Treated Mental Illness and the Risk of Child Abuse Perpetration.

Objective: Despite a limited empirical literature, parental mental illness is often cited as a major risk factor for violence against children. However, mental illness that is adequately treated would not be expected to lead to increased violence risk. This study compared incidents of violence toward children perpetrated by parents who were newly discharged from inpatient psychiatric treatment with violence perpetrated by other parents in the same communities to determine whether parents with treated mental illness had an elevated risk of child abuse perpetration.

Cohesin modulates transcription of estrogen-responsive genes.

The cohesin complex has essential roles in cell division, DNA damage repair and gene transcription. The transcriptional function of cohesin is thought to derive from its ability to connect distant regulatory elements with gene promoters. Genome-wide binding of cohesin in breast cancer cells frequently coincides with estrogen receptor alpha (ER), leading to the hypothesis that cohesin facilitates estrogen-dependent gene transcription.

Cohesin is required for activation of MYC by estradiol.

Cohesin is best known as a multi-subunit protein complex that holds together replicated sister chromatids from S phase until G2. Cohesin also has an important role in the regulation of gene expression. We previously demonstrated that the cohesin complex positively regulates expression of the oncogene MYC.