Piloting an Educational Response to Violence in Uganda: Prospects for a New Curriculum

This pilot study assessed Mato-Oput5 (hereafter the curriculum), a new peace education curriculum, for indications of beneficial efficacy, specifically the capacity to reduce negative attitudes towards conflict and violence, and injury and violence rates. A cluster randomisedcontrol design was used. Three of the six purposively selected schools were exposed to the curriculum. Mato-Oput5 is a value-based, formalised curriculum taught by specifically trainedteachers. Its learning areas include conflict, conscience, violence, non-violence, impulse control, anger management, kindness, forgiveness, empathy and reconciliation. The results showed the baseline and post-intervention bio-demographic characteristics of the treatment arms to be comparable, thus suggesting baseline group equivalence and randomisation success. The follow-up loss was 9%. The mean pre- and post-intervention intentional incidentrates of the intervention and control groups were 270/1000 and 370/1000, and 190/1000 and 350/1000, respectively: these differences were not significant. The intervention had no effect onpost-intervention intentional incident rates. There were indications of beneficial efficacy in the curriculum, especially its ability to cause attitude shifts in support of non-violence. Statisticallysignificant behavioural effects were not detected although a downward rate trend was seen in the intervention group

Piloting an Educational Response to Violence in Uganda: Prospects for a New Curriculum

This pilot study assessed Mato-Oput5 (hereafter the curriculum), a new peace education curriculum, for indications of beneficial efficacy, specifically the capacity to reduce negative attitudes towards conflict and violence, and injury and violence rates. A cluster randomised control design was used. Three of the six purposively selected schools were exposed to the curriculum. Mato-Oput5 is a value-based, formalised curriculum taught by specifically trained teachers. Its learning areas include conflict, conscience, violence, non-violence, impulse control, anger management, kindness, forgiveness, empathy and reconciliation. The results showed the baseline and post-intervention bio-demographic characteristics of the treatment arms to be comparable, thus suggesting baseline group equivalence and randomisation success. The follow-up loss was 9%. The mean pre- and post-intervention intentional incident rates of the intervention and control groups were 270/1000 and 370/1000, and 190/1000 and 350/1000, respectively: these differences were not significant. The intervention had no effect on post-intervention intentional incident rates. There were indications of beneficial efficacy in the curriculum, especially its ability to cause attitude shifts in support of non-violence. Statistically significant behavioural effects were not detected although a downward rate trend was seen in the intervention group

Genomic analysis of the function of the transcription factor gata3 during development of the Mammalian inner ear

We have studied the function of the zinc finger transcription factor gata3 in auditory system development by analysing temporal profiles of gene expression during differentiation of conditionally immortal cell lines derived to model specific auditory cell types and developmental stages. We tested and applied a novel probabilistic method called the gamma Model for Oligonucleotide Signals to analyse hybridization signals from Affymetrix oligonucleotide arrays. Expression levels estimated by this method correlated closely (p<0.0001) across a 10-fold range with those measured by quantitative RT-PCR for a sample of 61 different genes. In an unbiased list of 26 genes whose temporal profiles clustered most closely with that of gata3 in all cell lines, 10 were linked to Insulin-like Growth Factor signalling, including the serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB. Knock-down of gata3 in vitro was associated with a decrease in expression of genes linked to IGF-signalling, including IGF1, IGF2 and several IGF-binding proteins. It also led to a small decrease in protein levels of the serine-threonine kinase Akt2/PKB beta, a dramatic increase in Akt1/PKB alpha protein and relocation of Akt1/PKB alpha from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(kip1), a known target of PKB/Akt, simultaneously decreased. In heterozygous gata3 null mice the expression of gata3 correlated with high levels of activated Akt/PKB. This functional relationship could explain the diverse function of gata3 during development, the hearing loss associated with gata3 heterozygous null mice and the broader symptoms of human patients with Hearing-Deafness-Renal anomaly syndrome

Sex disparities in attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: a socio-ecological analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) has been suggested as one of the prominent predictor of IPVAW. In this study, we take a step back from individual-level variables and examine relationship between societal-level measures and sex differences in attitudes towards IPVAW.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used meta-analytic procedure to synthesize the results of most recent data sets available from Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa conducted between 2003 and 2007. Pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed for all countries. Test of heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis, and meta-regression were also carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Women were twice as likely to justify wife beating than men (pooled OR = 1.97; 95% CI 1.53- 2.53) with statistically significant heterogeneity. The magnitude in sex disparities in attitudes towards IPVAW increased with increasing percentage of men practicing polygamy in each country. Furthermore, magnitude in sex disparities in attitudes towards IPVAW decreased monotonically with increasing adult male and female literacy rate, gender development index, gross domestic product and human development index.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This meta-analysis has provided evidence that women were more likely to justify IPVAW than men in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results revealed that country's socio-economic factors may be associated with sex differential in attitudes towards IPVAW.</p

Coming from behind to win - A Qualitative research about psychological conditions of adolescents who have undergone open-heart surgery for single ventricle between the ages 0-5

Early recognition of congenital cardiac pathologies and their treatment by means of palliative or corrective surgery at birth or infancy has vital importance. Successful repair of congenital cardiac defects by surgical methods has gained importance especially during the last twenty years. As the scope of the surveillance increased so did the interest in the outcomes of these treatments when the patients had reached puberty and adulthood. The purpose of our research was to study the psychological framework of the adolescents who had experienced these surgeries by listening both the children and the parents talk about their feelings and experiences. Our data was accumulated through interviews with 17 adolescents and their families, using qualitative methods. The main theme at the end of the analysis was "to be strong and resistive". We reached the conclusion that this condition was not a pathological build up but an attitude of coping, as it did not cause loss of functionality. The defensive psychological mechanisms used by these adolescents consisted of repression, compensation and reaction formation. We believe that this information is important to understand the real meaning of the manners displayed when these adolescents and their families pursue their daily lives, communicate and make relationships with their environment and especially professionals in the health services

The histone demethylase LSD1 regulates inner ear progenitor differentiation through interactions with Pax2 and the NuRD repressor complex

The histone demethylase LSD1 plays a pivotal role in cellular differentiation, particularly in silencing lineage-specific genes. However, little is known about how LSD1 regulates neurosensory differentiation in the inner ear. Here we show that LSD1 interacts directly with the transcription factor Pax2 to form the NuRD co-repressor complex at the Pax2 target gene loci in a mouse otic neuronal progenitor cell line (VOT-N33). VOT-N33 cells expressing a Pax2-response element reporter were GFP-negative when untreated, but became GFP positive after forced differentiation or treatment with a potent LSD inhibitor. Pharmacological inhibition of LSD1 activity resulted in the enrichment of mono- and di-methylation of H3K4, upregulation of sensory neuronal genes and an increase in the number of sensory neurons in mouse inner ear organoids. Together, these results identify the LSD1/NuRD complex as a previously unrecognized modulator for Pax2-mediated neuronal differentiation in the inner ear

Parenting a child with phenylketonuria or galactosemia: implications for health-related quality of life

Parents of children with chronic disorders have an impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared to parents of healthy children. Remarkably, parents of children with a metabolic disorder reported an even lower HRQoL than parents of children with other chronic disorders. Possibly, the uncertainty about the course of the disease and the limited life expectancy in many metabolic disorders are important factors in the low parental HRQoL. Therefore, we performed a cross-sectional study in parents of children with phenylketonuria (PKU, OMIM #261600) and galactosemia (OMIM #230400), metabolic disorders not affecting life expectancy, in order to investigate their HRQoL compared to parents of healthy children and to parents of children with other metabolic disorders. A total of 185 parents of children with PKU and galactosemia aged 1-19 years completed two questionnaires. Parents of children with PKU or galactosemia reported a HRQoL comparable to parents of healthy children and a significantly better HRQoL than parents of children with other metabolic disorders. Important predictors for parental mental HRQoL were the psychosocial factors emotional support and loss of friendship. As parental mental functioning influences the health, development and adjustment of their children, it is important that treating physicians also pay attention to the wellbeing of the parents. The insight that emotional support and loss of friendship influence the HRQoL of the parents enables treating physicians to provide better support for these parents

The CHIP-Family study to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of young children with congenital heart disease and their families: design of a randomized controlled trial

Background: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk for behavioral, emotional, and cognitive problems. They often have reduced exercise capacity and participate less in sports, which is associated with a lower quality of life. Starting school may present more challenges for children with CHD and their families than for families with healthy children. Moreover, parents of children with CHD are at risk for psychosocial problems. Therefore, a family-centered psychosocial intervention for children with CHD when starting school is needed. Until now, the 'Congenital Heart Disease Intervention Program (CHIP) - School' is the only evidence-based intervention in this field. However, CHIP-School targeted parents only and resulted in non-significant, though positive, effects as to child psychosocial wellbeing. Hence, we expanded CHIP by adding a specific child module and including siblings, creating the CHIP-Family intervention. The CHIP-Family study aims to (1) test the effects of CHIP-Family on parental mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of CHD-children and to (2) identify baseline psychosocial and medical predictors for the e

Quality of life among parents of preterm infants: a scoping review

Purpose: To synthesize the body of knowledge on the factors influencing the QoL of mothers and fathers of preterm infants. Methods: A scoping review was performed. Publications indexed in PubMed®, Web of Science™, CINAHL® and PsycINFO® were searched, targeting studies presenting original empirical data that examined parental perception on QoL after a preterm delivery. Eligibility and data extraction were conducted by two independent researchers. The main quantitative findings were synthesized and qualitative data were explored by content analysis. Results: The studies, 11 quantitative and 1 mixed methods, were derived mainly from the USA (n = 6). Heterogeneity across the studies was observed regarding the operationalization of QoL and the use of units of analysis (mothers, parents, families and caregivers). In a context where 40 out of 45 covariates were analysed by only one or two studies, results suggested that parental QoL after a preterm delivery is influenced by factors related with mother’s characteristics, family issues and health care environment rather than infants’ variables. Factors regarding fathers’ characteristics and structural levels were not addressed. Conclusions: Standardizing the operationalization of the QoL when analysing mothers and fathers of preterm infants calls for a structured questionnaire adapted to their specific needs. Further research should include both mothers and fathers, invest in mixed methods approaches and be performed in different countries and settings for allowing integration and comparison of findings.This work was supported by FEDER funding from the Operational Programme Factors of Competitiveness—COMPETE and by national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the project “Parenting roles and knowledge in Neonatal Intensive Care Units” (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-019902; Ref. FCT PTDC/CS-ECS/120750/2010) and the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2013); the grants PD/BD/105830/2014 (to MA), SFRH/BPD/103562/2014 (to EA), co-funded by the FCT and the POPH/FSE Program and the FCT Investigator contract IF/01674/2015 (to SS)