***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Background —Accelerated neonatal growth increases the later propensity to cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) in animals , whereas slower growth is thought to have a beneficial effect . To test this hypothesis in humans , we measured flow-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation ( FMD ) in a population subject to slower early growth and in healthy controls . Methods and Results —High-resolution vascular ultrasound was used to measure the change in brachial artery diameter in response to reactive hyperemia in adolescents age 13 to 16 years who were either part of a cohort born preterm and followed up prospect ively ( n=216 ) or controls born at term ( n=61 ) . Greater weight gain or linear growth in the first 2 weeks postnatally was associated with lower FMD at adolescence ( regression coefficient , −0.026-mm change in mean arterial diameter per 100-g increase in weight ; 95 % CI , −0.040 to −0.012 mm ; P = 0.0003 ) independent of birthweight and potential confounding factors . Mean FMD in the half of the preterm population with the lowest rates of early growth was higher than in both the half with the greatest growth ( P = 0.001 ) and subjects born at term ( P = 0.03 ) . Conclusions —FMD was 4 % lower in adolescents with the highest compared with the lowest rate of weight gain in the first 2 weeks after birth , a substantial negative effect similar to that for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or smoking in adults . Our findings are consistent with the adverse effects of accelerated neonatal growth on long-term cardiovascular health and suggest that postnatal growth patterns could explain the previously reported association between birthweight and later CVD Background Participant drop-out occurs in all longitudinal studies , and if systematic , may lead to selection biases and erroneous conclusions being drawn from a study . Aims We investigated whether drop out in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents And Children ( ALSPAC ) was systematic or r and om , and if systematic , whether it had an impact on the prediction of disruptive behaviour disorders . Method Teacher reports of disruptive behaviour among currently participating , previously participating and never participating children aged 8 years in the ALSPAC longitudinal study were collected . Data on family factors were obtained in pregnancy . Simulations were conducted to explain the impact of selective drop-out on the strength of prediction . Results Drop out from the ALSPAC cohort was systematic and children who dropped out were more likely to suffer from disruptive behaviour disorder . Systematic participant drop-out according to the family variables , however , did not alter the association between family factors obtained in pregnancy and disruptive behaviour disorder at 8 years of age . Conclusions Cohort studies are prone to selective drop-out and are likely to underestimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorder . This empirical study and the simulations confirm that the validity of regression models is only marginally affected despite range restrictions after selective drop-out Background —Low birth weight predisposes to later coronary disease . To further eluci date the mechanisms behind this association and their timing , vascular endothelial function — a key factor in early pathophysiology of atherosclerosis — was studied in 54 infants born either before the third trimester or at term . Methods and Results —All subjects were studied at 3 months of postnatal age . A laser-Doppler technique was used to measure skin perfusion before and after transdermal iontophoresis of acetylcholine ( ACh ; an endothelium-dependent vasodilator ) . In infants born at term ( n=19 ; birth weight range : 2230 to 4205 g ) , maximum perfusion after ACh was 109±8 perfusion units ( PU , mean±SEM ) in normal – birth weight controls compared with 56±13 PU among those who had been small for gestational age at birth ( P < 0.01 ) . In infants born preterm ( n=35 ; birth weight range , 722 to 1868 g ) , ACh  induced similar perfusion responses among subjects appropriate for gestational age ( 113±16 PU ) and in those small for gestational age at birth ( 109±19 PU ) . Conclusions —Impairment in human endothelial function associated with low birth weight occurs or emerges late in pregnancy . Very preterm birth attenuates this association . Different gene – environment interactions in the third trimester may contribute to this finding Background — Few population studies addressed the prognostic significance of aortic pulse wave velocity ( APWV ) above and beyond other cardiovascular risk factors . Methods and Results — We studied a sex- and age-stratified r and om sample of 1678 Danes aged 40 to 70 years . We used Cox regression to investigate the prognostic value of  APWV , office pulse pressure ( PP ) , and 24-hour ambulatory PP  while adjusting for mean arterial pressure ( MAP ) and other covariates . Over a median follow-up of 9.4 years , the incidence of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular end points , cardiovascular mortality , and fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease amounted to 154 , 62 , and 101 cases , respectively . We adjusted for sex , age , body mass index , MAP measured in the office ( conventional PP and APWV ) or by ambulatory monitoring ( 24-hour PP ) , smoking , and alcohol intake . With these adjustments , APWV maintained its prognostic significance in relation to each end point ( P<0.05 ) , whereas office and 24-hour PP lost their predictive value ( P>0.19 ) , except for office PP in relation to coronary heart disease ( P=0.02 ) . For each 1-SD increment in  APWV  ( 3.4 m/s ) , the risk of an event increased by 16 % to 20 % . In sensitivity analyses , APWV still predicted all cardiovascular events after st and ardization to a heart rate of 60 beats per minute , after adjustment for 24-hour MAP instead of office MAP , and /or after additional adjustment for the ratio of total to HDL serum cholesterol and diabetes mellitus at baseline . Conclusions — In a general Danish population , APWV predicted a composite of cardiovascular outcomes above and beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors , including 24-hour MAP Background — Endothelial dysfunction develops early and has been shown to predict the development of clinical complications of atherosclerosis . However , the relationship between early endothelial dysfunction and the progression of arterial disease in the general population is unknown . We investigated endothelial dysfunction , risk factors , and progression of carotid intima-media thickness ( cIMT ) in late-middle-aged individuals at low to intermediate cardiovascular risk in a prospect i ve study between 1997 and 2005 . Methods and Results — Brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation and cIMT were measured in 213 nonsmoking British civil servants recruited from a prospect i ve cohort ( Whitehall II study ) . Participants ( age , 45 to 66 years ) were free of clinical cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus . Risk factors and Framingham Risk Score were determined at baseline . cIMT was repeated 6.2±0.4 years later . At baseline , age , blood pressure , low-density lipoprotein cholesterol , and Framingham Risk Score correlated with cIMT . However , only flow-mediated dilatation , not risk factors or Framingham Risk Score , was associated with average annual progression of cIMT . This relationship remained significant after adjustment for risk factors whether entered as separate variables or as Framingham Risk Score . Further adjustment for waist circumference , triglycerides , and employment grade had no significant effect . Conclusions — Systemic endothelial function was associated with progression of pre clinical carotid arterial disease over a 6-year period and was more closely related to cIMT changes than conventional risk factors . Thus , the relationship between endothelial dysfunction and adverse outcome is likely to be due not only to destabilization of established disease in high-risk population s but also to its impact on the evolution of the atherosclerotic substrate . Flow-mediated dilatation testing provides an integrated vascular measure that may aid the prediction of structural disease evolution and represents a potential short- to intermediate-term outcome measure for evaluation of preventive treatment strategies AIMS To assess the feasibility and reproducibility of non-invasive vascular assessment in a childhood population setting and identify the determinants of vascular phenotype in early life . METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 7557 children ( age 9.8 - 12.3 years ) participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children ( ALSPAC ) . Six research technicians underwent a 5-month training protocol to enable study of brachial artery endothelial function by flow-mediated dilatation ( FMD ) and arterial stiffness by carotid to radial pulse wave velocity ( PWV ) and brachial distensibility [ distensibility coefficient ( DC ) ] . Reproducibility studies were performed at the beginning , the middle , and the end of the study . A blinded repeat evaluation of a r and om selection of 3 % of the cohort was also undertaken throughout the study . The effect of anthropometric and environmental factors on each measure was examined . Successful measures were obtained in 88 , 95 , and 87 % of the studied children for FMD , PWV , and DC , respectively . The coefficients of variation between technicians for FMD , PWV , and DC were 10.5 , 4.6 , and 6.6 % at the beginning of the study and reached 7.7 , 4.1 , and 10 % at the end . Baseline vessel diameter and gender were important determinants of all the vascular measures , with a small effect of room and skin temperatures on FMD and PWV .  Boys consistently had lower FMD and DC and higher PWV measures ( P < 0.01 for all ) . CONCLUSION Reproducible , high- quality assessment s of vascular structure and function in children can be made on a large scale in field studies by suitably trained non-specialist operators . This study provides an invaluable re source for assessing the impact of early influences , genetic , and environmental factors on arterial phenotype The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children ( ALSPAC ) is a transgenerational prospect i ve observational study investigating influences on health and development across the life course . It considers multiple genetic , epigenetic , biological , psychological , social and other environmental exposures in relation to a similarly diverse range of health , social and developmental outcomes . Recruitment sought to enrol pregnant women in the Bristol area of the UK during 1990–92 ; this was extended to include additional children eligible using the original enrolment definition up to the age of 18 years . The children from 14 541 pregnancies were recruited in 1990–92 , increasing to 15 247 pregnancies by the age of 18 years . This cohort profile describes the index children of these pregnancies . Follow-up includes 59 question naires ( 4 weeks–18 years of age ) and 9 clinical assessment visits ( 7–17 years of age ) . The re source comprises a wide range of phenotypic and environmental measures in addition to biological sample s , genetic ( DNA on 11 343 children , genome-wide data on 8365 children , complete genome sequencing on 2000 children ) and epigenetic ( methylation sampling on 1000 children ) information and linkage to health and administrative records . Data access is described in this article and is currently set up as a supported access re source . To date , over 700 peer- review ed articles have been published using ALSPAC data OBJECTIVE . The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effects of a 42-day tapering course of dexamethasone on blood pressure and anthropometric measurements in school-age children who were born with very low birth weight . METHODS . Sixty-eight children , who as neonates participated in a r and omized placebo-controlled trial of a 42-day tapering course of dexamethasone ( n = 38 , dexamethasone ; n = 30 , placebo ) to facilitate weaning from the ventilator , were seen at a median of 9 years of age . Participants underwent measurements of systolic blood pressure , diastolic blood pressure , mid-arm circumference , triceps skinfold thickness , height , and weight . Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare groups , and Spearman coefficients were used to examine correlations between variables . RESULTS . Comparing dexamethasone- and placebo-treated children , we found no differences in systolic blood pressure , mid-arm circumference , triceps skinfold thickness , height , weight , or body mass index . Twenty-nine percent of all subjects had systolic blood pressure and /or diastolic blood pressure ≥90th percentile for age and gender . Thirty percent of all subjects had body mass index ≥85th percentile for age and gender . CONCLUSIONS . In a group of preterm very low birth-weight infants at high risk for chronic lung disease , we found no effects of dexamethasone  on blood pressure or anthropometric measurements at 8 to 11 years of age . Of concern is that a high proportion in this sample had blood pressure ≥90th percentile and /or body mass index ≥85th percentile 
    Output:
    
Systolic blood pressure was higher in subjects born preterm than term , but there were no differences in endothelial dysfunction or arterial stiffness .
The systematic review revealed no clear association between prematurity and vascular function