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.52, 0.97) heavier in MCS at 14 years of age. The corresponding figures for girls were 0.71 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.50, 0.91), 1.31 kg/m2 (95% CI 1.00, 1.62) and 0.76 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.53, 1.00) in G21, GUI and MCS, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Maternal education is a strong predictor of BMI across European nations. Socio-economic differentials emerge early and widen across childhood, highlighting the need for early intervention.

Yritysten arvoverkoston kehittäminen on kasvavassa määrin yritysten ja tutkimusyhteisöiden kiinnostuksen kohteena. Yritysten keskittyminen pääliiketoimintoihinsa on johtanut tilaaja-toimittajasuhteiden monimuotoistumiseen. Monet yritysten perinteisesti itse suorittamat toiminnot on ulkoistettu ja toimittajat harjoittavat palveluliiketoimintaansa usein tilaajayrityksen tiloissa. Tehdasalueen muodostuessa tilaajan ja usean eri toimittajan yhteiseksi työpaikaksi syntyy tehdasalueelle riskitekijöitä, joita ei aiemmin ole havaittu. Tutkimus pohjautuu tutkimustaustaan, jota on tehty Oulun yliopistolla prosessiteollisuuden toimialalla jo 2000-luvun alusta lähtien. 18 vuoden aikana tehdyt tutkimushankkeet ovat johtaneet IMS-järjestelmän tavoitteluun ja lopulta luoneet pohjan HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality) -arviointimenetelmälle. HSEQ-arviointimenettelyn tarkoituksena on kannustaa toimittajayrityksiä toimintamallien kehittämiseen sekä kehittää yrityksen johtamismalleja että työhyvinvointia. Diplomityön tarkoituksena on selvittää, mitä hyötyjä tilaajayrityksille on arviointitoiminnasta realisoitunut ja mitä kehityskohteita arviointitoiminnassa vielä on. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa perehdyttiin toimittaja-arviointeihin liittyvään teoriaan ja esiteltiin hankintatoimeen keskeisesti liittyviä teorioita. Empiirinen osuus suoritettiin puolijäsenneltynä haastattelututkimuksena seitsemään tilaajayritykseen ja pääarvioijille. Haastatteluissa oli läsnä HSEQ-asiantuntija ja kohdeyrityksen hankintainsinööri. Näin pyrittiin saamaan haastattelusta keskusteleva tilaisuus, jossa ilmenee useita eri näkökulmia. Tulokset vastasivat onnistuneesti työn tutkimuskysymyksiin. Tilaajien toimittaja-arvioinneista koetut hyödyt olivat merkittäviä ja lähtökohdat jatkaa arviointitoimintaa nykyisellään ovat olemassa. Toimittaja-arvioinneista koetut hyödyt olivat linjassa aiheesta tehtyjen aiempien tutkimusten kanssa, joten voidaan todeta, että perusteiltaan toimittaja-arviointien hyödyt ovat säilyneet ennallaan. Hyötyjen listaamisen lisäksi tutkimuksen edetessä löydettiin useita kehityskohteita auditointitoiminnalle. Kaikki kehityskohteet esitettiin tutkimuksen lopuksi pääarvioijille. Osa kehityskohteista oli jo aiemmin toteutettuja ja pääosa kehityskohteista todettiin pääarvioijan toimesta mahdollisiksi toteuttaa. Tämän tutkimuksen pohjalta voidaan todeta, että turvallisuus on kehittynyt vuosien myötä tilaajayrityksissä. Tilaajayrityksissä tunnistettiin selvästi turvallisuuskulttuurin kehittäminen, mutta toimittaja-arviointien yhteyttä turvallisuuden kehittymiseen ei tunnistettu. Pääarvioijat olivat kuitenkin vahvasti sitä mieltä, että toimittaja-arvioinnit ovat kehittäneet huomattavasti turvallisuutta yhteisillä työpaikoilla. Tämän näkemyseron tutkiminen tarjoaa mahdollisuuksia myös tulevaisuuden jatkotutkimuksiin. HSEQ-tietokantaan syötettyjen arviointien tarkempi läpikäynti ja etenkin yritysten, jotka on arvioitu jo useampaan kertaan, lukujen arviointi voisi kirkastaa näkemystä turvallisuuden kehittymisestä. Tapaturmatilastojen kehittymistä voidaan verrata myös yleiseen turvallisuuden kehittymiseen ja näin selventää, mikä on toimittaja-arviointien rooli turvallisuuden kehittymisessä. Growth of the companie’s value chain is increasingly being promoted by companies and research communities. The concentration of companies in their main business has led to the diversification of principal-supplier relations. Many of the activities traditionally carried out by companies have been outsourced and suppliers often carry out their service business on the premises of a principal company. When a factory area becomes a joint workplace for a principal company and multiple suppliers, there are risk factors in the factory area that are not previously known. The research is based on the research background that has been made at the University of Oulu in the process industry since the early 2000s. Research projects conducted over the course of 18 years have led to the pursuit of the IMS system and ultimately created the basis for the HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality) assessment methodology. The purpose of the HSEQ assessment procedure is to encourage vendor companies to provide template development and to develop corporate leadership and well-being at work. The purpose of the thesis is to find out what benefits the principal companies have gained from the evaluation activity and what development targets are still in the evaluation process. The literature review focused on the theory of supplier evaluations and introduced theories related to procurement. The empirical part was conducted as a semi-structured interview with 7 principal companies and main evaluators. Interviews were attended by a HSEQ expert and the buyer of the target company. In this way, it was easier to interviewers to express different point of views. The results responded successfully to the research questions of the work. The benefits from principal company ratings have been significant and the starting points for continuing evaluation activities are present. The benefits of the supplier reviews were in line with previous studies on the subject, so it can be concluded that the benefits of supplier evaluations have remained unchanged. In addition to the benefits of listing, several development targets for audit activity were found in research progress. All the development objects were presented to the main evaluators at the end of the study. Some development targets had already been implemented and most of the development targets were found to be possible by the main evaluator. Based on this study, it can be concluded that security has evolved over the years in principal companies. The development of a security culture was clearly identified in the principal companies, but the relationship between supplier evaluations and the development of safety was not identified. However, the main evaluators were strongly convinced that supplier evaluations have considerably improved security in common workplaces. Examining this difference of perspective will also provide opportunities for further research into the future. A more thorough review of the assessments submitted to the HSEQ database, and in particular those that have been evaluated several times, could help clarify the perception of safety development. The development of injury statistics can also be compared with the general development of safety and thus clarify the role of supplier evaluations in the development of safety.

Aims: It is theoretically predicted that, at low galaxy inclinations, boxy/peanut bar components have a barlens appearance of a round central component embedded in the narrow bar. We investigate barlenses in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey galaxies, studying their morphologies, stellar populations, and metallicities. We show that, when present, barlenses account for a significant portion of light of photometric bulges, i.e., the excess light on top of the disks, which highlights the importance of bars in accumulating central galaxy mass concentrations in the cosmic timescale. Methods: We made multi-component decompositions for a sample of 46 barlens galaxies drawn from the CALIFA survey, where M⋆/M⊙ = 109.7 − 1011.4 and z = 0.005−0.03. Unsharp masks of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) r′-band mosaics were used to identify the boxy/peanut or X-shaped features. Barlenses are identified in the images using our simulation snapshots as an additional guide. Our decompositions with GALFIT include bulges, disks, and bars as well as barlenses as a separate component. For 26 of the decomposed galaxies the CALIFA DR2 V500 grating data cubes were used to explore stellar ages and metallicities at the regions of various structure components. Results: We find that 25 ± 2% of the 1064 galaxies in the whole CALIFA sample show either X-shaped or barlens features. In the decomposed galaxies with barlenses, on average 13% ± 2% of the total galaxy light belongs to this component, leaving less than 10% for possible separate bulge components. Most importantly, bars and barlenses are found to have similar cumulative stellar age and metallicity distributions. The metallicities in barlenses are on average near solar, but exhibit a large range. In some of the galaxies barlenses and X-shaped features appear simultaneously, in which case the bar origin of the barlens is unambiguous. Conclusions: This is the first time that a combined morphological and stellar population analysis is used to study barlenses. We show that their stars are accumulated in a prolonged time period concurrently with the evolution of the narrow bar.