Psychotropic medication use and psychiatric symptoms during pregnancy each are associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. Commonly, studies considering medication effects do not adequately assess symptoms, nor evaluate children when the effects are believed to occur, the fetal period. This study examined maternal serotonin reuptake inhibitor and polypharmacy use in relation to serial assessments of five indices of fetal neurobehavior and Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 12 months in N = 161 socioeconomically advantaged, non-Hispanic White women with a shared risk phenotype, diagnosed major depressive disorder. On average fetuses showed the expected development over gestation. In contrast, infant average Bayley psychomotor and mental development scores were low (M = 84.10 and M = 89.92, range of normal limits 85–114) with rates of delay more than 2–3 times what would be expected based on this measure's normative data. Controlling for prenatal and postnatal depressive symptoms, prenatal medication effects on neurobehavioral development were largely undetected in the fetus and infant. Mental health care directed primarily at symptoms may not address the additional psychosocial needs of women parenting infants. Speculatively, prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor exposure may act as a plasticity rather than risk factor, potentially enhancing receptivity to a nonoptimal postnatal environment in some mother–infant dyads.

Children reared in impoverished environments are at risk for enduring psychological and physical health problems. Mechanisms by which poverty affects development, however, remain unclear. To explore one potential mechanism of poverty's impact on social–emotional and cognitive development, an experimental examination of a rodent model of scarcity-adversity was conducted and compared to results from a longitudinal study of human infants and families followed from birth (N = 1,292) who faced high levels of poverty-related scarcity-adversity. Cross-species results supported the hypothesis that altered caregiving is one pathway by which poverty adversely impacts development. Rodent mothers assigned to the scarcity-adversity condition exhibited decreased sensitive parenting and increased negative parenting relative to mothers assigned to the control condition. Furthermore, scarcity-adversity reared pups exhibited decreased developmental competence as indicated by disrupted nipple attachment, distress vocalization when in physical contact with an anesthetized mother, and reduced preference for maternal odor with corresponding changes in brain activation. Human results indicated that scarcity-adversity was inversely correlated with sensitive parenting and positively correlated with negative parenting, and that parenting fully mediated the association of poverty-related risk with infant indicators of developmental competence. Findings are discussed from the perspective of the usefulness of bidirectional–translational research to inform interventions for at-risk families.

Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience chronic stressors that generate “wear” on stress regulatory systems including the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. This can have long-term consequences for health and well-being. Prior research has examined the role of proximal family and home contributions to HPA axis functioning. However, there is evidence to suggest that more distal levels of context, including neighborhoods, also matter. Prior evidence has primarily focused on adolescents and adults, with little evidence linking the neighborhood context with HPA activity in infancy and toddlerhood. We tested whether neighborhood disadvantage (indexed by US Census data) was associated with basal salivary cortisol levels at 7, 15, and 24 months of child age in a large sample of families (N = 1,292) residing in predominately low-income and rural communities in the United States. Multilevel models indicated that neighborhood disadvantage was positively associated with salivary cortisol levels and that this effect emerged across time. This effect was moderated by the race/ethnicity of children such that the association was only observed in White children in our sample. Findings provide preliminary evidence that the neighborhood context is associated with stress regulation during toddlerhood, elucidating a need for future work to address possible mechanisms.

The properties of ultraviolet interstellar extinction in and near the core of the 30 Doradus Nebula are studied. The pair method is employed using nine reddened stars from within 5′ (80pc) of the core and nine unreddened stars from a variety of locations in the large Magellanic Cloud. All of the 30 Doradus stars examined appear to be reddened by E(B-V) ⋍ 0.12 with an extinction law similar in wavelength dependence to those derived for the LMC by Koornneef and Code (1981) and Nandy et al. (1981). Several of the stars, including R136a, R145 and R147, are found to be additionally reddened by E(B-V) ⋍ 0.18 with an extinction law qualitatively similar in wavelength dependence to the law found in the Orion region. A two-component model, featuring a layer of “LMC foreground dust” which affects all of the stars and a deeper layer of “nebular dust” which affects some of the stars, provides the simplest explanation of the extinction properties. The 2200 Å extinction bump is present in both curves. The wavelength positions of the bump and the bump profiles, when normalized to a linear “background extinction”, are indistinguishable from the average Galactic bump. The strengths of the bumps, relative to E(B-V), are 20–30% weaker than for the Milky Way Curve.

Highly ionized gas in the galactic halo has been detected through UV absorption and emission lines. In absorption the species studied include Si IV, C IV and N V. The UV emission studies have recorded C IV and O III]. Absorption measurements toward galactic stars reveal that the |z| distribution of the gas is roughly exponential with a scale height of approximately 3 kpc and has column densities perpendicular to the galactic plane of N ~ 2×1013, 1×1014 and 3×1013 atoms cm−2, for Si IV, C IV and NV, respectively. Similar absorption line profiles for these species suggests a common process for their origin. The presence of N V absorption implies the existence of some gas with a temperature near T ~ 2×105 K. The highly ionized absorbing gas toward distant stars in direction b < −50° has simple and relatively narrow line profiles (FWHM ~ 45 to 70 km−1) and small average LSR velocities while the gas in the direction b > 50° reveals a complex pattern of motions with substantial inflow and outflow velocities. Galactic rotation has an appreciable effect on the absorption line profiles to very distant stars located in the low halo. C IV emission has been seen at greater than a 3σ level of significance in 4 of 8 directions. The emission brightens toward the galactic poles and has a polar intensity I(C IV) ~ 5000 photons cm−2s−1ster−1. If the emitting and absorbing gas coincide in space the measurements imply ne ~ 0.01 cm−3 and P/k ~ 2000 cm−3 K for gas with T ~ 105 K. This phase of the gas fills only a small volume of the space (f ~ 0.03) and accounts for only a small fraction of the total column density of gas perpendicular to the galactic plane [~3×1018 atoms cm −2 vs 3.5×1020 atoms cm −2 for H I and 1×1020 atoms cm −2 for H+]. However, the gas provides a large EUV/UV emission line flux (~1×10−5erg. cm−2 s−1) which corresponds to a H I ionizing flux of ~2×105 ionizations cm−2 s−1. Gas with T near 2×105 K cools very rapidly. Its origin may be associated with the cooling gas of a galactic fountain flow or with thermal condensations in cosmic ray driven fountains. In the nonequilbrium cooling of a Galactic fountain, a flow rate of 4 MO/ year to each side of the Galaxy is required to produce the amount of N V absorption found in the halo while a flow rate 5x larger is required to produce the observed level of C IV emission.

A considerable amount of scientific time has been spent defining Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The following is quoted from an Extension Committee on Organization and Policy publication (4): “Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a system that utilizes all suitable pest control techniques and methods to keep pest populations below economically injurious levels. Each pest control technique must be environmentally sound and compatible with production and user objectives. Integrated Pest Management is more than chemical pesticide management. In many cases it includes biological, cultural, and sanitary control practices for all pest complexes.”

Elsewhere two of the present authors (Davies and Francis, 1941) have expressed theopinion that a specialised cardiac conducting system, consisting of nodal and Purkinje fibres, is a newly evolved one in birds and mammals. The general morphology and topography of this system in the heart of the bird (Davies, 1930 a, 1930 b) is similar to that in the heart of the eutherian mammal, and we have postulated (Davies and Francis, 1941) that the system has undergone parallel evolution in these two classes of homoiothermal vertebrates in response to functional requirements, and that in particular its presence can be correlated with the rapidity of the heart-rate in proportion to its size. On the other hand, Keith and Flack (1907), Keith and Mackenzie (1910), and Mackenzie (1913) maintain that the sinu-atrial node, atrio-ventricular node, and atrio-ventricular bundle of the mammalian heart are remnants of more extensive tissues of similar structure in the hearts of lower vertebrates. They trace the evolution of the conducting system of the mammalian heart from a simpler and more definite form which they described in the fish, and state that as one ascends the animal scale the concentration and reduction of nodal tissue becomes more marked.