Religion/spirituality and adolescent health outcomes: a review

Religion/spirituality is important to adolescents, is usually considered a protective factor against a host of negative health outcomes, and is often included in adolescent health outcomes research. Previous reviews of the relationship among spirituality, religion, and adolescent health have been limited by scope, focusing primarily on distal aspects of religion/spirituality (e.g., attendance at religious services). We reviewed the literature examining proximal domains of religion/spirituality (e.g., spiritual coping) in adolescent health outcomes research. Constructs such as spiritual coping and religious decision-making were the ones most often studied and were generally positively associated with health outcomes. Measurement of proximal domains, associations of proximal domains with health outcomes, methodological issues and recommendations for future research were covered in this review.     

Identification of the phenotype in psychiatric genetics

Summary Statistical procedures and molecular genetic techniques have attained a fine degree of resolution. Their ability to find disease genes has revolutionized medicine and raised hopes for breakthroughs in psychiatry. However, such breakthroughs may require an equally discriminating nosology. A psychiatric genetic nosology seeks to classify patients into categories that correspond to distinct genetic entities by addressing the problem of diagnostic accuracy: the degree to which a diagnosis correctly classifies people with and without a putative genetic illness. We review methods that deal with misclassification in genetic studies. These are clinical and epidemiological approaches that deal directly with how to define the observable manifestation of a putative genotype. We discuss two groups of methods: those that use known phenotypes and those that design new phenotypes.     

Developmental Progression in Children's Knowledge of AIDS: Implications for Education and Attitudinal Change

The effectiveness of curricula designed to enhance a child'sunderstanding of AIDS may hinge partially upon incorporatinginformation adjusted to the child's developmental status. Accordingly,we examined the developmental progression of children's understandingof illness transmission in general and AIDS in particular, aswell as explored the relation between a child's knowledge ofAIDS and his/her attitudes toward persons with AIDS. Knowledgeof AIDS was manipulated through use of a brief educational intervention.Results support a developmental progression in knowledge aboutAIDS that is consistent with progressions related to illnessesin general. Knowledge enhancement was associated with positivechanges in attitude.     

Allele-specific PCR and Next-generation sequencing based genetic screening for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia in India

Genetic screening of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is known to be challenging due to the complexities in CYP21A2 genotyping and has not been the first-tier diagnostic tool in routine clinical practice. Also, with the advent of massive parallel sequencing technology, there is a need for investigating its utility in screening extended panel of genes implicated in CAH. In this study, we have established and utilized an Allele-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (ASPCR) based approach for screening eight common mutations in CYP21A2 gene followed by targeted Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of CYP21A2, CYP11B1, CYP17A1, POR, and CYP19A1 genes in 72 clinically diagnosed CAH subjects from India. Through these investigations, 88.7% of the subjects with 21 hydroxylase deficiency were positive for eight CYP21A2 mutations with ASPCR. The targeted NGS assay was sensitive to pick up all the mutations identified by ASPCR. Utilizing NGS in subjects negative for ASPCR, five study subjects were homozygous positive for other CYP21A2 variants: one with a novel c.1274G>T, three with c.1451G>C and one with c.143A>G variant. One subject was compound heterozygous for c.955C>T and c.1042G>A variants identified using ASPCR and NGS. One subject suspected for a Simple Virilizing (SV) 21 hydroxylase deficiency was positive for a CYP19A1:c.1142A>T variant. CYP11B1 variants (c.1201-1G>A, c.1200+1del, c.412C>T, c.1024C>T, c.1012dup, c.623G>A) were identified in all six subjects suspected for 11 beta-hydroxylase deficiency. The overall mutation positivity was 97.2%. Our results suggest that ASPCR followed by targeted NGS is a cost-effective and comprehensive strategy for screening common CYP21A2 mutations and the CAH panel of genes in a clinical setting.     

Further Evidence for Embedded Performance Validity Tests in Children within the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test – Second Edition

Objective: To replicate previous research on Conners’ Continuous Performance Test – Second Edition subscales as performance validity tests (PVTs) in children.

Method: Classification accuracy for the Omissions (OMI), Hit Reaction Time (HRT), and Perseverations (PER) subscales was computed for 414 children and adolescents.

Results: Overall, OMI, HRT, and PER demonstrated good specificity but low and variable sensitivity across cutoffs.

Conclusions: Results suggest that OMI, HRT, and PER can function as embedded PVTs in mixed clinical samples of children, although their clinical utility is limited by their low sensitivity. Implications for the use of these PVTs in the context of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder evaluations, medication-seeking patients, and sports concussion clinics are discussed.