Parental Intervention Program for Preschool children with Rare Diseases - a mixed methods evaluation of parents' experiences and utility.

Background: The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) To assess the parents' experiences and perception of participating in a "Parental Intervention Program for Preschool children with Rare Diseases" (PIPP-RDs). (ii) To evaluate which elements of the PIPP-RDs that the parents emphasized as important for improving their health literacy related to facilitating the transition of their children from kindergarten to school.

Method: A mixed methods evaluation study was conducted ten and eleven months post-intervention, integrating an online quantitative survey combined with individual semi-structured interviews.

Problematic aspects of faecal incontinence according to the experience of adults with spina bifida.

Objective: To describe problematic aspects of faecal incontinence according to the experience of adults with spina bifida.

Design: Qualitative interview study.

Subjects: Eleven adults with spina bifida and bowel problems.

Differential investment and costs during avian incubation determined by individual quality: an experimental study of the common eider (Somateria mollissima).

Individuals of different quality may have different investment strategies, shaping responses to experimental manipulations, thereby rendering the detection of such patterns difficult. However, previous clutch-size manipulation studies have infrequently incorporated individual differences in quality. To examine costs of incubation and reproductive investment in relation to changes in clutch size, we enlarged and reduced natural clutch sizes of four and five eggs by one egg early in the incubation period in female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), a sea duck with an anorectic incubation period.