Developmental Milieu (developmental + milieu)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Prenatal growth, postnatal growth and trait anxiety in late adulthood , the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2010
J. Lahti
Lahti J, Räikkönen K, Pesonen A-K, Heinonen K, Kajantie E, Forsén T, Osmond C, Barker DJP, Eriksson JG. Prenatal growth, postnatal growth and trait anxiety in late adulthood , the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Objective:, Trait anxiety may predispose to anxiety disorders and cardiovascular events. We tested whether prenatal growth or postnatal growth from birth to 11 years of age and in adulthood predict trait anxiety in late adulthood. Method:, Women (n = 951) and men (n = 753) reported trait anxiety using the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale at an average age of 63.4 years and growth was estimated from records. Results:, Higher trait anxiety was predicted by smaller body size at birth, in infancy and in adulthood. Moreover, faster growth particularly from seven to 11 years of age and slower growth between 11 and 63 years predicted higher trait anxiety. Conclusion:, We found a pattern of pre- and postnatal growth that predisposed to higher trait anxiety in late adulthood. This pattern resembles that found to increase the risk of cardiovascular events and, thus, points to a shared common origin in a suboptimal prenatal and childhood developmental milieu. [source]


Growing up in a dangerous developmental milieu: The effects of parenting processes on adjustment in inner-city African American adolescents

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
Alexander T. Vazsonyi
The current longitudinal study examined the protective effects of parenting processes on measures of adolescent adjustment (health-compromising and violent behaviors) in a sample of high-risk, inner-city, poor African American youth ( N = 2,867). Parenting processes played an important role in this dangerous developmental milieu. For male adolescents, they accounted for 26 to 37% in health-compromising behaviors and 16 to 24% of the total variance in violent behaviors over time. Multigroup SEM analyses by sex and age groups (early, middle, and late adolescents) indicated no differences of these effects across groups. Findings provided evidence that parenting processes are salient for a high-risk, inner-city minority population in understanding and predicting health-compromising and violent behaviors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


A Thermoreversible Polymer Mediates Controlled Release of Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor to Enhance Kidney Regeneration

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 8 2010
Yousof Gheisari
Abstract Previously, we reported that human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) that were cultivated in growing embryos differentiated in an appropriate developmental milieu, thereby facilitating the development of a functional renal unit. However, this approach required transfection with an adenovirus that expressed glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) to enhance the development of hMSC-derived renal tissue, and safety issues restrict the clinical use of such viral vectors. To circumvent this problem, we tested an artificial polymer as a means to diffuse GDNF. This GDNF-polymer, which exists in liquid form at 4°C but becomes a hydrogel upon heating to 37°C, was used as a thermoreversible switch, allowing the injection of hMSCs at low viscosity using a mouth pipette, with subsequent slow diffusion of GDNF as it solidified. The polymer, which was dissolved in a solution of GDNF at 4°C and then maintained at 37°C, acted as a diffuser of GDNF for more than 48 h. LacZ -transfected hMSCs and the GDNF-polymer (at 4°C) were placed in the nephrogenic sites of growing rat embryos that were maintained at 37°C. Forty-eight hours later, the resultant kidney anlagen were dissected out and allowed to continue developing for 6 days in vitro. Whole-organ X-Gal staining and fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis showed that the number of hMSC-derived cells was significantly increased in developed anlagen that have been generated from hMSCs plus GDNF-polymer compared with those from hMSCs plus GDNF-containing medium and was comparable to those from adenovirus-transfected hMSCs. These findings suggest that the GDNF-polymer can be used as a diffuser of GDNF for kidney organogenesis. [source]