Child-centred Indicators for Violence Prevention: Summary Report on a Living Lab in the City of Valenzuela, Philippines

In 2015, world leaders made a commitment to end all forms of violence against children by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve the aspirations of the SDG global targets, Governments set targets, taking into account national circumstances, to reduce children’s risk and be responsive to local contexts. Prevention and response efforts need to be grounded in the best available evidence to achieve measurable reductions in violence, and if the needs of children are to be foregrounded, strategies to end violence must respect not only children’s protection rights but also their participation rights. Moreover, it is critical that the processes for monitoring and measuring impacts centre children’s needs, aspirations and experiences. If children themselves report that violence is reducing in their personal lives, in their communities and in their countries, we will know that efforts to address violence, abuse and neglect are succeeding. This report describes a project undertaken in collaboration with End Violence, the City of Valenzuela, the Young and Resilient Research Centre and other partners to develop child-centred indicators for violence prevention in the City of Valenzuela in greater Manila, Philippines. Child and adult stakeholders worked together in a series of 14 participatory workshops to creatively explore children’s experiences and perceptions of violence, to map their aspirations for change, to ideate strategies for addressing violence in their communities, and to develop child-centred indicators against which violence reduction can be measured. This project found that children’s perspectives are a vital resource for efforts to localise INSPIRE strategies and that the deployment of child-centred indicators usefully augments and complements the INSPIRE measurement framework. Beyond the City of Valenzuela, there is opportunity to scale the use of these child-centred indicators to other parts of the Philippines and globally. The report also offers reflections on the key strengths and limitations of the Living Lab process for engaging a wide range of stakeholders, including children themselves, in the project of ending violence against children

Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: A Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low-Resource Settings

Measures that produce valid and reliable antenatal depressive symptom scores in low-resource country contexts are important for efforts to illuminate risk factors, outcomes, and effective interventions in these contexts. Establishing the psychometric comparability of scores across countries also facilitates analyses of similarities and differences across contexts. To date, however, few studies have evaluated the psychometric properties and comparability of the most widely used antenatal depressive symptom measures across diverse cultural, political, and social contexts. To address this gap, we used data from the Evidence for Better Lives Study—Foundational Research (EBLS-FR) project to examine the internal consistency reliability, nomological network validity, and cross-country measurement invariance of the nine-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in antenatal samples across eight low-resource contexts. We found that the PHQ-9 scores had good internal consistency across all eight countries. Correlations between PHQ-9 scores and constructs conceptually associated with depression were generally consistent, with a few exceptions. In measurement invariance analyses, only partial metric invariance held and only across four of the countries. Our results suggest that the PHQ-9 yields internally consistent scores when administered in culturally diverse antenatal populations; however, the meaning of the scores may vary. Thus, interpretation of PHQ-9 scores should consider local meanings of symptoms of depression to ensure that context-specific conceptualizations and manifestations of antenatal depressive symptoms are adequately reflecte

Measuring antenatal depressive symptoms across the world:A validation and cross-country invariance analysis of the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in eight diverse low-resource settings

Measures that produce valid and reliable antenatal depressive symptom scores in low-resource country contexts are important for efforts to illuminate risk factors, outcomes, and effective interventions in these contexts. Establishing the psychometric comparability of scores across countries also facilitates analyses of similarities and differences across contexts. To date, however, few studies have evaluated the psychometric properties and comparability of the most widely used antenatal depressive symptom measures across diverse cultural, political, and social contexts. To address this gap, we used data from the Evidence for Better Lives Study—Foundational Research (EBLS-FR) project to examine the internal consistency reliability, nomological network validity, and cross-country measurement invariance of the nine-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in antenatal samples across eight low-resource contexts. We found that the PHQ-9 scores had good internal consistency across all eight countries. Correlations between PHQ-9 scores and constructs conceptually associated with depression were generally consistent, with a few exceptions. In measurement invariance analyses, only partial metric invariance held and only across four of the countries. Our results suggest that the PHQ-9 yields internally consistent scores when administered in culturally diverse antenatal populations; however, the meaning of the scores may vary. Thus, interpretation of PHQ-9 scores should consider local meanings of symptoms of depression to ensure that context-specific conceptualizations and manifestations of antenatal depressive symptoms are adequately reflected.</p

Choriorefinal Disease Patterns in Congenic Mice following Intraocular Inoculation with HSV-1

The von Szily method of uniocular intracameral inoculation of herpes simplex virus has recently been adapted to a murine model of HSV-1-mediated chorioretinitis. 1 &apos; 2 Studies to date have shown that following the inoculation of HSV-1 into the anterior chamber of one eye of a BALB/c mouse, the virus travels via neuronal pathways to gain access to the contralateral eye, producing a necrotizing chorioretinitis with relative ipsilateral retinal sparing. Intravitreal injection of virus, in contrast, produces both ipsilateral and contralateral chorioretinitis. 3 While the exact mechanism(s) responsible for these observations are not entirely known, a unique set of acquired, HSV-specific cellular immune responses develops following inoculation and is implicated in the pathogenesis of the von Szily model. &quot; 6 Specifically,

Distribution of \u3cem\u3eCotesia rubecula\u3c/em\u3e (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Its Displacement of \u3cem\u3eCotesia glomerata\u3c/em\u3e in Eastern North America

A survey was conducted from May to Oct of 2011 of the parasitoid community of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), in cole crops in part of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. The findings of our survey indicate that Cotesia rubecula (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) now occurs as far west as North Dakota and has become the dominant parasitoid of P. rapae in the northeastern and north central United States and adjacent parts of southeastern Canada, where it has displaced the previously common parasitoid Cotesia glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Cotesia glomerata remains the dominant parasitoid in the mid-Atlantic states, from Virginia to North Carolina and westward to southern Illinois, below latitude N 38° 48′. This pattern suggests that the released populations of C. rubecula presently have a lower latitudinal limit south of which they are not adapted

Intergenerational transmission of the effects of maternal childhood adversities via poor infant outcomes

BACKGROUND: The effects of maternal exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be transmitted to the subsequent generation through various biopsychosocial mechanisms. Previous studies have found an association between maternal ACEs and poor infant outcomes (i.e., preterm birth and low birthweight). Further, evidence suggest that one intermediary mechanism is through a behavioural pathway, specifically, through the use of substances (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs) during pregnancy. This doctoral thesis aimed to explore the associations between maternal ACEs, prenatal substance use, and poor infant outcomes. METHODS: To address this overarching research question, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. Additionally, various statistical analyses (i.e., multilevel logistic regression with marginal effects, mediation analyses, and latent class analyses) were performed using the Evidence for Better Lives Study (EBLS) dataset (n = 1189). Moreover, the research focus was expanded by exploring the interrelationships of maternal ACEs, a wide array of biopsychosocial and environmental risks during pregnancy, and the adverse infant outcomes of interest by conducting network analysis using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) dataset (n = 8379). RESULTS: Results from the review and the multilevel models indicate a positive association between threshold ≥ 4 threshold ACEs and prenatal substance use but not with poor infant outcomes. Additionally, results from the mediation analyses found no evidence to suggest that prenatal substance use played a mediating role between the former and the latter. The marginal effects analyses identified childhood physical abuse and parental incarceration, respectively, as individual risks with the highest predictive probabilities for prenatal smoking. Domestic violence exposure and neglect were the individual risk factors for prenatal alcohol use, having a household member with mental illness was the individual risk factor with the highest predictive probability for prenatal illicit drug use and childhood sexual abuse in relation to adverse infant outcomes. The LCA identified three high-risk classes and one low-risk class, namely: (1) highly maltreated (7%), (2) emotionally and physically abused with domestic violence exposure (13%), (3), emotionally abused (40%), and (4) low household dysfunction and abuse (40%). Pairwise comparisons between classes indicate that class 1 and 3 had higher probabilities of prenatal illicit drug use compared to class 4. Additionally, class 2 had higher probability of low birthweight compared to the three remaining classes. Finally, results from the network analyses indicate that childhood and prenatal risk factors were highly interrelated. Childhood physical abuse, but not ≥ 4 threshold ACEs, was directly associated with low birthweight. In addition, childhood sexual abuse played a central role in bridging ACEs to other risks and to the outcomes of interest. Overall, prenatal smoking was determined as the most influential prenatal risk factor. This thesis has implications for research, policy, and practice. The results illuminated the dynamic and multifaceted nature of ACEs and their deleterious impact on maternal behavioural outcomes during pregnancy. Despite of this, it was also evident that greater specificity is warranted, by paying further attention to various parameters of risk exposure and risk and protective factors at different levels of the individual’s social ecology in order to gather a more accurate representation of its impact on adult and infant health. Also, consensus is needed in research in how ACEs are constructed, measured, coded, and analysed before we can start teasing out similarities and differences across cultures. Smoking cessation during pregnancy should be a key target to improve lifelong health and promote healthy child development. Policymakers should consider investing in cessation services that are integrated in antenatal health services where trauma-informed principles are embedded in practice; where social, cultural, and organisational stigma are addressed; and the focus lie in enhancing support rather than directing blame