Anxiety and depressive symptoms have adverse effects on children’s development. The present study investigates the associations of socioeconomic factors as well as maternal emotional health with ...children’s emotional health status. The data were collected between 2011 and 2015 in the LIFE Child study, a population-based cohort study in Leipzig, Germany. The emotional health status of 1093 children (2.5–11.9 years old) was investigated using the subscale ‘emotional problems’ of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Associations of maternal emotional health, family status, and socioeconomic status (SES) with the emotional health status of children were estimated via regression analyses. 21.13% of the participating children were assigned to the ‘risk’ group for emotional problems. The results furthermore revealed that children of mothers reporting more depressive symptoms, children living in single-parent families, and children of families with lower SES scored higher in the emotional problems scale. When considering the different indicators of SES (parental education, occupational status, and monthly net income) separately, only income showed significant associations with children’s emotional health status. The prevalence of emotional problems in children in Leipzig, a city in East Germany, appears to be higher than the previously reported German average. Maternal depressive symptoms, single-parent families, lower SES, and especially lower income can be seen as risk factors for children’s emotional health.
For several years the German healthy child clinics program has been a highly appreciated preventive measure and is subject to constant development. However, attendance depends on the families' ...sociodemographic situation. Findings are documented in a medical checkup booklet (the so-called Gelbes Heft). Currently, there is no procedure to use the data collected for epidemiological purposes nor to evaluate the pediatric prevention measures in Germany.
Between 2011 and 2016, we recruited 3480 study participants for our population-based cohort study LIFE Child in Leipzig. 90.6 % submitted their check-up booklets which were subsequently scanned, the data was digitalized and transmitted to a computerized form. Furthermore, data on social status (so-called Winkler-Index) were collected for each family using a structured questionnaire. The study population consisted of the families' oldest child for whom both data sets were available.
The transmission of data from the check-up booklets was time-consuming and cost-intensive due to large datasets, uncoded diagnoses as well as the necessity of trained employees for transferring often illegible handwriting. Early diagnostic tests for children enjoy a high level of acceptance among all social classes. With increasing age, attendance rate decreases gradually. Only 83 % of the population with a lower social status attend the U9 test. The documentation of diagnoses in the check-up booklets was implausible because the frequency fluctuated heavily between the different check-up time points. With only less than 2 %, the documentation of psychosocial difficulties in a child was particularly surprising
It is not possible to draw conclusions regarding the prevalence of target diseases from the frequency of documented findings in the check-up booklets. In order to make the data both comparable and evaluable, documentation must be digitalized in the future.
Zusammenfassung
Hintergrund
Kindervorsorgeuntersuchungen sind seit vielen Jahren eine geschätzte Präventionsmaßnahme und unterliegen einer ständigen Erweiterung. Die Inanspruchnahme hängt vom ...sozialen Status der Familien ab. Die Dokumentation erfolgt unter anderem im sogenannten Gelben Vorsorgeheft. Derzeit werden in Deutschland die erhobenen Daten nicht epidemiologisch genutzt oder die Präventionsmaßnahmen evaluiert.
Methoden
Zwischen 2011 und 2016 wurden innerhalb der populationsgestützten Kohortenstudie LIFE Child in Leipzig 3480 Probanden rekrutiert. 90,6 % der Teilnehmer legten ein Gelbes Vorsorgeheft vor. Diese Hefte wurden gescannt und in eine digitale Eingabemaske übertragen. Kenngrößen zum Sozialstatus wurden mittels Soziodemografiefragebogen erhoben, woraus der Winkler-Index berechnet wurde. Die Studienpopulation wurde aus jeweils dem ältesten Kind pro Familie mit beiden vorliegenden Datensätzen (n = 1964) gebildet.
Ergebnisse
Die Erfassung der Daten aus den Gelben Heften war zeit- und kostenintensiv. Dieser Aufwand ergab sich durch große Datenmengen, uncodierte Diagnosen sowie den Einsatz geschulter Mitarbeiter zum Übertragen der oftmals unleserlichen Handschriften. Die Auswertung der Inanspruchnahme zeigte insgesamt eine hohe Akzeptanz über alle Sozialschichten hinweg. Mit zunehmendem Lebensalter sanken die Teilnahmeraten ab. Zur U9 wiesen Probanden der unteren Sozialschicht die geringste Inanspruchnahme auf (83,0 %). Die Dokumentation der Zielkrankheiten im Gelben Heft war unplausibel. Die Häufigkeit der Angaben schwankte unerklärlich zu den verschiedenen Vorsorgezeitpunkten. Besonders diskrepant zeigte sich die Dokumentation von psychosozialen Auffälligkeiten, welche im gesamten Untersuchungszeitraum bei weniger als 2 % aller Probanden dokumentiert wurden.
Schlussfolgerung
Aus den Häufigkeiten der in den Gelben Heften dokumentierten Befunde lässt sich die Prävalenz der Zielkrankheiten nicht ableiten. Um die Gelben Hefte auswertbar machen zu können, muss die Dokumentation verbessert werden. Deshalb ist eine Digitalisierung der Vorsorgeuntersuchungsbefunde anzustreben.
Neuroblastoma is a malignant paediatric tumour of the sympathetic nervous system. Roughly half of these tumours regress spontaneously or are cured by limited therapy. By contrast, high-risk ...neuroblastomas have an unfavourable clinical course despite intensive multimodal treatment, and their molecular basis has remained largely elusive. Here we have performed whole-genome sequencing of 56 neuroblastomas (high-risk, n = 39; low-risk, n = 17) and discovered recurrent genomic rearrangements affecting a chromosomal region at 5p15.33 proximal of the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (TERT). These rearrangements occurred only in high-risk neuroblastomas (12/39, 31%) in a mutually exclusive fashion with MYCN amplifications and ATRX mutations, which are known genetic events in this tumour type. In an extended case series (n = 217), TERT rearrangements defined a subgroup of high-risk tumours with particularly poor outcome. Despite a large structural diversity of these rearrangements, they all induced massive transcriptional upregulation of TERT. In the remaining high-risk tumours, TERT expression was also elevated in MYCN-amplified tumours, whereas alternative lengthening of telomeres was present in neuroblastomas without TERT or MYCN alterations, suggesting that telomere lengthening represents a central mechanism defining this subtype. The 5p15.33 rearrangements juxtapose the TERT coding sequence to strong enhancer elements, resulting in massive chromatin remodelling and DNA methylation of the affected region. Supporting a functional role of TERT, neuroblastoma cell lines bearing rearrangements or amplified MYCN exhibited both upregulated TERT expression and enzymatic telomerase activity. In summary, our findings show that remodelling of the genomic context abrogates transcriptional silencing of TERT in high-risk neuroblastoma and places telomerase activation in the centre of transformation in a large fraction of these tumours.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We investigated the impact of attachment distress on affect-centered mentalization in a clinical and a non-clinical sample, comparing mentalization in a baseline condition to mentalization under a ...condition of attachment distress.
The sample consisted of 127 adults who underwent inpatient psychosomatic treatment, and 34 mentally healthy adults. Affect-centered mentalization was assessed by analyzing participants' narratives on interpersonal situations in a baseline condition with the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), and an experimental condition inducing attachment distress with the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). Unlike the LEAS, the AAP is specifically designed to trigger attachment distress. In both conditions, the narratives were evaluated using the LEAS scoring system. Additionally, we assessed the impact of childhood trauma on affect-centered mentalization with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).
While the non-clinical sample displayed the same level of affect-centered mentalization in both conditions, the majority of the clinical sample reached higher scores in the attachment distress condition. There was no strong relationship between reported trauma and mentalization scores.
Our findings lend strong empirical support to the assumption that affect-centered mentalization is modulated by attachment-related distress. Several possible explanations for the differences between and within the clinical and the non-clinical sample are discussed.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A hydroxyl group-directed, highly regio- and stereoselective transposition of allylic alcohols based on rhenium catalysis has been developed. The method is suitable for a direct isomerization of ...acetals into the thermodynamically preferred isomer as long as one of the hydroxyl groups is allylic. This method will expand the scope of rhenium-catalyzed alcohol transpositions for complex molecule synthesis.
Reactive oxygen species producing NADPH oxidase (Nox) complexes are involved in defense reactions in animals and plants while they trigger infection-related processes in pathogenic fungi. Knowledge ...about the composition and localization of these complexes in fungi is limited; potential components identified thus far include two to three catalytical subunits, a regulatory subunit (NoxR), the GTPase Rac, the scaffold protein Bem1, and a tetraspanin-like membrane protein (Pls1). We showed that, in the biotrophic grass-pathogen Claviceps purpurea, the catalytical subunit CpNox1 is important for infection. Here, we present identification of major Nox complex partners and a functional analysis of CpNox2 and the tetraspanin CpPls1. We show that, as in other fungi, Nox complexes are important for formation of sclerotia; CpRac is, indeed, a complex partner because it interacts with CpNoxR, and CpNox1/2 and CpPls1 are associated with the endoplasmatic reticulum. However, unlike in all other fungi, Δcppls1 is more similar to Δcpnox1 than to Δcpnox2, and CpNox2 is not essential for infection. In contrast, Δcpnox2 shows even more pronounced disease symptoms, indicating that Cpnox2 controls the infection process and moderates damage to the host. These data confirm that fungal Nox complexes have acquired specific functions dependent of the lifestyle of the pathogen.
Abstract
To determine viral dynamics in Omicron breakthrough infections, we measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in 206 double-vaccinated or boostered individuals. During the ...first 3 days following the onset of symptoms, viral loads were significantly higher (cycle threshold Ct, 21.76) in vaccinated compared to boostered (Ct, 23.14) individuals (P = .029). However, by performing a longitudinal analysis on 32 individuals over 14 days, no difference in the viral load trajectory was observed between double-vaccinated and boostered patients. Our results indicate that booster immunization results in a reduction in detectable viral loads without significantly changing viral load dynamics over time.
Enhanced electromagnetic fields in nanometer gaps of plasmonic structures increase the optical interaction with matter, including Raman scattering and optical absorption. Quantum electron tunneling ...across sub-1 nm gaps, however, lowers these effects again. Understanding these phenomena requires controlled variation of gap sizes. Mechanically actuated plasmonic antennas enable repeatable tuning of gap sizes from the weak-coupling over the quantum-electron-tunneling to the direct-electrical-contact regime. Gap sizes are controlled electrically via leads that only weakly disturb plasmonic modes. Conductance signals show a near-continuous transition from electron tunneling to metallic contact. As the antenna's absorption cross-section is reduced, thermal expansion effects are negligible, in contrast to conventional break-junctions. Optical scattering spectra reveal first continuous red shifts for decreasing gap sizes and then blue shifts below gaps of 0.3 nm. The approach provides pathways to study opto- and electromolecular processes at the limit of plasmonic sensing.
Introduction
In Alzheimer’s disease, the severity of symptoms is linked to a loss of synaptic density and the spread of pathologically hyperphosphorylated tau. The established cerebrospinal fluid ...markers Aβ, tau and phospho-tau reflect the histopathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease but do not indicate disease progression. Such markers are of special interest, especially for trials of disease modifying drugs. Microvesicles are produced by stressed cells and reflect part of the metabolism of their cells of origin. Therefore, we investigated microvesicles of neuronal origin in cerebrospinal fluid.
Materials and Methods
We used flow cytometry to analyze microvesicles carrying tau, phospho-tau-Thr181, phospho-tau-Ser202Thr205, synaptophysin, and SNAP-25 in the cerebrospinal fluid of 19 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 15 non-inflammatory neurological disease controls.
Results
The percentages of synaptophysin-bearing microvesicles were significantly higher in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s disease than in the CSF of non-inflammatory neurological disease controls. Tau, phospho-tau-Thr181, phospho-tau-Ser202Thr205, and SNAP-25 did not differ between the groups. The percentages of synaptophysin-bearing vesicles distinguished patients with Alzheimer’s disease from the controls (AUC = 0.81).
Conclusion
The loss of synapses in Alzheimer’s disease may be reflected by synaptophysin-bearing microvesicles in the cerebrospinal fluid. Future studies are needed to investigate the possibility of using these MVs as a marker to determine the activity of Alzheimer’s disease.
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