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Objective: The aim of this study was to use prospective data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to examine association between trajectories of early childhood developmental skills and psychotic experiences (PEs) in early adolescence.  Method: This study examined data from n = 6790 children from the ALSPAC cohort who participated in a semi-structured interview to assess PEs at age 12. Child development was measured using parental report at 6, 18, 30, and 42 months of age using a questionnaire of items adapted from the Denver Developmental Screening Test - II. Latent class growth analysis was used to generate trajectories over time for measures of fine and gross motor development, social, and communication skills. Logistic regression was used to investigate associations between developmental trajectories in each of these early developmental domains and PEs at age 12.  Results: The results provided evidence that decline rather than enduringly poor social (adjusted OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.10-1.92, p = 0.044) and communication skills (adjusted OR 1.12, 95% CI = 1.03-1.22, p = 0.010) is predictive of suspected or definite PEs in early adolescence, than those with stable and/or improving skills. Motor skills did not display the same pattern of association; although gender specific effects provided evidence that only declining pattern of fine motor skills was associated with suspected and definite PEs in males compared to females (interaction OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.09-1.97, p = 0.012).  Conclusion: Findings suggest that decline rather than persistent impairment in social and communication skills were most predictive of PEs in early adolescence. Findings are discussed in terms of study's strengths, limitations, and clinical implications.

OBJECTIVE: Given depression is a significant risk factor for suicidal behaviour, it is possible that interventions for depression may also reduce the risk of suicide in adolescents. The purpose of this literature review is to determine whether psychological interventions aimed to prevent and/or treat depression in adolescents can also reduce suicidality. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of psychological interventions aimed to prevent and/or treat depression in adolescents in which outcomes for suicidality were reported, using five databases: PsycINFO, Embase, Medline, CINAHL and Scopus. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias. RESULTS: A total of 35 articles pertaining to 12 treatment trials, two selective prevention trials and two universal prevention trials met inclusion criteria. No studies were identified that used a no-treatment control. In both intervention and active control groups, suicidality decreased over time; however, most structured psychological depression treatment interventions did not outperform pharmaceutical or treatment as usual control groups. Depression prevention studies demonstrated small but statistically significant reductions in suicidality. LIMITATIONS: Analysis of study quality suggested that at least 10 of the 16 studies have a high risk of bias. Conclusive comparisons across studies are problematic due to differences in measures, interventions, population differences and control groups used. CONCLUSIONS: It is unclear whether psychological treatments are more effective than no treatment since no study has used a no-treatment control group. There is evidence to suggest that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy interventions produce pre-post reductions in suicidality with moderate effect sizes and are at least as efficacious as pharmacotherapy in reducing suicidality; however, it is unclear whether these effects are sustained. There are several trials showing promising evidence for

BACKGROUND: Perinatal depression has a significant impact on both mother and child. However, the influence of hormonal changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period remains unclear. This article provides a systematic review of studies examining the effects of maternal cortisol function on perinatal depression. METHOD: A systematic search was conducted of six electronic databases for published research on the relationship between cortisol and perinatal depression. The databases included; MEDLINE complete, PsychINFO, SCOPUS, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Science Direct and EBSCO, for the years 1960 to May 2015. Risk of bias was assessed and data extraction verified by two investigators. RESULTS: In total, 47 studies met criteria and studies showed considerable variation in terms of methodology including sample size, cortisol assays, cortisol substrates, sampling processes and outcome measures. Those studies identified as higher quality found that the cortisol awakening response is positively associated with momentary mood states but is blunted in cases of major maternal depression. Furthermore, results indicate that hypercortisolemia is linked to transient depressive states while hypocortisolemia is related to chronic postpartum depression. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Future research should aim to improve the accuracy of cortisol measurement over time, obtain multiple cortisol samples in a day and utilise diagnostic measures of depression. Future studies should also consider both antenatal and postnatal depression and the differential impact of atypical versus melancholic depression on cortisol levels, as this can help to further clarify the relationship between perinatal depression and maternal cortisol function across pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Maternal mental disorders over pregnancy show a clear influence on child development. This review is focused on the possible mechanisms by which maternal mental disorders influence fetal development via programming effects. This field is complex since mental health symptoms during pregnancy vary in type, timing and severity and maternal psychological distress is often accompanied by higher rates of smoking, alcohol use, poor diet and lifestyle. Studies are now beginning to examine fetal programming mechanisms, originally identified within the DOHaD framework, to examine how maternal mental disorders impact fetal development. Such mechanisms include hormonal priming effects such as elevated maternal glucocorticoids, alteration of placental function and perfusion, and epigenetic mechanisms. To date, mostly high prevalence mental disorders such as depression and anxiety have been investigated, but few studies employ diagnostic measures, and there is very little research examining the impact of maternal mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and personality disorders on fetal development. The next wave of longitudinal studies need to focus on specific hypotheses driven by plausible biological mechanisms for fetal programming and follow children for a sufficient period in order to examine the early manifestations of developmental vulnerability. Intervention studies can then be targeted to altering these mechanisms of intergenerational transmission once identified.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent depression is a prevalent mental health problem, which can have a major impact on family cohesion. In such circumstances, excessive use of the Internet by adolescents may exacerbate family conflict and lack of cohesion. The current study aims to explore these patterns within an intervention study for depressed adolescents. METHOD: The current study draws upon data collected from parents within the family options randomized controlled trial that examined family based interventions for adolescent depression (12-18 years old) in Melbourne, Australia (2012-2014). Inclusion in the trial required adolescents to meet diagnostic criteria for a major depressive disorder via the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Childhood Disorders. The transcripts of sessions were examined using qualitative thematic analysis. The transcribed sessions consisted of 56 h of recordings in total from 39 parents who took part in the interventions. RESULTS: The thematic analysis explored parental perceptions of their adolescent's use of social media (SM) and access to Internet content, focusing on the possible relationship between adolescent Internet use and the adolescent's depressive disorder. Two overarching themes emerged as follows: the sense of loss of parental control over the family environment and parents' perceived inability to protect their adolescent from material encountered on the Internet and social interactions via SM. CONCLUSION: Parents within the context of family based treatments felt that prolonged exposure to SM exposed their already vulnerable child to additional stressors and risks. The thematic analysis uncovered a sense of parental despair and lack of control, which is consistent with their perception of SM and the Internet as relentless and threatening to their parental authority and family cohesion.

Understanding of the sensitivity of the reduction potential of cerium(IV) cations to ligand field strength has yet to benefit from systematic variation of the ligand environment. Detailed analyses for a series of seven cerium(IV) tetrakis(pyridyl-nitroxide) compounds and their cerium(III) analogues in varying ligand field strengths are presented. Electrochemical, spectroscopic, and computational results reveal a close correlation of electronic properties with ligand substituents. Together with electrochemical data for reported eight-coordinate compounds, DFT calculations reveal a broad range of the cerium(IV/III) redox potentials correlated to ligand field strengths, establishing a semiempirical, predictive model for the modulation of cerium redox thermodynamics and ligand field strengths. Applications over a variety of scientific disciplines make use of the fundamental redox thermodynamics of cerium. Such applications will benefit from a combined experimental and theoretical approach for assessing redox cycling of cerium compounds.