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The current small study utilized prospective data collection of patterns of prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposure (PAE and PTE) to examine associations with structural brain outcomes in 6-year-olds, and served as a pilot to determine the value of prospective data describing community-level patterns of PAE and PTE in a non-clinical sample of children. Participants from the Safe Passage Study in pregnancy were approached when their child was ∼6 years old and completed structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine with archived PAE and PTE data (n=51 children-mother dyads). Linear regression was used to conduct whole brain structural analyses, with FDR correction, to examine: a) main effects of PAE, PTE and their interaction; and b) predictive potential of data that reflects patterns of PAE and PTE (e.g., quantity, frequency, and timing (QFT)). Associations between PAE, PTE and their interaction with brain structural measures demonstrated unique profiles of cortical and subcortical alterations that were distinct between PAE only, PTE only and their interactive effects. Analyses examining associations between patterns of PAE and PTE (e.g., QFT) were able to significantly detect brain alterations (that survived FDR correction) in this small non-clinical sample of children. These findings support the hypothesis that considering QFT and co-exposures is important for identifying brain alterations following PAE and/or PTE in a small group of young children. Current results demonstrate that teratogenic outcomes on brain structure differ as a function PAE, PTE or their co-exposures, as well as the pattern (QFT) or exposure.
School connectedness, a construct indexing supportive school relationships, has been posited to promote resilience to environmental adversity. Consistent with prominent calls in the field, we examined the protective nature of school connectedness against two dimensions of early adversity that index multiple levels of environmental exposure (violence exposure, social deprivation) when predicting both positive and negative outcomes in longitudinal data from 3,246 youth in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (48% female, 49% African American). Child and adolescent school connectedness were promotive, even when accounting for the detrimental effects of early adversity. Additionally, childhood school connectedness had a protective but reactive association with social deprivation, but not violence exposure, when predicting externalizing symptoms and positive function. Specifically, school connectedness was protective against the negative effects of social deprivation, but the effect diminished as social deprivation became more extreme. These results suggest that social relationships at school may compensate for low levels of social support in the home and neighborhood. Our results highlight the important role that the school environment can play for youth who have been exposed to adversity in other areas of their lives and suggest specific groups that may especially benefit from interventions that boost school connectedness.
We present a diode-pumped, electro-optically Q-switched Tm:YAG laser with a cryogenically cooled laser crystal at 120 K. Output pulses of up to 2.55 mJ and 650 ns duration were demonstrated in an actively Q-switched configuration with a repetition rate of 1 Hz. By using cavity dumping the pulse duration was shortened to 18 ns with only a slightly lower output energy of 2.22 mJ. Furthermore, using a simplified rate equation model, we discuss design constraints on the pump fluence in a pulse pump approach for Tm:YAG to maximize the energy storage capability at a given pump power.
The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 has necessitated changes to ‘usual’ ways of practice in otolaryngology, with a view towards out-patient or ambulatory management of appropriate conditions. This paper reviews the available evidence for out-patient management of three of the most common causes for emergency referral to the otolaryngology team: tonsillitis, peri-tonsillar abscess and epistaxis.
Methods
A literature review was performed, searching all available online databases and resources. The Medical Subject Headings ‘tonsillitis’, ‘pharyngotonsillitis’, ‘quinsy’, ‘peritonsillar abscess’ and ‘epistaxis’ were used. Papers discussing out-patient management were reviewed by the authors.
Results
Out-patient and ambulatory pathways for tonsillitis and peritonsillar abscess are well described for patients meeting appropriate criteria. Safe discharge of select patients is safe and should be encouraged in the current clinical climate. Safe discharge of patients with epistaxis who have bleeding controlled is also well described.
Conclusion
In select cases, tonsillitis, quinsy and epistaxis patients can be safely managed out of hospital, with low re-admission rates.
Childhood adversity is thought to undermine youth socioemotional development via altered neural function within regions that support emotion processing. These effects are hypothesized to be developmentally specific, with adversity in early childhood sculpting subcortical structures (e.g., amygdala) and adversity during adolescence impacting later-developing structures (e.g., prefrontal cortex; PFC). However, little work has tested these theories directly in humans. Using prospectively collected longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) (N = 4,144) and neuroimaging data from a subsample of families recruited in adolescence (N = 162), the current study investigated the trajectory of harsh parenting across childhood (i.e., ages 3 to 9) and how initial levels versus changes in harsh parenting across childhood were associated with corticolimbic activation and connectivity during socioemotional processing. Harsh parenting in early childhood (indexed by the intercept term from a linear growth curve model) was associated with less amygdala, but not PFC, reactivity to angry facial expressions. In contrast, change in harsh parenting across childhood (indexed by the slope term) was associated with less PFC, but not amygdala, activation to angry faces. Increases in, but not initial levels of, harsh parenting were also associated with stronger positive amygdala–PFC connectivity during angry face processing.
Psychosocial stress in childhood and adolescence is linked to stress system dysregulation, although few studies have examined the relative impacts of parental harshness and parental disengagement. This study prospectively tested whether parental harshness and disengagement show differential associations with overall cortisol output in adolescence. Associations between overall cortisol output and adolescent mental health problems were tested concurrently. Adolescents from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) provided hair samples for cortisol assay at 15 years (N = 171). Caregivers reported on parental harshness and disengagement experiences at 1, 3, 5, 9, and 15 years, and adolescents reported at 15 years. Both parent and adolescent reported depressive and anxiety symptoms and antisocial behaviors at 15. Greater parental harshness from 1–15 years, and harshness reported at 15 years in particular, was associated with higher overall cortisol output at 15. Greater parental disengagement from 1–15 years, and disengagement at 1 year specifically, was associated with lower cortisol output. There were no significant associations between cortisol output and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or antisocial behaviors. These results suggest that the unique variances of parental harshness and disengagement may have opposing associations with cortisol output at 15 years, with unclear implications for adolescent mental health.
Psychiatric patients are more often tobacco smokers than the general population. These finding indicate a causal relation between tobacco smoking and occurrence of psychiatric diseases. Therefore in the study presented psychiatric comorbidity of smokers and non smokers were investigated in ”healthy“ probands being either smokers or non smokers.
Method
Students of medicine or of psychology (mv 25,3 Jahre, SD ± 5,3), 70 healthy smokers and 83 healthy non smokers (both groups without known psychic disorder or treatment) were studied according to psychic axis-1-disorders by Mini-DIPS, a questionare for the DSM IV-or ICD 10 criteria of nicotine dependence, Fagerström-test, craving visual scale, CAGE-test, a questionare for sociodemographic factors, organic and psychic diseases and psychiatric/ psychotherapeutic treatments. Urine analysis of addictive drugs and cotinin levels in urin and saliva were estimated.
Results
From 70 smokers according to DSM IV 40 dependent and 30 non dependent smokers were found. According to Fagerström –test 51 of the 70 were dependent smokers. The urine cotinin level was significantly higher in dependent smokers and correlated with the range of dependence acc. to Fagerström (p <0.001). The saliva cotinin level significantly correlated with the range of craving (p < 0.006). In 12 (9f, 3m) of the 40 dependent smokers phobic and anxiety disorders and high levels of cotinin were found, but not in the groups of non dependent smokers or non smokers.
Conclusion
A relationship of dependent smoking with higher cotinin and craving levels and phobic / anxiety disorders seem to exist, especially in females.
Corn-on-corn production systems, common in highly productive irrigated fields in South Central Nebraska, can create issues with volunteer corn management in corn fields. EnlistTM corn is a new multiple herbicide–resistance trait providing resistance to 2,4-D, glyphosate, and the aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides (FOPs), commonly integrated in glufosinate-resistant germplasm. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate ACCase-inhibiting herbicides for glyphosate/glufosinate-resistant volunteer corn control in Enlist corn and (2) evaluate the effect of ACCase-inhibiting herbicide application timing (early POST vs. late POST) on volunteer corn control, Enlist corn injury, and yield. Field experiments were conducted in 2018 and 2019 at South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, NE. Glyphosate/glufosinate-resistant corn harvested the year prior was cross-planted at 49,000 seeds ha–1 to mimic volunteer corn in this study. After 7 to 10 d had passed, Enlist corn was planted at 91,000 seeds ha–1. Application timing of FOPs (fluazifop, quizalofop, and fluazifop/fenoxaprop) had no effect on Enlist corn injury or yield, and provided 97% to 99% control of glyphosate/glufosinate-resistant volunteer corn at 28 d after treatment (DAT). Cyclohexanediones (clethodim and sethoxydim; DIMs) and phenylpyrazolin (pinoxaden; DEN) provided 84% to 98% and 65% to 71% control of volunteer corn at 28 DAT, respectively; however, the treatment resulted in 62% to 96% Enlist corn injury and 69% to 98% yield reduction. Orthogonal contrasts comparing early-POST (30-cm-tall volunteer corn) and late-POST (50-cm-tall volunteer corn) applications of FOPs were not significant for volunteer corn control, Enlist corn injury, and yield. Fluazifop, quizalofop, and fluazifop/fenoxaprop resulted in 94% to 99% control of glyphosate/glufosinate-resistant volunteer corn with no associated Enlist corn injury or yield loss; however, quizalofop is the only labeled product as of 2020 for control of volunteer corn in Enlist corn.
The identification of new genetic variants underlying psychosis is crucial to improve its molecular diagnosis and to determine the disease etiology, which is necessary to develop new therapeutic targets.
Aim
To identify novel rare genetic variants associated to mental disorders, using whole exome sequencing (WES).
Methods
Two families with high prevalence of mental disease were genotyped using WES. The first family has 5 members affected, the mother with a bipolar disorder, three sons, two with schizophrenia and one with schizoaffective disorder, and a cousin with major depression and psychotic symptoms. The second family is constituted by 38 members affected by major mental diseases in three generations. Key affected members of each family were genotyped by WES. Shared rare variants, with allelic frequencies below 0.5% in general population, were identified among the affected members of the family. The segregation of those variants was confirmed by Sanger sequencing.
Results
In family 1, thirty-seven genetic variants related to neurodevelopment were identified. Two of those variants in the genes TRIP12 and RNF25 segregated with psychosis. In family 2, seven rare genetic variants contained in genes related to neurodevelopment were identified. A mutation in the gene ARHGAP19 segregated with psychosis.
Conclusions
Three new genes have been found to be associated with psychosis. TRIP12 and RNF25 encode two E3-ubiquitin ligases which modulate the Wnt pathway, mutations in which lead to neurodevelopmental defects. ARHGAP19 encodes a GTPase which regulates the RhoA protein, involved in the regulation of the cytoskeleton.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Thermal profile modification of an active material in a laser amplifier via optical pumping results in a change in the material’s refractive index, and causes thermal expansion and stress, eventually leading to spatial phase aberrations, or even permanent material damage. For this purpose, knowledge of the 3D spatio-temporal thermal profile, which can currently only be retrieved via numerical simulations, is critical for joule-class laser amplifiers to reveal potentially dangerous thermal features within the pumped active materials. In this investigation, a detailed, spatio-temporal numerical simulation was constructed and tested for accuracy against surface thermal measurements of various end-pumped $\text{Yb}^{3+}$-doped laser-active materials. The measurements and simulations show an excellent agreement and the model was successfully applied to a joule-class $\text{Yb}^{3+}$-based amplifier currently operating in the POLARIS laser system at the Friedrich-Schiller-University and Helmholtz-Institute Jena in Germany.
Remarkably few attempts have been made to estimate contemporary effective population size (Ne) for parasitic species, despite the valuable perspectives it can offer on the tempo and pace of parasite evolution as well as coevolutionary dynamics of host–parasite interactions. In this study, we utilized multi-locus microsatellite data to derive single-sample and temporal estimates of contemporary Ne for a cestode parasite (Schistocephalus solidus) as well as three-spined stickleback hosts (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in lakes across Alaska. Consistent with prior studies, both approaches recovered small and highly variable estimates of parasite and host Ne. We also found that estimates of host Ne and parasite Ne were sensitive to assumptions about population genetic structure and connectivity. And, while prior work on the stickleback–cestode system indicates that physiographic factors external to stickleback hosts largely govern genetic variation in S. solidus, our findings indicate that stickleback host attributes and factors internal to the host – namely body length, genetic diversity and infection – shape contemporary Ne of cestode parasites.
Identifying characteristics of individuals at greatest risk for prolonged grief disorder (PGD) can improve its detection and elucidate the etiology of the disorder. The Safe Passage Study, a study of women at high risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), prospectively examined the psychosocial functioning of women while monitoring their healthy pregnancies. Mothers whose infants died of SIDS were followed in bereavement.
Methods
Pre-loss data were collected from 12 000 pregnant mothers and analyzed for their associations with grief symptoms and PGD in 50 mothers whose infants died from SIDS, from 2 to 48 months after their infant's death, focusing on pre-loss risk factors of anxiety, depression, alcohol use, maternal age, the presence of other living children in the home, and previous child loss.
Results
The presence of any four risk factors significantly predicted PGD for 24 months post-loss (p < 0.003); 2–3 risk factors predicted PGD for 12 months (p = 0.02). PGD rates increased in the second post-loss year, converging in all groups to approximately 40% by 3 years. Pre-loss depressive symptoms were significantly associated with PGD. Higher alcohol intake and older maternal age were consistently positively associated with PGD. Predicted risk scores showed good discrimination between PGD and no PGD 6–24 months after loss (C-statistic = 0.83).
Conclusions
A combination of personal risk factors predicted PGD in 2 years of bereavement. There is a convergence of risk groups to high rates at 2–3 years, marked by increased PGD rates in mothers at low risk. The risk factors showed different effects on PGD.
We apply the Rigid Unit Mode model, which was initially developed for crystalline silicates, to the study of the flexibility of silica glass. Using a density-of-states approach we show that silica glass has the same flexibility against infinitesimal displacements of crystalline phases. Molecular dynamics simulations also show that parts of the silica structure are able to undergo large spontaneous changes through reorientations of the SiO4 tetrahedra with no energy cost.
We performed a long-term natural experiment investigating the impact of the diphyllobotriidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus on the body condition and clutch size (CS) of threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, its second intermediate host, and the growth of larval parasites in host fish. We tested the hypothesis that single S. solidus infections were more virulent than multiple infections. We also asked whether the metrics of mean and total parasite mass (proxies for individual and total volume, respectively) were consistent with predictions of the resource constraints or the life history strategy (LHS) hypothesis for the growth of, hence exploitation by, larval helminths in intermediate hosts. The samples were drawn from Walby Lake, Alaska in eight of 11 years. Host body condition and CS (egg number per spawning bout) decreased significantly with intensity after adjustments for host size and parasite index. Thus, infections have an increasingly negative impact on measures of host fitness with greater intensity, in contrast to the hypothesis that single infections are more harmful than multiple infections. We also found that mean parasite mass decreased with intensity while total parasite mass increased with intensity as predicted by the LHS hypothesis.
Patients with advanced otosclerosis can present with hearing thresholds eligible for cochlear implantation. This study sought to address whether stapes surgery in this patient group provides a clinically significant audiological benefit.
Objectives:
To assess pre- and post-operative hearing outcomes of patients with advanced otosclerosis, and to determine what proportion of these patients required further surgery including cochlear implantation.
Methods:
Between 2002 and 2015, 252 patients underwent primary stapes surgery at our institution. Twenty-eight ears in 25 patients were deemed to have advanced otosclerosis, as defined by pure audiometry thresholds over 80 dB. The patients’ records were analysed to determine audiological improvement following stapes surgery, and assess whether any further surgery was required.
Results:
The audiological outcome for most patients who underwent primary stapes surgery was good. A minority of patients (7 per cent) required revision surgery. Patients who underwent cochlear implantation after stapes surgery (10 per cent) also demonstrated a good audiological outcome.
Conclusion:
Stapes surgery is a suitable treatment option for patients with advanced otosclerosis, and should be considered mandatory, before offering cochlear implantation, for those with a demonstrable conductive component to their hearing loss. A small group of patients get little benefit from surgery and subsequently a cochlear implant should be considered.
In this investigation, the host–parasite relationship of ninespine stickleback fish Pungitius pungitius and the cestode parasite Schistocephalus pungitii was studied using samples from Dog Bone Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, to test the hypothesis that S. pungitii is a castrator of ninespine stickleback. Infected, adult females of all sizes (ages) were capable of producing clutches of eggs. S. pungitii had a negative effect on the ability of host females to produce a clutch, which was related to increasing parasite:host mass ratio (parasite index, PI). Among infected females with egg clutches, both clutch size and egg size were reduced; and the reduction increased with greater PI. The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that S. pungitii causes host sterility as a result of simple nutrient theft and is not a true castrator as hypothesized in earlier reports. The degree of parasite-induced sterility appears to vary among populations of the ninespine stickleback, perhaps reflecting differences in resource availability. Populations of ninespine stickleback appear to show a greater reduction in host reproductive capacity with PI than populations of the threespine stickleback infected by Schistocephalus solidus, possibly owing, in part, to the length-adjusted somatic mass of the threespine stickleback being greater.