While maternal at-risk drinking is associated with children's emotional and behavioral problems, there is a paucity of research that properly accounts for genetic confounding and gene–environment interplay. Therefore, it remains uncertain what mechanisms underlie these associations. We assess the moderation of associations between maternal at-risk drinking and childhood emotional and behavioral problems by common genetic variants linked to environmental sensitivity (genotype-by-environment [G × E] interaction) while accounting for shared genetic risk between mothers and offspring (GE correlation).

We use data from 109 727 children born to 90 873 mothers enrolled in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study. Women self-reported alcohol consumption and reported emotional and behavioral problems when children were 1.5/3/5 years old. We included child polygenic scores (PGSs) for traits linked to environmental sensitivity as moderators.

Associations between maternal drinking and child emotional (β1 = 0.04 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03–0.05]) and behavioral (β1 = 0.07 [0.06–0.08]) outcomes attenuated after controlling for measured confounders and were almost zero when we accounted for unmeasured confounding (emotional: β1 = 0.01 [0.00–0.02]; behavioral: β1 = 0.01 [0.00–0.02]). We observed no moderation of these adjusted exposure effects by any of the PGS.

The lack of strong evidence for G × E interaction may indicate that the mechanism is not implicated in this kind of intergenerational association. It may also reflect insufficient power or the relatively benign nature of the exposure in this sample.

Rapid antigen detection tests (Ag-RDT) for SARS-CoV-2 with emergency use authorization generally include a condition of authorization to evaluate the test’s performance in asymptomatic individuals when used serially. We aim to describe a novel study design that was used to generate regulatory-quality data to evaluate the serial use of Ag-RDT in detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus among asymptomatic individuals.

This prospective cohort study used a siteless, digital approach to assess longitudinal performance of Ag-RDT. Individuals over 2 years old from across the USA with no reported COVID-19 symptoms in the 14 days prior to study enrollment were eligible to enroll in this study. Participants throughout the mainland USA were enrolled through a digital platform between October 18, 2021 and February 15, 2022. Participants were asked to test using Ag-RDT and molecular comparators every 48 hours for 15 days. Enrollment demographics, geographic distribution, and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates are reported.

A total of 7361 participants enrolled in the study, and 492 participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 154 who were asymptomatic and tested negative to start the study. This exceeded the initial enrollment goals of 60 positive participants. We enrolled participants from 44 US states, and geographic distribution of participants shifted in accordance with the changing COVID-19 prevalence nationwide.

The digital site-less approach employed in the “Test Us At Home” study enabled rapid, efficient, and rigorous evaluation of rapid diagnostics for COVID-19 and can be adapted across research disciplines to optimize study enrollment and accessibility.

To explore associations between maternal pre-pregnancy exposure to arsenic in diet and non-cardiac birth defects.

This is a population-based, case–control study using maternal responses to a dietary assessment and published arsenic concentration estimates in food items to calculate average daily total and inorganic arsenic exposure during the year before pregnancy. Assigning tertiles of total and inorganic arsenic exposure, logistic regression analysis was used to estimate OR for middle and high tertiles, compared to the low tertile.

US National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997–2011.

Mothers of 10 446 children without birth defects and 14 408 children diagnosed with a non-cardiac birth defect.

Maternal exposure to total dietary arsenic in the middle and high tertiles was associated with a threefold increase in cloacal exstrophy, with weak positive associations (1·2–1·5) observed either in both tertiles (intercalary limb deficiency) or the high tertile only (encephalocele, glaucoma/anterior chamber defects and bladder exstrophy). Maternal exposure to inorganic arsenic showed mostly weak, positive associations in both tertiles (colonic atresia/stenosis, oesophageal atresia, bilateral renal agenesis/hypoplasia, hypospadias, cloacal exstrophy and gastroschisis), or the high (glaucoma/anterior chamber defects, choanal atresia and intestinal atresia stenosis) or middle (encephalocele, intercalary limb deficiency and transverse limb deficiency) tertiles only. The remaining associations estimated were near the null or inverse.

This exploration of arsenic in diet and non-cardiac birth defects produced several positive, but mostly weak associations. Limitations in exposure assessment may have resulted in exposure misclassification. Continued research with improved exposure assessment is recommended to identify if these associations are true signals or chance findings.

Existing internet-based prevention and treatment programmes for binge eating are composed of multiple distinct modules that are designed to target a broad range of risk or maintaining factors. Such multi-modular programmes (1) may be unnecessarily long for those who do not require a full course of intervention and (2) make it difficult to distinguish those techniques that are effective from those that are redundant. Since dietary restraint is a well-replicated risk and maintaining factor for binge eating, we developed an internet- and app-based intervention composed solely of cognitive-behavioural techniques designed to modify dietary restraint as a mechanism to target binge eating. We tested the efficacy of this combined selective and indicated prevention programme in 403 participants, most of whom were highly symptomatic (90% reported binge eating once per week).

Participants were randomly assigned to the internet intervention (n = 201) or an informational control group (n = 202). The primary outcome was objective binge-eating frequency. Secondary outcomes were indices of dietary restraint, shape, weight, and eating concerns, subjective binge eating, disinhibition, and psychological distress. Analyses were intention-to-treat.

Intervention participants reported greater reductions in objective binge-eating episodes compared to the control group at post-test (small effect size). Significant effects were also observed on each of the secondary outcomes (small to large effect sizes). Improvements were sustained at 8 week follow-up.

Highly focused digital interventions that target one central risk/maintaining factor may be sufficient to induce meaningful change in core eating disorder symptoms.

Studying those who have achieved exceptional longevity can provide a model of successful ageing, however current research remains limited. Previous work on centenarians has primarily focused on depression and anxiety; life satisfaction remains understudied.

To compare the psychological profile of near-centenarians (95-99) and centenarians (100+) with and without dementia. To compare the psychological distress and life satisfaction in near-centenarians and centenarians without dementia with younger age groups. To identify the risk and protective factors of psychological distress and life satisfaction in near-centenarians and centenarians without dementia.

The Sydney Centenarian Study (SCS) collected data from 343 participants aged 95 years and older, of whom 119 had dementia. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Life satisfaction was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Persons aged 70-90 years from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) were used as a cross-sectional comparison group, for which dementia was an exclusion. Multiple linear regressions were undertaken to investigate the predictors for psychological distress and life satisfaction in SCS.

There was no significant difference in K10 or SWLS score between SCS participants with and without dementia. SCS participants without dementia reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress (15.3, 13.4, t=3.869, p<0.001) and life satisfaction (6.0, 5.6, t=5.835, p<0.001) compared to cognitively intact younger age groups in MAS. In SCS, a greater number of psychotropic medications and less contact with friends and family were associated with higher psychological distress. Higher scores on the Mini -Mental State Examination and greater contact with friends and family were associated with higher life satisfaction.

Psychological health was similar in near-centenarians and centenarians whether or not they had dementia. Although near-centenarians and centenarians without dementia demonstrated higher levels of psychological distress in the past 4 weeks than younger age groups, their satisfaction with life was higher. Social support and cognition may be protective factors against poor psychological health and promote greater life satisfaction. Factors identified as associated with psychological distress and life satisfaction may be targets for interventions to maintain good psychological health in this vulnerable population.

Although effective treatments exist for diagnostic and subthreshold-level eating disorders (EDs), a significant proportion of affected individuals do not receive help. Interventions translated for delivery through smartphone apps may be one solution towards reducing this treatment gap. However, evidence for the efficacy of smartphones apps for EDs is lacking. We developed a smartphone app based on the principles and techniques of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral therapy for EDs and evaluated it through a pre-registered randomized controlled trial.

Symptomatic individuals (those who reported the presence of binge eating) were randomly assigned to the app (n = 197) or waiting list (n = 195). Of the total sample, 42 and 31% exhibited diagnostic-level bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder symptoms, respectively. Assessments took place at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks post-randomization. Analyses were intention-to-treat. The primary outcome was global levels of ED psychopathology. Secondary outcomes were other ED symptoms, impairment, and distress.

Intervention participants reported greater reductions in global ED psychopathology than the control group at post-test (d = −0.80). Significant effects were also observed for secondary outcomes (d's = −0.30 to −0.74), except compensatory behavior frequency. Symptom levels remained stable at follow-up. Participants were largely satisfied with the app, although the overall post-test attrition rate was 35%.

Findings highlight the potential for this app to serve as a cost-effective and easily accessible intervention for those who cannot receive standard treatment. The capacity for apps to be flexibly integrated within current models of mental health care delivery may prove vital for addressing the unmet needs of people with EDs.