Children adopted from public care are more likely to experience mental health problems associated with their histories of early life adversity and instability, but few studies have investigated children’s mental health longitudinally across developmental turning points. We followed a sample of N = 92 UK domestically adopted children and their families at six time points over eight years post-placement (children’s ages ranged from 2 to 15 years). We used multilevel growth curve analysis to model time-related changes in children’s internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems and spline models to investigate patterns of change before and after school entry. Children’s internalizing symptoms followed a linear increasing trajectory, and externalizing problems followed a quadradic pattern where problems accelerated in early childhood and decelerated in late childhood. Spline models indicated an elevation in internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems as children started school. Internalizing symptoms continued to increase over time after school started and externalizing problems plateaued after the first years in school. Children adopted close in time to school entry displayed more problems when they started school. The transition to school represents a time of vulnerability for adopted children, especially for those who are adopted close in time to this transition, underscoring the need for ongoing support for their mental health across childhood.

On Jagiello et al.'s cultural action framework, end-goal resolvability and causal transparency make possible the transmission of complex technologies through low-fidelity cultural learning. We offer three further features of goal-directed action sequences – specificity, riskiness, and complexity – which alter the effectiveness of low-fidelity cultural learning. Incorporating these into the cultural action framework generates further novel, testable predictions for bifocal stance theory.

The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

Early signs of anger and aggression can be identified in infancy. Our aim was to use person-centered methods to identify which infants were most at risk for clinically significant behavioral problems by age 3 and diagnoses of ODD/CD by 7 years, while considering the role of family risk factors and positive parenting. A representative British community sample of 304 infants was assessed by multiple informants at mean ages of 6, 21, and 36 months of age. Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) identified three ordered subgroups at each age, with one subgroup (18%) displaying high levels of physical force as well as anger. These angry aggressive infants were at elevated risk for behavioral problems in early childhood and diagnoses of conduct disorder (CD) and/or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) at 7 years of age. After other risk factors were taken into account, parents' beliefs in warm parenting and their observed positive affect while interacting with their infants were protective factors. These findings indicate the significance of very early manifestations of angry aggressiveness and have relevance for developmental theories of aggression and prevention strategies.

Veissière et al. must sacrifice explanatory realism and precision in order to develop a unified formal model. Drawing on examples from cognitive archeology, we argue that this makes it difficult for them to derive the kinds of testable predictions that would allow them to resolve debates over the nature of human social cognition and cultural acquisition.

Children who are adopted from care are more likely to experience enduring emotional and behavioral problems across development; however, adoptees’ trajectories of mental health problems and factors that impact their trajectories are poorly understood. Therefore, we used multilevel growth analyses to chart adoptees’ internalizing and externalizing problems across childhood, and examined the associations between preadoptive risk and postadoptive protective factors on their trajectories. This was investigated in a prospective longitudinal study of case file records (N = 374) and questionnaire-based follow-ups (N = 96) at approximately 5, 21, and 36 months postadoptive placement. Preadoptive adversity (indexed by age at placement, days in care, and number of adverse childhood experiences) was associated with higher internalizing and externalizing scores; the decrease in internalizing scores over childhood was accelerated for those exposed to lower levels of preadoptive risk. Warm adoptive parenting was associated with a marked reduction in children's internalizing and externalizing problems over time. Although potentially limited by shared methods variance and lack of variability in parental warmth scores, these findings demonstrate the deleterious impact of preadoptive risk and the positive role of exceptionally warm adoptive parenting on children's trajectories of mental health problems and have relevance for prevention and intervention strategies.

Objective: To investigate the effects of methylphenidate on long-term executive and neuropsychological functioning in children with attention problems following TBI, as well as the relationship between methylphenidate associated changes in lab-based neuropsychological measures of attentional control, processing speed, and executive functioning and parent- or self-report measures of everyday executive functioning. Method: 26 children aged 6–17 years, who were hospitalized for moderate-to-severe blunt head trauma 6 or more months previously, were recruited from a large children’s hospital medical center. Participants were randomized into a double-masked, placebo-controlled cross-over clinical trial. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and parent- and self-report ratings of everyday executive functioning at baseline, and at 4 weeks and 8 weeks following upward titration of medication to an optimal dose or while administered a placebo. Results: Methylphenidate was associated with significant improvements in processing speed, sustained attention, and both lab-based and everyday executive functioning. Significant treatment-by-period interactions were found on a task of sustained attention. Participants who were randomized to the methylphenidate condition for the first treatment period demonstrated random or erratic responding, with slower and more variable response times when given placebo during the second period. Conclusion: Results indicate that methylphenidate treatment is associated with positive outcomes in processing speed, sustained attention, and both lab-based and everyday measures of executive functioning compared to placebo group. Additionally, results suggest sustained attention worsens when discontinuing medication. (JINS, 2019, 25, 740–749)

Telomere length is widely considered as a marker of biological aging. Clinical studies have reported associations between reduced telomere length and hypertension. The aim of this study was to compare telomere length in hypertensive and normotensive mice at pre-disease and established disease time points to determine whether telomere length differs between the strains before and after the onset of disease. Genomic DNA was extracted from kidney and heart tissues of 4-, 12-, and 20-week-old male hypertensive (BPH/2J) and normotensive (BPN/3J) mice. Relative telomere length (T/S) was measured using quantitative PCR. Age was inversely correlated with telomere length in both strains. In 4-week-old pre-hypertensive animals, no difference in T/S was observed between BPH/2J and BPN/3J animals in kidney or heart tissue (kidney p = 0.14, heart p = 0.06). Once the animals had established disease, at 12 and 20 weeks, BPH/2J mice had significantly shorter telomeres when compared to their age-matched controls in both kidney (12 weeks p < 0.001 and 20 weeks p = 0.004) and heart tissues (12 weeks p < 0.001 and 20 weeks p < 0.001). This is the first study to show that differences in telomere lengths between BPH/2J and BPN/3J mice occur after the development of hypertension and do not cause hypertension in the BPH/2J mice.

A high proportion of piglets fail to adapt to the changing composition of their diet at weaning, resulting in weight loss and increased susceptibility to pathogens. Polyamines are present in sow milk and promote neonatal maturation of the gut. We hypothesised that oral spermine and spermidine supplementation before weaning would increase piglet growth and promote gastrointestinal development at weaning. In Experiment One, one pair of liveweight (LW)-matched piglets per litter from first and third lactation sows received 2 ml of a 0 (Control) or 463 nmol/ml spermine solution at 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 days of age (n=6 piglets/treatment per parity). Villus height and crypt depth in the duodenum and jejunum were measured at weaning (day 23 postpartum). In Experiment Two, piglets suckling 18 first and 18 third lactation sows were used. Within each litter, piglets received 2 ml of either water (Control), 463 nmol/ml spermine solution or 2013 nmol/ml spermidine solution at 14, 16, 18, 22 and 24 days of age (n=54 piglets/treatment per sow parity). Piglets were weighed individually at 14, 18, 24 (weaning) and 61 days of age. In Experiment One, oral spermine supplementation resulted in a 41% increase in villus height, a 21% decrease in crypt depth and 79% decrease in the villus height : crypt depth ratio compared with control piglets (P<0.01). In Experiment Two, spermine and spermidine-supplemented piglets suckling first lactation sows grew faster (P<0.05) between days 14 and 18 postpartum than control piglets: 0.230±0.011 and 0.227±0.012 v. 0.183±0.012 kg/day, respectively. Spermine supplementation tended (P<0.1) to increase piglet LW gain from weaning to day 37 post-weaning compared with control piglets (0.373±0.009 v. 0.341±0.010 kg/day). In conclusion, spermine supplementation increased villus height at weaning, and appears to have the potential to improve the pre- and post-weaning growth of conventionally weaned piglets.

We discuss the role of Configuration Interaction (CI) and the influence of the number ofconfigurations taken into account in the calculations of nickel and iron spectralopacities provided by the OPAC international collaboration, including statisticalapproaches (SCO, CASSANDRA, STA), detailed accounting (OPAS, LEDCOP, OP, HULLAC-v9) orhybrid method (SCO-RCG). Opacity calculations are presented for a temperature T of 27.3 eVand a density of 3.4 mg/cm3, conditions relevant for pulsating stellarenvelopes.

The descriptions of new, and determinations of old, species of Anoplura and Mallophaga presented in this paper are based on a small collection of these ecto-parasitic insects taken from mammals and birds of the Egyptian Sudan and other North and West African localities. The collection was made by variouscollectors, as indicated for each species, and was submitted to us by Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall, Scientific Secretary of the Entomological Research Committee (Tropical Africa) of the British Colonial Office.

INTRODUCTION

The reproductive biology of asteroids from a wide variety of ecological niches has been examined (Farmanfarmaian et al. 1958; Cognetti & Delavault, i962;Pearse, 1965; Chia, 1968; Crump, 1971; Jangoux & Vloebergh, 1973; Worley, Franz & Hendler, 1977; Barker, 1979; Shick, Taylor & Lamb, 1981). Most of the species within this class appear to show some degree of seasonal reproductive synchrony with very few species showing aseasonal reproduction (Shick et al. 1981). Although the seasonally reproducing asteroids show a wide variety of reproductive strategies, from planktotrophic larvae to direct development, they all occur in relatively shallow water and are thus subject to the seasonal fluctuations of the physico-chemical environment. Only two shallow-water species, Ctenodiscus crispatus (Shick et al. 1981) and Patiriella exigua (Lawson-Kerr & Anderson, 1978), have aseasonal reproduction in both males and females. However, the deep sea is the only major environment in the world's ocean for which we have no data for the reproductive cycle of asteroids.

Examination of the reproductive biology of three closely related sympatric astropectinid asteroidshas revealed two distinct reproductive strategies. In Plutonaster bifrons and Dytaster insignis the gonads are serially arranged and open at gonopores located at the tip of genital papillae found on the dorsal arm surface between the bases of the paxillae. The ovaries of these species produce numerous small (ca. 120/«n diameter) eggs which in Plutonaster bifrons appear to show a distinct synchrony of production. Initiation of gametogenesis occurs in June to August of each year with oocyte growthcontinuing until March with a spawn-out in the period March to early June. In specimens where spawningdoesnot occur, there would appear to be internal oocyte degeneration, or after spawning relict oocytesundergo phagocytosis. In males initiation of spermatogenesis may occur in August/September of eachyear but after this synchrony of sperm development is not evident. In Psilaster andromeda gonads are located at the base of the arms and each gonad opens at a single gonopore. A number of small (<300 /«n) oocytes are produced by each gonad. Some of these are phagocytosed and some undergo vitellogenesis and grow to a maximum size of 950 fim before being spawned. Unspent oocytes undergo internal degeneration. In neither females nor males is there any evidence of reproductive synchrony. From these egg sizes, fecundities and gametogenic strategies, we infer indirect planktotrophic development for Plutonaster bifrons, the transfer of a seasonal surface production to deep water providing a food source for developing larvae. The egg size and or close to the sea-bed, as there is no evidence of brooding in this species.

Samples of the deep-sea forcipulate seastars Brisinga endecacnemos, Brisingella coronata, Freyella spinosa and Zoroaster fulgens have been collected at a number of stations in the N.E. Atlantic. Examination of their reproductive biology suggests subtle interspecific variations in their gametogenic cycles. The gonads of Brisinga endecacnemos are serially arranged under the dorsal arm surface, each cluster of gonad tubules having its own gonopore. In the closely related Brisingella coronata each gonad consists of up to 12 elongate tubules opening at a single gonopore at the dorsal surface. In both species the maximum egg diameter is about 1250 μm and fecundity may be up to 60000 eggs per individual. It appears that the eggs in Brisinga endecacnemos are produced in clusters whilst those of Brisingella coronata are produced continuously. InFreyella spinosa the gonad consists of a small tubular sac analogous to a single tubule of Brisinga endecacnemos. Maximum fecundity is only 2500 eggs per individual, and the maximum egg size is 1250 μm. In all three species eggs that are not spawned undergo internal oocyte degeneration. The gonads of Zoroaster fulgens show the typical asteroid configuration of two at the base of each arm, one either side of the ambulacrum. The maximum oocyte diameter is 950 μm. There is some evidence that there may be a seasonality of reproduction in this species. In all four species examined the large egg size and relatively low fecundity suggest direct demersal development with the subtle variations in their reproductive biology reflecting slightly different breeding habits.