What do child characteristics contribute to outcomes from care: A PRISMA review

This article presents the findings from a systematic review of the literature regarding factors related to positive placement outcomes. Children in care are particularly vulnerable to problems with their emotional and behavioural development. It is important to know which factors affect whether children will have a positive placement outcome or not. Previous research has aimed to examine this, and has found that certain child characteristics can affect placement outcome. Reviews have not reported their search strategy in line with PRISMA guidelines, nor have they always reported the source of the data. This review was particularly interested in which studies had contact with the children or carers themselves, as opposed to a reliance on administrative data. There appear to be child characteristics that affect placement outcome, but findings need to be interpreted with caution due to a high volume of results from administrative data. Future research should aim to conduct full assessments with children when they come into care

A Communitarian Critique of the Child Protective System

Child Protective Services (CPS) has been defined as an ineffective system. Common criticisms are that the system is overburdened and that family preservation policy pressures CPS to reunite families that can\u27t be repaired. However, empirical analyses that identify the deficiencies of this organization are limited. This study utilizes case files and in-depth interviews with interventionists within and outside of CPS to explore the issue. Results reveal that the most common criticisms of the system do have merit. However, it reveals additional system limitations. Results suggest that the child protective system is characterized by an individualistic approach and that this focus hinders its ability to protect children. Specific problems associated with this individualistic focus are identified and a communitarian framework is proposed as a way of reconceptualizing CPS deficiencies and needed solutions

Temporary brittle bone disease:association with intracranial bleeding

Abstract We report 20 infants aged between 1 month and 6 months found to have subdural bleeding and also multiple unexplained fractures in a pattern similar to that described earlier as temporary brittle bone disease. Child abuse seemed unlikely as a cause of the fractures as in no case was there clinical evidence of injury commensurate with the fracturing, as some patients had fractures while in hospital and as metaphyseal lesions, when present, were often symmetrical in distribution. Abuse seemed unlikely to have been the cause of the subdural bleeding in several patients; three had clear histories of accidental injury and five had evidence that the initial bleeding was likely to have taken place at birth. Abuse also seemed unlikely as the cause of the syndrome; the nine patients who were returned to their parents had no subsequent allegations of abuse with a mean follow-up period of 15.8 years. The finding of hypermobile joints in the parents of eight of the children is an additional pointer to a natural cause for this condition. The cause of this combination of fractures and subdural bleeding is not yet clear but it is important to be aware that it can result from natural disease

Targeted p120-Catenin Ablation Disrupts Dental Enamel Development

Dental enamel development occurs in stages. The ameloblast cell layer is adjacent to, and is responsible for, enamel formation. When rodent pre-ameloblasts become tall columnar secretory-stage ameloblasts, they secrete enamel matrix proteins, and the ameloblasts start moving in rows that slide by one another. This movement is necessary to form the characteristic decussating enamel prism pattern. Thus, a dynamic system of intercellular interactions is required for proper enamel development. Cadherins are components of the adherens junction (AJ), and they span the cell membrane to mediate attachment to adjacent cells. p120 stabilizes cadherins by preventing their internalization and degradation. So, we asked if p120-mediated cadherin stability is important for dental enamel formation. Targeted p120 ablation in the mouse enamel organ had a striking effect. Secretory stage ameloblasts detached from surrounding tissues, lost polarity, flattened, and ameloblast E- and N-cadherin expression became undetectable by immunostaining. The enamel itself was poorly mineralized and appeared to be composed of a thin layer of merged spheres that abraded from the tooth. Significantly, p120 mosaic mouse teeth were capable of forming normal enamel demonstrating that the enamel defects were not a secondary effect of p120 ablation. Surprisingly, blood-filled sinusoids developed in random locations around the developing teeth. This has not been observed in other p120-ablated tissues and may be due to altered p120-mediated cell signaling. These data reveal a critical role for p120 in tooth and dental enamel development and are consistent with p120 directing the attachment and detachment of the secretory stage ameloblasts as they move in rows

A study of the cell adhesions molecules, E-Cadherin and C-CAM, and the intermediate filaments, nestin, in craniofacial and tooth development

A STUDY OF THE CELL ADHESION MOLECULES, E-CADHERIN AND C-CAM AND THE INTERMEDIATE FILAMENT NESTIN IN CRANIOFACIAL AND TOOTH DEVELOPMENT. Catharina Terling The Department of Basic Oral Sciences, The Center of Oral Biology, Novum Research Park and The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Medical Nobel Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) are involved in cell migration, morphogenesis, and cell differentiation within the embryo, and later in the maintenance of the multicellular organism. The aim of the present investigation was to analyze and compare the distribution of the CAMs, E-cadherin and C-CAM, during odontogenesis and palate formation, and furthermore, to analyze the expression of the intermediate filament (IF), nestin, in odontogenesis. Mice and rats of different ages (ranging from embryonic day 13, E13, to adult) were used. The expression of the molecules was detected by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. In general, E-cadherin was expressed by most epitehelia of the oral and nasal cavity. With terminal differentiation, the oral epithelium displayed a higher CAMs expression than the nasal epithelium. In the craniofacial complex E-cadherin was expressed already at E14, while C-CAM was detected first at E16. During palatal closure at E15, the forming epithelial fusion zones (seams and triangles) showed, in the center, a high E-cadherin expression. The peripheral cells of the epithelial seam were less E-cadherin positive. This may indicate that E-cadherin is involved in the fusion of the epithelia and its expression has to be down-regulated in order for the epithelium to disintegrate and form mesenchymal continuity in the palate. There were no differences, with respect to CAM expression, between embryos with the retinoic acid (RA) induced cleft palate and normal embryos, indicating that RA does not affect the expression of CAMs. In odontogenesis, E-cadherin was present in the dental lamina, presecretory ameloblasts and cementoblasts. C-CAM was detected first in the reduced enamel epithelium prior to tooth eruption. Later, C-CAM was confined to the junctional epithelium (JE) of the gingival sulcus. Nestin was expressed in both mesenchymal and epithelial derived tissues during early tooth developmental stages and remained to be expressed exclusively in the odontoblasts. In conclusion, the findings indicate that both E-cadherin and C-CAM are involved in the formation of the epithelial structures of the craniofacial complex in a specific spatio-temporal pattern. E-cadherin may be involved in early tooth initiation, and differentiation and repolarization of ameloblasts, while C-CAM may be important for the formation and integrity of the JE. Nestin may be involved in early epithelial mesenchymal interactions during tooth development and later in the maintenance of the dynamic odontoblasts. Key words: cell adhesion molecules, epithelial fusion, C-CAM, E-cadherin, junctional epithelium, nestin, odontogenesis, palate ISBN 91-628-2899-