Although stress strongly predicts life satisfaction, the psychosocial mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. To investigate the possible mediating role of coping, we conducted a ...cross‐sectional study that assessed youths' life stress levels, propensity to engage in three different coping styles (i.e., active coping, internal coping, & withdrawal), and life satisfaction in a probabilistic, two‐stage stratified cluster sample of 1830 high school seniors (986 females; age range: 17–22 years old) from 26 schools in or around the four largest cities in Croatia. We used correlational analyses and structural equation modelling to test the hypothesis that coping mediates the relation between stress and life satisfaction. The tested model was marginally acceptable: χ2 = 1613.85, df = 177, p < 0.001, goodness‐of‐fit‐index = 0.92, Comparative Fit Index = 0.91, Tucker‐Lewis Index = 0.89, root mean square error of approximation = 0.067 (90% CI = 0.064 to 0.070), standardized root mean squared residual = 0.056. As hypothesized, stress was related to life satisfaction directly (βc’ = −0.22, p < 0.01) but also indirectly (βab = −0.05, p < 0.01) by affecting youths' likelihood of engaging in withdrawal behaviours, such as avoiding problems, distracting, or using anger, alcohol, or drugs. The proportion of the total effect mediated by withdrawal was 19.4%. In contrast, neither active nor internal coping were significant mediators. Based on these results, we conclude that preventive and educational programs for enhancing youth mental health may benefit from reducing adolescents' stress levels and stress‐related withdrawal behaviour, and by encouraging youth to use active coping strategies instead.
To evaluate the quality of antenatal care (ANC) in Hebei Province and compare it between the public and private sector and within the public sector.
We conducted a Maternal, Newborn and Child Health ...Household Survey in 2010 using a two-stage sampling procedure and included 1079 mothers. The quality of ANC was assessed on the basis of the number of ANC visits, the time of the first ANC visit, 16 different ANC procedures, owning a maternal health care booklet, and the type of service provider.
Almost all women (98%) received ANC services at least once, 80% at least four times, and 54% at least five times. About half of the women (46%) visited ANC facility within their first trimester. Neither public nor private sector provided all 16 standardized services, but significantly more women in public sector received ANC procedures. Most women received ANC in county or higher-level hospitals (75%) and very few in township hospitals (8%). Significantly fewer women were weighed and tested for HIV/AIDS in township than in county or higher-level hospitals.
The quality of ANC in Hebei was poorer than required by China's national and World Health Organization norms. Although the public sector performed better than the private sector, the utilization and quality of care of ANC services in this sector varied and women generally visited county or higher-level health facilities.
To develop affordable, appropriate, and nutritious recipes based on local food resources and dietary practices that have the potential to improve infant feeding practices.
We carried out a mixed ...methods study following the World Health Organization's evaluation guidelines on the promotion of child feeding. We recruited caregivers with children aged 6-23 months in Wuyi County, Hebei Province, China. The study included a 24-hour dietary recall survey, local food market survey, and development of a key local food list, food combinations, and recipes. Mothers tested selected recipes at their homes for two weeks. We interviewed mothers to obtain their perceptions on the recipes.
The 24-hour dietary recall survey included 110 mothers. Dietary diversity was poor; approximately 10% of children consumed meat and only 2% consumed vitamin A-rich vegetables. The main reason for not giving meat was the mothers' belief that their children could not chew and digest meat. With the help of mothers, we developed six improved nutritious recipes with locally available and affordable foods. Overall, mothers liked the recipes and were willing to continue using them.
This is the first study using a systematic evidence-based method to develop infant complementary recipes that can address complementary feeding problems in China. We developed recipes based on local foods and preparation practices and identified the barriers that mothers faced toward feeding their children with nutritious food. To improve nutrition practices, it is important to both give mothers correct feeding knowledge and assist them in cooking nutritious foods for their children based on locally available products. Further research is needed to assess long-term effects of those recipes on the nutritional status of children.
Among Croatian islands, there are several which are known for unusual autochthonous diseases and specific medical conditions that result from the reproductive isolation and specific population ...genetic structure. These populations are characterized by high degree of genetic isolation, consanguinity, and inbreeding. The reported diseases include Mal de Meleda on Mljet island, hereditary dwarfism on Krk island, familial learning disability on Susak island, familial ovarian cancer on Lastovo island, and several other rare diseases and conditions inherited in Mendelian fashion. We present a historical perspective on how these conditions were first described, interpreted, and assessed. We reviewed the information obtained through genetic research in the past several years, when the genetic etiology of some of these conditions was explained. The disease gene causing Mal de Meleda was first localized at 8q chromosome, and mutations in the ARS (component B) gene encoding SLURP-1 (secreted mammalian Ly-6/uPAR-related protein 1) protein were identified subsequently. The genetic etiology of dwarfism on the island of Krk is explained by a mutation in the PROP1 gene, responsible for the short stature. The search for mutations underlying other monogenic diseases in Croatian islands is under way.
Genome-wide homozygosity estimation from genomic data is becoming an increasingly interesting research topic. The aim of this study was to compare different methods for estimating individual ...homozygosity-by-descent based on the information from human genome-wide scans rather than genealogies. We considered the four most commonly used methods and investigated their applicability to single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data in both a simulation study and by using the human genotyped data. A total of 986 inhabitants from the isolated Island of Vis, Croatia (where inbreeding is present, but no pedigree-based inbreeding was observed at the level of F > 0.0625) were included in this study. All individuals were genotyped with the Illumina HumanHap300 array with 317,503 SNP markers.
Simulation data suggested that multi-point FEstim is the method most strongly correlated to true homozygosity-by-descent. Correlation coefficients between the homozygosity-by-descent estimates were high but only for inbred individuals, with nearly absolute correlation between single-point measures.
Deciding who is really inbred is a methodological challenge where multi-point approaches can be very helpful once the set of SNP markers is filtered to remove linkage disequilibrium. The use of several different methodological approaches and hence different homozygosity measures can help to distinguish between homozygosity-by-state and homozygosity-by-descent in studies investigating the effects of genomic autozygosity on human health.
Epidemiology of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) among children aged 0-4 years globally is not well understood. We aim to assess the incidence of T1DM in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) by ...conducting a systematic review of previous reports. We also aim to address possible contribution to child mortality and to identify any temporal trends.
A systematic review was performed using a carefully designed search strategy to explore MEDLINE, EMBASE and Global Health databases. Data was extracted from all studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria -a total of 83 records extracted from 26 830 sources that were analysed. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) process to assess quality of evidence and applied meta-analysis approaches to assess global and regional incidence and time trends.
The overall pooled incidence of T1DM in children aged 0-4 years globally is 11.2 (95% CI = 10.0-12.3) per 100 000 child years. The regional incidence were the highest for European Region A (EUR A) at 15.5 (95% CI = 13.5-17.5) per 100 000 child years. EUR C had the incidence of 10.0 (95% CI = 6.5-13.6) and EUR B 5.8 (95% CI = 4.7-7.0), Region of the Americas A (AMR A) 11.4 (95% CI = 7.8-14.9), AMR B of 2.5 (95% CI = 0.2-4.8), Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR B) 7.1 (95% CI = 4.2-10.0) and Western Pacific Region (WPR A) 7.0 (95% CI = 2.9-11.0) per 100 000 child years, while other regions had very low rates or no data. When data points were categorised in the study periods and re-analysed, an increasing trend of the T1DM incidence was observed, with the incidence of 20.9 (95% CI = 7.8-34.1) per 100 000 child years in the years 2010-2015, preceded by 13.2 (95% CI = 11.0-15.5) in 2000-2009 study period, 10.0 (95% CI = 8.4-11.7) in 1990-1999 and 8.3 (95% CI = 5.1-11.6) in 1980-1989, respectively. Although the data are scarce, and variation and uncertainty are large, we estimated that the number of new cases of T1DM among children aged 0-4 years in the world each year is between 100 000 and 150 000.
The identified large variation in incidence estimates for different parts of the world, along with scarcity of information and the identified strong temporal increase in T1DM incidence suggest a clear need for further research into this subject.
Osteohondrodisplazije velika su skupina rijetkih genskih bolesti karakterizirana poremećajem rasta i razvoja hrskavice i kosti. Često su povezane s malformacijama drugih organskih sustava. Mogu se ...podijeliti na letalne i neletalne skeletne displazije. Tanatoforična displazija jedna je od najčešćih letalnih skeletnih displazija s učestalošću pojavljivanja od 0,69 na 10.000 porođaja, dok je heterozigotna ahondrodisplazija među najčešćim neletalnim displazijama s
učestalošću od 0,15 na 10.000 porođaja. Prikazat ćemo dva novorođenčeta s osteohondrodisplazijom. Prvi je prikaz
letalne osteohondrodisplazije kod novorođenčeta 41-godišnje višerotkinje koja je u 33. tjednu nekontrolirane trudnoće došla u našu Kliniku zbog započetog porođaja. Drugi je prikaz neletalne osteohondrodisplazije u novorođenčeta
31-godišnje višerotkinje kod kojeg se od 30. tjedna trudnoće prate kraće kosti udova.
According to the latest reports, the Eastern Europe currently exhibits the greatest relative increase in the number of newly registered HIV infections in the world. At the same time, Central Europe ...remains relatively spared from the epidemic, with reported rates significantly lower than those in both Eastern and Western Europe. Croatia geographically affiliates to Central Europe, but it has two specific potential risk factors in comparison to neighboring countries: recent War events and a summer season when immigration of large number of tourists from Central and Eastern Europe is expected. Therefore, it is critical to examine AIDS attitudes in young people, increase their knowledge, monitor their behavior and warn on risks in order to prevent larger spread of epidemics from Eastern Europe to Croatia. In this study, we report on a large related survey and education program among 17-year-old high school pupils that was conducted in years immediately following the War (1996-1999).
Background and AimsThe effects of negative environmental factors in childhood result in neuro-biological changes, which consequently may cause changes to the cytoarchitecture of the brain, causing ...reduce of their capacities and potentials.These children show a variety of symptoms that might be presented as ADHD or other neurobehavioral problems.MethodThe aim of this study was to show the results of a multi-disciplinary clinical assessment of children came to Child and Youth protection Center, Zagreb, Croatia, because of adverse childhood experiences.In a period 2015-2017 we prospectively monitored 954 children with experience of abuse and/or neglect.We were looking for presence of minor neurological dysfunctions (gross motor function, coordination, fine manipulative ability, fine motor disfunction, dyskinesia and excessive associated movements), EEG, and biological parameters.ResultsImpulsive behaviour, and other form of ADHD u201clikeu201d variants are significantly more frequent in children with history of some kind of abuse or neglect. Over 70 percent of them showed dyshrytmic or pathological changes in EEG. Only 7 percent patient with foetal alcohol syndrome, neonatal abstinence syndrome), as a syndrome of foetal abuse, didnu2019t have any neurodevelopment problems. Moreover, 19 percent of them, showed cognitive impairment, over 50 percent some symptoms from ADHD spectrum, 33 percent had speech problems, and over 60 percent had learning problems.Child faced with toxic stress are obese in more than 70 percent.ConclusionEarly detection of adverse childhood experiences help to start with early interventions in order to prevent long term consequences of toxic stress.
Aim To evaluate the quality of antenatal care (ANC) in Hebei
Province and compare it between the public and private
sector and within the public sector.
Methods We conducted a Maternal, Newborn and ...Child
Health Household Survey in 2010 using a two-stage sampling
procedure and included 1079 mothers. The quality
of ANC was assessed on the basis of the number of ANC
visits, the time of the first ANC visit, 16 different ANC procedures,
owning a maternal health care booklet, and the
type of service provider.
Results Almost all women (98%) received ANC services at
least once, 80% at least four times, and 54% at least five
times. About half of the women (46%) visited ANC facility
within their first trimester. Neither public nor private sector
provided all 16 standardized services, but significantly
more women in public sector received ANC procedures.
Most women received ANC in county or higher-level hospitals
(75%) and very few in township hospitals (8%). Significantly
fewer women were weighed and tested for HIV/
AIDS in township than in county or higher-level hospitals.
Conclusion The quality of ANC in Hebei was poorer than
required by China’s national and World Health Organization
norms. Although the public sector performed better
than the private sector, the utilization and quality of care
of ANC services in this sector varied and women generally
visited county or higher-level health facilities.
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