Assessment and Diagnostic Classification Using DC:0-5 in Early Childhood Mental Health Clinics: The Protocol for the Developmental Psychiatry Diagnostic Challenges Study (DePsy)

Mental health problems in early childhood are common, but there is a lack of psychiatric research on this age group. DC:0-5 is a multiaxial classification system for mental disorders in early childhood, providing a framework for standardizing clinical practice and research. However, research on the validity of DC:0-5 is scarce. The Developmental Psychiatry Diagnostic Challenges Study (DePsy) is a multi-site, prospective clinical study including six German early childhood mental health (ECMH) clinics. The main objective of the study is to contribute to the validation of Axis I and Axis II of DC:0-5. A second aim of the study is to describe the population of the participating clinics regarding diagnoses, family context, and treatment outcomes. Additionally, the impact of environmental risk factors, including parental Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and media use, on child psychopathology and caregiver–child relationships will be examined. Over two years, patients aged 0.0–5.9 years old will be enrolled in the study. Assessments include ICD-10 and DC:0- 5 diagnoses, developmental tests, video-based observations of caregiver—child interactions, and questionnaires on child psychopathology, media use, parental stress, and treatment satisfaction. Study results will promote the standardization of assessment and treatment in ECMH clinics aiming to improve the development of patients and their families

Biophysical and RNA interference inhibitory properties of oligonucleotides carrying tetrathiafulvalene groups at terminal positions

Oligonucleotide conjugates carrying a single functionalized tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) unit linked through a threoninol molecule to the 3′ or 5′ ends were synthesized together with their complementary oligonucleotides carrying a TTF, pyrene, or pentafluorophenyl group. TTF-oligonucleotide conjugates formed duplexes with higher thermal stability than the corresponding unmodified oligonucleotides and pyrene- and pentafluorophenyl-modified oligonucleotides. TTF-modified oligonucleotides are able to bind to citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and produce stable gold AuNPs functionalized with oligonucleotides. Finally, TTF- oligoribonucleotides have been synthesized to produce siRNA duplexes carrying TTF units. The presence of the TTF molecule is compatible with the RNA interference mechanism for gene inhibition.The authors thank Dr. Anna Avi˜n´o for providing the nonmodified oligonucleotides 11–14.This researchwas supported by the European Commission (Grants FP7-FUNMOL 213382 and NMP4-LA-2011-262943, MULTIFUN), by the Spanish Ministry of Education (grant CTQ2010-20541, SAF2010-15440), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009/SGR/208), the Czech Science Foundation (P207/10/2214), the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (7E09054), and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry AS CR (RVO: 61388963). The authors declare no conflict of interests.Peer reviewe

Interstrand interactions on DNA duplexes modified by TTF units at the 3′ or 5′-ends

Short DNA duplexes carrying TTF units at the same termini exhibit a high increase in melting temperature. When both TTF units were on opposite termini, salt-dependent aggregation is observed, yielding well defined spherical DNA supramolecular structures.This research was supported by the European Commission under Grant No. FP7-FUNMOL 213382, by the Spanish Ministry of Education (CTQ2010-20541), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009/SGR/208), the Czech Science Foundation (P207/10/2214) and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry AS CR (this work is part of the Research Project Z4 055 0506). Dr. Radek Pohl is acknowledged for the NMR spectra measurement as well as the electron cryo-microscopy unit from CCiT of University of Barcelona for the use of the EM facility.Peer reviewe

Assessment and Diagnostic Classification Using DC:0-5 in Early Childhood Mental Health Clinics: The Protocol for the Developmental Psychiatry Diagnostic Challenges Study (DePsy)

Mental health problems in early childhood are common, but there is a lack of psychiatric research on this age group. DC:0-5 is a multiaxial classification system for mental disorders in early childhood, providing a framework for standardizing clinical practice and research. However, research on the validity of DC:0-5 is scarce. The Developmental Psychiatry Diagnostic Challenges Study (DePsy) is a multi-site, prospective clinical study including six German early childhood mental health (ECMH) clinics. The main objective of the study is to contribute to the validation of Axis I and Axis II of DC:0-5. A second aim of the study is to describe the population of the participating clinics regarding diagnoses, family context, and treatment outcomes. Additionally, the impact of environmental risk factors, including parental Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and media use, on child psychopathology and caregiver–child relationships will be examined. Over two years, patients aged 0.0–5.9 years old will be enrolled in the study. Assessments include ICD-10 and DC:0-5 diagnoses, developmental tests, video-based observations of caregiver—child interactions, and questionnaires on child psychopathology, media use, parental stress, and treatment satisfaction. Study results will promote the standardization of assessment and treatment in ECMH clinics aiming to improve the development of patients and their families