Wellbeing and Nurture: Physical and Emotional Security in Childhood

While there is increasing concern about developing and reinforcing children’s physical and emotional security, researchers have been busy working out the actual mechanics, even at the cellular level, of how this can be achieved. This report will provide a concise update on what is known about optimising children’s wellbeing and security in childhood and far beyond. In examining the ways in which children grow and develop, we can learn from that because their physical and emotional wellbeing and therefore that of our future society will depend on it. This report represents what we have learned and we hope that it will contribute in a small way to the making of the brave new ‘post-Covid’ world

“Biological Geometry Perception”: Visual Discrimination of Eccentricity Is Related to Individual Motor Preferences

In the continuum between a stroke and a circle including all possible ellipses, some eccentricities seem more “biologically preferred” than others by the motor system, probably because they imply less demanding coordination patterns. Based on the idea that biological motion perception relies on knowledge of the laws that govern the motor system, we investigated whether motorically preferential and non-preferential eccentricities are visually discriminated differently. In contrast with previous studies that were interested in the effect of kinematic/time features of movements on their visual perception, we focused on geometric/spatial features, and therefore used a static visual display.In a dual-task paradigm, participants visually discriminated 13 static ellipses of various eccentricities while performing a finger-thumb opposition sequence with either the dominant or the non-dominant hand. Our assumption was that because the movements used to trace ellipses are strongly lateralized, a motor task performed with the dominant hand should affect the simultaneous visual discrimination more strongly. We found that visual discrimination was not affected when the motor task was performed by the non-dominant hand. Conversely, it was impaired when the motor task was performed with the dominant hand, but only for the ellipses that we defined as preferred by the motor system, based on an assessment of individual preferences during an independent graphomotor task.Visual discrimination of ellipses depends on the state of the motor neural networks controlling the dominant hand, but only when their eccentricity is “biologically preferred”. Importantly, this effect emerges on the basis of a static display, suggesting that what we call “biological geometry”, i.e., geometric features resulting from preferential movements is relevant information for the visual processing of bidimensional shapes

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Prevalence of at-risk drinking recognition:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background There is a prominent “treatment gap” in relation to at-risk drinking (ARD), whereby a minority of at-risk drinkers ever access treatment. Research suggests that recognition of problem drinking is a necessary precursor for help-seeking and treatment. Objective This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of ARD recognition within those meeting criteria for ARD. Method PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and MEDLINE were searched using the terms: problem* AND (recogni* OR perceive* OR perception OR self-identif*) AND alcohol - to identify studies published in English between 2000 and 2022. Studies reported the frequency (weighted or unweighted) of participants meeting ARD criteria that also directly identified ARD, perceived a need for help, or endorsed a readiness to change. The prevalence of ARD recognition was estimated using a random-effects meta-analysis with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results 17 studies were included which provided data for 33,349 participants with ARD. Most (n=14) were US studies. ARD was self-identified via a single indicator in 7 studies, whereas recognition was assessed via stages of change in 4 studies and need for help in 6 studies. The pooled prevalence of ARD recognition was 31% (95% CI: 25%-36%), and subgroup analyses indicated alcohol use severity, measure of recognition, and population type to be significant sources of heterogeneity. Conclusions Most individuals with ARD fail to recognise their drinking problem so preventive approaches that promote recognition may be helpful. However, we must be cautious of how inconsistency in question framing affects self-reported problem recognition

Perceptions of family acceptance into the military community among U.S. LGBT service members: A mixed-methods study

Introduction: Despite calls to increase representation of diverse family structures in military family research, little is known about the experiences of the families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) service members (SMs). Using minority stress theory and a mixed-methods design, this study considers LGBT SMs' perceptions of family acceptance within the military community. Methods: Survey data from 115 LGBT SMs who have a spouse or partner, a child or children, or both and qualitative data from 42 LGBT SMs who participated in semi-structured interviews were used. Demographic information, perceived family acceptance by the SM's unit, leadership, and duty station, and beliefs about the appropriateness of military services for LGBT families were examined. Results: Many LGBT SMs, in both quantitative and qualitative findings, felt their families were accepted, although many still perceived a lack of acceptance, particularly regarding appropriateness of military family support services. No differences in perceived family acceptance were noted across sexual and gender identity categories. LGBT SMs who reported lower acceptance were more likely to report concerns about their family's safety and the appropriateness of family support services, as well as increased physical and mental health symptoms. Discussion: These findings shed light on the experiences of LGBT military families and highlight both successes, with respect to inclusion, and areas for more scrutiny. Results raise particular concerns about supportive services that are perceived to be inappropriate for LGBT families. Evaluating LGBT families' use of supportive services, barriers to accessing services, and outcomes of these experiences should be prioritized