Examining the psychological wellbeing of refugee children and the role of friendship and bullying

BACKGROUND: Refugee children might have experienced violent and traumatic events before settling into a new country. In the United Kingdom, the number of refugee children is increasing; however, little is known about their psycho-social and physical well-being. AIM: This study aims to investigate the psychological well-being and behaviour of refugee children compared to British-born children on a number of psychological, social, behavioural, and health-related issues and to investigate the role of friendship as a protective factor. SAMPLES: This study utilized a sample of 149 refugee children recruited from two charities, 79 of which are children aged 6-10 years and 70 older refugee children aged 11-16 years. The study also included 120 non-refugee children recruited from primary schools aged 6-10 years. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that investigates the psycho-social well-being of refugee children compared to non-refugee British-born children. The study explored symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, emotional and behavioural problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), self-esteem, friendships and popularity, bullying and victimization, physical health, and psychosomatic problems. RESULTS: Young refugee children reported more peer problems, functional impairment, physical health, and psychosomatic problems compared to the control children and older refugee children groups. On the other hand, older refugee children had lower self-esteem (academic and social self-peers) compared to the younger refugee children group. The differences between the groups were explained by friendship quality, number of friends, peer bullying/victimization, or sibling bullying/victimization except for physical health and psychosomatic problems. CONCLUSIONS: While refugee children were found to be at risk on various levels, the findings also point to the fact that social relationships including friendship quality and number of friends played an essential protective role. Conversely, bullying was a risk factor that explained many of the refugees' problems. These findings pave the way for future research to further probe into the well-being of refugee children in the United Kingdom while also targeting relevant intervention schemes specifically tailored to address their needs

Effects of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Macrophage Interaction: Surface Energetic Mechanism

The mechanisms effects of mtb  macrophage using surface energetic in determining the interaction processes with the surface interfacial energies explained using van der Waals concept of particle  particle interactions. The Lifshitz derivations for van der Waals forces were applied as an alternative to the contact angle approach which has been widely used in other biological systems. The methodology involved taking sputum samples from twenty infected persons and from twenty uninfected persons for absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet visible Spectrophotometer. Matlab software tools were used in the mathematical analysis of the data generated from the absorbance values. The values of A132abs = 0.21631x10-21Joule (for mtb infected sputum) and Ã132abs = 0.18825x10-21Joule (for mtb/HIV infected sputum) were obtained. The free energies of adhesion calculated were found to be negative with combined Hamaker coefficient positive. The implication of this result is the positive value of the absolute combined Hamaker coefficient which entails net positive van der waals forces demonstrating an attraction between mtb and the macrophage. This however, implies that infection is very likely to occur. It was also shown that in the presence of HIV, the interaction energy is reduced by 13% confirming adverse effects observed in HIV patients suffering from tb. Negative Hamaker coefficient (-0.22669x10-19mJ/m2) indicated that separation of mtb is practical. The condition was sought for repulsion to occur and that condition was based on the value of A33 that would render the absolute combined Hamaker coefficient A131abs negative. Mathematically it was derived as A330.9527x10-21Joule which satisfies this condition for negative A132abs. To achieve the condition of A33 above, possible additive(s) in form of drugs to the sputum should be required