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Control Families (control + family)
Selected AbstractsThe concentrations of short-chain fatty acids and other microflora-associated characteristics in faeces from children with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes and control children and their family membersDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 1 2004U. Samuelsson Abstract Aims The gut flora is quantitatively the most important source of microbial stimulation and may provide a primary signal in the maturation of the immune system. We compared the microflora-associated characteristics (MACs) in 22 children with newly diagnosed diabetes, 27 healthy controls, and their family members to see if there were differences between the children and if there was a familial pattern. Methods The MACs were assessed by determining the concentrations of eight short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), mucin, urobilin, b-aspartylglycine, coprastanol and faecal tryptic activity (FTA). Results There were no statistically significant differences between the concentrations of SCFA in the diabetes and control children. Members of families with a diabetic child had a higher concentration of acetic acid (P < 0.02) and lower concentrations of several other SCFAs than control families (P < 0.05,0.02). The other MACs showed no differences between the children or between the two family groups. Conclusion In this pilot study we saw no differences in the MACs between children with diabetes and their controls. There were, however, some differences between the family members of diabetic children and controls that may indicate a familial pattern regarding the production of SCFAs by the gut flora. The role of the gut flora in relation to the risk of developing Type 1 diabetes needs to be analysed in larger and/or prospective studies. [source] Subject and informant characteristics influence the reliability and validity of family history information: an analysis based on the generalized estimating equations approachINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2000Reinhard Heun Abstract Family history information is a necessary surrogate for unavailable interview information in family studies. However, the reliability and validity of such information has rarely been assessed during the conduct of family studies. This paper presents a reanalysis of data on the reliability and validity of family history information for dementia and depression using the general estimation equations approach. All available relatives of patients and controls were interviewed and questioned about the psychiatric morbidity of other family members. Interinformant reliability of this family history information was evaluated as well as factors influencing this information. The validity of family history was investigated by comparing the informant derived diagnoses with interview-derived diagnoses. To account for possible lack of independence of family history provided by several family members on other family members, the generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used in statistical analysis. The interinformant reliability for depression (kappa = 0.13) was low. It was fair for dementia (kappa = 0.34). The informants more frequently agreed about the diagnosis of dementia when the subject was older. The sensitivity of family history was 35.2% for dementia and 31.8% for depression. The specificity of family history information was generally above 97%. The sensitivity of family history increased significantly with the severity of both disorders. The sensitivity of the family history for dementia was higher when the informant was a first-degree relative, when he was younger and when the index subject of the family suffered from dementia. The specificity of the family history was slightly reduced with higher age. The observed low sensitivity of family history information leads to underestimation of psychiatric disorders. The informants provide more useful information on more severe disorders. The sensitivity of family history was higher in families with an affected index subject than in control families, so familial aggregation of dementia might be overestimated in studies using the family history method. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Influence of macrostructure of society on the life situation of families with a child with intellectual disability: Sweden as an exampleJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 4-5 2003M. B. Olsson Abstract Background Most studies on families with children with intellectual disability (ID) have been carried out in the UK or the USA, and are influenced by the societal organization, and political and economic climate of those countries. In the USA and the UK, the care and well-being of children, with or without ID, are seen almost exclusively as the individual family's responsibility. In Sweden, the care and well-being of children are seen more as a joint responsibility. Swedish society has developed many privileges for all parents in order to help them care for their children, and the support for parents of children with disabilities is provided exclusively by the Government and the community. The overall question explored in this descriptive, quantitative and qualitative study was: Are families in Sweden experiencing the stressors and life situations described in the studies of parents in more individualistic societies? Methods Two hundred and twenty-six families with children with ID and 234 control families with children ranging from 0 to 16 years of age answered mail surveys. Results Taken together, parents in Sweden describe most of the stressors proposed in the international literature with the exception of financial strain. Restricted social life and time restrictions seem to be the two most evident and bothersome stressors for Swedish families with children who have ID. Conclusions As in previous research, the parents of children with ID and autism experienced more stressors and restrictions in their lives than the parents of children with DS and control families. [source] Sense of coherence in parents of children with different developmental disabilitiesJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 7 2002M. B. Olsson Abstract Background The aim of the present study was to test if Antonovsky's theory of sense of coherence can facilitate understanding: (1) individual differences in psychological adaptation in parents of children with intellectual disability (ID); and (2) why parents of children with ID generally experience higher levels of stress and depression than parents of children who develop normally. Methods Sense of coherence (SoC) and depression were assessed using the short SoC scale (13 items) and the Beck Depression Inventory in 216 families of children with ID and/or autism, and in 213 control families. Results It is argued that: (1) parents of children with ID with low SoC are at increased risk for developing depression compared to control parents with low SoC not experiencing this stressor; and (2) the life situation of parenting a child with ID may have a negative impact on parents' SoC levels that, in turn, will make them more vulnerable to experiencing stress and depression. Conclusion The SoC theory is valuable in understanding individual differences in psychological adaptation in parents of children with ID. [source] Linking Changes in Parenting to Parent,Child Relationship Quality and Youth Self-Control: The Strong African American Families ProgramJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 1 2005Gene H. Brody A randomized prevention trial was conducted contrasting families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a conceptual model positing that changes in intervention-targeted parenting behaviors would enhance responsive-supportive parent,child relationships and youths' self-control, which protect rural African American youths from substance use and early sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that intervention-induced changes in parenting were linked with changes in responsive,supportive parent,child relationships and youth self-control. [source] Suggestive Linkage on Chromosome 1 for a Quantitative Alcohol-Related PhenotypeALCOHOLISM, Issue 10 2002Danielle M. Dick Background Alcohol dependence is a clinically and etiologically heterogeneous disorder. Accordingly, a variety of subtypes of alcohol-dependent individuals have been proposed, and multiple operational definitions of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence have been used in linkage analyses directed toward detecting genes involved in alcohol use and problems. Here, we develop quantitative phenotypes that characterize drinking patterns among both alcoholic and nonalcoholic subjects, and use these phenotypes in subsequent linkage analyses. Methods More than 9000 individuals from alcoholic and control families were administered a semistructured interview and personality questionnaire as part of the initial stage of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). A principal component analysis was conducted on items that captured many of the dimensions of drinking and related behaviors, including aspects of alcohol use, antisocial behavior and affective disturbance when drinking, and personality. Factor scores were computed for all individuals. Nonparametric linkage analyses were conducted on these factor scores, in the initial COGA sample consisting of 987 individuals from 105 extended families, and in a replication sample consisting of 1295 individuals from 157 extended families. Results Three factors were identified, accounting for 68% of the total variance. The most promising regions of linkage appeared for factor 2, on which higher scores indicate a later age of onset of regular drinking and higher harm avoidance. Chromosome 1 yielded consistent evidence of linkage in both samples, with a maximum lod score of 3.3 when the samples were combined for analysis. Consistent suggestion of linkage also was found to chromosome 15. Conclusions Developing novel phenotypes that more accurately model the effect of influential genes may help efforts to detect genes involved in complex disorders. Applying principal component analysis in the COGA sample provided support for some regions of linkage previously reported in COGA, and identified other new, promising regions of linkage. [source] Family functioning and juvenile chronic physical illness in Northern RussiaACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 2 2009A Zashikhina Abstract Aim: To study family functioning of adolescents with chronic physical illnesses and factors related to it. The following research questions were addressed: (i) if families with adolescents with chronic physical illnesses were at increased risk for problematic functioning compared to the healthy control families; (ii) was disease severity associated with family dysfunction; and (iii) did family functioning level differ in three disease groups (diabetes, asthma and epilepsy). Methods: Self-report family inventory and socio-economic status questions were individually completed by 148 adolescents with physical illnesses aged 13,16 years and their mothers; medical data were obtained from the files at the outpatient clinics. Comparative data were collected from a group of 301 schoolchildren. Results: Overall there were no differences found in functioning of families with physically ill adolescents compared to controls. Family functioning was significantly associated with the number of disease-specific (disease severity and duration) and non-disease (socio-economic status and family type) factors. Conclusion: In our study, families with physically ill adolescents showed considerable resilience and tolerance to the changes in habitual functioning of the family unit. While greater disease severity, longer disease duration, as well as single-parent household were the factors that contributed to the family dysfunction. [source] | ||||||||||