Resilience and Mental Health in Adult Survivors of Child Abuse Associated with the Institution of the Austrian Catholic Church

In recent years, reports of institutional abuse within the Catholic Church have emerged and research on the consequences on mental health is in its beginnings. In this study, we report findings on current mental health and resilience in a sample of adult survivors of institutional abuse (N = 185). We compared 3 groups of survivors that differed regarding their current mental health to investigate aspects of resilience, coping, and disclosure. The majority of the sample was male (76.2%), the mean age was 56.28 (SD = 9.46) years, and more than 50.0% of the sample was cohabiting/married. Most of the survivors reported severe mental health problems. Known protective factors (education, social support, age) were not associated with mental health in our sample. Our findings corroborate that institutional abuse has long‐term effects on mental health. We found that fewer emotional reactions during disclosure, task‐oriented coping, and optimism were associated with better mental health. The study was limited by a cross‐sectional design, but we conclude that the kind of institutional abuse reported is especially adverse, and thus typical protective factors for mental health do not apply. Future research should focus on intrapersonal factors and institutional dynamics to improve treatment for persons affected by institutional abuse.     

Comparison of incidence of complications and aesthetic performance for posterior metal-free polymer crowns and metal–ceramic crowns: Results from a randomized clinical trial

Objectives

The purpose of this randomized clinical study was to evaluate the clinical performance of posterior, metal-free polymer crowns after follow-up for up to six years, and to compare it with the performance of metal–ceramic crowns.

Methods

Eighty single crowns, manufactured from a polymer composite resin, were set on posterior teeth. Half of these received a glass–fibre framework (group 1) whereas half were prepared without framework stabilization (group 2). As the control group, 40 conventional metal–ceramic crowns were inserted. Primary endpoints were incidence of complications, investigated on a time-to-event basis, plaque status, and aesthetic performance.

Results

Thirty clinically relevant complications occurred after a median time of 2.3 years. Median follow-up time was four years. The most frequent complications were delamination (n = 24) and root-canal treatment (n = 4) of the crowns; the incidence of complications was not significantly different among crown materials (p = 0.60). Twenty crowns had to be replaced (six polymer crowns in group 1, nine polymer crowns in group 2, four crowns in the control group, and one tooth (in group 1) had to be extracted). Mean plaque and gingival indexes for the test groups did not differ from those for the control group.

Conclusions

Within a median follow-up period of four years, the clinical performance of posterior polymer crowns with and without a glass–fibre framework was not significantly different from that of metal–ceramic crowns, although the number of catastrophic failures of composite crowns was higher than that of the metal–ceramic crowns.

Clinical significance

On the basis of the study results, posterior polymer crowns may be an alternative to metal–ceramic crowns, although additional research is needed before they can be recommended, without reservation, as permanent restorations.     

Monitoring glycosidase activity for clustered sugar substrates,a study on β-glucuronidase

Determination of glycosidase hydrolysis kinetics for a monovalent sugar substrate is relatively straightforward and classically achieved by monitoring the fluorescence signal released from the sugar-conjugated probe after enzymatic hydrolysis. Naturally occuring sugar epitopes are, however, often clustered on biopolymers or at biological surfaces, and previous reports have shown that glycosidase hydrolytic rates can differ greatly with multivalent presentation of the sugar epitopes. New probes are needed to make it easier to interpret the importance of substrate clustering towards a specific enzyme activity. In this work, we developed multivalent glucuronide substrates attached to fluorescent amino-coumarines through self-immolative linkers to enable real time-monitoring of the hydrolysing activity of E.coli β-glucuronidases (GUS) towards clustered substrates. GUS are exoglycosidases of considerable therapeutic interest cleaving β-d-glucuronides and are found in the lysosomes, in the tumoral microenvironment, and are expressed by gut microbiota. GUS showed a much lower catalytic efficiency in hydrolysing clustered glucuronides due to a significantly lower enzymatic velocity and affinity for the substrates. GUS was 52-fold less efficient in hydrolysing GlcA substrates presented on an octameric silsequioxane (COSS) compared with a monovalent GlcA of similar chemical structure. Thus, kinetic and thermodynamic data of GUS hydrolysis towards multivalent glucuronides were easily obtained with these new types of enzymatically-triggered probes. More generally, adapting the substrate nature and valency of these new probes, should improve understanding of the impact of multivalency for a specific enzyme.

Enzymatically-triggered probes to determine glucuronidase hydrolysis kinetics for clustered substrates.     

Sero-epidemiological analysis of the risk of virus infections for childhood leukaemia

Virus infections have been thought to be involved in the development of childhood leukaemia. In order to address this issue we determined, in a case-control study, the prevalence of antibodies to viruses infecting blood or bone-marrow cells [Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6), parvovirus B19] as well as to the human virus known for its tumour-suppressive properties, the adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV-2), in the sera of 121 children with leukaemia in Germany, and in 197 control individuals, hospitalized for other reasons, and matched for age and gender to the cases. In addition, we developed a questionnaire to be answered by the children's parents, in order to gain information on previous infections of the children as well as to calculate for factors which may influence serological findings. Comparative determination of the prevalence of antibodies against AAV-2, B-19 or HHV-6 revealed no significant differences in cases and controls. However, antibodies to EBV were more frequently found in children with leukaemia younger than 6 years of age (age at the time of diagnosis of leukaemia) than in controls. Apparently, infection with AAV-2 has no protective effect in childhood leukaemia, in contrast to results observed for other malignancies. Similarly, and in accordance with results on leukaemia in adults, we found no indication of a protective effect of infection with the parvovirus B-19. The data suggest that EBV, which is known to be involved in various lymphomas, may play a role in the development of childhood leukaemia in young children. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Structure Refinement and Fragmentation of Precipitates under Severe Plastic Deformation: A Review

During severe plastic deformation (SPD), the processes of lattice defect formation as well as their relaxation (annihilation) compete with each other. As a result, a dynamic equilibrium is established, and a steady state is reached after a certain strain value. Simultaneously, other kinetic processes act in opposite directions and also compete with each other during SPD, such as grain refinement/growth, mechanical strengthening/softening, formation/decomposition of solid solution, etc. These competing processes also lead to dynamic equilibrium and result in a steady state (saturation), albeit after different strains. Among these steady-state phenomena, particle fragmentation during the second phase of SPD has received little attention. Available data indicate that precipitate fragmentation slows down with increasing strain, though saturation is achieved at higher strains than in the case of hardness or grain size. Moreover, one can consider the SPD-driven nanocrystallization in the amorphous phase as a process that is opposite to the fragmentation of precipitates. The size of these crystalline nanoprecipitates also saturates after a certain strain. The fragmentation of precipitates during SPD is the topic of this review.     

Prognostic impact of distinct genetic entities in pediatric diffuse glioma WHO-grade II—Report from the German/Swiss SIOP-LGG 2004 cohort

Reports on pediatric low-grade diffuse glioma WHO-grade II (DG2) suggest an impaired survival rate, but lack conclusive results for genetically defined DG2-entities. We analyzed the natural history, treatment and prognosis of DG2 and investigated which genetically defined sub-entities proved unfavorable for survival. Within the prospectively registered, population-based German/Swiss SIOP-LGG 2004 cohort 100 patients (age 0.8-17.8 years, 4% neurofibromatosis [NF1]) were diagnosed with a DG2. Following biopsy (41%) or variable extent of resection (59%), 65 patients received no adjuvant treatment. Radiologic progression or severe neurologic symptoms prompted chemotherapy (n = 18) or radiotherapy (n = 17). Multiple lines of salvage treatment were necessary for 19/35 patients. Five years event-free survival dropped to 0.44, while 5 years overall survival was 0.90 (median observation time 8.3 years). Extensive genetic profiling of 65/100 DG2 identified Histone3-K27M-mutation in 4, IDH1-mutation in 11, BRAF-V600-mutation in 12, KIAA1549-BRAF-fusions in 6 patients, while the remaining 32 tumor tissues did not show alterations of these genes. Progression to malignant glioma occurred in 12 cases of all genetically defined subgroups within a range of 0.5 to 10.8 years, except for tumors carrying KIAA1549-BRAF-fusions. Histone3-K27M-mutant tumors proved uniformly fatal within 0.6 to 2.4 years. The current LGG treatment strategy seems appropriate for all DG2-entities, with the exemption of Histone3-K27M-mutant tumors that require a HGG-related treatment strategy. Our data confirm the importance to genetically define pediatric low-grade diffuse gliomas for proper treatment decisions and risk assessment.     

Cell-based assays for the detection of MOG antibodies: a comparative study

Journal of Neurology - The detection of antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is fundamental for the identification of MOG antibody-associated disorders (MOGAD), and the...