Membranous nephropathy: a retrospective observational study of membranous nephropathy in north east and central London

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Work on this study was supported in part by grants from the European Union, FP7 (EURenOmics grant agreement 2012-305608)

Trajectories of maternal symptoms of anxiety and depression. A 13-year longitudinal study of a population-based sample

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a lack of population-based studies of developmental trajectories following mothers throughout the whole child-rearing phase and there are few longitudinal studies focusing on both symptoms of depression and anxiety. The aim of the current study is to identify latent trajectory groups based on counts of symptoms of anxiety and depression among mothers throughout the child-rearing phase and the relations of the latent groups to maternal socio-demographic variables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data is from a prospective, longitudinal study of nearly 1000 families in Norway followed from when the index children were 18 months until they were 14.5 years old (the TOPP study). The study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify latent groups of mothers with distinct trajectories across time of symptom counts. Latent group differences on socio-demographic variables were tested with one-way ANOVAs, chi-square tests and exact tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Six trajectories based on maternal scores from six waves of data collection of symptoms of anxiety and depression were identified; a 'No symptoms' group with mothers without symptoms; a 'Low' group with mothers reporting low symptom levels; a 'Moderate-low' group with mothers reporting moderately low symptom levels; a 'Moderate' group with mothers with moderate symptoms; a 'High-chronic' group with mothers with overall high symptom levels; and a 'Low-rising' group with mothers starting with a low symptom level that increased over time. The mothers in the High-chronic symptom group differed from the other mothers on several socio-demographic variables. They were significantly younger than the mothers in the Low group comprising the oldest mothers. The mothers in the High-chronic group had significantly lower education, were less likely to have paid work and were less likely to be living with a partner than the mothers in the other groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study shows socio-demographic differences between mothers classified into six trajectory groups based on symptoms of anxiety and depression covering 13 years of the child-rearing period. Specific socio-demographic risk factors characterised mothers in the High-chronic symptom group. Identifying subgroups with enduring problems might inform more targeted preventive efforts.</p

Sexual Dimorphism of Staminate- and Pistillate-Phase Flowers of Saponaria officinalis (Bouncing Bet) Affects Pollinator Behavior and Seed Set

The sequential separation of male and female function in flowers of dichogamous species allows for the evolution of differing morphologies that maximize fitness through seed siring and seed set. We examined staminate- and pistillate-phase flowers of protandrous Saponaria officinalis for dimorphism in floral traits and their effects on pollinator attraction and seed set. Pistillate-phase flowers have larger petals, greater mass, and are pinker in color, but due to a shape change, pistillate-phase flowers have smaller corolla diameters than staminate-phase flowers. There was no difference in nectar volume or sugar content one day after anthesis, and minimal evidence for UV nectar guide patterns in staminate- and pistillate-phase flowers. When presented with choice arrays, pollinators discriminated against pistillate-phase flowers based on their pink color. Finally, in an experimental garden, in 2012 there was a negative correlation between seed set of an open-pollinated, emasculated flower and pinkness (as measured by reflectance spectrometry) of a pistillate-phase flower on the same plant in plots covered with shade cloth. In 2013, clones of genotypes chosen from the 2012 plants that produced pinker flowers had lower seed set than those from genotypes with paler flowers. Lower seed set of pink genotypes was found in open-pollinated and hand-pollinated flowers, indicating the lower seed set might be due to other differences between pink and pale genotypes in addition to pollinator discrimination against pink flowers. In conclusion, staminate- and pistillate-phase flowers of S. officinalis are dimorphic in shape and color. Pollinators discriminate among flowers based on these differences, and individuals whose pistillate-phase flowers are most different in color from their staminate-phase flowers make fewer seeds. We suggest morphological studies of the two sex phases in dichogamous, hermaphroditic species can contribute to understanding the evolution of sexual dimorphism in plants without the confounding effects of genetic differences between separate male and female individuals

The Spin Structure of the Nucleon

We present an overview of recent experimental and theoretical advances in our understanding of the spin structure of protons and neutrons.Comment: 84 pages, 29 figure

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

Variability in phase and amplitude of diurnal rhythms is related to variation of mood in bipolar and borderline personality disorder

Abstract Variable mood is an important feature of psychiatric disorders. However, its measurement and relationship to objective measureas of physiology and behaviour have rarely been studied. Smart-phones facilitate continuous personalized prospective monitoring of subjective experience and behavioural and physiological signals can be measured through wearable devices. Such passive data streams allow novel estimates of diurnal variability. Phase and amplitude of diurnal rhythms were quantified using new techniques that fitted sinusoids to heart rate (HR) and acceleration signals. We investigated mood and diurnal variation for four days in 20 outpatients with bipolar disorder (BD), 14 with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and 20 healthy controls (HC) using a smart-phone app, portable electrocardiogram (ECG), and actigraphy. Variability in negative affect, positive affect, and irritability was elevated in patient groups compared with HC. The study demonstrated convincing associations between variability in subjective mood and objective variability in diurnal physiology. For BPD there was a pattern of positive correlations between mood variability and variation in activity, sleep and HR. The findings suggest BPD is linked more than currently believed with a disorder of diurnal rhythm; in both BPD and BD reducing the variability of sleep phase may be a way to reduce variability of subjective mood

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

In Search of HPA Axis Dysregulation in Child and Adolescent Depression

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in adults with major depressive disorder is among the most consistent and robust biological findings in psychiatry. Given the importance of the adolescent transition to the development and recurrence of depressive phenomena over the lifespan, it is important to have an integrative perspective on research investigating the various components of HPA axis functioning among depressed young people. The present narrative review synthesizes evidence from the following five categories of studies conducted with children and adolescents: (1) those examining the HPA system’s response to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST); (2) those assessing basal HPA axis functioning; (3) those administering corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) challenge; (4) those incorporating psychological probes of the HPA axis; and (5) those examining HPA axis functioning in children of depressed mothers. Evidence is generally consistent with models of developmental psychopathology that hypothesize that atypical HPA axis functioning precedes the emergence of clinical levels of depression and that the HPA axis becomes increasingly dysregulated from child to adult manifestations of depression. Multidisciplinary approaches and longitudinal research designs that extend across development are needed to more clearly and usefully elucidate the role of the HPA axis in depression

Ebola: translational science considerations

We are currently in the midst of the most aggressive and fulminating outbreak of Ebola-related disease, commonly referred to as “Ebola”, ever recorded. In less than a year, the Ebola virus (EBOV, Zaire ebolavirus species) has infected over 10,000 people, indiscriminately of gender or age, with a fatality rate of about 50%. Whereas at its onset this Ebola outbreak was limited to three countries in West Africa (Guinea, where it was first reported in late March 2014, Liberia, where it has been most rampant in its capital city, Monrovia and other metropolitan cities, and Sierra Leone), cases were later reported in Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, as well as in Western Europe (i.e., Madrid, Spain) and the US (i.e., Dallas, Texas; New York City) by late October 2014. World and US health agencies declared that the current Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak has a strong likelihood of growing exponentially across the world before an effective vaccine, treatment or cure can be developed, tested, validated and distributed widely. In the meantime, the spread of the disease may rapidly evolve from an epidemics to a full-blown pandemic. The scientific and healthcare communities actively research and define an emerging kaleidoscope of knowledge about critical translational research parameters, including the virology of EBOV, the molecular biomarkers of the pathological manifestations of EVD, putative central nervous system involvement in EVD, and the cellular immune surveillance to EBOV, patient-centered anthropological and societal parameters of EVD, as well as translational effectiveness about novel putative patient-targeted vaccine and pharmaceutical interventions, which hold strong promise, if not hope, to curb this and future Ebola outbreaks. This work reviews and discusses the principal known facts about EBOV and EVD, and certain among the most interesting ongoing or future avenues of research in the field, including vaccination programs for the wild animal vectors of the virus and the disease from global translational science perspective