Identifying and intervening in child maltreatment and implementing related national guidelines by public health nurses in Finland and Japan

Aim. This study aimed to investigate how public health nurses identify, intervene in, and implement the guidelines on child maltreatment in Finland and Japan and to compare the data between the two countries. Method. This study employed a cross-sectional design. Public health nurses’ knowledge and skills with respect to child maltreatment prevention were assessed using a questionnaire consisting of three categories: identification, intervention, and implementation of guidelines. Public health nurses working in the area of maternal and child health care in Finland (n=193) and Japan (n=440) were the participants. Results. A significantly higher percentage of Japanese public health nurses identified child maltreatment compared to Finnish public health nurses, while Finnish nurses intervened in child maltreatment better than their Japanese counterparts. In both countries, public health nurses who had read and used the guidelines dealt with child maltreatment better than those who did not. Conclusion. The results suggest that effective training on child maltreatment and the use of guidelines are important to increase public health nurses’ knowledge and skills for identifying and intervening in child maltreatment

Characteristics of Parents and Their Infants with Autistic Behaviors: Parent-Infant Interaction, Parental Depression, and Parenting Stress

Parents of infants with autistic behaviors frequently face difficulties in childrearing owing to their infants’ behavioral traits. This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of parent-infant interaction, parental depressive symptoms, and parenting stress in the context of infants’ autistic behaviors. We employed a cross-sectional, case-control observational design with a case group of 52 parents and a control group of 56 parents. We measured parent- infant interaction using the Japanese version of the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale, and parental depressive symptoms and parenting stress with the Japanese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Japanese Parenting Stress Index Short Form, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding parent-infant interaction. Mothers in the case group had significantly higher depressive symptoms than those in the control group (p < .05). Both fathers (p < .05) and mothers (p < .01) in the case group scored significantly higher than the control group on parenting stress. Thus, parents of infants with autistic behaviors have greater mental health problems right from infancy. We suggest that nurses should provide families with appropriate support to promote adaptive parent-infant interaction and prevent the aggravation of parental mental health problems irrespective of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses

Diet Quality and Its Relationship with Weight Characteristics in Pregnant Japanese Women: A Single-Center Birth Cohort Study

Maternal underweight and inadequate gestational weight gain (GWG) are problems in Japan. However, increases in food intake aimed at weight gain alone are not sufficient for mother–child health. This study assessed diet quality based on the 3-day dietary records of pregnant women in an urban area of Japan in order to show the importance of evaluating diet quality, using the Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9.3 (NRF9.3), which is one metric based on nutrition profiling, and the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top (JFGST). After excluding misreporters of energy intake, we stratified women (n = 91) by pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and determined energy intake, diet quality status, and their relationship with GWG. Intakes of carbohydrate-containing staple foods, vegetable dishes, and fruit were insufficient regardless of BMI. Most of the underweight women with inadequate GWG had insufficient energy intake but high diet quality, as assessed by NRF9.3. In contrast, most women who consumed energy within the recommended range had low diet quality and gained weight at inappropriate levels. These results highlight the importance for pregnant Japanese women to maintain diet quality through a nutrient-dense diet, while simultaneously increasing energy intake after evaluation of their individual diet quality

Metabolic and Immunological Shifts during Mid-to-Late Gestation Influence Maternal Blood Methylation of CPT1A and SREBF1

Mid-to-late gestation is a unique period in which women experience dynamic changes in lipid metabolism. Although the recent intensive epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) using peripheral leukocytes have revealed that lipid-related traits alter DNA methylation, the influence of pregnancy-induced metabolic changes on the methylation levels of these differentially methylated sites is not well known. In this study, we performed a prospective cohort study of pregnant women (n = 52) using the MassARRAY EpiTYPER assay and analyzed the methylation levels of variably methylated sites, including CPT1A intron 1 and SREBF1 intron 1 CpGs, which were previously verified to be robustly associated with adiposity traits. Although methylation of SREBF1 was associated with body mass index (BMI) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol at mid-gestation, this association was attenuated at late gestation, which was consistent with the metabolic switch from an anabolic to a catabolic state. However, the BMI association with CPT1A intron 1 methylation appeared to strengthen at late gestation; this association was mediated by pre-pregnancy BMI-dependent change in the leukocyte proportion during mid-to-late gestation. Thus, the methylation of adiposity-related differentially methylated regions was sensitive to metabolic and immunological changes during mid-to-late gestation