Trajectories of adolescent poly-substance use and their long-term social and economic outcomes for males from low-income backgrounds

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - Substance abuse is a significant public health concern that disproportionately burdens males and low-income communities. This study examined (1)...     

Developmental trajectories of conduct problems and hyperactivity from ages 2 to 10

BACKGROUND: Conduct problems (CP) and hyperactivity/attention problems (HAP) are thought to covary with regularity, yet few studies have examined their co-occurrence or risk factors that discriminate their trajectories beginning in early childhood. METHOD: The present study sought to advance our understanding of this issue by examining separate trajectories of overt CP and HAP symptomatology among 284 boys from urban, low-income families followed from ages 1.5 to 10. We also investigated the co-occurrence of persistent CP and HAP and explored risk factors that discriminate CP and HAP trajectories. RESULTS: Four similar trajectory groups were identified for both CP and HAP symptoms. Chronic CP was differentiated from persistent low CP by risk factors in child, parenting, and family domains, while chronic trajectories of HAP were typified by elevated maternal depressive symptoms compared to children with persistent low HAP. CONCLUSIONS: The findings extend previous research with older children of HAP and/or CP, highlighting the effects of proximal family and child risk factors that are identifiable in the first two years of children's lives and associated with trajectories of disruptive behavior.     

Life course turning points: the effect of grade retention on physical aggression

Our objective is to advance the life course analytical framework by demonstrating a model for testing two of its tenets. The first is whether the individual's developmental history conditions the response to a turning point event. The second is whether the influence of a major life event upon an individual's developmental course depends upon the timing of the event. We test both propositions in an analysis of the effect of grade retention on a child's trajectory of physical aggression. Our analysis is based on data from a longitudinal study of 1,037 boysfrom schools in the lowest socioeconomic areas in Montreal, Canada. We find clear evidence that a developmental history of physical aggression conditions the child's response to grade retention. The evidence on whether the timing of retention affects this response is less clear.     

Aggressiveness,family history of alcoholism,and the heart rate response to alcohol intoxication

Some sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) are characterized by an increased heart rate (HR) response to alcohol intoxication, which is thought to reflect increased sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward. Such a response has also been related to increased physical aggression. However, the confounding effect of aggression in SOMAs may be obscuring the interpretation of these findings. The HR response to alcohol was therefore assessed in 4 groups: high/low aggressive SOMAs and high/low aggressive non-SOMAs. Results indicate that aggressive SOMAs had the highest intoxicated HR response and that they reported the most alcohol consumption. This suggests that in some cases the high comorbidity between alcohol misuse and aggression is related to an increased sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward.     

Specific features of QRS-complex identification algorithms for real-time ECG systems

The paper reviews the existing methods for identifying QRS complexes. An attempt is made to make a well-defined classification of available algorithms in an approach to QRS detection. Emphasis is laid on the consideration of specific requirements for such algorithms by computer-aided real-time ECG systems. A task of choice of the most suitable method is formulated. An algorithm based on the well-known principles of frequency-time detection is proposed as an alternative solution of this task. The algorithm makes it possible to single out QRS complexes from real-time ECG and to effectively make a digital signal processing by available optimized libraries. The method initially used in the Matlab package has been integrated within the laboratory computerized ECG system.     

Childhood behavioral profiles leading to adolescent conduct disorder: risk trajectories for boys and girls

OBJECTIVE: To examine the link between childhood behavioral dimensions and adolescent conduct disorder (CD) among a large sample of boys and girls monitored longitudinally. METHOD: Teachers rated the behaviors of 1,569 children every year between kindergarten and grade 6. On the basis of these seven yearly ratings, groups of children who followed distinct trajectories on three behavioral dimensions--hyperactivity, fearfulness, and helpfulness--were identified with a semiparametric statistical analysis. Children were then categorized into one of eight behavioral profiles, representing different combinations of the trajectories. Logistic regressions were used to estimate the relation between the profiles and CD in adolescence (mean = 15.7 years). RESULTS: Boys had a significant risk for CD if they were hyperactive (odds ratio [OR] = 4.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-10.16); hyperactive and unhelpful (OR = 2.83; CI, 1.07-7.46); or hyperactive, fearless, and unhelpful (OR = 3.93; CI, 1.27-12.17). Girls had a significant risk for CD only if they were both hyperactive and unhelpful (OR = 4.61; CI, 1.31-16.24). More boys than girls exhibited profiles of risk and met criteria for CD in adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Sex-specific childhood behavioral profiles that represented risk for CD in adolescence were identified.There were sex differences in the prevalence of the childhood profiles representing risk for CD.     

Increase of pallor and fluorescein-filling defects of the optic disc in the follow-up of ocular hypertensives measured by computerized image analysis

In 24 ocular hypertensive patients, two optic disc fluorescein angiograms were obtained a mean of 3.9 years apart. Using computerized image analysis, we measured the area of pallor and the fluorescein-filling defect area within the disc and the fluorescein circulation parameters representing the filling rates of optic disc, choroid, and retinal vessels. The results indicated that increase in pallor and fluorescein-filling defect areas, as well as a slowed filling rate of the retinal veins, correlated with glaucomatous progression.     

The reproducibility of computerized boundary analysis for measuring optic disc pallor in the normal optic disc

The optic discs of eight normal subjects were photographed on three separate visits under widely varying conditions. Each photograph was scanned by a television camera, converted to digital form, and then analyzed using computer image analysis techniques. The computer was programmed to delineate the boundary around the optic disc and the area of pallor. The percentage of disc pallor was then computed across the entire disc and for each disc quadrant. The reproducibility of the procedure was determined by evaluating several photographic parameters: camera flash intensity, film type, magnification, and centering of the disc in the photograph. The focus adjustment on the television scanner was also varied. Under carefully controlled conditions, results showed that the reproducibility of measuring the total percent of disc pallor was 2%. Results for reproducibility are also given for less than optimal conditions and for manual planimetry on the same set of photographs.     

Intoxicated behavioral disinhibition and the heart rate response to alcohol

This study examined the association between the heart rate (HR) response to alcohol intoxication, which is thought to reflect sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward and alcohol-induced behavioral disinhibition. High- and low-HR responders to alcohol participated in a go/no-go task, under sober and intoxicated conditions. Errors of commission on this task have previously been related to behavioral disinhibition. High-HR responders made more intoxicated commission errors as compared with low-HR responders. High-HR responders also reported increased alcohol consumption, and controlling for the latter did not alter the significant association between high-HR responders and increased intoxicated errors of commission. These results are consistent with previous findings of an increased risk for addictive and disinhibited behavioral propensities in individuals with a high-HR response to alcohol intoxication.