Michael Hermanussen
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 83648 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Michael Hermanussen |
| NOMBRES | Michael |
| APELLIDO | Hermanussen |
| FIRMA | HERMANUSSEN M |
| AFILIACIONES | Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4037-1597 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 71 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 61 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 71 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1988 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
The socio-cultural exposome as a regulator of human growth
Background: Humans are social. The social environment is strongly associated with body height. Recent evidence emphasizes the role of social signalling in the regulation of human growth. Objective: To disentangle the influence of physical living conditions such as wealth, health, nutrition, and education from influences that are transmitted among group members. We analysed the impact of the group assuming a theoretical “transgenerational growth p…
Growth in times of political euphoria, early democracy and hope for freedom
Background: Improvements in living conditions correlate with substantial long-term trends in height, e.g. of 15 cm/100 years in Japanese males, 21 cm/150 years in Dutch males, and 14 cm/110 years in German males. Recent evidence suggests strong effects of the political background on these trends. Subjects and methods: Height of more than 14 million men of the German Armed Forces born 1865–1975 was correlated with indicators of economic prosperity…
Improved social integration shapes female body composition in Turkish migrants
Background: Turkish migrants in Western Europe exhibit higher adiposity than both host-country populations and non-migrant Turks, yet the role of host-country institutional environments remains poorly understood. European nations differ substantially in their integration policy frameworks – Germany pursues an integration-oriented approach encouraging participation in host institutions, while the Netherlands has historically emphasised multicultur…
Political Liberation, Hope, and Social Competition Are the Motor of Secular Trends in Height
BACKGROUND: Long-term improvements in physical living conditions correlate with long-term trends in height. AIM: To link temporal characteristics of the secular trend in height with the simultaneous political and economic dynamics. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Height of men of the German Armed Forces born between 1865 and 1975 was correlated with indicators of economic prosperity (GDP), nutrition and health (infant mortality), and indicators of social inh…
Avoiding “Too Tall” and “Too Short”
BACKGROUND: Recent evidence emphasizes the role of social signaling in the regulation of human growth. AIM: To disentangle the influence of physical living conditions such as wealth, health, nutrition, and education from influences that are transmitted among members of the social group. We consider the spectrum of all historically possible heights ("transgenerational growth potential") and disentangle the influence of the physical living conditio…
Stop stunting—A misguided campaign by well‐meaning nutritionists
OBJECTIVE: "Stop stunting" is the central focus of the national Indonesian campaign to improve child health. We provide an autoethnographic statement on the currently practiced strategy that commits 23 ministries and an estimated $3.9 billion per year to coordinating nutrition interventions that are supposed to address the underlying causes of stunting. METHODS: We visited six community health posts (posyandus) in West Timor and in Java and parti…
Stunting is the natural condition of human height
OBJECTIVES: Human body height differs within a wide range and has conventionally been associated with genetic, nutritional, and environmental conditions. In this study, we try to broaden this perspective and add the evolutionary aspect of height differences. SAMPLE AND METHOD: We revisited height from archeological data (10 000-1000 BC), and historical growth studies (1877-1913). We analyzed height, weight, and skinfold thickness of 1666 Indonesi…
Reply to the letter titled “Pathologizing normal height or identifying chronic malnutrition
Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story of human body size
Carl Bergmann was an astute naturalist and physiologist. His ideas about animal size and shape were important advances in the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century. Bergmann's rule claims that that in cold climates, large body mass increases the ratio of volume-to-surface area and provides for maximum metabolic heat retention in mammals and birds. Conversely, in warmer temperatures, smaller body mass increases surface area relative to volume and allow…
Working against forgetting - Infants' feeding and weight gain at the time of Juhan Aul
A hundred and twenty-five years ago, European infants grew differently from modern infants. We show weight gains of 20 healthy children weighed longitudinally from birth to age 1 year published by Camerer in 1882. The data illustrate the prevalent historic concepts of infant nutrition practiced by German civil servants, lawyers, merchants, university professors, physicians, foresters and farmers. Breastfeeding by the mother was not truly apprecia…
Trends in growth and developmental tempo in boys aged 7 to 18 years between 1966 and 2012 in Poland
OBJECTIVES: To assess trends in growth in different developmental periods and trends in developmental tempo in Polish boys between 1966 and 2012. METHODS: Data on 34 828 boys aged 7 to 18 years were collected during Polish Anthropological Surveys conducted in 1966, 1978, 1988, and 2012. Biological parameters, related to onset of adolescent growth spurt (OGS) and peak height velocity (PHV), were derived from a Preece-Baines 1 model (PB1). Childhoo…
Chain Reversion for Detecting Associations in Interacting Variables—St. Nicolas House Analysis
(1) Background: We present a new statistical approach labeled as "St. Nicolas House Analysis" (SNHA) for detecting and visualizing extensive interactions among variables. (2) Method: We rank absolute bivariate correlation coefficients in descending order according to magnitude and create hierarchic "association chains" defined by sequences where reversing start and end point does not alter the ordering of elements. Association chains are used to …
Stunting as a Synonym of Social Disadvantage and Poor Parental Education
Socially, economically, politically and emotionally (SEPE) disadvantaged children are shorter than children from affluent background. In view of previous work on the lack of association between nutrition and child growth, we performed a study in urban schoolchildren. We measured 723 children (5.83 to 13.83 years); Kupang, Indonesia; three schools with different social background. We investigated anthropometric data, clinical signs of malnutrition…
Catch-up growth is a better indicator of undernutrition than thresholds for stunting
Objective: Stunting (height-for-age sd ) is one of the forms of undernutrition and is frequent among children of low- and middle-income countries. But stunting per s e is not a synonym of undernutrition. We investigated association between body height and indicators of energetic undernutrition at three critical thresholds for thinness used in public health: (1) BMI SDS Design: Cross-sectional study; breakpoint analysis. Setting: Rural and urban r…
The regulation of human growth includes an understanding of competitive growth strategies and community effects on height
The authors declare no conflicts of interest
Plasticity of human growth – a systematic review on psychosocial factors influencing growth
Based on the results of the reviewed studies it could be concluded that the regulation of linear growth is also subject to different psychosocial factors. The way in which the developing human and the specific social environment interact seemed to have a major impact on linear growth. Status-specific stress was discussed as one possible explanation for the regulating mechanism of human linear growth.
Association of anthropometric indices of nutritional status with growth in height among Limboo children of Sikkim, India
The findings of the present study suggest nutrition is not the primary regulator of human growth. The possible influence of community effects on height is discussed
Environmental stimulation on height
Economic prosperity and increased population density stimulate male adult height to a greater extent than female adult height, and increase the sexual dimorphism in height among the tall populations of densely populated wealthy countries.
Statistical Approaches to Developmental and Growth Data of Children and Adolescents - an editorial to student research conducted during the 3rd International Student Summer School, July 2019, Potsdam …
Traumatized women's infants are bigger than children of mothers without traumas
Life history theory predicts that experiencing stress during the early period of life will result in accelerated growth and earlier maturation. Indeed, animal and some human studies documented a faster pace of growth in the offspring of stressed mothers. Recent advances in epigenetics suggest that the effects of early developmental stress might be passed across the generations. However, evidence for such intergenerational transmission is scarce, …
No correlation between short term weight gain and lower leg length gain in healthy German children
Background: Length-for-age is considered the indicator of choice in monitoring the long-term impact of chronic nutritional deficiency. Aim: We hypothesized that short term increments of body weight cross-correlate with increments of the lower leg length. Sample and methods: We re-analyzed the association between weekly measurements of weight and of lower leg length in 34 healthy German children, aged 2.9-15.9 years. The data are a subset of measu…
Social mobility of the father influences child growth
OBJECTIVES: The association between body height and social status is known. We were interested in the effect of intergeneration changes in social status on height. METHODS: Body height was measured in 2008 paternal grandfather-father-son and 1803 paternal grandfather-father-daughter triplets. The sample consisted of four child cohorts born in 1988, 1985, 1983, and 1980, and was measured annually from 6 to 11, 9 to 14, 11 to 16, and 14 to 18 years…
Popular ideas and convictions about factors influencing the growth as well as the adult height of children
Common knowledge suggests that growth in height is influenced by nutrition, genetics, health, and environmental and general living conditions. In addition, modern studies showed that also social mobility and dominance within the social group, may significantly affect adolescent growth and final height. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of popular ideas and beliefs about factors influencing the growth on the biology of child and a…
Student work on trends in infant and child growth - an editorial
The network effects on conscripts' height in the central provinces of Russian empire in the middle of XIX century - at the beginning of XX century
Height correlation coefficients between 1st order neighboring districts observed in the Russian districts were very similar to values observed in the Polish study (r = 0.24). The considered Russian territory and the territory of Poland have a lot in common. They consist of both plains without mountains. In contradistinction to Poland the transport infrastructure in Russia was weakly developed in the middle of XIX century. In addition, the mobilit…
Stature signals status
century.
Human life course biology
hypotheses of how the human pattern of growth evolved. Four historical events and premises structure our current approach to understanding growth in the context of human life history
As tall as my peers - similarity in body height between migrants and hosts
Background: We define migrants as people who move from their place of birth to a new place of residence. Migration usually is directed by "Push-Pull" factors, for example to escape from poor living conditions or to find more prosperous socio-economic conditions. Migrant children tend to assimilate quickly, and soon perceive themselves as peers within their new social networks. Differences exist between growth of first generation and second genera…
The impact of physical connectedness on body height in Swiss conscripts
BACKGROUND: Human populations differ in height. Recent evidence suggests that social networks play an important role in the regulation of adolescent growth and adult height. We further investigated the effect of physical connectedness on height. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We considered Switzerland as a geographic network with 169 nodes (district capitals) and 335 edges (connecting roads) and studied effects of connectedness on height in Swiss conscrip…
BMI in Japanese children since 1948
The dramatic world-wide trend towards increasing body weight seems to be less obvious in the Japanese population. The aim of this study is to extract potentially useful information regarding childhood and adolescence obesity in Japan from series of mean height and mean body mass index between 1948 and 2003. Mean values for height and weight of Japanese boys and girls aged 5+ to 17+ years were obtained from the "Reports on School Health Survey", M…
Body height as a social signal
Body height has a signaling function among social mammals. Humans also perceive physical size as a signal and tend to associate stature and status. Taller men are perceived as more competent and authoritative. Studies in wild Kalahari male meerkats (Suricata suricatta) suggest that dominance itself can be a stimulus for growth allowing for competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments. Assuming that similar mechanisms on the control of grow…
Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story of human body size
Carl Bergmann was an astute naturalist and physiologist. His ideas about animal size and shape were important advances in the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century. Bergmann's rule claims that that in cold climates, large body mass increases the ratio of volume-to-surface area and provides for maximum metabolic heat retention in mammals and birds. Conversely, in warmer temperatures, smaller body mass increases surface area relative to volume and allow…
Traumatized women's infants are bigger than children of mothers without traumas
Life history theory predicts that experiencing stress during the early period of life will result in accelerated growth and earlier maturation. Indeed, animal and some human studies documented a faster pace of growth in the offspring of stressed mothers. Recent advances in epigenetics suggest that the effects of early developmental stress might be passed across the generations. However, evidence for such intergenerational transmission is scarce, …
The network effects on conscripts' height in the central provinces of Russian empire in the middle of XIX century - at the beginning of XX century
Height correlation coefficients between 1st order neighboring districts observed in the Russian districts were very similar to values observed in the Polish study (r = 0.24). The considered Russian territory and the territory of Poland have a lot in common. They consist of both plains without mountains. In contradistinction to Poland the transport infrastructure in Russia was weakly developed in the middle of XIX century. In addition, the mobilit…
No association between fat tissue and height in 5019 children and adolescents, measured between 1982 and 2011 in Kolkata/India
Body height has traditionally been looked upon as a mirror of the condition of society, short height being an indicator of poor nutritional status, poor education, and low social status and income. This view has recently been questioned. We aimed to quantify the effects of nutrition, education, sibship size, and household income, factors that are conventionally considered to be related to child growth, on body height of children and adolescents r…
The association of body height, height variability and inequality
Body height is associated with environmental conditions. It has been suggested that under poor conditions when inequality within a population increases, also the variability in height tends to increase. We studied the association of body height, within-country variability in height and geographic and historic origin in 767 growth studies carried out in 80 countries, published between 1794 and 2013, with data on N = 78,184 infants age 2 years, and…
Environmental stimulation on height
Economic prosperity and increased population density stimulate male adult height to a greater extent than female adult height, and increase the sexual dimorphism in height among the tall populations of densely populated wealthy countries.
Popular ideas and convictions about factors influencing the growth as well as the adult height of children
Common knowledge suggests that growth in height is influenced by nutrition, genetics, health, and environmental and general living conditions. In addition, modern studies showed that also social mobility and dominance within the social group, may significantly affect adolescent growth and final height. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of popular ideas and beliefs about factors influencing the growth on the biology of child and a…
The variation in age at menarche
Ample literature describes the history of the association between the advances in the health and wealth of people, and mortality rates, life expectancy and adult height. Twenty-nine German studies with n > 200 subjects published since 1848 on menarcheal age, were reanalyzed, and 101 studies from various other European and non-European countries. On average, mean age at menarche declined since the mid-19th century. Historic urban samples tended to…
Reference values for height, weight and body mass index of German born Turkish children
Turkish children and adolescents born in Northern Europe grow different from native Northern European children, but reference values for height, weight and BMI for these children do not exist. With this study, we intend to provide growth standards for German born Turkish children. Data were obtained from 797 Turkish children and adolescents born in Germany age 0-25.8 years (males), respectively 0-18.3 years (females). We generated synthetic refer…
Knemometry in childhood
Recently, a new anthropometric method of accurate lower leg length measurement (knemometry) was introduced. The present study was performed to investigate rigorously its strengths and weaknesses for auxological purposes, and to promote a standardized method of use. The data are based on 6 x 2200 single estimations of the lower leg length in 90 children of both sexes with normal, tall or short stature aged between 2.4 and 17.1 years. The overall t…
The association between birth order and adult stature
First-borns are smaller than later-borns at birth. We investigated adult stature of families with three or more adult children, aged between 20 and 70 (mean 32) years. There was no significant correlation between size of the family and final adult stature of the siblings. We found a mean height reduction of first-borns compared to the mean of all sibs of -1.2 cm (P less than 0.02 using conventional analysis of variance, P less than 0.05 using non…
Periodical changes of short term growth velocity (‘mini growth spurts’) in human growth
Evidence has accumulated that predictions of annual or half-annual growth rates are of limited validity when derived from extrapolations of short term growth rates. In order to investigate whether the poor predictive qualities of short sections of individual growth curves are caused by non-linearity of human growth, we have studied 73 healthy children, aged 2.9 to 15.9 years, with standard deviation scores for body height ranging between -3.3 and…
Children do not grow continuously but in spurts
The description of the human growth pattern in limited largely to the traditional vocabulary of “linear growth rates,” i.e., height or length increments divided by certain time intervals such as months or years. These studies have been performed using conventional techniques of body length or stature measurement with a technical error of approximately 1.5 mm. During the last 10 years, measurements of lower leg length (knemometry) have been perfor…
A new method for accurate dental measurement
Using digital dividers (analogue-digital transformer, Brandt-Hermanussen device), it has become possible to measure distances between human teeth with a technical error of 0.04 mm. The technique implies a small preparation (trough) into the respective teeth. The ball-shaped metal probes of the instrument fit into these troughs and enable the determination of this distance directly in the patient. It does not require the use of casts. The present …
Stature and stature distribution in recent West German and historic samples of Italian and Dutch conscripts
Based on the standard for the natural distribution of stature obtained from 11,851,168 West German conscripts (born in 1938–1971), stature and stature distribution were investigated in historic samples of Italian (born 1854–1963) and Dutch (drafts of 1863–1970) conscripts. Both stature and stature distribution in the historic Italian and Dutch samples showed a variety of characteristic deviations from the natural stature distribution of the moder…
No evidence for saltation in human growth
Recently a new model of human growth has been presented suggesting alternating periods of stasis (mean 24.5 days in the case of weekly measurements) and short saltatory increments of body height between 5 and 25 mm that had been detected between subsequent weekly or semi-weekly height measurements, i.e. within single weekly or semi-weekly intervals. The present study was undertaken to re-investigate and, if possible, to confirm this model. Body h…
Plasticity of adolescent growth in boys
The present analysis examines the plasticity of adolescent growth in 21 selected historic and recent growth studies from 6 European countries, the U.S., and Japan, during the last 150 years. Mean stature at the age of 6 years has significantly increased by approximately 6 mm per decade (P < 0.05), whereas adult stature has risen by approximately 10 mm per decade (P < 0.01). Developmental tempo has also increased. Mean age at take-off significantl…
Plasticity of adolescent growth in boys
The present analysis examines the plasticity of adolescent growth in 21 selected historic and recent growth studies from 6 European countries, the U.S., and Japan, during the last 150 years. Mean stature at the age of 6 years has significantly increased by approximately 6 mm per decade (P < 0.05), whereas adult stature has risen by approximately 10 mm per decade (P < 0.01). Developmental tempo has also increased. Mean age at take-off significantl…
Mini-knemometry
A novel miniaturization of knemometry for accurate measurements of the lower leg length in prematures, newborns and infants (mini-knemometry), is presented. The study was performed in four healthy neonates, born at term, and one infant, born in the 34th week of gestation, measured daily for periods of 40 days; and in two monozygotic healthy twin sisters, born in the 32nd week of gestation, measured daily for periods of 58 days. Each of the 316 me…
Micro and macro perspectives in auxology
The present paper links the two most contrasting aspects of auxology, and addresses the apparent discrepancy between the variability and pulsatility of short term individual growth, and the stability of population derived parameters. When body stature is measured at monthly intervals, an irregular incremental pattern becomes obvious, with a number of large scale components such as series of prepubertal and pubertal growth spurts, seasonal influen…
Influence of nutrition on growth in premature infants
Lower leg length measurements in 19 healthy preterm infants were obtained by knemometry to assess short term growth. Eight infants received fortified human milk and 11 infants commercially available preterm formulas. Two independent observers measured lower leg length in each infant daily during the study period, weight was measured daily with a neonatal scale. While weight gain showed linearity in all infants, lower leg length growth showed mini…
Periodic growth in rats
Microknemometry, a novel non-invasive technique, allows the accurate measurements of the lower leg length in the conscious rat, not only daily but even in periods smaller than 24 hours. Its use revealed the presence of nonlinear growth increments (mini-growth spurts) with periods between 4 and 5 days, that presented a gradual decline in amplitude when the animals were getting older, and a maximal growth rate between 0600h and 0900h. A sexual dimo…
Growth tracks in pre-pubertal children
The present investigation characterizes common growth tracks in pre-pubertal children. Growth tracks denominate areas of probability within which subsequent measurements of the body height (or body height SDS) of a healthy individual will predominantly be found. Growth tracks are defined over several years and they are insensitive to the timing of measurements. The concept of growth tracks was developed to improve separating aberrant patterns fro…
Synthetic standards for body weight
Automatic analysis of longitudinal growth data on the website willi-will-wachsen.de
Short-term growth of premature infants treated with dexamethasone assessed by mini-knemometry
Lower doses seemed to have an equivalent effect without long-term effect on lower leg length. In higher doses (groups II and III) the growth was suppressed for more than 24 h
A new anti-obesity drug treatment
The effect of variability in maturational tempo and midparent height on variability in linear body measurements
During puberty, up to 50% of the height variation in boys and 40% in girls is explained by maturational tempo
Village distance from urban centre as the prime modernization variable in differences in blood pressure and body mass index of adults of the Purari delta of the Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Distance to urban centre appears to have a strong effect, relative to other modernization variables, on BMI and blood pressure, this effect being far stronger for males than for females. In large part, this effect operates by way of differences in number of sources of income as well as number of close relatives of women who are resident in an urban centre. Reasons for the male-female differences observed may include gender differences in degree o…
Reference values for height, weight and body mass index of German born Turkish children
Turkish children and adolescents born in Northern Europe grow different from native Northern European children, but reference values for height, weight and BMI for these children do not exist. With this study, we intend to provide growth standards for German born Turkish children. Data were obtained from 797 Turkish children and adolescents born in Germany age 0-25.8 years (males), respectively 0-18.3 years (females). We generated synthetic refer…
Referate
Referate
BMI in Japanese children since 1948
The dramatic world-wide trend towards increasing body weight seems to be less obvious in the Japanese population. The aim of this study is to extract potentially useful information regarding childhood and adolescence obesity in Japan from series of mean height and mean body mass index between 1948 and 2003. Mean values for height and weight of Japanese boys and girls aged 5+ to 17+ years were obtained from the "Reports on School Health Survey", M…
Statistical agreement and cost–benefit
The analysis revitalizes the debate on clinically relevant and at the same time practicable but less demanding alternatives for constructing growth reference charts, and for economic reasons, strongly suggests replacing the traditional empirical methods by synthetic growth references
Medicine (44 obras) · Demography (39 obras) · Birth, Development, and Health (28 obras) · Biology (24 obras) · Geography (24 obras) · Mathematics (23 obras) · Sociology (23 obras) · Body weight (19 obras) · Population (18 obras) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (17 obras)