The assessment of an inhibited, anxiety-prone temperament in a Dutch multi-ethnic population of preschool children

The Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire-Short Form (BIQ-SF) is a 14-item parent-rating scale for assessing an inhibited, anxiety-prone temperament in preschool children. This study examined the psychometric properties of the BIQ-SF scores in a multi-ethnic community population of Dutch boys and girls aged 2.5–6?years (total N?=?2,343, from which various subsamples were derived). Results revealed that the factor structure of the BIQ-SF was as hypothesized: a model with six correlated factors representing children’s inhibited behaviors in various social and non-social contexts provided a good fit for the data. The internal consistency of the BIQ-SF was generally satisfactory and scores on the scale were found to be fairly stable over a time period of up to 2?years. Parent-teacher agreement was acceptable, and relations between the BIQ-SF and observations of an inhibited temperament were moderate. Finally, BIQ-SF scores were positively associated with measures of anxiety and internalizing symptoms, whereas no significant links were found with externalizing symptoms. Altogether, these results provide support for the reliability and validity of the BIQ-SF as an economical method for assessing behavioral inhibition and anxiety proneness in young children.     

Demyelinating prenatal and infantile developmental neuropathies

The prenatal and infantile neuropathies are an uncommon and complex group of conditions, most of which are genetic. Despite advances in diagnostic techniques, approximately half of children presenting in infancy remain without a specific diagnosis. This review focuses on inherited demyelinating neuropathies presenting in the first year of life. We clarify the nomenclature used in these disorders, review the clinical features of demyelinating forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease with early onset, and discuss the demyelinating infantile neuropathies associated with central nervous system involvement. Useful clinical, neurophysiologic, and neuropathologic features in the diagnostic work-up of these conditions are also presented.     

Health indicators and costs among outpatients according to physical activity level and obesity

ObjectiveHow biochemical variables influence the costs of the Brazilian National Healthcare System, according to body composition and physical activity.MethodsParticipated in this study 168 patients. Biochemical variables were glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high, low, very low density lipoprotein and C-reactive protein (CRP). For the cost analysis the medical records was analyzed. Physical activity was assessed through questionnaire. Body adiposity was assessed by body mass index. Four groups were defined according body adiposity and physical activity.ResultsThe active obese group had higher values of very low density lipoprotein and triglycerides when compared to the inactive obese. The non-obese inactive group had lower values of non-high density lipoprotein compared to the inactive obese. The non-obese active group presented lower insulin value when compared to the inactive obese. The inactive obese group presented higher values in the CRP when compared to the non-obese active and inactive groups when compared to non-obese and active obese group. There was a positive correlation between insulin, glucose, CRP and drug and total costs.ConclusionsBiochemical variables were different according to body composition and physical activity. Insulin, glucose and CRP were related to cost in drugs and total costs.     

Association of the joint effect of menopause and hormone replacement therapy and cancer in African American women: the Jackson Heart Study

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US and in Mississippi. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women, and the underlying pathophysiology remains unknown, especially among African American (AA) women. The study purpose was to examine the joint effect of menopause status (MS) and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the association with cancers, particularly BC using data from the Jackson Heart Study. The analytic sample consisted of 3202 women between 35 and 84 years of which 73.7% and 22.6% were postmenopausal and on HRT, respectively. There were a total of 190 prevalent cancer cases (5.9%) in the sample with 22.6% breast cancer cases. Menopause (p<0.0001), but not HRT (p=0.6402), was independently associated with cancer. Similar results were obtained for BC. BC, cancer, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, prevalent cardiovascular disease, physical activity and certain dietary practices were all significantly associated with the joint effect of menopause and HRT in the unadjusted analyses. The family history of cancer was the only covariate that was significantly associated with cancer in the age-adjusted models. In examining the association of cancer and the joint effect of menopause and HRT, AA women who were menopausal and were not on HRT had a 1.97 (95% CI: 1.15, 3.38) times odds of having cancer compared to pre-menopausal women after adjusting for age; which was attenuated after further adjusting for family history of cancer. Given that the cancer and BC cases were small and key significant associations were attenuated after adjusting for the above mentioned covariates, these findings warrant further investigation in studies with larger sample sizes of cancer (and BC) cases.     

Discordant time trends in maternal body size and offspring birthweight of term deliveries in France between 1972 and 2003: data from the French National Perinatal Surveys

We investigated time trends in maternal weight before and during pregnancy and in infant birthweight in France, from 1972 to 2003, using data on singleton live term births from the representative National Perinatal Surveys of 1972, 1981, 1995, 1998 and 2003 (n=8,664, 4,494, 11,445, 12,006, 12,692, respectively). Mothers were interviewed a few days after delivery and data on delivery and the newborn were extracted from hospital records. Maternal prepregnancy weight, height, body mass index and pregnancy weight gain all increased from 1972 to 2003; however, birthweight did not show a parallel trend. After taking gestational age, maternal age, parity, country of origin, newborn gender and maternal smoking during pregnancy into account, mean birthweight increased between 1972 and 1995 but decreased thereafter and, consistently, there was an increase in small-for-gestational age (SGA) and a decrease in large-for-gestational age newborns. Further adjustment for induced delivery, an indicator of obstetric practice, did not change the results. A similar variation has been observed very recently in the US and in Germany. Further research is needed to identify the factors responsible for these discordant changes and especially the factors responsible for the recent increase in SGA since this has been shown to be associated with poorer health in later life.