Parent psychological adjustment, donor conception and disclosure: a follow-up over 10 years.

STUDY QUESTION: What is the relationship between parent psychological adjustment, type of gamete donation (donor insemination, egg donation) and parents' disclosure of their use of donated gametes to their children. SUMMARY ANSWER: Disclosure of donor origins to the child was not always associated with optimal levels of psychological adjustment, especially for fathers in donor insemination families. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Cross-sectional analyses have found mothers and fathers who conceived a child using donated sperm or eggs to be psychologically well-adjusted, with few differences emerging between parents in gamete donation families and parents in families in which parents conceived naturally. The relationship between mothers' and fathers' psychological well-being, type of gamete donation (donor insemination, egg donation) and parents' disclosure decisions has not yet been examined. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: In this follow-up study, data were obtained from mothers and fathers in donor insemination and egg donation families at 5 time points; when the children in the families were aged 1, 2, 3, 7 and 10. In the first phase of the study, 50 donor insemination families and 51 egg donation families with a 1-year-old child participated. By age 10, the study included 34 families with a child conceived by donor insemination and 30 families with a child conceived by egg donation, representing 68 and 58% of the original sample, respectively. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Families were recruited through nine fertility clinics in the UK. Standardized questionnaires assessing depression, stress and anxiety were administered to mothers and fathers in donor insemination and egg donation families. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Mothers and fathers in both donor insemination and egg donation families were found to be psychologically well-adjusted; for the vast majority of parents' levels of depression, anxiety and parenting stress were found to be within the normal range at all 5 time points. Disclosure of the child's donor origins to the child was not always associated with optimal levels of parental psychological adjustment. For example, disclosure was associated with lower levels of psychological well-being for certain groups in particular (such as fathers in donor insemination families), at certain times (when children are in middle childhood and have a more sophisticated understanding of their donor origins). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Owing to small sample sizes, the value of this study lies not in its generalizability, but in its potential to point future research in new directions. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Donor insemination and egg donation families are a heterogeneous group, and future research should endeavour to obtain data from fathers as well as mothers. Support and guidance in terms of disclosure and family functioning might be most beneficial for parents (and especially fathers) in donor insemination families, particularly as the child grows older. The more that is known about the process of disclosure over time, from the perspective of the different members of the family, the better supported parents and their children can be.The first three phases of this study were supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust. The final two phases of this study were supported by grant number RO1HD051621 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Developmen

Density of states and zero Landau level probed through capacitance of graphene

We report capacitors in which a finite electronic compressibility of graphene dominates the electrostatics, resulting in pronounced changes in capacitance as a function of magnetic field and carrier concentration. The capacitance measurements have allowed us to accurately map the density of states D, and compare it against theoretical predictions. Landau oscillations in D are robust and zero Landau level (LL) can easily be seen at room temperature in moderate fields. The broadening of LLs is strongly affected by charge inhomogeneity that leads to zero LL being broader than other levels

Hydrodynamic theory of de-wetting

A prototypical problem in the study of wetting phenomena is that of a solid plunging into or being withdrawn from a liquid bath. In the latter, de-wetting case, a critical speed exists above which a stationary contact line is no longer sustainable and a liquid film is being deposited on the solid. Demonstrating this behavior to be a hydrodynamic instability close to the contact line, we provide the first theoretical explanation of a classical prediction due to Derjaguin and Levi: instability occurs when the outer, static meniscus approaches the shape corresponding to a perfectly wetting fluid

On the cause and extent of outer radiation belt losses during the 30 September 2012 dropout event

Abstract On 30 September 2012, a flux dropout occurred throughout Earth\u27s outer electron radiation belt during the main phase of a strong geomagnetic storm. Using eight spacecraft from NASA\u27s Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) and Van Allen Probes missions and NOAA\u27s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites constellation, we examined the full extent and timescales of the dropout based on particle energy, equatorial pitch angle, radial distance, and species. We calculated phase space densities of relativistic electrons, in adiabatic invariant coordinates, which revealed that loss processes during the dropout were \u3e 90% effective throughout the majority of the outer belt and the plasmapause played a key role in limiting the spatial extent of the dropout. THEMIS and the Van Allen Probes observed telltale signatures of loss due to magnetopause shadowing and subsequent outward radial transport, including similar loss of energetic ring current ions. However, Van Allen Probes observations suggest that another loss process played a role for multi-MeV electrons at lower L shells (L\u3c ∼4). Key Points Dropout events can encompass the entire outer radiation belt Dropouts can result in \u3e90% losses and be a hard reset on the system Loss at L \u3e ∼4 is dominated by MP shadowing and outward transport

Flow-induced dynamic surface tension effects at nanoscale

The aim of this study is to investigate flow-induced dynamic surface tension effects, similar to the well-known Marangoni phenomena, but solely generated by the nanoscale topography of the substrates. The flow-induced surface tension effects are examined on the basis of a sharp interface theory. It is demonstrated how nanoscale objects placed at the boundary of the flow domain result in the generation of substantial surface forces acting on the bulk flow

The laboratory millimeter and submillimeter spectrum of HCO

The rotational absorption frequencies of 68 new lines from the HCO radical in its ground electronic state have been measured in the millimeter and submillimeter spectral region. The large zero-field data set acquired has allowed the complex spectrum of this light asymmetric rotor with unpaired electronic spin and magnetic hyperfine interactions to be completely analyzed to within experimental accuracy (<0.1 MHz) for the first time. The wide range of states observed provides a highly accurate map of the rotational frequencies of the formyl radical, which should enable the abundance and excitation of interstellar HCO to be examined in detail

Temporal and Spatial Aspects of Gas Release During the 2010 Apparition of Comet 103P/Hartley-2

We report measurements of eight primary volatiles (H2O, HCN, CH4, C2H6, CH3OH, C2H2, H2CO, and NH3) and two product species (OH and NH2) in comet 103P/Hartley-2 using high dispersion infrared spectroscopy. We quantified the long- and short-term behavior of volatile release over a three-month interval that encompassed the comet's close approach to Earth, its perihelion passage, and flyby of the comet by the Deep Impact spacecraft during the EPOXI mission. We present production rates for individual species, their mixing ratios relative to water, and their spatial distributions in the coma on multiple dates. The production rates for water, ethane, HCN, and methanol vary in a manner consistent with independent measures of nucleus rotation, but mixing ratios for HCN, C2H6, & CH3OH are independent of rotational phase. Our results demonstrate that the ensemble average composition of gas released from the nucleus is well defined, and relatively constant over the three-month interval (September 18 through December 17). If individual vents vary in composition, enough diverse vents must be active simultaneously to approximate (in sum) the bulk composition of the nucleus. The released primary volatiles exhibit diverse spatial properties which favor the presence of separate polar and apolar ice phases in the nucleus, establish dust and gas release from icy clumps (and also, directly from the nucleus), and provide insights into the driver for the cyanogen (CN) polar jet. The spatial distributions of C2H6 & HCN along the near-polar jet (UT 19.5 October) and nearly orthogonal to it (UT 22.5 October) are discussed relative to the origin of CN. The ortho-para ratio (OPR) of water was 2.85 \pm 0.20; the lower bound (2.65) defines Tspin > 32 K. These values are consistent with results returned from ISO in 1997.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, to be published in: Astrophysical Journal Letter

Forces between a single atom and its distant mirror image

An excited-state atom whose emitted light is back-reflected by a distant mirror can experience trapping forces, because the presence of the mirror modifies both the electromagnetic vacuum field and the atom's own radiation reaction field. We demonstrate this mechanical action using a single trapped barium ion. We observe the trapping conditions to be notably altered when the distant mirror is shifted by an optical wavelength. The well-localised barium ion enables the spatial dependence of the forces to be measured explicitly. The experiment has implications for quantum information processing and may be regarded as the most elementary optical tweezers.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, published versio