Preventive interventions in families with parental depression: children’s psychosocial symptoms and prosocial behaviour

The aim is to document the effectiveness of a preventive family intervention (Family Talk Intervention, FTI) and a brief psychoeducational discussion with parents (Let’s Talk about the Children, LT) on children’s psychosocial symptoms and prosocial behaviour in families with parental mood disorder, when the interventions are practiced in psychiatric services for adults in the finnish national health service. Patients with mood disorder were invited to participate with their families. Consenting families were randomized to the two intervention groups. The initial sample comprised 119 families and their children aged 8–16. Of these, 109 completed the interventions and the baseline evaluation. Mothers and fathers filled out questionnaires including standardized rating scales for children’s symptoms and prosocial behaviour at baseline and at 4, 10 and 18 months post-intervention. The final sample consisted of parental reports on 149 children with 83 complete data sets. Both interventions were effective in decreasing children’s emotional symptoms, anxiety, and marginally hyperactivity and in improving children’s prosocial behaviour. The FTI was more effective than the LT on emotional symptoms particularly immediately after the intervention, while the effect of the LT emerged after a longer interval. The study supports the effectiveness of both interventions in families with depressed parents. The FTI is applicable in cultural settings other than the USA. Our findings provide support for including preventive child mental health measures as part of psychiatric services for mentally ill parents

Community Violence and Youth: Affect, Behavior, Substance Use, and Academics

Community violence is recognized as a major public health problem (WHO, World Report on Violence and Health,2002) that Americans increasingly understand has adverse implications beyond inner-cities. However, the majority of research on chronic community violence exposure focuses on ethnic minority, impoverished, and/or crime-ridden communities while treatment and prevention focuses on the perpetrators of the violence, not on the youth who are its direct or indirect victims. School-based treatment and preventive interventions are needed for children at elevated risk for exposure to community violence. In preparation, a longitudinal, community epidemiological study, The Multiple Opportunities to Reach Excellence (MORE) Project, is being fielded to address some of the methodological weaknesses presented in previous studies. This study was designed to better understand the impact of children’s chronic exposure to community violence on their emotional, behavioral, substance use, and academic functioning with an overarching goal to identify malleable risk and protective factors which can be targeted in preventive and intervention programs. This paper describes the MORE Project, its conceptual underpinnings, goals, and methodology, as well as implications for treatment and preventive interventions and future research

Simultaneous Measurement of DNA Methylation and Genome-Nuclear Lamina Interactions in Single Cells

DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine or 5mC) and the 3-dimensional organization of the genome within the cell nucleus are two critical epigenetic features that regulate gene expression and cellular behavior, and aberrant patterns of these epigenetic features are associated with cancer and disease. In cancer, widespread regions of DNA methylation loss, termed hypomethylation, have previously been found positioned at the periphery of the nucleus, the nuclear lamina (NL), suggesting DNA methylation and genome organization could be linked epigenetic states. However, the direct genome-wide relationship between 5mC and genome-NL interactions remains obscured in bulk measurements. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new single-cell sequencing technology (sc5mC+DamID-seq) to simultaneously measure DNA methylation and genome-NL interactions from the same cell. sc5mC+DamID-seq uses mark-specific barcoded adapters and cytosine deamination to identify both epigenetic features and individual cells, enabling us to profile thousands of single cells per day. By applying sc5mC+DamID-seq to chronic myelogenous leukemia cells (KBM7), we observed hypomethylation at regions contacting the NL, known as lamina associated domains (LADs). Interestingly, we also discovered that genomic regions that contact the NL more frequently in single cells display the greatest loss and variability in 5mC. Further, while LADs appear as continuous stretches of contact with the NL in bulk sequencing, LADs at the single-cell level frequently display segments of noncontact with the NL, which we found influences the mean levels of 5mC in LADs. Finally, to test the connection between these two epigenetic features, we globally demethylated the epigenome, which relocated more variable genome-NL contact regions towards the nuclear interior. Thus, simultaneous single-cell measurements in sc5mC+DamID-seq has enabled us to systematically uncover the relationship between DNA methylation and genome organization in cancer cells. As an addition to the protocol, the transcriptome, the ensemble of mRNA produced by a cell, was measured with 5mC and genome-NL contacts, to reveal how epigenetic features directly correlate with gene expression. The mRNA modification m6A was also compared to the epigenetic features to find the relationship between the epigenome and epitranscriptome

Prevention strategies for adolescent depression

Depression is missed more often in adolescents than in adults, partly because they present with symptoms different from those in adults and because many do not seek help. Early detection or the delay of onset can have a significant effect on a young person’s development and social functioning. We briefly discuss diagnosis and screening instruments before presenting the wide range of educational and psychological preventive approaches developed for adolescent depression. Many of the latter are based on the cognitive–behavioural or interpersonal therapy models. We consider how clinicians might use the current evidence base to identify and prevent depression in adolescents, and outline the principles of management of the disorder