In this cross-sectional study gender differences in body composition (relative fat mass and lean body mass adjusted by height) were analyzed among 869 girls and 780 boys aging between 6 and 18 years and 513 adult women and 412 adult men aging between 19 and 92 years. Body composition was determined by BIA method among children and adolescents and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) among adults. It could be shown that males and females differed significantly in body composition throughout life. Even during prepuberty, girls exhibited a significantly higher amount of body fat and a significantly lower amount of lean body mass than their male counterparts. These gender differences are found throughout life. The observed results are interpreted in a proximate and an ultimate sense. Furthermore the impact of modern life style in industrialized countries is discussed.

The COVID 19 pandemic represents a major stress factor for non-infected pregnant women. Although maternal stress during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction, an increasing number of studies yielded no negative effects of COVID 19 lockdowns on pregnancy outcome. The present study focused on pregnancy outcome during the first COVID 19 lockdown phase in Austria. In particular, it was hypothesized that the national lockdown had no negative effects on birth weight, low birth weight rate and preterm birth rate. In a retrospective medical record-based single center study, the outcome of 669 singleton live births in Vienna Austria during the lockdown phase between March and July 2020 was compared with the pregnancy outcome of 277 live births at the same hospital during the pre-lockdown months of January and February 2020 and, in addition, with the outcome of 28,807 live births between 2005 and 2019. The rate of very low gestational age was significantly lower during the lockdown phase than during the pre-lockdown phase. The rate of low gestational age, however, was slightly higher during the lockdown phase. Mean birth weight was significantly higher during the lockdown phase; the rates of low birth weight, very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight were significantly lower during the lockdown phase. In contrast, maternal gestational weight gain was significantly higher during the lockdown phase. The stressful lockdown phase in Austria seems to have no negative affect on gestational length and newborn weight among non-infected mothers.

SummaryThe study examines the impact of body build on differential fertility patterns in 93 !Kung San and 85 Kavango females from northern Namibia. In both groups shorter females had more offspring, but also more dead offspring, than taller females. The interaction between body weight and fertility was different in both groups and may be due to different nursing behaviour. There was a positive relationship between the typical pedomorphy and fertility in the! Kung San, and directional selection processes may be important.

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Teenage pregnancies and teenage motherhood are a cause for concern worldwide. From a historical point of view, teenage pregnancies are nothing new. For much of human history, it was absolutely common that girls married during their late adolescence and experienced irst birth during their second decade of life. This kind of reproductive behavior was socially desired and considered as normal. Nowadays, however, the prevention of teenage pregnancies and teenage motherhood is a priority for public health in nearly all developed and increasingly in developing countries. For a long time, teenage pregnancies were associated with severe medical problems however, most of data supporting this viewpoint have been collected some decades ago and relect mainly the situation of per se socially disadvantaged teenage mothers. "ccording to more recent studies, teenage pregnancies are not per se risky ones. " clear risk group are extremely young teenage mothers younger than years who are confronted with various medical risks, such as preeclampsia, preterm labor, and small for gestational age newborns but also marked social disadvantage, such as poverty, unemployment, low educational level, and single parenting. In the present study, the prevalence and outcome of teenage pregnancies in "ustria are focused on.