Risk factors for depression in Pacific adolescents in New Zealand: A network analysis

BACKGROUND

Network analysis provides opportunities to gain a greater understanding of the complex interplay of risk factors for depression and heterogeneous symptom presentations. This study used network analysis to discover risk factors associated with both depression severity and depression symptoms amongst Pacific adolescents in New Zealand.

METHODS

Mixed graphical models with regularization were fitted to data from a community sample of New Zealand born, Pacific adolescents, (n = 561; 51% male; Mean age (SD) = 17 (0.35)) and associations between a wide range of potentially explanatory variables and depression severity and depression symptoms investigated. The associations identified were then tested for reliability, using resampling techniques and sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS

In the networks, the explanatory variables associated with both depression severity and depression symptoms were those related to quality of the relationships with mother or friends, school connectedness, and self-assessed weight, but the symptoms they were associated with varied substantially. In the depression severity networks, impulsivity appeared to be a bridging node connecting depression severity with delinquency and negative peer influence.

LIMITATIONS

The data were analysed cross-sectionally, so causal inferences about the directions of relationships could not be inferred and most of the data were self-reported.

CONCLUSIONS

The results illustrate the varied way that adolescent depression can manifest itself in terms of symptoms and suggest specific items on the depression inventory that might be suitable targets for prevention strategies and interventions, based on the risk factor - depression symptom profiles of individuals or groups.

Depression, anxiety and worry in young Pacific adults in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To measure symptoms of anxiety, depression and hopelessness in a sample of young Pacific adults living in Auckland, New Zealand during the 2020/2021 COVID-19 pandemic and identify protective factors.

METHODS

Participants were 267 Pacific adults (58% female) who completed a survey online. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, linear regression and symptom network analysis.

RESULTS

Around 25% of the sample scored in the range for moderate to severe anxiety and 10% for moderate to severe depression on standard measures. Almost 40% indicated that they found the first lockdown very stressful and 55% noted that some members of their family found it stressful. Only 16% worried about COVID-19 and their future quite a bit or constantly, while another 25% worried sometimes. Self-compassion and Pacific Identity had moderate, negative correlations, and Worry about COVID-19 had weak positive correlations, with anxiety, depression, hopelessness and perceived stress.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that, while the prevalence of depression and anxiety are quite high among this population, fostering ethnic identity and self-compassion in Pacific children and adolescents might protect against developing depression and anxiety.

Association of Nailfold Capillary Abnormalities With Primary Open-angle Glaucoma and Glaucomatous Visual Field Loss

PRECIS

Nailfold capillary abnormalities are associated with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and increased severity of global and central glaucomatous visual field (VF) loss.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether nailfold capillary abnormalities are associated with POAG and the severity of glaucomatous VF loss.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study of 83 POAG cases and 40 controls was conducted. Nailfold capillaroscopy images were assessed by masked graders for dilated capillaries >50 μm, crossed capillaries, tortuous capillaries, hemorrhages, avascular zones >100 μm, capillary density, and capillary distribution. VF loss in glaucoma cases was quantified using mean deviation and mean central pattern standard deviation (PSD) from the worst-affected eye.

RESULTS

Logistic regression analyses of cases and controls showed that avascular zones [odds ratio (OR)=1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.47; P=0.005], capillary density (OR=0.63; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.83; P<0.001), and capillary distribution (OR=7.88; 95% 95% CI: 2.53, 28.40; P=0.001) were associated with POAG. Simple linear regression analysis of cases only showed that nailfold hemorrhages were associated with mean deviation (β=-5.10; 95% CI: -9.20, -1.01; P=0.015) and mean central PSD (β=-4.37; 95% CI: -8.18, -0.57; P=0.025), and this remained significant in the multiple linear regressions. After controlling for demographic and clinical factors, avascular zones were associated with both mean deviation (β=-0.76; 95% CI: -1.48, -0.04; P=0.040) and mean central PSD (β=-0.78; 95% CI: -1.45, -0.10; P=0.024), whereas capillary distribution was only associated with mean deviation (β=-4.67; 95% CI: -7.92, -1.43; P=0.017).

CONCLUSION

Nailfold capillary abnormalities are associated with POAG as well as increased global and central vision loss.

Human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (APE1) is a prognostic factor in ovarian, gastro-oesophageal and pancreatico-biliary cancers

BACKGROUND

Altered DNA repair may be associated with aggressive tumour biology and impact upon response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We investigated whether expression of human AP endonuclease (APE1), a key multifunctional protein involved in DNA BER, would impact on clinicopathological outcomes in ovarian, gastro-oesophageal, and pancreatico-biliary cancer.

METHODS

Formalin-fixed human ovarian, gastro-oesophageal, and pancreatico-biliary cancers were constructed into TMAs. Expression of APE1 was analysed by IHC and correlated to clinicopathological variables.

RESULTS

In ovarian cancer, nuclear APE1 expression was seen in 71.9% (97 out of 135) of tumours and correlated with tumour type (P=0.006), optimal debulking (P=0.009), and overall survival (P=0.05). In gastro-oesophageal cancers previously exposed to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 34.8% (16 out of 46) of tumours were positive in the nucleus and this correlated with shorter overall survival (P=0.005), whereas cytoplasmic localisation correlated with tumour dedifferentiation (P=0.034). In pancreatico-biliary cancer, nuclear staining was seen in 44% (32 out of 72) of tumours. Absence of cytoplasmic staining was associated with perineural invasion (P=0.007), vascular invasion (P=0.05), and poorly differentiated tumours (P=0.068). A trend was noticed with advanced stage (P=0.077).

CONCLUSIONS

Positive clinicopathological correlations of APE1 expression suggest that APE1 is a potential drug target in ovarian, gastro-oesophageal, and pancreatico-biliary cancers.