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Background: Neurobehavioural screening measures specific to foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are warranted to inform treatment and care. This study determined basic psychometric properties of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Consultation, Education, and Training Services (FASCETS) Neurobehavioural Screening Tool (NBST) to measure neurobehavioural deficits and understand the potential for adjunctive use with the FASD 4-Digit Diagnostic Code. Method: Caregivers of 86 children, adolescents, and young adults voluntarily completed surveys as part of a medical evaluation for FASD. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate internal reliability and to describe the relationship between variables. Results: The NBST demonstrated adequate factor structure and internal consistency reliability. Two of the NBST subscales (Executive Function 1 and Learning) were significantly correlated with clinical rankings for central nervous system structural/functional abnormalities of the FASD 4-Digit Diagnostic Code. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary evidence that the NBST has adequate psychometric properties and may be a useful adjunctive screening tool for the medical diagnosis of FASD.

Military children don't exist in a vacuum; rather, they are embedded in and deeply influenced by their families, neighborhoods, schools, the military itself, and many other interacting systems. To minimize the risks that military children face and maximize their resilience, write Harold Kudler and Colonel Rebecca Porter, we must go beyond clinical models that focus on military children as individuals and develop a public health approach that harnesses the strengths of the communities that surround them. In short, we must build communities of care. One obstacle to building communities of care is that at many times and in many places, military children and their families are essentially invisible. Most schools, for example, do not routinely assess the military status of new students' parents. Thus Kudler and Porter's strongest recommendation is that public and private institutions of all sorts--from schools to clinics to religious institutions to law enforcement--should determine which children and families they serve are connected to the military as a first step toward meeting military children's unique needs. Next, they say, we need policies that help teachers, doctors, pastors, and others who work with children learn more about military culture and the hardships, such as a parent's deployment, that military children often face. Kudler and Porter review a broad spectrum of programs that may help build communities of care, developed by the military, by nonprofits, and by academia. Many of these appear promising, but the authors emphasize that almost none are backed by strong scientific evidence of their effectiveness. They also describe new initiatives at the state and federal levels that aim to break down barriers among agencies and promote collaboration in the service of military children and families.

Aberrant expression of viral-like repeat elements is a common feature of epithelial cancers, and the substantial diversity of repeat species provides a distinct view of the cancer transcriptome. Repeatome profiling across ovarian, pancreatic, and colorectal cell lines identifies distinct clustering independent of tissue origin that is seen with coding gene analysis. Deeper analysis of ovarian cancer cell lines demonstrated that human satellite II (HSATII) satellite repeat expression was highly associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and anticorrelated with IFN-response genes indicative of a more aggressive phenotype. SATII expression--and its correlation with EMT and anticorrelation with IFN-response genes-- was also found in ovarian cancer RNA-Seq data and was associated with significantly shorter survival in a second independent cohort of patients with ovarian cancer. Repeat RNAs were enriched in tumor-derived extracellular vesicles capable of stimulating monocyte-derived macrophages, demonstrating a mechanism that alters the tumor microenvironment with these viral-like sequences. Targeting of HSATII with antisense locked nucleic acids stimulated IFN response and induced MHC I expression in ovarian cancer cell lines, highlighting a potential strategy of modulating the repeatome to reestablish antitumor cell immune surveillance., Introduction Repetitive elements make up approximately 50% of the human genome (1, 2), and their aberrant expression has been described across a wide range ofcancers (3-5). Repeat suppression is achieved [...]

BackgroundAtopic dermatitis (AD) is a major inflammatory condition of the skin caused by inherited skin barrier deficiency, with mutations in the filaggrin gene predisposing to development of AD. Support for barrier deficiency initiating AD came from flaky tail mice, which have a frameshift mutation in Flg and also carry an unknown gene, matted, causing a matted hair phenotype.ObjectiveWe sought to identify the matted mutant gene in mice and further define whether mutations in the human gene were associated with AD.MethodsA mouse genetics approach was used to separate the matted and Flg mutations to produce congenic single-mutant strains for genetic and immunologic analysis. Next-generation sequencing was used to identify the matted gene. Five independently recruited AD case collections were analyzed to define associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human gene and AD.ResultsThe matted phenotype in flaky tail mice is due to a mutation in the Tmem79/Matt gene, with no expression of the encoded protein mattrin in the skin of mutant mice. Matt(ft) mice spontaneously have dermatitis and atopy caused by a defective skin barrier, with mutant mice having systemic sensitization after cutaneous challenge with house dust mite allergens. Meta-analysis of 4,245 AD cases and 10,558 population-matched control subjects showed that a missense SNP, rs6684514, [corrected] in the human MATT gene has a small but significant association with AD.ConclusionIn mice mutations in Matt cause a defective skin barrier and spontaneous dermatitis and atopy. A common SNP in MATT has an association with AD in human subjects.

Implementing an enterprise resource planning system is a complex undertaking. Careful planning, management, communication, and staffing can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful implementation. (Contains 3 tables.)

Governments increasingly rely on large amounts of data to deliver public services. In response, there is a robust discussion about the implications of this trend for efficiency and economy, but much less attention is paid to social equity. To address this issue, our study synthesizes cross‐disciplinary research on the relationship between data‐driven public services and social equity. Based on a systematic literature review of 190 articles covering a decade of research, we demonstrate how public sector data applications relate to social equity in terms of access to services, treatment, service quality, and outcomes. Our review identifies key mechanisms related to data collection, storage, analysis, and usage that need to be addressed to ensure more equitable data‐driven public services. This review contributes to public administration research and practice by highlighting the complexities of social equity in the data era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five clinical health psychologists at a major medical center successfully completed a 36-hr, graduate-level nurse practitioner course in advanced health assessment. The psychologists were trained to conduct thorough physical examinations and evaluate medical histories. All psychologists successfully completed the course and reported high levels of comfort with their ability to (a) conduct physical examinations, (b) describe physical examination findings, (c) provisionally identify medical problems and generally abnormal conditions, and (d) make appropriate referrals to medical specialists, when necessary. The nurse practitioner instructors reported high levels of satisfaction with student mastery of course content. The psychologists and nurses both reported high levels of satisfaction with the student-faculty relationship.