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Since the first publication on fetal alcohol syndrome appeared in the scientific literature over 30 years ago, there has been a great deal of research interest in the topic. This paper reviews findings within the past 10 years related to causes, frequency, and diagnosis of alcohol-related disabilities, before turning to the impact these disabilities have on affected children, their families and communities. The needs of parents who have children with alcohol-related disabilities are described, including a broad support network, helpful professionals, good relationship with the school, income support, and a strengths-based parenting approach. Finally, barriers that families face in service availability, accessibility, appropriateness, adequacy, and acceptability are reviewed.

Background: The Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) pregnancy-birth cohort investigates the developmental origins of type 1 diabetes (T1D), with recruitment between 2013 and 2019. ENDIA is the first study in the world with comprehensive data and biospecimen collection during pregnancy, at birth and through childhood from at-risk children who have a first-degree relative with T1D. Environmental exposures are thought to drive the progression to clinical T1D, with pancreatic islet autoimmunity (IA) developing in genetically susceptible individuals. The exposures and key molecular mechanisms driving this progression are unknown. Persistent IA is the primary outcome of ENDIA; defined as a positive antibody for at least one of IAA, GAD, ZnT8 or IA2 on two consecutive occasions and signifies high risk of clinical T1D. Method: A nested case-control (NCC) study design with 54 cases and 161 matched controls aims to investigate associations between persistent IA and longitudinal omics exposures in ENDIA. The NCC study will analyse samples obtained from ENDIA children who have either developed persistent IA or progressed to clinical T1D (cases) and matched control children at risk of developing persistent IA. Control children were matched on sex and age, with all four autoantibodies absent within a defined window of the case's onset date. Cases seroconverted at a median of 1.37 years (IQR 0.95, 2.56). Longitudinal omics data generated from approximately 16,000 samples of different biospecimen types, will enable evaluation of changes from pregnancy through childhood. Conclusions: This paper describes the ENDIA NCC study, omics platform design considerations and planned univariate and multivariate analyses for its longitudinal data. Methodologies for multivariate omics analysis with longitudinal data are discovery-focused and data driven. There is currently no single multivariate method tailored specifically for the longitudinal omics data that the ENDIA NCC study will generate and therefore omics analysis results will require either cross validation or independent validation. The ENDIA nested case-control study will utilize longitudinal omics data on approximately 16,000 samples from 190 unique children at risk of type 1 diabetes (T1D), including 54 who have developed islet autoimmunity (IA), followed during pregnancy, at birth and during early childhood, enabling the developmental origins of T1D to be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hawaii State Test of Essential Competencies (HSTEC) is a minimal competency test which students must pass to graduate from high school. This paper focuses on differences in HSTEC (Form G) performance between 300 ninth grade students of limited English proficiency (SLEP) and the 318 ninth grade students used in the original norming sample (NORM group). The analyses indicate that SLEP students form a distinctly separate population from the NORM group (F = 206.21, p < .01) with SLEP students scoring 26.14 points lower than the NORM group on average. At the same time, those subtests which the SLEP students found to be more difficult were correspondingly difficult for the NORM group. Though there were no significant differences found among the various SLEP group ethnicities, there were significant differences among the HSTEC subtests and for interactions between ethnicity and the subtests. The results are discussed in terms of language training that some of the SLEP students should receive so that they can demonstrate their true abilities on the HSTEC.

Background: We sought research experiences of caregivers and their children were enrolled in the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study. Methods: ENDIA is a pregnancy–birth cohort investigating early-life causes of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Surveys were sent to 1090 families between June 2021 and March 2022 with a median participation of >5 years. Caregivers completed a 12-item survey. Children ≥ 3 years completed a four-item survey. Results: The surveys were completed by 550/1090 families (50.5%) and 324/847 children (38.3%). The research experience was rated as either "excellent" or "good" by 95% of caregivers, and 81% of children were either "ok", "happy" or "very happy". The caregivers were motivated by contributing to research and monitoring their children for T1D. Relationships with the research staff influenced the experience. The children most liked virtual reality headsets, toys, and "helping". Blood tests were least liked by the children and were the foremost reason that 23.4% of the caregivers considered withdrawing. The children valued gifts more than their caregivers. Only 5.9% of responses indicated dissatisfaction with some aspects of the protocol. The self-collection of samples in regional areas, or during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, were accepted. Conclusions: This evaluation identified modifiable protocol elements and was conducted to further improve satisfaction. What was important to the children was distinct from their caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summarizes findings from investigations into the development and use of a prototype English language task-based performance test. Data included performances by 90 examinees in 13 complex and skill-integrative tasks. Findings indicated that the task-based test could inform intended inferences about examinees' abilities to accomplish specific tasks as well as inferences about examinees' likely abilities within a domain of tasks. (Author/VWL)

Throughout the book, Muminov portrays the Japanese internees not as a homogenous mass but as real individuals, complete with their distinct experiences and specific weaknesses. This is notable in the final chapter when Muminov explores the internees' often disparate lives after returning to Japan. As for comparisons with other Soviet prisoners, Muminov is at pains to clarify that Japanese internees were not detained within the notorious GULAG system. [Extracted from the article]

A study was conducted to develop a prototype dry electrostatic powder lubrication system for the lubrication of powder metallurgy molds. It utilized contact electrification to charge the powder and an electric field to promote the uniform coating of internal surfaces of the mold. The system was placed on a 200 ton press. Results indicated that the system can effectively press powder metallurgy parts with less internal lubricant powder.