Impact of mothers' IPV-PTSD on their capacity to predict their child's emotional comprehension and its relationship to their child's psychopathology

BACKGROUND

Previous studies demonstrated that when the violence-exposed child becomes a mother and interacts with her own child during early sensitive periods for social-emotional development, she may have difficulties providing sensitive responsiveness to the child's emotional communication. Such difficulties place the child's development of emotional comprehension (EC) and related self-regulation at risk. The aim of this study was to examine how mothers' interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic disorder (IPV-PTSD) would affect their children's EC and their own ability to predict their children's EC. We also investigated how mothers' predictive ability would correlate with child psychopathology.

METHODS

Sixty-one mother-child dyads (36 with IPV-PTSD) participated in this study. Children's (mean age = 7.0 years, SD = 1.1) EC was assessed with the Test of Emotion Comprehension (child TEC) and their psychopathology as reported by the mother was assessed with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and as evaluated by a clinician using selected modules of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS). Mothers were measured for IPV-PTSD with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and for their capacity to predict their child's emotional comprehension (mother-responding-as-child TEC; mTEC).

RESULTS

We found no significant between-group differences in children's level of EC. Maternal PTSD was associated with lower scores on the mTEC, however. Reduced maternal scores on the mTEC were significantly associated with maternal report of increased aggressive child behaviour and with depression symptoms on the K-SADS. Further, scores on the mTEC interacted with maternal report of child aggression on child oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms on the K-SADS.

CONCLUSION

These findings support that improving maternal emotional comprehension may help reduce child risk for psychiatric morbidity in this population.

Control of the mobilization of arsenic and other natural pollutants in groundwater by calcium carbonate concretions in the Pampean Aquifer, southeast of the Buenos Aires province, Argentina

The water supply for human consumption in the Chaco-Pampean region in Argentina is restricted by the low quality of groundwater due to elevated concentrations of arsenic and other trace elements. Previous studies indicated a complex concurrence of factors and processes that are believed responsible to control the distribution of arsenic in groundwater. For a better understanding of the origin of trace elements in the Pampean aquifer, flow-through experiments with loess and calcrete samples representative of the sediments that constitute the aquifer were carried out in continuous flow reactors. The aqueous solutions were collected and the concentrations of SiO₂(aq), Ca²⁺, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, Cl^-, F^- and trace elements (Ba, Sr, V, and As) were measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis. The experiments showed differences in the release rate of elements to the solution according to the type of sediment. The highest concentrations of V, Ba, and As were measured in experiments conducted with loess, and these elements were released quickly to the solution in the first minute of the test. In the case of loess, V and As are suggested to be adsorbed on the solid particles surface. Conversely, the experiments conducted with calcrete showed a lower but continuous release of those elements. This last result may indicate that the trace elements were coprecipitated in the calcite. In addition, it was demonstrated that F did not come from the dissolution of minerals such as fluorapatite, but both desorption from solid surface and dissolution from calcite minerals account for the release of F. This study support that both dissolution and adsorption-desorption processes can control the mobility of trace elements, with an emphasis on the role of calcrete in the retention and the mobilization of trace elements in the Pampean aquifer.

Developmental delay in communication among toddlers and its relationship to caregiving behavior among violence-exposed, posttraumatically stressed mothers

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to understand if maternal interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD) is associated with delayed language development among very young children ("toddlers").

METHODS

Data were collected from 61 mothers and toddlers (ages 12-42 months, mean age = 25.6 months SD = 8.70). Child expressive and receptive language development was assessed by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) communication subscale (ASQCS) that measures language acquisition. Observed maternal caregiving behavior was coded from videos of 10-min free-play interactions via the CARE-Index. Correlations, Mann-Whitney tests, and multiple linear regression were performed.

RESULTS

There was no significant association between maternal IPV-PTSD severity and the ASQCS. Maternal IPV-PTSD severity was associated with continuous maternal behavior variables (i.e. sensitive and controlling behavior on the CARE-Index) across the entire sample and regardless of child gender. Maternal sensitivity was positively and significantly associated with the ASQCS. Controlling behavior was negatively and significantly associated with the ASQCS.

CONCLUSIONS

Results are consistent with the literature that while maternal IPV-PTSD severity is not associated with child language delays, the quality of maternal interactive behavior is associated both with child language development and with maternal IPV-PTSD severity. Further study is needed to understand if the level of child language development contributes to intergenerational risk or resilience for relational violence and/or victimization.

Epithelial injury induces keratocyte apoptosis: hypothesized role for the interleukin-1 system in the modulation of corneal tissue organization and wound healing

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the disappearance of keratocytes beneath an epithelial debridement wound in the cornea and to investigate a potential role of interleukin-1 (IL-1) in induction of apoptosis in stromal fibroblasts in vitro and keratocytes in vivo. Keratocyte and stromal fibroblast cell morphology was examined in wounded and unwounded mouse corneas using transmission electron microscopy. Nuclear DNA fragmentation was detected with the TUNEL assay for 3'-hydroxyl DNA ends. The effect of IL-1 on keratocytes in vivo was determined by microinjection of IL-1 alpha into the central corneal stroma via a limbal entry site. The in vitro effects of interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) were determined with primary cultures of human corneal stromal and dermal fibroblasts. Cell shrinkage, blebbing with formation of membrane bound bodies, condensation and fragmentation of the chromatin, and DNA fragmentation, consistent with apoptosis were detected in anterior stromal keratocytes after epithelial scrape wounds. Thus, disappearance of keratocytes from the underlying stroma following epithelial debridement is mediated by apoptosis. Microinjection of IL-1 alpha into the central stroma of the mouse cornea caused a redistribution of keratocytes in the stroma via apoptosis and, possibly, negative chemotaxis. IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta induced apoptosis in corneal stromal and dermal fibroblasts in vitro. The epithelial/endothelial-stromal IL-1 system may mediate corneal tissue organization and responses to mechanical- and pathogen-induced injury through induction of keratocyte apoptosis. Keratocyte apoptosis is likely an initiating event in wound healing following corneal surgery. We hypothesize that derangement's in this system may have a role in the pathogenesis of keratoconus and other diseases of the cornea.

Self-administered intravenous analgesia during labour. A comparison between pentazocine and pethidine

Pentazocine or pethidine was administered to healthy parturients up to the time of delivery using a self-demand (self-administration on demand) intravenous apparatus, the Cardiff Palliator. Good analgesia was obtained with both drugs. The patients receiving pethidine exhibited side-effects (nausea, vomiting and drowsiness), whereas there were no side-effects among those receiving pentazocine. Apgar and neurobehavioural scores of the babies of mothers in both groups were the same and did not differ from those of a third group of babies, the mothers of whom had received 4-hourly intramuscular pethidine on demand according to the usual hospital routine. The self-administration technique proved a safe and effective means of providing analgesia during labour and delivery, with pentazocine having a decided advantage over pethidine because of its lack of side-effects.