Health and development of children born after assisted reproductive technology and sub-fertility compared to naturally conceived children: data from a national study

In a non-matched case-control study using data from two large national cohort studies, we investigated whether indicators of child health and development up to 7 years of age differ between children conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART), children born after sub-fertility (more than 24 months of trying for conception) and other children. Information on ART use/sub-fertility was available for 23,649 children. There were 227 cases (children conceived through ART) and two control groups: 783 children born to sub-fertile couples, and 22,639 children born to couples with no fertility issues. In models adjusted for social and demographic factors there were significant differences between groups in rate of hospital admissions before the children were 9 months old (P=0.029), with the ART group showing higher rates of hospital admission than the no fertility issues control group, the sub-fertile control group being intermediate between the two. Children born after ART had comparable health and development beyond 9 months of age to their naturally conceived peers. This applied to the whole sample and to a sub-sample of children from deprived neighborhoods

The health and development of children born to older mothers in the United Kingdom: observational study using longitudinal cohort data

Objective: To assess relations between children’s health and development and maternal age. Design: Observational study of longitudinal cohorts. Setting: Millennium Cohort Study (a random sample of UK children) and the National Evaluation of Sure Start study (a random sample of children in deprived areas in England), 2001 to 2007. Participants: 31 257 children at age 9 months, 24 781 children at age 3 years, and 22 504 at age 5 years. Main outcome measures: Childhood unintentional injuries and hospital admissions (aged 9 months, 3 years, and 5 years), immunisations (aged 9 months and 3 years), body mass index, language development, and difficulties with social development (aged 3 and 5 years). Results: Associations were independent of personal and family characteristics and parity. The risk of children having unintentional injuries requiring medical attention or being admitted to hospital both declined with increasing maternal age. For example, at three years the risk of unintentional injuries declined from 36.6% for mothers aged 20 to 28.6% for mothers aged 40 and hospital admissions declined, respectively, from 27.1% to 21.6%. Immunisation rates at nine months increased with maternal age from 94.6% for mothers aged 20 to 98.1% for mothers aged 40. At three years, immunisation rates reached a maximum, at 81.3% for mothers aged 27, being lower for younger and older mothers. This was linked to rates for the combined measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation because excluding these resulted in no significant relation with maternal age. An increase in overweight children at ages 3 and 5 years associated with increasing maternal age was eliminated once maternal body mass index was included as a covariate. Language development was associated with improvements with increasing maternal age, with scores for children of mothers aged 20 being lower than those of children of mothers aged 40 by 0.21 to 0.22 standard deviations at ages 3 and 4 years. There were fewer social and emotional difficulties associated with increasing maternal age. Children of teenage mothers had more difficulties than children of mothers aged 40 (difference 0.28 SD at age 3 and 0.16 SD at age 5). Conclusion: Increasing maternal age was associated with improved health and development for children up to 5 years of age

External bias in the model of isolation of communities

We extend a model of community isolation in the d-dimensional lattice onto the case with an imposed imbalance between birth rates of competing communities. We give analytical and numerical evidences that in the asymmetric two-specie model there exists a well defined value of the asymmetry parameter when the emergence of the isolated (blocked) subgroups is the fastest, i.e. the characteristic time tc is minimal. This critical value of the parameter depends only on the lattice dimensionality and is independent from the system size. Similar phenomenon was observed in the multi-specie case with a geometric distribution of the birth rates. We also show that blocked subgroups in the multi-specie case are absent or very rare when either there is a strictly dominant specie that outnumbers the others or when there is a large diversity of species. The number of blocked species of different kinds decreases with the dimension of the multi-specie system.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Single-qubit lasing and cooling at the Rabi frequency

For a superconducting qubit driven to perform Rabi oscillations and coupled to a slow electromagnetic or nano-mechanical oscillator we describe previously unexplored quantum optics effects. When the Rabi frequency is tuned to resonance with the oscillator the latter can be driven far from equilibrium. Blue detuned driving leads to a population inversion in the qubit and a bi-stability with lasing behavior of the oscillator; for red detuning the qubit cools the oscillator. This behavior persists at the symmetry point where the qubit-oscillator coupling is quadratic and decoherence effects are minimized. There the system realizes a "single-atom-two-photon laser".Comment: Replaced with final published version, fig. 2 compresse

Paternal age, paternal presence and children’s health: an observational study

In an observational study of 31,257 children we investigated the effects of paternal age at the time of the child’s birth, paternal absence and non-biological fathers on children’s health. Results are per 5 year change in paternal age. Older fathers were associated with lower rates of unintentional injuries, odds ratio (OR)=0.966, P=0.0027. There was a quadratic association between paternal age and risk of hospital admission, β=0.0121, P=0.0109, with minimum risk at paternal age37.7. Absent fathers were associated with increased risk of hospital admission, OR=1.19,P<10-3, lower rates of complete immunizations to 9 months, OR=0.562, P<10-3, higher Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) difficulties scores: β=0.304, P=0.0024 (3 year olds), β=0.697, P<10-3 (5 year olds). Non-biological fathers were associated with increased risk of unintentional injury, OR=1.16, P=0.0319 and hospital admission,OR=1.26, P=0.0166; lower rates of complete immunizations to 9 months, OR=0.343, P=0.0309 and higher SDQ difficulties scores:β=0.908, P<10-3

Individual, family and neighbourhood factors related to life satisfaction and perceived discrimination among low-income, non-immigrant mothers in seven European countries

We examined associations between dimensions of social exclusion and maternal life satisfaction and maternal perceived discrimination for low-income, non-immigrant mothers of children at preschool and primary school age in seven European countries (Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal – N = 1227), using standardized survey data from a large-scale interview study. Life satisfaction and perceived discrimination were found to be associated, indicating that both dimensions are important to consider in relation to subjective well-being. The results of linear mixed effect regression models demonstrated that lack of resources in multiple dimensions of social exclusion were linked to our well-being measures, including objective life condition variables (material deprivation, poor neighbourhood quality; both outcomes) as well as more relational aspects (unemployment, less social support; life satisfaction) and adult literacy related difficulties (perceived discrimination). These findings reaffirm the importance of combatting social exclusion. There are implications for public policy, emphasizing the importance of joined-up policies that tackle different forms of exclusion

Structural Factors and Policy Change as Related to the Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care for 3–4 Year Olds in the UK

In many developed countries it is now the norm for preschool children to spend time outside the home in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Research indicates that attending ECEC can promote longer-term positive life outcomes, which is more likely when the ECEC is of higher quality. In a UK study of 600 ECEC group settings for 3–4 year olds, staff qualifications were predictive of quality at private (for profit) settings. For voluntary (not for profit) settings, which were more homogenous in staff qualifications, having a staff training plan and a better staff to child ratio were found to be significant predictors of quality. However, state funded nursery classes/schools, which tend to have less favorable staff to child ratios than private and voluntary settings, also tended to have higher process quality ratings, where the presence of more highly qualified staff apparently allowed quality to be maintained with a larger number of children per staff member. A comparison of equivalent quality data from separate UK studies, conducted before and after a period of substantial policy change in relation to ECEC quality, indicated that policy change may have powerful effects in improving ECEC quality with implications for long-term child, and potentially adult, well-being

Histological image data of limb skeletal tissue from larval and adult Ambystoma mexicanum

AbstractThe data presented in this article are related to the article entitled “Cartilage and bone cells do not participate in skeletal regeneration in Ambystoma mexicanum limbs” [1]. Here we present image data of the post-embryonic development of the forelimb skeletal tissue of Ambystoma Mexicanum. Histological staining was performed on sections from the intact limbs of young (6.5cm) and old (25cm) animals, and on dissected skeletal tissues (cartilage, bone, and periosteum) from these animals

National Trends in Preterm Infant Mortality in the United States by Race and Socioeconomic Status, 1995-2020

Importance: Inequalities in preterm infant mortality exist between population subgroups within the United States. // Objective: To characterize trends in preterm infant mortality by maternal race and socioeconomic status to assess how inequalities in preterm mortality rates have changed over time. // Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a retrospective longitudinal descriptive study using the US National Center for Health Statistics birth infant/death data set for 12 256 303 preterm infant births over 26 years, between 1995 and 2020. Data were analyzed from December 2022 to March 2023. // Exposures: Maternal characteristics including race, smoking status, educational attainment, antenatal care, and insurance status were used as reported on an infant’s US birth certificate. // Main Outcomes and Measures: Preterm infant mortality rate was calculated for each year from 1995 to 2020 for all subgroups, with a trend regression coefficient calculated to describe the rate of change in preterm mortality. // Results: The average US preterm infant mortality rate (IMR) decreased from 33.71 (95% CI, 33.71 to 34.04) per 1000 preterm births per year between 1995-1997, to 23.32 (95% CI, 23.05 to 23.58) between 2018-2020. Black non-Hispanic infants were more likely to die following preterm births than White non-Hispanic infants (IMR, 31.09; 95% CI, 30.44 to 31.74, vs 21.81; 95% CI, 21.43 to 22.18, in 2018-2020); however, once born, extremely prematurely Black and Hispanic infants had a narrow survival advantage (IMR rate ratio, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.84 to 0.91, in 2018-2020). The rate of decrease in preterm IMR was higher in Black infants (−0.015) than in White (−0.013) and Hispanic infants (−0.010); however, the relative risk of preterm IMR among Black infants compared with White infants remained the same between 1995-1997 vs 2018-2020 (relative risk, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.38 to 1.44, vs 1.43; 95% CI, 1.39 to 1.46). The rate of decrease in preterm IMR was higher in nonsmokers compared with smokers (−0.015 vs −0.010, respectively), in those with high levels of education compared with those with intermediate or low (−0.016 vs – 0.010 or −0.011, respectively), and in those who had received adequate antenatal care compared with those who did not (−0.014 vs −0.012 for intermediate and −0.013 for inadequate antenatal care). Over time, the relative risk of preterm mortality widened within each of these subgroups. // Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that between 1995 and 2020, US preterm infant mortality improved among all categories of prematurity. Inequalities in preterm infant mortality based on maternal race and ethnicity have remained constant while socioeconomic disparities have widened over time