The psychopathology of parents of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the rates of psychopathology in parents of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and compare these with that found in parents of children with learning disorders of reading and written expression.

Method: Thirty-one children with OCD, aged 8-15 years, and their parents (n = 62), aged 43-48 years, were studied and compared to 30 children with learning disorders, aged 7-16 years, and their parents (n = 58), aged 40-46 years. In order to investigate the parental psychopathology, the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale were administered.

Plasmalogen levels in Gaucher disease.

Plasmalogens represent a unique type of phospholipids characterized by the presence of a vinyl-ether bond at the sn-1 position of the glycerol backbone. Peroxisomes are essential in their biosynthesis. Their suggested functions include protection against oxidative stress, participation in signal transduction, membrane fusion events, cholesterol transport and membrane trafficking, processes known to be disturbed in sphingolipidoses.

Linoleic and arachidonic acid in perinatal asphyxia and prematurity.

Objectives: Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are important for fetal and infant growth and development. The effects of prematurity and perinatal asphyxia on the levels of linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA) in plasma and red blood cell (RBC) membranes were investigated.

Methods: Fifty-five neonates were studied: 18 full term neonates with perinatal asphyxia (group A), nine preterm neonates (group B), and 28 healthy term neonates (group C).

The development of adopted children after institutional care: a follow-up study.

Background: Research suggests that institutional care has long-lasting effects on children. However, no study has longitudinally studied infants in an institution and their subsequent development at age four.

Methods: Sixty-one adopted children aged four years who had spent their first two years of life in an institution were compared to 39 children reared in their own two-parent families.

Pilot study of intrauterine exposure to methylmercury in Eastern Aegean islands, Greece.

A group of islands with a total population of about 200,000 was identified in the Eastern Aegean, where there was evidence to suggest possible increased exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) through consumption of fresh local fish and other seafood from seas bordered by mercury-bearing rock. A feasibility study was conducted to explore the possibility of defining a local population of mother-child pairs in whom to investigate the intrauterine exposure effect. Analysis of 246 hair samples collected from pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies and children under 5 years showed levels of total Hg from 0.

Prevalence and determinants of exclusive breastfeeding during hospital stay in the area of Athens, Greece.

Aim: To assess breastfeeding practices, focusing on the prevalence and the determinants of exclusive breastfeeding during hospital stay.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 1603 healthy women, who delivered healthy infants weighing more than 2500 g, was conducted in the area of Athens, Greece. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on the day they were discharged from the maternity ward.

Cognitive development of 12 month old Greek infants conceived after ICSI and the effects of the method on their parents.

Background: ICSI is widely used as a method of assisted reproduction in Greece. Research shows that children conceived after the application of ICSI develop normally. However, Bowen et al.