Conducting Scoping and Systematic Reviews With a Focus on Biocultural Research: The SCRIBE Toolkit.

The SCRIBE (SystematiC Reviews In Biocultural rEsearch) toolkit offers a structured approach for conducting scoping and systematic reviews in biocultural research. It addresses the challenges of synthesizing information, aggregating diverse data, and conducting robust analyses in this field. Biocultural research is vital to anthropology, public health, community health, and policy, as it reveals biological and cultural determinants of health and disparities globally.

Maternal Grandmothers' Household Residency, Children's Growth, and Body Composition Are Not Related in Urban Maya Families from Yucatan.

This study analyzes the influence of grandmothers' household residency on the presence of low height-for-age and excessive fat (FMI = fat mass [kg]/height [m]), waist circumference, and sum of triceps and subscapular skinfolds in a sample of 247 6- to 8-year-old urban Maya children from Yucatan, Mexico. Between September 2011 and January 2014, we obtained anthropometric and body composition data from children and mothers, as well as socioeconomic characteristics of participants and households. Grandmothers' place of residence was categorized as either in the same household as their grandchildren (n = 71) or in separate households (n = 176).

Birth weight and body composition in 6-to-8 years old Maya children.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that fetal growth, indexed by birth weight (BW), induce metabolic adjustments in the fetus that will be reflected in differences in body composition in a sample of 6-to 8-years old urban Maya children from Yucatan, Mexico.

Methods: We measured height (cm), weight (kg) and triceps skinfold (mm) in 260 children (boys: 132, girls: 128), and height (cm) and weight (kg) in their mothers. Body composition was estimated in children through bioelectrical impedance analysis.

The timing of adrenarche in Maya girls, Merida, Mexico.

Background: Adrenarche involves maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increased production of dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate ester, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S). It occurs at ages 6 to 8 in industrialized populations, marking the transition from childhood to juvenility and cognitive development at middle childhood. Studies in subsistence level populations indicate a later age (8-9) for adrenarche, but only two such studies currently exist for comparison.

Body Mass Index in Mother and Child Dyads and its Association With Household Size and Parents' Education in 2 Urban Settings of Yucatan, Mexico.

Background: Overweight/obesity (OW/OB) coexists in mother-child dyads. However, a dearth of evidence on the factors associated with this phenomenon calls for research.

Objective: To analyze the association of sociodemographic factors with OW/OB in a sample of 260 Maya mother-child dyads from Yucatan, Mexico.

Body proportionality and adiposity are not related in 6- to 8-year-old Yucatec Maya children.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between relative leg length (RLL) (leg length × 100/height) and adiposity in a sample of 6- to 8-year-old children of Maya ancestry from Motul and Merida, Mexico.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 260 children (128 girls) measured between 2011 and 2015. The RLL was used as a measure of body proportionality.

Caesarean birth and adiposity parameters in 6- to 8-year-old urban Maya children from two cities of Yucatan, Mexico.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between birth mode and fat mass index (FMI = fat mass [kg]/height [m] ), and z-score values of waist circumference (WCZ) and sum of triceps and subscapular skinfolds (SumSkfZ) in a sample of 256 6- to 8-year-old urban Maya children from the cities of Merida and Motul in Yucatan, Mexico.

Methods: From September 2011 to January 2014, we measured height, weight, waist circumference and skinfolds in children, and height and weight in their mothers. Body composition was estimated in both generations through bioelectrical impedance analysis.

Living conditions and change in age of menarche in adult Maya mothers and daughters from Yucatan, Mexico.

Objectives: To analyze whether living conditions, experienced by mothers and adult daughters during their childhood, are associated with age at menarche (AAM) in daughters.

Methods: From September, 2011, to January, 2014, AAM and childhood living conditions were collected from a sample of 246 dyads of Maya mothers (mean age = 59.60 years, SD = 8.

Intergenerational changes in knee height among Maya mothers and their adult daughters from Merida, Mexico.

Objectives: To analyze differences in knee height (KH) between adult Maya mothers and daughters in Merida City, Mexico, and determine if these differences are associated with their childhood socioeconomic conditions.

Methods: From September 2011 to January 2014, we measured KH and collected data on childhood conditions (place of birth, type of drinking water, family size, and fathers' occupation) from a sample of 180 Maya mother-daughter dyads. Mean KH intergenerational difference was calculated and compared for each category of socioeconomic variables and a multiple regression model was used to assess the association between childhood conditions and KH difference.

Intergenerational influences on the growth of Maya children: The effect of living conditions experienced by mothers and maternal grandmothers during their childhood.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that living conditions experienced by maternal grandmothers (F1 generation) and mothers (F2 generation) during their childhood are related to height and leg length (LL: height - sitting height) of their 6-to-8 year old children (F3 generation).

Methods: From September 2011 to June 2012 we obtained height and LL, and calculated z-score values of these measurements for 109 triads (F1 , F2 , F3 ) who are Maya living in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Multiple regression models were adjusted to examine the relation of anthropometric and intergenerational socioeconomic parameters of F1 (house index and family size during childhood) and F2 (paternal job loss during childhood) with the z-score values of height and LL of F3 .

Dietetic characteristics of a sample of Mayan dual burden households in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.

The Maya are the most populous and shortest in stature Native American ethnic group. The Maya provide us a good opportunity to study the dietetic characteristics of a group who experience nutritional dual burden (the combination of under and ovenutrition) at the individual, mother-child dyad and population level. The aim of this study is to describe general dietetic patterns of a sample of Maya mothers and children who experienced nutritional dual burden and were living in the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.

Nutritional status of Maya children, their mothers, and their grandmothers residing in the City of Merida, Mexico: revisiting the leg-length hypothesis.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that leg length-relative-to-stature is a more sensitive indicator of nutrition and health than is total height (HT) or sitting height (SH) in a sample of 109 triads of urban Maya children (6.0-8.99 years), their mothers, and maternal grandmothers from Merida, Mexico.

Fat free mass explains the relationship between stunting and energy expenditure in urban Mexican Maya children.

Background: Childhood stunting has been associated with an increased risk of obesity in adulthood, but the causes are unclear. This study hypothesizes that stunting significantly reduces both resting and activity energy expenditure.

Aim: To assess and describe energy expenditure of low socio-economic Maya children and to determine whether stunting is independently related to energy expenditure after controlling for lean mass.

The nutritional dual-burden in developing countries--how is it assessed and what are the health implications?

This paper focuses on the phenomenon of the nutritional dual-burden in the developing world. Nutritional dual-burden is defined as the coexistence of under-and-over nutrition in the same population/group, the same household/family, or the same person. In this paper we aim: a) to describe the different types of nutritional dual-burden, b) to identify the anthropometric indicators generally used to classify the nutritional dual-burden, c) to focus our attention on a dual-burden group (the Maya from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico), d) to illustrate problems in the categorization of the dual-burden, and e) to suggest possible health implications.

How useful is BMI in predicting adiposity indicators in a sample of Maya children and women with high levels of stunting?

Objectives: Body mass index (BMI) is used frequently to estimate adiposity levels in children and adults. However, the applicability of BMI to populations with high levels of stunting has been questioned. Stunted people can have disproportionately short legs, which may increase BMI without increasing body fat because of the relatively larger trunk compared with the legs.

Logistics of using the Actiheart physical activity monitors in urban Mexico among 7- to 9-year-old children.

Logistics of using new measurement devices are important to understand when developing protocols. This paper discusses the logistics of using Actiheart physical activity monitors on children in an urban, tropical environment in a developing country. Actiheart monitoring of 36 children aged 7-9 years old was undertaken for 7 days in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

Leg length, body proportion, and health: a review with a note on beauty.

Decomposing stature into its major components is proving to be a useful strategy to assess the antecedents of disease, morbidity and death in adulthood. Human leg length (femur + tibia), sitting height (trunk length + head length) and their proportions, for example, (leg length/stature), or the sitting height ratio (sitting height/stature x 100), among others) are associated with epidemiological risk for overweight (fatness), coronary heart disease, diabetes, liver dysfunction and certain cancers. There is also wide support for the use of relative leg length as an indicator of the quality of the environment for growth during infancy, childhood and the juvenile years of development.

Growth and nutritional status of Portuguese children from Lisbon, and their parents. Notes on time trends between 1971 and 2001.

Aim: To document time trends in growth and nutritional status among Portuguese children from Lisbon, and their parents.

Subjects And Methods: Two growth surveys were carried out in Lisbon, Portugal in 1991 and in 2001 at the request of the Municipality of Lisbon. The 1991 sample was composed of 2018 children (992 boys and 1026 girls) and the 2001 sample was composed of 3591 children (1787 boys and 1804 girls).

Leg length, proportion, health and beauty: a review.

Decomposing stature into its major components is proving to be a useful strategy to assess the antecedents of disease, morbidity and death in adulthood. Human leg length (foot + tibia + femur), sitting height (trunk length + head length) and their proportions (for example the relative leg length in proportion to stature, and the sitting height ratio [sitting height/stature x 100], among others) are used as epidemiological markers of risk for overweight (fatness), coronary heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. There is also wide support for the use of relative leg length as an indicator of the quality of the environment for growth during infancy, childhood and the juvenile years of development.

Influence of maternal stature, pregnancy age, and infant birth weight on growth during childhood in Yucatan, Mexico: a test of the intergenerational effects hypothesis.

In developing nations, obesity has increased dramatically in the last decade, but a high prevalence of stunting still coexists. The intergenerational influences hypothesis (IIH) is one explanation for this. We test the IIH regarding variation in maternal stature, mother's age at pregnancy, and infant birth weight in relation to risk for overweight and stunting in 206 Maya children (4-6 years old) from Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico.

Height and relative leg length as indicators of the quality of the environment among Mozambican juveniles and adolescents.

The growth status of Mozambique adolescents was assessed to test the hypothesis that relative leg length is a more sensitive indicator of the quality of the environment than the total height. The sample comprised 690 boys and 727 girls, aged between 9 and 17 years, from Maputo. It is divided between those living in the Centre of Maputo and those living in the slums on the periphery of the city.

Fatness biases the use of estimated leg length as an epidemiological marker for adults in the NHANES III sample.

Background: We analyse the NHANES III sample to assess the suitability of measured stature and sitting height to estimate leg length (tibia + femur) and predict fatness. High rates of overweight in the United States population may lead to greater gluteo-femoral fat mass which will increase sitting height and artificially decrease estimates of both absolute and relative leg length.

Methods: The analyses include 3076 women and 3233 men, 20.

Life history trade-offs in human growth: adaptation or pathology?

Human beings growing-up in adverse biocultural environments, including undernutrition, exposure to infection, economic oppression/poverty, heavy workloads, high altitude, war, racism, and religious/ethnic oppression, may be stunted, have asymmetric body proportions, be wasted, be overweight, and be at greater risk for disease. One group of researchers explains this as a consequence of "developmental programming" (DP). Another group uses the phrase "predictive adaptive response" (PAR).

Behavioral, environmental, metabolic and intergenerational components of early life undernutrition leading to later obesity in developing nations and in minority groups in the U.S.A.

Nutritional transition, urbanization, and physical inactivity are primary factors responsible for the worldwide epidemic of overweight/obesity (OW/OB). However, these factors fail to explain the epidemic of OW/OB in developing countries and in recent-migrants to developed countries. Among these, OW/OB is associated with short/stunted stature and coexists with undernutrition at much higher rates than is statistically expected.