The role of maternal obesity in the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders

Recent evidence indicates that perinatal exposure to maternal obesity, metabolic disease, including diabetes and hypertension, and unhealthy maternal diet has a long-term impact on offspring behavior and physiology. During the past three decades, the prevalence of both obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders has rapidly increased. Epidemiologic studies provide evidence that maternal obesity and metabolic complications increase the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders (food addiction, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa), and impairments in cognition in offspring. Animal models of maternal high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity also document persistent changes in offspring behavior and impairments in critical neural circuitry. Animals exposed to maternal obesity and HFD consumption display impairments in hyperactivity, impairments in social behavior, increased anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors, substance addiction, food addiction, and diminished cognition. During development, these offspring are exposed to elevated levels of nutrients (fatty acids, glucose), hormones (leptin, insulin), and inflammatory factors (C-reactive protein, interleukin, and tumor necrosis factor). Such factors appear to permanently change neuroendocrine regulation and brain development in offspring. In addition, inflammation of the offspring brain during gestation impairs the development of neural pathways critical in the regulation of behavior, such as serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and melanocortinergic systems. Dysregulation of these circuits increases the risk of mental health disorders. Given the high rates of obesity in most developed nations, it is critical that the mechanisms by which maternal obesity programs offspring behavior are thoroughly characterized. Such knowledge will be critical in the development of preventative strategies and therapeutic interventions

Documenting Torture and Ill-Treatment Amongst the Poor

This briefing highlights research that identifies potential deficiencies in the reporting of instances of torture and ill-treatment amongst the poorest members of society, and suggests actions that might be progressed to address these.ESRC-DFI

Response by the authors

We would like to thank the editors and the commentators for their comments and the opportunity to respond. We greatly appreciate the time and effort that such experienced and expert practitioners have taken to read our paper

A comparative study of the use of the Istanbul Protocol amongst civil society organizations in low-income countries

The Istanbul Protocol (IP) is one of the great success stories of the global anti-torture movement, setting out universal guidelines for the production of rigorous, objective and reliable evidence about allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The IP is explicitly designed to outline ‘minimum standards for States’. However, it is all too often left to civil society organizations to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment. In this context, important questions remain as to how and where the IP can be used best by such organizations. These questions are particularly acute in situations where human rights groups may have limited institutional capacity. This paper explores the practical challenges faced by civil society in using the IP in Low-Income Countries. It is based on qualitative research in three case studies: Nepal, Kenya, and Bangladesh. This research involved over 80 interviews with human rights practitioners. The conclusions of the paper are that the Istanbul Protocol provides a useful framework for documentation, but more comprehensive forms of documentation will often be limited to a very small – albeit important - number of legal cases. In many cases, the creation of precise and standardized forms of evidence is not necessarily the most effective form of documentation for redress or accountability. In the absence of legal systems willing and able to respond effectively to allegations of torture and ill-treatment, there are severe limitations on the practical effectiveness of detailed and technical forms of documentation

A Class of Eccentric Binaries with Dynamic Tidal Distortions Discovered with Kepler

We have discovered a class of eccentric binary systems within the Kepler data archive that have dynamic tidal distortions and tidally-induced pulsations. Each has a uniquely shaped light curve that is characterized by periodic brightening or variability at time scales of 4-20 days, frequently accompanied by shorter period oscillations. We can explain the dominant features of the entire class with orbitally-varying tidal forces that occur in close, eccentric binary systems. The large variety of light curve shapes arises from viewing systems at different angles. This hypothesis is supported by spectroscopic radial velocity measurements for five systems, each showing evidence of being in an eccentric binary system. Prior to the discovery of these 17 new systems, only four stars, where KOI-54 is the best example, were known to have evidence of these dynamic tides and tidally-induced oscillations. We perform preliminary fits to the light curves and radial velocity data, present the overall properties of this class and discuss the work required to accurately model these systems.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to Ap

Testing a conceptual Hierarchy of Effects model of food marketing exposure and associations with children and adolescents' diet-related outcomes.

Objective: Children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing contributes to poor diets by influencing the foods that children like, request, buy and consume. This study aimed to use confirmatory mediational analyses to test a hypothetical model of marketing effects, to better understand the mechanisms behind food marketing's impacts on children. Design: Children responded to a cross-sectional online survey about their attitudes towards, and purchase and consumption behaviours of, 10 frequently promoted food/beverage brands, and their media use. Structural equation modelling tested a priori potential pathways for the effects of food marketing exposure on children's diets. Participants: 10-16 year old children (n400). Setting: Australia. Results:There was a significant positive correlation between children's commercial screen media use and their attitudes towards brands (related to perceived social norms) and their brand purchasing behaviours, including their own purchases and requests to parents. The use of strategies to avoid advertising in commercial screen media reduced but did not remove the association between media use and brand purchases. Other brand exposures (on clothing, outdoor advertising, sponsorships) had a positive association with children's perceived social norms about brands and their brand purchases and requests. Non-commercial screen media use was not associated with any brand-related outcomes. Conclusions: Commercial screen media use and other brand exposures were strongly positively associated with children's perceptions and purchasing behaviours of frequently marketed food/beverages. Regulations to restrict children's exposures to food marketing on-screen and through other media are required to reduce the effect of marketing exposure on children's food purchasing behaviours

Seprase: An overview of an important matrix serine protease

Seprase or Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) is an integral membrane serine peptidase, which has been shown to have gelatinase activity. Seprase has a dual function in tumour progression. The proteolytic activity of Seprase has been shown to promote cell invasiveness towards the ECM and also to support tumour growth and proliferation. Seprase appears to act as a proteolytically active 170-kDa dimer, consisting of two 97- kDa subunits. It is a member of the group type II integral serine proteases, which includes dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV/CD26) and related type II transmembrane prolyl serine peptidases, which exert their mechanisms of action on the cell surface. DPPIV and Seprase exhibit multiple functions due to their abilities to form complexes with each other and to interact with other membrane-associated molecules. Localisation of these protease complexes at cell surface protrusions, called invadopodia, may have a prominent role in processing soluble factors and in the degradation of extracellular matrix components that are essential to the cellular migration and matrix invasion that occur during tumour invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis