Annual Research Review: Umbrella synthesis of meta-analyses on child maltreatment antecedents and interventions: differential susceptibility perspective on risk and resilience

Child maltreatment in the family context is a prevalent and pervasive phenomenon in many modern societies. The global perpetration of child abuse and neglect stands in stark contrast to its almost universal condemnation as exemplified in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Much work has been devoted to the task of prevention, yet a grand synthesis of the literature is missing. Focusing on two core elements of prevention, that is, antecedents for maltreatment and the effectiveness of (preventative) interventions, we performed an umbrella review of meta-analyses published between January 1, 2014, and December 17, 2018. Meta-analyses were systematically collected, assessed, and integrated following a uniform approach to allow their comparison across domains. From this analysis of thousands of studies including almost 1.5 million participants, the following risk factors were derived: parental experience of maltreatment in his or her own childhood (d =.47), low socioeconomic status of the family (d =.34), dependent and aggressive parental personality (d =.45), intimate partner violence (d =.41), and higher baseline autonomic nervous system activity (d =.24). The effect size for autonomic stress reactivity was not significant (d = −.10). The umbrella review of interventions to prevent or reduce child maltreatment showed modest intervention effectiveness (d =.23 for interventions targeting child abuse potential or families with self-reported maltreatme

Entangling power and operator entanglement in qudit systems

We establish the entangling power of a unitary operator on a general finite-dimensional bipartite quantum system with and without ancillas, and give relations between the entangling power based on the von Neumann entropy and the entangling power based on the linear entropy. Significantly, we demonstrate that the entangling power of a general controlled unitary operator acting on two equal-dimensional qudits is proportional to the corresponding operator entanglement if linear entropy is adopted as the quantity representing the degree of entanglement. We discuss the entangling power and operator entanglement of three representative quantum gates on qudits: the SUM, double SUM, and SWAP gates.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Version 3: Figure was improved and the MS was a bit shortene

Who and when should we screen for prostate cancer? Interviews with key opinion leaders

Prostate cancer screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is highly controversial. In this Q & A, Guest Editors for BMC Medicine's 'Spotlight on Prostate Cancer' article collection, Sigrid Carlsson and Andrew Vickers, invite some of the world's key opinion leaders to discuss who, and when, to screen for prostate cancer. In response to the points of view from the invited experts, the Guest Editors summarize the experts' views and give their own personal opinions on PSA screening

3^3He Structure and Mechanisms of p3p^3He Backward Elastic Scattering

The mechanism of $p^3$He backward elastic scattering is studied. It is found that the triangle diagrams with the subprocesses $pd\to ^3$He$\pi^0$, $pd^*\to ^3$He$\pi^0$ and $p(pp)\to^3$He$\pi^+$, where $d^*$ and $pp$ denote the singlet deuteron and diproton pair in the $^1S_0$ state, respectively, dominate in the cross section at 0.3-0.8 GeV, and their contribution is comparable with that for a sequential transfer of a $np$ pair at 1-1.5 GeV. The contribution of the $d^*+pp$, estimated on the basis of the spectator mechanism of the $p(NN)\to ^3$He$\pi$ reaction, increases the $p^3$He$\to ^3$He$p$ cross section by one order of magnitude as compared to the contribution of the deuteron alone. Effects of the initial and final states interaction are taken into account.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 4 postscript figures, expanded version, accepted by Physical Review

Emergency repair of inguinal hernia in the premature infant is associated with high direct medical costs

_Purpose:_ Inguinal hernia repair is frequently performed in premature infants. Evidence on optimal management and timing of repair, as well as related medical costs is still lacking. The objective of this study was to determine the direct medical costs of inguinal hernia, distinguishing between premature infants who had to undergo an emergency procedure and those who underwent elective inguinal hernia repair. _Methods:_ This cohort study based on medical records concerned premature infants with inguinal hernia who underwent surgical repair within 3 months after birth in a tertiary academic children’s hospital between January 2010 and December 2013. Two groups were distinguished: patients with incarcerated inguinal hernia requiring emergency repair and patients who underwent elective repair. Real medical costs were calculated by multiplying the volumes of healthcare use with corresponding unit prices. Nonparametric bootstrap techniques were used to derive a 95 % confidence interval (CI) for the difference in mean costs. _Results:_ A total of 132 premature infants were included in the analysis. Emergency surgery was performed in 29 %. Costs of hospitalization comprised 65 % of all costs. The total direct medical costs amounted to €7418 per premature infant in the emergency repair group versus €4693 in the elective repair group. Multivariate analysis showed a difference in costs of €1183 (95 % CI −1196; 3044) in favor of elective repair after correction for potential risk factors. _Conclusion:_ Emergency repair of inguinal hernia in premature infants is more expensive than elective repair, even after correction for multiple confounders. This deserves to b

Zebrafish reveal new roles for Fam83f in hatching and the DNA damage-mediated autophagic response

The FAM83 (Family with sequence similarity 83) family is highly conserved in vertebrates, but little is known of the functions of these proteins beyond their association with oncogenesis. Of the family, FAM83F is of particular interest because it is the only membrane-targeted FAM83 protein. When overexpressed, FAM83F activates the canonical Wnt signalling pathway and binds to and stabilizes p53; it therefore interacts with two pathways often dysregulated in disease. Insights into gene function can often be gained by studying the roles they play during development, and here we report the generation of fam83f knock-out (KO) zebrafish, which we have used to study the role of Fam83f in vivo. We show that endogenous fam83f is most strongly expressed in the hatching gland of developing zebrafish embryos, and that fam83f KO embryos hatch earlier than their wild-type (WT) counterparts, despite developing at a comparable rate. We also demonstrate that fam83f KO embryos are more sensitive to ionizing radiation than WT embryos—an unexpected finding, bearing in mind the previously reported ability of FAM83F to stabilize p53. Transcriptomic analysis shows that loss of fam83f leads to downregulation of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI(3)P) binding proteins and impairment of cellular degradation pathways, particularly autophagy, a crucial component of the DNA damage response. Finally, we show that Fam83f protein is itself targeted to the lysosome when overexpressed in HEK293T cells, and that this localization is dependent upon a C’ terminal signal sequence. The zebrafish lines we have generated suggest that Fam83f plays an important role in autophagic/lysosomal processes, resulting in dysregulated hatching and increased sensitivity to genotoxic stress in vivo

Feasibility of storing carbon dioxide on a tectonically active margin: New Zealand

Screening of New Zealand's sedimentary basins indicates several gigatonnes of carbon dioxide storage capacity might be available. However, carbon dioxide storage is currently untested in New Zealand and it is likely that most theoretical storage capacity will be discounted once detailed assessments are made. New Zealand's position on an active Neogene plate boundary raises additional key factors that will affect final site selection. Issues specific to New Zealand's setting include 1) rapid facies changes, syndeposition and post-depositional structural events, particularly in regions close to the plate boundary; 2) rapid subsidence and high sedimentation rates leading to overpressured reservoirs and strong water drive in some structures, which will potentially result in injectivity issues, particularly in depleted fields; 3) mineralogically immature reservoir rocks requiring assessment of injected gas-rock reactions; 4) common occurrence of faults of various scales, requiring assessments of their sealing capacity and present stress fields; and 5) distinguishing induced seismicity from common natural seismicity. Some of these risk factors will also influence the relationship between social acceptance and the design of regulations. Despite the risks, hydrocarbon producing fields in Taranaki indicate that viable reservoir-seal pairs are likely to be present. Additionally, injection of small volumes of produced water and significant natural gas storage at the depleted Ahuroa Field, have not led to noticeable induced seismicity, though large volumes expected from a carbon dioxide injection project would likely require careful site assessment for seismic risk in some areas. Natural analogue and laboratory fluid rock experiments are investigating the effects of carbon dioxide injection on reservoir mineralogy and some effects can now be anticipated. Currently produced gas from New Zealand locally contains significant carbon dioxide (up to 44% carbon dioxide in the Taranaki region and up to 30% in the Canterbury Basin) and if new discoveries also have a high carbon dioxide content they may require processing before use, with disposal of carbon dioxide. Such a large gas discovery anywhere in New Zealand could therefore stimulate rapid deployment of CCS. It is highly likely viable storage sites exist, particularly away from the current plate boundary, though the site-specific nature of site assessment is particularly important in New Zealand's geological context

The price of rapid exit in venture capital-backed IPOs

This paper proposes an explanation for two empirical puzzles surrounding initial public offerings (IPOs). Firstly, it is well documented that IPO underpricing increases during “hot issue” periods. Secondly, venture capital (VC) backed IPOs are less underpriced than non-venture capital backed IPOs during normal periods of activity, but the reverse is true during hot issue periods: VC backed IPOs are more underpriced than non-VC backed ones. This paper shows that when IPOs are driven by the initial investor’s desire to exit from an existing investment in order to finance a new venture, both the value of the new venture and the value of the existing firm to be sold in the IPO drive the investor’s choice of price and fraction of shares sold in the IPO. When this is the case, the availability of attractive new ventures increases equilibrium underpricing, which is what we observe during hot issue periods. Moreover, I show that underpricing is affected by the severity of the moral hazard problem between an investor and the firm’s manager. In the presence of a moral hazard problem the degree of equilibrium underpricing is more sensitive to changes in the value of the new venture. This can explain why venture capitalists, who often finance firms with more severe moral hazard problems, underprice IPOs less in normal periods, but underprice more strongly during hot issue periods. Further empirical implications relating the fraction of shares sold and the degree of underpricing are presented