A Longitudinal Study of Maternal Postnatal Bonding and Psychosocial Factors that Contribute to Social-Emotional Development

In this longitudinal study, we examined how maternal bonding and psycho-social factors are associated with social-emotional problems in two-year-old children. Our data came from a birth cohort from which data were collected at four timepoints: prenatally during the third trimester, and postnatally at 3, 8 and 24 months. The participants were 1,667 mothers, of which 943 (56.6%) returned the questionnaire at each timepoint of the longitudinal study. The Children's social-emotional problems were examined using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. According to linear regression analysis, maternal bonding difficulties at three and eight months, maternal expectations of the unborn baby during pregnancy, and maternal relationships within and outside the family were related to social-emotional problems in children of two years of age. The results highlight the importance of screening mothers who already prenatally have bonding problems or mothers who have bonding problems postnatally to provide effective and targeted intervention support.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Variation near MTNR1A associates with early development and interacts with seasons

Melatonin is a circadian regulatory hormone with neuroprotective properties. We have previously demonstrated the association of the genetic variant rs12506228 near the melatonin receptor 1A gene (MTNR1A) with intolerance to shift‐work. Furthermore, this variant has been connected to Alzheimer's disease. Because of the previously suggested role of melatonin signalling in foetal neurocognitive and sleep development, we studied here the association of rs12506228 with early development. The study sample comprised 8‐month‐old infants from the Finnish CHILD‐SLEEP birth cohort (n = 1,301). Parental questionnaires assessed socioemotional, communication and motor development, as well as sleep length and night awakenings. The A allele of rs12506228 showed an association with slower socioemotional (p = .025) and communication (p = .0098) development, but no direct association with sleep. However, the association of the Finnish seasons with infant sleep length interacted with rs12506228. Taken together, rs12506228 near MTNR1A, which has been previously linked to adult and elderly traits, is shown here to associate with slower early cognitive development. In addition, these results suggest that the darker seasons associate with longer infant sleep time, but only in the absence of the rs12506228 AA genotype. Because the risk allele has been connected to fewer brain MT1 melatonin receptors, these associations may reflect the influence of decreased melatonin signalling in early development.Peer reviewe

Potential health impacts of heavy metals on HIV-infected population in USA.

Noninfectious comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases have become increasingly prevalent and occur earlier in life in persons with HIV infection. Despite the emerging body of literature linking environmental exposures to chronic disease outcomes in the general population, the impacts of environmental exposures have received little attention in HIV-infected population. The aim of this study is to investigate whether individuals living with HIV have elevated prevalence of heavy metals compared to non-HIV infected individuals in United States. We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2010 to compare exposures to heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and total mercury in HIV infected and non-HIV infected subjects. In this cross-sectional study, we found that HIV-infected individuals had higher concentrations of all heavy metals than the non-HIV infected group. In a multivariate linear regression model, HIV status was significantly associated with increased blood cadmium (p=0.03) after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, poverty income ratio, and smoking. However, HIV status was not statistically associated with lead or mercury levels after adjusting for the same covariates. Our findings suggest that HIV-infected patients might be significantly more exposed to cadmium compared to non-HIV infected individuals which could contribute to higher prevalence of chronic diseases among HIV-infected subjects. Further research is warranted to identify sources of exposure and to understand more about specific health outcomes

“After Lunch We Offer Quiet Time and Meditation” : Early Learning Environments in Australia and Finland Through the Lenses of Educators

Modern societies organize ECEC services from their own cultural, social and political contexts, which is also reflected in the steering documents of the country and further in the work of teachers (Garvis, et al., 2018). In many of the countries children’s access to preschool has broadened and the benefits of high quality ECEC have been recognized. In Australia and Finland, concepts of play based learning, child initiated play or free play have been highlighted as founding pillars of the early learning environments. In this paper we take a closer look at ECEC environments in Australia and Finland through the lenses of 26 educators. They described in an online questionnaire children’s daily activities as well as they indicated the amount of free play related to these activities.Peer reviewe

Transgenerational Effects of Heavy Metal Pollution on Immune Defense of the Blow Fly Protophormia terraenovae

Recently environmental conditions during early parental development have been found to have transgenerational effects on immunity and other condition-dependent traits. However, potential transgenerational effects of heavy metal pollution have not previously been studied. Here we show that direct exposure to heavy metal (copper) upregulates the immune system of the blow fly, Protophormia terraenovae, reared in copper contaminated food. In the second experiment, to test transgenerational effects of heavy metal, the parental generation of the P. terraenovae was reared in food supplemented with copper, and the immunocompetence of their offspring, reared on uncontaminated food, was measured. Copper concentration used in this study was, in the preliminary test, found to have no effect on mortality of the flies. Immunity was tested on the imago stage by measuring encapsulation response against an artificial antigen, nylon monofilament. We found that exposure to copper during the parental development stages through the larval diet resulted in immune responses that were still apparent in the next generation that was not exposed to the heavy metal. We found that individuals reared on copper-contaminated food developed more slowly compared with those reared on uncontaminated food. The treatment groups did not differ in their dry body mass. However, parental exposure to copper did not have an effect on the development time or body mass of their offspring. Our study suggests that heavy metal pollution has positive feedback effect on encapsulation response through generations which multiplies the harmful effects of heavy metal pollution in following generations

Transgenerational Effects of Parental Larval Diet on Offspring Development Time, Adult Body Size and Pathogen Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster

Environmental conditions experienced by parents are increasingly recognized to affect offspring performance. We set out to investigate the effect of parental larval diet on offspring development time, adult body size and adult resistance to the bacterium Serratia marcescens in Drosophila melanogaster. Flies for the parental generation were raised on either poor or standard diet and then mated in the four possible sex-by-parental diet crosses. Females that were raised on poor food produced larger offspring than females that were raised on standard food. Furthermore, male progeny sired by fathers that were raised on poor food were larger than male progeny sired by males raised on standard food. Development times were shortest for offspring whose one parent (mother or the father) was raised on standard and the other parent on poor food and longest for offspring whose parents both were raised on poor food. No evidence for transgenerational effects of parental diet on offspring disease resistance was found. Although paternal effects have been previously demonstrated in D. melanogaster, no earlier studies have investigated male-mediated transgenerational effects of diet in this species. The results highlight the importance of not only considering the relative contribution each parental sex has on progeny performance but also the combined effects that the two sexes may have on offspring performance

Interprofessional collaboration in the context of pain management in neonatal intensive care:a cross-sectional survey

Abstract Purpose: Describe interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in the context of pain management in neonatal intensive care based on healthcare team members’ perceptions of partnership, cooperation and coordination. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Background: IPC improves the quality of pain management for neonates. IPC is teamwork involving both professionals and the neonates’ parents. Parents play an important role in the holistic care of their infant, which includes pain management. Methods: Data was collected with Assessment of Interprofessional Collaboration Scale (AITCS-II) from the healthcare teams featuring representatives (n = 132) of multiple professional groups who were working in neonatal intensive care units (n = 4) in Finland. Descriptive statistical methods and the Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests were used to analyze the data. Results: The results were examined in three subscales of IPC (partnership, cooperation and coordination) on three different levels: “need to focus on developing collaborative practice”, “moving towards collaboration” and “good collaboration”. Participants perceived all the subscales as well as the overall level of IPC for pain management in neonatal intensive care to be at level “moving towards collaboration”. Conclusion: Participants appreciated each other as professionals and were willing to cooperate, but they had different perceptions of parental involvement in IPC. Attention should be paid to IPC in specific contexts such as pain management

Moniammatillisen yhteistyön toteutuminen vastasyntyneiden kivunhoidossa

Tiivistelmä Tarkoituksena oli kuvata moniammatillisen yhteistyön toteutumista vastasyntyneiden kivunhoidossa, kun sitä tarkasteltiin moniammatillisessa tiimissä työskentelevien ammattihenkilöiden arvioimana. Tutkimus oli poikkileikkaustutkimus. Kohdejoukko koostui suomalaisessa vastasyntyneiden tehohoidossa työskentelevistä ammattihenkilöistä (n=132). Aineisto kerättiin vuonna 2019 kyselylomakkeella (AITCS-II) ja analysoitiin kuvailevilla tilastollisilla menetelmillä. Kumppanuuden (AITCS- II pisteet Ka=3,82; Kh=0,68), yhteistyön (AITCS-II pisteet Ka=3,95; Kh=0,54) ja koordinoinnin (AITCS- II pisteet Ka=3,80; Kh=0,62) arvioitiin olevan “menossa kohti yhteistyötä”. Koulutus ja ammattiryhmä olivat tilastollisesti merkitsevästi yhteydessä kumppanuuteen, jolloin ylemmän ja alemman korkeakoulututkinnon suorittaneet lääkärit ja kätilöt arvioivat kumppanuuden tason paremmaksi kuin muut vastaajat. Miehet arvioivat yhteistyön tason paremmaksi kuin naiset. Ammattiryhmä oli tilastollisesti merkitsevästi yhteydessä koordinointiin, jolloin lääkärit ja kätilöt arvioivat tason paremmaksi kuin muut ammattiryhmät. Vastaajat arvostivat tiimin muita ammattilaisia ja olivat halukkaita yhteistyöhön, mutta käsitykset vanhempien osallistamisesta poikkesivat toisistaan. Laadukasta hoitotyötä tavoiteltaessa on tärkeää kiinnittää huomiota moniammatilliseen yhteistyöhön rajatuissa konteksteissa, kuten vastasyntyneiden kivunhoidossa. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää moniammatilliseen yhteistyöhön perustuvien toimintamallien kehittämisessä sekä vastasyntyneiden kivunhoidon yhtenäistämisessä.Abstract Realisation of interprofessional collaboration in neonatal pain management This study was aimed to describe interprofessional collaboration in the context of pain management of neonates based on healthcare team members’ perceptions. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was used. Members of healthcare teams (n = 132) representing different professional groups in Finnish neonatal intensive care units participated. Data were gathered in 2019 using a questionnaire (AITCS-II) and analysed using descriptive statistical methods. Participants perceived the level of partnership (Mean AITCS-II score=3,82; SD: 0,68), cooperation (Mean AITCS-II score=3,95; SD: 0,54) coordination (Mean AITCS-II score=3,80; SD: 0,62) for pain management in neonatal intensive care to be “moving towards collaboration”. Level of education and professional title were significantly associated with partnership, which means that master´s or doctoral degree and professional title as physician or midwife assessed the level of collaboration to be better than other participants. Men assessed the level of cooperation to be better than women. Out of the background variables the professional title was significantly associated with coordination, when physicians and midwives assessed the level to be better than other participants. Participants appreciated each other and were willing to cooperate, but they had different perceptions of parental involvement. When reaching quality of care, attention should be paid to interprofessional collaboration in specific contexts such as pain management of neonates. The results of the study can be used to develop interprofessional collaboration approaches and to integrate pain management among neonates