Socioeconomic status and its impact on the prevalence of severe ADHD in the Maltese Islands

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder associated with hyperactivity, impulsivity and reduced attention. If left untreated this may possibly lead to various impairments in other areas, such as lack of educational attainment, increased risk of accident-prone behaviour, substance misuse and antisocial behaviours. Although the exact aetiology is still not fully understood, various studies have demonstrated the presence of both a genetic and an environmental component. ADHD is highly hereditable, demonstrating a strong genetic component. Furthermore, increased rates of ADHD have been linked with a low socioeconomic status. The islands of Malta have traditionally been divided for statistical purposes into 6 districts, with certain districts more often being associated with low socioeconomic demographics. The main aim of this study was to assess whether higher prevalence rates of ADHD were present in the districts, which are classically associated with a low socioeconomic status. All persons aged 0 to 18 years attending the governmental clinics, having a documented diagnosis of severe ADHD and therefore being prescribed pharmacotherapy were identified and included in this study. 9 youngsters were living in institutional care and were therefore excluded from the study. A significant difference (p<0.0001) in the point prevalence of ADHD between the 6 Malta districts was found, with higher rates of ADHD occurring in the harbour districts. Though not statistically significant, a positive correlation was demonstrated between the ADHD prevalence and a number of socioeconomic variables, these included; the rate of smoking (p=0.111), number of people classified as at-risk-of-poverty per district (p=0.397), and number of people with no schooling per district (p=0.156). The overall point prevalence for ADHD in Malta obtained was 0.85, a value which is less than the average prevalence noted worldwide. The authors believe this value is an underestimation since the data collection in this study did not include ADHD cases off pharmacological treatment and any ADHD cases assessed and treated in the private sector.peer-reviewe

Church Member Survey in Africa

A church member survey commissioned by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist was done in Africa. This paper focuses on two-way comparison of the religious behaviors, attitudes, and experiences of male and female adults and youths for the purpose of addressing the issues affecting the religious life of church members

Adventist Research African Continent

This presentation lays reports an Adventist research conducted in the African Continent. It is focused on spiritual life patterns, attitudes, and beliefs of SDA church members. Data were collected through questionnaires translated to nine languages.https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/hrsa/1038/thumbnail.jp

Personality, Sexual Attitudes, and Unrestricted Sociosexual Behavior in College Women

Evolutionary psychology relies heavily on sex-based, biological differences to explain disparities in unrestricted attitudes and casual sex behavior. The present study explores the relations among personality (in particular, Maslow’s construct of “dominance-feeling”), sexual attitudes, and women’s sexual behavior as an alternative explanation. Eighty-nine Wellesley College women reported their attitudes concerning casual sex, completed personality measures, and reported their past and expected number of sexual partners to investigate 1) whether or not Maslow’s 1942 theory and measure of dominance-feeling apply to present-day women and 2) which personality traits are correlated with measures of attitudes toward casual sex and of previous sexual behavior. Dominance-feeling was found to be a reliable measure (α = .80) that correlated strongly with other relevant personality measures used, indicating that it still communicates modern concepts to college women. Dominance-feeling was, on average, the most strongly correlated with unrestricted attitudes and casual sex, with sensation-seeking as a close second. It is concluded that the construct of dominance-feeling in the present sample (which, with additional data, may extend to larger populations) provides a better, more full explanation for individual differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors than male-female differences alone

Religious Beliefs of SDA Church Members in Africa

This paper highlights the religious beliefs of church members in the three African divisions. It focuses on the role of the African traditional religious system, engagement in personal religious activities, and pastor’s preaching on the views of adults and youths regarding various Seventh-day Adventist and other religious beliefs

The cost of soil replacement : a Maltese case study

Soil erosion only enters national accounting systems when soil loss is reflected in lost agricultural productivity, or becomes manifest with costs sustained by damage through flooding, siltation of dams, landslides, and other associated phenomena. On islands that are prone to desertification, however, soil loss needs to be better accounted since the costs of soil replacement and rehabilitation are often prohibitively expensive. Circumscribed agricultural space provides the necessary incentive for investment in soil conservation measures and, in certain cases, a long history of such measures results in a wealth of soil retention structures. Soil conservation has been practised in the densely populated Maltese islands for several hundred years. Slope terracing and armouring of the terrace face with retaining dry stonewalls represents a rich resource which has not yet been quantified. Yet the cost of maintaining such soil conservation structures is becoming increasingly prohibitive despite the downstream costs of their eventual failure. Legislation has been enacted aimed at preserving rubble walls since these are now also regarded as a unique landscape feature but well-targeted economic incentives and support infrastructures are crucial in this regard. In fact, the Maltese Government has, over the past few years, promoted rubble wall repairs by creating groups of skilled workers trained in the craft of rubble wall building. Malta's joining the European Union in May 2004 also means that EU funds would be utilised in this regard but this needs careful management. Despite such state initiatives, alternative non-state subsidies need to be identified and this demands the identification of net beneficiaries of soil conservation. The most easily identifiable stakeholders are farmers but the tourist sector and water management authorities should also be enlisted within soil conservation management. Other stakeholders include those sectors that are adversely affected by soil erosion. In this case, insurance companies and road maintenance agencies should also be involved in soil management initiatives.peer-reviewe

Build your Responsive Open Learning Environment

The European research project ROLE (Responsive Open Learning Environments) is aiming at empowering learners for self-regulated learning within a personalised learning environment. Towards this goal, ROLE has developed a number of learning technologies, addressing a variety of learning requirements. The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the applications of these technologies in different learning contexts, as well as the challenges associated with enabling and supporting self-regulated learning

A power study of bivariate LOD score analysis of a complex trait and fear/discomfort with strangers

Complex diseases are often reported along with disease-related traits (DRT). Sometimes investigators consider both disease and DRT phenotypes separately and sometimes they consider individuals as affected if they have either the disease or the DRT, or both. We propose instead to consider the joint distribution of the disease and the DRT and do a linkage analysis assuming a pleiotropic model. We evaluated our results through analysis of the simulated datasets provided by Genetic Analysis Workshop 14. We first conducted univariate linkage analysis of the simulated disease, Kofendrerd Personality Disorder and one of its simulated associated traits, phenotype b (fear/discomfort with strangers). Subsequently, we considered the bivariate phenotype, which combined the information on Kofendrerd Personality Disorder and fear/discomfort with strangers. We developed a program to perform bivariate linkage analysis using an extension to the Elston-Stewart peeling method of likelihood calculation. Using this program we considered the microsatellites within 30 cM of the gene pleiotropic for this simulated disease and DRT. Based on 100 simulations of 300 families we observed excellent power to detect linkage within 10 cM of the disease locus using the DRT and the bivariate trait