The Effect of Happiness Training Based on Fordyce Model on Perceived Stress in the Mothers of Children with Cleft Lip and Palate.

Introduction: A child afflicted with facial deformities such as cleft lip and palate usually affects their parents, because of difficulties in nutrition, speech, aesthetics and social connections, and also imposing a lot of stress on them. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a happiness program on the perceived stress in the mothers of children with cleft lip and palate. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study in which 64 mothers of children with cleft lip and palate were divided by simple random sampling into intervention and control groups (n=64). The program of happiness training was implemented within 10 sessions and the questionnaires of demographics and Cohen perceived stress were filled out prior to and two months after the last session in intervention group. Data analysis was done using SPSS Ver.13. Results: Independent t-test indicated a significant difference in the perceived stress mean score after training in the intervention and control groups. Also paired t-test indicated a significant difference in perceived stress mean score before and after training in the intervention group, but the difference was not statistically significant for the control group. Conclusion: Considering the effect of happiness program on reducing stress in the mothers of children with cleft lip and palate, it is recommended that this model can be used as an intervention in the maternal care for more involvement in the process of treatment and care of their child, in addition to reduce psychological problems in the parents

Effect of Orem's Self-Care Model on Perceived Stress in Adolescents with Asthma Referring the Asthma and Allergy Clinic, Isfahan, 2014.

BACKGROUND Incidence of asthma in adolescents leads to variations in family status, roles and interaction with peers for them, which could be a source of stress and psychological tensions in them. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of Orem's self-care model on perceived stress in adolescents with asthma. METHODS In this semi-experimental study conducted from April 2013 to February 2014, 64 asthmatic adolescents referring Shariati Hospital, Isfahan were enrolled by simple random sampling and the patients were assigned to two groups of control and intervention. Then, Orem's self-care model-based training was implemented throughout eight sessions of two hours each and the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale was administered to both groups prior to and two months after the completion of the training. The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics consisting of paired t-test, independent t-test, Chi-square and Mann-Whitney using SPSS Version 20. RESULTS Mean age of the participants was 14.15±3.12 years in the intervention group and 15.21±3.09 years in the control groups. 68.8% and 59.4% of the participants were male in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Independent t-test indicated a significant difference in the mean scores of perceived stress in the intervention (25.46±5.31) and control groups (28.90±5.27) after the training. Also, the result of paired t-test indicated a significant difference in the mean score of perceived stress between before (29.18±5.27) and after (25.46±5.31) training. CONCLUSION As the training based on Orem's model had a positive effect on declining perceived stress in asthmatic adolescents, continuation of using these training interventions could contribute to ultimately achieving positive outcomes in health functions of these patients

Fordyce Happiness Program and Happiness in Mothers of Children with a Cleft Lip and Palate.

INTRODUCTION Facial deformities and aesthetic and functional anomalies in children may be a cause of real distress in families. Problems faced by parents in coping with a child's anomaly can be upsetting and lead parents to exhibit over-severe behavior. The present study was conducted in order to study the effect of happiness program on the happiness of the mothers of children with a cleft lip and palate. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this semi-experimental study, 64 mothers of children with a cleft lip and palate enrolled by convenience random sampling were assigned to an intervention or control group based on a simple random sampling. Then, a program of happiness training was implemented consisting of 10 sessions of 2 hours each. A demographic questionnaire and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire were completed prior to and 2 months after the last session of intervention. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics, consisting of a paired t-test, independent t-test and Chi-square test using SPSS version 20. RESULTS The independent t-test indicated a significant difference in mean happiness score after training between the intervention and control groups (P0.05). CONCLUSION In light of the efficacy of happiness training on the promotion of happiness in the mothers of children with a cleft lip and palate, this model is recommended as a healthcare intervention to decrease stress in mothers following the birth of an infant with a cleft lip and palate

Repairable system model with time dependent covariate

In this paper we extend a repairable system model that incorporates both time trend and renewal-type behavior to include a time dependent covariate. We calculated the bias, standard error andrmse of the parameter estimates of this model at different sample sizes using simulated data.Following that, we studied several alternative computer intensive methods of constructingconfidence interval estimates for the parameters of the general model. Alternative methodsrelieve us from making assumptions and having to depend solely on the traditional methods derived from asymptotic statistical theory. In addition, the high capability of modern daycomputers makes these methods easily applicable and practical. Several parametric bootstrap methods and jackknife confidence interval procedures were compared to the Wald interval via coverage probability study. The results clearly show that the B-t and jackknife techniques work much better than other methods when sample sizes are moderate and low. The Wald intervals was found to be highly asymmetrical and only starts to work when sample sizes are rather large

Fordyce happiness program and performance in the mothers of children with cleft lip and palate referring healthcare team in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2015

AbstractBackground:Giving birth to a child with cleft lip and palate, as a crisis, can jeopardize the physical and mental health of parents, especially mothers, and affect their function.Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of happiness program on performance in the mothers of children with cleft lip and palate.Methods: In this semi experimental study, 64 mothers of children with cleft lip and palate referring healthcare team in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, were enrolled by simple random sampling, and the patients’ referring and assigned to two groups of control and intervention. Then, the program of happiness training was implemented within 10 sessions of two hours each and performance Questionnaire were filled out prior to and two months after the last session. The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics consisting of paired t test, independent t test, chi-square and Mann-Whitney in SPSS 20.Findings: Mean age of the mothers in intervention and control groups was 33.3±6.3 and 33.5±5.8 years, respectively, and Mean age of the children in intervention and control groups was 6.34±3.37 and 5.03±3.36 years. No significant differences in demographic variables between the two groups (P > 0.05). No significant differences in mean score of performance domains in the two groups before training (P > 0.05). However after 2 months a significant difference in mean score of performance domains was observed between two groups (P < 0.05). Furthermore in intervention group showed significant differences in mean score of performance domains before and after intervention (P < 0.05). However in the control group had not any significant change.   Conclusion: Given the effect of happiness program in promoting mothers performance for children with cleft lip and palate, this program can be used in healthcare centers to empower mothers and enhance performance in taking care of children

An enhanced CRISPR repressor for targeted mammalian gene regulation.

The RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 can be converted into a programmable transcriptional repressor, but inefficiencies in target-gene silencing have limited its utility. Here we describe an improved Cas9 repressor based on the C-terminal fusion of a rationally designed bipartite repressor domain, KRAB-MeCP2, to nuclease-dead Cas9. We demonstrate the system's superiority in silencing coding and noncoding genes, simultaneously repressing a series of target genes, improving the results of single and dual guide RNA library screens, and enabling new architectures of synthetic genetic circuits

Cas9 gRNA engineering for genome editing, activation and repression

We demonstrate that by altering the length of Cas9-associated guide RNA(gRNA) we were able to control Cas9 nuclease activity and simultaneously perform genome editing and transcriptional regulation with a single Cas9 protein. We exploited these principles to engineer mammalian synthetic circuits with combined transcriptional regulation and kill functions governed by a single multifunctional Cas9 protein.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (P50 HG005550)United States. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-02ER63445)Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired EngineeringUnited States. Army Research Office (DARPA W911NF-11-2-0054)National Science Foundation (U.S.)United States. National Institutes of Health (5R01CA155320-04)United States. National Institutes of Health (P50 GM098792)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (5T32CA009216-34)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological EngineeringHarvard Medical School. Department of GeneticsDefense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) (HDTRA1-14-1-0006

CRISPR transcriptional repression devices and layered circuits in mammalian cells

A key obstacle to creating sophisticated genetic circuits has been the lack of scalable device libraries. Here we present a modular transcriptional repression architecture based on clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system and examine approaches for regulated expression of guide RNAs in human cells. Subsequently we demonstrate that CRISPR regulatory devices can be layered to create functional cascaded circuits, which provide a valuable toolbox for engineering purposes.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 5R01CA155320-04)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P50 GM098792)Korea (South). Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technolgy. Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center of Global Frontier Project (2013M3A6A8073557

Genetic engineering of human ES and iPS cells using TALE nucleases

Targeted genetic engineering of human pluripotent cells is a prerequisite for exploiting their full potential. Such genetic manipulations can be achieved using site-specific nucleases. Here we engineered transcription activator–like effector nucleases (TALENs) for five distinct genomic loci. At all loci tested we obtained human embryonic stem cell (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) clones carrying transgenic cassettes solely at the TALEN-specified location. Our data suggest that TALENs employing the specific architectures described here mediate site-specific genome modification in human pluripotent cells with similar efficiency and precision as do zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs).National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R37-CA084198)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant RO1-CA087869)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant RO1-HD045022)Howard Hughes Medical Institut

Human Intestinal Tissue with Adult Stem Cell Properties Derived from Pluripotent Stem Cells

Genetically engineered human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have been proposed as a source for transplantation therapies and are rapidly becoming valuable tools for human disease modeling. However, many applications are limited due to the lack of robust differentiation paradigms that allow for the isolation of defined functional tissues. Here, using an endogenous LGR5-GFP reporter, we derived adult stem cells from hPSCs that gave rise to functional human intestinal tissue comprising all major cell types of the intestine. Histological and functional analyses revealed that such human organoid cultures could be derived with high purity and with a composition and morphology similar to those of cultures obtained from human biopsies. Importantly, hPSC-derived organoids responded to the canonical signaling pathways that control self-renewal and differentiation in the adult human intestinal stem cell compartment. This adult stem cell system provides a platform for studying human intestinal disease in vitro using genetically engineered hPSCs