(No outline received).

The idea that nutrition in early life (foetal and infant) influences or 'programmes' long term health outcomes

has major implications for human biology, public health practice, inequalities in health and policy

development as well as for product development and wealth creation.

The scientific objectives of EARNEST with an indication of which THEMES will contribute to their

achievement are listed below.

* Quantification of the effects of early programming on later cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes,

cognitive and mental disorders, bone health and some cancers (Themes 1-3)

* Definition of the relative importance of critical periods in foetal and early life on later disease (1-3)

Exploration of the impact of genetic determinants on early programming effects and on subsequent

outcome (3)

* Understanding the role of specific nutrients and their interactions in the maternal and infant diet on

programming effects on disease and their risk factors (1-3)

* Understanding mechanisms for early programming on later disease and their risk factors (3)

* Development of appropriate strategies for treating and especially for preventing the amplification of

adverse programming effects of early nutrition (1)

* Exploration of the public health impact of how knowledge about early programming affects consumer

behaviour (4)

* Quantification of the impact of early nutrition on the economic burden of adult ill-health (5)

* Improvement of training and enhancement of training opportunities for all including accession countries

(8)

Objectives are given in a broad sense for the themes, more specifically for the included workpackages and

for the individual activitiesm wherever possible and meaningful.

As part of our analyses of prenatal nutrition we plan to analyse the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on childhood atopic outcomes. We propose, in addition to analysing the maternal questionnaire data on alcohol intake, to utilise a Mendelian randomisation approach in order to remove potential bias and confounding and add rigour. We would like to analyse the maternal ADH1B variant (data requested) which has been shown to predict alcohol intake in pregnancy in ALSPAC. A DTA covering analysis of genetic data is already in place with QMUL. We have all other variables (maternal exposure, confounders and childhood atopic outcomes) needed to carry out these analyses.

(No outline received).

(No outline received).

(No outline received).

This research project is focused within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) which was specifically designed to identify features in the environment which influence health and development and ways that the effect of such features may be modified by the genotype of the individual. The proposal is to address a number of questions concerning the aetiology of autism and the autistic spectrum disorders by concentrating on the different traits that are an integral part of these disorders. This will involve determination of associations with immunisations (and mercury exposures), obstetric factors, maternal and infant infections, fetal exposure to toxins and dietary features as well as a study of co-morbidity such as digestive symptoms and the presence of coeliac disease. This baseline study will then be available for specific add on projects which may concern analysis of DNA for specific candidate genes, serum for signs of infection or autoimmune disorderes, or umbilical cord for toxins.

(No outline received).

.2 The ALSPAC Cohort in Relation to Education Provision

The young people in the study span 3 academic years, referred to as the 'oldest', 'middle', and 'youngest' cohorts. The cases are unevenly distributed across the three years with approximately the following proportions: Oldest cohort - 25% Middle cohort - 60% Youngest cohort - 15%

2.3 Further & Higher Education, and Work Based Learning

In academic year 2007/08 the oldest cohort potentially entered Year 12 or may have left compulsory schooling. This means that they may no longer feature in the NPD, but for those undertaking further education, their educational participation should be picked up in the Individual Learner Record (ILR). In subsequent years they may also move into HE, where their participation would be picked up in the HESA Student Record. At these ages, the young people clearly become of prime interest to this department. Linking to the ILR and HESA data sets offers the potential to continue tracking the educational history of participants, offering the potential for in depth analyses of progression.

2.4 Publication Record

ALSPAC researchers have a strong track record of using linked education data. Over the past five years, 23 peer-reviewed papers have used linked data to investigate education related hypotheses.1-23 These publications used the wealth of data available from ALSPAC; incorporating the influence of genetic variation on attainment, and using detailed individual level data on social background and aspirations to help describe the impact of disadvantaged upbringings on life chances and aspirations. Evidence from ALSPAC, including linked education data, were used to contribute to the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances by Frank Field MP 'The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children becoming Poor Adults'24 and the Marmot Review 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives'.25

3. Project Summary

2.1 BIS will contract ALSPAC to conduct linkage to NPD/Data Service/HESA records to collect and process educational attainments for the ALSPAC cohort members from the age of 16 onwards. The linkage will focus on Further Education/ Vocational data provided in the ILR extract and Higher Education information provided by HESA and NPD.

2.2 A cost effective mechanism, using ALSPAC's existing linkage to the NPD, has been confirmed that will allow collection and linkage of ILR and HESA data alongside

KS5 data via the NPD. These data will follow on from the data collected from NPD under ALSPAC's contract with the DfE.

3. Proposed work

The key elements of the work to be undertaken are:

Arrange access to data & documentation Securely archive raw data Conduct linkage quality control work Anonymise the data set (remove personal identifiers, sensitive variables and replace NPD pupil IDs with a new unique ALSPAC ID) Reformat the data to ALSPAC standards to ensure compatibility with the linked schools data and self-reported participant data. Publish 'built' files of the data within the ALSPAC resource

Access and matching arrangements have been agreed as follows: Confirmation from the Department (BIS) that there is an ILR-NPD-HESA matched dataset; NPD and Dissemination Unit (Data Services Group) has advised us that the NPD-HESA matched dataset can be shared with ALSPAC under existing contractual arrangements with the Department for Education (DfE); NPD and Dissemination Unit (Data Services Group) has confirmed that the ILR-NPD matched dataset can be shared with ALSPAC once the contract with BIS has been confirmed.

Table 1 details the 5 elements of data linking included in the contract and the associated timings.