Remembering Mum and Dad: Family History Making by Children of Eastern European Refugees

In 1992, Judaica Librarianship featured an article by Zachary Baker, entitled “What We Owe the Genealogists: Genealogy and the Judaica Reference Librarian.” He followed it up in 2003 with an article in Slavic & East European Information Resources entitled “Resources on the Genealogy of Eastern European Jews.” The present article provides an update on the resources available to Jewish genealogists today, with particular emphasis on print and online resources that are recommended for the smaller Judaica library. It lists some of the sources in Baker’s article that have been updated and some that have gone online. It describes JewishGen, Routes to Roots, the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute, the Family History Library, the International Tracing Service, and PERSI, the comprehensive index to genealogical serials. It emphasizes the importance of local genealogi- cal societies and their newsletters.

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Prevalence and Risk Factors of Amblyopia among Refractive Errors in an Eastern European Population

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina54010006 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Valeria Mocanu ◽

Raluca Horhat

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Family History ◽

Maternal Smoking ◽

Smoking History ◽

Maternal Body Mass Index ◽

Refractive Errors ◽

Eastern European ◽

Maternal Risk ◽

Toxic Environment ◽

History Of

Background and objective: Amblyopia is the leading cause of visual impairment in children and adults and is very common during childhood. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and the risk factors of amblyopia in a pediatric population with refractive errors from an Eastern European country. Materials and methods: A total of 1231 children aged 5–16 years, who had refractive errors and were examined from January to August 2017, were enrolled in a cross-sectional population-based study. Every child underwent a complete ophthalmological exam. Amblyopia was defined as a visual acuity (VA) of less than 0.63. The study respected the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS) criteria for defining amblyopia (MEPEDS, 2008). Parents participated in a face-to-face interview. The questionnaire contained details about their family history of amblyopia; the child’s maternal nutritional status in the preconception period; their history of maternal smoking or work in a toxic environment; the child’s birth, and the child’s history of congenital naso-lacrimal duct obstruction (CNLDO). Results: Amblyopia was identified in 2.8% of the participants. The ocular conditions hyperopia (p = 0.0079), astigmatism (p = 0.046), anisometropia (p < 0.001), esotropia (p < 0.001), exotropia (p = 0.0195), and CNLDO (p < 0.001), as well as a family history of amblyopia (p < 0.001), were associated with amblyopia. The non-ocular risk factors for amblyopia that were found in the study included low birth weight (p < 0.0009), prematurity (p < 0.001), an Apgar score under 7 (p = 0.0008), maternal age, maternal smoking history or work in toxic environment (p < 0.001), and maternal body mass index in the preconception period (p < 0.003). Conclusions: Some of the risk factors we identified for amblyopia are modifiable factors. This is an important observation as an adequate health education program can provide the relevant information for future mothers that will allow for a better management of the condition. We also wanted to highlight the need for amblyopia screening starting from the age of 3 years in case of significant parental refractive errors, strabismus, prematurity, and maternal risk factors.

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Pragmatic Language Performance of Children Adopted Internationally

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2018_ajslp-18-0075 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 501-514

Author(s):

Deborah A. Hwa-Froelich ◽

Hisako Matsuo

Keyword(s):

Social Communication ◽

False Belief ◽

Pragmatic Language ◽

Eastern European ◽

Language Performance ◽

Emotion Identification ◽

False Belief Understanding ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Pragmatic Communication ◽

Eastern European Countries

Purpose Pragmatic language is important for social communication across all settings. Children adopted internationally (CAI) may be at risk of poorer pragmatic language because of adverse early care, delayed adopted language development, and less ability to inhibit. The purpose of this study was to compare pragmatic language performance of CAI from Asian and Eastern European countries with a nonadopted group of children who were of the same age and from similar socioeconomic backgrounds as well as explore the relationship among emotion identification, false belief understanding, and inhibition variables with pragmatic language performance. Method Using a quasi-experimental design, 35 four-year-old CAI (20 Asian, 15 Eastern European) and 33 children who were not adopted were included in this study. The children's pragmatic language, general language, and social communication (emotion identification of facial expressions, false belief understanding, inhibition) were measured. Comparisons by region of origin and adoption experience were completed. We conducted split-half correlation analyses and entered significant correlation variables into simple and backward regression models. Results Pragmatic language performance differed by adoption experience. The adopted and nonadopted groups demonstrated different correlation patterns. Language performance explained most of the pragmatic language variance. Discussion Because CAI perform less well than their nonadopted peers on pragmatic communication measures and different variables are related to their pragmatic performance, speech-language pathologists may need to adapt assessment and intervention practices for this population.

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Language Onset and Concomitant Speech and Language Problems in Subgroups of Stutterers and Their Siblings

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.2504.482 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 482-486 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Robin A. Seider ◽

Keith L. Gladstien ◽

Kenneth K. Kidd

Keyword(s):

Family History ◽

Same Sex ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Negative Family History ◽

Late Talkers ◽

Language Problems ◽

History Of ◽

Language Onset

Time of language onset and frequencies of speech and language problems were examined in stutterers and their nonstuttering siblings. These families were grouped according to six characteristics of the index stutterer: sex, recovery or persistence of stuttering, and positive or negative family history of stuttering. Stutterers and their nonstuttering same-sex siblings were found to be distributed identically in early, average, and late categories of language onset. Comparisons of six subgroups of stutterers and their respective nonstuttering siblings showed no significant differences in the number of their reported articulation problems. Stutterers who were reported to be late talkers did not differ from their nonstuttering siblings in the frequency of their articulation problems, but these two groups had significantly higher frequencies of articulation problems than did stutterers who were early or average talkers and their siblings.

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