Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Growth, immune function, and the energetics of childhood

博士论文改进：生长、免疫功能和儿童时期的能量

• 批准号: 1340958
• 负责人: Peter Ellison
• 金额: $ 1.32万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1340958&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Growth; immune

Childhood is a unique and developmentally critical life stage within the human genus. While theory concerning the evolution of the human life cycle now abounds, biocultural data from traditional, non-industrialized populations are scarce, and relatively little is known about how children in such challenging environments behave, respond to environmental stimuli, or manage limited energetic resources. This study by doctoral student Samuel Urlacher (Harvard), under the guidance of Dr. Peter Ellison, builds upon scholarship in diverse areas of anthropology, biology, and public health to address two questions that are critical to our understanding of human life history and adaptation: 1) How is childhood growth related to the function of the immune system? 2) How do children 'buffer' energetic tradeoffs between competing metabolic demands? To investigate these questions, this research operationalizes hypotheses relating to childhood energy allocation and phenotypic plasticity among the traditional-living Shuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon.Innovative in design, the project involves longitudinal data collection for measures of short-term linear growth, body composition, physical activity/behavior, and a diverse set of biomarkers of immune function with children age 5-10. This study is unique in its ability to control for differences in individual biology and is the first to consider multiple branches of immunity and physical activity as important variables in childhood energy management. Employing a novel method for short-term growth assessment (knemometry), the research also provides insight into previously unexplored relationships between primary human life functions and acute ecological/energetic variables. In addition to increasing our broad-based understanding of human health, adaptation, and the importance of energy management in the evolution of childhood, the project has implications for multiple areas of research and application to issues of childhood development and well-being on a global scale. As part of the Shuar Health and Life History Project, this research builds on a strong foundation of international collaboration and community outreach. Results from the study are shared with Ecuadorian officials and will directly influence the development of health policy and the targeting of humanitarian aid in Shuar territory. Essential to any research with at-risk populations, the project also shares information with participants' families and delivers basic health education at the community level.

童年是人类独特且发展关键的生命阶段。虽然关于人类生命周期进化的理论现在比比皆是，但来自传统、非工业化人群的生物文化数据却很少，而且对于儿童在这种充满挑战的环境中如何行为、如何应对环境刺激或如何管理有限的能量资源知之甚少。这项研究由哈佛大学博士生 Samuel Urlacher 在 Peter Ellison 博士的指导下进行，以人类学、生物学和公共卫生等不同领域的学术成果为基础，解决了对于我们理解人类生命史和适应至关重要的两个问题： 1) 儿童成长与免疫系统功能有何关系？ 2）儿童如何在相互竞争的代谢需求之间进行能量权衡？为了调查这些问题，本研究将与厄瓜多尔亚马逊传统生活舒阿尔人的儿童能量分配和表型可塑性相关的假设付诸实践。该项目在设计上具有创新性，涉及纵向数据收集，以测量短期线性生长、身体成分、体力活动/行为，以及 5-10 岁儿童免疫功能的多种生物标志物。 这项研究的独特之处在于其控制个体生物学差异的能力，并且首次将免疫和身体活动的多个分支视为儿童能量管理的重要变量。该研究采用一种新颖的短期生长评估方法（knemometry），还深入了解了人类主要生命功能与急性生态/能量变量之间以前未探索过的关系。除了增加我们对人类健康、适应以及能量管理在儿童进化中的重要性的广泛理解外，该项目还对全球儿童发展和福祉问题的多个研究和应用领域产生影响。规模。 作为 Shuar 健康和生活史项目的一部分，这项研究建立在国际合作和社区外展的坚实基础上。研究结果将与厄瓜多尔官员分享，并将直接影响舒阿尔地区卫生政策的制定和人道主义援助的目标。该项目对于任何针对高危人群的研究都至关重要，它还与参与者的家人分享信息，并在社区层面提供基础健康教育。