Partnering with Federal Agencies to Advance Racial Equity

Partnering with Federal Agencies to Advance Racial Equity is a report by Race Forward and PolicyLink  that describes the work that commenced in partnership with federal agency offices, considers observations and lessons learned along the way, and discusses efforts that must continue at the federal level to fully realize the intentions of the executive order and move this country toward a more racially just future.Race Forward and PolicyLink co-led a Racial Equity Governing Pilot Project with federal agencies in the fall and winter of 2021 and 2022. This report discusses critical elements of these partnership pilots and lessons to inform and support the longer term aspirations of the federal government to become actively antiracist.

BCG Vaccination in HIV-Infected Children

Despite the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination for many years, infants and young children exposed to adults with infectious forms of tuberculosis (TB) are at high risk of developing complicated TB disease. This risk is much higher among HIV-infected children, and data on BCG protective efficacy in HIV-infected children is lacking. Recent research on BCG safety in HIV-infected infants has resulted in policy shifts, but implementation is challenging. New approaches to preventing TB among infants and children, particularly HIV-infected infants, are needed. This paper briefly reviews BCG safety and efficacy considerations in HIV-infected infants and discusses other approaches to preventing TB, including new TB vaccines and vaccination strategies

Practitioner Review: Differential susceptibility theory: might it help in understanding and treating mental health problems in youth?

Diathesis-stress models conceptualise individual differences in propensity for psychopathology as an interaction between environmental risk factors and intra-individual vulnerabilities. In contrast, the differential susceptibility theory and related frameworks view intra-individual differences as variations in sensitivity to the environments rather than merely vulnerability to them. Specifically, they suggest that more sensitive individuals are more affected by the quality of their context, whether positive or negative, than others who are less sensitive. Empirical research over the last two decades has found support for this notion in that greater sensitivity is associated with a greater risk of psychopathology in adverse contexts, but also with lower risk in positive environments. However, despite growing academic and public interest in this field, it is currently unclear to what extent the differential susceptibility model is relevant, or applicable, to clinical practice. The purpose of this review is to focus on the differential susceptibility theory as an alternative explanation of individual differences in mental health and examine its relevance in the treatment of mental health problems in young people. We provide an overview of differential susceptibility and related theories, and current relevant research in the field. We identify potential implications of differential susceptibility models for understanding and treating mental health problems in young people, whilst also highlighting important gaps in research that limit their application at present. Finally, we suggest directions for future research that will assist in the translation of differential susceptibility theories into clinical practice

Exploring the association between anxiety and conduct problems in a large sample of twins aged 2-4

Anxiety and conduct problems covary, yet studies have not explored the genetic and environmental origins of this association.We analyzed parent-reported anxiety and conduct problems in 6,783 pairs of twins at 2-, 3-, and 4-years of age. As anxiety and conduct problems were fairly stable across the three ages (average 1-year correlation was .53), ratings from all three were combined. The aggregate anxiety and conduct ratings correlated .33 for boys and .30 for girls. Bivariate genetic analyses indicated fairly low genetic correlations (.31 for boys, .16 for girls), and high shared environmental correlations (1.0 for boys and 0.99 for girls) between anxiety and conduct problems. Most of the phenotypic correlation was accounted for by shared environmental mediation (65% for boys and 94% for girls), indicating that many of the same family environmental factors are responsible for the development of both anxiety and conduct problems

Polymorphisms in the circadian expressed genes PER3 and ARNTL2 are associated with diurnal preference and GNβ3 with sleep measures

Sleep and circadian rhythms are intrinsically linked, with several sleep traits, including sleep timing and duration, influenced by both sleep homeostasis and the circadian phase. Genetic variation in several circadian genes has been associated with diurnal preference (preference in timing of sleep), although there has been limited research on whether they are associated with other sleep measurements. We investigated whether these genetic variations were associated with diurnal preference (Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire) and various sleep measures, including: the global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index score; sleep duration; and sleep latency and sleep quality. We genotyped 10 polymorphisms in genes with circadian expression in participants from the G1219 sample (n = 966), a British longitudinal population sample of young adults. We conducted linear regressions using dominant, additive and recessive models of inheritance to test for associations between these polymorphisms and the sleep measures. We found a significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in period homologue 3 (PER3) (P < 0.005, recessive model) and a novel nominally significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like 2 (ARNTL2) (P < 0.05, additive model). We found that a polymorphism in guanine nucleotide binding protein beta 3 (GNβ3) was associated significantly with global sleep quality (P < 0.005, recessive model), and that a rare polymorphism in period homologue 2 (PER2) was associated significantly with both sleep duration and quality (P < 0.0005, recessive model). These findings suggest that genes with circadian expression may play a role in regulating both the circadian clock and sleep homeostasis, and highlight the importance of further studies aimed at dissecting the specific roles that circadian genes play in these two interrelated but unique behaviours

Developmental change in the association between adolescent depressive symptoms and the home environment: results from a longitudinal, genetically informative investigation

Background: Depression is already highly prevalent by late adolescence, indicating that research into its developmental emergence should consider earlier risk factors and environmental contexts. The home environment is a key context for children and adolescents throughout development. However, the nature of relationships that exist between aspects of the home environment and the development of depressive symptoms cannot be assumed. Genetically informative studies have been used to provide insights about the aetiology of such relationships, often finding them to be partly confounded by the influence of children's genes. Here, we investigate developmental change in the aetiology of the association between aspects of the home environment and depressive symptoms at the onset of adolescence. Methods: We used longitudinal child‐ and parent‐report data from &gt;5,000 twin pairs enrolled in the UK‐representative Twins Early Development Study. Multivariate, genetically sensitive structural equation models were used to decompose latent variance and covariance in depressive symptoms (measured at 12 and 16 years) and aspects of the home environment (at 9 and 14 years) into genetic and environmental influences. Results: Going from childhood to adolescence, genetic influences accounted for an increasing proportion of the association [30% (16–42) of r = .44 in childhood; 40% (25–61) of r = .43 in adolescence], at the expense of shared environmental influences, which decreased from 70% (58–83) to 48% (29–62). Unique environmental influences accounted for a significant proportion of the association in adolescence only [12% (06–18)]. Developmental changes could largely be attributed to subtle shifts in the relative importance of stable aetiological factors, rather than the emergence of influences unique to adolescence. Conclusions: These findings emphasise the importance of developmental and aetiological context in interpreting associations between aspects of the home environment and child emotional outcomes

Associations between attentional bias and interpretation bias and change in school concerns and anxiety symptoms during the transition from primary to secondary school

The transition from primary to secondary school is often associated with a period of heightened anxiety and worry. For most children, any feelings of anxiety subside relatively quickly but for a small minority, emotional difficulties can continue into the first year of secondary school and beyond. This study recruited 109 children and measured their anxiety symptoms and school concerns toward the end of primary school and again at the end of their first term of secondary school. We investigated for the first time whether pre-transition measures of attentional and interpretation bias, and the magnitude of change in attentional bias toward and away from threat stimuli were associated with pre- and post-transition measures of anxiety and school concerns, and the change in these measures over time. Over 50% of the current sample exceeded clinical levels of anxiety at pre-transition. However, anxiety symptoms and school concerns had significantly reduced by post-transition. Higher levels of pre-transition anxiety or school concerns, and a greater magnitude of change in attentional bias towards threat stimuli predicted a larger reduction in anxiety symptoms and school concerns across the transition period. A greater interpretation bias toward threat was associated with higher pre-transition anxiety symptoms and school concerns but not post-transition scores, or the change in these scores. While many children experience heightened anxiety prior to school transition, this appears to be largely temporary and self-resolves. Nonetheless, the current findings highlight the importance of monitoring children’s anxiety and concerns, and related cognitive processes during this important transition period

Associations between diurnal preference, sleep quality and externalizing behaviours: a behavioural genetic analysis

Background - Certain aspects of sleep co-occur with externalizing behaviours in youth, yet little is known about these associations in adults. The present study: (1) examines the associations between diurnal preference (morningness versus eveningness), sleep quality and externalizing behaviours; (2) explores the extent to which genetic and environmental influences are shared between or are unique to these phenotypes; (3) examines the extent to which genetic and environmental influences account for these associations. Method - Questionnaires assessing diurnal preference, sleep quality and externalizing behaviours were completed by 1556 young adult twins and siblings. Results - A preference for eveningness and poor sleep quality were associated with greater externalizing symptoms [r=0.28 (95% CI 0.23–0.33) and 0.34 (95% CI 0.28–0.39), respectively]. A total of 18% of the genetic influences on externalizing behaviours were shared with diurnal preference and sleep quality and an additional 14% were shared with sleep quality alone. Non-shared environmental influences common to the phenotypes were small (2%). The association between diurnal preference and externalizing behaviours was mostly explained by genetic influences [additive genetic influence (A)=80% (95% CI 0.56–1.01)], as was the association between sleep quality and externalizing behaviours [A=81% (95% CI 0.62–0.99)]. Non-shared environmental (E) influences accounted for the remaining variance for both associations [E=20% (95% CI −0.01 to 0.44) and 19% (95% CI 0.01–0.38), respectively]. Conclusions - A preference for eveningness and poor sleep quality are moderately associated with externalizing behaviours in young adults. There is a moderate amount of shared genetic influences between the phenotypes and genetic influences account for a large proportion of the association between sleep and externalizing behaviours. Further research could focus on identifying specific genetic polymorphisms common to both sleep and externalizing behaviours

Role of micronutrients in HIV infection

More than 60% of the estimated 40 million persons with HIV/AIDS worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty, social insecurity, food shortages and malnutrition are major problems.1 In children under the age of 5 years, who live in developing countries, malnutrition has been associated with 50% of the 10.8 million deaths mainly caused by neonatal disorders, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and HIV/AIDS.2 Likewise micronutrient deficiencies are widespread and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality particularly in relation to infectious diseases.3 This review focuss on the interaction between micronutrients and HIV/AIDS and discusses recent research findings that may have important public health implications in terms of the case management of persons with HIV/AIDS Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine Vol. 6 (2) 2005: pp. 18-2

Finding gene-environment interactions for Phobias

Phobias are common disorders causing a great deal of suffering. Studies of gene-environment interaction (G × E) have revealed much about the complex processes underlying the development of various psychiatric disorders but have told us little about phobias. This article describes what is already known about genetic and environmental influences upon phobias and suggests how this information can be used to optimise the chances of discovering G × Es for phobias. In addition to the careful conceptualisation of new studies, it is suggested that data already collected should be re-analysed in light of increased understanding of processes influencing phobias