Stealing the Smile from My Child's Face: A Preliminary Evaluation of the “Being a Dad” Programme in a Northern Ireland Prison

Children who have a parent in prison are a vulnerable group. Research suggests that such children experience a range of poor outcomes in relation to well-being, education and relationships. These outcomes are mediated by a range of factors including contact with the incarcerated parent. Similarly, prisoners who maintain contact with their families are less likely to reoffend. Evidence to support the importance of the prison system recognising and helping to maintain parenting roles for parents in prison is beginning to emerge, and this investigation sought to investigate fathers' views of an innovative parenting intervention implemented in Her Majesty's Prison Maghaberry centred around the Being a Dad programme. Eighteen fathers completed the programme. Data collected after participation indicated that fathers reported a range of positive outcomes including improved understanding of child behaviour and development and improved communication quality. Implications for further parenting support within the prison population are discussed.     

An OxPLORE Initiative Evaluating Children’s Surgery Resources Worldwide: A Cross-sectional Implementation of the OReCS Document

World Journal of Surgery - The Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS) group produced the Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgery (OReCS) document in 2019, listing standards of...     

Tricyclic antidepressant overdose in a toddler treated with intravenous lipid emulsion

We report a case that involves the use of intravenous lipid emulsion as an antidote for a drug overdose involving a 20-month-old girl who had ingested a potentially lethal amount of the tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) dothiepin. The patient's condition continued to deteriorate despite implementation of standard pediatric treatment recommendations for TCA toxicity. Administration of intravenous lipid emulsion in addition to standard therapy (including sodium bicarbonate) and direct-current cardioversion for ventricular arrhythmia led to a successful outcome. The case report is followed by a review of the current evidence underlying this novel therapy and the background on its use. TCA toxicity is addressed specifically.     

STIM protein coupling in the activation of Orai channels

STIM proteins are sensors of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) luminal Ca²⁺ changes and rapidly translocate into near plasma membrane (PM) junctions to activate Ca²⁺ entry through the Orai family of highly Ca²⁺-selective “store-operated” channels (SOCs). Dissecting the STIM–Orai coupling process is restricted by the abstruse nature of the ER–PM junctional domain. To overcome this problem, we studied coupling by using STIM chimera and cytoplasmic C-terminal domains of STIM1 and STIM2 (S1ct and S2ct) and identifying a fundamental action of the powerful SOC modifier, 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), the mechanism of which has eluded recent scrutiny. We reveal that 2-APB induces profound, rapid, and direct interactions between S1ct or S2ct and Orai1, effecting full Ca²⁺ release-activated Ca²⁺ (CRAC) current activation. The short 235-505 S1ct coiled-coil region was sufficient for functional Orai1 coupling. YFP-tagged S1ct or S2ct fragments cleared from the cytosol seconds after 2-APB addition, binding avidly to Orai1-CFP with a rapid increase in FRET and transiently increasing CRAC current 200-fold above basal levels. Functional S1ct–Orai1 coupling occurred in STIM1/STIM2^−/− DT40 chicken B cells, indicating ct fragments operate independently of native STIM proteins. The 2-APB-induced S1ct–Orai1 and S2-ct–Orai1 complexes undergo rapid reorganization into discrete colocalized PM clusters, which remain stable for >100 s, well beyond CRAC activation and subsequent deactivation. In addition to defining 2-APB''s action, the locked STIMct–Orai complex provides a potentially useful probe to structurally examine coupling.     

Analysis of Wessex Head Injury Matrix (WHIM) scores in consecutive vegetative and minimally conscious state patients

Consensus guidelines defining minimally conscious state (MCS) have been available for some years. However, to date, few measures have been developed that are particularly suited to monitoring MCS patients and there are limited clinical outcome data. The objective of the study was to determine the value of serial repeated assessments using the Wessex Head Injury Matrix (WHIM) to identify changes in vegetative state (VS) and MCS patients. Twenty consecutive VS/MCS patients admitted to a post-acute regional neurorehabilitation unit were assessed using WHIM. Significant differences in both total number of behaviours observed (p < .001) and highest rank behaviour were observed (p = .001) between initial and final WHIM assessments. Preliminary findings suggest that the WHIM is a sensitive measure of subtle changes in VS and MCS patients.