Maternal depression and offspring mental health at age 5: MINA-Brazil cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To identify longitudinal patterns of maternal depression between three months and five years after child’s birth, to examine predictor variables for these trajectories, and to evaluate whether distinct depression trajectories predict offspring mental health problems at age 5 years. METHODS: We used data from the Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition in Acre (MINA-Brazil) study, a population-based birth cohort in the Western Brazilian Amazon. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 3 and 6–8 months, and 1 and 2 years after delivery. Mental health problems in 5-year-old children were evaluated with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) reported by parents. Trajectories of maternal depression were calculated using a group-based modelling approach. RESULTS: We identified four trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: “low” (67.1%), “increasing” (11.5%), “decreasing” (17.4%), and “high-chronic” (4.0%). Women in the “high/ chronic” trajectory were the poorest, least educated, and oldest compared with women in the other trajectory groups. Also, they were more frequently multiparous and reported smoking and having attended fewer prenatal consultations during pregnancy. In the adjusted analyses, the odds ratio of any SDQ disorder was 3.23 (95%CI: 2.00–5.22) and 2.87 (95%CI: 1.09–7.57) times higher among children of mothers belonging to the “increasing” and “high-chronic” trajectory groups, respectively, compared with those of mothers in the “low” depressive symptoms group. These differences were not explained by maternal and child characteristics included in multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: We identified poorer mental health outcomes for children of mothers assigned to the “chronic/severe” and “increasing” depressive symptoms trajectories. Prevention and treatment initiatives to avoid the adverse short, medium, and long-term effects of maternal depression on offspring development should focus on women belonging to these groups

Localized electrosynthesis of polypyrrole by application of short voltage pulses

By the application of short voltage pulses to a tool electrode in close proximity to a substrate electrode, the electro-polymerization of pyrrole in aqueous solution was locally confined with down to micrometer precision. Depending on the pulse parameters polypyrrole towers with up to 100 µm height and about 50 µm diameter were fabricated on the substrate. The spatial confinement of the electro-polymerization reaction is explained by the local charging behavior of the double layer capacitance during voltage pulses of only 100 ns to 10 µs duration. Additionally, the 3D morphology of the polymer patterns is influenced by the diffusion of the educts and intermediate reaction products in the gap between the tool electrode and the substrate. Proper choice of the tool substrate distance and the pulse to pause ratio of the pulse trains allows the deposition of structures whose morphologies vary from fiber-like to cauliflower-like and compact

Adapted resistance training objecting the independence of people with paraplegia in the daily life activities

Orientador: Paulo Ferreira de AraujoDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação FisicaResumo: Aumenta a cada dia o número de pessoas com deficiência física decorrente de lesões da medula espinhal. A lesão da medula espinhal é uma das mais devastadoras síndromes incapacitantes que acometem o ser humano, e consiste, na alteração da função medular que ocorre devido a um trauma ou doença, podendo provocar inúmeras alterações neuromusculares, esqueléticas, hormonais, metabólicas, sociais e psicológicas no indivíduo lesionado, reduzindo a sua capacidade de participar das atividades diárias vigorosas necessárias para manter um estilo de vida saudável e menos dependente. OBS.: O resumo na integra poderá ser visualizado no link ou texto completo da tese digitalAbstract: Every day the number of people with any physical deficiencies is increasing due to the spinal cord injury. The spinal cord injury is one of the most destructive syndromes that can make the human being incapable, and it consists in the marrow function changing that happens due to a trauma or disease which can cause a great number of changes in the injured person, such as, neuromuscular changes, those of the skeleton, those of the hormones and of the metabolism, and also the social and psychological changes, reducing their capacity of participating in daily physical activities that are necessary to keep a healthy and a less dependent stile of life. Note: the complete abstract is avaiable with the link or full eletronic digital theses or dissertationsMestradoAtividade Fisica, Adaptação e SaudeMestre em Educação Físic