Publications by authors named "Dooley N"

Background: Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in Ireland and globally. It is most likely to be used in adolescence, a period of biopsychosocial vulnerability to maladaptive behaviours. This study aims to investigate the risk and protective factors for cannabis use among adolescents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Tuberculosis (TB) is common among refugees and asylum seekers (RAAS), leading to debates about the effectiveness and safety of universal chest radiography (CXR) for screening.
  • A literature review of eight relevant studies highlighted three key themes: the impact of the 2014/15 crisis, challenges in defining TB risk, and the comparison of CXR-led versus symptom-led screening.
  • The conclusion suggests that CXR screening should focus on high-risk groups rather than a universal approach, with local protocols needed to justify its use based on TB risk assessments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In view of the conflicting results from previous studies, the benefit of paclitaxel-coated balloons for arteriovenous fistulas is uncertain and equipoise remains. Although an industry-led trial testing the efficacy of sirolimus-coated balloons in AVFs is in progress, the benefit of sirolimus-coated balloons for arteriovenous fistulas is currently unknown. The purpose of this trial is to compare the efficacy of additional paclitaxel-coated or sirolimus-coated balloons on outcomes after a plain balloon fistuloplasty to preserve the patency of arteriovenous fistulae used for haemodialysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate temporal and regional variation in biologic and targeted synthetic DMARD (b/tsDMARD) initiation for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in England and Wales.

Methods: An observational cohort study was conducted for people with RA enrolled in the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit (NEIAA) between May 2018 and April 2022 who had 12-month follow-up data. Temporal trends in escalation to b/tsDMARDs within 12 months of initial rheumatology assessment were explored, including comparisons before and after publication (July 2021) of national guidelines that lowered the threshold for b/tsDMARD initiation to include moderate-severity RA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study provides data on the prevalence of mental health problems among adolescents in Ireland in 2021, toward the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of having recent, large-scale, mental health data for adolescents has been heightened by COVID-19, the increased demand for child and adolescent mental health services, and the rapidly changing adolescent environment.

Methods: As part of the Planet Youth study, a cross-sectional survey of adolescents ( = 4,404), mostly aged 15-16, was conducted between September and December 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Specific pregnancy complications, socioeconomic position and sex have all been independently associated with child mental health outcomes, but their combined effects remain unclear. We examined whether total number of complications experienced in the pregnancy associated with mental health at 5 and 9-years, and whether this varied by sex or adverse social circumstances. Pregnancy complications were self-reported at 9-months post-natally from a list of 16 complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Prenatal and perinatal complications, such as maternal smoking and severe anemia, have been linked to an increased frequency of distressing psychotic experiences (PEs) in children.
  • The study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, analyzing a large cohort of children and employing various statistical models to track PEs over time.
  • Key findings indicate that maternal behaviors and a higher number of prenatal complications significantly raised the risk of PEs, while perinatal complications showed no discernible impact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hippocampal volumetric reductions are observed across the psychosis spectrum, with interest in the localisation of these reductions within the hippocampal subfields increasing. Deficits of the CA1 subfield in particular have been implicated in the neuropathophysiology of psychotic disorders. Investigating the trajectory of these abnormalities in healthy adolescents reporting sub-threshold psychotic experiences (PE) can provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying psychotic symptoms without the potentially confounding effects of a formal disorder, or antipsychotic medication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Plasmodium falciparum malaria drives immunoregulatory responses across multiple cell subsets, which protects from immunopathogenesis, but also hampers the development of effective anti-parasitic immunity. Understanding malaria induced tolerogenic responses in specific cell subsets may inform development of strategies to boost protective immunity during drug treatment and vaccination. Here, we analyse the immune landscape with single cell RNA sequencing during P.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Understanding risk factors for poor outcomes in young adults can lead to better early interventions for children.
  • The study analyzed data from a large cohort of children in Ireland, focusing on mental health from ages 9 to 13 and their outcomes at ages 17 to 20.
  • Results indicated that children with any form of psychopathology had worse functional outcomes in adulthood, highlighting the importance of identifying and supporting these at-risk children early on.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigates the capacity of pre/perinatal factors to predict attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in childhood. It also explores whether predictive accuracy of a pre/perinatal model varies for different groups in the population. We used the ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) cohort from the United States ( = 9975).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The association between restricted fetal growth and symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood is well-replicated and robust. However, fetal growth is determined by many prenatal factors and associations with mental health may be confounded by familial and social context. In this study, we sought to quantify the relative contributions of prenatal factors and familial confounds to the association between fetal growth and ADHD symptoms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Low birth weight for one's gestational age is associated with higher rates of child psychopathology, however, most studies assess psychopathology cross-sectionally. The effect of such foetal growth restriction appears to be strongest for attention problems in childhood, although adult studies have found associations with a range of outcomes, from depression to psychosis. We explore how associations between foetal growth and psychopathology change across age, and whether they vary by sex.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

T-follicular helper (Tfh) cells are key drivers of antibodies that protect from malaria. However, little is known regarding the host and parasite factors that influence Tfh and functional antibody development. Here, we use samples from a large cross-sectional study of children residing in an area of high malaria transmission in Uganda to characterize Tfh cells and functional antibodies to multiple parasites stages.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: The understanding of the development of psychopathology has been hampered by a reliance on cross-sectional data and symptom- or disorder-centered methods. Person-centered methods can accommodate both the problems of comorbidity and the movement between different psychopathological states at different phases of development.

Objective: To examine the profiles and map the trajectories of psychopathology from early childhood to late adolescence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Gray matter abnormalities are observed across the psychosis spectrum. The trajectory of these abnormalities in healthy adolescents reporting subthreshold psychotic experiences (PEs) may provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying psychotic symptoms. The risk of psychosis and additional psychopathology is even higher among these individuals who also report childhood adversity/DSM-5 diagnoses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many studies have shown low birth weight is associated with psychopathology later in life, particularly attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The association is well-replicated, independent from a variety of potential familial confounds, and follows a dose-response curve (decreasing birth weight linked with increasing odds of disorder). However, the specificity of the association to attention problems is called into question by the extent of comorbidity in ADHD, and recent findings that the association is stronger for autism than ADHD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Prenatal testosterone (pT) plays a key role in the development of masculine traits, with past research linking it to autistic traits in childhood, but adolescent effects remain unexplored.
  • This study analyzed a sample of 97 adolescents and young adults to see how pT relates to autistic traits, using amniotic fluid samples for pT levels and parent/self-reports for measuring autistic traits.
  • Results showed no direct link between pT and autistic traits in the overall adolescent group, but indicated a positive correlation in those with earlier puberty onset, especially in males and concerning social traits, highlighting the need for further research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

CD4 T follicular helper cells (Tfh) are key drivers of antibody development. During malaria in children, the activation of Tfh is restricted to the Th1 subset and not associated with antibody levels. To identify Tfh subsets that are associated with antibody development in malaria, we assess Tfh and antibodies longitudinally in human volunteers with experimental infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Abnormal functional connectivity (FC, the temporal synchronization of activation across distinct brain regions) of the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), central executive (CEN), and motor (MN) networks is well established in psychosis. However, little is known about FC in individuals, particularly adolescents, reporting subthreshold psychotic experiences (PE) and their trajectory over time. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the FC of these networks in adolescents with PE.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Malaria is a significant global health issue, and this study investigates the role of monocytes in the immune response during primary and acute malaria infections.
  • Researchers analyzed monocyte gene expression and functionality using RNA sequencing and flow cytometry to understand changes at peak infection versus pre-infection and during recovery.
  • Findings revealed that monocytes exhibit an interferon-driven activation in response to malaria, with children's monocyte gene expression showing greater changes compared to adults, indicating age-related differences in immune response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Psychotic experiences (PE) are highly prevalent in childhood and are known to be associated with co-morbid mental health disorders and functional difficulties in adolescence. However, little is known about the long-term outcomes of young people who report PE.

Methods: As part of the Adolescent Brain Development Study, 211 young people were recruited in childhood (mean age 11.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Response inhibition refers to the suppression of prepared or initiated actions. Typically, the go/no-go task (GNGT) or the stop signal task (SST) are used interchangeably to capture individual differences in response inhibition. On the one hand, factor analytic and conjunction neuroimaging studies support the association of both tasks with a single inhibition construct.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Around 1 in 5 children under 13 years old experience sub-clinical psychotic experiences (PEs) like hallucinations and delusions. While PEs in childhood are a significant risk factor for adult psychotic disorders, the majority of those experiencing childhood PEs do not develop a psychotic disorder. Individual differences in regional brain maturation rates may be responsible for this age-related and often transient emergence of PEs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF