Prevalence and pharmacologic management of familial hypercholesterolemia in an unselected contemporary cohort of patients with stable coronary artery disease

INTRODUCTION: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by elevated plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) associated with premature cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Using the data from the START (STable Coronary Artery Diseases RegisTry) study, a nationwide, prospective survey on patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), we described prevalence and lipid lowering strategies commonly employed in these patients. The study population was divided into "definite/probable FH," defined as a Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) score ≥6, "possible FH" with DLCN 3-5, and "unlikely FH" in presence of a DLCN <3. RESULTS: Among the 4030 patients with the DLCN score available, 132 (3.3%) were classified as FH (2.3% with definite/probable and 1.0% with possible FH) and 3898 (96.7%) had unlikely FH. Patients with both definite/probable and possible FH were younger compared to patients not presenting FH. Mean on-treatment LDL-C levels were 107.8 ± 41.5, 84.4 ± 40.9, and 85.8 ± 32.3 (P < 0.0001) and a target of ≤70 mg/dL was reached in 10.9%, 30.0%, and 22.0% (P < 0.0001) of patents with definite/probable, possible FH, and unlikely FH, respectively. Statin therapy was prescribed in 85 (92.4%) patients with definite/probable FH, in 38 (95.0%) with possible FH, and in 3621 (92.9%) with unlikely FH (P = 0.86). The association of statin and ezetimibe, in absence of other lipid-lowering therapy, was more frequently used in patients with definite/probable FH compared to patients without FH (31.5% vs 17.5% vs 9.5%; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of consecutive patients with stable CAD, FH was highly prevalent and generally undertreated with lipid lowering therapies

Attachment and social understanding in young school-age children:An investigation using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task

Aim: Attachment research suggests that insecure and disorganized patterns of early attachment with caregivers represent a risk factor for difficulties in later social functioning beyond the home environment; but the detailed mechanisms mediating this association have been less explored. We undertook a within-child cross sectional cross domain study in the early school years, comparing a child’s representation of attachment relationship with their primary caregiver to their social attributions and information processing in relation to peers. Methods: Fifty-five children from primary schools in Northern Italy were studied using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task and the Dodge Social Stories. Analyses were controlled for child gender, age and school performance. Results: Children with secure based attachment representation showed greater competency in represented social problem solving with peers. Children with disorganized attachment representation showed more hostile attributional bias and aggressive patterns of response to social situations. Children with insecure ambivalence attachment represented more aggressive responses. Conclusion: These findings suggest some cross domain consistency between a child’s representation of care giving and social cognition in relation to peers. They provide evidence of a mechanism by which early attachment experiences may inform later social functioning. Control for developmental variables in the analysis suggests that this is not simply a non specific developmental effect

Phenotypic Associations Among Cell Cycle Genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A long-standing effort in biology is to precisely define and group phenotypes that characterize a biological process, and the genes that underpin them. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other organisms, functional screens have generated rich lists of phenotypes associated with individual genes. However, it is often challenging to identify sets of phenotypes and genes that are most closely associated with a given biological process. Here, we focused on the 166 phenotypes arising from loss-of-function and the 86 phenotypes from gain-of-function mutations in 571 genes currently assigned to cell cycle-related ontologies in S. cerevisiae. To reduce this complexity, we applied unbiased, computational approaches of correspondence analysis to identify a minimum set of phenotypic variables that accounts for as much of the variability in the data as possible. Loss-of-function phenotypes can be reduced to 20 dimensions, while gain-of-function ones to 14 dimensions. We also pinpoint the contributions of phenotypes and genes in each set. The approach we describe not only simplifies the categorization of phenotypes associated with cell cycle progression but might also potentially serve as a discovery tool for gene function

Correction to: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Child and Adolescent Psychology: a Narrative Review (Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, (2021), 8, 3, (95-109), 10.1007/s40501-021-00244-0)

The original publication of this article contained mistakes and the author would like to correct them. There is an error in the affiliation of author Isabel Fernandez. Isabel Fernandez is not affiliated to Catholic University. She is only affiliated to \u201cCentro di Ricerca e Studi in Psicotraumatologia (C.R.S.P.), Milan, Italy.\u201d The original article has been corrected

Discovery of A New Class of Pulsating Stars: Gravity-mode Pulsators among Subdwarf B Stars

During the course of an ongoing CCD monitoring program to investigate lowlevel light variations in subdwarf B (sdB) stars, we serendipitously discovered a new class of multimode pulsators with periods of the order of an hour. These periods are a factor of ten longer than those of previously known multimode sdB pulsators (EC 14026 stars), implying the new pulsations are due to gravity modes rather than pressure modes. The iron opacity instability that drives the short period EC 14026 stars is effective in hot sdB’s. The long period pulsators are found only among cooler sdB stars, where they are surprisingly common. The mechanism responsible for exciting the deeper g-modes in cool sdB’s is currently unknown, but the temperature and gravity range in which these stars occur must be an important clue. We present the first observational results for this new class of pulsating sdB stars, and discuss some possible implications