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The current study investigated the impacts of parental behaviors (threat communication and comforting) on children's COVID-19 fears and whether effects differed by age.Caregivers of 283 children (5.5-17 years, M = 10.17, SD = 3.25) from 186 families completed online measures assessing children's and parents' COVID-19-related fears, children's sources of COVID-19 threat information, and parents' engagement in behaviors to reduce child distress (i.e., comfort behaviors). Higher COVID-19 fear in parents was associated with greater communication of COVID-19 threat information, which was associated with higher COVID-19 fear in younger, but not older, children. Over and above parental fear and threat communication, greater exposure to COVID-19 threat information from community sources (e.g., media, school, friends) was associated with greater COVID-19 fear in children, regardless of age. Greater engagement of parental comfort behaviors buffered the association between community sources of COVID-19 threat information and COVID-19 fears in older, but not younger, children. These findings suggest that younger children might be more vulnerable to developing heightened COVID-19 fears as a result of increasing sources of COVID-19 threat information in their lives. This study highlights the importance of supporting the socioemotional wellbeing of children and families through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

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Murine models are used extensively in biological and translational research. For many of these studies it is necessary to access the vasculature for the injection of biologically active agents. Among the possible methods for accessing the mouse vasculature, tail vein injections are a routine but critical step for many experimental protocols. To perform successful tail vein injections, a high skill set and experience is required, leaving most scientists ill-suited to perform this task. This can lead to a high variability between injections, which can impact experimental results. To allow more scientists to perform their own tail vein injections and to decrease the variability between injections a vascular access system (VAS) that semi-automatically inserts a needle into the tail vein of a mouse was developed. The VAS uses near infrared (NIR) light, image processing techniques, computer controlled motors, and a pressure feedback system to insert the needle and to validate its proper placement within the vein. The VAS was tested by injecting a commonly used radiolabeled probe (FDG) into the tail veins of five mice. These mice were then imaged using micro-positron emission tomography (PET) to measure the percentage of the injected probe remaining in the tail. These studies showed that, on average, the VAS leaves 3.4% of the injected probe in the tail. With these preliminary results, the VAS system demonstrates the potential for improving the accuracy of tail vein injections in mice.

Background: Development and implementation of effective family-based intervention and treatment strategies during COVID-19, and future public health crises, will require a detailed understanding of the ways that COVID-19 has affected parents, children, and families. Qualitative and mixed-methods research is an important means of gaining such detailed information, particularly in the early phases of the pandemic, when the research community continues to explore the meaning of this experience. Methods: We employed thematic analysis to identify themes in parents’ and children’s reflective writing about COVID-19, and explored how citation of certain themes mapped onto quantitative measures of distress commonly used in past psychosocial research on pandemics. Data were collected from N = 56 parents and N = 43 children between April to May 2020.Findings: Analysis of parent and child written reports revealed positive and negative thematic content, though parents expressed more positive themes than children. The most common themes identified from parent reports surrounded concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on their children, health concerns for others, and the stressful balancing act of parenting, schooling, and working from home. In addition, many parents reported gratitude for what they had, and reflected on the upsides of the pandemic for family relations. For children, the most common themes identified surrounded missing school and social relationships. When children expressed positive themes, they tended to be more egocentric reflections (e.g. learning to ride a bike). Both parent and child thematic content mapped onto parent-proxy and parent-self reported quantitative dimensions of parent and child distress. Finally, we observed that parents who reflected on gratitude in their written reports exhibited a decrease in negative affect pre- to -post-writing.Interpretation: Both parents and children are suffering from reduced wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with the burdens imposed by the closure of in-person schooling. The psychosocial impact of the pandemic on families would likely be even greater in magnitude within less advantaged populations. Future research and policy should focus on identifying how to fulfill children’s social needs and lessen the caregiving burdens during this time.