How childhood maltreatment increases risk of later domestic abuse

University College London

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Experiencing abuse or neglect as a child can increase the risk of being victimised by a romantic partner in adulthood, by impacting personality and mental health development, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers.

Previous studies have found people who are abused or neglected in childhood are three to six times more likely to experience intimate partner violence as adults. The authors of the new The Lancet Regional Health–Europe paper were seeking to understand why that relationship exists, in order to develop better ways to disrupt this process and reduce the risk of intimate partner violence.

The researchers identified specific psychological impacts of childhood maltreatment that can increase a person’s vulnerability to intimate partner violence.

Lead author Dr Patrizia Pezzoli (UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences) said: “What this study tells us is that childhood maltreatment can leave psychological marks that can increase the risk of harm in romantic relationships. But those marks are not immutable and can be addressed in targeted interventions.”

Previous studies looking into characteristics of people who have experienced both childhood abuse and intimate partner violence have not yet clarified whether such traits ‘transmit’ the effect of childhood maltreatment, or whether they simply reflect the fact that some people are, by virtue of genetic or environmental risk factors, more broadly vulnerable to different forms of victimisation.

To help answer this question, the authors of the new paper used data from over 11,000 participants of the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), a large, population-based cohort of twins born in the 1990s in England and Wales. The dataset included measures of 18 personality and mental health characteristics taken when participants were 22 years old, including factors such as self-control, aggression, anxiety, and subjective wellbeing. Participants also answered questions about their histories of maltreatment in childhood and abuse during their adult relationships. Using the twin study design enabled the researchers to separate what is shared between family members, including genes and shared family environments, from what is unique to each individual.

Even after accounting for inherited vulnerability to victimisation, the researchers found that childhood maltreatment still independently shapes psychological development in ways that increase the risk of intimate partner violence victimisation in young adulthood.

The researchers identified three main psychological characteristics among people who have experienced childhood abuse that contribute to their later vulnerability to domestic abuse: low subjective wellbeing, conduct problems and aggression.

Low subjective wellbeing, characterised by dissatisfaction with one’s relationships, community and financial security, is a well-recognised outcome of childhood adversity. The findings suggest it may reflect a reduced capacity to build and maintain the kind of supportive social environment that protects against further harm. Conduct problems and aggression – encompassing anger, hostility, and verbal and physical aggression – have long been associated with early adversity.

Dr Pezzoli said: “These psychological vulnerabilities are not character flaws; they can emerge as adaptations to challenging environments. This distinction is important, as the findings should not be misinterpreted as placing blame on individuals for their experiences.”

The study found that both childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence victimisation have a heritable component – that is, part of the risk for each is influenced by genetic factors. The researchers say it’s important to clarify that genes do not cause someone to be victimised – instead, genetic factors can shape ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can make certain experiences more likely – and understanding the ways someone may become more vulnerable does not take away any blame from perpetrators of violence and abuse.

The researchers say that domestic abuse prevention programmes tend to be universal, such as school-based relationship education programmes, but their latest findings suggest that more tailored programmes targeted at people who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect could be particularly helpful.

Dr Pezzoli said: “The traits identified in this study are not inevitable or permanent consequences of childhood maltreatment. While evidence-based programmes specifically targeting this group are lacking, these findings provide a clearer roadmap for what such interventions could address, and adolescence may be a particularly important window, given how formative early relationship experiences can be.”

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Journal

The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

DOI

10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101653 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Personality and mental health as mediators linking childhood maltreatment to intimate partner violence victimization: a Mendelian randomization–direction of causation twin study

 

Neutralizing smelly dog breath with plant extracts

An oral spray derived from molasses, a by-product of sugar cane refining, reduces bad smells, odor-producing compounds and harmful bacteria from 10 dogs’ mouths.

American Chemical Society

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A researcher swabs a dog’s mouth to test how polyphenol extracts from molasses impacted bad-smelling compounds and harmful bacteria in the dog’s saliva.

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Credit: Hongye Li

Pet owners love their dogs but may not always love the smell of their breath. Because this bad odor can signal oral disease, veterinary clinics will prescribe daily tooth brushing, antibiotics or chemical rinses as treatment. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry propose an alternative: polyphenols from molasses. They developed a spray that reduced stinky breath and harmful oral bacteria in dogs. 

“The spray itself has a mild plant-like and molasses-like smell, but it is not strong or unpleasant.” – Hongye Li

“Our goal was to investigate if a sustainable agricultural by-product could safely improve the daily oral health of our pets,” says Hongye Li, the lead author of the study. 

Previously, Li and colleagues examined sugarcane molasses and determined that it contained polyphenols that prevented the growth of harmful oral bacteria in lab cultures. They saw an opportunity to investigate whether similar extracts could treat the bacteria that cause halitosis, or bad breath, in dogs. So, Li, Yin Fei and Wei Zhao recruited 10 healthy pet dogs with smelly breath (after getting consent from their owners) and tested how a molasses-derived mouth spray impacted the animals’ breath, oral microbiome and saliva composition. 

The researchers sprayed polyphenols extracted from molasses into each dog’s mouth, took saliva samples and monitored the smell of the dogs’ breath. After an hour, the odor perceived by trained human evaluators was negligible, and the amounts of some bad-smelling compounds — including esters, amines and aldehydes — in the dogs’ saliva were undetectable with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). 

“The spray itself has a mild plant-like and molasses-like smell, but it is not strong or unpleasant,” explains Li. “Importantly, the deodorizing effect was not simply due to odor masking, because the GC-MS results showed reductions in several odor-associated compounds in saliva.” 
 
To test longer-term effects, the dogs received mouth spray daily for 30 days. After this time, the dogs’ saliva contained smaller amounts of aroma compounds, including aldehydes and short-chain fatty acid esters that contribute to fatty odors and are produced by pathogenic bacteria. Their oral microbiomes also contained significantly smaller proportions of bacteria associated with bad breath, including Porphyromonas and Fusobacterium. 

After conducting additional lab experiments and computer simulations, the team better understands how the polyphenols and odor molecules interact. Li describes the spray treatment like a sponge, a switch, and a gardener. “First, the polyphenols act like a 'molecular sponge,' directly binding to and neutralizing existing bad odor molecules,” Li says. “Second, they act as a 'switch' to turn off specific bacterial enzymes that produce foul smells. Finally, they work as a 'gardener' to weed out the populations of bad odor-causing bacteria over time.” 

The researchers emphasize the importance of this multifaceted treatment as a simple, safe and sustainable way to keep family pets healthy, which they hope will ultimately bring pets and their families closer together. 

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National High-Level Talents Special Support Program, Jiangnan University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. 

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. 

Registered journalists can subscribe to the ACS journalist news portal on EurekAlert! to access embargoed and public science press releases. For media inquiries, contact newsroom@acs.org. 

Note: ACS does not conduct research but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. 

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Journal

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

DOI

10.1021/acs.jafc.6c00022 

Nutrition support during pregnancy improves birth outcomes, global study finds

George Mason-led research finds that food-based prenatal supplements improve birth weights across Africa and South Asia.

George Mason University

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In parts of the world where daily nutrition is unstable, pregnancy and newborn health are more precarious. A new study led by epidemiologist Dongqing Wang of the George Mason University College of Public Health adds to the evidence that improving maternal nutrition during pregnancy may be a key intervention to improve birth outcomes.

Looking across eight clinical trials across Africa and South Asia, the study finds that balanced energy and protein (BEP) supplements—food-based products like beverages or nutrient-dense pastes designed to increase calorie and protein intake—are associated with healthier birth weights and fewer high-risk newborns in low- and middle-income countries. The findings were published in PLOS Medicine.

“In settings where pregnant women can’t access sufficient calories and protein, it is important to act early,” said Wang, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the Department of Global and Community Health. “Improving maternal nutrition can reduce the risk of vulnerable birth outcomes.”

Why this matters

Maternal malnutrition puts infants at higher risk of death, illness, and developmental delays.

Interventions have often focused on micronutrient supplements, but this study shows that food-based approaches to increase calorie and protein intake may better support fetal growth. BEP supplements can also be delivered through existing maternal health programs, making them a practical solution to scale. Wang is also currently conducting further research in Ethiopia that examines the cost-effectiveness of different approaches to BEP supplementation.

Study details

Wang and his colleagues combined individual-level data from randomized controlled trials conducted in Nepal, The Gambia, Pakistan, and several other low- and middle-income settings. The team compared outcomes for pregnant individuals who received BEP supplements with those who did not.

Key findings include:

• BEP supplements were associated with higher birth weights and a lower risk of babies being born with low birth weight or small for their gestational age.
• The effects were particularly notable forbabiessmall for their gestational age, a group with elevated risk of neonatal mortality.
• Benefits appeared stronger among women who began supplementation earlier in pregnancy, particularly before20 weeks.

Wang worked with a global network of researchers from institutions including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Aga Khan University and partners across Europe, South Asia and Africa.

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Journal

PLOS Medicine

Article Title

The effect of prenatal balanced energy and protein supplementation on small vulnerable newborn types in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data

 

How hibernation influences a visual brain area in squirrels

Neurons in the visual brain undergo quick, dynamic structural changes from hibernation that may eventually inform treatment strategies for conditions in which neuron function is lost or hindered, such as poststroke.

Society for Neuroscience

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“Torpor” refers to the 10–15 d stages of hibernation in which squirrels are in deep sleep. “Inter-torpor Arousal,” when squirrels are not in deep sleep, occurs for 12–24 h in between Torpor stages.

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Credit: Allison Fultz et al., 2026

Understanding how hibernation affects neurons sheds light on how neurons adapt to changing states and can inform treatment strategies for conditions in which neurons are damaged or impaired. In a new JNeurosci paper, researchers led by Hendrikje Nienborg, from the National Eye Institute, used squirrels to assess how hibernation alters neuron structure in a brain area that responds to visual information from the eyes. Why focus on this visual brain area? According to Nienborg, research shows strong neuron structure changes from hibernation in a part of the brain that processes touch, and these findings led to assumptions that neuron changes were happening in the visual brain as well. 

The researchers assessed how two types of neurons in the visual brain area were affected during different stages of hibernation: deep sleep and an arousal stage that periodically occurs. One of the neuron populations had altered structure during deep hibernation compared to nonhibernating squirrels, while the other neuron population was unchanged. These effects reversed within 1.5 h after the animals aroused from deep hibernation. The researchers further assessed changes six months after hibernation and discovered there were no neuron structure differences between hibernating and nonhibernating squirrels. 

Nienborg looks forward to taking this work further by exploring how neuron function changes during and after hibernation: “We know these structural changes have implications for neural communication, learning, and recovery after conditions like stroke. To see that there is a mechanism in the brains of these hibernating animals that [is so quick to change] is exciting because if we can figure out how to leverage this mechanism, we can potentially help human adult brains be more [adaptable] too, especially during recovery after stroke. We know a lot about how brain areas support visual processing, so exploring functional changes in the visual brains of squirrels is a very likely next step.”

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Please contact media@sfn.org for full-text PDF. 

About JNeurosci 

JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries. 

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Journal

JNeurosci

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0077-26.2026 

Article Title

Pronounced Neuroplasticity in the Primary Visual Cortex of the Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel During Hibernation

 

Revealing hidden diversity of algae in farmland

Research team analyse soil algae abundance and diversity in wheat fields in Germany

University of Göttingen

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Wheat field in early spring and autumn. The lower temperatures and earlier bare soil were conditions fa-voured yellow-green algae making them the most diverse and abundant algae in this farmland at that time, followed by diatoms (single-celled algae). The insert on the right (a) shows a close up of the soil with dense cover of filaments. The close up on the left (b) shows algae which have tube-like filaments as well as single-celled algae.

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Credit: University of Göttingen

Intensive agriculture poses a significant threat to global biodiversity. However, one aspect of biodiversity in farmland is little studied: algae. Most people have seen algae growing in streams, lakes or the sea. However, algae have also adapted to survive in dryer, harsher conditions on land. In fact, soil algae are thought to be responsible for about 6% of the vegetation production on Earth. This led a research team at the universities of Göttingen and Kassel to investigate the algae in the surface soils of farmland. Their pilot study revealed more than 100 different algae, likely to be made up of hundreds of individual species. Unlike most other microbes, these algae showed seasonal variation in their communities. These are the first steps towards understanding the factors that determine the diversity of these important microorganisms. The results were published in the Journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

 

The team examined soils from farmed wheat fields, managed by nearby Kassel University. Samples were collected from the topsoil of the fields in spring, summer and autumn representing different conditions of wheat fields throughout the year. Molecular methods – such as DNA Metabarcoding – enabled the analysis of many samples at once and the identification of the large diversity of soil algae with higher precision than previous studies.

 

The researchers discovered unexpectedly strong seasonal variation. A group of algae known as yellow-green algae (Xanthophyceae) was the most abundant when it was colder, at the time points in spring and autumn; whereas blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) and green algae were prevalent shortly before crop harvest in summer. Cyanobacteria are often already used as a natural fertilizer in rice paddy fields in Asia. The researchers showed that many of these organisms could also be abundant in the fields of Central Europe. Additionally, researchers identified a large diversity of green algae, as well as diatoms – a common type of single-celled algae mostly known from marine or freshwater habitats.

 

“These organisms are critical to the soil microbiome. Soil health and fertility may depend on them,” says Professor Thomas Friedl at the University of Göttingen. Although the microbiome of arable land has received increased attention from researchers in recent years, most studies focus on Bacteria and Fungi, not on soil algae. “Soil algae produce an array of substances and have many valuable effects, such as on texture and fertility. They can stimulate other organisms, improve nutrient cycling, and positively influence local water availability and quality. Their cell walls can act as reservoirs, absorbing essential nutrients, enhancing the soil’s capacity to retain these substances,” adds Friedl.

 

Professor Miriam Athmann at the University of Kassel explains, “Until now, neither researchers nor farmers were aware of how crop management affects the algae in their fields and many questions remain.” For instance, the research found a huge diversity of algae in both organically and conventionally managed fields, with clear differences in species composition, however. How management affects soil algae is one of the issues that will be studied in follow-up research with over 300 samples from long-term field experiments, allowing a sound scientific evaluation. Athmann adds: “Future studies will bring insights into how farmers can protect algal diversity and potentially even profit from their benefits for crop growth.”

 

Original publication: Barthel S, et al “Soil algae in arable land: changes in the genotypic community composition across time points and farming systems - a pilot study”. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2026 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1813833

 

 

Wheat field in summer before the harvest - the green algae and Cyanobacteria have flourished in the warmer temperatures and benefited from the shade of fully grown wheat plants before harvest. The close-up on the left shows the soil surface with dark spots formed by green blue algae (Cyanobacteria). Under the micro-scope, the close-up on the right (d) shows Cyanobacteria filaments mixed with cells of green algae.

Credit

University of Göttingen

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Journal

Frontiers in Microbiology

DOI

10.3389/fmicb.2026.1813833 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Soil algae in arable land: changes in the genotypic community composition across time points and farming systems - a pilot study

Agricultural azoles drive clinical azole resistance in Candida tropicalis via inducing aneuploidy

SciOpen

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Stably drug-resistant strains were screened and obtained via serial in vitro passaging under the stress of stepwise gradient drug concentrations (left panel). The resulting drug-resistant strains exhibited significant phenotypic heterogeneity in colony morphology and cell size. Whole-genome copy number variation (CNV) analysis of all strains revealed that all drug-resistant strains harbored segmental chromosomal amplifications of varying degrees.

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Credit: Mycology-An International Journal on Fungal Biology

This study is led by Professor Guanghua Huang at Fudan University, in collaboration with a team led by Professor Haiqing Chu at Tongji University. Shuaihu Li, a PhD candidate from the School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, performed most of the experiments in this study.

 

To define the causal role of agricultural azole fungicides in driving clinical azole resistance in the major human opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida tropicalis, researchers conducted a systematic study integrating experimental evolution, genomic characterization, and transcriptomic profiling.

 

Using serial passaging under stepwise increasing concentrations of four globally prevalent agricultural azoles (difenoconazole, diniconazole, flutriafol, and hexaconazole), the researchers generated stably azole-resistant evolved strains from an initially azole-susceptible C. tropicalis isolate. In vitro antifungal susceptibility assays confirmed that all evolved strains exhibited stable high-level resistance to the corresponding agricultural azoles, as well as broad-spectrum cross-resistance to first-line clinical azoles, including fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole. Notably, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of fluconazole in some evolved strains was up to 64-fold higher than that of the parental wild-type strain, directly verifying that agricultural azole exposure is a key environmental driver of clinical azole resistance in C. tropicalis.

 

Genomic analyses revealed that all azole-resistant strains harbored stable aneuploid karyotypes, with universal whole-chromosome gains or segmental chromosomal amplifications. Distinct agricultural azoles induced characteristic, azole-specific aneuploidy patterns, and all amplified genomic regions were highly enriched with core azole resistance genes, including key ergosterol biosynthesis genes and drug efflux pump-encoding genes. The researchers confirmed a direct causal link between aneuploidy formation and azole cross-resistance, establishing that aneuploidy is the core genomic mechanism underlying rapid resistance acquisition in C. tropicalis under agricultural azole stress.

 

Transcriptomic analyses further demonstrated that significant upregulation of azole resistance genes within amplified genomic regions, driven by gene dosage effects, forms the core molecular basis of the resistance phenotype. Additional copy number-independent transcriptional reprogramming of key resistance genes further amplified the drug resistance effect. The study also revealed that agricultural azole exposure reduced C. tropicalis susceptibility to non-azole echinocandin antifungals, indicating an underappreciated risk of broader multidrug resistance.

 

These findings highlight the critical role of agricultural azoles in clinical antifungal resistance, providing key experimental evidence for antifungal stewardship under the One Health framework.

 

 

See the article:

Agricultural azole fungicides induce cross-resistance to medical antifungals in Candida tropicalis: a One Health perspective on antifungal resistance

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Journal

Mycology: An International Journal on Fungal Biology

DOI

10.1080/21501203.2026.2657142 

Article Title

Agricultural azole fungicides induce cross-resistance to medical antifungals in Candida tropicalis: a One Health perspective on antifungal resistance