Caregivers’ perception of factors associated with a healthy diet among people with intellectual disability living in community residences: A Concept mapping method

Publication date: December 2016
Source:Research in Developmental Disabilities, Volume 59
Author(s): Marte Pilskog Ruud, Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Mona Bjelland
BackgroundMany people with intellectual disabilities (ID) living in community-based residences have been found to have unhealthy diet and weight disturbances. In Norway, a majority of people with ID live in such residences.AimsThe aim of the study was to examine factors affecting the caregivers' opportunity to promote a healthy diet among the residents.Methods and proceduresA concept mapping methodology was adopted, including group-based brainstorming, idea synthesising, sorting, rating and analysis of the results. Informants were caregivers in four different community residences for people with mild to moderate ID in the southeast of Norway. A total of 13 informants were recruited (12 females and 1 male), and 10 informants completed two sessions.ResultsEight clusters were identified as affecting the caregivers' ability to promote a healthy diet: "Availability and accessibility", "Guidance and autonomy", "Competence among staff", "Planning and involvement", "Customization", "External conditions affecting staff", "Legislation, rules and structure" and "Everyday challenges", each including both barriers and facilitators.Conclusions and implicationsMultiple factors affect the caregivers' ability to promote a healthy diet. Caregivers' opportunity to promote a healthy diet is complex. Availability and accessibility of healthy food is crucial, but a healthy diet also requires time and competence among the caregivers.

Graphical abstract

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Psychometric properties of the Arabic self-report version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire

Publication date: December 2016
Source:Research in Developmental Disabilities, Volume 59
Author(s): Mahmoud Mohamed Emam, Maher M. Abu Hilal, Ali Mahdi Kazem, Suad Juma Alkharousi
Students in middle school tend to display emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBDs) compared to other forms of psychopathology. Early identification of EBDs is therefore a priority in order to prevent the chronic co-morbidity with other forms of psychopathology which may affect students' academic achievement. Assessment of EBDs has been traditionally undertaken via proxy reporting; but psychometrically rigorous instruments are needed so that children and adolescents can report on their own emotions and behaviours. Such need increases in the Omani context given the lack of EBDs adequate assessment instruments. In the current study the factor structure of the Arabic self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (A-SDQ) was examined in a sample of 815 middle school students (mean age=14 years). The study tested the SDQ original five-factor model which received considerable empirical support. Responses on the A-SDQ were compared to responses obtained via proxy reports from teachers and parents through confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs). Results showed a reasonable fit for the three informant forms. Nevertheless, there were differences in item loadings across the three informant forms. Additionally, participants' self-report responses were tested for invariance across gender. CFAs provided support to the invariance hypothesis for item loadings, indicating that the items were similarly valid indices of the five factors for males and females. Factor correlations, factor variances and item residuals were not invariant across gender.What this paper addsThis paper, to our knowledge, is the first research paper that provides empirical evidence on the Arabic self report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (A-SDQ) within a school-based sample. Though the focus was on the self-report version we collected data from the proxy versions for parents and teachers to provide additional evidence on the construct validity of the (A-SDQ) through cross informant data.



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Age- and Gender-Specific Risk of Thyroid Cancer in Patients with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism, Early Release.


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Age-dependent increases in adrenal cytochrome b5 and serum 5-androstenediol-3-sulfate

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism, Early Release.


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Exploring Inpatient Hospitalizations and Morbidity in Patients with Adrenal Insufficiency

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism, Early Release.


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Most cleaved anti-Müllerian hormone binds its receptor in human follicular fluid but little is competent in serum

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism, Early Release.


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Diagnostic roles of MUC1 and GLUT1 in differentiating thymic carcinoma from type B3 thymoma

Publication date: Available online 13 September 2016
Source:Pathology - Research and Practice
Author(s): Jun Du, Qin Shen, Honglin Yin, Qiu Rao, Xiaojun Zhou
MUC1 is a transmembrane mucin that has been related to tumor progression and outcome in various malignancies. GLUT1 is a member of the mammalian facilitative glucose transporter (GLUT) family of passive carriers that functions as an energy-independent system for transporting glucose. Both of them are useful markers for the diagnosis, progression, and prognosis of various tumors, especially those that are cancerous. However, the clinical significance of MUC1 and GLUT1 in thymic epithelial tumors remains uncertain due to a lack of quality specimen and studies at sufficient scale, both owing, in part, to the rarity of the tumors. The aim of this article is to study the expression patterns of MUC1 and GLUT1 in thymic carcinoma and type B3 thymoma, and to evaluate their diagnostic value for these two types of tumors via immunohistochemistry. Forty-three patients were included in the study, including twenty-two with thymic carcinoma and twenty-one with type B3 thymoma. Tumor issue sections were immunohistochemically stained for MUC1 and GLUT1; meanwhile, some tumors were also stained with CKpan, TDT, CD5, and CD117. MUC1 was expressed in a total of 17 cases, with a positive rate of 77.27% (17/22) in thymic carcinoma and 9.52% (2/21) in type B3 thymoma, revealing a significant difference (p<0.0001). A significant difference (p<0.0001) was also shown for GLUT1, where the positive rates for thymic carcinoma and type B3 thymoma were 100% (22/22) and 42.86% (9/21), respectively. The expression of MUC1 was significantly correlated with GLUT1 (p<0.0001). Furthermore, GLUT1 staining sensitivity and specificity for thymic carcinoma were 100% (22/22) and 70.97% (22/31), respectively, while MUC1 staining sensitivity and specificity were 77.27% (17/22) and 89.47% (17/19), respectively.In conclusion, our study shows that MUC1 and GLUT1 staining may play a useful role in differentiating thymic carcinoma from type B3 thymoma, with high sensitivity and specificity.



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Salivary gland-like breast carcinomas: an infrequent disease

Publication date: Available online 13 September 2016
Source:Pathology - Research and Practice
Author(s): Santiago Sherwell-Cabello, Antonio Maffuz-Aziz, Nina Paola Ríos-Luna, Verónica Bautista-Piña, Sergio Rodríguez-Cuevas
ObjectiveTo show the incidence, as well as the clinical and histopathological characteristics, of patients diagnosed with mammary salivary gland-like carcinomas at our institution.Materials and MethodsA retrospective study was conducted in all women diagnosed with breast cancer at our institution from January 2005 to February 2016. Patients with diagnosis of salivary gland-like breast carcinomas were included.ResultsIn this period, 6,384 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer at our institution; salivary gland-like carcinomas were found in 7 patients (0.1%), adenoid cystic carcinoma was diagnosed in 5 patients (0.07%), acinic cell carcinoma in 1 patient (0.015%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma in 1 patient (0.015%). The triple-negative subtype was found in all of the tumors. Median follow-up was 66.3 months (range, 1–108 months). No patient developed local or distant recurrence.ConclusionsSalivary gland-like breast tumors are extremely rare. We found a global incidence of 0.1%. Adenoid cystic, acinic cell and mucoepidermoid carcinomas were the three histologic types diagnosed. Although the triple-negative subtype is mainly found, good prognosis is expected.

Graphical abstract

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Selective Staining of Gastric Biopsies for H. Pylori Does Not Affect Detection Rates or Turnaround Time and Improves Cost Compared to Reflexive Staining

Publication date: Available online 13 September 2016
Source:Pathology - Research and Practice
Author(s): Lauren Decker, Joshua Keith Routh, Jessica Sara Snider, Joshua Anspach Hanson
AimsTo evaluate how reflexive versus selective H. pylori stains affect detection rates, turnaround time (TAT), and cost savings in a real life practice environment following an institutional policy change.MethodsThe aforementioned parameters were evaluated in all cases in the year preceding and the year following an institutional policy change from reflexive to selective staining.Results1,497 patients comprised the reflexive stain (RS) group of which 228 (15.2%) were H. pylori positive. 1,629 patients comprised the selective stain (SS) group of which 237 (14.5%) were H. pylori positive. There was no significant difference in H. pylori detection rates between the RS and SS groups (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.78-1.15, p=0.59). TATs were similarly equivalent with a mean of 52.4hours for the RS cohort and 53.7hours for the SS cohort (p=0.344), both of which included a resident preview day. We calculated an average laboratory cost savings of $11.68 per case, which saved our department over $15,000 (37%) in the year following the policy change.ConclusionsOur results support a policy of selective staining for H. pylori as opposed to reflexive staining and go on to show that laboratories that change their policy can expect to generate cost savings without compromising detection rates or TAT.



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NCI embraces scientific road map to achieve Cancer Moonshot goals

National Cancer Institute Acting Director Douglas Lowy, M.D., today accepted, with revisions that reflect NCAB's discussion, the recommendations of a Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) on 10 approaches most likely to make a decade's worth of progress against cancer in five years, a key goal of the White House Cancer Moonshot.

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Oxygen can impair cancer immunotherapy in mice

Researchers have identified a mechanism in mice by which anticancer immune responses are inhibited within the lungs, a common site of metastasis for many cancers.

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Uncovering a new principle in chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer

A laboratory study has revealed an entirely unexpected process for acquiring drug resistance that bypasses the need to re-establish DNA damage repair in breast cancers that have mutant BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

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International collaboration to create new cancer models to accelerate research

An international project to develop a large, globally accessible bank of new cancer cell culture models for the research community launched today.

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NCI launches largest-ever study of breast cancer genetics in black women

The Breast Cancer Genetic Study in African-Ancestry Populations initiative is a collaborative research project that will identify genetic factors that may underlie breast cancer disparities. It is the largest study ever to investigate how genetic and biological factors contribute to breast cancer risk among black women.

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Significant expansion of data available in the Genomic Data Commons

The recently launched Genomic Data Commons will get a dramatic increase in the power and utility of its resources with the signing today of a data sharing agreement between the NCI and Foundation Medicine, Inc. (FMI), a molecular information company.

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Newly launched Genomic Data Commons to facilitate data and clinical information sharing

The Genomic Data Commons (GDC), a unified data system that promotes sharing of genomic and clinical data between researchers, launched today with a visit from Vice President Joe Biden to the operations center at the University of Chicago.

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NIH study visualizes proteins involved in cancer cell metabolism

Scientists using cryo-electron microscopy have broken through a technological barrier in visualizing proteins with an approach that may have an impact on drug discovery and development, capturing images of an enzyme found in cells at a resolution of 1.8 angstroms.

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Increased Physical Activity Associated with Lower Risk of 13 Types of Cancer

A new study of the relationship between physical activity and cancer has shown that greater levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with a lower risk of developing 13 different types of cancer; the risk of developing seven cancer types was 20 percent lower among the most active participants as compared with the least active participants.

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Analysis of rare endocrine cancer reveals novel genetic alterations

A molecular characterization of adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal cortex, analyzed 91 cases for alterations in the tumor genomes and identified several novel genetic mutations as likely mechanisms driving the disease as well as whole genome doubling as a probable driver of the disease.

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Clustered structural and functional plasticity of dendritic spines

Publication date: Available online 13 September 2016
Source:Brain Research Bulletin
Author(s): Ju Lu, Yi Zuo
The configuration of synaptic circuits underlies their ability to process and store information. Research on dendritic spines has revealed that their structural and functional alterations are clustered along the parent dendrite. Here we review the evidence supporting such notion of clustered synaptic plasticity, discuss its functional implications and possible contributing factors, and suggest potential strategies to deal with open challenges.



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