Differences in parental attitudes towards sleep and associations with sleep-wake patterns in Caucasian and Southeast Asian school-aged children in Australia

Caucasian (N = 47) and Southeast (SE) Asian (N = 36) families completed a questionnaire on their attitudes toward sleep, as well as a 7-day sleep diary for their children aged 5 to 11 years. Cultural differences were found in the perceived importance of sleep, particularly compared to homework and belief of how much sleep a child needs. Differences were also found in sleep-wake behaviors and amount of time spent on homework, with SE Asian children reporting a shift in sleep timing and increased homework load compared to Caucasian counterparts. Parental attitudes toward sleep, perception of sleep need, and homework load were not associated with the regulation of actual sleep behaviors in children, regardless of cultural heritage.     

Undergraduate nursing students' experiences in a rural clinical placement

Objective: This paper draws on questionnaire findings and analysis of students' comments to demonstrate the aspects of rural placements that were effective in engaging students in the learning process. It also examined how a primary health care clinical placement in Aboriginal communities can provide nursing students with a rich and varied learning experience and an insight into the complex aspects of rural life including Aboriginal health. Design: A cohort of eight second‐year nursing students from the Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, in partnership with the Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health (BHUDRH), participated in a 4 weeks' rural placement in far western New South Wales. A pre‐test/post‐test questionnaire was used to capture their experiences with the students completing the questionnaires before and after their clinical placements. Such placements offer students opportunities to deepen their understanding of issues related to rural health in clinical, professional, social and community contexts. Results: The results suggest that clinical experience in rural areas can positively influence attitudes, preparedness for practice and engage students on many levels, deepened their understanding of rural communities and issues related to rural health. Conclusion: This group of undergraduate nursing students indicated they all had a positive learning experience in their rural clinical placement. The value of rural placements as a method for increasing nursing student's practical experience should be promoted.     

Eccema de manos en niños. Estudio clínico-epidemiológico de la población remitida a un hospital terciario

Introduction

Hand eczema is a frequent disease in adults. Diagnosing the cause of hand eczema is difficult due to different classifications. There is lack of evidence on hand eczema and its causes in children.

Performance comparison of two whole genome amplification techniques in frame of multifactor preimplantation genetic testing

Purpose

To compare multiple displacement amplification and OmniPlex whole genome amplification technique performance during array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH), Sanger sequencing, SNaPshot and fragment size analysis downstream applications in frame of multifactor embryo preimplantation genetic testing.

Methods

Preclinical workup included linked short tandem repeat (STR) marker selection and primer design for loci of interest. It was followed by a family haplotyping, after which an in vitro fertilization preimplantation genetic testing (IVF-PGT) cycle was carried out. A total of 62 embryos were retrieved from nine couples with a confirmed single gene disorder being transmitted in their family with various inheritance traits—autosomal dominant (genes—ACTA2, HTT, KRT14), autosomal recessive (genes—ALOX12B, TPP1, GLB1) and X-linked (genes—MTM1, DMD). Whole genome amplification (WGA) for the day 5 embryo trophectoderm single biopsies was carried out by multiple displacement amplification (MDA) or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technology OmniPlex and was used for direct (Sanger sequencing, fragment size analysis, SNaPshot) and indirect mutation assessment (STR marker haplotyping), and embryo aneuploidy testing by array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH).

Results

Family haplotyping revealed informative/semi-informative microsatellite markers for all clinical cases for all types of inheritance. Indirect testing gave a persuasive conclusion for all embryos assessed, which was confirmed through direct testing. The overall allele dropout (ADO) rate was higher for PCR-based WGA, and MDA shows a better genomic recovery scale. Five euploid embryos were subjected to elective single embryo transfer (eSET), which resulted in four clinical pregnancies and birth of two healthy children, which proved free of disease causative variants running in the family postnataly.

Conclusions

A developed multifactor PGT protocol can be adapted and applied to virtually any genetic condition and is capable of improving single gene disorder preimplantation genetic testing in a patient-tailored manner thus increasing pregnancy rates, saving costs and increasing patient reliability.

     

Anti-Ro/SSA antibodies are associated with severe mitral valve regurgitation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective: To assess whether anti-Ro/SSA antibodies are associated with cardiac valve disease in lupus.

Methods: A single-center, medical chart review was performed. Lupus patients were divided according to its anti-Ro/SSA status and subgroups were compared for valvular abnormalities and other characteristics. Dependence of anti-Ro/SSA reactivity to anti-Ro52/TRIM21 antibodies was also evaluated.

Results: Eighty-nine lupus patients were analyzed. The most common valvular abnormalities were tricuspid (60%), mitral (41%) and pulmonary (14%) regurgitation. Thirty-six patients were positive and 53 negative for anti-Ro/SSA antibodies. In patients positive to anti-Ro/SSA, a difference was noted for anti-dsDNA (67 versus 45%; p?=?0.04) and anti-La/SSB (19 versus 2%; p?=?0.004) antibodies. An association between anti-Ro/SSA antibodies and severe mitral regurgitation was observed; indeed, 4/15 patients with anti-Ro/SSA and mitral regurgitation had severe forms of valvulopathy as compared to only 1/22 patients with mitral regurgitation but negative to such antibody (27 versus 5%; p?=?0.02). Anti-Ro/SSA antibodies significantly elevated the risk of severe mitral regurgitation (OR?=?5). Anti-Ro52/TRIM21 levels (103?±?29 versus 42?±?43?U/mL; p?=?0.03) and anti-Ro52/TRIM21:?anti-Ro/SSA ratios (0.88?±?0.02 versus 0.35?±?0.37; p?=?0.03) were higher in patients with mitral valve regurgitation than in those with no valvulopathy.

Conclusion: Anti-Ro/SSA antibodies, mainly against Ro52/TRIM21 antigens, may be pathologically involved in lupus-associated mitral valve regurgitation.     

The complete mitochondrial genome of the surubim <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudoplatystoma corruscans</Emphasis> (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) and mitochondrial phylogenomics of catfishes confirm monophyly of Siluriformes families

Surubim (Pseudoplatystoma corruscans) is a large catfish that can reach 120 Kg. Their populations have been declining lately. Here, we describe for the first time the complete mitochondrial genome for an individual from this species. The circularized mitogenome followed the expected pattern for vertebrates, being 16,123 bp in length. It contained 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNAs and a putative non-coding control region. A maximum-likelihood phylogenomic tree was constructed using a supermatrix dataset contaning all protein-coding genes concatenated for the mitogenome of 36 Siluriformes species and 2 outgroups. The tree provided insights about the relationship of surubim to other catfishes and it is consistent with previous phylogenies. It evidenced monophyly for all 11 catfish families analyzed. Further studies using nuclear markers should be performed to clarify sister relations inside Siluriformes clade.