A polyepigenetic glucocorticoid exposure score at birth and childhood mental and behavioral disorders

BackgroundMaternal depression and anxiety during pregnancy may enhance fetal exposure to glucocorticoids (GCs) and harm neurodevelopment. We tested whether a novel cross-tissue polyepigenetic biomarker indicative of in utero exposure to GC is associated with mental and behavioral disorders and their severity in children, possibly mediating the associations between maternal prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms and these child outcomes.MethodsChildren (n = 814) from the Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study were followed-up from birth to age 7.1–10.7 years. A weighted polyepigenetic GC exposure score was calculated based on the methylation profile of 24 CpGs from umbilical cord blood. Child diagnosis of mental and behavioral disorder (n = 99) and its severity, defined as the number of days the child had received treatment (all 99 had received outpatient treatment and 8 had been additionally in inpatient treatment) for mental or behavioral disorder as the primary diagnosis, came from the Care Register for Health Care. Mothers (n = 408) reported on child total behavior problems at child's age of 2.3–5.8 years and their own depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy (n = 583).ResultsThe fetal polyepigenetic GC exposure score at birth was not associated with child hazard of mental and behavioral disorder (HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.54; 1.24, p = 0.35) or total behavior problems (unstandardized beta = −0.10, 95% CI -0.31; 0.10, p = 0.33). However, for one standard deviation decrease in the polyepigenetic score, the child had spent 2.94 (95%CI 1.59; 5.45, p ConclusionsThese findings suggest that fetal polyepigenetic GC exposure score at birth was not associated with any mental or behavioral disorder diagnosis or mother-rated total behavior problems, but it may contribute to identifying children at birth who are at risk for more severe mental or behavioral disorders.</p

Fetal programming of neuropsychiatric disorders by maternal pregnancy depression: a systematic mini review

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression complicates a large proportion of pregnancies. Current evidence shows numerous harmful effects on the offspring. Reviews, which include depression, concluded that stress has harmful effects on the offspring's outcomes neuro-cognitive development, temperament traits, and mental disorders. OBJECTIVE: This mini review of recent studies, sought to narrow the scope of exposure and identify studies specifically assessing prenatal depression and offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The review included longitudinal, cohort, cross-sectional, clinical, quasi-experimental, epidemiological, or intervention study designs published in English from 2014 to 2018. PARTICIPANTS: Study populations included mother-child dyads, mother-father-child triads, mother-alternative caregiver-child triads, and family studies utilizing sibling comparisons. METHODS: We searched PubMED and Web of Science. Study inclusion and data extraction were based on standardized templates. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). RESULTS: Thirteen studies examining neuropsychiatric outcomes were included. We judged the evidence to be moderate to high quality. CONCLUSIONS: Our review supports that maternal prenatal depression is associated with neuropsychiatric adversities in children.Peer reviewe

Application of multi-layer structures of wafer-type made of composite materials for creating microwave antenna radomes

A new type of microwave antenna radome structure for aircrafts is suggested, which is a waffle radomes that possess improved characteristics if compared to traditional structures. Design peculiarities of such radome walls, waffle structures and their load-bearing elements made of dielectric composite materials are considered. A calculation model for such structures is justified and a methodology of selecting reasonable layer parameters according to radome’s level of radiolucency. A comparison of radio engineering characteristics of waffle and traditional three-layer structures of radome’s walls in a wide range of electromagnetic waves’ incidence angles in presence of mass limitations is conducted

Strength analysis features of radar covers and radomes

The paper analyzes radar covers formed as shallow shells reinforced by a system of support bars and combined shells of revolution. To analyze stress-strain characteristics, the theory of sandwich orthotropic plates is used, with shear effects taken into consideration. The strength of sandwich walls with honeycomb separation is analyzed as a stress level evaluation, when a local stability collapse of the bearing layers of the construction's sandwich wall takes place. The reliability and validity of the methods applied are confirmed by experimental investigations

Epigenetic clocks for gestational age: statistical and study design considerations

In this letter to the editor, we highlight some concerns with a recently published method to estimate gestational age at delivery from DNA methylation data. We conduct novel analyses to highlight the implications of different choices in study design and statistical methods for the prediction of phenotypes from methylation data