Judicious prescribing of psychotropic medication for children and adolescents

Mental health disorders occur in 10-20% of youth and by age 18, account for 75% of all adult mental illness . The Growing up in Ireland study reported that at age 17, 10% self-reported having been given a diagnosis of anxiety or depression and 4% were in current treatment . They often run a chronic course with significant personal, family, and societal costs, with mental illness now being recognised as a leading cause of global burden of disease and years lived with a disability . Early and appropriate multi-modal intervention is therefore essential to minimise associated adverse effects.</p

Efficacy of physical removal of a marine pest : the introduced kelp Undaria pinnatifida in a Tasmanian marine reserve

The tools available for incursion response in the marine environment are limited, both in number and in situations where they can be appropriately applied. The ability to make decisions as to when and where a response should occur is limited by knowledge of the efficacy and costs. We undertook an evaluation of manual removal of Undaria pinnatifida sporophytes in a new incursion in the Tinderbox Marine Reserve in Tasmania over a 2.5 year study period. Plants were removed, from a 800 m2 area, on a monthly basis to minimise the likelihood of maturation of sporophytes and subsequent release of zoospores. While manual removal appears to have significantly reduced the number of developing sporophytes, the persistence of ‘hot spots’ through time suggests that either microscopic stages (zoospores, gametophytes or sporelings) create a ‘seed bank’ that persists for longer than 2.5 years or selective gametophyte survival in microhabitats occurs. In order for manual removal of Undaria to be effective a long term commitment to a removal activity needs to be coupled with vector management and education initiatives to reduce the chances of re-inoculation and spread, with monitoring (and response) on a larger spatial scale for the early detection of other incursion sites, and with a treatment to remove persistent microscopic stages

Longitudinal immune profiling reveals key myeloid signatures associated with COVID-19

COVID-19 pathogenesis is associated with an exaggerated immune response. However, the specific cellular mediators and inflammatory components driving diverse clinical disease outcomes remain poorly understood. We undertook longitudinal immune profiling on both whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of hospitalized patients during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Here, we report key immune signatures present shortly after hospital admission that were associated with the severity of COVID-19. Immune signatures were related to shifts in neutrophil to T cell ratio, elevated serum IL-6, MCP-1, and IP-10 and modulation of CD14+ monocyte phenotype and function. Modified features of CD14+ monocytes included poor induction of the prostaglandin-producing enzyme, COX-2, and enhanced expression of the cell cycle marker Ki-67. Longitudinal analysis revealed reversion of some immune features back to the healthy median level in patients with a good eventual outcome. These findings identify previously unappreciated alterations in the innate immune compartment of patients with COVID-19 and lend support to the idea that therapeutic strategies targeting release of myeloid cells from bone marrow should be considered in this disease. Moreover, they demonstrate that features of an exaggerated immune response are present early after hospital admission, suggesting that immunomodulating therapies would be most beneficial at early time points