Increasing AIP Macrocycle Size Reveals Key Features of agr Activation in Staphylococcus aureus.

The agr locus in the commensal human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, is a two-promoter regulon with allelic variability that produces a quorum-sensing circuit involved in regulating virulence within the bacterium. Secretion of unique autoinducing peptides (AIPs) and detection of their concentrations by AgrC, a transmembrane receptor histidine kinase, coordinates local bacterial population density with global changes in gene expression. The finding that staphylococcal virulence can be inhibited through antagonism of this quorum-sensing pathway has fueled tremendous interest in understanding the structure-activity relationships underlying the AIP-AgrC interaction.

Parenting behaviours associated with the development of adaptive and maladaptive offspring personality traits.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of beneficial parenting behaviours with adaptive and maladaptive offspring personality traits that persist into adulthood among individuals in the community.

Methods: Families (n = 669) participating in the Children in the Community Study were interviewed during the childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood of the offspring at the mean ages of 6, 14, 16, 22, and 33 years.

Results: Twelve types of beneficial maternal and paternal child-rearing behaviour, reported by offspring at the mean age of 16 years, were associated with elevated offspring personality resiliency, at the mean ages of 22 and 33 years, and with low offspring personality disorder trait levels.

Depressed parents' treatment needs and children's problems in an urban family medicine practice.

Objective: The study examined interest in treatment and treatment preferences and obstacles of low-income depressed parents.

Methods: A total of 273 primarily low-income, Hispanic parents of children aged seven to 17 attending an urban family medicine practice agreed to complete a survey by interview or self-report, including screening diagnoses and treatment history. Three groups were compared: major, subthreshold, and no depression.

Patient and clinician perceptions of therapeutic alliance as predictors of improvement in depression.

Background: Meta-analyses have consistently concluded that a positive therapeutic alliance is associated with better clinical outcomes and progress. To date, however, very few studies have focused on sociodemographic or clinical patient characteristics as moderators of alliance.

Method: A multicenter longitudinal treatment outcome study was conducted to investigate the associations of patient and clinician perceptions of the therapeutic alliance with improvement in depression, and to investigate whether these associations were influenced by sociodemographic or clinical characteristics of the patient.

Minor depression during adolescence and mental health outcomes during adulthood.

Data from a community-based prospective longitudinal study were used to investigate the association of minor depressive disorder during adolescence with adverse mental health outcomes during adulthood. Structured diagnostic interviews were administered to a community-based sample of 755 individuals during adolescence and adulthood. Results indicated that minor depressive disorder during adolescence was associated with elevated risk for subsequent psychiatric disorders during adulthood, including major depressive disorder, >or= 1 disruptive disorders and clinically relevant impairment after corresponding and co-occurring disorders were controlled statistically.

Stigmatization and receptivity to mental health services among recently bereaved adults.

Severe grief symptoms, treatment receptivity, attitudes about grief, and stigmatization concerns were assessed in a community-based sample of 135 widowed participants in the Yale Bereavement Study. There was a statistically significant association between the severity of grief symptoms and reported negative reactions from friends and family members. However, more than 90% of the respondents with complicated grief, a severe grief disorder, reported that they would be relieved to know that having such a diagnosis was indicative of a recognizable psychiatric condition, and 100% reported that they would be interested in receiving treatment for their severe grief symptoms.

Prolonged grief disorder: Psychometric validation of criteria proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11.

Background: Bereavement is a universal experience, and its association with excess morbidity and mortality is well established. Nevertheless, grief becomes a serious health concern for a relative few. For such individuals, intense grief persists, is distressing and disabling, and may meet criteria as a distinct mental disorder.

School climate and continuity of adolescent personality disorder symptoms.

Background: Schools are key social contexts for shaping development and behavior in youths; yet, little is known of their influence on adolescent personality disturbance.

Method: A community-based sample of 592 adolescents was assessed for family and school experiences, Axis I psychiatric disorders, and Axis II personality disorder (PD) symptoms, and followed into young adulthood. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate associations between adolescent-reported school climate and young adult PD symptoms independent of age, sex, family socioeconomic status; childhood maltreatment; Axis I disorder, PD symptoms, academic grades, and parental punishment in adolescence; and four dimensions of school climate.

Problematic eating behaviors in adolescents with low self-esteem and elevated depressive symptoms.

Previous research has indicated that low self-esteem may be an important risk factor for the development of eating disorders. Few longitudinal studies have examined the relationships between low self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and eating disorders in adolescents. The present study investigated whether low self-esteem was associated with depressive symptoms and problematic eating behaviors.

The association between anxiety and alcohol versus cannabis abuse disorders among adolescents in primary care settings.

Background: Both clinical and population-based studies show that anxiety disorders and substance misuse frequently co-occur in adults, whereas among adolescents, less examination of this association has been done. Adolescence is frequently the time of substance use initiation and its subsequent interaction with anxiety disorders has not been fully explored. It is unknown in adolescents whether anxiety is more related to alcohol abuse versus cannabis abuse.

Psychiatric disorders during adolescence and relationships with peers from age 17 to age 27.

Objective: To investigate normative patterns of peer relationships from ages 17 to 27, and to examine the impact of adolescent psychiatric disorders on peer relationships.

Method: Psychiatric disorders were measured at a mean age 16 years. At mean age 29, 200 participants completed detailed narrative interviews about their transition to adulthood.

Cumulative prevalence of personality disorders between adolescence and adulthood.

Objective: To investigate the cumulative prevalence of personality disorder (PD) among adults in the community, based on prospective longitudinal data from a series of psychiatric interviews.

Method: Psychiatric interviews were administered to a regionally representative community-based sample of 568 individuals in 1983 (mean age = 14), 1985-1986 (mean age = 16), 1991-1993 (mean age = 22), and 2001-2004 (mean age 33).

Results: The point prevalence of any current DSM-IV PD, including depressive PD and passive-aggressive PD, varied between 12.

Development and validation of a new procedure for the diagnostic assessment of personality disorder: the Multidimensional Personality Disorder Rating Scale (MPDRS).

Data from a community-based prospective longitudinal study were used to investigate the utility of a structured assessment of the DSM-IV General Diagnostic Criteria for a Personality Disorder (PD). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV PDs (SCID-II) was administered to 154 adults. After completing the interview, an experienced clinician assessed the General Diagnostic Criteria for a PD using a structured rating scale.

Comorbid Axis I and Axis II disorders in early adolescence: outcomes 20 years later.

Context: Although Axis II personality disorders in adolescence have been linked to psychopathology and psychosocial impairment in early adulthood, little is known about their effects over longer periods.

Objectives: To evaluate and compare long-term prognoses of adolescent personality disorders and co-occurring Axis I disorders.

Design: Population-based longitudinal study.

Parental concordance and offspring risk for anxiety, conduct, depressive, and substance use disorders.

Background: Although parental concordance for any psychiatric disorder is known to be associated with elevated risk for offspring disorder, little evidence is currently available from prospective longitudinal studies regarding the association of parental concordance with offspring risk for anxiety, conduct, depressive, and substance use disorders.

Sampling And Methods: Psychiatric interviews were conducted with 593 mothers and their biological offspring at mean offspring ages 14, 16, 22, and 33.

Results: Offspring risk for >or=1 psychiatric disorder was significantly greater if both parents had a lifetime history of psychiatric disorder than if only one parent had a lifetime history of disorder.

Extensive television viewing and the development of attention and learning difficulties during adolescence.

Objective: To investigate the association of television viewing with educational and intellectual outcomes during adolescence and early adulthood.

Design: Prospective epidemiological study.

Setting: Families participating in the Children in the Community Study, a prospective longitudinal investigation, were interviewed at mean offspring ages 14, 16, and 22 years.

Personality disorder and impaired functioning from adolescence to adulthood.

Background: Little is currently known about functioning and impairment during adulthood associated with the course of personality disorders.

Aims: To investigate the association of personality disorder stability from adolescence through middle adulthood with measures of global functioning and impairment, using prospective epidemiological data.

Method: A community-based sample of 658 individuals was interviewed at mean ages 14, 16, 22 and 33 years.

Associations of parental personality disorders and axis I disorders with childrearing behavior.

Data from the Children in the Community Study, a community-based longitudinal investigation, were used to investigate the associations of parental anxiety, depressive, substance use, and personality disorders with parental child rearing behavior. Comprehensive psychosocial interviews, including assessments of child rearing, were conducted with 224 women and 153 men (mean age = 33 years; mean off- spring age = 8 years). Findings indicated that parental personality disorders were associated with parental possessiveness, inconsistent parental discipline, low parental communication, and low parental praise and encouragement.

Parental control, partner dependency, and complicated grief among widowed adults in the community.

Data from the Yale Bereavement Study, a community-based longitudinal study, were used to investigate the association of 192 widowed individuals' recollections of parenting affection and control during childhood with dependency on the deceased spouse and the development of severe grief symptoms following bereavement. The hypothesis that dependency on the deceased spouse mediates the association of parental affection and control during childhood with the development of severe grief following bereavement was investigated. Findings indicated that a high level of perceived parental control during childhood was associated with elevated levels of dependency on the deceased spouse and with symptoms of complicated grief.

Relative impact of young adult personality disorders on subsequent quality of life: findings of a community-based longitudinal study.

Little is known about long-term prognostic implications of personality disorder (PD) for quality of life (QOL) in the young adult population not selected for psychiatric treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine the association of PDs with QOL assessed after an 11-year interval. PDs were assessed in 1991-1994 at mean age 22, and indicators of QOL were assessed in 2001-2004 at mean age 33 based on a community sample of 588 young adults.

Gender differences in the age-changing relationship between instrumentality and family contact in emerging adulthood.

Data from the Children in the Community Transitions Study were used to examine gender differences in the impact of family contact on the development of finance and romance instrumentality from ages 17 to 27 years. Family contact decreased among both men and women across emerging adulthood, although it decreased more rapidly in men than in women. Both finance and romance instrumentality increased for men and women across emerging adulthood.

Development of personality disorder symptoms and the risk for partner violence.

In a community sample (N = 543) followed over 20 years, the authors studied associations among childhood family violence exposure, personality disorder (PD) symptoms, and adult partner violence. PD symptoms (DSM-III-R Clusters A, B, and C) in early adulthood partially mediated the effect of earlier childhood risks on the odds of perpetrating partner violence. The authors tested whether stability of PD symptoms from adolescence to the early 20s differs for individuals who later perpetrated partner violence.

Adolescent axis I and personality disorders predict quality of life during young adulthood.

Purpose: To investigate and compare the prospective association of adolescent Axis I mental disorder and personality disorder (PD) with young adult quality of life (QOL) in the general population.

Methods: Seven hundred fifty mothers and youths participating in a prospective longitudinal community-based study were interviewed. Mental disorders were measured at a mean age 16 years.