Determinants of Neonatal Vitamin D Levels as Measured on Neonatal Dried Blood Spot Samples.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is linked to adverse childhood health outcomes, yet data on the distribution and quantifiable determinants of neonatal 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OHD) concentration, a vitamin D biomarker, are limited.

Objective: Our aim was to identify determinants of neonatal 25OHD concentration, measured using neonatal dried blood spots (DBS).

Methods: A total of 259 ethnically diverse children aged 0-16 years born in Victoria, Australia, were recruited.

Race and Resting-State Heart Rate Variability in Brazilian Civil Servants and the Mediating Effects of Discrimination: An ELSA-Brasil Cohort Study.

Objectives: African Americans are characterized by higher heart rate variability (HRV), a finding ostensibly associated with beneficial health outcomes. However, these findings are at odds with other evidence that blacks have worse cardiovascular outcomes. Here, we examine associations in a large cohort from the ELSA-Brasil study and determined whether these effects are mediated by discrimination.

The Automatic Detection of Chronic Pain-Related Expression: Requirements, Challenges and the Multimodal Dataset.

Pain-related emotions are a major barrier to effective self rehabilitation in chronic pain. Automated coaching systems capable of detecting these emotions are a potential solution. This paper lays the foundation for the development of such systems by making three contributions.

Objective Measures of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A Systematic Review.

Context: Objective measurement of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is essential for identifying children at risk for adverse outcomes, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Biomarkers have been advocated for use in universal screening programs, but their validity has not been comprehensively evaluated.

Objective: To systematically review the validity of objective measures of PAE.

Localisation of Sensor Nodes with Hybrid Measurements in Wireless Sensor Networks.

Localisation in wireless networks faces challenges such as high levels of signal attenuation and unknown path-loss exponents, especially in urban environments. In response to these challenges, this paper proposes solutions to localisation problems in noisy environments. A new observation model for localisation of static nodes is developed based on hybrid measurements, namely angle of arrival and received signal strength data.

Patterns of bruising in preschool children with inherited bleeding disorders: a longitudinal study.

Objective: The extent that inherited bleeding disorders affect; number, size and location of bruises in young children <6 years.

Design: Prospective, longitudinal, observational study.

Setting: Community.

Selecting children for head CT following head injury.

Objective: Indicators for head CT scan defined by the 2007 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines were analysed to identify CT uptake, influential variables and yield.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Hospital inpatient units: England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Upslope development of a tidal marsh as a function of upland land use.

To thrive in a time of rapid sea-level rise, tidal marshes will need to migrate upslope into adjacent uplands. Yet little is known about the mechanics of this process, especially in urbanized estuaries, where the adjacent upland is likely to be a mowed lawn rather than a wooded natural area. We studied marsh migration in a Long Island Sound salt marsh using detailed hydrologic, edaphic, and biotic sampling along marsh-to-upland transects in both wooded and lawn environments.

Common mental disorders and sociodemographic characteristics: baseline findings of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

Objective: To assess the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) and the association of CMD with sociodemographic characteristics in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) cohort.

Methods: We analyzed data from the cross-sectional baseline assessment of the ELSA-Brasil, a cohort study of 15,105 civil servants from six Brazilian cities. The Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised (CIS-R) was used to investigate the presence of CMD, with a score ≥ 12 indicating a current CMD (last week).

Worry is associated with robust reductions in heart rate variability: a transdiagnostic study of anxiety psychopathology.

Background: Individuals with anxiety disorders display reduced resting-state heart rate variability (HRV), although findings have been contradictory and the role of specific symptoms has been less clear. It is possible that HRV reductions may transcend diagnostic categories, consistent with dimensional-trait models of psychopathology. Here we investigated whether anxiety disorders or symptoms of anxiety, stress, worry and depression are more strongly associated with resting-state HRV.

Effects of Substrate Size and Orientation on Quadrupedal Gait Kinematics in Mouse Lemurs (Microcebus murinus).

As the smallest living primate, the mouse lemur is a suitable model for reconstructing the locomotor mechanisms by which primate ancestors might have responded to the challenges of an arboreal environment. In this study, we tested the effects of substrate diameter and orientation on quadrupedal gait kinematics in mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus). Mouse lemurs highly preferred asymmetrical to symmetrical gaits as they moved across a flat board and poles of three diameters (2.

Differential Associations of Specific Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors With Resting-State Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability: Implications for Health and Well-Being.

Objective: Debate has focused on the effects of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants on heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV), both of which are predictors of adverse cardiovascular events. Here, we examine the associations between specific SSRI antidepressants and resting state HR (and HRV) after accounting for a host of potential confounding factors using propensity score techniques.

Methods: Participants included 10,466 not taking antidepressants, 46 participants taking escitalopram, 86 taking citalopram, 66 taking fluoxetine, 103 taking paroxetine, and 139 taking sertraline.

Depression and resting state heart rate variability in children and adolescents - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Among adults, depression is associated with reduced vagal activity, as indexed by high frequency heart rate variability [HF-HRV]), which correlates inversely with depression severity. Available evidence in depressed children and adolescents remains to be reviewed systematically. A search of the literature was performed to identify studies reporting (i) HF-HRV in clinically depressed children/adolescents relative to controls (k=4, n=259) and (ii) the association between HF-HRV and depressive symptoms as measured by standardized psychometric instruments in children and adolescents (k=6, n=2625).

Heart rate variability and the relationship between trauma exposure age, and psychopathology in a post-conflict setting.

Background: Cumulative exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) increases risk for mental distress in conflict-affected settings, but the psychophysiological mechanisms that mediate this dose-response relationship are unknown. We investigated diminished heart rate variability (HRV) - an index of vagus nerve function and a robust predictor of emotion regulation capacity - as a vulnerability marker that potentially mediates the association between PTE exposure, age and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological distress and aggressive behavior, in a community sample from Timor-Leste - a post-conflict country with a history of mass violence.

Method: Resting state heart rate data was recorded from 45 cases of PTSD, depression and intermittent explosive disorder (IED); and 29 non-case controls.

Lifelong challenge of calcium homeostasis in male mice lacking TRPV5 leads to changes in bone and calcium metabolism.

Trpv5 plays an important role in calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis, among others by mediating renal calcium reabsorption. Accordingly, Trpv5 deficiency strongly stresses Ca2+ homeostasis in order to maintain stable serum Ca2+. We addressed the impact of lifelong challenge of calcium homeostasis on the bone phenotype of these mice.

Insulin resistance and carotid intima-media thickness mediate the association between resting-state heart rate variability and executive function: A path modelling study.

Background: Research has linked high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) to cognitive function. The present study adopts a modern path modelling approach to understand potential causal pathways that may underpin this relationship.

Methods: Here we examine the association between resting-state HF-HRV and executive function in a large sample of civil servants from Brazil (N=8114) recruited for the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

Children with burns referred for child abuse evaluation: Burn characteristics and co-existent injuries.

Intentional burns represent a serious form of physical abuse that must be identified to protect children from further harm. This study is a retrospectively planned secondary analysis of the Examining Siblings To Recognize Abuse (ExSTRA) network data. Our objective was to describe the characteristics of burns injuries in children referred to Child Abuse Pediatricians (CAPs) in relation to the perceived likelihood of abuse.

Resting state vagal tone in attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder: A meta-analysis.

Objectives: To quantify evidence on resting-state vagal activity in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) relative to controls using meta-analysis.

Methods: Three electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus) were reviewed to identify studies. Studies reporting on any measure of short-term, vagally mediated heart rate variability during resting state in clinically diagnosed ADHD patients as well as non-ADHD healthy controls were eligible for inclusion.

Exploring the acceptability of a clinical decision rule to identify paediatric burns due to child abuse or neglect.

Objective: An evidence based clinical decision rule (CDR) was developed from a systematic review and epidemiological study to identify burns due to child maltreatment (abuse or neglect). Prior to an implementation evaluation, we aim to explore clinicians' views of the CDR, the likelihood that it would influence their management and factors regarding its acceptability.

Methods: A semistructured questionnaire exploring demographics, views of the CDR and data collection pro forma, ability to recognise maltreatment and likelihood of following CDR recommended child protection (CP) action, was administered to 55 doctors and nurses in eight emergency departments and two burns units.

The impact of high trait social anxiety on neural processing of facial emotion expressions in females.

A cognitive model of social anxiety predicts that an early attentional bias leads to greater cognitive processing of social threat signals, whereas the vigilance-avoidance model predicts there will be subsequent reduction in cognitive processing. This study tests these models by examining neural responses to social threat stimuli using Event-related potentials (ERP). 19 women with high trait social anxiety and 19 women with low trait social anxiety viewed emotional expressions (angry, disgusted, happy and neutral) in a passive viewing task whilst ERP responses were recorded.

Isolation of a Novel Fusogenic Orthoreovirus from Eucampsipoda africana Bat Flies in South Africa.

We report on the isolation of a novel fusogenic orthoreovirus from bat flies (Eucampsipoda africana) associated with Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) collected in South Africa. Complete sequences of the ten dsRNA genome segments of the virus, tentatively named Mahlapitsi virus (MAHLV), were determined. Phylogenetic analysis places this virus into a distinct clade with Baboon orthoreovirus, Bush viper reovirus and the bat-associated Broome virus.

Epidemiology of children with head injury: a national overview.

Background: The National Confidential Enquiry describes the epidemiology of children admitted to hospital with head injury.

Method: Children (<15 years old) who died or were admitted for >4 h with head injury were identified from 216 UK hospitals (1 September 2009 to 28 February 2010). Data were collected using standard proformas and entered on to a database.

Mating competitiveness of sterile genetic sexing strain males (GAMA) under laboratory and semi-field conditions: Steps towards the use of the Sterile Insect Technique to control the major malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis in South Africa.

Background: Anopheles arabiensis Patton is primarily responsible for malaria transmission in South Africa after successful suppression of other major vector species using indoor spraying of residual insecticides. Control of An. arabiensis using current insecticide based approaches is proving difficult owing to the development of insecticide resistance, and variable feeding and resting behaviours.