Fatty, fatty, two-by-four: weight-teasing history and disturbed eating in young adult women.

Objective: We investigated the long-term effect of weight teasing during childhood.

Methods: Young adult women (n = 1533; aged 18-26 years) from 3 large universities participated in a survey (Fall 2009 to Spring 2010) that assessed disturbed eating behaviors; weight status at ages 6, 12, and 16 years; and weight-teasing history.

Results: Nearly half of the participants were weight-teased as a child.

Case-control study of disturbed eating behaviors and related psychographic characteristics in young adults with and without diet-related chronic health conditions.

Young adults with diet-related chronic health conditions (DRCHCs; i.e., type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome) face challenges complying with dietary restrictions required to effectively manage their health condition.

Performance characteristics of the PTSD Checklist in retired firefighters exposed to the World Trade Center disaster.

Background: Since the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001, the Fire Department, City of New York Monitoring Program has provided physical and mental health screening services to rescue/recovery workers. This study evaluated performance of the self-report PTSD Checklist (PCL) as a screening tool for risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters who worked at Ground Zero, compared with the interviewer-administered Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS).

Methods: From December 2005 to July 2007, all retired firefighter enrollees completed the PCL and DIS on the same day.

A computerized, self-administered questionnaire to evaluate posttraumatic stress among firefighters after the World Trade Center collapse.

Objectives: We sought to determine the frequency of psychological symptoms and elevated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk among New York City firefighters after the World Trade Center (WTC) attack and whether these measures were associated with Counseling Services Unit (CSU) use or mental health-related medical leave over the first 2.5 years after the attack.

Methods: Shortly after the WTC attack, a computerized, binary-response screening questionnaire was administered.

Heritability of lung disease severity in cystic fibrosis.

Rationale: Obstructive lung disease, the major cause of mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF), is poorly correlated with mutations in the disease-causing gene, indicating that other factors determine severity of lung disease.

Objectives: To quantify the contribution of modifier genes to variation in CF lung disease severity.

Methods: Pulmonary function data from patients with CF living with their affected twin or sibling were converted into reference values based on both healthy and CF populations.

Relative contribution of genetic and nongenetic modifiers to intestinal obstruction in cystic fibrosis.

Background & Aims: Neonatal intestinal obstruction (meconium ileus [MI]) occurs in 15% of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Our aim was to determine the relative contribution of genetic and nongenetic modifiers to the development of this major complication of CF.

Methods: A total of 65 monozygous twin pairs, 23 dizygous twin/triplet sets, and 349 sets of siblings with CF were analyzed for MI status, significant covariates, and genome-wide linkage.

Concept paper: a virtual centralized IRB system.

Context: As the volume and complexity of research have increased, the amount of time spent on Institutional Review Board (IRB) review has decreased. The complexity of research has expanded, requiring increasingly specialized knowledge to review it. Dilemma: Under the current system, increasing numbers of research studies requiring expertise in ethics, new technologies or diverse study designs place a substantial burden upon local IRBs and often result in substantial variability among their reviews.

Increased prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis in carriers of a cystic fibrosis mutation.

Objective: To explore whether there is an increased prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in known cystic fibrosis (CF) carriers. Self-reported CRS affects 13% to 14% of the US population and clusters in families, which suggests that genetic factors may play an etiologic role. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited recessive disorder that invariably affects the sinuses.

Problematic variation in local institutional review of a multicenter genetic epidemiology study.

Context: Sequencing of the human genome provides an immense resource for studies correlating DNA variation and epidemiology. However, appropriately powered genetic epidemiology studies often require recruitment from multiple sites.

Objectives: To document the burden imposed by review of multicenter studies and to determine the variability among local institutional review boards (IRBs) in the approval of a multicenter genetic epidemiology study.