Best Possible Start : Infant Mental Health & Workforce Development [Research Report for NHS Lanarkshire]

The key aim of the work undertaken for NHS Lanarkshire’s BPS Universal Services was to inform a workforce development programme for Public Health Nurses, Neonatal Nurses and Midwives which prioritises positive promotion of parent-child attachment and seeks to uphold effective intervention strategies that promote positive infant mental health outcomes. Scottish early years policy across health, social care and education emphasises the shift in the balance from intervention to prevention in order to promote positive infant mental health. Infant mental health is seen primarily as relational with the mother-infant dyad at the centre. Understandings of the role of the practitioner are derived from policy, research and practice. To be effective in fostering infant mental health it is necessary to adopt an holistic view and to recognise the many influences upon the mother and child. An ecological model is used to show this connection and to inform the training framework. Interrogating systematic reviews of the infant mental health interventions literature showed the success of ‘model interventions’ and the challenges of implementation fidelity when interventions were scaled up. The reviews concluded that while effectiveness in the longer term is uncertain and more research is needed, the absence of conclusive evidence does not imply ineffectiveness. The importance of family and professional aspiration is emphasised

A large scale hearing loss screen reveals an extensive unexplored genetic landscape for auditory dysfunction

The developmental and physiological complexity of the auditory system is likely reflected in the underlying set of genes involved in auditory function. In humans, over 150 non-syndromic loci have been identified, and there are more than 400 human genetic syndromes with a hearing loss component. Over 100 non-syndromic hearing loss genes have been identified in mouse and human, but we remain ignorant of the full extent of the genetic landscape involved in auditory dysfunction. As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, we undertook a hearing loss screen in a cohort of 3006 mouse knockout strains. In total, we identify 67 candidate hearing loss genes. We detect known hearing loss genes, but the vast majority, 52, of the candidate genes were novel. Our analysis reveals a large and unexplored genetic landscape involved with auditory function

Nat Genet

The function of the majority of genes in the mouse and human genomes remains unknown. The mouse embryonic stem cell knockout resource provides a basis for the characterization of relationships between genes and phenotypes. The EUMODIC consortium developed and validated robust methodologies for the broad-based phenotyping of knockouts through a pipeline comprising 20 disease-oriented platforms. We developed new statistical methods for pipeline design and data analysis aimed at detecting reproducible phenotypes with high power. We acquired phenotype data from 449 mutant alleles, representing 320 unique genes, of which half had no previous functional annotation. We captured data from over 27,000 mice, finding that 83% of the mutant lines are phenodeviant, with 65% demonstrating pleiotropy. Surprisingly, we found significant differences in phenotype annotation according to zygosity. New phenotypes were uncovered for many genes with previously unknown function, providing a powerful basis for hypothesis generation and further investigation in diverse systems.Comment in : Genetic differential calculus. [Nat Genet. 2015] Comment in : Scaling up phenotyping studies. [Nat Biotechnol. 2015

Genome-wide association study of germline variants and breast cancer-specific mortality

BACKGROUND: We examined the associations between germline variants and breast cancer mortality using a large meta-analysis of women of European ancestry. METHODS: Meta-analyses included summary estimates based on Cox models of twelve datasets using ~10

La fin du régime de préférence de l'article 124 de la loi du 25 juin sur le contrat d'assurance terrestre ?

Master [120] en droit, Université catholique de Louvain, 201

A developmental framework for embodiment research

Embodiment research is at a turning point. There is an increasing amount of data and studies investigating embodiment phenomena and their role in mental processing and functions from across a wide range of disciplines and theoretical schools within the life sciences. However, the integration of behavioral data with data from different biological levels is challenging for the involved research fields such as movement psychology, social and developmental neuroscience, computational psychosomatics, social and behavioral epigenetics, human-centered robotics, and many more. This highlights the need for an interdisciplinary framework of embodiment research. In addition, there is a growing need for a cross-disciplinary consensus on level-specific criteria of embodiment. We propose that a developmental perspective on embodiment is able to provide a framework for overcoming such pressing issues, providing analytical tools to link timescales and levels of embodiment specific to the function under study, uncovering the underlying developmental processes, clarifying level-specific embodiment criteria, and providing a matrix and platform to bridge disciplinary boundaries among the involved research fields

Fra1 Controls Rheumatoid Factor Autoantibody Production by Bone Marrow Plasma Cells and the Development of Autoimmune Bone Loss

International audienc

Resistência de Haemonchus contortus ao monepantel em ovinos: testes de eficácia através de redução de contagem de ovos e controlado randomizado

Worm infections are a major cause of economic losses in sheep farming, and their control depends essentially on anthelmintic drugs. After decades without the discovery of new drug types, a new class of anthelmintics, called aminoacetonitrile derivatives, represented by monepantel, was released on the market. In order to evaluate a report of low efficacy of monepantel on a sheep farm in the municipality of Taiúva, state of São Paulo, Brazil, fecal egg count reduction and critical tests were performed on a Haemonchus contortus strain collected from this farm. To this end, ten animals were experimentally infected with 5000 H. contortus third-stage larvae, and these animals were divided into two groups, control and treated, according to the treatment with monepantel. The parameters evaluated were reduction in fecal egg counts on post-treatment days (PTD) 0, 2, 4, 7 and 14, and the therapeutic efficacy at the end of this period. Egg count reduction was observed starting on PTD 2, with a maximum reduction of 32.89% recorded on PTD 14. The critical test revealed 24.65% efficacy, indicating resistance to the active ingredient monepantel. The ineffectiveness of monepantel may be associated with the excessive use of the anthelmintic, which the farmer administered at intervals of less than one month, without technical guidance or a defined criterion. Given that the anthelmintic was used on this farm for less than one year, according to the farmer, it can be inferred that H. contortus develops resistance to monepantel in a few generations if the product is used incorrectly.Verminoses são uma das principais causas de prejuízo econômico na ovinocultura, cujo controle depende essencialmente de fármacos anti-helmínticos. Depois de décadas sem o surgimento de novos grupos químicos de fármacos, uma nova classe de anti-helmínticos, os derivados da aminoacetonitrila, representados pelo monepantel, foram lançados no mercado. Com o objetivo de avaliar um relato de baixa eficácia do monepantel em uma propriedade produtora de ovinos do município de Taiúva, estado de São Paulo, foi realizado um teste de redução de contagem de ovos e um teste crítico em uma linhagem de Haemonchus contortus obtida da propriedade. Dez animais foram infectados experimentalmente com 5000 larvas de terceiro estágio do isolado de Haemonchus contortus, e estes animais foram divididos em dois grupos, controle e tratados, em dependência do tratamento com monepantel. Foram avaliados a redução de ovos nas fezes nos dias 0, 2, 4, 7 e 14 pós-tratamento e a eficácia terapêutica ao final do período. A redução da contagem de ovos foi observada a partir do 2o dia pós-tratamento (DPT), com redução máxima, de 32,89%, registrada no 14º DPT. O teste crítico revelou eficácia de apenas 24,65%, evidenciando resistência ao princípio ativo. A ineficácia do monepantel pode estar associada a utilização do vermífugo de forma massiva, uma vez que o produtor administrava o produto em intervalos inferiores a um mês, sem orientação técnica ou critério definido. Dado que o anti-helmíntico foi usado na propriedade por período inferior a um ano, de acordo com o produtor, pode-se sugerir que Haemonchus contortus desenvolva resistência ao monepantel em poucas gerações caso o produto seja utilizado incorretamente