Association between self-reported attachment and neurostructural development throughout adolescence

The existing literature suggests that individual differences in attachment may be associated with differential trajectories of structural brain development. In addition to maturation during infancy and childhood, developmental trajectories are characteristic of adolescence, a period marked by increasingly complex interpersonal relationships and significant neurostructural and functional plasticity. It remains to be examined whether attachment prospectively relates to neurostructural developmental trajectories during adolescence. In this longitudinal study, we investigated whether self-reported attachment dimensions of anxiety (AX) and avoidance (AV) could predict elements of cortical thickness (CT) and subcortical volume (SV) trajectories in 95 typically developing adolescents (12–19 years old at study baseline). Self-reported scores of AX and AV were obtained at study baseline, and neurostructural development was assessed at baseline and three timepoints over the four following years. Self-reported AX and AV were associated with steeper CT decreases in prefrontal cortical and cortical midline structures as well as anterior temporal cortex, particularly in participants younger at study baseline. Regarding SV, preliminary differential associations were observed between developmental trajectories and attachment dimensions. Our study suggests that interindividual differences in attachment contribute to shaping neurodevelopmental trajectories for several cortical and subcortical structures during adolescence and young adulthood

Sustain and reinforce transition from child to adult mental health care in Switzerland : study protocol

AIM A suboptimal transition in mental health care affects a young person’s wellbeing and health in the long run. We aim to identify a large cohort of young people approaching the transition boundary between child and adolescent and adult mental health services in the canton of Geneva and implement the model of managed transition for a randomly selected subset. METHODS We will perform a nested-cohort randomised controlled trial, which is a modification of the multiple cohort randomised controlled trial, where the allocation to the intervention is conducted by cluster randomisation, with each distinct mental health service constituting a cluster. We will include 387 adolescents with a mental disorder, without intellectual disability and within 18 months of reaching the transition boundary. We will randomly allocate mental health services to the intervention (managed transition) or control group (treatment as usual). The primary outcome is the patient’s health status as measured by Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) or Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for adults (HoNOS). CONCLUSIONS This is a protocol of a nested-cohort randomised controlled trial. This study will promote change in health systems management and administration. It will facilitate close collaboration between child and adolescent and adult mental health services, which for decades have been completely separated and differentiated

Mapping child and adolescent mental health services and the interface during transition to adult services in six Swiss cantons

Rationale: Transition in psychiatry refers to the period where young people transit from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS). Discontinuity of care during this period is well-documented but little is known about provisions and transition characteristics and policies across Switzerland. The aim of this article is to describe the architecture of public mental health providers in Switzerland and compare it to EU countries. Method: Two mapping surveys, developed previously for European countries, were adapted and sent to cantonal experts: the adapted European CAMHS Mapping Questionnaire (ECM-Q) assessing the architecture and functioning of CAMHS and the adapted Standardized Assessment Tool for Mental Health Transition (SATMeHT) to map CAMHS-AMHS interface. Results: Data were gathered from six cantons. Activity data and transition policies were comparable between Swiss regions and European countries. The percentage of young people below 19 years who were in care was above 2% in every responding canton with a higher proportion of boys than girls for patients <12 years of age. The transition occurred at the age of 18 years, civil majority, in each canton, and between 0 and 24% (3/7) and 25% and 49% (4/7) of young people were expected to transition. One canton (1/7) benefitted from written guidelines, at the CAMHS level only, regarding transition but none had guidelines for mapping CAMHS/AMHS interface even at the regional level. Conclusion: Despite the availability of resources and even if the possibilities of access to care are on average higher than in many European countries, issues regarding transition remain comparable in six Swiss cantons when compared to Europe. Meaning that beyond resources, it is the coordination between services that needs to be worked on. Importantly, implementing those changes would not require investing financial resources but rather working on the coordination between existing teams

Reality Monitoring In Adolescents with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Compared to Age and Gender Matched Typically Developing Adolescents : an fMRI study

Reality monitoring designates the psychological process that helps to discriminate between self and other-generated information, divided into two processes origin and context. Studies on healthy adults and adolescents highlight both overlapping and specific brain regions for both monitoring processes, involving the prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices. This fMRI study aims to further uncover the neural underpinnings of reality monitoring in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS), a neurogenetic disease characterized by an increased risk of developping psychotic disorders..

INVESTIGATION OF SOIL POLLUTION LEVELS FOR ZINC, COPPER, LEAD, NICKEL, CADMIUM AND MANGANESE AT AROUND OF CINKUR PLANT IN KAYSERI

Levels of some heavy metal pollutions in soils at around of a plant produced zinc, cadmium and lead metals were investigated. The contents of soils taken were compared with the metal contents in a soil collected from an area exposed to little or no contamination. The levels of examined metal pollution depend on directions and distances to the plant. A good correlation between the level of metal contaminant and wind blowing direction was also found.Levels of some heavy metal pollutions in soils at around of a plant produced zinc, cadmium and lead metals were investigated. The contents of soils taken were compared with the metal contents in a soil collected from an area exposed to little or no contamination. The levels of examined metal pollution depend on directions and distances to the plant. A good correlation between the level of metal contaminant and wind blowing direction was also found.</p

Determination of Some Heavy Metal Concentrations of Sage Tea with FAAS

Herbal teas are blends based on the plant's roots, root hairs, branch shoots, aromatic parts of leaves, flowers, shells, fruits, or seeds that are prepared by drying aromatic parts in the boiling water. Although the plant teas are known with many benefits in terms of health, they are an important threat for people’s life if they are exposed to some contamination due to the misuse or overuse or uncontrolled production. The living environment of the plants is polluted with many harmful substances which arise from the various sources. The factors such as the development of industry and increasing traffic, pesticides, industrial and household waste increase the heavy metal pollution. In this study, the sage teas were collected from the different localities (markets, market place, herbalist) within the province, Karaman (Turkey). The samples were taken in the sufficient quantities and analyzed by the appropriate drying, milling and dissolution processes. The samples were prepared as 2 parallels for each sample and were solved by the wet burning method. The concentrations of the examined elements were determined by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. According to the results, the amounts of Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Mn, Mg, Fe and Ca were determined in all of the samples. Cr was not designated in the samples. Co and Cd exceeded the limits which are accepted in Europe and in Turkey. It should be noted that these foods can easily be contaminated due to the factors such as the physical and chemical structure of the soil, agricultural activities, storage and packaging conditions

Participant Recruitment Issues in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinical Trials with a Focus on Prevention Programs: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Literature.

Introduction: There is a strong need to conduct rigorous and robust trials for children and adolescents in mental health settings. One of the main barriers to meeting this requirement is the poor recruitment rate. Effective recruitment strategies are crucial for the success of a clinical trial, and therefore, we reviewed recruitment strategies in clinical trials on children and adolescents in mental health with a focus on prevention programs. Methods: We reviewed the literature by searching PubMed/Medline, the Cochrane Library database, and Web of Science through December 2022 as well as the reference lists of relevant articles. We included only studies describing recruitment strategies for pediatric clinical trials in mental health settings and extracted data on recruitment and completion rates. Results: The search yielded 13 studies that enrolled a total of 14,452 participants. Overall, studies mainly used social networks or clinical settings to recruit participants. Half of the studies used only one recruitment method. Using multiple recruitment methods (56.6%, 95%CI: 24.5-86.0) resulted in higher recruitment. The use of monetary incentives (47.0%, 95%CI: 24.6-70.0) enhanced the recruitment rate but not significantly (32.6%, 95%CI: 15.7-52.1). All types of recruitment methods showed high completion rates (82.9%, 95%CI: 61.7-97.5) even though prevention programs showed the smallest recruitment rate (76.1%, 95%CI: 50.9-94.4). Conclusions: Pediatric mental health clinical trials face many difficulties in recruitment. We found that these trials could benefit from faster and more efficient recruitment of participants when more than one method is implemented. Social networks can be helpful where ethically possible. We hope the description of these strategies will help foster innovation in recruitment for pediatric studies in mental health

La maturation cérébrale chez les jeunes et la transition des patients consultants en pédopsychiatrie: y-a-t-il une incohérence?

En psychiatrie, la transition désigne le passage des services de soins pour enfants et adolescents aux services pour adultes. Cela se produit vers l'âge de 18 ans (majorité civile) dans la plupart des pays du monde. Bien qu'il soit indéniable que les besoins des enfants soient différents de ceux des adultes, cette barrière artificielle de l'âge chronologique pose des problèmes pour une continuité optimale des soins. La croissance n'est, en effet, pas uniforme dans le temps et l'âge développemental ainsi que la maturation cérébrale jouent un rôle crucial dans l'autonomisation des individus. Ceci impacte alors la transition qui peut ainsi être sous optimale et conduire à une discontinuité thérapeutique, lors du passage d'un service à l'autre. Ces jeunes, dépourvus de soins, reviennent parfois des années plus tard dans des situations plus chroniques que s'ils avaient eu une continuité thérapeutique. Il semble urgent de changer les politiques et d'adapter les soins psychiatriques aux nouvelles découvertes sur le développement du cerveau qui se poursuit tout au long de la vie plutôt que de se focaliser uniquement sur un âge chronologique. Cette adaptation contribuerait à diminuer les déficits de soins

Longitudinal associations between self-reported attachment dimensions and neurostructural development from adolescence to early adulthood

The existing literature suggests that individual differences in attachment may be associated with differential trajectories of structural brain development. In addition to maturation during infancy and childhood, developmental trajectories are characteristic of adolescence, a period marked by increasingly complex interpersonal relationships and significant neurostructural and functional plasticity. It remains to be examined whether attachment prospectively relates to neurostructural developmental trajectories during adolescence. In this longitudinal study, we investigated whether self-reported attachment dimensions of anxiety (AX) and avoidance (AV) could predict elements of cortical thickness (CT) and subcortical volume (SV) trajectories in 95 typically developing adolescents (12-19 years old at study baseline). Self-reported scores of AX and AV were obtained at study baseline, and neurostructural development was assessed at baseline and three timepoints over the four following years. Self-reported AX and AV were associated with steeper CT decreases in prefrontal cortical and cortical midline structures as well as anterior temporal cortex, particularly in participants younger at study baseline. Regarding SV, preliminary differential associations were observed between developmental trajectories and attachment dimensions. Our study suggests that interindividual differences in attachment contribute to shaping neurodevelopmental trajectories for several cortical and subcortical structures during adolescence and young adulthood