A case study of an emerging community-based early hearing detection and intervention program: part II. Team building with otolaryngologists and pediatricians using a survey approach.

Purpose: Physicians are vital team members of early hearing detection and intervention programs (EHDIPs), particularly in encouraging parents to comply with recommendations for follow-up services for their infants in universal newborn hearing screening programs (UNHSPs). This study describes a survey approach to help audiologists partner with otolaryngologists and pediatricians in EHDIPs.

Method: We developed and mailed a 19-item questionnaire to all 12 otolaryngologists and 66 pediatricians potentially involved in a community-based EHDIP.

How does the legal system respond when children with learning difficulties are victimized?

Objective: To understand how the Swedish legal system perceives and handles mentally handicapped children who may have been victimized.

Method: Twenty-two judicial districts in Sweden provided complete files on 39 District Court cases (including the Appeals Court files on 17 of these cases) involving children with learning difficulties or other handicaps as alleged victims of abuse, threat and neglect. The children (25 girls and 14 boys) averaged 11.

Security of children's relationships with nonparental care providers: a meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis aggregated results of 40 investigations involving 2,867 children who averaged 29.6 (SD = 8.6) months of age when their attachments to care providers were assessed using either the Strange Situation (SS) or the Attachment Q-Set (AQS).

Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and postnatal growth: a structural analysis.

Normal endocrine function in utero and early in childhood influences later height and weight attainment. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent environmental contaminants with suspected endocrine-disrupting properties. PCBs may mimic or inhibit hormone and endocrine processes based in part on their structural configuration, with non-ortho-substituted PCBs having a coplanar orientation and ortho-substituted PCBs becoming increasingly noncoplanar.

EMS helicopter crashes: what influences fatal outcome?

Study Objective: In recent years, air transport of patients has been associated with disproportionate increases in crashes and deaths. We identify factors related to fatal outcome in air medical helicopter crashes and suggest preventive measures.

Methods: This was a retrospective study using National Transportation Safety Board records for helicopter emergency medical services (EMS) crashes between January 1, 1983, and April 30, 2005.

Effects of early and later family violence on children's behavior problems and depression: a longitudinal, multi-informant perspective.

Objectives: To examine the effects of different forms of family violence at two developmental stages by assessing a sample of 110 Israeli children, drawn from the case files of Israeli family service agencies, studied longitudinally in both middle childhood and adolescence.

Methods: Information about the children's adjustment was obtained from parents, teachers, and the children themselves when the children averaged 10.6 and 15.

Development and commercial use of afla-Guard(®), an aflatoxin biocontrol agent.

A biopesticide, afla-guard(®), has been developed for controlling aflatoxin contamination in peanuts. This product provides the means of introducing a competitive, non-aflatoxigenic strain ofAspergillus flavus into soils where peanuts are being grown. The introduced strain competitively excludes toxigenic strains naturally present from invading developing peanuts.

Developmental differences in the function and use of anatomical dolls during interviews with alleged sexual abuse victims.

The impact of anatomical dolls on reports provided by 3- to 12-year-old alleged sexual abuse victims (N = 178) was examined. Children produced as many details in response to open-ended invitations with and without the dolls. In response to directive questions, the 3- to 6-year-olds were more likely to re-enact behaviorally than to report verbally, whereas the 7- to 12-year-olds produced more verbal details than enactments when using the dolls.

Trends in children's disclosure of abuse in Israel: a national study.

Objective: To identify characteristics of suspected child abuse victims that are associated with disclosure and nondisclosure during formal investigations.

Methodology: The database included all suspected cases of physical and sexual abuse investigated in the state of Israel between 1998 and 2002. All investigative interviews were conducted using a single standardized protocol, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol.

The evolution of information in the major transitions.

Maynard Smith and Szathmáry's analysis of the major transitions in evolution was based on changes in the way information is stored, transmitted and interpreted. With the exception of the transition to human linguistic societies, their discussion centred on changes in DNA and the genetic system. We argue that information transmitted by non-genetic means has played a key role in the major transitions, and that new and modified ways of transmitting non-DNA information resulted from them.

Mothers' and fathers' behaviors toward their 3- to 4-month-old infants in lower, middle, and upper socioeconomic African American families.

African American mothers' and fathers' availability, caregiving, and social behaviors toward their infants in and around their homes were examined. Twenty lower, 21 middle, and 21 upper socioeconomic families and their 3- to 4-month-old infants were observed for 4 3-hr blocks between 8:00 a.m.

Adolescents' perceptions of attachments to their mothers and fathers in families with histories of domestic violence: a longitudinal perspective.

Objective: The effects of both childhood and teenage experiences of domestic violence on adolescent-parent attachments were examined.

Method: Israeli adolescents (M = 15.9 years) who were either victims of physical abuse, witnesses of physical spouse abuse, victims and witnesses of abuse, or neither victims nor witnesses of abuse were questioned about attachments to their parents using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment [IPPA; Armsden, G.

Peginterferon alfa-2a does not alter the pharmacokinetics of methadone in patients with chronic hepatitis C undergoing methadone maintenance therapy.

Objective: Our objective was to quantify the pharmacokinetics of methadone and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of peginterferon alfa-2a (40 kd) in patients with chronic hepatitis C undergoing methadone maintenance therapy.

Methods: Adults with chronic hepatitis C who had been receiving a consistent methadone maintenance regimen for at least 3 months were eligible for this open-label, multicenter, nonrandomized drug interaction study. All patients received 180 microg subcutaneous peginterferon alfa-2a once weekly for 4 weeks and continued their methadone regimen.

Kalpha yields from Ti foils irradiated with ultrashort laser pulses.

We have studied the emission of Kalpha radiation from Ti foils irradiated with ultrashort (45 fs) laser pulses. We utilized the fundamental (800 nm) light from a Ti:sapphire laser on bare foils and foils coated with a thin layer of parylene E (CH). The focusing was varied widely to give a range of intensities from approximately 10(15) - 10(19) W cm(-2).

Characteristics of alcohol-related fatal general aviation crashes.

Background: The effects of alcohol on piloting performance have been studied extensively. Information describing alcohol-related aviation crashes, however, is scant.

Methods: We developed a data system for fatally injured pilots in Maryland, New Mexico, and North Carolina by linking autopsy data from the state medical examiner offices and crash investigation reports from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Fathers and mothers at play with their 2- and 3-year-olds: contributions to language and cognitive development.

Father-child and mother-child engagements were examined longitudinally in relation to children's language and cognitive development at 24 and 36 months. The study involved a racially/ethnically diverse sample of low-income, resident fathers (and their partners) from the National Early Head Start evaluation study (n=290). Father-child and mother-child engagements were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and children's language and cognitive status were assessed at both ages.

SitePrint: three-dimensional pharmacophore descriptors derived from protein binding sites for family based active site analysis, classification, and drug design.

Integrating biological and chemical information is one key task in drug discovery, and one approach to attaining this goal is via three-dimensional pharmacophore descriptors derived from protein binding sites. The SitePrint program generates, aligns, scores, and classifies three-dimensional pharmacophore descriptors, active site grids, and ligand surfaces. The descriptors are formed from molecular fragments that have been docked, minimized, filtered, and clustered in protein active sites.

Variation in the helminth community structure in spiny mice (Acomys dimidiatus) from four montane wadis in the St Katherine region of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

We compared helminth communities in spiny mice (Acomys dimidiatus) from 4 wadis in the arid montane region of the southern Sinai in Egypt, in a 4-week period in late summer. Total helminth species richness was 14 (8 nematodes, 5 cestodes and 1 acanthocephalan) with 94% of mice carrying at least 1 species and an overall mean species richness of 1.85.

Telephone precepting: the development of a curriculum.

Background: Telephone precepting is a major tool in residency training that has not been evaluated or specifically taught.

Description: Residents and attendings of 2 family practice residency programs were surveyed for their experiences and needs with telephone precepting.

Evaluation: Residents and attendings each felt that the other could improve their role in a phone precepting encounter.

Design of a gene family screening library targeting G-protein coupled receptors.

An iterative process for the design of a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) gene family screening library has been developed. A key element of this process is the computational generation of pharmacophore descriptors of known GPCR ligands. Subsequent iterative analysis allows prioritization of scaffolds and sub-libraries for inclusion in the library.

Transition to child care: associations with infant-mother attachment, infant negative emotion, and cortisol elevations.

Seventy 15-month-old infants were studied at home before starting child care, during adaptation (mothers present) and separation (first 9 days without mothers) phases, and 5 months later. Security of infant-mother attachment was assessed before and 3 months after child care began. In the separation phase, salivary cortisol rose over the first 60 min following the mothers' departures to levels that were 75% to 100% higher than at home.

Interviewing youthful suspects in alleged sex crimes: a descriptive analysis.

Objective: To introduce and evaluate a structured interview protocol designed for investigative interviews of youthful alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

Method: Seventy-two alleged perpetrators ranging from 9 to 14 years of age (M = 12 years) were interviewed by 1 of 13 experienced youth investigators, employed by the Israeli Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, about incidents that had been reported by alleged victims. All interviews were conducted as part of the investigators' regular work and followed the structured interview guide appended to this article.

Using a human figure drawing to elicit information from alleged victims of child sexual abuse.

Ninety 4- to 13-year-old alleged victims of sexual abuse were interviewed by police officers using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) investigative interview protocol, following which they were shown a human figure drawing and asked a series of questions. The drawing and associated questions elicited an average of 86 new forensically relevant details. They were especially productive with 4- to 7-year-olds, who provided an average of 95 additional details (27% of their total) after the drawing was introduced despite having previously "exhausted" their memories.

[Epigenetic heredity in evolution].

We discuss the role of cell memory in heredity and evolution. We describe the properties of the epigenetic inheritance systems (EISs) that underlie cell memory and enable environmentally and developmentally induced cell phenotypes to be transmitted in cell lineages, and argue that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is an important and neglected part of heredity. By looking at the part EISs have played in the evolution of multicellularity, ontogeny, chromosome organization, and the origin of some post-mating isolating mechanisms, we show how considering the role of epigenetic inheritance can sometimes shed light on major evolutionary processes.