The Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded in a Home-Visiting Program on Children's Weight and Mothers’ Feeding Practices

Objective

To examine whether a healthy weight intervention embedded in the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting program, which was previously found to improve mothers’ body mass index (BMI) and obesity-related behaviors, changed the BMI of preschool children or maternal feeding practices.

Development and validation of the EUROFORGEN NAME (North African and Middle Eastern) ancestry panel

Inference of biogeographic origin is an important factor in clinical, population and forensic genetics. The information provided by AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) can allow the differentiation of major continental population groups, and several AIM panels have been developed for this purpose. However, from these major population groups, Eurasia covers a wide area between two continents that is difficult to differentiate genetically. These populations display a gradual genetic cline from West Europe to South Asia in terms of allele frequency distribution. Although differences have been reported between Europe and South Asia, Middle East populations continue to be a target of further investigations due to the lack of genetic variability, therefore hampering their genetic differentiation from neighboring populations. In the present study, a custom-built ancestry panel was developed to analyze North African and Middle Eastern populations, designated the ‘NAME’ panel. The NAME panel contains 111 SNPs that have patterns of allele frequency differentiation that can distinguish individuals originating in North Africa and the Middle East when combined with a previous set of 126 Global AIM-SNPs.     

Understanding emotion and emotional scarring in recurrent depression

BackgroundA single-item assessment of sad mood after remission from MDD is predictive of relapse, yet the mechanisms that play a role in depressive relapse remain poorly understood.MethodsIn 283 patients, remitted from recurrent depression (DSM-IV-TR criteria; HAM-D₁₇ score ≤10), we examined emotional scarring, that is, whether the number of previous depressive episodes was associated with higher levels of sad mood as assessed with a 1-item Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS). We then fitted a cross-sectional multivariate regression model to predict sad mood levels, including the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale Version-A, cognitive reactivity (Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity), Ruminative Response Scale, and Everyday Problem Checklist.ResultsPatients with greater numbers of prior episodes experienced higher levels of sad mood after remission. In multivariate regression, intensity of daily stress and dysfunctional beliefs were associated with the VAMS (Adj. R² = .091) although not over and above depressive symptomatology (Adj. R² = .114). Cognitive reactivity was not associated with sadness.ConclusionsOur finding that patients with more previous MDEs reported higher levels of sad mood while remitted could be indicative of emotional scarring. Dysfunctional beliefs and intensity of daily stress were associated with sad mood but not over and above residual symptoms. Thus, illness related characteristics especially are associated with sad mood after remission. More negative affect after remission could result in lower stress tolerance or more stress intensity could result in negative affect. Future studies should examine premorbid sadness in a longitudinal cohort, and should study the exact pathway from stress, affect, and cognition to relapse.     

Long‐Term Follow‐Up of Pediatric Trachyonychia

Pediatric trachyonychia is an acquired nail disease that can cause distress to families. It is a poorly understood disease, and long‐term follow‐up data are lacking. We present an institutional review of 11 children with isolated pediatric trachyonychia followed over time. Children with the diagnosis of pediatric trachyonychia were identified and invited to participate. Pictures were taken on follow‐up and a questionnaire was answered. Exclusion criteria include having another diagnosis at the initial visit that causes nail dystrophy. Eleven patients with the diagnosis of pediatric trachyonychia were available for follow‐up. The mean age of appearance was 2.7 years (range 2–7 yrs) and the average follow‐up was 66 months (range 10–126 mos). Nine patients were treated with potent topical corticosteroids, one used only petrolatum, and one took vitamin supplements. One patient was found to have an additional skin and hair diagnosis of alopecia areata on follow‐up. On follow‐up, 82% noted improvement of the nails, whereas 18% noted no change. A majority of cases of pediatric trachyonychia are isolated and improve with time, regardless of treatment.