Trauma Symptom Severity in Child Sexual Abuse (CSA): An Examination of Self-Concept, Social Competence, and Academic Performance as Protective Factors

While all forms of child maltreatment are of significant concern, child sexual abuse (CSA) has been identified as one of the most significant public health issues in the United States (Anda et al., 2006). CSA has been defined as any sexual activity involving a child and can range from contact to non-contact offenses (Dominguez, Nelke, & Perry, 2001). Research has extensively shown that the experience of CSA is linked to both short and long-term consequences and a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including: posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, aggression, and substance use (Dominguez, et al., 2001; Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Maniglio, 2009; Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans, & Herbison, 1996; Putnam, 2003). Despite the strong association between CSA and poor outcomes and maladjustment, a subset of individuals, who experience child maltreatment, and specifically CSA, are able to positively adapt in the context of adversity (Kendall-Tackett et al., 1993; Masten, 2001). Given the detrimental effects of CSA, it is important to understand the various protective factors that might buffer against the adverse effects of CSA. The current study is a cross-sectional analysis of archival data with the primary aim of understanding the moderating influence of protective factors—self-concept, social competence, and academic performance—on the relationship between CSA severity and the development of posttraumatic psychopathology

Perspectives on ENCODE

The Encylopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project launched in 2003 with the long-term goal of developing a comprehensive map of functional elements in the human genome. These included genes, biochemical regions associated with gene regulation (for example, transcription factor binding sites, open chromatin, and histone marks) and transcript isoforms. The marks serve as sites for candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) that may serve functional roles in regulating gene expression1. The project has been extended to model organisms, particularly the mouse. In the third phase of ENCODE, nearly a million and more than 300,000 cCRE annotations have been generated for human and mouse, respectively, and these have provided a valuable resource for the scientific community.11Nsciescopu

Expanded encyclopaedias of DNA elements in the human and mouse genomes

AbstractThe human and mouse genomes contain instructions that specify RNAs and proteins and govern the timing, magnitude, and cellular context of their production. To better delineate these elements, phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project has expanded analysis of the cell and tissue repertoires of RNA transcription, chromatin structure and modification, DNA methylation, chromatin looping, and occupancy by transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Here we summarize these efforts, which have produced 5,992 new experimental datasets, including systematic determinations across mouse fetal development. All data are available through the ENCODE data portal (https://www.encodeproject.org), including phase II ENCODE1 and Roadmap Epigenomics2 data. We have developed a registry of 926,535 human and 339,815 mouse candidate cis-regulatory elements, covering 7.9 and 3.4% of their respective genomes, by integrating selected datatypes associated with gene regulation, and constructed a web-based server (SCREEN; http://screen.encodeproject.org) to provide flexible, user-defined access to this resource. Collectively, the ENCODE data and registry provide an expansive resource for the scientific community to build a better understanding of the organization and function of the human and mouse genomes.11Nsciescopu