Publications by authors named "Patricia Cohen"

Objectives: To investigate associations between adolescent personality disorder (PD) and obesity 17 years later.

Methods: The Children in the Community is a longitudinal study based on a randomly sampled cohort of families, in effect since 1975. PDs were assessed in youths by self-report and mother report in 1985 to 1986, when participants were at an average age of 16 years.

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Glucocorticoids play an important role in the treatment of inflammation and immune disorders, despite side effects, which include metabolic derangements such as central adiposity. These studies examine the role of protein phosphatase 5 (Ppp5) in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) complexes which mediate response to glucocorticoids. Mice homozygous for inactivated Ppp5 (Ppp5D274A/D274A) exhibit decreased adipose tissue surrounding the gonads and kidneys compared with wild-type mice.

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Purpose: To examine whether religiosity may help people ward off depression, we investigated the association between religious service attendance and depressive symptom scores in a community-based 30-year follow-up longitudinal study.

Methods: This study used data on 754 subjects followed over 30 years and evaluated at four time points. Linear mixed effects models were used to assess the association between religious service attendance and depressive symptoms development; frequency of attendance and age also were used as predictors.

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The liver responds to an increase in blood glucose levels in the postprandial state by uptake of glucose and conversion to glycogen. Liver glycogen synthase (GYS2), a key enzyme in glycogen synthesis, is controlled by a complex interplay between the allosteric activator glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) and reversible phosphorylation through glycogen synthase kinase-3 and the glycogen-associated form of protein phosphatase 1. Here, we initially performed mutagenesis analysis and identified a key residue (Arg(582)) required for activation of GYS2 by G6P.

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Many pharmaceuticals used to treat cancer target the cell cycle or mitotic spindle dynamics, such as the anti-tumor drug, paclitaxel, which stabilizes microtubules. Here we show that, in cells arrested in mitosis with the spindle toxins, nocodazole, or paclitaxel, the endogenous protein phosphatase 4 (Ppp4) complex Ppp4c-R2-R3A is phosphorylated on its regulatory (R) subunits, and its activity is inhibited. The phosphorylations are blocked by roscovitine, indicating that they may be mediated by Cdk1-cyclin B.

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Purpose: To examine the association between early adolescent anxiety disorders and self-esteem development from early adolescence through young adulthood.

Methods: Self-esteem was measured at mean ages 13, 16, and 22 for 821 participants from the Children in the Community Study, a population-based longitudinal cohort. Anxiety disorders were measured at mean age 13 years.

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A microanalysis of 4-month mother-infant face-to-face communication predicted 12-month infant disorganized (vs. secure) attachment outcomes in an urban community sample. We documented a dyadic systems view of the roles of both partners, the roles of both self- and interactive contingency, and the importance of attention, orientation and touch, and as well as facial and vocal affect, in the co-construction of attachment disorganization.

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Psychologists, quality of life and well-being researchers have grown increasingly interested in understanding the factors that are associated with human happiness. Although twin studies estimate that genetic factors account for 35-50% of the variance in human happiness, knowledge of specific genes is limited. However, recent advances in molecular genetics can now provide a window into neurobiological markers of human happiness.

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Background: While increasing evidence suggests that cannabis use may play a role in the development of schizophrenia in some young people, less is known about the strength and specificity of its relationship to latent schizophrenia liability, i.e., schizotypal personality disorder traits.

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Relationship functioning is assumed to propagate across subsequent generations, but most studies have lacked appropriate methodologies to test this assumption prospectively. In a randomly selected sample of youth (N = 821) followed prospectively for over 25 years across multiple generations, we examined the association of romantic engagement (i.e.

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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.

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The present study examines the quality of peer relations as a mediator between exposure to IPV (intimate partner violence) and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 preadolescents and adolescents (ages 10-18), who were interviewed via telephone as part of a multigenerational, prospective, longitudinal study. Relational victimization is also examined as a moderator of IPV exposure on internalizing behaviors. Results demonstrate a significant association of exposure to severe IPV and internalizing behaviors.

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Research finds that early antisocial behavior is a risk for later intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization, and that children's exposure to their parents' IPV is a risk for subsequent behavior problems. This study tests whether intimate violence (IPV) between partners contributes independently to the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior, using the Children in the Community Study, a representative sample (N = 821) followed for over 25 years in 6 assessments. The present study includes a subsample of parents (N = 678) and their offspring (N = 396).

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Abnormal regulation of brain glycogen metabolism is believed to underlie insulin-induced hypoglycaemia, which may be serious or fatal in diabetic patients on insulin therapy. A key regulator of glycogen levels is glycogen targeted protein phosphatase 1 (PP1), which dephosphorylates and activates glycogen synthase (GS) leading to an increase in glycogen synthesis. In this study, we show that the gene PPP1R3F expresses a glycogen-binding protein (R3F) of 82.

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Background: Little is known about the relative impact of different mental disorders on adult quality of life (QOL). This study estimated associations between several mental disorders and QOL in a representative American community sample.

Methods: The QOL instrument was administered to 640 adult participants in the Children in the Community Study, a population-based longitudinal study.

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Protein phosphorylation is a critical regulatory mechanism in cellular signalling. To this end, PP1 is a major eukaryotic serine/threonine-specific phosphatase whose cellular functions, in turn, depend on complexes it forms with PP1 interacting proteins-PIPs. The importance of the testis/sperm-enriched variant, PP1γ2, in sperm motility and spermatogenesis has previously been shown.

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Associations of maternal self-report anxiety-related symptoms with mother-infant 4-month face-to-face play were investigated in 119 pairs. Attention, affect, spatial orientation, and touch were coded from split-screen videotape on a 1-s time base. Self- and interactive contingency were assessed by time-series methods.

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Activation of 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is believed to be the mechanism by which the pharmaceuticals, metformin and phenformin, exert their beneficial effects for treatment of type 2 diabetes. These biguanide drugs elevate 5'-AMP, which allosterically activates AMPK and promotes phosphorylation on Thr172 of AMPK catalytic α subunits. Although kinases phosphorylating this site have been identified, phosphatases that dephosphorylate it are unknown.

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A microanalysis of 4-month mother-infant face-to-face communication revealed a fine-grained specification of communication processes that predicted 12-month insecure attachment outcomes, particularly resistant and disorganized classifications. An urban community sample of 84 dyads were videotaped at 4 months during a face-to-face interaction, and at 12 months during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Four-month mother and infant communication modalities of attention, affect, touch, and spatial orientation were coded from split-screen videotape on a 1 s time base; mother and infant facial-visual "engagement" variables were constructed.

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We tested the hypothesis that among women who are chronically ill, a re-ordering of life values maintains mental health. A community-based prospective longitudinal study was conducted in which data were obtained from 601 women in 1986, when the women were with mean age 42 and again in 2003, when the women were with mean age 58. There was a significant change in life values as women aged with more change among women with chronic disease (n = 476) than those without chronic disease (n = 125).

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