Identifying the psychological effects of nocebo education: results from two pre-registered experiments.

Providing treatment side effect information to patients increases the risk of harm due to the nocebo effect. Nocebo education, in which patients learn about nocebo effects, is a novel strategy that can be used across a variety of situations and individuals to decrease unpleasant treatment side effects. It is currently unclear which psychological changes are induced by nocebo education, which is information required to maximize this intervention.

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development.

The human brain undergoes rapid development during the first years of life. Beginning in utero, a wide array of biological, social, and environmental factors can have lasting impacts on brain structure and function. To understand how prenatal and early life experiences alter neurodevelopmental trajectories and shape health outcomes, several NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices collaborated to support and launch the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study.

sp. nov., a bacterium possessing metallophore activity towards rare earth elements.

A polyphasic taxonomic study was carried out on strain ES2, isolated from sediment of a wetland created to remediate acid drainage from a coal mine. The rod-shaped bacterium formed yellow/orange pigmented colonies and produced the pigment flexirubin. The 16S rRNA gene sequence results assigned the strain to , with 98.

The role of fathers in child development from preconception to postnatal influences: Opportunities for the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.

A growing body of literature highlights the important role of paternal health and socioemotional characteristics in child development, from preconception through adolescence. Much of this research addresses the indirect effects of fathers, for instance, their influence on maternal behaviors during the prenatal period or via the relationship with their partner. However, emerging evidence also recognizes the direct role of paternal health and behavior for child health and adjustment across development.

The Use of Authorized Concealment to Minimize Nocebo Side Effects: A Survey of US Public Attitudes.

Introduction: To minimize nocebo effects, it may be possible to employ authorized concealment, in which clinicians tell patients about the nocebo phenomenon and ask if they would prefer not to be informed about mild treatment side effects.

Objective: The objective of the study was to understand public evaluations of authorized concealment for reducing nocebo effects.

Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was completed by a demographically diverse US national community sample between June 2 and 6, 2023.

Genetically informative analysis of the association between intimate relationship adjustment and health.

Objective: Prior research has found a positive association between the quality or adjustment of an individual's intimate relationship, such as marriage, and their physical health. However, it is possible that this association may be due, at least in part, to confounding variables (i.e.

Parental criticism and adolescent internalising symptoms: using a Children-of-Twins design with power calculations to account for genetic influence.

Background: Parental criticism is correlated with internalising symptoms in adolescent offspring. This correlation could in part reflect their genetic relatedness, if the same genes influence behaviours in both parents and offspring. We use a Children-of-Twins design to assess whether parent-reported criticism and offspring internalising symptoms remain associated after controlling for shared genes.

National Institutes of Health social and behavioral research in response to the SARS-CoV2 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been mitigated primarily using social and behavioral intervention strategies, and these strategies have social and economic impacts, as well as potential downstream health impacts that require further study. Digital and community-based interventions are being increasingly relied upon to address these health impacts and bridge the gap in health care access despite insufficient research of these interventions as a replacement for, not an adjunct to, in-person clinical care. As SARS-CoV-2 testing expands, research on encouraging uptake and appropriate interpretation of these test results is needed.

A genetically informative analysis of the association between dyadic adjustment, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms.

Background: Prior research has found a reliable and robust association between poor dyadic (e.g., marital) adjustment and depression and anxiety.

Social and behavioral science priorities for genomic translation.

This commentary highlights the essential role of the social and behavioral sciences for genomic translation, and discusses some priority research areas in this regard. The first area encompasses genetics of behavioral, social, and neurocognitive factors, and how integration of these relationships might impact the development of treatments and interventions. The second area includes the contributions that social and behavioral sciences make toward the informed translation of genomic developments.

Shared genetic influences do not explain the association between parent-offspring relationship quality and offspring internalizing problems: results from a Children-of-Twins study.

Background: Associations between parenting and child outcomes are often interpreted as reflecting causal, social influences. However, such associations may be confounded by genes common to children and their biological parents. To the extent that these shared genes influence behaviours in both generations, a passive genetic mechanism may explain links between them.

Associations between the parent-child relationship and adolescent self-worth: a genetically informed study of twin parents and their adolescent children.

Background: Low self-worth during adolescence predicts a range of emotional and behavioural problems. As such, identifying potential sources of influence on self-worth is important. Aspects of the parent-child relationship are often associated with adolescent self-worth but to date it is unclear whether such associations may be attributable to familial confounding (e.

Understanding The Role of Mate Selection Processes in Couples' Pair-Bonding Behavior.

Couples are similar in their pair-bonding behavior, yet the reasons for this similarity are often unclear. A common explanation is phenotypic assortment, whereby individuals select partners with similar heritable characteristics. Alternatively, social homogamy, whereby individuals passively select partners with similar characteristic due to shared social backgrounds, is rarely considered.

The relationship between parental depressive symptoms and offspring psychopathology: evidence from a children-of-twins study and an adoption study.

Background: Parental depressive symptoms are associated with emotional and behavioural problems in offspring. However, genetically informative studies are needed to distinguish potential causal effects from genetic confounds, and longitudinal studies are required to distinguish parent-to-child effects from child-to-parent effects.

Method: We conducted cross-sectional analyses on a sample of Swedish twins and their adolescent offspring (n = 876 twin families), and longitudinal analyses on a US sample of children adopted at birth, their adoptive parents, and their birth mothers (n = 361 adoptive families).

Adolescent age moderates genetic and environmental influences on parent-adolescent positivity and negativity: Implications for genotype-environment correlation.

We examined how genotype-environment correlation processes differ as a function of adolescent age. We tested whether adolescent age moderates genetic and environmental influences on positivity and negativity in mother-adolescent and father-adolescent relationships using parallel samples of twin parents from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden and twin/sibling adolescents from the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development Study. We inferred differences in the role of passive and nonpassive genotype-environment correlation based on biometric moderation findings.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety: A Children-of-Twins Study.

Objective: The transmission of anxiety within families is well recognized, but the underlying processes are poorly understood. Twin studies of adolescent anxiety demonstrate both genetic and environmental influence, and multiple aspects of parenting are associated with offspring anxiety. To date, the children-of-twins design has not been used to evaluate the relative contributions of genetic transmission compared with direct transmission of anxiety from parents to their offspring.

Parental criticism is an environmental influence on adolescent somatic symptoms.

Previous studies have suggested that parental criticism leads to more somatic symptoms in adolescent children. However, this research has not assessed the direction of causation or whether genetic and/or environmental influences explain the association between parental criticism and adolescent somatic symptoms. As such, it is impossible to understand the mechanisms that underlie this association.

Parental knowledge is an environmental influence on adolescent externalizing.

Background: There is evidence both that parental monitoring is an environmental influence serving to diminish adolescent externalizing problems and that this association may be driven by adolescents' characteristics via genetic and/or environmental mechanisms, such that adolescents with fewer problems tell their parents more, and therefore appear to be better monitored. Without information on how parents' and children's genes and environments influence correlated parent and child behaviors, it is impossible to clarify the mechanisms underlying this association.

Method: The present study used the Extended Children of Twins model to distinguish types of gene-environment correlation and direct environmental effects underlying associations between parental knowledge and adolescent (age 11-22 years) externalizing behavior with a Swedish sample of 909 twin parents and their adolescent offspring and a US-based sample of 405 White adolescent siblings and their parents.

The observed association between maternal anxiety and adolescent asthma: children of twin design suggest familial effects.

Background: Previous studies indicate that maternal anxiety is associated with asthma in the adolescent child, but mechanisms are unclear.

Objective: To investigate the association between maternal anxiety and maternal, self- and register-based report of asthma in the adolescent child, and whether the association remains after control of familial confounding (shared environmental and genetic factors).

Method: From the Twin and Offspring Study of Sweden, 1691 mothers (1058 twins) and their adolescent child were included.

Gene-environment correlation underlying the association between parental negativity and adolescent externalizing problems.

Studies of adolescent or parent-based twins suggest that gene-environment correlation (rGE) is an important mechanism underlying parent-adolescent relationships. However, information on how parents' and children's genes and environments influence correlated parent and child behaviors is needed to distinguish types of rGE. The present study used the novel Extended Children of Twins model to distinguish types of rGE underlying associations between negative parenting and adolescent (age 11-22 years) externalizing problems with a Swedish sample of 909 twin parents and their adolescent offspring and a U.

Current parental depression and offspring perceived self-competence: a quasi-experimental examination.

A genetically-informed, quasi-experimental design was used to examine the genetic and environmental processes underlying associations between current parental depressive symptoms and offspring perceived self-competence. Participants, drawn from a population-based Swedish sample, were 852 twin pairs and their male (52 %) and female offspring aged 15.7 ± 2.

Corneal collagen cross-linking: an introduction and literature review.

Background: This literature review analyzes the scientific evidence available regarding corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) as a treatment option for progressive keratectasia.

Methods: A literature search was performed using dates from 1990 to August 2010 regarding CXL Specific areas of focus for the literature review include safety and efficacy of the procedure as a stand-alone treatment or when used in conjunction with Intacs® corneal implants (Addition Technology™) or photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

Results: A total of 50 clinical trials and studies were identified, 20 of which met the inclusion criteria.