The effects of maternal depression on their perception of emotional and behavioral problems of their internationally adopted children

Background Even though child psychopathology assessment guidelines emphasize comprehensive multi-method, multimodal, and multi-informant methodologies, maternal-report symptom-rating scales often serve as the predominant source of information. Research has shown that parental mood symptomatology affects their reports of their offspring's psychopathology. For example, the depression-distortion hypothesis suggests that maternal depression promotes a negative bias in mothers' perceptions of their children's behavioral and emotional problems. We investigated this difference of perception between adoptive mothers and internationally adopted children. Most previous studies suffer from the potential bias caused by the fact that parents and children share genetic risks. Methods Data were derived from the Finnish Adoption (FinAdo) survey study (a subsample of adopted children aged between 9 and 12 years, n = 222). The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess emotional and behavioral problems and competences of the adopted children. The CBCL was filled in by the adopted children and the adoptive mothers, respectively. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured using the short version of the General Health Questionnaire. Results On average, mothers reported less total CBCL symptoms in their children than the children themselves (0.25 vs 0.38, p-value < 0.01 for difference). Mothers' depressive symptoms moderated the discrepancy in reporting internalizing symptoms (beta = - 0.14 and p-value 0.01 for interaction) and the total symptoms scores (beta = - 0.22 and p-value < 0.001 for interaction) and externalizing symptoms in girls in the CBCL. Limitations The major limitation of our study is its cross-sectional design and the fact that we only collected data in the form of questionnaires. Conclusions The results of our research support the depression-distortion hypothesis concerning the association of maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms in girls in a sample without genetic biasPeer reviewe

Kuka tahtoo tissit???

Kirja-arvostelu: Pienistä pojista kunnon miehiä. Jari Sinkkone

Intestinal parasites may be associated with later behavioral problems in internationally adopted children

Aim At arrival in new home country, internationally adopted children often have intestinal parasites. International adoptees also exhibit more behavioral problems than their biological peers. We examined whether intestinal parasite infections in international adoptees on arrival in Finland are associated with their later behavioral and emotional problems. Methods Data for this study were sourced from the Finnish Adoption Study (FinAdo) based on parental questionnaires for all internationally adopted children under 18 years (n = 1450) who arrived in Finland from 1985 to 2007. A total of 1293 families provided sufficient information on the adoptee's background, parasitic status on arrival, and behavioral symptoms at the median time of 5 years after arrival (mean age = 7.8 years). Behavioral and emotional disorders were evaluated with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Statistical analyses were conducted using linear regression. Results Of the 1293 families, parents of 206 adoptive children reported intestinal parasites in their adopted children on arrival. Parasite-infected children had subsequently higher CBCL problem scores than the children without parasites (p <0.001). The association between intestinal parasites and later behavioral problems was stronger than that between intestinal parasites and any other factors measured in this study, except disability. Limitations The control group was naturally provided by the adopted children without parasite infections, but we could not compare the adopted children to non-adopted children without a defined parasite infection. We were unable to specify the effects associated with a specific parasite type. It was not possible either to include multiple environmental factors that could have been associated with behavioral problems in the models, which indicated only modest explanatory values. Conclusions In this study, intestinal parasite infections in early childhood may be associated with children's later psychological wellbeing, even in children who move to a country with a low prevalence of parasites. Our findings may support further developments pertaining to the gut-brain theory.Peer reviewe

The effects of maternal depression on their perception of emotional and behavioral problems of their internationally adopted children

Background Even though child psychopathology assessment guidelines emphasize comprehensive multi-method, multimodal, and multi-informant methodologies, maternal-report symptom-rating scales often serve as the predominant source of information. Research has shown that parental mood symptomatology affects their reports of their offspring's psychopathology. For example, the depression-distortion hypothesis suggests that maternal depression promotes a negative bias in mothers' perceptions of their children's behavioral and emotional problems. We investigated this difference of perception between adoptive mothers and internationally adopted children. Most previous studies suffer from the potential bias caused by the fact that parents and children share genetic risks. Methods Data were derived from the Finnish Adoption (FinAdo) survey study (a subsample of adopted children aged between 9 and 12 years, n = 222). The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess emotional and behavioral problems and competences of the adopted children. The CBCL was filled in by the adopted children and the adoptive mothers, respectively. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured using the short version of the General Health Questionnaire. Results On average, mothers reported less total CBCL symptoms in their children than the children themselves (0.25 vs 0.38, p-value Limitations The major limitation of our study is its cross-sectional design and the fact that we only collected data in the form of questionnaires. Conclusions The results of our research support the depression-distortion hypothesis concerning the association of maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms in girls in a sample without genetic bias</p

The impact of light intensity on metabolomic profile of Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and reticulata mutant by NMR spectroscopy

Light acclimation involves biochemical, metabolic and developmental adjustments that allow plants to cope with a vast range of growth environments. Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with photoperiod-dependent defects in leaf development and metabolism have been instrumental in deciphering the interlinked regulatory networks in plants. The reticulata (re) mutant displays dark green veins and pale green mesophyll tissues when grown under long day conditions. RE is a chloroplast envelope membrane protein of unknown function and is required for accurate primary metabolism and leaf development under long photoperiod, while its functional significance under short photoperiods has remained poorly understood. In the present study we assessed whether RE impacts primary metabolism or leaf development when Arabidopsis plants acclimate to different light intensities under short photoperiod. We show that growth under short day conditions annuls the metabolic and developmental defects of re mutants, suggesting that RE does not significantly modulate leaf development or primary metabolism under short photoperiod. Based on proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1 NMR) and statistical analysis, however, the metabolite profiles of differentially light-acclimated short-day-grown plants differ with respect to sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose), TCA cycle intermediates (fumaric, malic, citric and succinic acids) and fatty acids, which become more abundant under high light. Moreover, in contrast to isoleucine, leucine, valine, threonine, serine, tyrosine and phenylalanine, which show increased abundance in highlight-acclimated plants, the contents of alanine, glutamine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid are higher when plants grow under normal growth light. These findings indicate that NMR can detect high-light-induced metabolic adjustments that arise upon plant acclimation to light stress

Untargeted Metabolic Fingerprinting Reveals Impact of Growth Stage and Location on Composition of Sea Buckthorn (Hippophaë Rhamnoides) Leaves

Sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides) is increasingly cultivated to produce raw materials for food and nutraceuticals. There is little knowledge on composition of sea buckthorn leaves (SBLs) and the key factors influencing the composition. This research aims to unravel the metabolic profile of SBLs and the effects of cultivar, location and stage of growth, and climatic conditions on the metabolic profile of SBLs. Leaves of two sea buckthorn cultivars grown in the south and north of Finland during two consecutive growth seasons were studied using untargeted nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics. The highest variance in the metabolic profile was linked to the growth stage, wherein leaves from the first 7 weeks of harvest were characterized with higher abundance of polyphenols, while relatively higher abundance of carbohydrates and sugars was observed in the later weeks. The growth location attributed for the second highest variation, wherein the north–south comparison identified fatty acids and sugars as discriminatory metabolites, and the potential association of metabolome to natural abiotic stressors was revealed. An inverse correlation between carbohydrate/sugar content as well as fatty acids of higher carbon chain length with the temperature variables was evident. The supervised chemometric models with high sensitivity and specificity classified and predicted the samples based on growth stage and location, and cultivar. Nontargeted NMR-metabolomics revealed the metabolic profile of SBLs and their variation associated with various biotic and abiotic factors. Cultivar and growth stage are key factors to consider when harvesting SBLs for use in food and nutraceuticals.Practical ApplicationGlobally, sea buckthorn cultivation has been rapidly increasing due to the known health-promoting benefits of the berries and leaves of the plant. The current research obtained new comprehensive information on the compositional profile of sea buckthorn leaves as well as the impact of major contributory factors, such as cultivars, the advancement of growth stage, geographical location, and weather parameters. The findings of this research provide new knowledge and guidance for plant breeding, cultivation and commercial utilization of sea buckthorn leaves as raw materials for food, feed, and nutraceuticals.</p

Metabolomic discrimination of the edible mushrooms Kuehneromyces mutabilis and Hypholoma capnoides (Strophariaceae, Agaricales) by NMR spectroscopy

Two edible, cultivable mushroom species of the family Strophariaceae, Kuehneromyces mutabilis (sheathed woodtuft) and Hypholoma capnoides (conifer tuft), were studied using proton nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomic approach. The variation in the metabolites of the two species and their metabolic behaviourregarding caps and stipes and different collection sites were analysed by multivariate analysis methods. Altogether 169 cap and stipe samples of the mushrooms were investigated. The clearest difference between the species was in the sugar composition, which was more diverse in H. capnoides. When mushroom samples collected from different locations were compared, more variance was found in H. capnoides, whereas K. mutabilis appeared more homogeneous as a species. As far as the caps and stipes were concerned, in both species the amount of α-α-trehalose was clearly higher in the stipes, and the caps contained a larger proportion of the amino acids and organic acids.</p

NMR metabolome of Borrelia burgdorferi in vitro and in vivo in mice

Lyme borreliosis (LB), caused by bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Borrelia) species, isthe most common tick-borne infection in the northern hemisphere. LB diagnostics is based on clinicalevaluation of the patient and on laboratory testing, where the main method is the detection of Borreliaspecific antibodies in patient samples. There are, however, shortcomings in the current serology basedLB diagnostics, especially its inability to differentiate ongoing infection from a previously treated one.Identification of specific biomarkers of diseases is a growing application of metabolomics. One of themain methods of metabolomics is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In the presentstudy, our aim was to analyze whether Borrelia growth in vitro and infection in vivo in mice causesspecific metabolite differences, and whether NMR can be used to detect them. For this purpose,we performed NMR analyses of in vitro culture medium samples, and of serum and urine samples ofBorrelia infected and control mice. The results show, that there were significant differences in theconcentrations of several amino acids, energy metabolites and aromatic compounds between Borreliaculture and control media, and between infected and control mouse serum and urine samples. Forexample, the concentration of L-phenylalanine increases in the Borrelia growth medium and in serum ofinfected mice, whereas the concentrations of allantoin and trigonelline decrease in the urine of infectedmice. Therefore, we conclude that Borrelia infection causes measurable metabolome differences in vitroand in Borrelia infected mouse serum and urine samples, and that these can be detected with NMR.</p