Validation of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire in 3 year old children of a multi-ethnic Asian population: The GUSTO cohort study.

The Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) was developed to measure eating behaviors related to obesity risk in children. However, this questionnaire has not been validated for use in South East Asia, where parenting practices are different from those in western countries and child obesity rates are increasing. The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the CEBQ administered to mothers of children aged 3 years in Singapore.

Characterization of Choroidal Morphologic and Vascular Features in Young Men With High Myopia Using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: To describe detailed morphologic and vascular features of the choroid in eyes with high myopia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: A total of 515 eyes of young men (mean age 21.

Serologic Responses After Hepatitis B Vaccination in Preterm Infants Born to Hepatitis B Surface Antigen-Positive Mothers: Singapore Experience.

Background: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends a 4-dose vaccination schedule for preterm low birth weight infants (<2 kg) and a 3-dose vaccination schedule for preterm infants (≥2 kg) born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers. However, data remain limited for these high-risk infants, and the optimal dosing schedule in Asia is not well established.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the serologic vaccine responses in preterm infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers using current vaccination guidelines.

Postnatal height and adiposity gain, childhood blood pressure and prehypertension risk in an Asian birth cohort.

Objective: There have been hypotheses that early life adiposity gain may influence blood pressure (BP) later in life. We examined associations between timing of height, body mass index (BMI) and adiposity gains in early life with BP at 48 months in an Asian pregnancy-birth cohort.

Methods: In 719 children, velocities for height, BMI and abdominal circumference (AC) were calculated at five intervals [0-3, 3-12, 12-24, 24-36 and 36-48 months].

Gestational diabetes mellitus and retinal microvasculature.

Background: Small-vessel dysfunction may be an important consequence of chronic hyperglycemia. We examined the association between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a state of transient hyperglycemia during pregnancy, and retinal microvascular changes in pregnant women at 26-28 weeks of pregnancy.

Methods: A total of 1136 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies were recruited during their first trimester at two major Singapore maternity hospitals in an on-going birth cohort study.

Evidence of Microvascular Changes in the Retina following Kawasaki Disease.

It is unclear whether all children with Kawasaki disease (KD) have increased later cardiovascular risk. The retinal microvasculature reflects changes in the microcirculation and is associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors and events. The aim of this study was to investigate retinal microvascular parameters in two populations of patients with previous KD and control participants.

Relationship between Myopia Severity and Macular Retinal Thickness on Visual Performance under Different Lighting Conditions.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between both spherical equivalent (SE) and retinal thickness (RT) on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) among young Asian adult men under photopic, mesopic, and simulated night-vision goggle (NVG) lighting conditions.

Design: Community-based cross-sectional study.

Participants: Total of 698 myopic and 148 emmetropic subjects.

Associations of Maternal Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy with Offspring Adiposity from Birth Until 54 Months of Age.

Most studies linking maternal diet with offspring adiposity have focused on single nutrients or foods, but a dietary pattern approach is more representative of the overall diet. We thus aimed to investigate the relations between maternal dietary patterns and offspring adiposity in a multi-ethnic Asian mother-offspring cohort in Singapore. We derived maternal dietary patterns using maternal dietary intake information at 26-28 weeks of gestation, of which associations with offspring body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference (AC), subscapular skinfold (SS), and triceps skinfold (TS) were assessed using longitudinal data analysis (linear mixed effects (LME)) and multiple linear regression at ages 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54 months.

Time outdoors, blood vitamin D status and myopia: a review.

Background: Myopia is a major public health concern throughout the world and the prevalence has been increasing rapidly in recent years, especially in urban Asia. The "vitamin D hypothesis" has been raised recently because vitamin D may be a link between less time outdoors and increased risk of myopia.

Methods: We reviewed all studies published in English which examined the association of time outdoors and blood vitamin D status with myopia.

Responding to challenges for people with psychotic illness: Updated evidence from the Survey of High Impact Psychosis.

Objective: The objective is to summarise recent findings from the 2010 Australian Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP) and examine their implications for future policy and planning to improve mental health, physical health and other circumstances of people with a psychotic disorder.

Methods: Survey of High Impact Psychosis collected nationally representative data on 1825 people with psychotic illness. Over 60 papers have been published covering key challenges reported by participants: financial problems, loneliness and social isolation, unemployment, poor physical health, uncontrolled symptoms of mental illness, and lack of stable, suitable housing.

Epidemiology of Pathologic Myopia in Asia and Worldwide.

The myopia epidemic in Asia is evident because the prevalence of high myopia among young adults is higher among Asian (6.8%-21.6%) compared with non-Asian populations (2.

Neonatal neural networks predict children behavioral profiles later in life.

This study aimed to examine heterogeneity of neonatal brain network and its prediction to child behaviors at 24 and 48 months of age. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography was employed to construct brain anatomical network for 120 neonates. Clustering coefficients of individual structures were computed and used to classify neonates with similar brain anatomical networks into one group.

A vegetable, fruit, and white rice dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of preterm birth and larger birth size in a multiethnic Asian cohort: the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort study.

Background: Maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy have been shown to influence infant birth outcomes. However, to our knowledge, only a few studies have examined the associations in Asian populations.

Objective: We characterized maternal dietary patterns in Asian pregnant women and examined their associations with the risk of preterm birth and offspring birth size.

Prospective associations of maternal betaine status with offspring weight and body composition at birth: the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort study.

Background: Betaine supplementation results in lower body weight and fat mass and higher lean mass in animals and adult humans. However, the relation between maternal betaine status and offspring birth weight and body composition is less known.

Objective: The aim was to examine the association between maternal betaine status and neonatal birth size and adiposity in an Asian mother-offspring cohort.

Predictors of allergen sensitization in Singapore children from birth to 3 years.

Background: Immune responses in allergic diseases begin with allergen sensitization, which usually occurs in childhood. Allergen sensitization involves a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, and sensitization patterns may change with age.

Objective: To determine the predictors of allergen sensitization in the first 3 years of life in the growing up in Singapore towards healthy outcomes (GUSTO) prospective birth cohort study.

Maternal Circadian Eating Time and Frequency Are Associated with Blood Glucose Concentrations during Pregnancy.

Background: Synchronizing eating schedules to daily circadian rhythms may improve metabolic health, but its association with gestational glycemia is unknown.

Objective: This study examined the association of maternal night-fasting intervals and eating episodes with blood glucose concentrations during pregnancy.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study within a prospective cohort in Singapore.

The contribution of recently identified adult BMI risk loci to paediatric obesity in a Singaporean Chinese childhood dataset.

Introduction: Recent genome-wide association studies have identified 103 adult obesity risk loci; however, it is unclear if these findings are relevant to East-Asian childhood body mass index (BMI) levels.

Methods And Results: We evaluated for paediatric obesity associations at these risk loci utilizing genome-wide data from Chinese childhood subjects in the Singapore Cohort study Of the Risk factors for Myopia study (N = 1006). A weighted gene-risk score of all adult obesity risk loci in the Singapore Cohort study Of the Risk factors for Myopia study showed strong associations with BMI at age 9 (p-value = 3.

Limited benefit of hepatitis B immunoglobulin prophylaxis in children of hepatitis B e antigen-negative mothers.

Introduction: In 2006, Singapore adopted the universal hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) policy. Since then, all infants of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers receive HBIg, irrespective of maternal hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status. However, the benefits of HBIg for infants of HBeAg-negative mothers are unclear.

Early-life factors affect risk of pain and fever in infants during teething periods.

Aim: This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the prevalence of teething-related pain and fever and the early-life factors that may affect the risk of experiencing these disturbances within the first 1.5 years of life.

Materials And Methods: Participants were recruited (n = 1033) through the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) birth cohort (n = 1237).

Correction: The Impact of Macronutrients on Retinal Microvasculature among Singapore Pregnant Women during the Mid-Late Gestation.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Chromosomal rearrangements and protein globularity changes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from cerebrospinal fluid.

Background: Meningitis is a major cause of mortality in tuberculosis (TB). It is not clear what factors promote central nervous system invasion and pathology but it has been reported that certain strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) might have genetic traits associated with neurotropism.

Methods: In this study, we generated whole genome sequences of eight clinical strains of Mtb that were isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients presenting with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in Malaysia, and compared them to the genomes of H37Rv and other respiratory Mtb genomes either downloaded from public databases or extracted from local sputum isolates.