BackgroundInfants living in areas of socioeconomic deprivation are more likely to have adverse ch... more BackgroundInfants living in areas of socioeconomic deprivation are more likely to have adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are associated with infant mental health (IMH) problems and poor physical and mental health outcomes throughout the life course. As part of the development of IMH services in Scotland, studies are being conducted to explore various stakeholders’ perspectives.AimTo understand the views and experiences of GPs working in socioeconomically deprived areas in relation to IMH.Design & settingQualitative study with GPs working in deprived urban communities in Scotland, UK.MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 GPs from 11 practices. Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed, following the Braun and Clarke framework, using NVivo (version 12) software.ResultsThe following three overarching themes are presented: (1) Deep End GPs’ inherent understanding of IMH, owing to their placement in deprived communities and their under-recognised role ...
In this article I describe a clinical approach to meeting the needs of a group of chil-dren with ... more In this article I describe a clinical approach to meeting the needs of a group of chil-dren with complex disorders and their families in a day unit setting. These children have both psychiatric disorders and learning disabilities. I propose a way of concep-tualizing the complex aetiological factors involved, the diversity of need, and the fit with possible therapeutic provision, which has the potential to function as a model for services to this group of children and their families. This model represents a multifaceted approach which encompasses biological, behavioural, pharmacologi-cal, psychoanalytic and systemic principles of assessment and intervention. K E Y WO R D S complex disorders, day unit, learning difficulties, learning disability, systems thinking
Special care babies and their developing relationships, 2019
The importance of public and private third-party funding of universities has changed over the las... more The importance of public and private third-party funding of universities has changed over the last decades. However, the knowledge about how universities finance their research are rather limited. We aim to fill this gap and investigate the funding structure of universities and how third-party funding has changed over time. In our explorative analysis, we use publicly available data of four Austrian universities. We analyze this data at university level as well as the level of the faculty of business and economics. We provide insight into the development and structure of third-party funding and conclude that universities' funding structures differ and has developed over time.
As a child psychiatrist, one of my missions in life has been to teach medical students that child... more As a child psychiatrist, one of my missions in life has been to teach medical students that children have feelings. A simple point, which as part of my job I have also had to remind paediatric colleagues about at times. Why then, was I so shocked by my own son’s response to surgery? Last year at the age of 7, my younger son had to have a circumcision. We had not taken the decision lightly, but he had had several local infections as a result of not being able to retract his foreskin. Fortunately, when we explained what was needed, he responded well. After some initial anxiety he took matters into his own hands, and came back from school one day with a list of those boys who had had the “special” operation. This seemed to reassure him enormously. The staff at the local hospital were excellent. Apart from embarrassment at having to wear a backless theatre gown, the preoperative preparation went well. The hospital had a power cut just as we were going to theatre, but contingency plans w...
Steroids are abundant growth substrates for bacteria in natural, engineered, and host-associated ... more Steroids are abundant growth substrates for bacteria in natural, engineered, and host-associated environments. This study analyzed the distribution of the aerobic 9,10-seco steroid degradation pathway in 346 publically available metagenomes from diverse environments. Our results show that steroid-degrading bacteria are globally distributed and prevalent in particular environments, such as wastewater treatment plants, soil, plant rhizospheres, and the marine environment, including marine sponges. Genomic signature-based sequence binning recovered 45 metagenome-assembled genomes containing a majority of 9,10-seco pathway genes. Only Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were identified as steroid degraders, but we identified several alpha-and gammaproteobacterial lineages not previously known to degrade steroids. Actino-and proteobacterial steroid degraders coexisted in wastewater, while soil and rhizosphere samples contained mostly actinobacterial ones. Actinobacterial steroid degraders were found in deep ocean samples, while mostly alpha-and gammaproteobacterial ones were found in other marine samples, including sponges. Isolation of steroid-degrading bacteria from sponges confirmed their presence. Phylogenetic analysis of key steroid degradation proteins suggested their biochemical novelty in genomes from sponges and other environments. This study shows that the ecological significance as well as taxonomic and biochemical diversity of bacterial steroid degradation has so far been largely underestimated, especially in the marine environment. IMPORTANCE Microbial steroid degradation is a critical process for biomass decomposition in natural environments, for removal of important pollutants during wastewater treatment, and for pathogenesis of bacteria associated with tuberculosis and other bacteria. To date, microbial steroid degradation was mainly studied in a few model organisms, while the ecological significance of steroid degradation remained largely unexplored. This study provides the first analysis of aerobic steroid degradation in diverse natural, engineered, and host-associated environments via bioinformatic analysis of an extensive metagenome data set. We found that steroid-degrading bacteria are globally distributed and prevalent in wastewater treatment plants, soil, plant rhizospheres, and the marine environment, especially in marine sponges. We show that the ecological significance as well as the taxonomic and biochemical diversity of bacterial steroid degradation has been largely underestimated. This study greatly expands our ecological and evolutionary understanding of microbial steroid degradation.
Summary In this paper the author presents some ideas about rapprochement and reciprocity, and con... more Summary In this paper the author presents some ideas about rapprochement and reciprocity, and considers them in relation to the experience of special-care babies and their mothers. Psychoanalytic infant-observation is discussed in the context of the relationship between psychoanalysis and developmental psychology and its value as a method of research is explored. Observational research has contributed to the understanding of early mother-infant relationships, and in particular has highlighted the importance of reciprocity and fit. The crucial importance of this in relation to premature babies' early relationships is illustrated by the presentation of extracts from the observations of three mother-child pairs during their stay in a special-care baby unit.
In 1987, 38% of Royal Free medical students answered the question “How could the child psychiatry... more In 1987, 38% of Royal Free medical students answered the question “How could the child psychiatry course be improved?” by asking for “more”-in particular, they wanted more “hands on” experience.
BackgroundInfants living in areas of socioeconomic deprivation are more likely to have adverse ch... more BackgroundInfants living in areas of socioeconomic deprivation are more likely to have adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are associated with infant mental health (IMH) problems and poor physical and mental health outcomes throughout the life course. As part of the development of IMH services in Scotland, studies are being conducted to explore various stakeholders’ perspectives.AimTo understand the views and experiences of GPs working in socioeconomically deprived areas in relation to IMH.Design & settingQualitative study with GPs working in deprived urban communities in Scotland, UK.MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 GPs from 11 practices. Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed, following the Braun and Clarke framework, using NVivo (version 12) software.ResultsThe following three overarching themes are presented: (1) Deep End GPs’ inherent understanding of IMH, owing to their placement in deprived communities and their under-recognised role ...
In this article I describe a clinical approach to meeting the needs of a group of chil-dren with ... more In this article I describe a clinical approach to meeting the needs of a group of chil-dren with complex disorders and their families in a day unit setting. These children have both psychiatric disorders and learning disabilities. I propose a way of concep-tualizing the complex aetiological factors involved, the diversity of need, and the fit with possible therapeutic provision, which has the potential to function as a model for services to this group of children and their families. This model represents a multifaceted approach which encompasses biological, behavioural, pharmacologi-cal, psychoanalytic and systemic principles of assessment and intervention. K E Y WO R D S complex disorders, day unit, learning difficulties, learning disability, systems thinking
Special care babies and their developing relationships, 2019
The importance of public and private third-party funding of universities has changed over the las... more The importance of public and private third-party funding of universities has changed over the last decades. However, the knowledge about how universities finance their research are rather limited. We aim to fill this gap and investigate the funding structure of universities and how third-party funding has changed over time. In our explorative analysis, we use publicly available data of four Austrian universities. We analyze this data at university level as well as the level of the faculty of business and economics. We provide insight into the development and structure of third-party funding and conclude that universities' funding structures differ and has developed over time.
As a child psychiatrist, one of my missions in life has been to teach medical students that child... more As a child psychiatrist, one of my missions in life has been to teach medical students that children have feelings. A simple point, which as part of my job I have also had to remind paediatric colleagues about at times. Why then, was I so shocked by my own son’s response to surgery? Last year at the age of 7, my younger son had to have a circumcision. We had not taken the decision lightly, but he had had several local infections as a result of not being able to retract his foreskin. Fortunately, when we explained what was needed, he responded well. After some initial anxiety he took matters into his own hands, and came back from school one day with a list of those boys who had had the “special” operation. This seemed to reassure him enormously. The staff at the local hospital were excellent. Apart from embarrassment at having to wear a backless theatre gown, the preoperative preparation went well. The hospital had a power cut just as we were going to theatre, but contingency plans w...
Steroids are abundant growth substrates for bacteria in natural, engineered, and host-associated ... more Steroids are abundant growth substrates for bacteria in natural, engineered, and host-associated environments. This study analyzed the distribution of the aerobic 9,10-seco steroid degradation pathway in 346 publically available metagenomes from diverse environments. Our results show that steroid-degrading bacteria are globally distributed and prevalent in particular environments, such as wastewater treatment plants, soil, plant rhizospheres, and the marine environment, including marine sponges. Genomic signature-based sequence binning recovered 45 metagenome-assembled genomes containing a majority of 9,10-seco pathway genes. Only Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were identified as steroid degraders, but we identified several alpha-and gammaproteobacterial lineages not previously known to degrade steroids. Actino-and proteobacterial steroid degraders coexisted in wastewater, while soil and rhizosphere samples contained mostly actinobacterial ones. Actinobacterial steroid degraders were found in deep ocean samples, while mostly alpha-and gammaproteobacterial ones were found in other marine samples, including sponges. Isolation of steroid-degrading bacteria from sponges confirmed their presence. Phylogenetic analysis of key steroid degradation proteins suggested their biochemical novelty in genomes from sponges and other environments. This study shows that the ecological significance as well as taxonomic and biochemical diversity of bacterial steroid degradation has so far been largely underestimated, especially in the marine environment. IMPORTANCE Microbial steroid degradation is a critical process for biomass decomposition in natural environments, for removal of important pollutants during wastewater treatment, and for pathogenesis of bacteria associated with tuberculosis and other bacteria. To date, microbial steroid degradation was mainly studied in a few model organisms, while the ecological significance of steroid degradation remained largely unexplored. This study provides the first analysis of aerobic steroid degradation in diverse natural, engineered, and host-associated environments via bioinformatic analysis of an extensive metagenome data set. We found that steroid-degrading bacteria are globally distributed and prevalent in wastewater treatment plants, soil, plant rhizospheres, and the marine environment, especially in marine sponges. We show that the ecological significance as well as the taxonomic and biochemical diversity of bacterial steroid degradation has been largely underestimated. This study greatly expands our ecological and evolutionary understanding of microbial steroid degradation.
Summary In this paper the author presents some ideas about rapprochement and reciprocity, and con... more Summary In this paper the author presents some ideas about rapprochement and reciprocity, and considers them in relation to the experience of special-care babies and their mothers. Psychoanalytic infant-observation is discussed in the context of the relationship between psychoanalysis and developmental psychology and its value as a method of research is explored. Observational research has contributed to the understanding of early mother-infant relationships, and in particular has highlighted the importance of reciprocity and fit. The crucial importance of this in relation to premature babies' early relationships is illustrated by the presentation of extracts from the observations of three mother-child pairs during their stay in a special-care baby unit.
In 1987, 38% of Royal Free medical students answered the question “How could the child psychiatry... more In 1987, 38% of Royal Free medical students answered the question “How could the child psychiatry course be improved?” by asking for “more”-in particular, they wanted more “hands on” experience.
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Papers by Anne McFadyen