[Formula: see text] Perinatal and social risk of poor language, memory, and learning outcomes in a cohort of extremely and very preterm children.

Children born extremely preterm (EPT) or very preterm (VPT) are at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment. How the interaction between biological and social risk factors affects cognitive development has not yet been completely understood. The objectives of this study are to analyze and compare the language, memory, and learning outcomes of five-year-old children born EPT (<28 weeks' gestational age) and VPT (28-31 weeks' gestational age) and to determine the risk of having poor outcomes attending to perinatal and maternal characteristics.

Anxiety and depression symptoms among pregnant women with different smoking habits.

Smoking during pregnancy is a major public health issue. The aim of this study isto describe the smoking habits of women during pregnancy and its association with clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms. 382 women answered to a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 33 weeks of gestation.

Depressive symptoms and mental adjustment in women with breast cancer.

Objective: Depression is the most common psychological disorder observed in breast cancer patients. The purposes of this study were: to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among women with breast cancer; and examine the association of depressive symptoms and demographic and clinical variables as well as the association between mental adjustment to cancer and level of depressive symptoms.

Methods: A total of 150 breast-cancer-diagnosed women were recruited in an Oncology Hospital.

The importance of biological factors affecting trace metal concentration as revealed from accumulation patterns in co-occurring terrestrial invertebrates.

As physicochemical properties of the soil highly influence the bioavailable fraction of a particular trace metal, measured metal body burdens in a particular species are often assumed to be more reliable estimators of the contamination of the biota. To test this we compared the Cd, Cu and Zn content of three spiders (generalist predators) and two amphipods (detritivores), co-occurring in seven tidal marshes along the river Schelde, between each other and with the total metal concentrations and the concentrations of four sequential extractions of the soils. Correlations were significant in only one case and significant site x species interactions for all metals demonstrate that factors affecting metal concentration were species and site specific and not solely determined by site specific characteristics.

Heavy metal concentrations in the spiders Pirata piraticus (Clerck, 1757) and Clubiona phragmitis (C.L. Koch, 1843) along the Scheldt Estuary (Belgium).

Wetland ecosystems may be affected by deposition and accumulation of heavy metals. Metal concentrations in the spiders Pirata piraticus and Clubiona phragmitis living in marshes along the river Scheldt (Flanders, Belgium) were analyzed. The organisms were sampled on seven sites along a gradient from freshwater to brackish marshes.