Maternal psychological distress in primary care and association with child behavioural outcomes at age three

Observational studies indicate children whose mothers have poor mental health are at increased risk of socio-emotional behavioural difficulties, but it is unknown whether these outcomes vary by the mothers’ mental health recognition and treatment status. To examine this question, we analysed linked longitudinal primary care and research data from 1078 women enrolled in the Born in Bradford cohort. A latent class analysis of treatment status and self-reported distress broadly categorised women as (a) not having a common mental disorder (CMD) that persisted through pregnancy and the first 2 years after delivery (N = 756, 70.1 %), (b) treated for CMD (N = 67, 6.2 %), or (c) untreated (N = 255, 23.7 %). Compared to children of mothers without CMD, 3-year-old children with mothers classified as having untreated CMD had higher standardised factor scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (d = 0.32), as did children with mothers classified as having treated CMD (d = 0.27). Results were only slightly attenuated in adjusted analyses. Children of mothers with CMD may be at risk for socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties. The development of effective treatments for CMD needs to be balanced by greater attempts to identify and treat women. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-015-0777-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A Functional Gene Array for Detection of Bacterial Virulence Elements

Emerging known and unknown pathogens create profound threats to public health. Platforms for rapid detection and characterization of microbial agents are critically needed to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. Available detection technologies cannot provide broad functional information about known or novel organisms. As a step toward developing such a system, we have produced and tested a series of high-density functional gene arrays to detect elements of virulence and antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Our first generation array targets genes from Escherichia coli strains K12 and CFT073, Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus. We determined optimal probe design parameters for gene family detection and discrimination. When tested with organisms at varying phylogenetic distances from the four target strains, the array detected orthologs for the majority of targeted gene families present in bacteria belonging to the same taxonomic family. In combination with whole-genome amplification, the array detects femtogram concentrations of purified DNA, either spiked in to an aerosol sample background, or in combinations from one or more of the four target organisms. This is the first report of a high density NimbleGen microarray system targeting microbial antibiotic resistance and virulence mechanisms. By targeting virulence gene families as well as genes unique to specific biothreat agents, these arrays will provide important data about the pathogenic potential and drug resistance profiles of unknown organisms in environmental samples

Estimating the Effects of Immigration Status on Mental Health Care Utilizations in the United States

Immigration status is a likely deterrent of mental health care utilization in the United States. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and National Health Interview survey from 2002 to 2006, multivariable logistic regressions were used to estimate the effects of immigration status on mental health care utilization among patients with depression or anxiety disorders. Multivariate regressions showed that immigrants were significantly less likely to take any prescription drugs, but not significantly less likely to have any physician visits compared to US-born citizens. Results also showed that improving immigrants’ health care access and health insurance coverage could potentially reduce disparities between US-born citizens and immigrants by 14–29% and 9–28% respectively. Policy makers should focus on expanding the availability of regular sources of health care and immigrant health coverage to reduce disparities on mental health care utilization. Targeted interventions should also focus on addressing immigrants’ language barriers, and providing culturally appropriate services

Variation and ethnic inequalities in treatment of common mental disorders before, during and after pregnancy : combined analysis of routine and research data in the Born in Bradford cohort

BACKGROUND: Common mental disorders (CMD) such as anxiety and depression during the maternal period can cause significant morbidity to the mother in addition to disrupting biological, attachment and parenting processes that affect child development. Pharmacological treatment is a first-line option for moderate to severe episodes. Many women prescribed pharmacological treatments cease them during pregnancy but it is unclear to what extent non-pharmacological options are offered as replacement. There are also concerns that treatments offered may not be proportionate to need in minority ethnic groups, but few data exist on treatment disparities in the maternal period. We examined these questions in a multi-ethnic cohort of women with CMD living in Bradford, England before, during and up to one year after pregnancy. METHODS: We searched the primary care records of women enrolled in the Born in Bradford cohort for diagnoses, symptoms, signs ('identification'), referrals for treatment, non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment and monitoring ('treatment') related to CMD. Records were linked with maternity data to classify women identified with a CMD as treated prior to, and one year after, delivery. We examined rates and types of treatment during pregnancy, and analysed potential ethnic group differences using adjusted Poisson and multinomial logistic regression models. RESULTS: We analysed data on 2,234 women with indicators of CMD. Most women were discontinued from pharmacological treatment early in pregnancy, but this was accompanied by recorded access to non-drug treatments in only 15 % at the time of delivery. Fewer minority ethnic women accessed treatments compared to White British women despite minority ethnic women being 55-70 % more likely than White British women to have been identified with anxiety in their medical record. CONCLUSIONS: Very few women who discontinued pharmacological treatment early in their pregnancy were offered other non-pharmacological treatments as replacement, and most appeared to complete their pregnancy untreated. Further investigation is warranted to replicate the finding that minority ethnic women are more likely to be identified as being anxious or having anxiety and understand what causes the variation in access to treatments

Structural and Electrical Characterization of Bi2Se3 Nanostructures Grown by Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

We characterize nanostructures of Bi2Se3 that are grown via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using the precursors diethyl selenium and trimethyl bismuth. By adjusting growth parameters, we obtain either single-crystalline ribbons up to 10 microns long or thin micron-sized platelets. Four-terminal resistance measurements yield a sample resistivity of 4 mOhm-cm. We observe weak anti-localization and extract a phase coherence length l_phi = 178 nm and spin-orbit length l_so = 93 nm at T = 0.29 K. Our results are consistent with previous measurements on exfoliated samples and samples grown via physical vapor deposition.Comment: Related papers at http://pettagroup.princeton.ed

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (EPFRs). 3. Free versus Bound Hydroxyl Radicals in EPFR Aqueous Solutions

Additional experimental evidence is presented for in vitro generation of hydroxyl radicals because of redox cycling of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) produced after adsorption of 2-monochlorophenol at 230 °C (2-MCP-230) on copper oxide supported by silica, 5% Cu(II)O/silica (3.9% Cu). A chemical spin trapping agent, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO), in conjunction with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was employed. Experiments in spiked O17 water have shown that ∼15% of hydroxyl radicals formed as a result of redox cycling. This amount of hydroxyl radicals arises from an exogenous Fenton reaction and may stay either partially trapped on the surface of particulate matter (physisorbed or chemisorbed) or transferred into solution as free OH. Computational work confirms the highly stable nature of the DMPO–OH adduct, as an intermediate produced by interaction of DMPO with physisorbed/chemisorbed OH (at the interface of solid catalyst/solution). All reaction pathways have been supported by ab initio calculations