Children’s resilience to sibling victimization: The role of family, peer, school, and neighborhood factors

Although common, little is known about the potential impacts of sibling victimization, and how best to ameliorate these. We explored longitudinal associations between sibling victimization and mental health and wellbeing outcomes, and promotive and risk factors that predicted better or worse outcomes following victimization. Data were from >12,000 participants in the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal UK birth cohort, who reported on sibling victimization at age 11 and/or 14 years. We identified potential risk and promotive factors at family, peer, school, and neighborhood levels from age 14 data. Mental health and wellbeing outcomes (internalizing and externalizing problems, mental wellbeing, self-harm) were collected at age 17. Results suggested that over and above pre-existing individual and family level vulnerabilities, experiencing sibling victimization was associated with significantly worse mental health and wellbeing. Having no close friends was a risk factor for worse-than-expected outcomes following victimization. Higher levels of school motivation and engagement was a promotive factor for better-than-expected outcomes. This indicates that aspects of the school environment may offer both risk and promotive factors for children experiencing sibling victimization at home. We argue that effective sibling victimization interventions should be extended to include a focus on factors at the school level

Partnerships at the interface of education and mental health services: the utilisation and acceptability of the provision of specialist liaison and teacher skills training

Partnerships between school staff and mental health professionals have the potential to improve access to mental health support for students, but uncertainty remains regarding whether and how they work in practice. We report on two pilot projects aimed at understanding the implementation drivers of tailored strategies for supporting and engaging front-line school staff in student mental health. The first project provided regular, accessible mental health professionals with whom school staff could meet and discuss individual or systemic mental health concerns (a school ‘InReach’ service), and the other offered a short skills training programme on commonly used psychotherapeutic techniques (the School Mental Health Toolbox; SMHT). The findings from the activity of 15 InReach workers over 3 years and 105 individuals who attended the SMHT training demonstrate that school staff made good use of these services. The InReach workers reported more than 1200 activities in schools (notably in providing specialist advice and support, especially for anxiety and emotional difficulties), whilst most SMHT training attendees reported the utilisation of the tools (in particular, supporting better sleep and relaxation techniques). The measures of acceptability and the possible impacts of the two services were also positive. These pilot studies suggest that investment into partnerships at the interface of education and mental health services can improve the availability of mental health support to students

A qualitative study exploring the benefits of involving young people in mental health research

Introduction: It is increasingly accepted that young people need to be centrally involved in research on issues that affect them. The aim of this study was to explore young people's perceptions of the benefits for them of being involved in mental health research and the processes that enabled these benefits. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted by co-researchers (young people with lived experience and/or interest in mental health) with 13 young people (aged 13–24 years) who had experience of being involved in mental health research when they were between 11 and 16 years of age. Reflective thematic analysis was used to identify important aspects of young people's experiences. Results: Four main themes were identified: (1) opportunity to have a meaningful impact, (2) opportunity to be part of a supportive community, (3) opportunity to learn and grow and (4) increasing opportunities for young people. Conclusion: This study highlights young people's experiences of being involved in mental health research and identifies ways in which researchers can ensure that involvement opportunities bring benefits to both the young people and the research. Patient or Public Contribution: This research was a response to issues raised by young people involved in research. The project was supported by co-researchers throughout, including design, data collection, analysis and write-up

Histone H3.3 beyond cancer: Germline mutations in Histone 3 Family 3A and 3B cause a previously unidentified neurodegenerative disorder in 46 patients

Although somatic mutations in Histone 3.3 (H3.3) are well-studied drivers of oncogenesis, the role of germline mutations remains unreported. We analyze 46 patients bearing de novo germline mutations in histone 3 family 3A (H3F3A) or H3F3B with progressive neurologic dysfunction and congenital anomalies without malignancies. Molecular modeling of all 37 variants demonstrated clear disruptions in interactions with DNA, other histones, and histone chaperone proteins. Patient histone posttranslational modifications (PTMs) analysis revealed notably aberrant local PTM patterns distinct from the somatic lysine mutations that cause global PTM dysregulation. RNA sequencing on patient cells demonstrated up-regulated gene expression related to mitosis and cell division, and cellular assays confirmed an increased proliferative capacity. A zebrafish model showed craniofacial anomalies and a defect in Foxd3-derived glia. These data suggest that the mechanism of germline mutations are distinct from cancer-associated somatic histone mutations but may converge on control of cell proliferation

TrainingData

This is the data from the training phase of the experiment

FinalTest

This is the data from testing conducted a week after training

TrainingData_LastBlock_Error

This is the data file to conduct the error analysis reported in the paper

Data from: The influence of evaluative right/wrong feedback on phonological and semantic processes in word learning

Feedback is typically incorporated in word learning paradigms, in both research studies and commercial language learning apps. While the common-sense view is that feedback is helpful during learning, relatively little empirical evidence about the role of feedback in spoken vocabulary learning exists. Some work has suggested that long-term word learning is not enhanced by the presence of feedback, and that words are best learned implicitly. It is also plausible that feedback might have differential effects when learners focus on learning semantic facts, or when they focus on learning a new phonological sequence of sounds. In this study, we assess how providing evaluative (right/wrong) feedback on a spoken response influences two different components of vocabulary learning, the learning of a new phonological form, and the learning of a semantic property of the phonological form. We find that receiving evaluative feedback improves retention of phonological forms, but not of semantic facts