Starting School: a large-scale start of school assessment within the ‘Born in Bradford’ longitudinal cohort [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]

The Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort of 13,776 children born between 2007-2011 and their parents provides a rich data resource for researchers exploring protective and risk factors influencing long-term developmental and health outcomes. Educational attainment is a critical factor related to later health. Literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health are key ‘early’ predictors of educational attainment and can be used to identify children in need of additional support. We describe our BiB ‘Starting School’ data collection protocol which assessed literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health on 3,444 BiB children aged 4-5 years old. These measures supplement the existing dataset, and complement the routine educational, health and social care data available for the cohort

Protocol for the effectiveness evaluation of an antenatal, universally offered, and remotely delivered parenting programme ‘Baby Steps’ on maternal outcomes : a Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) study

BACKGROUND: Poor perinatal mental health and maternal sensitivity towards a child in the early years can carry a long-term cost to individuals and to society, and result in negative child outcomes such as poor mental health and social emotional issues. Despite the recognition of early intervention and prevention, there is mixed evidence regarding antenatal parenting interventions that aim to enhance perinatal mental health and maternal sensitivity to prevent negative child outcomes. ‘Baby Steps’ is a relationship-based antenatal and postnatal parenting programme. The service evaluated in this study is delivered in a low-income and ethnically diverse community via Better Start Bradford. This study aims to assess whether the universally, and remotely delivered Baby Steps programme is effective in improving postnatal maternal sensitivity (primary outcome) and postnatal maternal mental health (secondary outcome) when compared to services as usual 6–10 weeks post-birth. It will also assess differences in birth outcomes, and differences in the prevalence of poor perinatal mental ill health through routine data. The feasibility of collecting cost and health related resource use data for a future economic evaluation will be explored. METHODS: The study is a quasi-experimental evaluation in a single centre. All participants are drawn from Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) interventional family cohort study. Intervention participants will be matched to a demographically comparable control group using propensity score matching. The required minimum sample is n = 130 (ratio 1:1) to detect a medium effect (± 2.35, d = .50) on the primary outcome—maternal-child sensitivity, using the Mothers Object Relations Scale Short Form (MORS-SF). Secondary outcomes include the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Generalised Anxiety Disorder assessment 7 (GAD-7), identification of poor perinatal mental health through routine data, and birth outcomes (delivery method, gestation period, low birth weight). Service delivery costs and health resource use will be gathered from routine data. DISCUSSION: This study will evaluate the effectiveness of Baby Steps for enhancing maternal-child sensitivity and maternal mental health when delivered universally and remotely. The findings regarding programme effectiveness, process, and costs will be relevant for researchers, service commissioners, and service staff. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was prospectively registered with ISRCTN (22/04/2022, ISRCTN12196131). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15111-1

Use of mHealth Technology for Patient-Reported Outcomes in Community-Dwelling Adults with Acquired Brain Injuries: A Scoping Review.

The purpose of our scoping review was to describe the current use of mHealth technology for long-term assessment of patient-reported outcomes in community-dwelling individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a scoping review of literature meeting these criteria: (1) civilians or military veterans, all ages; (2) self-reported or caregiver-reported outcomes assessed via mobile device in the community (not exclusively clinic/hospital); (3) published in English; (4) published in 2015-2019. We searched Ovid MEDLINE(R) \u3c 1946 to 16 August 2019, MEDLINE InProcess, EPub, Embase, and PsycINFO databases for articles. Thirteen manuscripts representing 12 distinct studies were organized by type of ABI [traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke] to extract outcomes, mHealth technology used, design, and inclusion of ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Outcomes included post-concussive, depressive, and affective symptoms, fatigue, daily activities, stroke risk factors, and cognitive exertion. Overall, collecting patient-reported outcomes via mHealth was feasible and acceptable in the chronic ABI population. Studies consistently showed advantage for using EMA despite variability in EMA timing/schedules. To ensure best clinical measurement, research on post-ABI outcomes should consider EMA designs (versus single time-point assessments) that provide the best timing schedules for their respective aims and outcomes and that leverage mHealth for data collection

Marine Monitoring Program: Annual report for inshore water quality monitoring 2014-2015

[Extract] The management of water quality remains an essential requirement to ensure the long-term protection of the coastal and inshore ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) (Commonwealth of Australia, 2015). The land management initiatives under the Australian and Queensland Government's Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (Reef Plan) and the Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan) are key actions to improve the water quality entering the GBR. The goal of Reef Plan is “To ensure that by 2020 the quality of water entering the reef from broadscale land use has no detrimental impact on the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.” This report summarises the results of water quality monitoring activities, carried out by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and James Cook University (JCU) as part of the Marine Monitoring Program (MMP) in 2014-15, with reference to previous data from 2005 to 2014

Development of a Novel Renal Activity Index of Lupus Nephritis in Children and Young Adults

OBJECTIVE: Noninvasive estimation of the degree of inflammation seen on kidney biopsy with lupus nephritis (LN) remains difficult. The objective of this study was to develop a Renal Activity Index for Lupus (RAIL) that, based solely on laboratory measures, accurately reflects histologic LN activity. METHODS: We assayed traditional LN laboratory tests and 16 urine biomarkers (UBMs) in children (n = 47) at the time of kidney biopsy. Histologic LN activity was measured by the National Institutes of Health activity index (NIH-AI) and the tubulointerstitial activity index (TIAI). High LN-activity status (versus moderate/low) was defined as NIH-AI scores >10 (versus ≤10) or TIAI scores >5 (versus ≤5). RAIL algorithms that predicted LN-activity status for both NIH-AI and TIAI were derived by stepwise multivariate logistic regression, considering traditional biomarkers and UBMs as candidate components. The accuracy of the RAIL for discriminating by LN-activity status was determined. RESULTS: The differential excretion of 6 UBMs (neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, monocyte chemotactic protein 1, ceruloplasmin, adiponectin, hemopexin, and kidney injury molecule 1) standardized by urine creatinine was considered in the RAIL. These UBMs predicted LN-activity (NIH-AI) status with >92% accuracy and LN-activity (TIAI) status with >80% accuracy. RAIL accuracy was minimally influenced by concomitant LN damage. Accuracies between 71% and 85% were achieved without standardization of the UBMs. The strength of these UBMs to reflect LN-activity status was confirmed by principal component and linear discriminant analyses. CONCLUSION: The RAIL is a robust and highly accurate noninvasive measure of LN activity. The measurement properties of the RAIL, which reflect the degree of inflammatory changes as seen on kidney biopsy, will require independent validation

Pathways to depression by age 16 years: Examining trajectories for self-reported psychological and somatic phenotypes across adolescence

Sex differences in rates of depression emerge during adolescence. However, it is unclear whether symptom patterns and trajectories differ significantly according to gender in youth. Barriers to research include the fact that most self-report tools are weighted towards psychological rather than somatic symptoms.Data were collected on symptoms of depression in about 1800 individuals at ages 12, 14 and 16 years. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to examine the trajectory of psychological and somatic phenotypes and self-reported depression caseness over time.At age 12, 24% of participants met criteria for self-reported depression caseness. Although there was only a small incremental increase in the prevalence over time (about 5%), 57% of participants met criteria for self-reported depression caseness at least once. Generic symptoms at age 12 were associated with depression longitudinally, although early transition to caseness was reported in females only. Categorization as a psychological phenotype at age 12 predicted depression at age 14 and/or 16 years, especially in females. The somatic phenotype was more common in males, but showed a weaker association with self-reported depression caseness over time.Depression was assessed by self-report; only 30% of participants had ratings for age 12, 14 and 16.Although sub-threshold psychological and somatic syndromes often co-occur in cases of self-reported depression in adolescence, longitudinally they may represent independent symptom trajectories. However, it is important to remember that self-reported depression is indicative of, but not confirmation of a depressive episode that meets diagnostic criteria

Starting school:A large-scale start of school assessment within the ‘Born in Bradford’ longitudinal cohort

The Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort of 13,776 children born between 2007-2011 and their parents provides a rich data resource for researchers exploring protective and risk factors influencing long-term developmental and health outcomes. Educational attainment is a critical factor related to later health. Literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health are key ‘early’ predictors of educational attainment and can be used to identify children in need of additional support. We describe our BiB ‘Starting School’ data collection protocol which assessed literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health on 3,444 BiB children aged 4-5 years old. These measures supplement the existing dataset, and complement the routine educational, health and social care data available for the cohor

Deep-Sea Fish Distribution Varies between Seamounts: Results from a Seamount Complex off New Zealand

Fish species data from a complex of seamounts off New Zealand termed the “Graveyard Seamount Complex’ were analysed to investigate whether fish species composition varied between seamounts. Five seamount features were included in the study, with summit depths ranging from 748–891 m and elevation from 189–352 m. Measures of fish species dominance, rarity, richness, diversity, and similarity were examined. A number of factors were explored to explain variation in species composition, including latitude, water temperature, summit depth, depth at base, elevation, area, slope, and fishing effort. Depth at base and slope relationships were significant with shallow seamounts having high total species richness, and seamounts with a more gradual slope had high mean species richness. Species similarity was modelled and showed that the explanatory variables were driven primarily by summit depth, as well as by the intensity of fishing effort and elevation. The study showed that fish assemblages on seamounts can vary over very small spatial scales, in the order of several km. However, patterns of species similarity and abundance were inconsistent across the seamounts examined, and these results add to a growing literature suggesting that faunal communities on seamounts may be populated from a broad regional species pool, yet show considerable variation on individual seamounts

Pest population dynamics are related to a continental overwintering gradient

Overwintering success is an important determinant of arthropod populations that must be considered as climate change continues to influence the spatiotemporal population dynamics of agricultural pests. Using a long-term monitoring database and biologically relevant overwintering zones, we modeled the annual and seasonal population dynamics of a common pest, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), based on three overwintering suitability zones throughout North America using four decades of soil temperatures: the southern range (able to persist through winter), transitional zone (uncertain overwintering survivorship), and northern limits (unable to survive winter). Our model indicates H. zea population dynamics are hierarchically structured with continental-level effects that are partitioned into three geographic zones. Seasonal populations were initially detected in the southern range, where they experienced multiple large population peaks. All three zones experienced a final peak between late July (southern range) and mid-August to mid-September (transitional zone and northern limits). The southern range expanded by 3% since 1981 and is projected to increase by twofold by 2099 but the areas of other zones are expected to decrease in the future. These changes suggest larger populations may persist at higher latitudes in the future due to reduced low-temperature lethal events during winter. Because H. zea is a highly migratory pest, predicting when populations accumulate in one region can inform synchronous or lagged population development in other regions. We show the value of combining long-term datasets, remotely sensed data, and laboratory findings to inform forecasting of insect pests