Childhood Depressive Symptoms: Comparison of Diverse Medical Diagnoses

Childhood depression is a serious problem and has long term implications including increased risk for suicide and comorbid conditions. In addition, depressed children are at greater risk for social difficulties, non-compliance to medical regime, and academic difficulties. Children undergoing a medical illness are at increased risk for developing depression, however, there have been few recent studies looking at emotional distress for this population. With thousands of children hospitalized every day, assessing for depressive symptoms is important in order to provide proper referrals and treatment recommendations following discharge. The purpose of the current study was to increase understanding of pediatric depression through analysis of the symptoms children report across various medical conditions. This study included 54 children who were hospitalized for a medical condition at the Loma Linda Children’s Hospital. The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) was used to assess for depressive symptomatology. Contrary to what was expected, the hospitalized children report significantly fewer symptoms related to negative mood, ineffectiveness, negative self-esteem, and total score on the CDI compared with the normative sample. Age and length of hospitalization did not significantly predict depressive symptoms. Males reported greater level of depressive symptoms related to feeling ineffective compared with females. With regards to medical conditions, children with a chronic condition reported significantly greater number of depressive symptoms related to negative self- esteem compared with children in the non-chronic group. Those children who experienced a traumatic event, reported significantly less symptoms of depression related to negative mood, anhedonia, negative self-esteem, and total depression score compared to the non-trauma group. The exploratory phase of this analysis looked at depressive symptoms across various medical diagnoses, which included tumor, orthopedic injury, congenital conditions, neurological conditions, and “other” diagnoses which included patients hospitalized due to self-inflicted injury. Results demonstrated that patients in the tumor group had significantly greater number of symptoms related to negative self-esteem then patients in the orthopedic injury group as well as the “other” group. Reasons for why children under stressful situations are not reporting depressive symptoms as anticipated should be explored in future studies

Galaxy evolution through the lens of active galactic nuclei, their host galaxies, and environments

The body of research relayed in this dissertation pertains to investigating the immediate environments of Type I quasars for clues to the formation and evolution of galaxies through observations. The neighboring galaxies are key agents in the local environment around the quasar. Through longslit (Paper I) and multi-object spectroscopy (Paper II), I contributed to the identification of neighboring galaxies within several hundred kiloparsec projected distance of 44 low redshift quasars from the Falomo et al. (2014) catalog of 416 quasars located in the Stripe82 region of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). I found that the quasars and inactive galaxies had a similar number of companion galaxies at low redshifts and that the quasar companions had a moderate star formation rate. In papers III and IV, I was able to tap into the rich archival data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic survey to investigate quasar environments at low redshifts using larger statistics (more than 200 quasars). I studied the properties of the bright neighbors within a close volume centered on a quasar and looked at the host galaxy star formation histories. I found that the properties of spectroscopically confirmed bright neighbors around quasars are statistically similar to those of inactive galaxies. The main conclusion brought to light through this dissertation is that at low-redshift Type I quasar activity is not impacted in a major way by its environment, but instead internal processes within the quasar host galaxy itself are the more probable mechanism for the AGN phenomenon. While it is possible that some major mergers fuel SMBHs at low-redshift, this is not the predominant scenario. Overall, this body of work contributes the crucial observational data to contrast and constrain the theoretical models of how AGN are triggered and their role in the life of the host galaxy as well as a potential impact on galaxies in its vicinity.Tässä väitöskirjatyössä esitellään havaintotuloksia, jotka liittyvät tyypin I kvasaarien välittömässä ympäristössä sijaitsevien galaksien muodostumiseen ja evoluutioon. Kvasaarien lähigalaksit antavat tärkeää tietoa kvasaarien lähiolosuhteista. Väitöskirjan ensimmäisessä (I) ja toisessa (II) julkaisussa identifioin 44 matalan punasiirtymän “Stripe 82” -kvasaarin (Falomo et al. 2014, yhteensä 416 kvasaaria) lähigalakseja (projisoitu etäisyys muutamia satoja kiloparsekkeja) käyttäen sekä longslit että MOS -spektroskopiaa. Tulokseni mukaan matalan punasiirtymän kvasaareilla ja “taval- lisilla” galakseilla on keskimäärin yhtä monta lähigalaksia. Lisäksi havaitsin, että kvasaarien lähigalaksien tähtienmuodostus on melko maltillista. Väitöskirjan julkaisuissa III ja IV käytin hyväkseni Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) -tietokannan runsasta materiaalia tutkiakseni matalan punasiirtymän kvasaarien lähiympäristöjä suuremmalla otoksella (yli 200 kvasaaria). Tutkin kirkkaimpien lähigalaksien morfologiaa ja tähtienmuodostushistoriaa ja havaitsin, että spektroskooppisesti vahvistetut kirkkaat lähigalaksit ovat samanlaisia sekä kvasaarien että tavallisten galaksien ympäristöissä. Väitöskirjan päätulos on, että matalilla punasiirtymillä tyypin I kvasaarien ak- tiivisuuden käynnistämiseen ei tarvita vuorovaikutusta lähigalaksien kanssa vaan aktiivisuus syntyy emogalaksin sisäisistä mekanismeista. On toki mahdollista, että galaksien sulautuessa yhteen vuorovaikutus käynnistää ytimen aktiivisuuden, mutta tämä ei ole pääasiallinen reitti. Väitöskirjatyön tuloksena on syntynyt havaintoaineistoa, jolla on tärkeä rooli kun tutkitaan aktiivisten galaksiytimien vaikutusta niiden emogalaksien ominaisuuksiin ja kehitykseen sekä niiden mahdollista vaikutusta lähi- galakseihin

Comparative Study of Broadband Photometry Relations for Ultra-Diffuse and Normal Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

Ultra-diffuse galaxies are a novel type of galaxies discovered first in the Coma cluster. These objects are characterized simultaneously by large sizes and by very low counts of constituent stars. Conflicting theories have been proposed to explain how these large diffuse galaxies could have survived in the harsh environment of clusters. To date, thousands of these new galaxies have been identified in cluster environments. However, further studies are required to understand their relationship to the known giant and dwarf classes of galaxies. The purpose of this study is to compare the trends of inner and outer populations of normal members of the Coma cluster and ultra-diffuse galaxies in color--magnitude space. The present work used several astronomical catalogs to identify the member galaxies based on the coordinates of their positions and to extract available colors and magnitudes. We obtained correlations to convert colors and magnitudes from different systems into the common Sloan Digital Sky Survey system to facilitate the comparative analysis. We showed the quantitative relations describing the color-magnitude trends of galaxies in the core and the outskirts of the cluster. We confirmed that the inner and outer populations of ultra-diffuse galaxies exhibit an offset similar to the normal red sequence galaxies. We presented an initial assessment of stellar population ages and metallicities which correspond to the obtained color offsets. We surveyed the available images of the cluster for outliers, merger candidates, and candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies. We conclude that ultra-diffuse galaxies are an important part of the Coma cluster evolutionary history and future work is needed especially in obtaining spectroscopic data of a larger number of these dim galaxies

The depth evolution of density distribution structure for planar channeled particles in quantum approach

Within the framework of quantum-mechanical theory of planar channeling, the redistribution of electrons/positrons density in dependence of depth penetration into the crystal has been considered. The coherent nature of diffraction in a regular medium as well as inelastic processes accompanying the motion of a fast particle in crystals were revealed using the density matrix formalism based of quantum theory of channeling. A special role of the above-barrier states at channeling of negatively charged particles for the abnormally deep crystal penetration of electrons, previously observed at the Tomsk experiment, is shown. It has been demonstrated that realizing the conditions, under which the coherent phenomena are not damped, i.e. small thickness of a crystal, and having measured the yield of inelastic processes on the crystal lattice nuclei or interstitial impurity atoms, it is possible to find experimentally the periods of appropriate oscillations that will give the information about the energy band structure of particles in crystals

Development and Validation of A Process Focused Measure of Childhood Depression

The purpose of this research was to develop a measure of childhood depression and test its psychometric properties with depressed and non-depressed children. First, an overview of our current understanding of childhood depression and the measures used in assessment is reviewed. Following, the problems with our diagnostic classification are presented, providing justification for the development of a new measure for childhood depression. A bottom-up approach is used in this study to develop a theory driven measure for identifying depression in children which focuses on the process. Thus, varying from the primarily symptom based assessment tools that are currently used in psychology. Gestalt theory is explored to understand the depressive process and items were comprised which are less face valid and present scenarios that may describe how a depressed child functions in his or her environment. The newly created measure, Depression Process Scale- Children (DPS-C), was administered to depressed and nondepressed children. For comparative analysis and validation, additional measures were also administered which include the Children’s Depression Inventory-2 (CDI-2) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children- Second Edition (BASC-2). An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, revealing three factors with thirteen items for the DPS-C. Next, the validity of the new measure was investigated by determining the scales convergence with the CDI-2 and parent report of the BASC-2. Correlational analysis revealed strong positive correlations between the DPS-C and specific subscales of the BASC-2 (Depression and Withdrawal). The DPS-C did not have strong correlations with the CDI 2 and other subscales of the BASC-2, revealing the convergent and discriminant validity of the measure. Logistic regression analysis revealed the DPS-C total score, Scale 1 and Scale 3 were significant predictors of depression. Additionally, the DPS-C remained a significant predictor of depression after accounting for the variance explained by the CDI 2. Findings suggest the DPS-C is likely tapping into a unique aspect of depression not accounted for by symptom-based measures. Overall, this study demonstrated that a theory driven measure of childhood depression is able to differentiate between depressed and non-depressed children as well as increase the understanding of depression in children beyond DSM symptomatology

Political Culture and Protest Potential in Goris Community

SAMVEL MANUKYAN, SONA BABACKHANYAN. Political culture and protest potential on Goris community. - During the 44-day Karabakh war of 2022, Artsakh (Karabakh) and Armenia suffered serious territorial and human losses, which caused severe negative consequences. The war radically changed public sentiments in Armenia. Besides, after the war, the prices of essential goods in Armenia started to increase rapidly, gradually worsening the social condition of broad population segments. The negative consequences of the war are especially severe in the Syunik region, borders with Azerbaijan and has strategic importance for the national security of Armenia, particularly in the border community of Goris, which is the last town on the only communication road between Armenia and Artsakh. These two influential factors might initiate public protests in Goris – an area of exceptional importance for the national Security of Armenia, worsening social cohesion and destroying the social order. The article represents the evaluation of multidimensional protest potential in Goris in the context of the political culture of the community population and the situation after the war. The political culture of the Goris community is identified in the frame of the theory of S.Almond and S.Verba. The analysis is carried out on the basis of sociological survey data collected in the Goris community in April 2022. The dimensions of the protest potential include lack of loyalty to the authorities, socio-economic conditions of the population, the fact of the 44-day war, the course of the war and its consequences, and future relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. The best-allied countries of Armenia in the Artsakh matter were revealed in population attitudes. The perception of public protest probability in Goris is estimated. A mathematical model is built to explain the interactions between protest potential and political culture components and their multidimensional impact on loyalty to the authorities

Antibody responses to the full-length VAR2CSA and its DBL domains in Cameroonian children and teenagers

Additional file 2. IgG levels to VAR2CSA domains in 10–15 year old Cameroonian girls living in Ngali II and Ntouessong villages. IgG levels to VAR2CSA DBL domains and full-length protein (FV2) were measured in 11–15 year old girls residing in Ngali II and Ntouessong villages. DBL1 domain was from 3D7 strain and all the other proteins from FCR3 parasite strain. Median MFI and Inter-Quartile Range (IQR) are plotted

Differential recognition of terminal extracellular Plasmodium falciparum VAR2CSA domains by sera from multigravid, malaria-exposed Malian women

Abstract. The Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) family mediates parasite seques-tration in small capillaries through tissue-specific cytoadherence. The best characterized of these proteins is VAR2CSA, which is expressed on the surface of infected erythrocytes that bind to chondroitin sulfate in the placental matrix. Antibodies to VAR2CSA prevent placental cytoadherence and protect against placental malaria. The size and complex-ity of the VAR2CSA protein pose challenges for vaccine development, but smaller constitutive domains may be suitable for subunit vaccine development. A protein microarray was printed to include five overlapping fragments of the 3D7 VAR2CSA extracellular region. Malian women with a history of at least one pregnancy had antibody recognition of four of these fragments and had stronger reactivity against the two distal fragments than did nulliparous women, children, and men from Mali, suggesting that the C-terminal extracellular VAR2CSA domains are a potential focus of protective immunity. With carefully chosen sera from longitudinal studies of pregnant women, this approach has the potential t

Antibody response to var2csa in pregnant Cameroonian women

Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2013.Includes bibliographical references.Women are highly susceptible to malaria during pregnancy, because parasites express the VAR2CSA-adhesin that facilitates the binding of infected erythrocytes to placental syncytotrophoblasts, resulting in a condition known as placental malaria. Currently, vaccines to prevent placental malaria are being developed; however, testing vaccines for pregnant women will be challenging in the absence of serological assays that predict protection. This study sought to identify correlates of protection for placental malaria. Plasma from women with ≥ 3 pregnancies were evaluated, allowing us to delineate fine immunologic differences between placental malaria-positive and-negative women. First, we evaluated naturally acquired immunity to a recombinant protein, ID1-ID2a that contains the minimal sequence of VAR2CSA required for binding to the placenta. Our results showed that antibodies to ID1-ID2a were not associated with protection from placental malaria. Next, we employed a multi-assay approach and compared immune responses to full length and different VAR2CSA domains in 24 assays. Data showed that women in their 3rd and 4th pregnancies residing in a low transmission areas were acquiring immunity, and had lower antibody levels to VAR2CSA, recognized fewer VAR2CSA domains, and had lower avidity antibodies to VAR2CSA; whereas, women with ≥5 pregnancies were likely to have malaria only if they had low avidity IgG to VAR2CSA. Multivariate regression models and recursive partitioning methods resulted in Younden index of 0.39 and 0.45, respectively. Since models with different combinations of assays resulted in similar predictive power, it is likely that more than one correlate of protection exists depending on a woman's age, gravidity, exposure to VAR2CSA and antibodies to other malarial antigens. Lastly, we measured how long immunity to VAR2CSA persists. Antibody half-life estimates ranged from 4 years to a lifetime in multigravidae; but, antibodies to VAR2CSA in primigravidae were short lived, averaging less than a year. Thus, a single pregnancy is not sufficient to generate long-lived memory B cells. Knowing what assays correlate with protection and how long after vaccination protective immunity persists is imperative for development of a vaccine