Measuring bonding or attachment in the parent-infant-relationship: A systematic review of parent-report assessment measures, their psychometric properties and clinical utility.

BACKGROUND: Meaningful, valid and reliable self-report measures can facilitate the identification of important parent-infant-relationship factors, relevant intervention development and subsequent evaluation in community and clinical contexts. We aimed at identifying all available parent-report measures of the parent-infant-relationship or bond and to appraise their psychometric and clinimetric properties. METHOD: A systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42017078512) was conducted using the, 2018 COSMIN criteria. Eight electronic databases were searched. Papers describing the development of self-report measures of the parent-infant-bond, attachment or relationship from pregnancy until two years postpartum or the assessment of their psychometric properties were included. RESULTS: Sixty-five articles evaluating 17 original measures and 13 modified versions were identified and reviewed. The studies' methodological quality (risk of bias) varied between 'very good' and 'inadequate' depending on the measurement property assessed; however, scale development studies were mostly of 'inadequate' quality. Although most measures had good clinical utility, the psychometric evaluation of their properties was largely poor. The original or modified versions of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire collectively received the strongest psychometric evaluation ratings with high quality of evidence. CONCLUSIONS: This novel review revealed that only a few antenatal and postnatal measures demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. Further studies are needed to determine the most robust perinatal measures for researchers and clinicians.

HLA-DPB1 mismatch alleles represent powerful leukemia rejection antigens in CD4 T-cell immunotherapy after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation.

Refractory or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) represents a frequent complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). We show herein that primary in vitro stimulation of CD45RA-selected CD4 T cells of stem-cell donors with 10/10 HLA-matched AML blasts results in expansion of cytolytic T-lymphocytes (CTL) that almost all recognize HLA-DPB1 mismatch alleles, which clinically occur in up to 80% of donor-patient pairs. Primary AML blasts were found to strongly express HLA-DPB1, whereas fibroblasts and keratinocytes used as surrogate target cells for graft-versus-host disease did express HLA-DPB1 only upon IFN-γ pre-treatment. Since patients' AML blasts are rarely available in clinical routine, we developed a protocol based on stimulation of donor-derived CD45RA-selected CD4 T cells with autologous dendritic cells electroporated with RNA encoding patients' HLA-DPB1 mismatch alleles. Short-term stimulated T cell-lines specifically lysed HLA-DPB1 mismatch-expressing AML blasts, but not fibroblasts and keratinocytes without IFN-γ pre-treatment. Notably, these CD4 CTL efficiently eliminated AML blasts upon adoptive transfer into leukemia-engrafted NSG mice. In conclusion, we show strong immunogenicity of HLA-DPB1 mismatch alleles in CD45RA-selected CD4 T cells of stem-cell donors and introduce a novel strategy to reliably generate HLA-DPB1-specific CD4 CTL that might be powerful cellular therapeutics in relapsed or refractory AML after HSCT.

Biological activity and physicochemical parameters of marine halogenated natural products 2,3,3',4,4',5,5'-heptachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole and 2,4,6-tribromoanisole.

Physicochemical parameters (vapor pressure, water solubility, Henry's law constant) and biological activities of two halogenated natural products frequently detected in marine samples and food were determined. Synthetic 2,3,3',4,4',5,5'-heptachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (Q1) and 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) were available in pure form. The physicochemical parameters were in the range of anthropogenic chlorinated compounds of concern. The aqueous solubilities at 25 degrees C (S(w,25)) of Q1 and TBA were 4.6 microg/L and 12,200 microg/L, respectively, whereas subcooled liquid vapor pressures were 0.00168 Pa (Q1) and 0.06562 Pa (TBA) as measured by the gas chromatographic-retention time technique. Q1 was negative by established test systems for the determination of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) induction and by sulforhodamine B assay. EROD induction potency was at least 10(-7) times lower than that of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). At a relatively high concentration (20 microM), Q1 inhibited specific binding of 2 nM [(3)H]TCDD to the in vitro-expressed human aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) by 18%; lower concentrations showed no effect. Molecular modeling showed that Q1 is nonplanar, consistent with its relatively modest affinity as an AHR ligand. When tested for cell-growth inhibitory/cytocidal activity in human tumor cells, Q1 was only marginally, if at all, active with an IC(50) value >50 microM compared with five to ten times lower IC(50) values for potent cytotoxins tested in the test system used. Furthermore, standard pesticide tests on insecticidal, herbicidal, and fungicidal activity did not provide any significant activity at highest concentrations. For TBA, the results in all tests were comparable with Q1. The SRB assay was also applied to the halogenated natural product 4,6-dibromo-2-(2',4'-dibromo)phenoxyanisole, but no toxic response was found. Although it was apparent that Q1 and TBA had been proven to have relatively low biological activity in all tests performed, further research is necessary to clarify whether metabolites of the compounds eventually may possess a risk to humans or other living organisms. Nevertheless, the role of Q1 in nature remains uncertain.