A Retrospective Study of Parent’s First-Hand Experience of Premonitions and Other Anomalous Aspects of the SIDS Phenomenon: A potential “SIDS early warning system?”

Introduction The main purpose of this study is to determine the incidence of premonition in SIDS parents vs. Non-SIDS/Control Group parents and to test for a number of other anomalous "markers" noted anecdotally by decades of in the field observation. Evidence of premonition and these other "markers" as consistent elements of the SIDS phenomenon could serve as an "early warning system" for a future SIDS event if confirmed by larger studies. Methodology Both groups of SIDS parents and Control parent participants completed electronic questionnaires on the SurveyMonkey platform for statistical analysis. Results The results of this pilot study indicated statistically significant differences between the SIDS parent and Non-SIDS control study groups for premonition and a set of other anomalous markers. Conclusion The authors believe that this pilot study of premonition and other markers may provide an "early-warning" system for an impending SIDS event if confirmed with future larger studies. Importance: This pilot study confirms results of the value of premonition as well as other anomalous observations by parents whose infants may be at risk for a SIDS event. This study deserves to be confirmed by larger studies and, if so, confirmed indicates a reliable "early warning system" for an impending SIDS event. We face the problem if this SIDS event represents the small percentage of infants who will die of SIDS, even if a diagnostic evaluation and management, including hospital admission and monitoring, may not prevent death from SIDS. However, if this premonition is predictive of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID) secondary to a potentially preventable etiology, this infant death may be preventable.

Disordered eating in college women: Associations with the mother-daughter relationship

Purpose Extensive work in the field has found multiple risk factors of disordered eating among women; however, there is limited research surrounding the mother-daughter relationship. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore how the mother-daughter relationship may be either protective or detrimental to the development of disordered eating in college-aged women. Methods A diverse sample of college-aged women (N = 528; mean age 20.15 ± 1.3SD years; 38.6% White) completed an online survey with reliable and valid instruments that assessed disordered eating behaviors (dependent variable) with the following independent variables: aspects of the mother-daughter relationship (maternal regard and responsibility), emphasis on maternal weight and weight control, parent weight talk, eating disorder history, and body mass index. To determine predictors of disordered eating behaviors, four separate multiple linear regression models were conducted. Results The multiple linear regression model predicting disordered eating behaviors revealed that the overall the model accounted for 36.3%% of the variance (F(7,520) = 43.93, p < 0.001). Maternal responsibility, appearance weight control, parent weight talk, and emphasis on maternal weight were the only independent variables significantly (p < 0.05) associated with disordered eating behaviors in the model. That is, conversations surrounding weight and appearance, negative weight talk from mothers, and increased feelings of responsibility for mother’s happiness was associated with increased disordered eating behaviors. Conclusions Findings illustrate the important role mothers have in shaping their daughters eating attitudes and behaviors. Future disordered eating prevention programs and interventions may want to consider developing strategies in helping to improve mother-daughter relationships.

AFLP-Based Analysis of Variation and Population Structure in Mutagenesis Induced Faba Bean

Genetic diversity enrichment is urgently necessary to develop climate-resilient faba bean cultivars. The present study aimed to measure the enrichment of genetic diversity and changes in the population structure of faba bean, following induced mutagenesis. 120 samples, including 116 M2 mutant plants, generated by exposing the ILB4347 accession to four mutagen treatments (25 and 50 Gray gamma radiation and 0.01%, and 0.05% diethyl sulfate) and four reference genotypes were characterized using 11 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer combinations. The AFLP markers generated 1687 polymorphic alleles, including 756 alleles (45%) that were detected infrequently (f ≤ 0.1). The total allele count of the mutant plants ranged from 117 to 545. We observed a wide range of banding patterns and counts among the mutant plants, showing the high genetic diversity induced by mutation. Mutations also changed the population structure, by altering 31.78% of the total membership coefficient (Q). Although mutations changed the population structure, Nei’s genetic distance showed that the mutant population remained closely related to its control parent. This is the first report examining genetic diversity and population changes in faba bean mutant populations and, thus, could facilitate the application of induced mutagenesis during faba bean breeding.

Parental schizophrenia and increased offspring suicide risk: exploring the causal hypothesis using cousin comparisons

BackgroundLittle is known about suicide risk among offspring of parents hospitalized for schizophrenia and the mechanisms behind this association.MethodWe applied a nested case–control design based on linkage of Swedish population-based registers. Among 12- to 30-year-old offspring, we identified 68 318 offspring with suicidal behavior (attempted and completed suicide) and their parents. Five healthy control–parent pairs were matched to each suicidal case–parent pair and conditional logistic regression used to obtain odds ratios (ORs). Further, to disentangle familial confounding from causal environmental mechanisms, we compared the population-based suicide risk with the risk found within full-cousins and half-cousins differentially exposed to parental schizophrenia.ResultsOffspring of parents with schizophrenia had significantly increased suicide risk after accounting for socio-economic status, parental suicidal behavior and offspring mental illness [OR 1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53–1.85]. Suicide risks in offspring of schizophrenic mothers and fathers were similar in magnitude; so were risks across different developmental periods. Importantly, offspring suicide risk remained essentially unchanged across genetically different relationships; offspring of siblings discordant for schizophrenia had equivalent risk increases within full-cousins (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.66–2.31) and half-cousins (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.17–2.44).ConclusionsParental schizophrenia was associated with increased risk of offspring suicidal behavior, independent of gender of the schizophrenic parent, and persisting into adulthood. The suicide risk in offspring remained at a similar level when comparing genetically different relationships, which suggests that at least part of the association is due to environmental mechanisms. These findings should inspire increased attention to suicidal ideation and prevention efforts in offspring of parents with schizophrenia.

The Attitude of parents toward behavior management techniques in pediatric dentistry

Purpose: investigate the parental attitude toward behavior management techniques used in pediatric dentistry Methods and materials: Parents watched a videotape that showed these techniques and then filled a questionnaire. Results: Tell-Show-Do, Positive Reinforcement, and Distraction were highly approved. Voice Control, Parent Separation, and Nonverbal Communication were moderately approved. The Hand-Over-Mouth, Nitrous Oxide Sedation, Conscious Sedation, and General Anesthesia were least approved. Conclusion: The general parental attitudes were positive regarding the behavioral management techniques.