Red Blood Cell Alloimmunization in Transfused Patients With Sickle Cell Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common monogenic disorder in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Blood transfusion to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of blood is vital in the management of many patients with SCD. However, red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization is a major challenge to transfusions in these patients.

Reasons for Emergency Department Use among Patients with Mental Disorders.

Disproportionate use of emergency departments (EDs) by patients with mental disorders suggests the need to evaluate factors associated with ED use. Based on the Andersen Behavioral model, this mixed-method study identified the contributions of predisposing, enabling and needs factors in ED use among 328 patients with mental disorders. We hypothesised that ED use for mental health (MH) reasons would be most strongly associated with need factors.

A cross-lagged panel analysis of children's sleep, attention, and mood in a prenatally stressed cohort: The QF2011 Queensland flood study.

Background: It is well recognized that childhood sleep, attention and mood problems increase risk for multiple adverse outcomes across the life-span; therefore, understanding factors, such as prenatal maternal stress, that underlie these types of childhood problems is critical for developing interventions that may optimize longer-term functioning. Our goal was to determine the association between disaster-related stress in pregnancy and young children's sleep, attention, and anxious/depressed symptoms.

Methods: Soon after a major flood in Australia in 2011, we assessed various aspects of disaster-related prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) in women who had been pregnant at the time.

Using Parental Report to Identify Children at Risk for Poor Sleep and Daytime Problems.

Objective: To examine objective sleep patterns and the daytime behavioral, emotional and academic functioning of school-age children above and below the clinical cutoff score for the Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), which is a parental-report-based measure of sleep disturbances.

Participants: 48 boys and 74 girls aged 7-11 years.

Methods: Participants' sleep was assessed in their home environment using a miniature actigraph (AW-64 series; Mini-Mitter, Sunriver, OR, USA) for five consecutive weeknights.

Drinking motives supporting binge drinking of Inuit adolescents.

Objectives: Binge drinking has been identified as a public health concern among several Indigenous communities in Canada. Drinking motives have been shown to significantly influence drinking patterns among youth, but no research has been conducted among Inuit populations. This article assesses whether specific drinking motives are related to the number of binge drinking episodes among Inuit adolescents from Nunavik.

Infant Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study.

This study utilized a natural disaster to investigate the effects of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) arising from exposure to a severe flood on maternally reported infant social-emotional and behavioral outcomes at 16 months, along with potential moderation by infant sex and gestational timing of flood exposure. Women pregnant during the Queensland floods in January 2011 completed measures of flood-related objective hardship and posttraumatic stress (PTS). At 16 months postpartum, mothers completed measures describing depressive symptoms and infant social-emotional and behavioral problems (n = 123) and competence (n = 125).

Seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) in blood donors in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background And Objective: Human T-cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV) 1 and 2 are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), transfusion-transmissible and causally linked to various severe diseases. However, even in SSA countries with moderate to high endemicity, routine blood donor screening for HTLV is rarely, if ever, performed. Information on seroprevalence is limited.

Profiling mental health professionals in relation to perceived interprofessional collaboration on teams.

Objectives: This study aims at identifying profiles of mental health professionals based on individual, interactional, structural and professional role characteristics related to interprofessional collaboration.

Methods: Mental health professionals ( = 315) working in primary health care and specialized mental health teams in four Quebec local service networks completed a self-administered questionnaire eliciting information on individual, interactional, structural and professional role characteristics.

Results: Cluster analysis identified four profiles of mental health professionals.

Implementation of supported employment in the context of a national Canadian program: Facilitators, barriers and strategies.

Objective: To describe facilitators, barriers, and strategies to implementation of the Canadian national At Work/Au travail program. This program funded supported employment services, following some of the principles of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, in 12 sites across Canada.

Method: We conducted on-site individual interviews (12) and focus groups (15) with 35 employment support workers, 12 team supervisors or managers, and 10 directors or CEOs.

Choice and personal recovery for people with serious mental illness living in supported housing.

The relationship between personal choice and mental health recovery in the context of supported housing has not been explored. To gain an understanding of how choice facilitates recovery processes in supported housing environments for those with serious mental illness (SMI). Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 tenants with SMI living in supported housing.

Testing the Effectiveness of Implementing a Model of Mental Healthcare Involving Trained Lay Health Workers in Treating Major Mental Disorders Among Youth in a Conflict-Ridden, Low-Middle Income Environment: Part II Results.

Objectives: To report the outcomes of young people (aged 14-30 years) treated for major mental disorders in a lay health worker (LHW) intervention model in a rural district of conflict-ridden Kashmir, India.

Methods: Over a 12-month follow-up, LHWs collected data on symptoms, functioning, quality of life and disability, and patients' and families' service engagement and satisfaction.

Results: Forty trained LHWs (18 males and 22 females) identified 262 individuals who met the criteria for a diagnosis of a major mental disorder, connected them with specialists for treatment initiation (within 14 days), and provided follow-up and support to patients and families.

A Model of Mental Health Care Involving Trained Lay Health Workers for Treatment of Major Mental Disorders Among Youth in a Conflict-Ridden, Low-Middle Income Environment: Part I Adaptation and Implementation.

Objectives: In low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), major mental disorders often remain untreated because of barriers related to access and resources. In rural areas and in conflict-ridden regions, the problem can be exacerbated by increased rates of mental illness and by reduced access to care. This paper describes a project designed to provide mental health services for major mental disorders among youth using a low-cost model in a rural district of the troubled Kashmir valley.

Differential genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in childhood obesity.

Objective: Exposure to stress during pregnancy may program susceptibility to the development of obesity in offspring. Our goal was to determine whether prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) due to a natural disaster was associated with child obesity, and to compare the DNA methylation profiles in obese versus non-obese children at age 13½ years. Women and their children were involved in the longitudinal natural disaster study-Project Ice Strom, which served as a human model to study PNMS.

Typology of patients with mental health disorders and perceived continuity of care.

While multiple socio-demographic, clinical and service use variables have been associated with continuity of care (CoC) in patients diagnosed with mental health disorders (MHDs), little is known about how these variables may inform clinical practice and service planning. This article identified profiles of patients with MHDs to better understand their perceptions of CoC. The sample for this cross-sectional study comprised 327 patients recruited by staff or self-referred from four local health networks in Quebec (Canada).

School-based sleep health education in Canada.

Background & Objective: Canadian Ministries of Health and Education across all provinces aim to support and maximize the mental and physical health of students to ensure their ability to fulfill their academic potential. Chronic sleep loss affects all of these domains. However, tools to optimize youth sleep are generally lacking.

Diabetes increases the risk of depression: A systematic review, meta-analysis and estimates of population attributable fractions based on prospective studies.

We aim to examine the relationship between diabetes and depression risk in longitudinal cohort studies and by how much the incidence of depression in a population would be reduced if diabetes was reduced. Medline/PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for English-language published literature from January 1990 to December 2017. Longitudinal studies with criteria for depression and self-report doctors' diagnoses or diagnostic blood test measurement of diabetes were assessed.

Multi-behavioral obesogenic phenotypes among school-aged boys and girls along the birth weight continuum.

Evidence shows that extremes of birth weight (BW) carry a common increased risk for the development of adiposity and related cardiovascular diseases, but little is known about the role of obesogenic behaviors in this process. Moreover, no one has empirically examined whether the relationship between BW, obesogenic behaviors and BMI along the full low-to-high birthweight continuum reflects the U-shape pattern expected from common risk at both BW extremes. Our objective was to characterize physical activity, screen time, and eating behavior and their relationship to BMI as a function of BW among school-aged boys and girls.

The Trier Social Stress Test in first episode psychosis patients: Impact of perceived stress, protective factors and childhood trauma.

Psychosis has been associated with abnormalities in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, which may emerge through heightened stress sensitivity following early life adversity - ultimately resulting in illness onset and progression. The present study assessed cortisol levels during an established psychosocial stress task and their association with current stress perception, putative protective factors and adverse childhood experiences in patients with a first episode of psychosis (FEP). A total of 100 volunteers participated in the study, 57 of whom were patients with a FEP (mean age 23.

Integration of Data and Phenotypic Data Within a Unified Extensible Multimodal Framework.

Analysis of "" data is often a long and segmented process, encompassing multiple stages from initial data collection to processing, quality control and visualization. The cross-modal nature of recent genomic analyses renders this process challenging to both automate and standardize; consequently, users often resort to manual interventions that compromise data reliability and reproducibility. This in turn can produce multiple versions of datasets across storage systems.

Neuropeptide and Small Transmitter Coexistence: Fundamental Studies and Relevance to Mental Illness.

Neuropeptides are auxiliary messenger molecules that always co-exist in nerve cells with one or more small molecule (classic) neurotransmitters. Neuropeptides act both as transmitters and trophic factors, and play a role particularly when the nervous system is challenged, as by injury, pain or stress. Here neuropeptides and coexistence in mammals are reviewed, but with special focus on the 29/30 amino acid galanin and its three receptors GalR1, -R2 and -R3.

Astrocyte Biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease.

Astrocytic contributions to Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression were, until recently, largely overlooked. Astrocytes are integral to normal brain function and astrocyte reactivity is an early feature of AD, potentially providing a promising target for preclinical diagnosis and treatment. Several in vivo AD biomarkers already exist, but presently there is a paucity of specific and sensitive in vivo astrocyte biomarkers that can accurately measure preclinical AD.

Maternal and post-natal obesity alters long-term memory and hippocampal molecular signaling of male rat.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal cafeteria ingestion interferes with long-term memory-related behaviors and hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling in the offspring, and if there is a cumulative effect with the exposure to cafeteria diet during the life-course of the pups. Female rats were fed a control (CON, n = 20) or cafeteria diet (CAF, n = 24) from their weaning to weaning of their offspring. After that, their male offspring were divided into 4 groups (CON-CON, n = 36; CON-CAF, n = 38, CAF-CON, n = 46 and CAF-CAF, n = 39) so that all litters ingested CON or CAF, irrespective of maternal diet.

Supported housing for persons with serious mental illness and personal recovery: What do families think?

Background And Aims: Previous research on supported housing for people with serious mental illness focuses primarily on tenant/client experiences. The aim of this article is to present families' perspectives on the role of supported housing in recovery, utilizing the CHIME framework of personal recovery.

Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 families of individuals with serious mental illness living in supported housing.