Cognition in Anxious Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Comparison with Clinical and Normal Children

Background: Cognition in children with anxiety disorders (ANX) and comorbid Attention DeficitDisorder (ADHD) has received little attention, potentially impacting clinical and academicinterventions in this highly disabled group. This study examined several cognitive features relativeto children with either pure condition and to normal controls.Methods: One hundred and eight children ages 8–12 and parents were diagnosed by semistructuredparent interview and teacher report as having: ANX (any anxiety disorder except OCDor PTSD; n = 52), ADHD (n = 21), or ANX + ADHD (n = 35). All completed measures of academicability, emotional perception, and working memory. Clinical subjects were compared to 35 normalcontrols from local schools.Results: Groups did not differ significantly on age, gender, or estimated IQ. On analyses ofvariance, groups differed on academic functioning (Wide Range Achievement Test, p < .001),perception of emotion (auditory perception of anger, p < .05), and working memory (backwardsdigits, p < .01; backwards finger windows, p < .05; Chipasat task, p < .001). ANX + ADHD andchildren with ADHD did poorly relative to controls on all differentiating measures except auditoryperception of anger, where ANX + ADHD showed less sensitivity than children with ANX or withADHD.Conclusion: Though requiring replication, findings suggest that ANX + ADHD relates to greatercognitive and academic vulnerability than ANX, but may relate to reduced perception of anger

Splink: Free software for probabilistic record linkage at scale.

Funded by ADR UK, a new data linking team at the Ministry of Justice set out to link administrative datasets across the justice space, for internal use and sharing with external researchers. To achieve this aim we sought a linkage implementation that was probabilistic, flexible, scalable and ideally open source. Taking into account the tools available at the MoJ, existing open-source software (and paid alternatives) failed to meet our desired criteria. It was decided to develop a software package that builds on FastLink’s implementation in R of an Expectation-Maximisation algorithm to estimate a Fellegi-Sunter linkage model, adding a range of technical improvements, increased functionality and customisation options. Distributed computing offered by Spark could facilitate comparable linkage jobs that run on much larger datasets and much faster. Working with government data, accountability and transparency are vital, so the data and models are made accessible by a range of intuitive visualizations. The Splink python package has been downloaded 2 million times. This initially used Spark to deliver its superior performance, but Splink v3 caters for various SQL backends and more potential users. Splink and supplementary python libraries are publicly visible on GitHub and provide assistance in all aspects of data linkage: - splink_data_standardisation - functions to perform general data standardisation - splink_cluster_studio - creates an interactive HTML dashboard to analyse record clusters (building on splink_graph - a library for generating graph metrics) - splink_synthetic_data - generating realistic synthetic data for testing linkage algorithms - splink_demos - interactive demo/tutorial notebooks for a range of features of the Splink libraries These tools are in continuous development and have already been used to deliver deduplicated and linked data products for the entire criminal justice system. Through technical innovation and user-focused development, Splink has improved access to cutting-edge data linkage, and created groundbreaking research opportunities at MoJ and beyond. The team is grateful to ONS and other collaborators for testing and adopting these tools, and will continue to explore ways to improve performance and user experience

Prospective community study of family stress and anxiety in (pre)adolescents: the TRAILS study

For prevention of anxiety in children and adolescents, it is important to know whether family stress is a predictor of anxiety. We studied this in 1,875 adolescents from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) who were followed up for 2 years, from age 10–12 to 12–14 years. Adolescents reported anxiety and depression symptoms at both assessments, and parents reported family stress (family dysfunction and parenting stress) at the first assessment. Family dysfunction was not associated with future anxiety, whereas high parenting stress was. Furthermore, family dysfunction was more strongly associated with anxiety than with depression, whereas parenting stress was more strongly associated with depression. Level of parental psychopathology explained part of the association of family stress with anxiety. The associations were modest and the understanding of the origins of adolescents’ anxiety will require identifying other factors than family stress that account for more of the variance

Research and Test Activities on Advanced Rocket Propellants at DLR’s Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen

The present paper gives a comprehensive overview and summary of research and test activities conducted at the test facility M11 and the physical-chemical lab at DLR in Lampoldshausen. The focus of the research is on advanced rocket propellants and new materials for space technologies. In addition, the activities regarding supersonic flows and cooling of SCRamjets will be shown and discussed. Also the use of machine learning methods for rocket engine control are presented. The activities on advanced rocket pro pellants include research on ADN (Ammonium dinitramid)-based propellants, hydrogen peroxide, mono- and bipropellants based on nitrous oxide (HyNOx), green hypergolic bipropellants as well as gelled and nitromethane based propellants. For each propellant or propellant combination, the main research and test results of DLR internal projects are summarized. Furthermore, selected results of EU and ESA projects regarding advanced propellants and research conducted at DLR Lampoldshausen are presented

Paternal history of depression or anxiety disorder and infant–father attachment

Paternal depression and anxiety are important risk factors for a problematic parent–child relationship and subsequent child development. We explored the association between paternal history of depression and anxiety disorder and infant–father attachment security, taking into account the possible mediating roles of sensitivity and perceived family stress. In a sample of 94 infant–father dyads, a structured diagnostic interview and a questionnaire on family stress were administered during pregnancy. Paternal sensitivity was observed using the Ainsworth coding scales, and infant–father attachment was observed in the strange situation procedure during a lab visit at 14 months. Linear regression models were used to examine the association of father's lifetime depression or anxiety with the continuous scales for infant–father attachment security and disorganization. Father's history of depression or anxiety disorder was not significantly related to infant–father attachment security in the total sample. Interestingly, daughters of fathers with a history of depression or anxiety had higher scores on attachment security than daughters of fathers without this diagnosis. Perceived family stress and paternal sensitivity were not significant mediators. We discuss these unexpected findings, suggesting alternative mechanisms for how paternal vulnerability to depression or anxiety may be associated with the infant–father attachment relationship. Highlights: We examine the association between paternal history of depression and anxiety disorder and infant-father attachment security. In 94 infant-father dyads, a structured diagnostic interview was administered and infant-father attachment was observed in the Strange Situation Procedure. Daughters of fathers with a psychiatric history had higher scores on attachment security. Mechanisms of paternal vulnerability are discussed

Nitrous Oxide Fuels Blends: Research on premixed Monopropellants at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) since 2014

In 2014 DLR started research activities focused on premixed monopropellants consisting of nitrous oxide and hydrocarbons. Those propellants offer promising characteristics as they are non-toxic, deliver a high Isp consist of components with low cost and could simplify a propulsion system due to self-pressurized operation. Initially DLR chose a mixture of nitrous oxide (N2O) and ethene (C2H4). In the course of the project, a mixture of nitrous oxide and ethane (C2H6) was included to the research activities. The activities are part of DLRs Future Fuels project and divided into five main parts: 1) investigations of the combustion behavior of the propellant in a rocket combustor, 2) testing and developing of flame arresters, 3) development and reduction of reaction mechanisms, 4) numerical simulations of the combustion process and 5) basic miscibility investigations. The emphasis within the project is on the first three tasks, while the last two tasks are used to widen the knowledge about the propellants physical and combustion properties. The following paper will give a short summary of the activities carried out within the projects and focus on selected results regarding premixed propellants

Dog-owner attachment is associated With oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms in both parties. A comparative study on Austrian and Hungarian border collies

Variations in human infants' attachment behavior are associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene, suggesting a genetic component to infant-mother attachment. However, due to the genetic relatedness of infants and their mothers, it is difficult to separate the genetic effects of infants' OXTR genotype from the environmental effects of mothers' genotype possibly affecting their parental behavior. The apparent functional analogy between child-parent and dog-owner relationship, however, offers a way to disentangle the effects of these factors because pet dogs are not genetically related to their caregivers. In the present study we investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms of pet dogs' OXTR gene (−213AG,−94TC,−74CG) and their owners' OXTR gene (rs53576, rs1042778, rs2254298) are associated with components of dog-owner attachment. In order to investigate whether social-environmental effects modulate the potential genetic influence on attachment, dogs and their owners from two different countries (Austria and Hungary, N = 135 in total) were tested in a modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test (SST) and questionnaires were also used to collect information about owner personality and attachment style. We coded variables related to three components of attachment behavior in dogs: their sensitivity to the separation from and interaction with the owner (Attachment), stress caused by the unfamiliar environment (Anxiety), and their responsiveness to the stranger (Acceptance). We found that (1) dogs' behavior was significantly associated with polymorphisms in both dogs' and owners' OXTR gene, (2) SNPs in dogs' and owners' OXTR gene interactively influenced dog-human relationship, (3) dogs' attachment behavior was affected by the country of origin, and (4) it was related to their owners' personality as well as attachment style. Thus, the present study provides evidence, for the first time, that both genetic variation in the OXTR gene and various aspects of pet dogs' environmental background are associated with their attachment to their human caregivers

Family treatment of child anxiety: outcomes, limitations and future directions

Anxiety of childhood is a common and serious condition. The past decade has seen an increase in treatment-focussed research, with recent trials tending to give greater attention to parents in the treatment process. This review examines the efficacy of family-based cognitive behaviour therapy and attempts to delineate some of the factors that might have an impact on its efficacy. The choice and timing of outcome measure, age and gender of the child, level of parental anxiety, severity and type of child anxiety and treatment format and content are scrutinised. The main conclusions are necessarily tentative, but it seems likely that Family Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (FCBT) is superior to no treatment, and, for some outcome measures, also superior to Child Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CCBT). Where FCBT is successful, the results are consistently maintained at follow-up. It appears that where a parent is anxious, and this is not addressed, outcomes are less good. However, for children of anxious parents, FCBT is probably more effective than CCBT. What is most clear is that large, well-designed studies, examining these factors alone and in combination, are now needed

Navigating the development and dissemination of internet cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) for anxiety disorders in children and young people: a consensus statement with recommendations from the #iCBTLorentz workshop group

Initial internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) programs for anxiety disorders in children and young people (CYP) have been developed and evaluated, however these have not yet been widely adopted in routine practice. The lack of guidance and formalized approaches to the development and dissemination of iCBT has arguably contributed to the difficulty in developing iCBT that is scalable and sustainable beyond academic evaluation and that can ultimately be adopted by healthcare providers. This paper presents a consensus statement and recommendations from a workshop of international experts in CYP anxiety and iCBT (#iCBTLorentz Workshop Group) on the development, evaluation, engagement and dissemination of iCBT for anxiety in CYP

Activation During Observed Parent–Child Interactions with Anxious Youths: A Pilot Study

Parent–child interaction paradigms are often used to observe dysfunctional family processes; however, the influence of such tasks on a participant’s level of activation remain unclear. The aim of this pilot project is to explore the stimulus value of interaction paradigms that have been commonly used in child anxiety research. Twenty-nine parent–child dyads with clinically anxious (n = 16) and non-anxious (n = 13) youths engaged in a series of tasks (threat and non-threat) used in previous studies of parenting and youth anxiety. Heart rate (HR) data, as an indicator of physiological activation, were collected across tasks, and participants rated the perceived representativeness of their interactions in the laboratory to their usual behavior at home. Significant HR changes were observed for both parent and child. Change in child HR from baseline to non-threat task was smaller than change in HR from baseline to threat tasks. Change in parent HR from baseline to ambiguous situations tasks was smaller than changes from baseline to other threat tasks. Differences in HR change between anxious and non-anxious children were explored. Participants rated laboratory interactions as similar to those experienced in the home. Results suggest that presumably emotionally-charged discussion tasks may produce increased activation compared to tasks that were designed to be more neutral. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed