Parent support programmes and policies in the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

The authors, through a consultancy with the Caribbean Child Development Centre, the University of the West Indies Open Campus, sought to identify comprehensive parent support programmes and policies in the healthcare sector in non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. As mapping researchers, the authors were contracted to map policies and programmes in the healthcare sector whose aims were to support both family wellbeing and children’s healthy development. A review of the existing literature about parenting practices and parenting support programming in the Caribbean was conducted. A catalogue of existing programmes and policies in non-Spanish speaking Caribbean countries was compiled using relevant documents and interviews from primary sources involved in the programmes and the development and implementation of policies. This article outlines the trends identified during the interviews and mapping exercise.     

The Comprehensive Female Soldier Support Model

Women represent a small minority in the U.S. military and an even smaller minority in the military chaplaincy. Prior to this study, the U.S. Army chaplaincy did not have a gender-specific model for providing support to women soldiers. In this Delphi research project, wounded women soldiers and female military chaplains provided expert opinions to develop the comprehensive female soldier support model (CFS2). Ten military women and 11 female chaplains who had been deployed overseas contributed to the body of knowledge related to the understanding of the emotional and spiritual support needs of wounded female soldiers. Five key findings appeared in the study: (a) many women did not get the chaplain support they needed; (b) the gender of the chaplain was not significant; (c) the attitude of the chaplain was critical; (d) chaplain skills not found in literature were identified; and (e) the comprehensive female soldier support model was developed.     

A preliminary feasibility study of a short DVD-based distance-learning package for basic life support

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that laypeople who learn CPR using an 8-min self-instructional DVD acquire a level of skill that is comparable to that achieved with conventional courses. METHODS: Forty volunteers used a short DVD with replay facility, and a simple inflatable training manikin, for self-instruction in basic life support. A further 40 volunteers (control group) attended a conventional 1-h instructor-led course. Skill acquisition was measured for each group. RESULTS: After training, the self-instructional group achieved remarkably similar results compared with the control group for all measured skill variables except compression depth, which was significantly greater for the control group. CONCLUSION: Very short, DVD-based, self-instructional packages may be suitable for more widespread use, including distance-learning and other circumstances in which educational opportunities and resources are limited.     

Physicomechanical evaluation of low-shrinkage dental nanocomposites based on silsesquioxane cores

This study aimed to determine the modulus, hardness, and polymerization shrinkage of novel silsesquioxane (SSQ)-based nanocomposites synthesized for dental applications. Four novel SSQ materials were developed and mixed with control monomers in 5, 10, 20, and 50 wt% SSQ nanocomposite ratios and were evaluated for use as potential low-shrinkage composite restoratives. The postgel polymerization shrinkage of the hybrid materials was then investigated and compared with unfilled 1:1 (control) bisphenol A glycerolate (1 glycerol/phenol) dimethacrylate/tri(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA/TEGDMA) materials using a strain-monitoring device and test configuration. Mechanical properties, such as hardness and modulus, were determined using the depth-sensing microindentation approach. All samples investigated were polymerized using a dental light-curing unit (BISCO VIP) at 500 mW cm(-2) for 40 s. The results obtained were analyzed using analysis of variance/Scheffe's posthoc test at a significance level of 0.05. At 60 min postlight polymerization, postgel shrinkage associated with the control was found to be significantly higher than for all control/SSQ mixtures. Hardness and modulus were found to decrease with increased amount of SSQ monomers added, indicating that the incorporation of SSQ monomers into the control generally helps to reduce both the rigidity and the polymerization shrinkage. Therefore, in the correct formulation, SSQ materials have great potential to be used as low-shrinkage composite restoratives.     

The protective role of tangible support on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in urban women survivors of violence

We examined social support as a protective factor in the relationship between lifetime exposure to traumatic events and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology among urban women. Seventy-six women who sought care in a trauma center for injuries from physical or sexual violence completed an interview. When tangible support, rather than total social support, and the interaction of tangible support and lifetime trauma were tested, tangible support moderated the relationship between lifetime trauma and PTSD. Given the complex etiology of lifetime trauma, risk for future trauma and the health needs of women who have experienced trauma, a broader range of intervention strategies that include attention to tangible support need to be developed and evaluated.     

Recent developments with tau-based drug discovery

Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which accounts for three fourth of all cases of dementia, is a major public health problem in modern society and, yet, there is no effective treatment available that can prevent or inhibit this chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. A major current drug target is intraneuronal abnormally hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau which is a histopathological hallmark of this disease and of a family of neurodegenerative diseases called tauopathies.

Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss a growing number of studies that describe the nature and mechanism of tau pathology and various drug discovery options and most recent developments in tau-based therapeutics. PubMed was used to obtain relevant literature while clinicaltrials.gov site and Google search were employed to obtain the latest information on tau based AD clinical trials.

Expert opinion: In authors’ opinion, loss of neuronal connectivity leads to the hyperphosphorylation of tau and is thus a key therapeutic target. Rescue of neuronal connectivity loss and hyperphosphorylation of tau are most promising approaches. Consequently, tau immunotherapy has a high therapeutic potential.     

A retrospective case–control study of gastrostomy use in children undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation

Background

Maintaining a good nutritional status during the hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) procedure is challenging in the pediatric population.

Methods

In a multicentric retrospective study, we compared the outcome of nutritional status and HCT-related parameters in 227 pediatric patients during and after HCT between 2005 and 2015. 112 patients received a gastrostomy before the start of HCT (GS group), and 115 did not receive a gastrostomy (NGS). Data collection was performed at HCT, 3, 6, and 12 months post-HCT.

Results

At time point of HCT the Standard Deviation Score (SDS) of weight was 0.17 in the NGS group, and 0.71 in the GS group (p = .01) Patients in the NGS group lost more weight during the first 3 months after HCT than patients in the GS group. At 12 months, patients in the NGS remained at a lower weight, while patients in the GS group slightly increased their weight. There were no differences between the groups in the incidence of acute graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD), overall survival, and non-relapse mortality. However, the number of febrile episodes requiring intravenous treatment with antibiotics, was higher in the GS group as compared to the NGS group, during the first 3 months post-HCT (p < .001).

Conclusions

Our results indicate that gastrostomy can be utilized in children undergoing HCT without any negative effects on mortality. Therefore, the use of a gastrostomy appears to be a safe option to maintain a good nutritional status during the HCT procedure.