The influence of childhood atopic dermatitis on health of mothers, and its impact on Asian families.

This study examines maternal perceptions of paediatric atopic dermatitis (AD) on family and determines risk factors including severity of AD, maternal physical and mental health (MH), quality of life of patients and sociodemographics which predict a negative family impact. A cross-sectional assessment using the Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire Scale to assess the impact of AD on family, Infant's Dermatitis Quality of Life Index (<5-yrs old) or Children's Dermatitis Life Quality Index (5-17 yrs old) was used to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of paediatric patients with AD. A 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) was used to assess physical and MH of their mothers.

CISH and susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Background: The interleukin-2-mediated immune response is critical for host defense against infectious pathogens. Cytokine-inducible SRC homology 2 (SH2) domain protein (CISH), a suppressor of cytokine signaling, controls interleukin-2 signaling.

Methods: Using a case-control design, we tested for an association between CISH polymorphisms and susceptibility to major infectious diseases (bacteremia, tuberculosis, and severe malaria) in blood samples from 8402 persons in Gambia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, and Vietnam.

Cyberbullying among adolescents: the role of affective and cognitive empathy, and gender.

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and gender on cyberbullying among adolescents. Participants were 396 adolescents from Singapore with age ranging from 12 to 18 years. Adolescents responded to a survey with scales measuring both affective and cognitive empathy, and cyberbullying behavior.

Testicular and paratesticular pathology in children: a 12-year histopathological review.

Background: Our institution is the principal pediatric surgical referral center for a population of 1.6 million. The objective of this study was to determine the spectrum and incidence of pediatric testicular and paratesticular pathology in this population.

Cross-cultural differences in infant and toddler sleep.

Background: To characterize cross-cultural sleep patterns and sleep problems in a large sample of children ages birth to 36 months in multiple predominantly-Asian (P-A) and predominantly-Caucasian (P-C) countries.

Methods: Parents of 29,287 infants and toddlers (predominantly-Asian countries/regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam; predominantly-Caucasian countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States) completed an internet-based expanded version of the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire.

Results: Overall, children from P-A countries had significantly later bedtimes, shorter total sleep times, increased parental perception of sleep problems, and were more likely to both bed-share and room-share than children from P-C countries, p<.

Strategies for identifying the genetic basis of dyslipidemia: genome-wide association studies vs. the resequencing of extremes.

Purpose Of Review: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and the resequencing of extremes are two methods currently being used to identify the causative variants in dyslipidemia.

Recent Findings: GWASs are high-throughput, array-based platforms. They are nonhypothesis-based and scan within and across many genes.

Hepatocyte growth factor and retinal arteriolar diameter in Singapore Chinese.

Objective: To assess if natural genetic variation in hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is associated with altered retinal vessel diameter.

Design: Two-stage cohort study.

Participants And Controls: Discovery set (set 1, n = 682 children) and confirmatory set (set 2, n = 1293 adults).

Insulin resistance is associated with a metabolic profile of altered protein metabolism in Chinese and Asian-Indian men.

Aims/hypothesis: Insulin resistance (IR) is associated with obesity, but can also develop in individuals with normal body weight. We employed comprehensive profiling methods to identify metabolic events associated with IR, while controlling for obesity.

Methods: We selected 263 non-obese (BMI approximately 24 kg/m2) Asian-Indian and Chinese men from a large cross-sectional study carried out in Singapore.

Metabolic profiling of rat brain and cognitive behavioral tasks: potential complementary strategies in preclinical cognition enhancement research.

In this study, the correlation between the metabolic profiles of rats undergoing cognition enhancement drug therapy and their associated cognitive behavioral outcomes were investigated. Male Lister Hooded rats were administered either with donepezil, galantamine, or vehicle and subjected to Atlantis watermaze training and novel object recognition tests. An UPLC/MS/MS method was developed to profile 21 neurologically related metabolites in the rat brains.

Medpor Craniotomy Gap Wedge Designed to Fill Small Bone Defects along Cranial Bone Flap.

Objective: Medpor porous polyethylene was used to reconstruct small bone defects (gaps and burr holes) along a craniotomy bone flap. The feasibility and cosmetic results were evaluated.

Methods: Medpor Craniotomy Gap Wedges, V and T, were designed.

An acoustical respiratory phase segmentation algorithm using genetic approach.

This paper proposes a robust and fully automated respiratory phase segmentation method using single channel tracheal breath sounds (TBS) recordings of different types. The estimated number of respiratory segments in a TBS signal is firstly obtained based on noise estimation and nonlinear mapping. Respiratory phase boundaries are then located through the generations of multi-population genetic algorithm by introducing a new evaluation function based on sample entropy (SampEn) and a heterogeneity measure.

A filter bank-based source extraction algorithm for heart sound removal in respiratory sounds.

In this paper, we consider the problem of heart sounds (HS) removal from respiratory sounds (RS), and a novel semi-blind single-channel source extraction algorithm is proposed. The proposed method is able to extract the underlying pure RS from the HS corrupted noisy input signals by incorporating the filter banks and template-based matching using FIR filters. For performance evaluation of the presented method, the average power spectral densities (PSD) of the input RS segments without HS have been compared with the PSD of the reconstructed signals over six selected frequency bands from 20 to 800Hz.

cMET and refractive error progression in children.

Objective: To assess whether genetic variation in cMET is associated with refractive error or change in refractive error over time.

Design: Cohort study.

Participants And Controls: Discovery set (Set 1: N = 579 children; 403 cases, 176 controls).

Time trends of co-existing atopic conditions in Singapore school children: prevalence and related factors.

Atopic diseases are known to co-exist and are interrelated. Their co-existence in a patient increases disease burden and morbidity. We sought to study the prevalence of co-existing atopic conditions over time and its associated risk factors among Singapore children.

UGT1A1 haplotype mutation among Asians in Singapore.

Background: The uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) enzyme is responsible for conjugation of the bilirubin in the liver as well as for drug metabolism. Some of the polymorphisms have been associated with an increased risk of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia which may explain the increased incidence of jaundice in an Asian population as well as exaggerated irinotecan-induced leukopenia.

Objective: The local Asian incidence of hypomorphic haplotypes, defined as gene mutations known to have a reduced function, has not been described.

Monitoring and treatment practices of childhood asthma in Singapore: a questionnaire study.

Introduction: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children in Singapore. More than 20 percent of children will have been diagnosed with asthma by the age of 15 years. Most children are seen in the primary care setting, thus it is of value to study the management practices, especially of general practitioners, with comparison to gold standards.

Automatic wheeze detection using histograms of sample entropy.

In this paper, we propose a robust and automatic wheeze detection method using sample entropy (SampEn) histograms of the filtered narrow band respiratory sound signals. The sound signals are segmented first into their respective inspiration/expiration phases. Time-frequency distribution of each segment is then obtained using Gabor spectrogram.

Inhibitory effect of kinetin riboside in human heptamoa, HepG2.

Cytokinins ribosides such as kinetin riboside are a class of plant hormone that were first identified as factors that promote cell division and have since been implicated in many other aspects of plant growth and development. From the data obtained from cell cycle analysis with flow cytometry, the in vitro growth inhibition of human heptamoa, HepG2 cells with kinetin riboside was mediated by causing G2/M cell cycle arrest and cell death. At the same time, treatment with various doses of kinetin riboside in HepG2 cells did not result in a population of cells positive for the active caspase 3.

Fatty Acid oxidation defects.

Fatty acid oxidation defects (FAODs) are a group of inborn errors of metabolism that carry a risk for morbidity and mortality. Successful management of these conditions involves early diagnosis, proper management of clinical situations that predisposes to metabolic crisis as well as adequate treatment of a metabolic crisis. The advent of tandem mass spectrometry based newborn screening has reduced the morbidity and mortality in some FAODs.

Identification and molecular characterization of a novel PDE4D11 cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase isoform.

Here we report the cloning and characterization of a novel PDE4D isoform (PDE4D11) identified in mouse brain cDNA. This novel isoform has a unique isoform-specific 5'-UTR and N-terminal sequence, whereas, downstream regulatory N-terminal and catalytic C-terminal regions are homologous to other long PDE4D isoforms (Ex2-15). In silico analysis of PDE4D11 cDNA transcript identified the predicted translational start site and the use of a different transcriptional start site compared to other PDE4D isoforms.

Online video game therapy for mental health concerns: a review.

Background: There has been research on the use of offline video games for therapeutic purposes but online video game therapy is still fairly under-researched. Online therapeutic interventions have only recently included a gaming component. Hence, this review represents a timely first step toward taking advantage of these recent technological and cultural innovations, particularly for the treatment of special-needs groups such as the young, the elderly and people with various conditions such as ADHD, anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.

The modulatory effects of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated B cells on differential T-cell polarization.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a major component of environmental microbial products. Studies have defined the LPS dose as a critical determining factor in driving differential T-cell polarization but the direct effects of LPS on individual antigen-presenting cells is unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of LPS doses on naive B cells and the subsequent modulatory effects of these LPS-activated B cells on T-cell polarization.