Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Inhibits Transient Expression of Autophagy and Synaptic Proteins in Developing Brain.

Introduction: Neuronal apoptosis and consequent inhibition of autophagy, with loss of synaptic connections are central events in the genesis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). However, studies of molecular mechanisms of autophagy in human fetal brain are limited. Recently, prenatal exposure to EtOH was associated with reduced miRNA-9 levels in fetal brain-derived exosomes (FB- Es) isolated from maternal plasma, which correlated with small eyes, an anatomical hallmark of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Quantifying compositional variability in microbial communities with FAVA.

Microbial communities vary across space, time, and individual hosts, generating a need for statistical methods capable of quantifying variability across multiple microbiome samples at once. To understand heterogeneity across microbiome samples from different host individuals, sampling times, spatial locations, or experimental replicates, we present FAVA (-based Assessment of Variability across vectors of relative Abundances), a framework for characterizing compositional variability across two or more microbiome samples. FAVA quantifies variability across many samples of taxonomic or functional relative abundances in a single index ranging between 0 and 1, equaling 0 when all samples are identical and 1 when each sample is entirely composed of a single taxon (and at least two distinct taxa are present across samples).

In Utero Alcohol and Tobacco Exposure, Maternal Depression, And Maternal Obesity Are Associated with Impaired Oligodendrocyte Differentiation in The Developing Brain.

Introduction: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the leading preventable cause of pediatric cognitive disability and is associated with dysmyelination. We examined possible clinical co-determinants that might interact with EtOH in impairing oligodendrocyte (OL) development. Women who drink, including pregnant women, also disproportionately suffer from depression (mDepression), which we have shown is a risk factor for FASD.

Perceived Discrimination, Trauma, Mental Health, and Blood Pressure Outcomes Among Young African American/Black Mothers in the InterGEN Study.

Background: African American (AA) women are disproportionately affected by hypertension. Discrimination, which can be traumatic, and depressive symptoms are independently associated with blood pressure (BP).

Objective: We assessed whether the combined influence of discrimination and race-related trauma and depressive symptoms influenced BP over time.

Development and validation of the Oxford Benchmark Scale for Rating Vaccine Technologies (OBSRVT), a scale for assessing public attitudes to next-generation vaccine delivery technologies.

Next-generation vaccine delivery technologies may provide significant gains from both a technical and behavioral standpoint, but no scale has yet been developed to assess public attitudes to novel vaccine delivery technologies. We therefore performed a cross-sectional validation study that included 1,001 demographically representative participants from the UK and US to develop and validate a novel scale, the Oxford Benchmark Scale for Rating Vaccine Technologies (OBSRVT). A sample of 500 UK participants was used to perform exploratory factor analysis with categorical variables (using a polychoric correlation matrix) followed by promax oblique factor rotation to develop the initial model.