Changes in conceptions in women younger than 18 years and the circumstances of young mothers in England in 2000-12: an observational study.

Background: In 2000, a 10-year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was launched in England to reduce conceptions in women younger than 18 years and social exclusion in young parents. We used routinely collected data and data from Britain's National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) to examine progress towards these goals.

Methods: In this observational study, we used random-effects meta-regression to analyse the change in conception rates from 1994-98 to 2009-13 by top-tier local authorities in England, in relation to Teenage Pregnancy Strategy-related expenditure per head, socioeconomic deprivation, and region.

Geoelectrical monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage to support high-hazard nuclear decommissioning at the Sellafield Site, UK.

A full-scale field experiment applying 4D (3D time-lapse) cross-borehole Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to the monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage was undertaken at a legacy nuclear waste silo at the Sellafield Site, UK. The experiment constituted the first application of geoelectrical monitoring in support of decommissioning work at a UK nuclear licensed site. Images of resistivity changes occurring since a baseline date prior to the simulated leaks revealed likely preferential pathways of silo liquor simulant flow in the vadose zone and upper groundwater system.

Clinical characteristics associated with the prescribing of SSRI medication in adolescents with major unipolar depression.

Unipolar major depressions (MD) emerge markedly during adolescence. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) UK recommends psychological therapies, with accompanying selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) prescribed in severe cases only. Here, we seek to determine the extent and rationale of SSRI prescribing in adolescent MD before entering a randomised clinical trial.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in hospital wastewater: a reservoir that may be unrelated to clinical isolates.

Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are an emerging infection control problem in hospitals worldwide. Identifying carriers may help reduce potential spread and infections.

Aim: To assess whether testing hospital wastewater for CPE can supplement patient-based screening for infection prevention purposes in a hospital without a recognized endemic CPE problem.

Challenges and Opportunities for Urban Environmental Health and Sustainability: the HEALTHY-POLIS initiative.

Cities around the world face many environmental health challenges including contamination of air, water and soil, traffic congestion and noise, and poor housing conditions exacerbated by unsustainable urban development and climate change. Integrated assessment of these risks offers opportunities for holistic, low carbon solutions in the urban environment that can bring multiple benefits for public health. The Healthy-Polis consortium aims to protect and promote urban health through multi-disciplinary, policy-relevant research on urban environmental health and sustainability.

Public health vulnerability to wintertime weather: time-series regression and episode analyses of national mortality and morbidity databases to inform the Cold Weather Plan for England.

Objectives: To inform development of Public Health England's Cold Weather Plan (CWP) by characterizing pre-existing relationships between wintertime weather and mortality and morbidity outcomes, and identification of groups most at risk.

Study Design: Time-series regression analysis and episode analysis of daily mortality, emergency hospital admissions, and accident and emergency visits for each region of England.

Methods: Seasonally-adjusted Poisson regression models estimating the percent change in daily health events per 1 °C fall in temperature or during individual episodes of extreme weather.

Methods to Estimate Acclimatization to Urban Heat Island Effects on Heat- and Cold-Related Mortality.

Background: Investigators have examined whether heat mortality risk is increased in neighborhoods subject to the urban heat island (UHI) effect but have not identified degrees of difference in susceptibility to heat and cold between cool and hot areas, which we call acclimatization to the UHI.

Objectives: We developed methods to examine and quantify the degree of acclimatization to heat- and cold-related mortality in relation to UHI anomalies and applied these methods to London, UK.

Methods: Case-crossover analyses were undertaken on 1993-2006 mortality data from London UHI decile groups defined by anomalies from the London average of modeled air temperature at a 1-km grid resolution.

Prevention of SHIV transmission by topical IFN-β treatment.

Understanding vaginal and rectal HIV transmission and protective cellular and molecular mechanisms is critical for designing new prevention strategies, including those required for an effective vaccine. The determinants of protection against HIV infection are, however, poorly understood. Increasing evidence suggest that innate immune defenses may help protect mucosal surfaces from HIV transmission in highly exposed, uninfected subjects.

Functional MRI of emotional memory in adolescent depression.

Introduction: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disease burden worldwide. Mood-congruent biases in memory tasks are frequently reported in MDD patients, with facilitated memory for negative stimuli. Most functional MRI studies to date have examined the neural correlates of these biases in depressed adults, with fewer studies in adolescents with MDD.

Evaluation of the cold weather plan for England: modelling of cost-effectiveness.

Objective: To determine the conditions under which the Cold Weather Plan (CWP) for England is likely to prove cost-effective in order to inform the development of the CWP in the short term before direct data on costs and benefits can be collected.

Study Design: Mathematical modelling study undertaken in the absence of direct epidemiological evidence on the effect of the CWP in reducing cold-related mortality and morbidity, and limited data or on its costs.

Methods: The model comprised a simulated temperature time series based on historical data; epidemiologically-derived relationships between temperature, and mortality and morbidity; and information on baseline unit costs of contacts with health care and community care services.

From Insect to Man: Photorhabdus Sheds Light on the Emergence of Human Pathogenicity.

Photorhabdus are highly effective insect pathogenic bacteria that exist in a mutualistic relationship with Heterorhabditid nematodes. Unlike other members of the genus, Photorhabdus asymbiotica can also infect humans. Most Photorhabdus cannot replicate above 34°C, limiting their host-range to poikilothermic invertebrates.

Neurodevelopment and ages of onset in depressive disorders.

How and why do clinical depressive disorders emerge in adolescence? In this Personal View, we present a neurodevelopmental theory to address causes for adolescent onsets of clinical depressive disorders. We argue that theories should account for three perplexing aspects of depressive disorders in adolescence: the episodic nature of depression; differences between sexes in rates of depression across development; and age-differentiated onsets. We consider how theories such as psychosocial acceleration, heterochronic brain development, dual-process models, glucocorticoid vulnerability hypothesis linked to early life stress, and epigenetic and genetic susceptibility might explain some aspects of adolescent depressive disorders.

Measurement Issues: Depression measures in children and adolescents.

Background: Since the recognition of youth depression, numerous instruments have been developed, but there is little consensus regarding their use. In recent years, a national programme for outcome measurement has been introduced in the United Kingdom.

Method: A pragmatic literature search was conducted to select instruments commonly used to measure depression either in research or as recommended by UK national bodies.

Long-term traffic air and noise pollution in relation to mortality and hospital readmission among myocardial infarction survivors.

Background: There is relatively little evidence of health effects of long-term exposure to traffic-related pollution in susceptible populations. We investigated whether long-term exposure to traffic air and noise pollution was associated with all-cause mortality or hospital readmission for myocardial infarction (MI) among survivors of hospital admission for MI.

Methods: Patients from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project database resident in Greater London (n = 1 8,138) were followed for death or readmission for MI.

Impact of climate change on the domestic indoor environment and associated health risks in the UK.

There is growing evidence that projected climate change has the potential to significantly affect public health. In the UK, much of this impact is likely to arise by amplifying existing risks related to heat exposure, flooding, and chemical and biological contamination in buildings. Identifying the health effects of climate change on the indoor environment, and risks and opportunities related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, can help protect public health.

What's in the Gift? Towards a Molecular Dissection of Nuptial Feeding in a Cricket.

Nuptial gifts produced by males and transferred to females during copulation are common in insects. Yet, their precise composition and subsequent physiological effects on the female recipient remain unresolved. Male decorated crickets Gryllodes sigillatus transfer a spermatophore to the female during copulation that is composed of an edible gift, the spermatophylax, and the ampulla that contains the ejaculate.

Aberrant brain responses to emotionally valent words is normalised after cognitive behavioural therapy in female depressed adolescents.

Background: Depression in adolescence is debilitating with high recurrence in adulthood, yet its pathophysiological mechanism remains enigmatic. To examine the interaction between emotion, cognition and treatment, functional brain responses to sad and happy distractors in an affective go/no-go task were explored before and after Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in depressed female adolescents, and healthy participants.

Methods: Eighty-two Depressed and 24 healthy female adolescents, aged 12-17 years, performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) affective go/no-go task at baseline.

Estimated cost per HIV infection diagnosed through routine HIV testing offered in acute general medical admission units and general practice settings in England.

Objectives: Following national guidelines to expand HIV testing in high-prevalence areas in England, a number of pilot studies were conducted in acute general medical admission units (ACUs) and general practices (GPs) to assess the feasibility and acceptability of testing in these settings. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost per HIV infection diagnosed through routine HIV testing in these settings.

Methods: Resource use data from four 2009/2010 Department of Health pilot studies (two ACUs; two GPs) were analysed.

The effect of reduced street lighting on road casualties and crime in England and Wales: controlled interrupted time series analysis.

Background: Many local authorities in England and Wales have reduced street lighting at night to save money and reduce carbon emissions. There is no evidence to date on whether these reductions impact on public health. We quantified the effect of 4 street lighting adaptation strategies (switch off, part-night lighting, dimming and white light) on casualties and crime in England and Wales.

Incubation history prior to the canonical thermosensitive period determines sex in the American alligator.

Despite the widespread occurrence of environmental sex determination (ESD) among vertebrates, our knowledge of the temporal dynamics by which environmental factors act on this process remains limited. In many reptiles, incubation temperature determines sex during a discrete developmental window just prior to and coincident with the differentiation of the gonads. Yet, there is substantial variation in sex ratios among different clutches of eggs incubated at identical temperatures during this period.

Is long-term exposure to traffic pollution associated with mortality? A small-area study in London.

Long-term exposure to primary traffic pollutants may be harmful for health but few studies have investigated effects on mortality. We examined associations for six primary traffic pollutants with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in 2003-2010 at small-area level using linear and piecewise linear Poisson regression models. In linear models most pollutants showed negative or null association with all-cause, cardiovascular or respiratory mortality.